After the outbreak of the most intense and massive social protests ever recorded in the history of Chile, on November 16 the government and most political parties signed an agreement to restore peace and public order and initiate a process to draft a new constitution.
On November 21 nationwide demonstrations began that drew hundreds of thousands of Colombians into the streets to protest against the Duque government. Just three years after signing the peace accords, more than 23,000 people have been killed in Colombia. Forty-three percent of the victims are under 25.
Evo Morales arrived on Tuesday, thanking Mexico for “saving his life” after the coup d’etat that has left Bolivia without a legitimate president and plunged the nation into chaos and violence.
Honduras is collapsing. The thousands of migrants who flee every day are direct testimony to a political, economic and social crisis that the world ignores and the U. S. government seems bent on perpetuating.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador delivered his first state of the union address on September 1 from a position of strength, in spite of the fact that the first nine months in office have failed to produce results in several key areas.
The overwhelming defeat of President Macri in the primary elections of August 11 and the failure to achieve any of the benchmarks agreed to in the Stand-By Agreement with the IMF a year ago, have produced economic anxiety with unpredictable social and political consequences.
If these hate crimes end up reducing Trump’s ability to use racism and attacks against Mexico in campaigns; if the people and congress are mobilized to demand gun control, if the deaths lead to a greater repudiation of Donald Trump, Steven Miller and his agenda, and if the López Obrador government finally becomes convinced that Mexico does not have to be a friend to a government that foments attacks on its interests and its people, the victims will not have died in vain.
There’s nothing “uncontrollable” about people applying for asylum. All the U.S. has to do is meet its obligations under international law.
Trump’s tariffs-for-crackdown tradeoff punishes Americans and Mexicans and doesn’t fix the border. It’s hard to imagine a more misdirected plan.
Brazil has been a democratic society for a mere 34 years. Bolsonaro’s efforts to keep alive the memory of the dictatorship, while he governs with the support of those who preach the return of an anti-democratic period is (or should be) more than a cause for concern.
