The renowned—and also controversial—NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has been publishing critical reports on certain countries in the region these days. In the case of Argentina, the HRW national report follows a similar one by Amnesty International also published this week, which was harshly criticized by Security Minister—and former presidential candidate—Patricia Bullrich because it lashed out at a flagship strategy of Javier Milei's Casa Rosada. About a disputed anti-protest protocol introduced by the Government of La Libertad Avanza, AI warned about the “excessive and illegitimate use of force” in at least 15 popular protests and also the mileísta rhetoric that sometimes seems to endorse repression. Bullrich, a politician of few lights, defended the record of the libertarian administration, alleging that for the first time in 25 years, the country is free of social demonstrations—quite disruptive when including the blocking of streets and highways—organized based on extortion and pressures of different kinds on their participants.
The denounced practice is true—in 2024 several scandals about the so-called “poverty managers” were uncovered—. Still, it does not include all those who demonstrated before or now, not even necessarily the majority. But it is also true that from Balcarce 50 it has been sanctioned to deal with protests with an “iron fist”—the case of a girl who was injured with tear gas in a protest was much discussed last year. Another narrative promoted by the owner of the Rivadavia chair in this order is that the right of “good Argentines” to work and move freely around the cities is being defended. The so-called “Antipiquete Protocol”, according to AI, has left 1,100 injured, some 30 facial impacts, and more than 70 people criminalized so far. HRW, for its part, defends that this scheme “criminalizes any alteration of traffic derived from a demonstration”, considering this form of protest as valid.
Pointing to the social impact of the orthodox fiscal adjustment advanced by Milei to defeat inflation, the New York-based NGO put the spotlight on how this “honesty” managing the economy has meant a sharp fall in poverty for many Argentines who did not know it and cuts in funding for social and health programs—some of them timely needed, such as those aimed at the care of cancer patients. While acknowledging the containment of violence in the city of Rosario, a sort of de facto capital of organized crime in Argentina, HRW also criticized the relaxation of regulations for the use of weapons by security forces, as it “allows the use of lethal force in too broad a range of circumstances and undermines both administrative and judicial accountability for police abuse.”
Sí, entendemos. Entendemos que los gobiernos se enojen con nuestro trabajo. De hecho, entre los países que desacreditan nuestros informes sobre el uso abusivo de la fuerza, armas menos letales y detenciones arbitrarias están, por ejemplo, Venezuela y Nicaragua. Tiene sentido:… https://t.co/6hWAQdKQZW pic.twitter.com/7juL5ET1bn
— Amnistía Internacional Argentina (@amnistiaar) January 13, 2025
Excarcerations in Venezuela and Cuba
The government of Nicolás Maduro—in the end, those who reside in Miraflores govern—released this Thursday the director of a renowned local NGO dedicated to promoting and defending the right to freedom of expression and information in the oil-rich nation. The activist had been imprisoned since days before Maduro's controversial inauguration, without any official explanation. Colombian President Gustavo Petro asked his counterpart in Caracas to release all prisoners related to the tense post-28J scenario. For its part, the Cuban government today released José Daniel Ferrer, the most high-profile prisoner returned to public life under an agreement reached between Rome, Washington, and Havana, which included the removal of the Island from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, announced last Tuesday. Cuba committed itself to release progressively more than half a thousand prisoners that the White House labels as “political”, but that in the Antillean nation are presented as “common criminals” or "mercenaries" connected to the White House's subversive agenda.
Ferrer, who described as “unworthy” the Biden-sealed negotiation that led to his release, is one of the few open “dissidents” who remain in Cuba. At the same time, many of those who have shown their opposition to the current political regime—established after Fidel Castro's Revolution in 1959—have left the country. However, in his case, we are talking about a “leader” of little intellectual light, without a clear political program, in whom the only thing that can be highlighted is precisely his consistent stance facing power. The release of Ferrer—whom Ted Cruz referred to during the confirmation hearing of Marco Rubio in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—may be a pleasant message for the coming administration of Donald Trump, especially if Havana adds later that of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, a controversial artist who, like Ferrer, has been imprisoned since July 11, 2021, when the strongest protests ever faced by the so-called revolutionary government broke out.
#ATENCIÓN | Primera entrevista para televisión que da el líder político cubano José Daniel Ferrer tras ser excarcelado por la dictadura cubana, luego de tres años privado de la libertad
— NTN24 (@NTN24) January 16, 2025
“La dictadura está muy asustada desde que fue electo Donald Trump y cuando se comenzó a… pic.twitter.com/Cn5ftfMGgr
Colombia
A UN official denounced the murder of five former FARC-EP guerrillas in violent Catatumbo, signatories of the 2016 peace agreement. The head of the political party that brought together the former guerrillas and their last commander, Rodrigo Londoño “Timochenko”, raised a claim to President Petro demanding guarantees in the face of “an ongoing genocide”. So far, 400 former guerrillas have been killed. The demobilization of the FARC-EP created a territorial power vacuum, fiercely fought over by different factions of the very FARC-EP that never accepted the agreement or took up arms again, the National Liberation Army (ELN in Spanish) and the Gulf Clan. HRW reported that by the middle of last year the Gulf Clan, recognized as the largest criminal organization in the country, increased the swathes of Colombian territory it dominates by 55% compared to 2022, the different FARC-EP dissident factions by 30%, and the ELN by 23%. In general, the control of these armed groups would reach half of the Colombian municipalities.
A social leader denounces that a war has been unleashed in Catatumbo by the ELN 👇.
#ATENCIÓN José del Carmen Abril, el popular Carmito, reconocido líder del Catatumbo, dice en este angustioso video que el ELN lo ha ido a buscar hoy 4 veces a su casa para matarlo. Está escondido y teme por su vida. Agrega que hay ‘muchos muertos y heridos’ y que se han llevado… pic.twitter.com/I80GcbiiYN
— Manolesco (@jhonjacome) January 16, 2025
Meanwhile, in Brazil 👇
Brazil's Supreme Court has denied a request by former President Jair Bolsonaro to temporarily restore his passport so that he could travel to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration. https://t.co/QjdrioiLOI
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 16, 2025
Wall Street Journal reports on the refusal of Brazil's Supreme Court censor Alexandre de Moraes to allow Bolsonaro to travel to Trump's inauguration (Trump invited him).
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 15, 2025
WSJ says it will damage US/Brazil relations, and Trump is open to tariffs on Brazil if "lawfare" continues: https://t.co/DQDeMTZEz9 pic.twitter.com/zX9D2RIOPQ
A Venezuela-related development resonating from Washington 👇
🚨🇺🇸🇻🇪 EDMUNDO GONZÁLEZ TO ATTEND TRUMP’S INAUGURATION
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 16, 2025
The U.S. invited Edmundo González Urrutia, recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate president, to Trump’s presidential inauguration.
González confirmed his attendance and plans to meet with members of the new administration.… pic.twitter.com/deDpmIAdGJ
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.
