Back in 1983, Elliott Abrams, the assistant secretary of state for human rights under President Ronald Reagan, once suggested that General Ríos Montt’s rule had ‘brought considerable progress’ on human rights.
Didn’t know he said that. What a bald-faced lie. Thanks to NYT’s Elisabeth Malkin for reminding us. Another reason to keep calling Washington’s airport “National Airport.”

The New York Times

Santiago, Chile this morning. I was here today for a workshop on regional civil-military relations. Also (since I’m in a city where I don’t know a lot of people) I had some time in my hotel room to add 6 weeks of updates to this site’s Colombia peace dialogues timeline. Going back home tomorrow.

Santiago, Chile this morning.

I was here today for a workshop on regional civil-military relations. Also (since I’m in a city where I don’t know a lot of people) I had some time in my hotel room to add 6 weeks of updates to this site’s Colombia peace dialogues timeline.

Going back home tomorrow.

I guess I’m in Chile today.

I guess I’m in Chile today.

It’s only been a few years since Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt was not only judicially untouchable, but was one of Guatemala’s most powerful politicians. Backed by ultraconservative segments of Guatemala’s tiny elite, in the late 1990s he was president of the country’s Congress and leader of a dominant political party. The thought of this picture being taken — of the ex-dictator being led off to jail after a guilty verdict for the crime of genocide — was beyond imagination.

It’s only been a few years since Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt was not only judicially untouchable, but was one of Guatemala’s most powerful politicians. Backed by ultraconservative segments of Guatemala’s tiny elite, in the late 1990s he was president of the country’s Congress and leader of a dominant political party. The thought of this picture being taken — of the ex-dictator being led off to jail after a guilty verdict for the crime of genocide — was beyond imagination.

plazapublica.com.gt

“The river-delineated border between western Brazil’s Acre province (upper left), and northwestern Bolivia’s Pando Department (lower right), demarcates a remarkable difference in land use and development practices.” Picture taken April 16 by NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team, found in The Guardian.

“The river-delineated border between western Brazil’s Acre province (upper left), and northwestern Bolivia’s Pando Department (lower right), demarcates a remarkable difference in land use and development practices.”

photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov

AFP photo caption in Nicaragua’s El Nuevo Diario: “A group of young people expressed their discontent about the arrival [on Friday] of President Obama to Costa Rica.” The U.S. far right sees our president as a Muslim Socialist. The Latin American far left sees him, apparently, as a vampire. Quite a range of stereotypes.

AFP photo caption in Nicaragua’s El Nuevo Diario: “A group of young people expressed their discontent about the arrival [on Friday] of President Obama to Costa Rica.”

The U.S. far right sees our president as a Muslim Socialist. The Latin American far left sees him, apparently, as a vampire. Quite a range of stereotypes.

elnuevodiario.com.ni

Colombia, a distant third in population among Latin American countries, now has the region’s second-largest armed forces and its largest army. This buildup turned the tide in the conflict. But it has also altered the Colombian military’s relationship with its civilian leaders.
From a 3,500-word piece about civil-military relations in Colombia that World Politics Review published (and made available for free) yesterday.
From “Border Fact Check”: Has “lacking border security” led to a halt in commerce or a spillover of violence at the border? “Less than 10 years ago, a trip from my home state across the border to Nuevo Laredo, one of several Mexican border cities, was routine. As a result, commerce and culture flowed across the border, benefiting both countries. Today, after years of lacking border security efforts, such travel is almost unthinkable. Sadly, the border has turned into a magnet for spillover violence from Central American drug cartels.” — Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, in an April 23 op-ed published in Roll Call. Rep. McCaul is correct that organized crime-related violence in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, has diminished travel to that city. Our own interviews with business, social and law enforcement leaders in Laredo, Texas found that it had been years since most had crossed the river into Nuevo Laredo. But the Congressman, whose Austin-area district lies 250 miles from the border, leaves an incorrect impression that cross-border commerce has stopped, and that Nuevo Laredo’s violence is spilling over the border into the United States. More at “Border Fact Check”

From “Border Fact Check”: Has “lacking border security” led to a halt in commerce or a spillover of violence at the border?

“Less than 10 years ago, a trip from my home state across the border to Nuevo Laredo, one of several Mexican border cities, was routine. As a result, commerce and culture flowed across the border, benefiting both countries. Today, after years of lacking border security efforts, such travel is almost unthinkable. Sadly, the border has turned into a magnet for spillover violence from Central American drug cartels.”

— Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, in an April 23 op-ed published in Roll Call.

Rep. McCaul is correct that organized crime-related violence in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, has diminished travel to that city. Our own interviews with business, social and law enforcement leaders in Laredo, Texas found that it had been years since most had crossed the river into Nuevo Laredo.

But the Congressman, whose Austin-area district lies 250 miles from the border, leaves an incorrect impression that cross-border commerce has stopped, and that Nuevo Laredo’s violence is spilling over the border into the United States.

More at “Border Fact Check”

From an AP photoset posted by NBC News: “Migrants ride on top of a northern bound train toward the US-Mexico border in Juchitan, southern Mexico, on April 29.”

From an AP photoset posted by NBC News: “Migrants ride on top of a northern bound train toward the US-Mexico border in Juchitan, southern Mexico, on April 29.”

photoblog.nbcnews.com

guatepolitics: sihubogenocidio: U.S. President Ronald Reagan meets with General Ríos Montt after he came to power in 1982 via a U.S.-backed military coup. Ohhhh, Ronnie… Many Latin@s remember Reagan as the father of IRCA, which regularized immigration status for many Latin@s in the US. South of the border, though, he was kicking it with Ríos Montt and hand-waving at (correct) allegations that the US was supporting a genocidal military dictator.

guatepolitics:

sihubogenocidio:

U.S. President Ronald Reagan meets with General Ríos Montt after he came to power in 1982 via a U.S.-backed military coup.

Ohhhh, Ronnie… Many Latin@s remember Reagan as the father of IRCA, which regularized immigration status for many Latin@s in the US. South of the border, though, he was kicking it with Ríos Montt and hand-waving at (correct) allegations that the US was supporting a genocidal military dictator.

sihubogenocidio

I just returned last night from a long weekend in Northern Ireland. Along with a delegation from Colombia, I got to take part in a remarkable discussion about both countries’ peace processes. It was hosted by the University of Ulster’s International Conflict Research Institute.

We had a chance to walk around some of the historically conflictive neighborhoods of Belfast and Derry. In Irish Republican neighborhoods, we were struck by how often political activists used images of Latin American leftism to promote their cause.

Those who oppose British rule frequently displayed banners, murals and signs evoking the region’s “anti-imperialist” leaders, from Che Guevara to Hugo Chávez. Also on display were symbols of Palestine, South Africa’s ANC, and the U.S. civil rights movement. But the Colombian delegates and I were astonished to see Latin American leftists so frequently evoked.

At the end of March, the U.S. Border Patrol quietly posted to its site a new set of statistics [PDF] that depict a developing humanitarian emergency on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border. Charted here are remains of migrants found each year, in each of the nine sectors into which Border Patrol divides the U.S.-Mexico border. Once they make it over the border, an alarming number of undocumented migrants are dying of exposure, dehydration, or drowning on U.S. soil. Of the 15 years of data given, 2012 saw the second-highest number of migrant remains: 463, or five migrants dying every four days. Only in 2005 were there more (492). But in that year, Border Patrol captured [PDF] more than three times as many migrants as it did in 2005. The migrant population was far larger, but the number of deaths was similar. A much larger proportion of the migrant population is dying today. A big reason is tightened U.S. border security, which has led migrants to attempt the crossing in ever more remote, treacherous, and risky border zones — often, desert wildernesses very far from population centers. For the past decade, the most deadly of Border Patrol’s nine sectors has been Tucson, Arizona, which has also led all sectors in captured migrants. But that may be changing. Last year saw a spike in southern Texas, in the Laredo and Rio Grande Valley (McAllen-Brownsville) sectors. The latter sector also saw a doubling in captures of migrants from Central America [PDF] last year; it is likely that more than half of the dead were citizens of Central America, not Mexico. The situation is worsening rapidly: in just the first three months of 2013, Border Patrol has found a staggering 70 remains in the Rio Grande Valley sector alone.

At the end of March, the U.S. Border Patrol quietly posted to its site a new set of statistics [PDF] that depict a developing humanitarian emergency on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Charted here are remains of migrants found each year, in each of the nine sectors into which Border Patrol divides the U.S.-Mexico border. Once they make it over the border, an alarming number of undocumented migrants are dying of exposure, dehydration, or drowning on U.S. soil.

Of the 15 years of data given, 2012 saw the second-highest number of migrant remains: 463, or five migrants dying every four days.

Only in 2005 were there more (492). But in that year, Border Patrol captured [PDF] more than three times as many migrants as it did in 2005. The migrant population was far larger, but the number of deaths was similar. A much larger proportion of the migrant population is dying today.

A big reason is tightened U.S. border security, which has led migrants to attempt the crossing in ever more remote, treacherous, and risky border zones — often, desert wildernesses very far from population centers.

For the past decade, the most deadly of Border Patrol’s nine sectors has been Tucson, Arizona, which has also led all sectors in captured migrants. But that may be changing.

Last year saw a spike in southern Texas, in the Laredo and Rio Grande Valley (McAllen-Brownsville) sectors. The latter sector also saw a doubling in captures of migrants from Central America [PDF] last year; it is likely that more than half of the dead were citizens of Central America, not Mexico.

The situation is worsening rapidly: in just the first three months of 2013, Border Patrol has found a staggering 70 remains in the Rio Grande Valley sector alone.

Here is all $17.3 billion in military and police aid that the United States has given to Latin America between 1996 and the 2014 request. The trend since 2010 has been downward. The table used for this, listing every country in the region, is at our “Just the Facts” database here. 2 spikes on this graph: 2000 - Plan Colombia initial appropriation. 2008-2010 - Mérida Initiative aid to Mexico.

Here is all $17.3 billion in military and police aid that the United States has given to Latin America between 1996 and the 2014 request. The trend since 2010 has been downward.

The table used for this, listing every country in the region, is at our “Just the Facts” database here.

2 spikes on this graph:

  • 2000 - Plan Colombia initial appropriation.
  • 2008-2010 - Mérida Initiative aid to Mexico.

justf.org

Here is all $23.6 billion in economic and civilian institution-building aid that the United States has given to Latin America between 1996 and the 2014 request. The trend since 2012 has been downward. The table used for this, listing every country in the region, is at our “Just the Facts” database here. 2 spikes on this graph: 1999-2000 - Hurricane Mitch relief for Central America, and Plan Colombia initial appropriation. 2008-2010 - Mérida Initiative aid to Mexico, and Haiti earthquake relief.

Here is all $23.6 billion in economic and civilian institution-building aid that the United States has given to Latin America between 1996 and the 2014 request. The trend since 2012 has been downward.

The table used for this, listing every country in the region, is at our “Just the Facts” database here.

2 spikes on this graph:

  • 1999-2000 - Hurricane Mitch relief for Central America, and Plan Colombia initial appropriation.
  • 2008-2010 - Mérida Initiative aid to Mexico, and Haiti earthquake relief.

justf.org

Here is all $40.9 billion in total aid that the United States has given to Latin America, both military and non-military, between 1996 and the 2014 request. The trend since 2010 has been downward. The table used for this, listing every country in the region, is at our “Just the Facts” database here. 2 spikes on this graph: 1999-2000 - Hurricane Mitch relief for Central America, and Plan Colombia initial appropriation. 2008-2010 - Mérida Initiative aid to Mexico, and Haiti earthquake relief.

Here is all $40.9 billion in total aid that the United States has given to Latin America, both military and non-military, between 1996 and the 2014 request. The trend since 2010 has been downward.

The table used for this, listing every country in the region, is at our “Just the Facts” database here.

2 spikes on this graph:

  • 1999-2000 - Hurricane Mitch relief for Central America, and Plan Colombia initial appropriation.
  • 2008-2010 - Mérida Initiative aid to Mexico, and Haiti earthquake relief.

justf.org