Regional Relations

• Several Caribbean governments — Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, the Bahamas, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago — and 16 U.S. states expressed support for Mexico’s appeal in a civil lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers. The brief from the Caribbean governments, which was joined by a network of non-governmental organizations, follows a summit among regional leaders last month held in the Bahamas, where arms trafficking was a key topic, report Reuters.
  
  
• A gun used in a deadly kidnapping of U.S. citizens in Mexico illegally came from the U.S., reports the Associated Press.
  
  
• U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Canada today is unlikely to lead to a major breakthrough on the issue of an international security force for Haiti, reports the Miami Herald. Though the U.S. has previously backed a multilateral “rapid action force,” the White House now questioned the need, and said that Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would be sure to discuss Haiti “from a security and humanitarian perspective.” (See Tuesday’s post.)
  
  
• Migration will top the two leaders’ agenda, as migrants at unofficial crossings in Canada swell. Most of the asylum seekers are fleeing conflict, poverty and political repression in Latin America. (New York Times, Guardian)
  
  
• Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s foreign policy doctrine “is one of restoring Brazil’s image and its relationships—not just with our Latin American neighbors, but also restoring Brazil’s presence in the world, on all the different kinds of world stages, be they bilateral or multilateral,” Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira told Americas Quarterly.
  
  
• In the face of growing competition between the U.S. and China, Brazil doesn’t have an “automatic alignment to either side,” said Vieira. “Automatic alignments do not bring positive results and results that are beneficial to the national interest. There can be losses when there is an automatic and unjustifiable alignment.” (Americas Quarterly)
  
  
• Lula has sought to create a group of countries to mediate in the Ukraine conflict. His efforts raise the question of “why peace and diplomatic negotiation are perceived in a global war as such dysfunctional options for those who promote it,” write Mónica Hirst and Juan Gabriel Tokatlian in FES’s newsletter.

Brazil

• Brazilian authorities said they have ousted most illegal gold miners from the Yanomami territory. The head of the federal police’s new environmental crimes division said it will remove miners from six more reserves this year. (Reuters)
  
  
• Police are setting up new Amazon bases and seeking international cooperation on law enforcement in the region, including the development of radio-isotope technology to prove the illegal origin of seized gold, reports Reuters.
  
  
• Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has taken steps to rollback his predecessor’s looser gun laws, and is now trying to get guns out of circulation. In April, he will pass a presidential decree forcing owners to sell firearms to the state that exceed the new three-per-person rule, or face arrest, Brazil’s justice minister, Flávio Dino, told the Wall Street Journal.
  
  
• Brazilian federal police announced a large-scale operation to disrupt a criminal gang accused of plotting the kidnapping and assassination of government officials in at least five states, reports Al Jazeera.
  
  
• A Brazilian government watchdog voted to give former President Jair Bolsonaro five working days to return to authorities a set of jewels he received from Saudi Arabia in 2021, reports the Associated Press.

El Salvador

• Eugenio Chicas, a historic leader of El Salvador’s FMLN says the Frente is “a dead man walking.” The fractured party should not run a candidate in the presidential election next February, he told El Faro, instead letting its members support opposition proposals from civil society.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

• The St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ High Court ruled against the Gonsalves administration’s country’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate earlier this month, siding with public sector workers who challenged the requirement. The government said it would appeal the decision, provoking protests from public sector unions, this week. (See today’s Just Caribbean Updates.)

Colombia

• Economic migrants from Venezuela and Colombians displaced by violence struggle to find food, water and work in La Pista, Colombia’s largest shantytown — Guardian.

Jamaica

• A New York Times photo-essay by Naila Ruechel documents religious practices in Jamaica — a course through the rich mix of Christian and Afro-centric traditions, from Obeah to the Revival church to Rastafarianism.

Culture

• A lawsuit by “dembow” creators could change the course of reggaeton — Guardian.

Jordana Timerman/Latin America Daily Briefing