Ayotzinapa – Ten Years – by Jordana Timerman

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa. Their families continue to struggle for answers and justice, reports Animal policy.

The Ayotzinapa case illustrates the phenomenon of macrocrime, in which security forces, organized crime and economic elites “work together and create criminal networks that rely on extortion, human trafficking, illegal arms trade and other forms of corruption to generate profits and prosper,” according to National Security Archives senior analyst Kate Doyle. Related to this is a system of macro impunity, where these same actors “work together to ensure that a justice system cannot function.”

Lucía Cholakian Herrera spoke to anthropologist Claudio Lomnitz: “Ayotzinapa has brought the issue of disappearances in Mexico to international attention. However, it does not seem to have changed the course of events regarding the search for the disappeared. It is very interesting – and sad – that the social movement that emerged from it did not succeed in creating transitional justice. It could have happened, but it did not. The obsession with the 43 has become a propaganda tool that the government uses to show that it is doing something.” (Nacla)

“To move the case forward, it is necessary to share information and listen to the proposals of the families and their representatives in a respectful and fact-based dialogue,” he said. WOLAcalling on Sheinbaum’s new administration to “renew this dialogue and overcome the government’s current tense relationship with the families.”

The 43 are just the tip of the iceberg of disappearances in Mexico: “More than 100,000 people have disappeared in Mexico, a staggering human rights catastrophe. A combination of escalating cartel violence and government impunity has left tens of thousands of people missing, many dead and buried in unmarked graves, others kidnapped and forced to work for organized crime,” reports the Guardian.

The city of Iguala was already in a crisis of insecurity and kidnappings long before the day the 43 students disappeared, reports say. Animal policy.

Ecuador

• A new one InSight Crime research dissects the dynamics of organized crime in Durán, an Ecuadorian city across a river from Guayaquil, and provides important context for understanding the country’s security decline.

• “Durán, a municipality of more than 300,000 people in Ecuador’s coastal Guayas province, has undergone a dramatic transformation from a thriving commercial center to a violent hub of criminal activity,” writes Anastasia Austin. “This shift reflects broader challenges facing Ecuador and offers critical insights into the complex interplay of social, economic, and criminal factors that shape security in the country.” (InSight Crime)

• As part of the research, Stephen Dudley describes how the pacification process of the Latin Kings in Ecuador initially succeeded in reducing violence and reintegrating its members into society. However, political shifts and internal divisions, combined with increasing pressure from criminal organizations, led to the demise of the initiative.InSight Crime)

• Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa abruptly canceled his work at the United Nations yesterday and returned home after a suspect was arrested in connection with an arson attack in Quito.Mercopress)

Chile

• “Chilean lawmakers have given final approval to legislation that will end tax evasion and increase government revenue, handing President Gabriel Boric a victory just days before he announces the 2025 budget,” the report said. Bloomberg.

Venezuela

• Venezuelan opposition leader Enrique Márquez, backed by more than a dozen former Chavista officials, has asked the country’s Supreme Court to annul the validation of President Nicolás Maduro’s much-debated re-election bid, reports AFP.

• Brazil and Colombia have agreed not to recognize Maduro’s alleged re-election until authorities present detailed results of the July 28 elections, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in an interview with the media.The country)

• Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil spoke at the UN General Assembly yesterday — to a nearly empty auditorium as most of the delegations left — and insisted that Venezuelan voters overwhelmingly re-elected Maduro, despite evidence to the contrary. (The country)

Haiti

• Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille said his country was far from winning the war against armed gangs that control much of the capital. He was speaking at a UN General Assembly meeting a week before the UN’s long-awaited deadline for international aid, according to reports Reuters.

• Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo said his country would send 150 military police officers to help Haiti fight violent gangs.Associated Press)

• Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader warned the UN General Assembly yesterday that his government would take “drastic measures” to protect the country if a UN-backed mission in Haiti targeting gang violence fails.Associated Press)

• The US Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Prophane Victor, a former Haitian lawmaker and political party leader whose tight grip on the Artibonite region has contributed to a climate of gang terror, along with the head of a powerful gang he allegedly helped form in the region, the Miami Herald.

Migration

• Former US President Donald Trump said he would deport hundreds of thousands of immigrants who entered the country under two key programs of the Biden administration if he wins the presidential election in November.Associated Press)

El Salvador

• A verdict is expected soon in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ landmark abortion case, Beatriz v. El Salvador. “The parties and their respective allies have taken drastically different public approaches as they await the verdict,” reports The lighthouse. Allies of the victim “call for justice, legalization of abortion access and recognition of the state crime of torture,” while “organizations, academics and spokespeople who have sided with the representatives of the Salvadoran state attack the independence and credibility of the Court and the magistrates.”

Regional

• A new one Amnesty International podcast on abortion access featuring human rights advocates like Venezuelan teacher Vannesa Rosales, who helped her 13-year-old student who was raped access a safe abortion, and activist Verónica Cruz Sánchez, founder of Las Libres – a feminist Mexican organization that coordinates a network of bold activists who send free abortion pills to women in the US

Argentina

• Drought and mismanagement have turned Argentina’s Colhué Huapí Lake into a virtual dustbowl. Now the race is on to save its sister lake from the same fate, the Guardian.

Peru

• Pope Francis has made the unusual decision to expel 10 people – a bishop, priests and lay people – from a troubled Catholic movement in Peru after a Vatican investigation revealed “sadistic” abuses of power, authority and spirituality.Associated Press)

• Poderosa, one of Peru’s largest gold mines, reported that a security guard was killed in a criminal attack related to illegal mining at one of its facilities.Reuters)

• Botanists are teaming up with flying paramotorists to explore rare vegetation in the misty coastal oases of Peru, one of the most fragile and inaccessible landscapes in the world, the Guardian.

Animal corner

• Scientists say a fossil of a Mexican dinosaur bolsters their case for a separate southern population of Tyrannosaurus: “Unlike its heavyset cousin, this animal had long legs and was lightly built, with large eyes that may have helped it hunt in low light and a heavy snout to help it pounce on helpless prey.”New York Times)

• Scientists are studying a previously unknown pod of killer whales feeding off the coast of northern Chile: “In 2018, a group of anchovy fishermen in Chile’s Mejillones Bay saw a pod of killer whales up close for the first time. Hundreds of sea lions entered and exited their nets, attracted by the fish characteristic of the area. Then the fishermen saw these large predators arrive in the ocean – led by a female, later named Dakota by scientists – who took advantage to approach the boats and corner the sea lions to feed on them.” (The country)