The News Roundup is a regular feature of the blog where we select 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.
The Guardian view on NiUnaMenos: challenging misogyny and murder
Perhaps the movement’s greatest value has been in making connections that are often overlooked: challenging the lines drawn between categories such as domestic and stranger violence, and related judgments about the “worthiness” of victims or the importance of cases. The latest protest was sparked by the rape and murder of a schoolgirl. But in others, marchers have reacted explicitly to attempts to dismiss victims on the basis of factors such as their sexual behaviour. Not one less schoolgirl; but, equally, not one less sex worker, or gang member. Paradoxically, by focusing on the value of each and every woman’s life, the movement turns our attention away from what they have or haven’t done and towards the actions of violent men – which are, after all, what must change.
The sheriff’s nostalgia pointed to a wider truth: Walls are not just about whom a country wants to keep out; they are a mark of what it is trying to preserve, its idea of itself. With the rise of Mr. Trump, America’s sense of itself is suddenly less sure. And so I spent a week in the southern borderlands, flitting between Mexico and America, trying to figure out what, in this febrile election season, that idea might be. The fence itself is a formidable sight, spanning about one-third of the 2,000-mile frontier from California to Texas, and patrolled by about 20,000 agents. One of the most tightly guarded stretches is around the city of Nogales, which straddles the border.
Home Sweet Home? Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador’s role in a deepening refugee crisis
“Although countries like Mexico and the USA are utterly failing to protect Central American asylum seekers and refugees, it is high time for authorities in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to own up to their role in this crisis and take steps to tackle the problems that force these people to leave home in the first place.” “Millions of Central Americans are falling through the cracks, victims of countries that do not fulfil their responsibility to provide the international protection they need, and of their own governments’ utter inability and unwillingness to keep them safe from the most tragic end.” Amnesty International USA has asked President Obama to designate Guatemala for Temporary Protective Status (TPS) and re-designate El Salvador and Honduras for Temporary Protected Status because of the devastating increase in violence that has led to an acute humanitarian emergency in these countries. This will grant protection to people from those countries who have fled the violence of these emergency situations and are already present in the United States.
Blood Thicker Than Water? US Accusations Put Honduras President in Difficult Spot
To date, President Hernández has been a staunch US ally. For the first time in a century, his government began extraditing suspected drug traffickers. His government also started a special police commission, which has taken bold steps to purge the police from the top down, all with the president’s blessing. But the extraordinary series of public revelations in the past 10 days have put President Hernández in an impossible position. In addition to connecting the president’s family to drug trafficking, the accusations also hit one of the president’s most important allies: the country’s armed forces.
“The fact that Pac Rim – now OceanaGold – could sue El Salvador, when it has never had a licence to operate, is an abuse of process,” says Manuel Pérez-Rocha of the Institute for Policy Studies. “That these suits take place far from any transparent, independent court system undermines democracy in El Salvador, and around the world.” This case is part of what led the Government of El Salvador to decide not to issue new mining permits. That decision has widespread support in El Salvador; a recent poll of the University of Central America (UCA) indicates that 79.5% of Salvadorans are against any gold mining.
7 Years Fighting Against Canadian Mining Impunity in Guatemala
On September 17, 2016, just after midnight, unidentified men opened fire on Angelica Choc’s small, cinder block home in El Estor as she slept inside with two young children. Bullet marks were found the next morning on the walls of her house, and 12-gauge shotgun and 22-calibre bullet casings were found nearby. While no one was hurt physically, a clear message was sent. There is little doubt this attack was carried out by people linked to the criminal trial in Guatemala and possibly the civil lawsuits in Canada. “The fact that Angelica’s house was shot at just before the Guatemalan criminal court is to decide whether the former head of mine security is criminally responsible for the brutal killing of her husband is no coincidence,” said Murray Klippenstein, one of Angelica Choc’s Canadian lawyers. “It is meant as a signal to all involved, including the judge who must decide whether Mr. Padilla is guilty.”
800,000 Guatemala youths neither work nor study
Some 800,000 young people in Guatemala neither work nor study, and therefore represent a “risk” to society and to themselves as their unemployment becomes permanent. That was the alarm sounded in an interview with EFE by Veronica Spross, director of Entrepreneurs for Education, one of the 13 organizations that make up the NGO Latin American Education Network, or Reduca, which is coordinating an international seminar about school dropouts next Tuesday in Guatemala City. Nine out of every 10 children in this Central American country currently begin elementary school, compared with six out of 10 that did so 25 years ago, but only seven finish sixth grade. Furthermore, only 46 percent of school-age children make it into high school and a scant 24 percent graduate.
Nicaragua’s closed-border policy pushes migrants to take desperate measures
More than 4,000 people have been stuck in makeshift camps along Costa Rica’s border with Nicaragua for several months after the Nicaraguan authorities refused them entry. Most of the would-be migrants are from Congo, Senegal and Togo, as well as others from Haiti and Cuba. Local fishermen alerted residents in the nearby village of El Tamarindo, who brought water, food and blankets for the stranded migrants. They then took the migrants, some of them suffering from exhaustion and sunstroke, to El Tamarindo’s evangelist church. Within hours, however, Nicaraguan riot police arrived at the village with the intention of rounding up the Africans and taking them back to Costa Rica. They were initially confronted by local people who refused to allow them into the church. The police responded with baton charges, tear gas and by firing rubber bullets. Eventually, police stormed into the church, beating several of the migrants and then forcing them onto buses.
Haiti Presidential Election Rescheduled For November
Haiti will hold the first round of its long-delayed presidential election on November 20, reports Reuters. The country’s electoral council postponed the vote after Hurricane Matthew devastated the country last week. At least 500 people in Haiti died in the storm. Haiti’s electoral council president Leopold Berlanger said, despite the storm damage, large portions of the population should be able to vote, according to Reuters. “We want to be able to organize elections in all regions for all citizens, especially at the presidential level,” Berlanger told a news conference on Friday, according to the wire service. He said a second round runoff vote was scheduled for Jan. 29.
Formal Talks with ELN Set to Begin in Quito
While there is overlap on key issues between the FARC and ELN agendas, most experts readily admit that the process with the ELN is likely to be much more difficult than the one with the FARC has been. Perhaps the main reason is that the ELN does not have the kind of tight command-and-control for which the FARC is known. The distinct origins of the two groups have also defined quite different agendas. The FARC’s agenda has historically centered around rural, agrarian issues, while the ELN agenda has been more urban and with an intellectual and progressive social bent–a product of the Cuban Revolution, Liberation Theology, and Marxist philosophy. The demands of the ELN –for social justice, national sovereignty over natural resources (including extractive industries)–have traditionally been harder to pin down in a negotiations setting.
Bolivia’s fast-melting glaciers are leaving behind lakes that could cause catastrophic flood
Bolivia’s glaciers have shrunk by more than 40% in the past few decades. This puts further pressure on an already stressed water supply, while the meltwater lakes left behind risk collapsing in sudden and catastrophic outburst floods. That’s the conclusion of a new study of the country’s glaciers I conducted with colleagues based in the UK and Bolivia. Our results are published in the journal The Cryosphere. Although Bolivia sits in the tropics, the Andes run through the country like a spine. Many mountains exceed 6,000 metres, among the highest outside of south and central Asia, meaning that glaciers can exist here. Indeed, Bolivia contains around 20% of the world’s so-called “tropical glaciers”. But these glaciers are very sensitive to the effects of a warming climate. Our study shows that Bolivian glaciers have shrunk by around 43% since the mid-1980s – a period marked by increasing temperatures. We estimate that these glaciers will be much diminished by the end of the century.