Last Thursday, a Mexican government truth commission published its preliminary findings on the Ayotzinapa case, issuing a groundbreaking admission of state culpability. In 2014, 43 students from Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College were disappeared while en route to a demonstration in Mexico City about the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre. Only 3 students’ remains were ever identified, and the Enrique Peña Nieto administration’s handling of the case was seen by many as a cover-up of the events and potential state responsibility. AMLO had made uncovering the truth behind the case a campaign promise and created the truth commission shortly after assuming office. 

The truth commission found that federal, state, and municipal authorities were culpable, noting “Their actions, omissions and participation allowed for the disappearance and execution of the students, as well as the murder of six other people.” It is known that both municipal police officers in the town of Iguala, Guerrero and other gunmen from the local drug cartel the Guerreros Unidos shot and disappeared the students, but little is known about the actual details of what transpired. The cover-up of the case reportedly “extended to some of the highest national offices,” according to the truth commission. The New York Times also reports that the commission “confirmed that a military informant had been embedded among the students when they disappeared, meaning that the authorities were tracking their movements long before the attack took place, something that was previously reported by the local news media. That raises the possibility that the military knew at the time that something horrific had happened.”

Original state narratives surrounding the case placed the blame for the massacre and disappearances on local gangs. Former attorney general Jesús Murillo Karam, who presided over the original investigation of the case, was arrested on Friday. Arrest warrants have been issued for 83 total individuals allegedly involved in the case, including “20 military commanders and troop personnel from battalions 27 and 41 in the city of Iguala.” Findings from the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts released in March 2022 had previously indicated the active role of the armed forces in the case, with last week’s report further highlighting their contribution. (The New York Times, Milenio, CNN, WOLA)

More Mexico

• “Mexico is missing out on the opportunities of nearshoring at the expense of the private sector and, ultimately, the consumer,” as AMLO rebuilds the state-owned oil company Pemex and the state utility Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), writes Leonadro Beltran in Americas Quarterly.
  
  
• AMLO has deployed more than 200,000 federal troops across the country, more than double the amount of soldiers that have been on the streets in the past 16 years, reports LA Times.

Argentina

• The 90% expected inflation rate and subsequent devaluation of the Argentine peso has citizens investing in digital currencies as a more attractive savings alternative despite the vulnerabilities of cryptocurrencies, reports the New York Times. 
  
  
• On the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Trelew massacre, the Argentine government declassified documents pertaining to the murder of 16 insurgents during the Dirty War, according to Público. 

Brazil

• “There were 305 invasions into indigenous lands in 2021, compared to 263 cases the previous year, almost three times more than the cases reported by Cimi in 2018, when Bolsonaro was elected president,” notes Reuters. 
  
  
• Last “Wednesday night a senior federal police investigator was reported to have written to the supreme court asking for Bolsonaro to be questioned and charged with the crime of incitement, when someone encourages another person to commit an offense,” in relation to the Brazilian president’s spreading of misinformation about COVID, reports The Guardian. 
  
  
• Neither Lula nor Bolsonaro’s governance programs, should they be elected, mention China directly, reports Folha.

Chile

• Ana Rodríguez writes at the Chile 2021 Update a summary of recent news in the country, focusing on the upcoming constitutional plebiscite, set for September 4. Polls show the “reject” vote in the lead, ahead of the “approve” vote. 
  
  
• Chile experienced stagnant, below-expected growth during the second quarter of 2022, leading analysts to predict a potential recession in the country, reports Reuters.

Colombia

• Last week, the ELN freed five soldiers and one policeman held captive as a “unilateral humanitarian gesture″ ahead of planned peace talks with the Petro administration, says AP News. In return, Petro suspended the extradition request for ELN members in Cuba, according to Cambio Colombia.
  
  
• The Petro administration is interested in decriminalizing cocaine both domestically and at a regional level, seeking to meet with officials from neighboring Peru and Bolivia, reports The Washington Post.

Ecuador

• Prosecutor Federico Estrella became the latest victim of recent attacks against judicial officials in Ecuador when he was killed on August 15, according to Insight Crime. 

Panama

• A new citizen-led commission to fight against corruption was approved by Panama’s executive branch, reports La Prensa. The commission will be composed of various NGOs.

Paraguay

• Paraguayan Vice President Hugo Velázquez, who had indicated he would resign from office following a US accusation of “significant” corruption, reversed his position and will remain in office until he receives more details regarding the accusation, says Reuters.

Puerto Rico

• Governor Pedro Pierluisi publicly criticized Luma Energy—the private company contracted to run the island’s electrical network—following significant power outages that have left 1.5 million clients, including one of Puerto Rico’s largest hospitals, without electricity, according to AP News.

Uruguay

• Uruguay’s location between Argentina and Brazil has made it an ideal location for arms trafficking, with most of the arms coming in from Argentina, reports Insight Crime. 
  
  
• Uruguay’s ministers of the Interior and Foreign Relations are being investigated after providing the head of a narcotrafficking group, Sebastián Marset, with an urgently-needed passport, reports Ámbito. Marset is wanted by Interpol following his role in the murder of Paraguayan lawyer Marcelo Pecci earlier this year. 

Venezuela

• The sustainable harvest of cacao in Venezuela, forced to be sustainable due to high material costs and minimal land available, has helped create jobs and income for rural communities and has restored cut-down forests, reports Caracas Chronicles.

Arianna Kohan y Jordi Amaral / Latin America Daily Briefing
http://latinamericadailybriefing.blogspot