Ecuador’s Constitutional Court gave lawmakers permission to proceed with impeachment hearings on embezzlement accusations against President Guillermo Lasso. But the court ruled against letting two other accusations relating to alleged abuse of power to move forward.

Lawmakers this month backed a report accusing Lasso of connections to possible crimes against state security and public administration, amid investigations by the attorney general’s office into suspected graft at state companies.

Allegations have been raised that the president’s brother-in-law, Danilo Carrera, has links with public officials involved in corruption and drug trafficking. In urging the court to reject the matter, Lasso said there was no evidence to justify the accusations.

The ruling permits the National Assembly to advance the impeachment motion, but but does not constitute a backing of the claims by judges. Lasso maintains his innocence.

The opposition-dominated National Assembly now has up to 45 days to complete the impeachment process against Lasso. Removing the president will require the votes of at least 92 of the 137 legislators.

Ecuador’s constitution permits the president to dissolve the National Assembly and rule by decree for six months until new general elections, but it’s not clear that Lasso would do this.

Earlier this week, Ecuador’s largest Indigenous organization — the CONAIE — called on the Constitutional Court to permit the impeachment hearings. (Reuters)

The court, however, criticized the National Assembly’s petition for “lack of neatness”.

(EFE, Associated Press, Reuters, Univisión)

Migration

• The viral video in which guards at a Mexican immigration center appear to abandon inmates in a locked cell on fire — an incident that killed 39 people — have put an unfavorable spotlight on Mexican, and U.S., migration policies. (See yesterday’s post.)
  
  
• The deaths are being investigated as suspected homicides, a prosecutor has said, accusing those in charge of doing nothing to evacuate the victims. “None of the public servants or the private security personnel took any action to open the door for the migrants who were inside,” Sara Irene Herrerias, a prosecutor specializing in human rights, said. (Guardian)
  
  
• The video has caused an uproar in Mexico, with the opposition, Catholic Church leaders, human rights groups and even government allies demanding an end to such abuses. Pope Francis called Wednesday for prayers for the victims, reports the Washington Post.
  
  
• Ciudad Juárez and other cities along Mexico’s border with the U.S. have been under particular strain since changes to the U.S. migration policy permit authorities to send Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan asylum seekers to Mexico — leaving many migrants in limbo on the Mexican side of the border, reports the New York Times.
  
  
• Rights advocates say the increase in arrivals in Mexican border towns has raised tensions between migrants and authorities — many put the moral weight of the tragedy on U.S. migration policies, reports Al Jazeera.

Haiti

• The kidnapping of a Haitian-U.S. couple from Tamarac in Haiti, and its ongoing aftermath, “show how the brunt of Haiti’s kidnapping scourge is being borne not just by those who fall victim, but by relatives abroad,” reports the Miami Herald.

Colombia

• Tallying births and deaths is a critical public health measure, but challenges in rural Colombia demonstrate the difficulty in carrying it out, reports the New York Times Magazine.

Brazil

• Former President Jair Bolsonaro returned to Brazil, today, he was greeted by hundreds of supporters at Brasília airport. It’s his first trip back to the capital since he departed for the U.S. just before his term ended. (Guardian, Washington Post)
  
  
• His return could complicate the Lula administration if he succeeds in mobilizing the opposition, reports the Financial Times.

Regional

• The aftermath of the SVB collapse has pushed Latin American efforts to gain some independence from U.S. banking institutions, including a variety of financial institutions, which would aim to prop the Latin American startup ecosystem back up, reports Rest of World.

Fashion

• The New York Yankees cap “has become its very own fashion trend, unmoored from the sport or the team it represents,” reports the New York Times, looking at the baseball fan headgear’s surprising ubiquity in Brazil.

Jordana Timerman/Latin America Daily Briefing