Cuba has publicly laid out the rules governing the extensive, longstanding surveillance and undercover investigation of the island’s 11 million people.A new decree approved by President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Oct. 8 and made public this week says prosecutors can approve eavesdropping and surveillance of any form of communication, without consulting a judge as required in many other Latin American countries. The law also creates official legal roles for informants, undercover investigators and sting operations.The decree is intended to “raise the effectiveness of the prevention of and fight against crime,” according to the declaration in Cuba’s register of new laws and regulations.Cuba has been updating its laws to conform with a new constitution approved in February, which requires legal approval for surveillance.The country’s powerful intelligence and security agencies have for decades maintained widespread surveillance of Cuban society through eavesdropping of all types and networks of informants and undercover agents, but their role has never been so publicly codified.The decree describes a variety of roles: agents of the Interior Ministry authorized to carry out undercover investigations; cooperating witnesses who provide information in exchange for lenient treatment, and sting operations in which illegal goods are allowed to move under police surveillance.The law allows interception of telephone calls, direct recording of voices, shadowing and video recording of suspects and covert access to computer systems.Unlike Cuba, many countries including Mexico, Argentina, Guatemala, Chile and Bolivia require a judge to approve surveillance operations.
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday sent a proposal to Congress that seeks to offer greater protection to police and soldiers who kill while on specific operations, known as Guarantee of Law and Order (GLO) missions.The highly divisive bill, which comes amid a sharp rise in killings by police across Brazil, is likely to face stiff opposition from some lawmakers and human rights groups.FILE – Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro looks on during a ceremony at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Nov. 12, 2019.It would reduce sentences or even provide full judicial protection to officers who kill in situations in which they face “unfair, current or imminent aggression,” either to themselves or another person. Examples of “unfair aggression” would include terrorism, and any “conduct capable of causing death or personal injury,” such as carrying a firearm.The bill is similar to part of an earlier, broader crime-fighting proposal, pushed by Justice Minister Sergio Moro, that also sought to offer greater protection to officers who kill.Nonetheless, Moro’s proposal is currently languishing in Congress, where lawmakers stripped the section offering police more cover, arguing that it could incentivize them to kill more.Speaking about his proposal on Thursday, Bolsonaro said it would represent a “shift” in the fight against violence in Brazil.”We will now depend on lawmakers, congressmen and senators to approve this,” the far-right president said in Brasilia.GLO missionsGLO missions are temporary military operations, created by direct order of the president, to tackle sporadic cases of uncontrollable violence or high-risk situations, such as international summits.So far this year, Brazil has used GLO missions to provide security at the BRICs Summit in Brasilia, in the fight against Amazon rainforest fires, and in the transfer of high-risk prisoners to federal prisons.Bolsonaro, a longtime advocate of preemptive police violence, has said that he would consider ending GLOs if lawmakers do not pass his bill.
 
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The first Honduran asylum-seeker arrived in Guatemala on Thursday from El Paso, Texas, under a controversial U.S. agreement that establishes Guatemala as a safe third country to process people fleeing persecution in their homelands. Guatemalan Interior Minister Enrique Degenhart said the 
Honduran man arrived on a flight from the United States earlier 
in the morning. The Honduran was among Guatemalan deportees flown into the 
Central American country on one of four U.S. deportation flights scheduled on Thursday, Degenhart said. The new effort began after the administration of Republican 
President Donald Trump brokered an agreement with the Guatemalan government in July. The deal allows U.S. immigration officials to force migrants requesting asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border to apply for asylum in Guatemala first. Campaign issueTrump has made cracking down on immigration a central issue 
of his 2020 re-election campaign. His administration has worked 
to restrict asylum access in the United States to curb the number of mostly Central American families arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. officials earlier this week said the program initially would be applied at a U.S. Border Patrol station in El Paso. A first phase will target adults from Honduras and El Salvador, and the aim will be to process them within 72 hours, according to the officials and notes taken by one of the officials during a training session of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) asylum officers. Democrats and pro-migrant groups have opposed the move and 
contend asylum-seekers will face danger in Guatemala, where the 
murder rate is five times that of the United States, according to 2017 data compiled by the World Bank. Guatemalan President-elect Alejandro Giammattei, who takes office in January, has said he will review the agreement. 
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Colombian unions and student groups are planning a strike on Thursday, with marches to insist the government maintain minimum wages for young people and the universal right to a pension.At a time of widespread unrest in other Latin American countries, police this week raided activists and a culture magazine ahead of the protest while Colombia’s President Ivan Duque warned his government will not tolerate violence.The president also has repeatedly denied that he plans to propose pension and tax reform laws containing the changes alleged by protesters. He said he immediately rejected the idea of reducing youth salaries when a think tank proposed it.”No reform has been proposed,” Duque told viewers during a rare Facebook Live broadcast this week, adding he does not want to raise the pension age. “It has been said that we want to pay young people less than the minimum wage. That’s also a lie.”Other groups of marchers are expected to participate to protest what they say is a lack of government action to prevent the murder of hundreds of human rights activists, corruption at
universities and other issues.Supporters of the march, which include major unions, allege Duque’s government also wants to make the public pension fund Colpensiones private and differentiate salaries by region.Police raids late on Tuesday drew wide criticism on social media when staff at the Cartel Urbano magazine posted videos showing cops rifling through artwork while staff questioned the
reason for the raid.In Bogota, marchers are set to gather at seven meeting points before converging on the central Bolivar Plaza, home to congress and a block from the presidential palace.Elsewhere in the region, Chile’s conservative government is grappling with anti-austerity marches, the biggest crisis to hit the country since its return to democracy in 1990.Protests in Bolivia over vote-tampering allegations led long-time leftist President Evo Morales to resign earlier this month, and his ouster has inflamed tensions in crisis-hit Nicaragua.Duque this week authorized local authorities to adopt exceptional measures to contain protests if needed, including curfews and limits on carrying weapons and the sale of alcohol. Marchers are also against an announced plan by the government to join state companies under a single holding umbrella, alleging that this will cost jobs and eliminate direct control over public funds.The country’s migration agency has shut land and river border crossings until early Friday morning because of the strike.The agency said it has expelled 24 foreign nationals who were “affecting public order and national security.” 
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Chilean police and soldiers backed by their commanders have carried out “generalized” attacks on people protesting over inequality with the intention of “punishing and harming” them, Amnesty International said in a report published on Thursday.Erika Guevara Rosas, the rights group’s Americas Director, told Reuters that its investigative team sent to the country to weigh allegations of excessive force and rights violations by security forces had found evidence of abuses not normally seen outside troubled Latin American nations like Venezuela, Nicaragua and Honduras.She said they had been “shocked” to find evidence of them in Chile, until recently widely seen as one of the region’s most democratic and stable nations.Amnesty said it had confirmed five deaths at the hands of security forces, as well as credible evidence of protesters being shot at with live ammunition, sexually abused, tortured, beaten, and run over. There was a repeated pattern of abuse that suggested intention, it said.Rosas said police and army personnel had broken international law in the use of live ammunition in crowd control and its own protocols in the liberal use of rubber bullets and tear gas.The police and army did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.Rosas said Chilean President Sebastian Pinera held responsibility by failing to acknowledge the abuses or condemning them swiftly. She said his claim last month that “we are at war” fed “the violent repression we have seen on the streets.””There was an intention to punish people and this came not just from the police and military on the streets but also those under whose command they were,” she said.”If this was punishment of the people who were protesting against government policies then the highest levels of government including Pinera have a responsibility for the human rights violations.”Pinera’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.On Sunday, the president acknowledged there had been “some” excessive use of force, abuse and crime and vowed “no impunity” for police and soldiers found responsible.Chile has seen a month of both peaceful protests and violent riots that started over anger at a hike in public transport fares and broadened to include grievances over low pensions and salaries, the high cost of living, and security force abuses.The unrest has left at least 23 dead, 7,000 detained, over 2,000 demonstrators hospitalized and more than 1,700 police officers injured, according to authorities and rights groups.Over 200 people have been hit in the eyes with tear gas canisters and rubber bullets, doctors have said.Prosecutors are examining more than 2,000 allegations of abuses by security forces, the head of the public prosecutor’s rights division told Reuters last week. 
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A Brazilian tribe that has been fighting for 15 years to preserve land they use to gather food won a victory on Monday when public pressure made Portuguese hotel group Vila Gale cancel plans to build a 500-room luxury resort on the Bahia coast.Indigenous group Tupinambá de Olivença, numbering 4,631 people, has been fighting for the land to be designated as a reserve since 2003. Brazil’s indigenous rights agency Funai approved the request in 2009, and Brazil’s second-highest court unanimously voted in favor of the Tupinambá in 2016.But the tribe still requires final sign-off from the Ministry of Justice and the president himself for the protected status of the territory to become official. Despite multiple requests from the tribe, nothing has happened since 2016.Last week, Brazil National Human Rights Council urged the Bolsonaro government to speed up the final demarcation of the Tupinambá land, which is located in the coastal Atlantic forest in southern Bahia, known for its coconut tree-lined beaches that attract millions of tourists each year.Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has not yet made a decision on the specific case of the Tupinambá but stated on multiple occasions that he does not intend to sign off any more territory for indigenous groups, saying earlier this year there is “too much land for too few indigenous people.”Vila Gale said a local businessman offered them the land in 2018. Regional and state government representatives approved of the project, as did Embratur, Brazil’s tourism agency. The company put the project on its website, with a note saying it was due to open in 2021.The company’s CEO Jorge Rebelo de Almeida consistently denied that there were any traces of an indigenous population on the territory in question, a claim repeated in the company’s statement to Portuguese press on Monday.”In the region and in a radius of many kilometers, there was no sign of any occupation or utilization, nor signals of any extractive activity from anyone. There is no indigenous reserve in this area, nor will there be,” the statement said.FILE – Indigenous people from ethnic groups Pataxo and Tupinamba attend a protest to defend indigenous land, outside Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court in Brasilia, Brazil, Oct. 16, 2019.While the Tupinambá do not live on the land, they use it for gathering food. Portuguese anthropologist Susana Viegas, who has led studies on the Tupinambá since 2003, said access to the land was “essential for the community’s survival.” Tupinambá chief Ramón Tupinambá said at a meeting in Brasilia in late October that there would be “war” if Vila Gale followed through.Pressure on the company, Portugal’s second-largest hotel group, to retract its plans began to grow after a letter published in the Intercept on Oct. 27 showed Brazil’s tourism agency urging the government to cancel the process of classifying the land as indigenous territory on the grounds that the hotel could bring $200 million of investment and generate 2,000 jobs.In response to numerous articles in the Portuguese press following the Intercept’s leak, pressure from Portugal’s third-largest political party Bloco da Esquerda, and multiple requests from Portuguese anthropologist Susana Viegas, who studied the Tupinambá for Funai since 2003, to retract their plans, the company insisted they would wait until the Ministry of Justice and president made the final call.But in its statement on Monday, the company changed its mind, saying it did not want the hotel to go ahead “in this atmosphere of war,” and so despite viewing the accusations levied against it as “unfair” and “baseless,” it canceled its plans.Under Brazil’s 1988 Constitution, which guarantees the rights of indigenous people to their ancestral lands, and a presidential decree in 1996, any building on land where the boundaries have already been drawn by the Funai faces confiscation with no compensation.”This is totally illegal. The land rights of indigenous people take precedence over any other rights,” said Juliana Batista, a lawyer for the Brazilian Socio-Environmental Institute, an NGO that defends indigenous rights. She said local authorities had gone ahead and licensed the hotel project without involving federal agencies. 
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The Organization of American States said on Tuesday that Nicaragua was experiencing a “critical human rights situation” that had upset the country’s constitutional order, following President Daniel Ortega’s crackdown on opponents.Major demonstrations last year left some 300 people dead.Protests – including two hunger strikes by mothers of detained activists – have started up again in recent days, leading to clashes with Ortega supporters and arrests.The report by a commission of the Washington-based OAS followed United Nations criticism earlier in the day of the arrest of 16 anti-government protesters on charges it said seemed “trumped-up.”The OAS recommended a special session of its general assembly be convened immediately to review affairs in the country.”It is clear that Nicaragua is experiencing a critical human rights situation that urgently demands the attention of the Inter-American community and the world at large,” the OAS said.The Nicaraguan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has previously dismissed the creation of the OAS commission, viewing it as an attempt to interfere in its affairs.A demonstrator wearing the national flag looks at pictures of protesters who died during the protests against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s government last year, in Managua, Nov. 2, 2019.On Monday, Nicaraguan authorities said the 16 detainees were suspected of planning terrorist attacks in the Central American country.Those detained include prominent student protesters such as Nicaraguan and Belgian national Amaya Coppens, who has been arrested previously.Rupert Colville, a spokesman in Geneva for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters the arrests looked like an attempt to silence criticism of the government.”We are very concerned that these apparently trumped-up charges may constitute a renewed attempt to stifle dissent,” said Colville.He also urged the government to respect the rights of a separate group of hunger strikers in Managua’s cathedral.Father Edwin Roman attempts to convince the police to allow relatives of imprisoned and dead anti-government demonstrators to enter the San Miguel Arcangel Church in Masaya, Nicaragua, Nov. 14, 2019.The Roman Catholic Church on Monday accused groups linked to the government of beating a priest and violently taking control of the cathedral.”We condemn these acts of desecration, harassment and intimidation, which are not contributing to the peace and stability of the country,” the Church said in a statement.On Monday, seven mothers of people detained earlier by authorities had said they would begin a hunger strike in the cathedral to demand the release of their children before Christmas.Colville said everyone who may have been “arbitrarily detained” in the country should be released.”The government must end the persistent repression of dissent and the ongoing pattern of arbitrary arrests,” he said. 
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The presence of tanks in the streets of Chile, the resignation of Bolivia’s president Evo Morales and clashes in Ecuador are some of the violent incidents and political turmoil occurring in Latin America over the last few weeks. VOA’s Cristina Caicedo Smit reports on why all of this is happening at the same time. 
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Bolivian police and military forces used armored vehicles and helicopters to clear access to a major gas plant in the city of El Alto on Tuesday, a show of strength after blockades at the facility had cut off fuel supply to nearby La Paz.Helicopters flew above roads around the Senkata gas plant, operated by state-run YPFB, which were blocked with piles of burning tires, according to a Reuters witness. Protesters are demanding the return of unseated leftist leader Evo Morales.Morales resigned on Nov. 10 amid anti-government demonstrations and rising pressure over vote-rigging allegations after an audit by the Organization of American States (OAS) found serious irregularities in an Oct. 20 election.But Morales supporters have since ramped up protests, calling for caretaker President Jeanine Anez to step down and for Morales to return. Mounting violence in the South American nation has seen 27 people killed in street clashes.In what it said was a bid to restore calm, Bolivia’s congress, controlled by lawmakers from Morales’ Movement for Socialism (MAS), said on Tuesday it would cancel a contentious vote in the legislature that had been expected to reject Morales’ resignation.The vote would be suspended “to create and contribute to an environment conducive to dialogue and peace,” the Legislative Assembly said in a statement, citing instructions from new Senate head and MAS lawmaker Monica Eva Copa Murga.Eva Copa Murga later told reporters the assembly would prepare legislation to annul the Oct. 20 election and move towards new elections as soon as possible. The two chambers of Congress will convene separately on Wednesday.”We do not want more deaths, we do not want more blood,” she said, flanked by the majority of the MAS party lawmakers, calling on the military and pro-Morales group to demobilize.The country’s human right ombudsman said that three people have been killed in clashes with security forces around Senkata.A woman carries a child as members of the security forces stand guard during a protest in Senkata, El Alto, Bolivia, Nov. 19, 2019.The military said in a statement they had carried out a “peaceful” operation after trying negotiation and dialogue.The MAS party – which itself has been split over how to proceed – holds a majority in the congress and could have voted to reject Morales’ resignation, potentially creating dueling claims on the country’s leadership and raising pressure on Anez.Morales has railed at what he has called a right-wing coup against him and hinted he could return to the country, though he has pledged repeatedly not to run again in a new election. He stepped down after weeks of protests led to allies and eventually the military urging him to go.Desperate to BuyBolivians are feeling the pinch of the turmoil, with fuel shortages mounting and grocery stores short of basic goods as supporters of Morales blockade key transport routes.In the highland capital La Paz, roads have grown quiet as people preserve gasoline, with long queues for food staples.People stand in line to receive chicken as roadblocks have caused a food and fuel crisis, in La Paz, Bolivia, Nov. 18, 2019.People lined up with gas canisters next to the Senkata plant on Tuesday. Images showed some fuel trucks moving through the area under a strong military and police presence.”Unfortunately this has been going on for three to four weeks, so people are desperate to buy everything they find,” said Ema Lopez, 81, a retiree in La Paz.Daniel Castro, a 63-year-old worker in the city, blamed Morales for what he called “food terrorism.””This is chaos and you’re seeing this chaos in (La Paz’s) Plaza Villarroel with more than 5,000 people just there to get a chicken,” he said.The country’s hydrocarbons minister, Victor Hugo Zamora, said on Tuesday he was looking to unlock fuel deliveries for La Paz and called on the pro-Morales movements to join talks and allow economic activity to resume.Juan Carlos Huarachi, head of the powerful Bolivian Workers’ Center union and once a staunch Morales backer, called on lawmakers to find a resolution. “Our only priority is to bring peace to the country,” he told reporters.Jorge Quiroga, a former president and Morales critic, said Morales wanted to see Bolivia “burn,” echoing other detractors who say he has continued to stoke unrest from Mexico, which Morales denies.
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Wails filled a church in Haiti’s capital on Tuesday during funeral services for five people killed in anti-government protests that began more than two months ago.Among those killed was 15-year-old Jasmine Pierre, whose father told The Associated Press that she was hit inside their home by a stray bullet when police began firing at protesters.”This really hurts,” said her father, Macene Pierre. “I lost my little girl. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”Hundreds of people attended the funerals for Pierre and four men, three of whom were allegedly shot by police while participating in the protests.The fourth victim, 25-year-old Bernard Vaudreuil, was working as a moto taxi driver when he was shot, said cousin Marie-Ange Laroche.”He was not involved in the turmoil,” she said. “He was just trying to survive.”More than 40 people have been killed and dozens injured in more than two months of demonstrations organized by opposition leaders demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moise amid anger over corruption, ballooning inflation and a scarcity of basic goods.Police officers and protesters take cover behind a police truck as shots ring out during a protest to demand the resignation of Haiti’s president Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Nov. 18, 2019.The protests have shuttered many businesses and schools across the country as Moise continues to urge dialogue after stating he won’t resign.The mourners joined a small group of protesters after church services as some of them jogged down the street with one casket while tires burned around them. Among the mourners was Guerline Jeremie, a mother of two whose husband, Desir Jean Belleville, 34, was killed last week.”We want justice for them,” she said of those who died. “I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do to feed these kids.”The United Nations has said that 3.7 million people in the country of nearly 11 million lack access to enough food amid the political turmoil, and that the number is expected to reach 4 million early next year.  
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Chile faces a “very difficult” season of wildfires because of high temperatures, a persistent drought and an increase in arson, Agriculture Minister Antonio Walker said on Tuesday, adding to the woes of a country damaged by violent socio-economic protests in the past month.Firefighters have found fuel cans near some fires that have already occurred, Walker told a news conference, warning those who were found guilty of arson that they would face new, stiffer fines or up to 20 years imprisonment.Already, approximately 1,000 fires have been registered, principally in the central region around the port of Valparaíso, compared to 491 in the whole of last year, according to figures from the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF).”Very difficult days are coming, we are expecting very high maximum temperatures, also very strong winds. And we have not previously seen the levels of intentionality we are seeing now,” Walker said.The southern hemisphere summer season that runs between December and March could see as many as 120,000 hectares burned, the minister said.Already since July 2019, 6,800 hectares have been affected by wildfires, CONAF figures show, more than half around Valparaíso where some residents have had to evacuate their homes. In the period July 2018 to June 2019, a total of 1,646 hectares were burned.The Chilean government and the private sector have started a $154 million fire prevention and control plan that provides for some 6,000 firefighters and 100 aircraft.Chile is experiencing its biggest political and economic crisis since its return to democracy in 1990 that began with protests against an increase in metro and bus fares and developed into broader calls against social injustice.A Greenpeace spokesman, Mauricio Ceballos, said the wildfires highlighted how vulnerable Chile was to climate change. Chile was to host the COP25 United Nations climate change summit in December but was forced to cancel because of the protests and Madrid is hosting instead.”It’s clear that the environmental decline has turned into a direct threat for citizens and for that reason it’s important to work decisively and at a high level to ensure things don’t get worse,” Ceballos said. 
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Officials say a protest over election reform erupted on the Caribbean island of Dominica, with more than 200 people fighting police before being dispersed with tear gas.
                   
Assistant Police Commissioner Richmond Valentine says more 200 protesters clashed with police when they tried to march to President Charles Savarin’s home on Monday evening.
                   
Police fired tear gas after protesters removed metal street barriers. No fatalities or major injuries were reported.
                   
The former French and British colony of about 75,000 residents holds elections on Dec. 6. The opposition United Workers’ Party has been pushing the ruling party to enact reforms that could reduce the ruling party’s electoral advantage.
                   
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit’s government has not enacted the reforms, leading to charges of unfairness.
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Chile’s president is struggling to bring calm as demonstrators took to the streets again Monday, a month into a potent protest movement that has dramatically altered the political landscape of the South American nation.More protests erupted after President Sebastian Pinera acknowledged late Sunday that excessive force had been used to clamp down on demonstrators with legitimate social demands. He said abuses had been committed and promised no impunity'' for anyone who commits acts of violence.Twenty-six people have died in protests that began last month over an increase in subway fares in Santiago, but mushroomed into wide-ranging complaints about much deeper issues of inequality. Thousands have been injured in clashes with police who fire pellet guns directly at faces, with at least 230 people losing sight in an eye.On Monday, one group of protesters donned eyepatches and rallied outside Chile's supreme court.Thousands of others gathered in a central plaza in Santiago carrying flags and signs demandingjustice,” better pensions and the resignation of Pinera, whose term ends in March 2022. The protest was peaceful until about 300 masked demonstrators began throwing rocks at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons.Paolo Abrao, executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, added his voice to other human rights defenders who have raised the alarm about the level of force being used against protesters in Chile. He cited concerns about disproportionate use of force, care for victims and the pattern of injuries that has emerged.Chileans are also calling for changes to the education system, health care and an overhaul of the constitution, which was written during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. On Friday, officials announced an agreement charting a course to potentially rewrite the legal principles on which the country is based. A plebiscite to be held in April will ask Chileans if they want to change the constitution and who should draft it.The agreement was supported by most political parties, although Pinera was absent during the signing Friday.”We have all changed — because the social pact cracked, and made its wounds visible,” Pinera said in his television address Sunday night.Pinera, who was elected in 2017 in part due to his proposals for economic growth, has been forced to switch gears and focus on a package of modest social improvements aimed at calming the social unrest. Treasury minister Ignacio Briones recently announced weaker economic growth predictions and forecast that 300,000 jobs will be lost in the coming months.
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Bolivia’s interim president Jeanine Anez was forced to suspend a trip out of the capital La Paz planned for Monday, a government spokesman said, after a threat on her life by a “criminal group.”Anez, 52, had been due to travel to her native Beni province in northeastern Bolivia but the trip was canceled because of a credible threat, Interior Minister Arturo Murillo said at a news conference in La Paz.Murillo said Venezuelans, Cubans, and Colombians were “involved,” without giving further details. Anez’s government on Friday asked Venezuelan officials to leave the country and accused Cuba of stoking unrest.Both Cuba and Venezuela were close allies of socialist former president Evo Morales, who stepped down last week amid violent protests and accusations of vote-rigging in an Oct. 20 presidential election. An Organization of American States audit found irregularities in the vote.Former Bolivian President Evo Morales waves upon arrival to Mexico City, , Nov. 12, 2019. Mexico granted asylum to Morales, who resigned on Nov. 10 under mounting pressure from the military and the public.Morales fled to Mexico but his supporters have since taken to the streets, sometimes armed with homemade weapons, barricading roads and skirmishing with security forces.A total of 23 people have died in the unrest so far, according to a government human rights institution.The roadblocks have caused a food and fuel crisis, resulting in long lines outside grocery stores in La Paz. A general strike called for Monday appeared by midday to have fallen flat.
Anez, a conservative former senator, took over last Tuesday.She has promised to build bridges with Morales’ Movement for Socialism (MAS) party and hold fresh elections, albeit without the participation of Morales, who ran the country since 2006.But attempts at dialogue with Morales’ supporters have faltered, with both sides trading accusations of fomenting violence.A supporter of former President Evo Morales carries a sign reading in Spanish “Out, Anez. Murderer” referring to interim president Jeanine Anez during a protest in Cochabamba, Bolivia, Nov. 18, 2019.Jerjes Justiniano, the newly-appointed presidency minister, said he would be advising Anez to “immediately” call an election by presidential decree, in the absence of an agreement.Murillo said the government would ensure an election was held within the mandated 90-day limit.”We are leaving in days,” he said. “We will have an election. The greatest honor for a Bolivian is to become president of the country but that person must win with votes, not with bullets or boots.”Bolivia’s Roman Catholic Episcopal Conference said that, together with European Union and United Nations representatives, it would seek to bring the national government and opposition parties together for fresh talks on a roadmap for elections on Monday afternoon.”Holding new, transparent and credible elections, is the best way to overcome differences in a democratic and peaceful way,” the Church said. 
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Colombia on Monday said it would authorize local authorities to adopt exceptional measures to contain protests planned for Thursday, given the government’s wariness over the sort of violent unrest that has swept other Latin American capitals.Student groups and unions called the demonstrations, saying the conservative administration of President Ivan Duque is seeking to impose labor and pension reforms, though Duque has repeatedly denied this in attempts to calm critics.Interior Minister Nancy Patricia Gutierrez said on Monday that “false motivations for the call to strike” existed and reaffirmed that the government was not planning to increase the retirement age or lower the minimum wage.Local and regional authorities would be able to impose curfews and limits on carrying weapons and the sale of alcoholic drinks “when circumstances merit it,” Gutierrez told reporters.Police would be on maximum alert, she added.In recent weeks, conservative governments in Ecuador and Chile have been shaken by anti-austerity protests. In Bolivia, leftist Evo Morales on Nov. 10 resigned over allegations of vote-tampering after widespread unrest.
 
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Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose to its highest in over a decade this year, government data on Monday showed, confirming a sharp increase under the leadership of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro.The data from Brazil’s INPE space research agency, which showed deforestation soaring 29.5% to 9,762 square kilometers for the 12 months through July 2019, sparked an uncharacteristic admission by the government that something needed to be done to stem the tide.It was the worst level of deforestation since 2008, heaping further pressure on the environmental policy of Bolsonaro who favors developing the Amazon region economically.The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest and is considered key to the fight against climate change because of the vast amounts of carbon dioxide it absorbs.Risks to the forest drew global concern in August when fires raged through the Amazon, drawing sharp criticism from France’s President Emmanuel Macron.At a briefing to discuss the numbers, Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said the rise in deforestation showed the need for a new strategy to combat the illegal logging, mining and land grabbing which he said were to blame.Environmentalists and nongovernmental organizations placed the blame squarely on the government, saying that Bolsonaro’s strong pro-development rhetoric and policies to weaken environmental enforcement are behind the rise in illegal activity.”The Bolsonaro government is responsible for every inch of forest destroyed. This government today is the worst enemy of the Amazon,” said Marcio Astrini, public policy coordinator for Greenpeace, in a statement.Bolsonaro’s office directed Reuters to remarks made by Salles and another official and did not comment further on the issue.In August, Reuters reported Bolsonaro’s government had systematically weakened environmental agency Ibama, grounding a team of elite enforcement commandos and forbidding agents from destroying machinery used to illegally deforest.Brazil’s Climate Observatory, a network of nongovernmental organizations, said the 2019 increase in deforestation was the fastest in percentage terms since the 1990s and the third fastest of all-time.In response to the numbers, Salles vowed to roll out a series of measures to counter the rising deforestation, including stepping up enforcement efforts assisted by high-resolution satellite imaging.The minister said he would meet governors of Amazon states on Wednesday to discuss tactics to counter deforestation.All options are on the table, according to Salles, including mobilizing the military for use in environmental enforcement operations.Government reversalSalles’ recognition that deforestation is indeed on the rise comes after months of the government casting doubt on preliminary monthly data showing destruction was skyrocketing.At multiple press briefings earlier this year, Salles alleged the monthly data was unreliable and contained inconsistencies. He had urged journalists not to report the monthly figures and wait for the annual data, announced Monday.Bolsonaro had accused the INPE space research agency of lying about the monthly data. In a high-profile dispute, then-INPE chief Ricardo Galvao stood by the data and called Bolsonaro “a joke of a 14-year-old boy that is not suitable for a president of Brazil.” Galvao was later fired.The annual figure accounts for seven months under Bolsonaro, but also measures five months under the previous government.It also does not account for destruction after July.Preliminary data for August to October shows deforestation more than doubled compared to the same period a year-prior to 3,704 square kilometers.NGOs say they fear that protections could be weakened further as the government considers allowing commercial agriculture on native reserves, expanding wildcat mining and allowing for illegally occupied land to be “regularized.”Beef prices are also at record highs in Brazil, leading some environmentalists to fear it could fuel land grabbing for cattle ranching – one of the biggest drivers of deforestation.”The coming years could be even worse,” said Carlos Rittl, executive-secretary for Climate Observatory. 
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Residents in several Bolivian cities are reporting food and gasoline shortages because of protests by supporters of ousted President Evo Morales, who resigned after a disputed election and nationwide unrest.
                   
Bolivia’s interim government said Monday that its efforts to resupply La Paz face challenges because demonstrators have cut off some transport routes. The new leadership is also struggling to open dialogue with opponents, particularly after the shooting deaths of nine pro-Morales coca growers during a confrontation with security forces on Friday.
                   
Furious over the shootings, backers of Morales demand the resignation of Jeanine Anez, Bolivia’s self-proclaimed interim president. She was a Senate vice president thrust into prominence after the resignations of senior leaders in Morales’ administration.
                   
Bolivian church leaders announced plans for talks on Monday afternoon involving U.N. envoy Jean Arnault. They appealed for the participation of Morales’ Movement Toward Socialism party and said topics will include new elections and calls for a new election panel.
                   
The new hydrocarbons minister, Victor Hugo Zamora, told Bolivia’s ATB television that a gasoline supply convoy is having difficulty reaching the city because of roadblocks and ditches dug by protesters.
                   
Many shops in La Paz are closed and the few that are open are charging double the normal price, said resident Guillermina Chura.
                   
“What are we going to give to our families if things continue this way?” Chura said.
                   
Vendor Ana Gonzales said she had packed up her vegetable stand in the street because she had nothing to sell.
                   
“What am I going to live from?” Gonzales said.
                   
She also said Morales, who is in Mexico after seeking asylum there, should take steps to calm the situation. So far, Morales has remained defiant, condemning the interim government and saying he was ousted in a coup.
                   
Blockades around the major city of Santa Cruz have also disrupted commerce. Producers say fruit and vegetables are rotting on trucks that have been unable to reach markets.
                   
Bolivia’s pro-Morales faction has set up the blockades as part of a concerted effort to destabilize the interim government, said Alberto Bonadona, an economic analyst and professor at the Higher University of San Andres.
                   
A total of at least 23 people have been killed in violence that erupted after a disputed election on Oct. 20, according to the public defender’s office.
                   
Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, claimed victory after the vote, but opponents alleged fraud and massive protests began. An international audit concluded there were election irregularities and Morales resigned Nov. 10 and left for Mexico.
                   
Bolivia’s crisis has exposed racial, ethnic and geographic divides that some thought had been largely overcome after 14 years of Morales’ rule as well as the introduction of a more inclusive constitution.
                   
Analysts say the movement to oust Morales was an urban middle-class revolt against the former president’s efforts to hang onto power.
                   
Morales quit after weeks of protests and a military statement that it was time for him to go. But since his departure, racist discourses and regional rivalries have re-emerged in a nation divided between a wealthier, more European-descended lowland east and a more indigenous, poorer, highland west.
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During his run for the presidency in 2016, Donald Trump found a surefire method for changing the mood at his political rallies. Whenever he sensed that he was losing the crowd, he told the editorial board of the New York Times, “I just say, We will build the wall!’ and they go nuts.”This week, with impeachment hearings in the House of Representatives dominating the headlines, the border wall may reappear as a distraction for Trump’s staunchest supporters.  Lawmakers have agreed in principle to adopt a stop-gap spending bill to avert a partial shutdown of the federal government on Thursday, with the hope that negotiators from Congress and the administration can use the 30-day reprieve it grants to finalize spending authorizations for the remainder of the fiscal year.A possible sticking point? Funding for the president’s wall.Last year, when Democrats refused to provide $5 billion in wall funding in a budget deal, the result was a 35-day shutdown.So, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared on the political talk show Face the Nation on Sunday, and said that she was optimistic that a deal would be reached to avoid a shutdown, the natural follow-up question was whether that meant that Democrats would be providing wall funding.Pelosi replied with a definitive “No.” She went on to suggest that she doesn’t believe that the president is truly committed to the effort.”The President hasn’t built any new wall in a whole term of office,” she said. “I think that his comments about the wall are really an applause line at a rally, but they’re not anything that he’s serious about.”Pelosi’s comments pointed to a central issue with regard to the border wall: widespread confusion about its current status.The first panels of levee border wall are seen at a construction site along the U.S.-Mexico border, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, in Donna, Texas. The new section, with 18-foot tall steel bollards atop a concrete wall, will stretch approximately 8 miles.President Trump asserts that wall construction is moving ahead. In both his Twitter feed and his public remarks, Trump regularly touts the “great progress” being made on constructing the barrier. In September, a Department of Defense spokesperson made a statement to reporters that implied new sections of wall were being built at the rate of a mile per day.However, the reality is somewhat different.On Friday, acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan told reporters that 78 miles (125 kilometers) of new border wall had already been built. However, under questioning, he acknowledged  it was actually 78 miles of replacement wall for “an existing form of barrier.”However, he added, workers have begun breaking ground in places in the Rio Grande Valley where no barrier currently exists.It may actually be a number of years before the government is able to begin construction on many sections of the proposed wall, according to analysts, because it does not own the land. Hundreds of private individuals hold title to land along the United States’ border with Mexico, and in order to build the wall on their land, the Trump administration would either have to convince them to sell it to the government or use its Eminent Domain authority to take the land without the owners’ consent.Many landowners have expressed unwillingness to sell, either because of opposition to the wall or for other reasons. The Trump administration has indicated that as soon as this week it could begin filing the court documents necessary to take possession of the land from owners who don’t want to give it up.According to reporting by NBC News, the government is considering the use of an expedited process that could avoid lengthy court battles over the land seizures. Success would hinge on convincing the courts that a state of emergency exists that justifies depriving owners the right to contest the seizures in court.”It’s a challenge to go through that process,” Morgan told reporters. However, he added, “I still think we’re on track to get the land we need for 450 miles” (724 kilometers) of new wall construction.Meanwhile, the Trump administration is exploring a novel way of calling public attention to the wall construction. Jared Kushner, a White House adviser and the president’s son-in-law, has reportedly proposed the installation of cameras that would allow the administration to live-stream video from construction sites.The Army Corps of Engineers and the CBP have both objected to the proposal, which is being driven, according to the Washington Post, directly by the president himself. The idea is that a 24-hour-per-day video stream showing construction in progress would silence critics — like Pelosi — who regularly dismiss the wall as more of a publicity stunt than a serious piece of border control policy.The web-cam proposal drew immediate fire from Democrats, who derided it as an election-year stunt for the president’s political benefit. Corey Booker, the New Jersey senator running for the Democratic presidential nomination, co-sponsored a bill to block the use of federal funds for a wall camera.”The only thing more senseless and wasteful than an ineffective border wall is installing a camera to livestream its construction,” he said in a statement.Democratic arguments that the wall is ineffective received further support earlier this month, when multiple news reports confirmed that drug smugglers have been able to breach border walls with the help of a portable reciprocating saw — a power tool available in hardware stores for under $100.
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“Enough, we cannot deal with this anymore,” a visibly disgusted Predica Jean, coordinator for the League of Haitian Women for Reconstruction(Lig Fanm Ayisyen pou Rekonstruksyon)  (LIFAR) said during a press conference in Port-au-Prince.  “We’re asking all the political actors who are involved to resolve the situation quickly so we can have a country where we can live (in peace and security), where women’s rights are respected,” she added.Haiti’s League of women is denouncing the gang rape of female prisoners during an attempted jail break by 300 male prisoners. There are STD and pregnancy fears in addition to the psychological trauma. Female activists demand #justice reparations. #Haiti@hrw ?Renan Toussaint pic.twitter.com/ahpu82SoUF— Sandra Lemaire (@SandraDVOA) November 14, 2019Jean decried the gang rape of a dozen female prisoners by male prisoners attempting to escape from a jail in the northern city of Gonaives last week. She asked for justice and reparations for all the women who were violated.About 340 male prisoners, angry about the jail’s poor living conditions, broke out Nov. 7-8. They had been reportedly held for days in overcrowded cells without food and water. They managed to disarm a guard and break through the gates. Once out, they sought female prisoners in a separate part of the jail, according to witnesses, and raped them repeatedly until a police unit arrived and fired tear gas to stop the attack.Jean also demanded the immediate release of a female prisoner who remained jailed even though she was set to be released before the attacks.“They claimed they couldn’t find her release form and held her in jail where she was subjected to rape,” Jean told reporters.The LIFAR coordinator cited the Geneva Conventions and other international law statutes that demand prisoners of war, as well as civilian prisoners, be treated humanely. “These laws are being violated in our country,” Jean said.A human rights activist who spoke to VOA Creole said police officers who arrived at the jail during the incident told him they were shaken by what they heard.“Some of the officers said they were heartbroken and crying when they heard the screams of the women during the criminal actions of the men,” the activist said.After the incident, the nongovernmental organization Zanmi Lasante (Friends for Health) stepped in to address the rape victims’ immediate health needs, including testing for sexually transmitted diseases. They were also provided medication to prevent unwanted pregnancies.Jeanne Bolivar, the Haitian Ministry for Women’s Affairs coordinator for the Artibonite Department, visited the female prisoners and told VOA Creole they were visibly distraught. She said she is working to find a psychologist who can counsel the victims. She also denounced the authorities of Gonaives who transferred the women after the attack to a jail in neighboring St. Marc in their underwear.“The women’s rights were not respected, their dignity was not respected at all,” Bolivar said. She told VOA Creole she spoke to a young woman who told her she was raped by seven men.Bolivar said she is working to find food for the transferred prisoners as well.Women’s rights activist Guerline Residor called on law enforcement officials to act responsibly.“We are asking the Ministry of Justice, the chief of police, police officers, etc., to intervene rapidly to resolve the dangerous situation women in the north find themselves in,” she said.
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Hundreds of Haiti’s national police officers (PNH) were in the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and the northern city of Cape Haitian Sunday, demanding better work conditions and a union to represent and defend their rights. This is the second time in a month police have protested.“We need a union that can represent us when things aren’t good,” a member of POLIFRONT, Haiti’s Border Police unit of the National Police, told VOA Creole. He was in uniform and wearing a black face mask. “I’m talking about abuse, our meager 19,000 (Haitian gourdes) salary (about $208), which is not enough.”This policeman from the POLIFRONT unit of @pnh_officiel says they need a union to defend and protect their rights. ?Matiado Vilme @VOAKreyol#Haitipic.twitter.com/6AoAu70fBO— Sandra Lemaire (@SandraDVOA) November 17, 2019The officer said the police are suffering because they don’t enjoy the same benefits reserved for their leaders, and they don’t have anyone to represent and defend them when they need it most.“If we remain strong, we’ll get everything we need,” another police protester, dressed in civilian clothing, from the Mobilized Intervention Unit (BMI) of the national police told VOA.This policeman of the Mobilized Intervention unit of @pnh_officiel says an 8 hour workday limit is essential to the officers. He believes the constitution will prevail and their demands will become a reality. ?Matiado Vilme #Haitipic.twitter.com/FErnXQDzt6— Sandra Lemaire (@SandraDVOA) November 17, 2019“The police is a legal force, recognized by the constitution, which also gives us the right to form a union. So if the constitution allows us to form a union, that means we will have it one way or another. And we should only be working eight hours a day, according to the law,” he added.According to the officer, although a law was passed and signed by the director of the national police force, it has not gone into effect, and police officers often are subjected to long work days.Female police officers also participated in the Port au Prince protest, Nov 17, 2019. (Photo: M. Vilme/VOA)The Port-au-Prince protest was festive, with a truck and deejay accompanying the protesters in the streets while blaring motivational songs, ending with the country’s national anthem. “For the flag, for the nation,” they sang to a tune very similar to France’s national anthem “La Marseillaise.”#Haiti national policemen @pnh_officiel are back in the streets today in PAP demanding better work conditions including higher salary, insurance, health care. They sang the national hymn too, which may sound familiar if you know La Marseillaise. ?Matiado Vilme @VOAKreyolpic.twitter.com/ubmu0SNgs0— Sandra Lemaire (@SandraDVOA) November 17, 2019Up north in Cape Haitian, hundreds of police officers took over the streets for a noisy, festive, peaceful protest. “Si yo pa reponn nou, nou pral nan rebelyon. We’ll shift to rebellion mode if they don’t respond to our demands” they chanted. Their demands are the same as their colleagues’ in the capital: better wages, insurance, health care and a union.“Si Yo pa reponn nou, nou pral nan rebelyon” if they don’t respond we’ll shift to rebellion mode policemen in Cape Haitian chanted today. #Haiti ?Yvan Martin Jasmin @VOAKreyolpic.twitter.com/1ehBD89INx— Sandra Lemaire (@SandraDVOA) November 17, 2019Some of the protesters held posters that said: “Policemen are not slaves,” “Too many policemen have been imprisoned for no good reason” and “19,000 gourdes cannot take care of a family.”Haiti’s National Police force has been plagued by allegations of corruption. They have also been accused of human rights violations for firing on unarmed civilians and using excessive force during peaceful protests.Police protesters hold a banner that says IGPNH (inspector general of police) you can’t give what you don’t have, Nov 17, 2019, Port au Prince. (Photo: M. Vilme/VOA)Earlier this month, the United Nations human rights office and Amnesty International expressed concern about the situation and asked the Moise administration to investigate the incidents “promptly, thoroughly and effectively.” National Police officials say the force that exists today is a work in progress and far more professional, but that problems persist.During a recent visit to police stations in Carrefour and Petionville, two suburbs of the capital, President Jovenel Moise told the press he asked for officials to give him a detailed report on the officers’ working conditions so they could be addressed as soon as possible. He also commended the police for their dedication and hard work.On November 15, a new police inspector general was named. In his inauguration speech, Herve Julien urged young officers to stay far away from politics for the good of the national police force.
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French Beninese writer and activist Kemi Seba is in Haiti this weekend on a humanitarian mission.Seba traveled to the Caribbean nation to show support for the PetroChallenger anti-corruption movement and for the residents of the poorest slums of the capital.VOA Creole spoke with the activist as he was distributing sanitary kits in Port-au-Prince.“We wanted to show that we are capable and that we don’t have to wait for the government to act, we can take action ourselves to show our support,” Seba said.”Although we have meager resources we only exist when we can share what we have with others in the context of this dimension, this dynamic,” he added. “We have medical staff with us, midwives, specialists who are not only distributing the kits but also doing free consultations. They are volunteers who gave their time to make this happen.”French Beninese writer and activist Kémi Seba is visiting President Moise denies the corruption allegations and in recent weeks has taken steps to address the protesters’ concerns, such as naming new Cabinet ministers, visiting local businesses, and speaking directly to the people on traditional and social media. He has also called for a national dialogue to discuss ways to resolve the political impasse, but the opposition has repeatedly rejected the offer.Activist Seba told VOA he hopes his effort will spark future progress.“We hope this will not be a just drop in the bucket, but rather the beginning of a process to address this issue with sister institutions and medical partnerships who are already working here. I want to especially thank the medical staff who helped us bring this mission to fruition today,” he said.The local residents, who did not wish to be photographed, expressed gratitude and thanks to Seba and his team for taking the time to visit them and address some of their most urgent needs.Jacquelin Belizaire and Matiado Vilme in Port-au-Prince contributed to this report.
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A U.N. envoy met with Bolivia’s interim president Saturday to find a way out of the country’s political crisis while the world body expressed concern the situation could “spin out of control” amid a rising death toll.On leaving the meeting with interim leader Jeanine Anez, envoy Jean Arnault said the United Nations hopes it can contribute to an “accelerated pacification process” leading to new elections following the resignation and exile of Evo Morales.Meanwhile, another international body, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, condemned Anez’s government for issuing a decree it says “exempts from criminal responsibility” soldiers who took part in efforts to break up protests and unrest that have left at least 23 people dead.The norm was approved before the most violent day since the crisis began, when at least eight pro-Morales coca growers were killed when security forces opened fire during a demonstration.“It is not a license for the Armed Forces to kill,” Presidency Minister Jerjes Justiniano told a press conference. He said the decree is based on the Criminal Code, which states that “if one defends oneself in self-defense, there is no penalty.”Earlier Saturday, U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet issued a statement calling the deaths “an extremely dangerous development.”“I am really concerned that the situation in Bolivia could spin out of control if the authorities do not handle it sensitively and in accordance with international norms,” she said.Police dismantle a barricade constructed by supporters of former President Evo Morales, on the outskirts of Cochabamba, Bolivia, Nov. 16, 2019.Protesters said police fired Friday when demonstrators tried to cross a military checkpoint in Sacaba, a town near Cochabamba. Many of the protesters were coca leaf growers loyal to Morales, who had been Bolivia’s first indigenous president before being pressured to step down by Bolivia’s military chief after weeks of widespread protests over a disputed election.Witnesses to the clash described seeing the bodies of several protesters and dozens of people rushed to hospitals, many covered in blood. On Saturday, Bolivia’s national Ombudsman’s Office raised the death toll to eight. It said that overall 23 people had been killed in the violence.Police and soldiers broke up fresh blockades of flaming logs and tractors Saturday on the road linking Sacaba to Cochabamba, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.Morales, who was granted asylum in Mexico after his Nov. 10 resignation, said on Twitter that a “massacre” had occurred and he described the interim government led by Anez as a dictatorship.Former Bolivian President Evo Morales waves upon arrival to Mexico City, Nov. 12, 2019.On Friday, Anez said Morales would face possible legal charges for election fraud if he returned home from Mexico City. She also has said Morales would not be allowed to participate in a new presidential election, which is supposed to be held within three months.The ousted leader, meanwhile, contended this week that he is still president since the country’s legislature has not yet approved his resignation.Morales stepped down following nationwide protests over suspected vote-rigging in an Oct. 20 election, which he claimed to have won to gain a fourth term in office. Morales has denied there was fraud, though an Organization of American States audit reported widespread irregularities.“We’re not going to let them make us flee, nor humiliate us. Let me say to Mrs. Anez that she must denounce this. If not the whole country is going to close in on her,” said Enrique Mamani, a local resident. “They have carried out a state coup, paid off the military, paid off the police. There’s political persecution against our leaders.”Backers of the interim government deny there was any coup against Morales, saying police and the military withdrew backing from him only to avoid shedding civilian blood during the mass protests against him.Police detain backers of former President Evo Morales on the outskirts of Cochabamba, Bolivia, Nov. 16, 2019.Supporters of Morales, who was Bolivia’s president for almost 14 years and was the last survivor from the “pink tide” of South American leftist leaders, have been staging disruptive protests since his resignation, setting up blockades that forced closure of schools and caused shortages of gasoline in the capital.Anez, who had been the highest-ranking opposition official in the Senate, proclaimed herself president after Morales resigned, saying every person in the line of succession ahead of her – all of them Morales backers – had resigned.
The Constitutional Court issued a statement backing her claim that she didn’t need to be confirmed by Congress, a body controlled by Morales’ Movement Toward Socialism party.Much of the opposition to Morales sprang from his refusal to accept a referendum that upheld term limits that barred him from seeking another term. He got the courts to declare the limits a violation of his human rights to seek office. 
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The United Nations warned Saturday that violence in Bolivia could “spin out of control,” following a night of skirmishes between security forces and coca farmers loyal to ousted President Evo Morales that left at least eight dead. Morales resigned under pressure from Bolivia’s police and military last Sunday after evidence of vote rigging tainted his October 20 election victory. He fled to Mexico. The leftist and charismatic former coca farmer has since called his ouster a “coup” and decried growing allegations of heavy-handed repression by security forces under interim President Jeanine Anez, a former conservative lawmaker. “The coup leaders massacre indigenous and humble people for asking for democracy,” Morales said on Twitter late Friday, following reports of mounting deaths.  Anez has blamed Morales for stoking violence from abroad, and has said her government wishes to hold elections and meet with the opposition to mend fences.  FILE – Coca growers, supporters of former President Evo Morales, run from tear gas as one of them kicks a gas canister during clashes with riot police in Sacaba, on the outskirts of Cochabamba, Bolivia, Nov. 15, 2019.The rising body count prompted Morales to strike a more conciliatory tone with the government of Anez in recent days. “For the sake of democracy … I have no problem not taking part in new elections,” Morales told Reuters in an interview in Mexico City. Morales’ party, now the opposition, has asked for a session of both chambers of Bolivia’s legislature this Tuesday to discuss a plan for holding the elections to replace the interim government. Anez, meanwhile, has moved quickly away from Morales’ leftist rule. On Friday, Bolivia asked Venezuelan officials to leave the country. The Andean nation also accused Cuba, once a close ally, of stoking unrest following Morales’ resignation. Anez spoke with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guiado on Saturday. She said she was pleased to establish relations with a 
“democratic Venezuela.” “We have the same objectives, and I hope soon we can cry freedom for Venezuela, as it so rightly deserves,” she said in the televised meeting. 
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Guatemala could send asylum seekers to some of the country’s most remote regions, a top official said on Saturday, as the Central American country and the United States move closer to finalizing details of a controversial migration agreement.Interior Minister Enrique Degenhart, who met officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Friday, told Reuters in an interview that he wanted to finalize the agreement before President-elect Alejandro Giammattei takes office in January. A representative for the incoming government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Degenhart said the regions could include, but would probably not be limited to, the Peten jungle, a sweltering area in northern Guatemala that borders Mexico and is known to be frequented by drug cartels.He declined to give further details on the scope of the agreement before finalizing discussions with his U.S. counterparts.Migrants whose asylum claims were rejected by the United States could be transported to airports across the country, Degenhart said. “All airports are being analyzed,” he said.
“There are some that’ll qualify but others that won’t.”The United States pressured Guatemala to accept more asylum seekers under a “safe third country” agreement signed in July, but it has not yet been implemented as the two sides iron out details amid opposition in Guatemala.By accepting a safe third country deal, Guatemala could help U.S. President Donald Trump implement a new U.S. rule that would deny asylum to migrants unless they first apply in a country they have traveled through en route to the United States.Trump’s administration has struggled to stem a flow of mostly undocumented Central American migrants heading to the U.S. border and bring down migration, a key promise of his election campaign.”The process has not finished,” Degenhart said of the negotiations. “We are close to finishing it but it’s important that we finish defining the details before making a final
decision.”
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