Haiti's presidential council accused of corruption

Haiti

• Accusations that members of Haiti’s transitional presidential council have asked heads of government agencies for kickbacks to keep their jobs are unlikely to lead to criminal charges in a country where high-level officials are rarely prosecuted for corruption, reports the Miami Herald. But the allegations could have “serious repercussions for the U.S.-backed transition efforts” and “risk eroding the council’s already fragile leadership.”

• On Sunday, three former Caribbean prime ministers who were involved in the original political negotiations that led to the creation of the presidential council arrived in Port-au-Prince, invited by the council president. “The Caribbean leaders are looking at the Kenya-led mission’s efforts and the relations between Conille and the council. But they are also concerned about the bribery scandal,” reports the Miami Herald. (See also Caribbean Media Corporation.)

• CNN embeds with the Kenya-led foreign mission in Haiti: “A night patrol with troops from Kenya, which is leading the MSS, highlighted their fraught assignment, tens of thousands of miles away from home.” (See yesterday’s briefs.)

• Phenomenal World features a conversation with Sabine Lamour, Georges Eddy Lucien, and Ernst Jean-Pierre that “pushes us to view current events in Haiti beyond a crisis resolvable through military occupation, elections, and “good governance.” Rather, the struggle in question is one of historical proportions, waged between the people of Haiti and the neocolonial state. The conversation asks not just: who are the gangs? But also, why the gangs, and why now?”

Mexico

• Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada linked his kidnapping to the murder of local politician Héctor Cuén. The allegation that Cuén was killed in the same operative in which Zambada was kidnapped and flown to the U.S. where he was detained threatens to upend Sinaloa State politics, reports El País. Cuén was the political rival of governor Rubén Rocha, who Zambada said he was going to meet on the day he was kidnapped. (See yesterday’s post.)

• Mexican prosecutors — and the president — say they are considering bringing treason charges against the people who handed Zambada over to the U.S. “The odd response to the capture of a drug trafficker who had a $15 million U.S. reward on his head is based on an article in Mexico’s penal code that lays out prison sentences of up to 40 years in prison for treason,” reports the Associated Press. (See yesterday’s post.)

• Mexico’s federal attorney general’s office said in a statement on Sunday that the crimes committed in the Zambada abduction to the U.S. include murder, kidnapping and unlawful detainment of a person, illicit use of a flight, illicit use of aerospace facilities as well as immigration and customs violations. (Reuters)

• Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador developed a cozy relationship with former U.S. President Donald Trump: in exchange for NAFTA’S renegotiation and U.S. disinterest, AMLO made Mexico into the wall against migration that Trump promised in his first campaign, Carlos Bravo Regidor tells Pablo Touzon in an interview for Revista Panamá. That sort of collaboration is unlikely between incoming president Claudia Sheinbaum and a hypothetical Trump 2.0, he notes.

• “Authorities and healthcare providers in the state of Mexico, the nation’s most populous state, are failing to guarantee access to abortion care, even in cases in which it is permitted under state law,” according to a new Human Rights Watch report.

Venezuela

• The U.S. Biden administration said it has not made an offer of amnesty to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to shield him from criminal prosecution in the United States in exchange for him giving up power in the aftermath of last month’s contested presidential election, reports Reuters. (See yesterday’s post.)

• Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro called for the state to use an “iron fist” in response to protests following last month’s contested presidential election. As the official protest death toll rose to 25, Maduro urged “severe justice” for violence he blames on the opposition, reports AFP.

• United Nations human rights investigators called on Maduro to stop the “fierce repression” being carried by his security forces in the aftermath the election.

• In a statement published this week, the UN’s fact-finding mission to Venezuela condemned Maduro’s “escalating” crackdown, during which more than 100 children and teens have been detained. The UN investigators said they had recorded 23 deaths, the vast majority caused by gunfire and nearly all young men. (Guardian)

• “It is especially troubling that so many people are being detained, accused or charged either with incitement to hatred or under counterterrorism legislation,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement. “Criminal law must never be used to limit unduly the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.” (Associated Press)

• Venezuelan journalist Luz Mely Reyes details the modus operandi of government repression against opponents: “The videos circulating on social media, the testimonies of human rights defenders and the stories of relatives of victims of repression coincide. Hooded officers intercepting victims. Without arrest warrants. They dismantle doors to break into homes. Forced disappearances of hundreds of people who are prohibited from contacting lawyers. Charges with terrorism crimes. In some audios, uniformed officers can be heard telling victims: “Collaborate.” Subsequently, state agencies have published videos in which they expose the detainees, mock them and threaten to continue the repressive campaign.” (El País)

• The crackdown against opponents includes many former Chavistas who have turned against the government over the years, alienated by corruption, human rights violations, authoritarian drift and, now, Maduro’s refusal to recognize the popular will expressed in the July elections, writes Reyes. (El País)

Ecuador

• Ecuador’s vice president, Verónica Abad, filed charges against President Daniel Noboa, accusing him of gender-based political violence. Abad said Noboa and cabinet members have sought to push her into leaving the post so she wouldn’t assume the presidency if Noboa runs for reelection. (El País)

• The Ecuadorian state has failed to eliminate flaring in the Amazing, despite a 2021 court ruling promoted by nine girls and young climate activists from communities of Sucumbíos and Orellana that ordered the elimination of “lighters,” according to a new report by Amnesty International.

Chile

• Chile’s salmon industry expansion has drawn repeated challenges from environmentalists and Indigenous people of the region, and prompted calls for a moratorium, reports the New York Times.

• Chilean presidential elections are next year — and pollsters say former President Michelle Bachelet is well positioned to run for the ruling leftist coalition, reports La Tercera.

• Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s tough stance on Venezuela has been well received by Chileans: his approval rate is the highest it’s been in over a year, reports El País.

Argentina

• Argentina’s Milei administration has proposed loosening gun regulations, with a bill that would permit legalizing illegally held weapons — the move would undo years of restrictive gun laws, and could feed into the illegal market, write CELS’s Manuel Tufró and Victoria Darraidou in Perfíl.

El Salvador

• “Turkish holding company Yilport will invest an estimated $1.62 billion to expand two ports in El Salvador and operate them jointly with the local port authority,” reports Reuters.

Olympics

• A number of of Caribbean countries achieved extraordinary results in this year’s Olympics Games, considering their size and GDP, reports El País: “Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Jamaica have won more medals than one would expect from middle-income and tiny countries.”

Culture Corner

• El Califa de Leon in Mexico City has been awarded a Michelin star, becoming the first taqueria to receive recognition from the French dining guide – France 24.

• “The discovery in El Salvador of a shrine to Santa Muerte, a female deity associated with the criminal underworld, has revealed how the new religious movement has become popular among criminal groups outside of Mexico,” reports InSight Crime.