The Latin American Report # 394

My grandmother passed away last Sunday, victim of the repercussions of a powerful stroke at the age of 99. It seems that her hospitalization—in unfavorable hygienic and sanitary conditions—caused her to contract bronchopneumonia, which was fatally connected to underlying diseases. Faced with a very acute respiratory failure, we mobilized to look for an oxygen balloon, in an effort that demanded the participation of my cousin from Coral Gables, Florida, who has very good references in our Eastern town´s health services because she was a nurse here. Thus, we were able to bring her respiratory rate to normal values, and her life ended with the dignity she deserved. Now, as I write this and look at the empty space in her bed, a tear comes to my eye, because in spite of how difficult and demanding her care was, I wish, we all wish, to have her here, right now. We miss you grandma. May your kind spirit fly high, and, from that dimension to which we—still—do not have access, enlighten us.

Ecuador

Back to our daily Latam affairs issues, we start today's tour from Ecuador, where last Monday the government of Daniel Noboa reversed the controversial project to install a Bukele-inspired mega-prison in the middle of the Amazonia. The initiative of the Carondelet Palace received a resounding rejection from indigenous people—the Kichwa and Waorani ethnic groups are the predominant ones in Archidona, Napo province—and social movements that considered it detrimental to this important biome that extends across the northern part of South America. The coastal province of Santa Elena, where one of the two maximum-security prisons promised by Noboa is already under construction, will host the project. The Ecuadorian Ministry of Government argues that the intention is to strengthen citizen security in general—a narrative disputed by indigenous presidential candidate Leonidas Iza—and also to generate employment and boost the economy where the prison will be located. In any case, approaching the climate discussion, it is fair to note that the Andean country has just closed a second agreement to exchange debt for nature, which will allow it to invest US$460 million in conservation actions in its Amazonian swath.

_{People protesting in Napo against the mega-prison project (source).}

Bloody Guayas

Ecuador continues to be mired in a chronic crisis of violence that has its most complex point in the province of Guayas, particularly in the port city of Guayaquil, where last Sunday a new massacre took place that left seven dead. Apparently, the target of the operation was a 22-year-old member of a splinter criminal faction of the powerful Los Tiguerones gang. He was with his parents and a sister at the house of a healer who was conducting a spiritual cleansing to get him off the “bad path". All were killed when gunmen approached the healer's house firing indiscriminately. The night before, according to local reports, the man had been involved in a violent incident amid a broader, fierce dispute between Los Tiguerones Fénix—that of the hitmen—and Los Tiguerones Igualitos, to which he belonged. Two other victims were found half a kilometer from the gruesome scene in the healer´s house. In Guayas, nine out of ten people are afraid to go out at night, making it the region of the world where citizens have the highest perception of insecurity.

_Source

Bolivia

The political crisis in Bolivia threatens to become tense again, after the formal accusation made by the prosecutor's office against Evo Morales for a case of trafficking and rape involving a 15-year-old girl. This is an old accusation that resurfaced last September, in an offensive by the judiciary that the former president presents as a Great House of the People-fanned lawfare case to remove him from the political chessboard. Morales' confrontation with his former political associate and current president Luis Arce has impacted comprehensively—for the worse—in the Bolivian society, with costly road blockades and even the taking of military barracks by the so-called “evistas”. With the political conflict overheated, on Monday the Bolivian police returned to the Tropic of Cochabamba, after having abandoned their positions 48 days ago amid heavy clashes with these sectors loyal to Morales, in a state of alert again. The coca growers' union leader is protected in the Chapare, one of the provinces of the Tropic of Cochabamba and his main socio-political base of operations.

_Source

A Brief History of a Short Thaw

Ten years ago, simultaneous statements issued from Havana and Washington shook the world. Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced then the reestablishment of diplomatic relations and other measures aimed at “normalizing” bilateral ties. On an important note for Cuba on that December 17, three nationals serving life sentences in U.S. prisons—on charges of espionage—returned to the country. It is undeniable that in the 2015-2016 period the softening of the economic-financial sanctions applied by the U.S. government since 1960 was impressive for the standards of a complicated relationship—that is, Obama fell far short of using all his executive power to make more far-reaching changes. The scope of licenses allowing travel by U.S. citizens to Cuba was way expanded—plain tourism is prohibited by law—and the process of sending remittances was made much easier also, among other measures of lesser impact.

Many experts have argued that Cuba was not enough proactive in attracting more U.S. investment to capitalize on the window of opportunity opened by Obama, so providing a better armor for the new course. Then Donald Trump progressively erased the limited but tangible concretions of the short-lived thaw, tightened the sanctions, and ended placing more salt in the wound with the unfair inclusion of Cuba on the list of states sponsoring terrorism. The Biden administration done nothing but to enforce the Trump policy, except for very discreet modifications to the sanctions regime. With the island mired in a pitiful dynamic of economic decline, the controversial mogul's return to the White House does not offer many positive signs.

_{The AF1 approaching the Havana International Airport in March 2016 (source of the historical photo, shooted for Reuters by a Cuban photographer).}

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.