The News Roundup is a regular section of the blog, featuring news articles from various sources around the web, with the goal of providing an overview of the weekly conversation about the countries where MCC works in the region. Quotes in italics are drawn directly from sources and do not necessarily reflect the position of MCC.
Latin Americans Say Corruption Worsening, But They Can Fight It
However, as noted above, experiences of corruption range significantly from country to country — a dynamic the authors say reflects “the varied nature of the corruption challenges and political situation across the region.” Moreover, a sizeable majority of citizens in every country except Chile expressed the belief that ordinary people could make a difference in the fight against corruption. The report states that engaging citizens “in the anti-corruption movement and sustaining their enthusiasm must be the priority for governments and civil society organisations working to wipe out the scourge of corruption.”
In Mexico, undocumented migrants risk deportation to aid earthquake victims
Their reasons for helping range from solidarity and compassion to gratitude. “We have received a lot support from people, so we want to help them,” Wilson Alonso, also from Honduras, told the Spanish newspaper El País. The sacrifice of this migrant humanitarian aid team has earned them hero status in Mexico. Like other volunteers who dug their neighbors free from the rubble with their bare hands, they have been lauded on social media and interviewed by reporters. And for once, the legal status of a group of Central Americans was not the story.
Surviving crisis: UN campaign to fight corruption in Guatemala has global implications
Despite these issues, sovereignty-sharing can have important positive effects. My research finds that the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala has delivered these benefits in Guatemala. Since the end of Guatemala’s civil war in 1996, the domestic judicial systems has been compromised by low technical capacity, corruption and links to shadowy criminal organizations tied to the state security apparatus. The commission has helped Guatemalan authorities address impunity and corruption. It has investigated the criminal syndicates that long enjoyed impunity and helped produce numerous convictions. It played a key role in bringing ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt to trial for genocide. It has probed senior officials, most notably in the 2015 corruption scandalthat took down President Otto Perez Molina.
How Fear of Crime in Central America Impacts Daily Life, Contributes to Migration
The economic impacts of crime are important to take into account because, as mentioned above, crime victimization and lack of economic opportunity often combine to drive emigration from Central America. And the LAPOP and Inter-American Dialogue authors say their findings contain important lessons for policymakers seeking to tackle insecurity and migration in the region. Report author Carole Wilson stated that “insecurity motivates migration,” suggesting US efforts to increase border security and crack down on undocumented migrants will only have a limited effect.
After 78 Killings, a Honduran Drug Lord Partners With the U.S.
In all, the drug lord, Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga, said that, working in concert with drug traffickers and others, he had “caused” the deaths of 78 people — a number that posed a dilemma for United States officials when Mr. Rivera came to them offering to expose high-level corruption in this Central American nation of some nine million people. Knowing that he was already in the sights of United States investigators, Mr. Rivera sought to help the Drug Enforcement Administration root out corrupt Honduran politicians and other elites who had made Honduras a gateway for massive amounts of cocaine headed for the United States through Mexico.
Nicaragua to sign Paris Agreement, leaving America and Syria as the only countries not in it
The Central American nation had originally opposed signing the accord because the goals outlined in the text did not go far enough. Scientists had confirmed that the emissions levels agreed upon by top polluters like the US, EU, China, and India were not low enough to keep sea levels from rising and keep global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, let alone the recommended and more ambitious goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100. However, parties to the deal agreed – it was a far cry from having no global climate change agreement at all.
Haiti requests 18-month TPS extension from Trump administration
Haiti’s government has written to the Trump administration to formally ask for an 18-month extension of temporary protection from deportation for thousands of Haitians living in the United States. The request, delivered Friday to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was written by the country’s ambassador to the United States, Paul Altidor, on behalf of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. It includes an invitation to acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke to visit Haiti before the decision next month on whether to extend the designation, called Temporary Protected Status or TPS, for nearly 60,000 Haitians. TPS for Haitians is set to expire Jan. 22. A decision on extension is expected in November, possibly along with a decision on TPS for some Central Americans, who are also up for renewal.
Who are the real targets of Bogota’s crackdown on crime?
There’s no quick fix for urban inequality, but there are ways to promote progress in cities while respecting the rights of the most marginalized. Programs that offer social services, health care, housing and employment can help transform the lives of drug users. In the meantime, harm reduction services like needle exchange and peer education can reduce risky behaviors. In a report on El Bronx released on Sept. 27 by the University of the Andes’ Center for the Study of Security and Drugs, the researchers consider what state-sponsored treatment options would be legally viable in Colombia and recommend exploring experimental health strategies tailored to the needs of Bogota’s bazuco users.
Court rules Colombia’s peace process is state policy for 12 years
Colombia’s constitutional court ruled Wednesday that the coming three governments are legally bound to executing a peace deal made with FARC guerrillas last year. The judicial shield for the peace process is a relief for President Juan Manuel Santos, who spent most of his two terms in office negotiating and executing peace after more than half a century of armed conflict with the rebels. The court ruling disallows future governments to amend the peace deal once Congress passes all elements.
Bolivia: President Evo Morales’ bid to extend term limits sparks mass protest
In a referendum last year, 51 percent of voters in Bolivia rejected Morales’ proposal to reform the constitution to end current term limits. At the time, Morales accepted defeat. Last month, however, the president’s Movement to Socialism (MAS) party asked Bolivia’s highest court to remove legal limits that currently bar officials from seeing re-election indefinitely. The party argued that these limits violate human rights. The court has until December to rule on the MAS request or extend the deadline for a decision.
Che Guevara’s legacy still contentious 50 years after his death in Bolivia
On 3 November 1966, a middle-aged Uruguayan businessman named Adolfo Mena González touched down in La Paz, Bolivia. He took a hotel suite overlooking the snowbound heights of Mount Illimani, and photographed himself – overweight, balding, lit cigar in his mouth – in the mirror. In reality, however, he was none other than Ernesto “Che” Guevara – the Argentina-born revolutionary who helped topple Cuba’s US-backed dictator, lectured the United States from a UN lectern, penned treatises on Marxism and guerrilla warfare, and sought to export socialism worldwide. Eleven months later, another image of Guevara would spread around the world, showing his scrawny, lifeless body on a stretcher, his full head of hair and beard unkempt, and his eyes wide open.