Footage from a Mexican migrant processing center in Ciudad Juárez where 39 people died in a fire on Monday evening appears to show security guards walking away from inmates protesting in locked cells, even as a blaze appears. In the footage, men unsuccessfully try to open the barred door as smoke quickly spreads. (El Universal, BBC)

Organizations of civil society, including Human Rights Watch have called for a criminal investigation into officials at the center. (Aristegui Noticias) U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement that the secretary general called for a “thorough investigation.” (Guardian)

The fire has highlighted the increasingly tough immigration policies that have been put in place by the U.S. Biden administration, reports the Guardian.

“You could see it coming,” a statement from a group of advocates said. “Mexico’s immigration policy kills.”

About 400 migrants from Latin America gathered to protest yesterday outside the migrant processing center. Migrants have described instances of overcrowding in which an area meant to hold 20 people sometimes had double that number. (NBC)

The Washington Post reports that the building holds both migrants who have been detained on their journey through the country and people expelled by the U.S. Border Patrol under Title 42.

Cities along Mexico’s norther border are overwhelmed with people hoping to cross into the U.S., including many who are unable to obtain limited slots on a glitchy app required to obtain an asylum appointment.

“Scenes of overcrowding and desperation have been unfolding in recent weeks along the length of the border as the Biden administration prepares for yet another surge in migration this spring,” reports the New York Times.

More Migration

• The blaze at the Ciudad Juárez immigration center on Monday is only the latest in many deadly incidents involving migrants in Mexico in recent years — Reuters reviews several.

Peru

• Peruvian prosecutors are investigating President Dina Boluarte and former president Pedro Castillo for allegedly laundering money as part of a criminal organization, the attorney general’s office announced yesterday on Twitter. The probe is part of an ongoing investigation into alleged campaign finance crimes committed during Peru’s 2021 presidential race, reports Reuters.

Regional Relations

• U.S. State Department officials are consulting with Haitian grassroots organizations, academics and others to see how the United States can help tackle the country’s ongoing gang violence and instability. The consultations, have included discussions with over 230 individuals and organizations, reports the Miami Herald.
  
  
• The U.S. Summit for Democracy starts today in Washington DC, bringing together representatives from around 120 countries. But many foreign policy experts are skeptical. “Critics see the event as an inconsequential talk shop or an unwelcome showcase into the inconsistency of U.S. foreign policy on the world stage, as Washington goes to bat for human rights in some contexts and looks the other way in others,” according to the Washington Post World Views.

Cuba

• Cuban independent media outlets and civil society organizations questioned the Cuban government’s reports of high turnout in Sunday’s National Assembly elections. The government said 76% of voters participated, but independent groups issued a statement reporting several irregularities, including not publishing the voter rolls in time, allowing unregistered voters to cast a ballot, excluding eligible voters from the electoral list, and coercing citizens into voting by sending volunteers to their homes carrying the ballots, reports the Miami Herald.

Venezuela

• The Venezuelan opposition’s “lack of coordination and mobilization” will be a serious hindrance to a meaningful democratic opening during the 2024 elections. “To assuage each other’s fears, build trust and craft long-lasting programmatic and strategic commitments, candidates and parties will have to deemphasize their individual and partisan agendas and negotiate a series of internal “foundational pacts” to restore democracy in Venezuela,” argues Maryhen Jiménez Morales in Americas Quarterly, referencing the example of Chile’s Concertación

Brazil

• The Brazilian government’s economic focuses on “reindustrialization” and criticizing the country’s high interest rate “may be focusing too much on the past, and missing the opportunities that the country could seize today,” argues Laura Karpuska in Americas Quarterly.
  
  
• Sol Nascente, a favela outside of Brasília, is now Brazil’s biggest favela, surpassing Rio de Janeiro’s Rocinha favela, and underscoring the inequality between affluent public servants’ neighborhoods in the country’s capital and the district’s outskirts, reports the Associated Press.
  
  
• Brazil’s government reported the 700,000th death from COVID-19 in the country, which has the second most victims of the virus after the United States, reports the Associated Press.
  
  
• The Washington Post reports on a Russian spy who posed as a Brazilian student to infiltrate Washington DC foreign policy circles. “The GRU appears to have exploited vulnerabilities in Brazil’s immigration and record-keeping system, while also relying on inside help.”

Argentina

• Argentine President Alberto Fernández’s efforts to reform the country’s judiciary don’t address voters’ concerns in the midst of a crushing economic crisis, to benefit of the opposition Juntos por el Cambio coalition, writes James Bosworth in World Politics Review.

Critter Corner

• Two rescue centres in Peru’s Madre de Dios region work to rehabilitate the animal victims of illegal mining activities. (Guardian)
  
  
• Northern Mexico has developed such a habit of exotic animals and violence, that people not only keep tigers as pets — they steal them, according to the Associated Press.

Jordana Timerman/Latin America Daily Briefing