The Latin American Report # 150

Latin America is drowning

These days I have been forced to touch on the immigration issue repeatedly. Unfortunately not for the better, as the context is not flattering for the tens of thousands of migrants who are now on their way to the southwest border of the United States—because everything indicates that the rules for requesting asylum or benefiting in general from the US immigration system will be more restrictive—, or for those of us who live in a Latin America from which blood, extortion, drugs, corruption sprout, and is doomed to experience an economic earthquake that either swallows us up or expels us. This regional context is not going to change, between the natural and intentional inoperativeness of our governments, the political paralysis of the civil society, and the inconsistency of the powerful nations and supranational organizations that don't direct resources to attack forcefully the root problems previously exposed.

There has been much consternation over two events related to the migratory crisis in the last few hours. The first was the painful drowning—all the more so because the scene was recorded and broadcast—in the waters of the Rio Grande of two sons of Latin America, one Venezuelan, named Carlos Leon, and the other Haitian, Jackson Muscar, in the desperate sight of their families and other witnesses to the tragedy, witnesses to the crisis. The breakdown of this society is not under discussion, it is a fact, but in the face of events like these, we always wonder if we have not already been through too much for there to be a turning point, for there to be a cry that reverberates throughout the world that alone will give birth to something new, something better, for these people, for us. Starting by not turning it into a shameful volleyball to determine which country between Mexico and the United States is responsible for finding those who are swallowed by the river, when both are directly responsible for the loss of the happy, dreamy, and hopeful souls of Leon and Muscar, without taking away the responsibility of the governments of their countries in the fatal outcome.

A shipwrecked childhood

Yesterday, Saturday, Amira Isabela Mendoza Torrealba, a Venezuelan child of only 4 years of age died in a shipwreck off the Nicaraguan coast, from which the Army rescued some thirty migrants including Venezuelans, Ecuadorians, Colombians, and even Indians (in France, by the way, a plane with about 300 Indians heading towards Nicaragua is immobilized, under the presumption that a case of human trafficking was being carried out). The military organ communicated that it "carried out search, rescue, and salvage of 30 persons, who were shipwrecked on board an unknown vessel, in the position φ=12°05'10 "N - λ=083°00'40 "W, 5 nautical miles southeast of Corn Island, Autonomous Region of the South Caribbean Coast, when the vessel was moving from San Andres towards Corn Island".

_{Cayo Albuquerque, an atoll located in San Rafael, Colombia (source of image).}

Six other Venezuelan minors were part of the ill-fated voyage. The maritime route exposed by the Nicaraguan authorities has become an alternative to the very dangerous Darien Gap, a natural border between South America and Central America through which more than half a million people have passed this year alone, a not at all positive record. But there is no peace for the migrant, neither by land nor by sea, subject to both stubborn nature and "human" perfidy. In October, about 40 people left San Andres for Corn Island—whose surrounding crystalline waters also become turbulent due to climate changes—, all missing so far. Most were Venezuelan nationals, including pregnant women and close to 20 minors, whose last known whereabouts was Cayo Albuquerque, in San Andres.

But people here dream on

A new caravan of about 10,000 people, a third of them under the age of 14, was leaving this Sunday the crowded southern state of Tapachula, Mexico, to the inhumane razor-wire fence with which Greg Abbott welcomes them to America. Thousands of "highly vulnerable" people are also traveling, including pregnant women and the elderly. Although the number of migrants by country is not specified, I assume that most are Latin American (there are Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans, Ecuadorians, Peruvians, Brazilians, and Nicaraguans), although Asian and African migrants are also part of the caravan. These people will celebrate Christmas dreaming of America, the one with the graciously stocked supermarkets, not the one presented by Childish Gambino.

The Mexican immigration system continues to be overwhelmed by the uncontainable avalanche of migrants. Just see the case of a Cuban who registered in August with the Mexican agency that manages assistance to refugees, and who after having lost money and suffered other extortions and humiliations still does not have the documents to travel freely through the nation presided over by AMLO. He still says, foolishly, that he would rather be killed on the road than return to Cuba. A Honduran woman who left fleeing "crime, violence and economic asphyxiation"—in other words, a crisis much greater than what her Cuban traveling companion thought he was facing—, said they needed to move at least as far as Mexico City "because there are greater opportunities", given the lack of response from the authorities in this migratory swamp that Tapachula has become for many. Below I share footage of the moment when they would have started their march, although here the talk is about more than 5,000 migrants, not 10,000. May they achieve all their dreams, whatever they may be.

This morning a migrant caravan led by activist Luis Rey Garcia Villagran departed Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.

He claims they’re over 5k. It includes people from Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela pic.twitter.com/uayn4rby2x

— Auden B. Cabello (@CabelloAuden) December 24, 2023

The quick regional roundup

• An Argentine court has filed a writ of amparo seeking to declare as unconstitutional a controversial decree presented by the still recently installed Argentine President Javier Milei, which considerably reduces the State's ability to intervene in the management of the economy. Those promoting the appeal allege that the initiative of the so-called ultra-libertarian—who arrogates to himself extraordinary legislative powers based on the state of the Argentine economy and a decision of the Supreme Court of Justice—amounts to a "deviation of power and an abuse of public law, for violating the republican principle, the division of powers, democracy, the principle of reservation of law and the collective rights of Argentine citizens to participate in the management of public affairs directly or through their representatives." The Argentine streets have been very hot since the announcement of the decree.
  

• It has been a fateful weekend in the region, mourned by the occurrence of several accidents with numerous loss of human lives. Five people died yesterday in a plane crash in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with the even more tragic loss of a four-year-old child. In Nicaragua, about twenty people on their way to a spiritual retreat in Matagalpa died, while about thirty were injured in a bus accident in Puente Mancera. The bus crashed against a bridge and remained suspended in the air, and it is hypothesized that it was being driven at excessive speed. Among the victims were eight minors. And in Cuba, five people died as a result of a massive traffic accident on Saturday, in a town located two hours away from the capital. Two of the victims died instantly, and one of the injured was reported to be in critical life-threatening condition at last reports.
  

• Panamanian authorities seized more than two and a half tons of drugs yesterday, capturing four men responsible for the stash, found in an area of the Pacific on the border with Costa Rica. The Public Ministry said that the illicit cargo was divided into just over 2,600 packages of approximately 1 kilogram. In the Dominican Republic, about one and a half tons of cocaine were recovered by anti-narcotics forces after chasing a speedboat whose crew managed to enter an area known as Boca Canasta. The drugs were found in one of the three vehicles seized in a beach area; four Dominicans were arrested. A heavily armed criminal commando stole 2,000 gallons of gasoline in the Colombian Pacific, which were being transported in a Navy vessel, although they were being guarded by a contractor company.
  

• In Peru, an agent disguised as Santa Claus was the key element in an operation carried out in a dangerous neighborhood located north of Lima, targeting a gang dedicated to drug micro-trafficking, an entrenched phenomenon in the Andean nation. Undercover agents caught two men dealing coca base and marijuana in a house in the city of Huaral, as police often distract crime on festive dates like Christmas. This time, the good Santa Claus broke down the door of the raided house "with a big sledgehammer", arresting one of the suspects. Almost two months ago, in the context of Halloween, agents in disguise arrested members of a criminal organization also dedicated to micro-trafficking, who at first thought it was a joke.
  

• Finally, in an act contrary to what is needed to guarantee peace in the region, the United Kingdom has announced that it will deploy a naval ship off Guyana before the end of the year, something that may fuel the conflict that this nation maintains with Venezuela over jurisdiction over the Essequibo, a resource-rich zone that it administers de facto. Now when Venezuela and Guyana agreed to de-escalate bilateral tensions after the Miraflores Palace called for a controversial referendum that symbolically ended up annexing the disputed region to Venezuela, the United Kingdom is clouding the atmosphere instead of helping to air it. Winds of war have been blowing, with Brazil acting as a mediator. We have spoken at length here of this acute historical conflict, in the course of which Venezuela was dispossessed using spurious and arrogant procedures of Guayana Esequiba.
  

And this is all for our report today. I have referenced the sources dynamically in the text, and remember you can learn how and where to follow the LATAM trail news by reading my work here. Have a nice day.