Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on December 5, 2019 that Brazil’s refugee agency, CONARE, granted refugee status to 21,432 Venezuelans. Until then, CONARE had only granted asylum to 263 Venezuelans, and according to HRW, 224,000 Venezuelans are living in Brazil. In June 2019, CONARE concluded that “there are serious and [ … ]
On December 9, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned Venezuelan officials Gustavo Adolfo Vizcaíno Gil and Juan Carlos Dugarte Padrón, both members of the Nicolás Maduro regime, over their alleged participation in acts of corruption. In a press release, the U.S. Department of the Treasury indicated that during his [ … ]
Social media has emerged as an effective tool against the socialist regime. Although many Cubans lack internet access because of the State’s costly and controlled internet connection, young people are using technology to question the island’s political system. In 2019, dissident groups initiated protests via social media to show their [ … ]
U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Don Gabrielson, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/4th Fleet (NAVSO), hosted partner nation fleet commanders for a round table leadership discussion and luncheon, December 9. For the second time this year NAVSO has hosted these commanders to support strengthening partnerships among the U.S. and partner [ … ]
The economic crisis in Venezuela has endangered the survival of the Yukpa people, an ancestral indigenous community that has been forced to emigrate looking for food. For centuries, the Yukpa people have lived in the Perijá mountains, Zulia state, but for the past three years at least 350 of its [ … ]
Bolivia’s former President Evo Morales and his Venezuelan ally Nicolás Maduro will end up in jail, because both leaders have “killed many people” in their effort to cling to power, Bolivian Interior Minister Arturo Murillo told AFP in an interview. Murillo believes that conditions are being met for Morales and [ … ]
Evo Morales’ resignation as Bolivia’s president, amid electoral fraud and a serious administrative crisis, has worsened the social and economic unrest that afflicts Latin America. As a response, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela have intensified repression against their citizens. The former Bolivian president was a member of the so-called Pink Tide, [ … ]
On December 9, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke about the final report issued by the Organization of American States (OAS) on the presidential elections in Bolivia. In a press release, Pompeo listed the strengths of the institution’s post-election audit, and described the evidence found as professional and overwhelming. [ … ]
The equipment will be essential to counter narcotrafficking coming from Bolivia and Paraguay. Argentina has taken a step forward in the fight against narcotrafficking with the addition of mobile sensors as part of an Integrated Border Surveillance System. The devices, operational since October 1, 2019, join a structure already in [ … ]
Venezuela currently has 399 political prisoners, and 15,180 people were arrested for political reasons in the last five years, reported Venezuelan nongovernmental organization (NGO) Foro Penal on November 13. Gonzalo Himiob Santomé, the NGO’s director, said in a press conference that 20 of the more than 390 political prisoners in [ … ]
César Emilio Peralta, a Dominican known as the “King of cocaine” and accused of sending thousands of tons of drugs from the Caribbean to the United States and Europe, was arrested on December 2 in Colombia, authorities reported. Peralta, 44, also known as “the abuser,” was captured in the Bocagrande [ … ]
Sixty percent of Venezuela’s private companies have shut down over the last 20 years, according to data the Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Production (Fedecámaras, in Spanish), presented the Venezuelan National Assembly in mid-2019. Fedecámaras said 370,000 of the 620,000 active businesses in 1998 have now disappeared. Of [ … ]
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