Hondurans protest on coup anniversary (June 28, 2019)

Honduran authorities vowed to maintain order during protests called for today, the tenth anniversary of a coup against then-president Manuel Zelaya. (Proceso) Thousands are expected to participate in the mass protest, in the midst of two months of increasingly broad protests against the government and current President Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH), which have been violently repressed in many cases. Three protesters were killed in clashes with police last week. (AFP) Various parts of Tegucigalpa were guarded by military troops this morning, including access to the international airport, reports Proceso.

The U.N. human rights office deployed special observation missions to observe security forces' behavior with protesters. (ConfidencialHN)

Politicians across the spectrum -- from Zelaya, who is now an opposition leader, to first post-coup elected president Porfirio Lobo, of JOH's National Party -- say the current crisis is the most acute since the 2009 coup. (See yesterday's briefs.) Protests initially started against health and education sector reforms, but have morphed into calls for JOH to resign. JOH was reelected in 2017 in elections marked by significant irregularities.

Recaps of the 2009 coup at Proceso and El Heraldo. In a new book on the coup, Zelaya said the current head of Honduran armed forces led the group of soldiers that forced him out of bed and onto a plane to Costa Rica at dawn on June 28, 2009. (Criterio)

The U.S. has been a stalwart supporter of the Honduran interim government that took Zelaya's place, and subsequent administrations -- including JOH. U.S. lawmaker Jan Schakowsky calls for the U.S. to suspend security aid, in particular, which "is being used to lift up a dictatorial president who abuses power and implicates our country in the human rights abuses of his regime." (The Hill)

News Briefs

Nicaragua

• Nicaragua's government refuses to liberate 83 remaining political prisoners -- whom authorities allege committed common crimes. The opposition Civic Alliance refuses to return to the negotiating table until the remaining political detainees are freed. And the country's crisis stagnates as the governing Ortega family resorts to increasingly Orwellian discourses, writes Gioconda Belli in a New York Times Español op-ed.

Migrants

• U.S. asylum officers say the Trump administration's Migrant Protection Protocols threaten migrants' lives and is "fundamentally contrary to the moral fabric of our Nation." The asylum officers' union joined the ACLU and other groups legally challenging the program that has sent 12,000 migrants to await in Mexico while their asylums claims are evaluated in the U.S. (Washington Post)

• U.S. lawmakers voiced opposition to "third safe country negotiations," and said that plans to force asylum seekers to apply for haven in Guatemala or Mexico -- as the Trump administration is seeking to do -- would be contrary to U.S. law since the countries do not have adequate asylum and protection processes in place. (U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs)

• Guatemala is one of the biggest sources of undocumented migrants to the U.S. The Guardian reports that churches and clergymen are playing a key role in human smuggling networks.

• The Atlantic has a photo essay on migrants caught in Mexico's crackdown on undocumented immigrants at its southern border with Guatemala.

• A Mexican migrant shelter denounced an unauthorized attempt by Mexico’s National Guard to enter the facility and question migrants. The shelter director said the security force attempted to intimidate him. (Reuters, Animal Político)

Guatamela

• A Guatemalan prosecutor raided the offices of the Supreme Election Tribunal to investigate alleged discrepancies in the vote count for the first round of a presidential election this month. The investigation was ordered by the attorney general's office, reports Reuters. The move comes in the wake of recognized data transmission discrepancies. Though the investigation is ongoing, experts interviewed by Nómada -- including Luis von Ahn -- say the preliminary evidence points to errors rather than intentional fraud.

• All the general election candidates' immunity from prosecution officially ended after the June 16 vote. This includes the candidates who are expected to compete in the August second round, until they are officially proclaimed winners, reports El Periódico.

• Aldo Iván Dávila Morales seems poised to become Guatemala's first openly gay elected lawmaker. (Associated Press)

El Salvador

• Women prosecuted for obstetric complications in El Salvador -- condemned as assassins of their fetuses -- are invariably poor and give birth outside of hospital settings. Revista Factum has a feature on the dozens of women convicted to jail time for alleged abortions. More than half of the women prosecuted under the country's strict abortion laws gave birth in bathrooms or latrines -- and most of those were found guilty of aggravated homicide.

• An amnesty bill in El Salvador's congress is likely to be vetoed by President Nayib Bukele. This means that people who committed human rights violations -- including wholesale massacres -- during the country's civil war can be prosecuted. But amnesties serve a purpose, and tearing them up can be counter-productive, argues the Economist's Bello column.

Peru

• Peruvian indigenous communities are racking up court victories against mining and oil projects that didn't properly consult with local tribes, reports Reuters.

• Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht payed former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, over US$32 million in personal bribes in exchange for state-funded infrastructure contracts, according to a former employee's testimony. (TeleSUR)

• Anti-corruption investigations in Peru have seriously weakened the traditional conservative parties, opening up a tentative space for the left to gain traction in the 2021 elections, writes César R. Nureña in NACLA.

Colombia

• The U.N. Security Council will visit Colombia in July to look at the implementation of the 2016 peace treaty with the FARC, reports the Associated Press.

Venezuela

• U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet visited Venezuela last week, and called for the immediate liberation of political prisoners. In a statement to the press she implicitly blamed Venezuela's government for the country's economic and humanitarian crisis, but she also unequivocally said that US sanctions on oil and gold exports exacerbated the situation, reports David Smilde's Venezuela Weekly.

• The Venezuela Weekly also notes that the lack of announcements about further Norway facilitated talks isn't surprising: "Stops, starts and jostling over the shape of the process is par for the course in these types of negotiations."

OAS

• Venezuela pulled out of the OAS -- but the regional organization recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó's appointed representative. (Miami Herald)

• Uruguay withdrew from the Medellín General Assembly meeting yesterday in protest of the presence of what it said was an illegitimate delegation from Venezuela, reports Reuters.

Argentina

• Argentine pollsters are unusually quiet ahead of the August party primaries that serve as a sort of unofficial first round to the October general election. The result is an added layer of doubt on an already uncertain election, reports Bloomberg.

• Argentine authorities have seized about 1,000 guns and hundreds of explosives from an international criminal gang, reports the Associated Press.

Brazil

• Revelations of apparent collusion between judge (and now Justice Minister) Sergio Moro and prosecutors in the case against former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva dealt a blow to Brazil's landmark corruption investigations and last year's presidential election, writes Fábio Kerche at the AULA blog.

Paraguay

• Cocaine seizures along Paraguay’s border with Bolivia have tripled, reports InSight Crime.

Terrorism

• Four men with suspected ties to the Islamic State (IS) group were arrested in Nicaragua after crossing illegally from Costa Rica, reports the BBC.

Mexico

• Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said gas pipeline contracts awarded under his predecessor were "abusive" toward the state and might not be honored. The statements have fanned concerns that contracts signed by the previous administration might not be honored, reports Reuters.

• Mexico's Mayan Riviera tourism is threatened by foul-smelling seaweed, reports the Guardian.

Did I miss something, get something wrong, or do you have a different take? Let me know ...

Latin America Daily Briefing