The Big Stories in LATAM
Gov considers martial law or negotiations in Bolivia, Venezuela goes after illegal mining and right-wing candidate in Colombia faces investigations he worked for a death squad
World Cup! World Cup! World Cup! Whenever the World Cup is happening LATAM is an amazing place to be. And all the football drama is currently capturing headlines, but there are still some crucial stories happening in the region worth keeping track of.
Bolivia considers negotiation or Martial Law as protests continue
Protests in Bolivia show no signs of losing momentum as protesters continue to man blockades across the country while demanding the resignation of President Rodrigo Paz.
Some unions in the country have called for a formal negotiation process with the government. However, they do not have universal support and some hard-line social organizations reject the idea of any compromise short of a new government.
Meanwhile, legislation allowing the government the option to declare a “state of emergency” has passed, and the government is using the threat of effectively declaring martial law to bring those in the streets to the negotiating table.
Chile sent six metric tons of humanitarian aid as urban areas in Bolivia continue to suffer both food and medical shortages.
Venezuelan goes after illegal mining in Orinoco
The Venezuelan military conducted an operation against criminal groups engaged in illegal mining in the Orinoco region, in the south of the state of Bolivar, on June 9. The targeted operations encountered armed resistance near the Las Brisas-Las Cristinas mining complex in Las Claritas, an area that is controlled by non-state armed actors.
The military operation by the Venezuelan government represents a symbolic milestone for the Venezuelan government to demonstrate security gains as they face considerable pressure from the United States to exert control of copper,gold and rare earth mineral reserves in the country. The deployment was carried out just days after a group of international investors visited the region.
The deployment is even more curious on the news that a joint Venezuelan-US operation killed the leader of the Tren de Aragua in the same region at roughly the same time.
Is Venezuela bowing to US pressure to secure valuable mining resources for foreign investors? Yes. Will they follow through? We have no idea. It very much bears watching. Notable, however, is that Venezuela has so far not gone after Colombian rebel groups ELN or Segunda Marquetalia in the region, who have tenuous alliances with Caracas and far more capable militarily than Venezuelan prison gangs.
Ultra-right Trump endorsed Colombian Presidential candidate faces investigation into his paramilitary ties
The leftist candidate in Colombia’s election race, Senator Ivan Cepeda, announced a criminal complaint against his far-right opponent, Abelardo de la Espriella, for allegedly belonging to the now-defunct paramilitary organization AUC.
In a press conference, Cepeda said that his team filed a criminal complaint before the Prosecutor General’s Office and the International Criminal Court to investigate whether De la Espriella “directly belonged to and acted as part of the AUC” as the then-director of FIPAZ.
FIPAZ was an NGO that was created by the AUC commanders “to expand their social influence and by utilizing the organization’s resources” while they were negotiating their demobilization with the government of former President Alvaro Uribe.
De la Espriella’s history as a representative and founder of FIPAZ is public knowledge, but he claims he only advocated for them and was never a member. Cepeda’s formal accusation goes further, saying that he was an active beneficiary and member of one of Latin America’s most infamous death squads.
De la Espriella is currently leading in polls for elections to be held June 21.
reporting from our sister organization Colombia Reports
The Other Big Stories in LATAM
US musician Oliver Tree died in a helicopter collision in Brazil. The alt-pop US musician and internet personality Oliver Tree was among six people who died when the helicopter he was travelling in collided with another in Brazil. (BBC)
Colombia has become the first Latin American country to ban female genital mutilation. The indigenous-led movement has a fascinating history, and Al Jazeera has a great feature on how, among the Embera people especially, this has been a years-long feminist struggle.
Milei’s Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni is embroiled in a massive scandal due to investigations into his lavish lifestyle in Argentina. Former aides describe a life of relative poverty that changed radically once he entered government. He claims he found a bunch of bitcoin on a flash drive that he forgot he bought (haha.)
