Brazil
President Jair Bolsonaro started nationwide discussion when he ordered the nation’s military to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the 1964 coup that instituted a 21-year military dictatorship. The holiday was eradicated in 2011 under former president Dilma Rousseff, who is a torture survivor from the dictatorship. During the 21-year military dictatorship, over 400 were killed or forcibly disappeared, around 2,000 people were tortured, and almost 5,000 elected representatives removed from office. Many Brazilians view the military dictatorship as a time when human rights were violated, and responded to Bolsonaro’s order to celebrate the anniversary with fury.
Brazil’s ultra-conservative education minister, Ricardo Velez, resigned and backtracked on his proposals to rewrite school textbooks to refer to the 1964 military coup as a “democratic regime of force,” to make schools film students singing the national anthem, and to terminate “cultural Marxism” and gender-identity “ideology.” While Velez was not liked by many Brazilian educators, his replacement has been described as someone who “does not have good experience and does not show appreciation for the area.” Abraham Weintraub, an economist and university professor known for his right-wing conspiracy theories, will take over as education minister.
A heavy rain storm, which saw 6 inches of rainfall in just 4 hours, left at least 10 dead in Rio de Janeiro. Mudslides and flooding plagued the city as schools were closed for a whole day. Two months ago, a similar rainstorm killed 6 people and residents are pushing the government to be more accountable for preparing the city for recurring extreme weather.
Ten soldiers were arrested after firing 80 bullets into a car in northern Rio de Janeiro. Evaldo dos Santos Rosa was driving his family to a baby shower when the soldiers started firing on his car unannounced. Santos Rosa died and two others were injured. The soldiers reportedly mistook Santos Rosa’s car for one that had been stolen in the area, but they are charged with “noncompliance with the rules of engagement.”
Colombia
President Ivan Duque’s proposed changes to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) tribunal was rejected by the country’s lower house in a 110-44 vote. Duque asked legislators to review six parts of the law that regulates JEP, a court created in the 2016 peace accords that is in charge of trying former rebels and military leaders for war crimes. The proposal was expected to fail in the house, as the peace accord is part of the country’s constitution and requires a two-thirds majority vote to modify. Duque, who ran on a campaign of reforming the peace accord to be harsher on former FARC members, has struggled to pass his legislation through the divided congress since he assumed the presidency in August.
Peru
Former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, his secretary, and his driver were arrested for accepting bribes from the construction company Odebrecht in exchange for construction contracts while he was a cabinet minister under the Toledo administration. The order, which is part of the Lava Jato investigations that started in Brazil in 2014, also authorized the search of the properties of the three detainees, who will be in prison for 10 days.
United States
Migration at the US-Mexico border continues to be a contentious topic within the US government. President Donald Trump threatened on Twitter and at a rally to close the southern border if Mexico does not stop undocumented immigrants from coming into the United States. Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) previously stated that Mexico will do everything it can to counter migrant smuggling. Mexico’s Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, responded to Trump’s comments saying that “Mexico does not act on the basis of threats.” Meanwhile, Trump’s policy of forcing asylum-seekers to await their court hearings in Mexico was blocked by a federal judge in California. Judge Richard Seeborg said the Migrant Protection Protocols lacked sufficient safeguards to ensure asylum seekers were not returned to areas that threatened their safety. Despite the setback, Trump seems to be restructuring the Department of Homeland Security, considering reinstating child separations, and re-proposing sending immigrants to sanctuary cities to await their trials.
In another blow to Trump’s immigration policy, a federal judge in New York blocked the United States from ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 50,000 to 60,000 Haitians. Judge William Kuntz found the Trump administration used political influence to pressure the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to end the program. Rather than a “thorough and vigorous review,” Kuntz cited evidence of DHS manipulated facts and searched for strictly “negative” evidence that would justify ending TPS. Kuntz is the second judge to block the government from ending TPS; a judge in San Francisco ordered the government to reinstate protected status for immigrants from Nicaragua, El Salvador, Sudan, and Haiti in October.
Venezuela
Venezuelans took to the streets last weekend to display their discontent and support for the Maduro government, showing the deep division within the country. The opposition and its supporters rallied against the hyperinflation and lack of water, food, and medicine that was exacerbated by the weeks of nation-wide power outages. President Nicolas Maduro and his supporters marched “in defense of peace” and blamed the power-outages on a US-orchestrated cyber attack. International support continues to largely back Juan Guaidó and the opposition, and the United States imposed more sanctions on the Venezuelan government this month. However, Maduro continues to struggle to consolidate power. Maduro stripped Guaidó of his parliamentary immunity and authorized an investigation into his involvement in violence and the blackouts, and called for a million more people to join the nation’s militia by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Guaidó calls on the opposition to take to the streets and “start the final phase of the end of the usurpation.”
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