Eta destruction across Central America (Nov. 6, 2020)

Hurricane Eta has killed at least 23 people in Central America, as the storm brought damage and flooding to Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. But the true human cost is likely to be much higher. An estimated 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes. Across Central America Eta-rains have destroyed houses, flooded villages, toppled trees and knocked out power grids, driving thousands of people out of their homes. Heavy rainfall is predicted through Monday, with risks of flash-flooding and river flooding. Mudslides in Guatemala killed 50 people as of yesterday. There have been mudslides reported in Honduras, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Officials in Panama reported eight people as missing. (New York Times, Weather Channel, Guardian)

Volunteers in Honduras said the government blocked delivery of emergency donations to Hurricane Eta victims, a sort of "bureaucratization" of humanitarian aid, reports Criterio. (See yesterday's briefs.)

Eta was a Category 4 storm when it hit Nicaragua on Tuesday, but may have been a Category five on Monday. That would make it only the second Category 5 ever to form in the Atlantic during November, reports the Washington Post.

News Briefs

Regional Relations

• Latin America's takes on the U.S. election range from democracy-envy to a bit of schadenfreude. But the stakes are high, warns Arturo Sarukhan in yesterday's Latin America Advisor: "the message that the ‘bananization’ of U.S. democracy sends to Latin America and the Caribbean, where resilient democracy has painfully and sometimes awkwardly and gingerly started to take root across most of the region, is deeply concerning, because what happens to democracy in the United States reverberates globally, and even more so across the Americas."

• Indeed, regardless of the outcome of the U.S. election, the damage President Donald Trump has wrought on the country's international image will not soon be undone, warns the Washington Post.

• A lot of Latinos like Trump. Whatever that means. "The reason the “Latino vote” befuddles is because it doesn’t exist, nor do “Latino issues.” If we want to understand how Latinos vote, we should start by retiring the word “Latino” entirely — and maybe “Hispanic,” too," argues Isvette Verde in a New York Times op-ed. "Most campaigns court our vote only every two or four years. They assume we all speak Spanish, look the same and vote the same."

• The term for assumptions about Latino voters, that they are all somehow of Mexican or Cuban origin, is "Mariachi Politics" writes Diego Fonseca in New York Times Español.

• Potential change in the U.S. government would not have a significant impact on the country's policies towards the anglophone Caribbean, writes Samantha S.S. Chaitram at Global Americans. A possible Biden administration would likely continue on  in the U.S. would have to face China's growing influence in the Caribbean, and could seek to drum up support in a region that is divided on the U.S. Venezuela policy.

Bolivia

• Former Bolivian president Evo Morales will make a triumphant return home next week. Morales will lead an 800-vehicle convoy from Argentina to the Bolivian province of Chapare. He will arrive in Chimoré on Tuesday, exactly one year after he was forced to flee into exile from that locality. (Guardian)

Covid

• Remember the pandemic? The Latin America Risk Report looks at where countries in the region are individually with Covid-19 reported cases. Central American countries, particularly Nicaragua and Honduras, will now be dealing with a combination of coronavirus and Hurricane Eta aftermath that could very well cause cases to spike.

• According to a tally by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Latin America now accounts for 1 out of 3 coronavirus-related deaths. (Washington Post)

• UN Secretary-General António Guterres praised Caribbean nations for their Covid-19 response, calling the crisis a once-in-a generation opportunity to create a new alliance for an inclusive, sustainable, and resilient recovery. -- Aviso LatAm: COVID-19
  

Regional

• Philanthropy is not deeply rooted in Latin America -- while the pandemic has boosted charitable efforts, it also means there is less donor money that is needed for more causes. "The region pays a high price for low levels of generosity," warns the Economist.

Mexico

• Mexican officials arrested a suspect in connection to the massacre of nine members of Mormon family last year. The man, whom the authorities identified only as “Alfredo ‘L’” and a member of a criminal group operating in northern Mexico, was detained in the border city of Ciudad Juárez, exactly a year after the killings, reports the New York Times. 

• A deep-seated fear of hospitals means thousands of Mexicans are dying at home from coronavirus without receiving proper care, the New York Times profiles how one Reynosa state doctor is delivering treatment to those in need.

Brazil

• It's hard to get Amazon deliveries alongside the actual Amazon river. But an enterprising regional department store, Bemol, uses three-decker passenger boats to get packages to rainforest customers, reports the Economist.

Fútbol

• On Colombia's 1949 all-star pirate soccer league -- New York Times.

Culinary Corner

• The pandemic, which has wreaked terrible havoc on Brazil, threatens to disrupt and perhaps destroy the country's delicious and inventive “quilo” restaurants, laments Vanessa Barbara in a New York Times op-ed.

• The original nachos were crunchy, cheesy and truly Mexican, reports the New York Times.
  

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

Latin America Daily Briefing