Coronavirus and democracy (April 7, 2020)

News Briefs

Democracy

• Governments need to limit certain liberties in response to the Covid-19 crisis, but the risk to democracy is serious and robust institutions need to be prepared to exert control over such measures, warns Kevin Casas in a New York Times Español op-ed. It is not a competition between democracy and authoritarian systems, rather of quality of government, argues Casas citing Huntington.

El Salvador

• There are mounting concerns in El Salvador about conditions in forced quarantines in containment centers.There have been three deaths of people in the government enforced quarantines mandated for Salvadorans who entered the country after the borders were shut down in mid-March, and families report lack of proper medical attention. There are 4,303 people isolated in 98 centers, reports El Faro. (See also, el Diario de Hoy.)

Nicaragua

• Nicaragua presents a more extreme version of the statistical difficulties plaguing most countries: the definition is so restrictive that there are only six official patients -- one dead and one recovered, reports Confidencial. The Ortega administration has resisted dictating quarantine or enforced distancing measures.

• A New York Times Español postcard from Nicaraguan writer Sabrina Duque speaks to the impotence of watching a government unwilling to seriously confront Covid-19. 

Migration

• Covid-19 is negatively impacting the situation of Nicaraguan political refugees in Central America, who have lost work and shelter due to obligatory quarantines in Costa Rica and Panama, reports Confidencial.

• Thousands of Venezuelans who had fled their country are now returning home, as coronavirus measures in the region leave them jobless and, in some cases, evicted, report Al Jazeera and the Washington Post. Estimates from the Venezuelan border calculate about 500 returnees a day -- low compared to the thousands who left daily until recently -- but dangerous for a country whose health system is already collapsed.

• Coronavirus emergency conditions have permitted the U.S. Trump administration to implement an expulsion order that sends migrants of all ages back to Mexico in an average of 96 minutes, shelving safeguards intended to protect trafficking victims and persecuted groups, reports the Washington Post.

• Conditions in U.S. immigration detention are so brutal that some migrants are begging for deportation due to fear of Covid-19 contagion in conditions lacking basic coronavirus containment measures. Firsthand accounts back up human rights lawyers' concerns "that Ice jails could become death traps during the pandemic," reports the Guardian.

• In the case of Haiti, some U.S. lawmakers and immigrant advocates are outraged that deportations of Haitian detainees will continue, despite exposure risks, reports the Miami Herald.

• Most countries in the region have implemented travel bans and closed borders, and the pandemic will have long lasting impact on migrant flows in the Western Hemisphere, according to today's Latin America Advisor.

It's the Economy

• Latin American "governments are bracing for unprecedented economic contraction, while looking anxiously to China for signs of relief," writes Margaret Myers in Global Americans.

Mexico

• The novel coronavirus threatens the viability of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's "ambitious economic and political project," writes Shannon O'Neil in Bloomberg.

• Critics say AMLO refusal to take on debt to finance economic stimulus in response to the coronavirus is problematic, reports Americas Quarterly. (See yesterday's briefs.)

• Mexico posted its biggest single-day jump in coronavirus cases, yesterday, reports Reuters.

Brazil

• Brazilian doctors are bracing for a jump in Covid-19 cases this week, though they warn that underreporting and lack of testing mean that nobody really knows the true scale of the novel coronavirus' spread in the country, reports the Guardian.

• Brazil's government is increasingly divided. Health minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta held onto his job yesterday, amid heavy speculation all day that President Jair Bolsonaro was sacking him. The two have disagreed publicly over the need for social distancing measures. Bolsonaro's stance against restrictions has led to a split in his cabinet, with military officers who hold posts siding with Mandetta. (Reuters, see yesterday's briefs.)

• Bots sent half of the posts by Bolsonaro's supporters on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic in the country and the pro-government demonstration and against the National Congress and the Judiciary, reports Telesur.

• Brazil's far right education minister starred in the country's latest diplomatic spat with China, after he said that coronavirus is related to China's plan for world domination and mocked Chinese accents in a tweet. Chinese diplomats responded with outrage. The whole episode, one of several recent diplomatic clashes with Beijing is poorly timed, as Brazil seeks to source medical equipment from China, reports AFP.

Haiti

• Haiti is severely under-testing, but experts believe there is already community transmission of the novel coronavirus and the local health organization Zanmi Lasante will begin using rapid tests to screen after waiting weeks for national authorities to collaborate, reports the Miami Herald.

Bolivia

• Poor citizens around Bolivia have defied ongoing quarantine measures to protest lack of food, reports Telesur.

Peru

• Some of Peru's most desperate residents are facing lack of food, and basic services during a strict quarantine, report the Associated Press and EFE.

Barbados

• Barbados authorities accused the U.S. of seizing respirators destined for the island, and then later walked back on the allegation, reports the Miami Herald.

Cuba

• Cuban medical diplomacy is back in the limelight, after years of attacks from the U.S. Trump administration, reports the Associated Press.

I hope you're all staying safe and sane as possible, given the circumstances ... And in these times of coronavirus, when we're all feeling a little isolated, feel especially free to reach out and share.

Latin America Daily Briefing