Displaying items by tag: Latin America

Tension is rising in Guatemala, where protests by supporters of president-elect Bernardo Arévalo have run into a second week. They are demanding the resignation of attorney-general Consuelo Porras, who they accuse of plotting to prevent Mr Arévalo from taking office. He won the presidential election by a landslide in August, but just hours later his party was suspended by the supreme electoral tribunal - a move widely viewed as an attempt to stop Mr Arévalo, a political outsider who has campaigned against corruption, from being sworn in as planned. Ms Porras argues that the party was not properly registered, but critics point out that she only launched her investigation after Mr Arévalo secured a spot in the run-off. The protests intensified last week as demonstrators blocked key roads across the country, causing fuel and food shortages and paralysing traffic. The outgoing president, Alejandro Giammattei, condemned the blockades, and asked Mr Arévalo to sit down with mediators sent by the Organisation of American States (OAS), to ensure a peaceful handover of power.

Left-leaning Luisa González and centrist Daniel Noboa have faced each other in the last debate before the run-off election on 15 October. The debate gave both candidates a platform to address long-simmering issues in the country. The economy remains Ecuador’s Achilles heel: at the end of 2022, debt alone accounted for 57 percent of the GDP. The other major issue facing the candidates is crime. Ecuador, once one of the most peaceful countries in Latin America, is now on track to become the third-most violent country in the region. In August, that violence spilled over with the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Quito. Since then, candidates have been wearing bullet-proof vests. Noboa is ahead in the polls, but many Ecuadorians have not yet made up their minds about who to vote for.

The Venezuelan government has announced that it has regained control of a notorious jail, which had been controlled by the powerful Tren de Aragua criminal gang. Some 11,000 security personnel stormed the Tocorón prison, which had been run by inmates for years and had hotel-like facilities including a pool, nightclub and a mini zoo. It doubled up as the gang’s headquarters. From it, Tren de Aragua ruled a criminal enterprise spanning several Latin American countries and reaching as far as Chile. Its members engage in human trafficking, run prostitution rings, and extort migrants. One commentator said that the clearing of the prison did not automatically constitute the end of the gang. ‘Their centre of operations has been closed down, but the leaders of this organisation and its cells abroad can continue functioning’, she said.

Elections in Guatemala and Ecuador are a test of democracy as both have a climate of corruption, tension and violence in politics. In Guatemala’s election on 20 August, anti-corruption candidate Bernardo Arévalo won, despite Guatemala’s court recently ordering his political party into suspension, triggering massive protests and unrest. He denounced the police raid that followed, stating it was an act of ‘political persecution’. Also on 20 August Ecuador voted for a president. Rampant crime blamed on drug gangs, a struggling economy, and a rise in unemployment and migration are the top concerns of voters. The candidate standing against corruption and organised crime was assassinated on 9 August. There was no outright winner on the 20th. The runoff will be on 15 October, between leftist candidate Luisa Gonzalez and businessman politician Daniel Noboa. Noboa wants to implement harsh policies in relation to crime, and talks about security, which appeals to those unhappy with the current political system.

From 7 to 9 August, eight Amazonian nations met in Brazil hoping to agree on future strategies to protect the rainforest while sustainably developing the region. President Lula called this summit for the eight South American countries sharing a slice of the Amazon. It is the first time in 45 years that there has been a meeting to ensure a regional response to combat deforestation, crime and climate change. Three days before the event, a pre-summit meeting of civil society representatives agreed on an alliance to combat deforestation, but each country will pursue its own conservation goals when the heads of state discuss and make decisions. President Lula said that previous meetings were just talk, talk, talk, and nothing happened, and this meeting is the first great opportunity for people to show the world what they want to do. Experts and conservationists have hailed the event as a turning point for the future of the Amazon rainforest. See also

Brazilian president Lula wants his Nicaraguan counterpart, Daniel Ortega, to free Bishop Rolando Alvarez, who was sent to prison for over 26 years for refusing to leave Nicaragua after Ortega expelled him with 222 other political prisoners to America. He had been locked up for sermons unflattering to the government. Because he refused to leave, he was sent to a maximum-security cell. President Lula said, ‘There is no reason for the bishop to be prevented from exercising his function in the Church. The only thing the Church wants is for Nicaragua to free him.’ While Brazil and Nicaragua have good relations, ties between the Vatican and the Central American state have been severely strained following a crackdown on anti-government protests in 2018, when the Church acted as a mediator between them. Lula said that Ortega should recognise that a mistake had been made.

Criminals in Peru have wrong-footed themselves during a robbery at a shoe store. Three people broke into a shop in Huancayo and made off with more than 200 trainers - but they were all for the right foot. The lame attempt at a lucrative robbery was captured by security cameras. Offloading 200 right shoes may not be an easy task.

13-year-old Marcelo and his younger brother leave their Venezuelan home at 4.30 am every day, to walk unaccompanied, in the dark, for 2 ½ hours, to attend school in Colombia. Their lessons start at 6.30. They slip into Colombia through informal border crossings known as trochas - dangerous rural dirt tracks weaving across the arid border, controlled by local armed groups, drug gangs and smugglers who often charge users a fee to pass through. In a sign of teenage bravado, Marcelo denies being scared of journeying through these crossings: he says, ‘I like coming to school in Colombia. They don't ‘have lessons where I live’. Venezuela's crumbling economy and socio-political crisis have pushed institutions to the brink. Rural schools are neglected, offering only a few lessons a week with a critical shortage of teachers. Official border crossings have reopened, but sadly few have the necessary papers to use them.

Protesters and relatives of police officers who were killed in the line of duty took part in a march called by their relatives amid an increase in violent crime, in front of the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago. Chile is one of Latin America’s safest countries, but its residents are becoming more worried after an upturn in violent crime and a spate of police killings. This month, the government passed a series of laws and allotted an additional $1.5bn to its police force. One of those laws, called the ‘quick trigger’ law, allows police to use force when they feel their lives are under threat. Many Chileans are still haunted by riot police actions during the 2019 protests, and human rights advocates say the new law could lead to impunity for police abuses.

People having a pre-Lent holiday at San Sebastiao beach had two feet of torrential rain. Sao Paulo state’s floods also claimed lives on carnival weekend. TV and social media showed entire areas under water, hillside houses swept away by mud, flooded highways, cars destroyed by fallen trees and more. By 23 February dozens were missing, 48 had died and rescue crews were scrambling to provide necessities, but the logistics of reaching the isolated towns was creating difficulties. Not all aid has reached survivors. Criminals taking advantage of the chaos are looting trucks carrying donations. Pray for the 1,730 displaced people in churches, schools and kindergartens and the 1,810 left homeless, the injured, and those looking for the missing. Pray for those mourning the dead. Amid such devastation a two-year-old boy was rescued from a sea of mud, as was a woman giving birth. See