Latin American countries reject Venezuela court ruling on elections

Ten Latin American governments and the US have rejected the Venezuelan Supreme Court’s confirmation of Nicolás Maduro’s much-debated claim that he was re-elected in July. (See yesterday’s briefs.)

Chilean President Gabriel Boric said: “I have no doubt that these elections were stolen.” Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo tweeted: “The Maduro regime is not democratic and we do not recognize his fraud.”

In a joint statement released today, the governments of Argentina, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and the US called for an “impartial and independent audit” of the vote, the Guardian.

The US said the ruling “lacks any credibility given the overwhelming evidence that (Maduro’s rival Edmundo) González received the most votes” in the July 28 election.

The joint statement also expressed “deep concern” about human rights violations committed by the government since the disputed elections.

Boric was categorical: “The Venezuelan dictatorship is not left-wing. A continental left that is deeply democratic and respects human rights, regardless of the color of those who violate them, is possible and necessary.”

Brazil and Colombia, which have tried to mediate negotiations between Maduro and the opposition, declined to comment on yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling.Information)

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador did not recognize the court ruling and called on the Venezuelan government to release the full vote results.Chair Vacía, The Jordan)

Yesterday’s ruling means negotiations will be more important than ever, writes Luz Mely Reyes in The country.

More Venezuela

• The US has drawn up a list of about 60 Venezuelan government officials and family members who could face sanctions in the first punitive measures since the disputed presidential election in July, the US said. Reuters.

Guatemala

• Guatemalan prosecutors have filed a request to strip President Bernardo Arévalo of the criminal immunity granted to his post so he can be charged with alleged abuse of power. The prosecutor accusing the president, Rafael Curruchiche, is on the U.S. State Department’s Engel list of corrupt and undemocratic actors and has been sanctioned by more than 40 countries.Reuters)

Mexico

• Mexico said it is sending a diplomatic note protesting alleged US interference after the US ambassador publicly criticized a proposed reform of Mexico’s judiciary, the Associated Press.

• Legal workers and judges have maintained an ongoing strike in protest of the proposed reform. They have taken their protest to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, reports Animal policy.

• Mexico City’s legislature yesterday approved the most ambitious rent law since the 1940s, the Associated PressThis measure limits rent increases to the inflation rate of the previous year.

Nicaragua

• Nicaragua’s Gov. Ortega closed another 151 nongovernmental organizations yesterday, continuing a series of closures that began earlier this week. Yesterday’s move affected some of Nicaragua’s most important trade organizations, including the American Chamber of Commerce, the Associated Press. (To see Monday’s briefing.)

• The Central American Bank for Economic Integration, an international development bank largely funded by democratic governments, has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in financing to the Nicaraguan government, while the United Nations and human rights groups have documented widespread killings, torture and forced exile of government opponents, a new report says. Washington Post research.

Haiti

• On average, five children have been killed or injured in Haiti in each week of the first six months of 2024. Most of the 131 children killed or injured so far this year were killed in crossfire between warring gangs and security forces, according to an analysis of UN Data by Save the Children. It’s a 47% increase from the last six months of 2023, when 89 cases were documented. (Guardian)

• The US sanctions against former Haitian President Michel Martelly “underscore the continued influence of the United States on Haitian politics,” writes Catherine Osborn in the Latin America in brief. The sanctions appear to be a show of support for current Prime Minister Garry Conille, who leads the transitional government and has apparently had a troubled relationship with Martelly, dating back to attempts to investigate international aid contracts between Haiti and Venezuela. “As Martelly has been considering a comeback, tensions between the two politicians appear to be flaring up again: last month, Conille ordered an investigation into a company run by Martelly allies.” (See Wednesday’s briefs.)

• Haitian police have arrested a suspect in connection with the May killings of an American missionary couple and a Haitian man who ran a nonprofit organization after an attack by gunmen, the Associated Press.

Argentina

• Argentina’s Congress has handed President Javier Milei a stinging defeat on pension payments, just a day after blocking a presidential decree on discretionary funding for the national spy agency. “All but one of the lawmakers who voted against the bill were from Milei’s party, a sign that the president’s allies have failed to negotiate with more moderate right-wing parties,” the Associated Press.

• Milei said he would veto the pension increase and accused senators of being “fiscal degenerates.” Lawmakers could override his veto by re-passing the bill with a two-thirds majority.Al Jazeera, Buenos Aires Times)

• Milei’s attempts to increase military spending while drastically cutting basic services are “fraught,” the Economist. “Milei has proposed using the armed forces to fight internal threats, such as gangs. But the idea is unpopular in a country ruled by a bloody military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983.”

• Indeed, Argentine politics continues to be rocked by the visit of several lawmakers from the ruling party to prisoner human rights violators. It is part of the Milei government’s attempts to undermine the significance of the crimes of the last dictatorship. Gabriela Vulcano reconstructs the uncomfortable excursion for Crisis.

Migration

• The US has expanded access to an app to request border control appointments in southern Mexico as part of an effort to ease migrant pressure in northern Mexico, the Associated Press.

• The Panamanian government has announced additional deportation flights for captured migrants in an effort to reduce the flow of mainly American migrants, reports Reuters.

Colombia

• The Colombian emerald trade “has suffered another blow to its reputation with the professional murder of a top trader. The killing has led to speculation about what criminal forces outside the jewelry industry might be at work, and what they might gain from the blow,” reports InSight Crime.

Regional

• “After decades of failed repressive anti-drug policies in Latin America, armed groups have expanded their reach far beyond the drug trade and now control vast swaths of land, agriculture, oil and politics in the region. They increasingly operate in a gray zone between legal and illegal trade, making it harder to trace the source of dirty money,” reports America’s Quarterly.

• A new report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development, Surya Deva, outlines four pillars and twelve human rights principles that are crucial to a climate justice framework: Caribbean updates only

Regional relations

• “Ecuador’s Coca Codo Sinclair (CCS) hydroelectric plant has become an infamous symbol of the controversies surrounding Chinese development financing in Latin America,” writes Julie Radomski in the magazine Auditorium blog“As such, the project’s performance has outsized implications for China-Latin America relations.”

Suriname

• Suriname has announced its first offering of sovereign carbon credits and made a bid to secure payment for protecting its forest cover, the Financial Times.

Uruguay

• New York Times‘ Jack Nicas met José Mugica and had a wonderful conversation full of aphorisms: “What a complicated animal man is. He is both smart and stupid.”

• Nicas also writes about the love story between two rebels who were in charge of Uruguay: Mugica and Lucía Topolansky.