Gamgia; Weath of an Infant Sets Pff New Debate Ove FGM

The Price of Control: Death of an Infant Sets Off New Debate over FGM in Gambia The Gambia Earlier this month, a one-month-old baby girl, bleeding heavily, was rushed to the hospital in the Gambian capital of Banjul, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. She had undergone a procedure known as female genital mutilation (FGM). The death set off outrage in the West African country, where the practice was banned a decade ago but remains widespread. “That incident is more than just a case, it is a national wake-up call,” said Emmanuel Joof, chair of Gambia’s National Human Rights Commission, at a recent public event. “It is a reminder that FGM is not simply a ‘cultural practice’ – it is a criminal offence, a human rights violation, and in some cases, like this one, it is deadly.” To date, three women have been charged in the case, the first charges related to FGM since the country attempted to reverse the ban on the practice last year. One of the suspects faces life imprisonment, while the other two were charged as accomplices and face fines and jail time. FGM is the deliberate cutting or removal of a female’s external genitalia, usually for religious and social reasons: Researchers say it is a way to control females and preserve their virginity to make them more “marriageable.” Some practitioners argue it also prevents health problems later on in life, an assertion strongly disputed by medical professionals. Usually, it is performed by older women in the community or traditional healers, often in unsanitary conditions with rough tools such as razor blades. As a result, it can result in serious bleeding, infections, lifelong pain, complications in childbirth, and also death: About 45,000 females die annually of FGM, according to one recent study. More than 230 million women and girls across the world alive in 2024 have undergone the procedure, mostly in Muslim-majority countries in sub-Saharan Africa, but also in Asia and the Middle East, according to the United Nations. The organization noted a 15 percent increase in the number of FGM survivors since 2016. It labels it a form of torture. In Gambia, the UN estimates that about 75 percent of women have had the procedure – among the top 10 highest rates in the world. Many have been cut before the age of six. There has been a worldwide movement for years to ban FGM. Today, it is illegal in more than 70 countries. Since The Gambia banned the practice in 2015, only three women have been convicted of defying the law. In 2023, two mothers and a practitioner, 96-year-old Yassin Fatty, were fined. Fatty said then she would never stop cutting. Still, those convictions set off a fight. Some wanted the ban repealed and argued that FGM is part of Gambia’s culture and Islam mandates it. Religious leaders called FGM “a virtue,” and insisted that those who fight it “are fighting God.” One advocacy group, Concerned Citizens, called on the Gambian government to stop targeting those performing the procedure. “The people of The Gambia have consistently expressed, through various lawful means, their opposition to the ban and have instructed their elected members of parliament to repeal the said prohibition,” the group said in a statement. In March 2024, a majority of lawmakers voted to advance a bill to overturn the ban, setting off weeks of furious campaigning by human rights activists, doctors, and other opponents of FGM. Had it passed, the bill would have made The Gambia the first country in the world to reverse a ban on FGM. Instead, it was defeated by lawmakers last summer, but only just, and by procedural maneuvering. “It’s such a huge sense of relief,” one survivor of FGM, Absa Samba, told the Associated Press after the vote. “But I believe this is just the beginning of the work.” The ban was immediately challenged with a petition filed with the Gambian Supreme Court. That decision is pending. “There is more to come in Gambia,” Nimco Ali, an FGM survivor and anti-FGM activist, told NPR. “The Imam has stated that once the ban is repealed, then the next (goal) will be to repeal laws against child marriage.” Meanwhile, the procedure continues in secrecy, and activists such as Fatou Baldeh, founder of the group Women In Leadership and Liberation, told the BBC there has been an increase in FGM procedures being performed on babies in the country. “Parents feel that if they cut their girls when they’re babies, they heal quicker,” she said. “But also, because of the law, they feel that if they perform it at such a young age, it’s much easier to disguise, so that people don’t know.” Share this story Advertisement The World, Briefly Israel Resumes Ceasefire Talks, UN Declares Famine in Gaza Gaza / Israel / West Bank

A Brasilian Cook Is A Big Hit In London

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Brasil: Holding The Trump Card-Lula Is Capitalizing On The Tariff War

Holding the Trump Card: Brazil’s Lula Is Capitalizing on Tariff War Brazil Over July 6-7, Brazil hosted the BRICS summit, an annual gathering of a growing group of major emerging economies increasingly dominated by China and Russia, which are leading a challenge to the US-led Western world order. At the time, commentators said that the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, was unpopular at home, as evidenced by the sharp drop in his administration’s approval ratings to 28 percent, and losing “clout” abroad due to his clumsy handling of foreign policy. “Brazil’s role at the heart of an expanded and more authoritarian-dominated BRICS is part of Lula’s increasingly incoherent foreign policy,” wrote the Economist. “He has made no effort to forge ties with the United States since Donald Trump took office in January.” Instead, it added, Lula courts China, Russia, and Venezuela while defending Iran. Enter US President Donald Trump. On July 9, irked by the BRICS meeting and other issues, Trump threatened Brazil with 50 percent tariffs on its exports to the US – despite the US having a roughly $6 billion trade surplus with the country. He said it was because of the “witch hunt” against former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who is being tried for plotting a coup in the aftermath of the 2022 election that he lost to Lula. Bolsonaro is also accused of plotting to kill both Lula and Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Bolsonaro denies all charges. Soon after, the US began investigating Brazil’s trade practices and revoked the visas of top officials, such as Supreme Court justices, prosecutors, and others linked to Bolsonaro’s prosecution, and announced that it was considering sanctions on these individuals. It has especially singled out de Moraes for his actions against US tech companies in his fight against disinformation, which US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called a “persecution and censorship complex” that not only “violates basic rights of Brazilians, but also extends beyond Brazil’s shores to target Americans.” Lula fought back. He promised to reciprocate on tariffs, saying that any tariff increase by the US would trigger Brazil’s economic reciprocity law. That legislation allows Brazil to suspend bilateral trade, investment, and intellectual property agreements with countries that harm the South American nation’s competitiveness, the Associated Press explained. Lula has also threatened to tax US tech companies, such as Meta. “Doesn’t anyone on (Trump’s) team have the sense to explain to him not to insult another country like that?” Lula fumed, calling the US action “unacceptable blackmail.” “It is unacceptable for foreign interests to override Brazilian sovereignty.” Just a month later, the spat has left the Brazilian president riding high at home and abroad, say analysts. Part of the reason is that Lula is the only leader of a US trade partner to challenge Trump’s new tariff regime despite the consequences. Now, Brazil has become the center of attention worldwide. “The world is watching as Brazil reacts to the US,” wrote Andre Pagliarini of the Louisiana State University in the London School of Economics’ Business Review. “What happens in Brazil going forward is of profound interest to other large economies in the Western Hemisphere, like Mexico and Canada and beyond.” “(Lula) is pushing back hard on the Trumpian notion that the price of market access is the dismantling of democratic norms,” Pagliarini added. “Lula’s overarching strategy is focused on highlighting the irrationality and essential hostility of Trump’s attack… The stakes should be clear for everyone.” Brazil is not alone in being singled out by the US for higher tariffs in response to non-economic policies. For example, Canada’s decision to recognize Palestine led Trump to warn that it would now be “very hard” for America to reach a new trade deal that would allow its northern neighbor to avoid high tariffs. Still, the stakes are higher in Brazil because the US is pressuring the country to subvert its own democratic institutions, analysts say. However, the US pressure has backfired spectacularly. Instead of being cowed, the Brazilian high court has stepped up its action against Bolsonaro, who has also taken pains to distance himself from the US action on his behalf. It ordered the former president to don an electronic ankle monitor, confined him to house arrest at certain times, and forbade him from using social media or talking to foreign officials. It has also seized the assets of his son, lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, who moved to Texas and has been lobbying US officials to get tough on Lula. Meanwhile, Bolsonaro’s allies in Brazil’s right-wing legislature have closed ranks to consider tariffs and other actions against the US. On the streets, Brazilians have rallied, too, protesting US actions and burning effigies of Trump. Lula’s approval ratings have doubled within a month, polls show, and he is now the leading contender in the presidential elections next year. Some say the 2026 vote may echo election outcomes in Canada and Australia earlier this year: Both saw trailing center-left parties come from behind to easily beat Trump-linked conservatives. Moreover, though the tariffs may lower growth slightly in Brazil, its exports to the US only account for about 13 percent of its total exports, while its exports to China are more than double that. Analysts say that will allow Lula to benefit politically, as he will be able to blame Trump and the American president’s allies in the Brazilian right for any economic pain, which in any case will likely fall more heavily on regions that vote conservative. These days, Lula often speaks to Brazilians about the tariffs while wearing a hat that reads, “Brazil belongs to Brazilians.” He also talks often about how sacred Brazil’s democratic institutions are to a society that suffered under their Portuguese rulers and later under multiple dictatorships. “Trump has inadvertently made Lula into a bulwark against neocolonialism,” wrote Foreign Policy, “a role the aging firebrand will be more than happy to play.”

Brasil: Police Accuse Bolsonaro Of Receiving $ 5 Million Over One Year; Suspect Money Laundering

Brazil's police accuse Bolsonaro of receiving $5 million over 1 year, suspect money laundering 3 hours ago Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro, center, temporarily allowed out of house arrest for medical exams, departs a hospital in Brasília, Brazil, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian federal police accuse former president Jair Bolsonaro of receiving large sums of money without apparent justification between March of 2023 and February of 2024, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, potentially adding to the embattled former leader’s legal woes. Investigators say Brazil’s financial watchdog suspects it has a case of money laundering involving Bolsonaro, who in early September will face the verdict and sentencing phase of his trial over an alleged coup plot. The former president could face another trial if the attorney general decides to charge him on accusations of obstruction of justice. Bolsonaro did not immediately comment on the latest accusation but in the past has claimed he is being persecuted politically by the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. New documents add to legal woes The new documents added to a 170-page long obstruction-of-justice investigation allege Bolsonaro received more than 30 million Brazilian reais ($5 million), most of it without apparent justification, along with debits of almost the same amount during that period. He was president from Jan. 1, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2022. The AP had access to the documents, which were sent to the country’s Supreme Court. Much of the information of the financial watchdog comes from state-run bank Banco do Brasil. Almost 20 million reais ($3.48 million) allegedly came from more than 1.2 million direct transactions called PIX. Bolsonaro spent a similar amount on investments during the period. The documents also showed that the former president spent money on wire transfers, payment of deposit slips, withdrawals and exchange operations. Brazil’s federal police say in the new documents that Bolsonaro and his son Eduardo used “several maneuvers to dissimulate the origin and destination of financial resources, with the aim of financing and supporting activities of illegal nature of the lawmaker (Eduardo Bolsonaro) living abroad.” Earlier, Bolsonaro’s lawyers said they were surprised by the federal police’s decision to formally accuse him of obstruction of justice. Bolsonaro considered asylum in Argentina The federal police investigation revealed on Wednesday that Bolsonaro considered seeking political asylum in Argentina last year and that he continued to communicate with allies in recent weeks despite precautionary measures that now force him to be under house arrest. Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the case, told Bolsonaro’s lawyers late on Wednesday that they had 48 hours to explain why the former president was not complying with measures established for his house arrest order. Bolsonaro’s lawyers denied any wrongdoing in that case. “There was never noncompliance with any precautionary measure previously imposed,” the lawyers said in a statement, in which they added they will clarify Bolsonaro’s recent actions to de Moraes in a timely fashion. Also on Thursday, one of Bolsonaro’s lawyers said in a TV interview that the former president never seriously considered seeking political asylum in Argentina. Paulo Cunha Bueno told TV GloboNews that Bolsonaro received “every kind of suggestion” as the investigations on him went forward. “Someone sent him that asylum request in February of 2024. He could have gone, but he did not. He didn’t want it and he was neither in house arrest nor in ankle monitoring. He had every condition to flee and he did not,” Cunha said. Bolsonaro claimed in a 33-page document to Milei he was being politically persecuted in Brazil, documents obtained by federal police show. Both are staunch supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has recently repeated some of the former president’s claims in his decision to impose 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports. Bolsonaro had his passport seized by Brazil’s Supreme Court in on Feb. 8, 2024. He has repeatedly sought to get it back, including prior to Trump’s inauguration earlier this year. De Moraes rejected all requests as the former president is seen as a flight risk. Manuel Adorni, spokesperson for Milei, said the Argentine government hasn’t received anything yet. A verdict and sentence in the coup trial will come from a Supreme Court panel of five justices. They are scheduled to announce their rulings between Sept. 2 and 12. The new findings will not be part of that decision. ___ Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america 12

Guatemala: Historical Archive of the National Police on its 20th Aniversary

Invisible, Silenced, and All but Abandoned: The Guatemalan Historical Archive of the National Police on Its 20th Anniversary angel archivo Installation inside the police archives of "So That All Shall Know" from the polyptych "Clarification," which illustrates the covers of the official report from the Human Rights Office, Archdiocese of Guatemala, "Guatemala, never again!". Installation and photo credit: Daniel Hernández-Salazar©2009 Arévalo Government Slow to Reverse Cuts to AHPN Budget and Staff National Security Archive Calls on International Community to Support Historical Memory Efforts Across Latin America Published: Aug 20, 2025 Edited by Kate Doyle and Claire Dorfman For more information, contact: 202-994-7000 or nsarchiv@gwu.edu Subjects Human Rights and Genocide Regions Mexico and Central America Events Guatemala Civil War, 1960-1996 Project Guatemala 2023 report Report by the Association in Guatemala of Friends of UNESCO, 2023. Plan Estratégico para la Institucionalizacion del AHPN, by Antonio González Quintana, 2019. ahpn logo The Digital Archive of the Archivo Histórico de la Policía Nacional de Guatemala at the University of Texas at Austin Officials from the Interior Ministry and MICUDE tour the AHPN installation in 2024. Credit: MICUDE Washington, D.C., August 20, 2025 - Twenty years ago, a group of human rights investigators in Guatemala stumbled upon an enormous archive containing millions of historical records belonging to the country’s brutal former national police force. With support from the government’s Human Rights Prosecutor, financing from foundations and foreign embassies, and assistance from international advisors including the National Security Archive, the group managed to rescue the moldering files from a long-abandoned warehouse and turn them into the largest public repository of police records in Latin America. Since then, the Historical Archive of the National Police (AHPN) has been the source of astonishing revelations about the role of Guatemalan security forces in some of the worst human rights abuses documented during the country’s 36-year internal conflict (1960-96), including political assassinations, kidnappings, torture, and forced disappearances. Along the way, it emerged as a model for historical memory sites worldwide through the determined efforts of Guatemalans to establish ownership over their history and bring perpetrators to justice. But fast forward to today, and Guatemala’s celebrated police archive is a shadow of its former self – a hollowed-out institution operating at drastically reduced levels that has little contact with the public it is supposed to serve. The surge in authoritarianism that engulfed the country over the last decade permitted corrupt right-wing ideologues to weaponize the judicial system against judges, prosecutors, human rights defenders, journalists, and environmental activists, among others. The AHPN, long associated with the struggle for transitional justice and historical memory, became a casualty of intense government hostility. This National Security Archive report is based on a pair of site visits conducted in 2023 and 2025, two decades after the discovery of AHPN, and draws on years of experience and involvement with the police archive and historical memory efforts in Guatemala. The authors find that deteriorating conditions at the archive reflect a broader trend toward the erasure and neglect of historical memory across the region and call on the international community to protect and support institutions like the AHPN that are working to preserve it. Twenty Years Ago When the Historical Archive of the National Police was discovered in July 2005, Guatemala was almost a decade past the 1996 peace accords that ended more than 30 years of armed insurgency and violent state repression. In 1999, the Historical Clarification Commission concluded that 93 percent of documented human rights abuses were committed by Guatemalan military, police or paramilitary forces, and that some 200,000 unarmed civilians were killed or disappeared during a sustained government counterinsurgency campaign that spiraled into genocide.[1] But though the war had ended, there was a tremendous amount of work still to be done to spark national acknowledgement and reconciliation, hold perpetrators accountable, and create a new post-conflict consensus about what happened. The country’s security forces had refused to participate in the truth commission process and denied investigators access to government archives. So the discovery – on the grounds of a working police base in downtown Guatemala City – of a massive, abandoned warehouse holding a century’s worth of police records was a significant and unexpected opportunity to penetrate one of the country’s most opaque institutions and contribute to justice for its many victims. Under the leadership of Gustavo Meoño Brenner, a former guerrilla leader, a team of dozens of people labored to clean, organize, and scan the documents, turning dark and neglected spaces on the base into a humming beehive of activity and promise. The project processed and digitized millions of records and opened its doors to researchers once a critical mass of them was available for viewing several years later. The discovery of the police archive in 2005 The discovery of the police archive in 2005. Credit: Prensa Comunitaria Over the years, the AHPN grew and thrived. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) distributed millions of dollars of donations made by other countries and international organizations in support of the project, which operated without government funding. Thousands of Guatemalan and international visitors cycled through its buildings, including government officials and foreign dignitaries. The archive issued deeply researched reports on its holdings, received students, professors, and journalists, and organized conferences. It also became an important site of memory and reconciliation, hosting cultural events and interreligious ceremonies, inviting community members to paint murals on the walls surrounding it, and offering space for a monumental sculpture called the Angel of Peace and Harmony. Rising Threats The archive entered a new phase when Guatemalan prosecutors embarked on an extraordinary series of human rights criminal trials and, for the first time, were able to draw on the official police records as criminal evidence. In 2009, the AHPN identified documents pointing to police and military involvement in the forced disappearance of labor activist Edgar Fernando García in 1984, leading to the arrest and later conviction of two former policemen. Many more trials followed that also relied on AHPN files for evidence, including proceedings against senior police and military officers for their command roles in Edgar Fernando’s disappearance, the 1980 burning of the Spanish Embassy, the 1981 kidnapping and torture of student Edgar Enrique Sáenz Calito, and the murder of Belgian priests in the late 1970s and early 80s. Guatemala’s willingness to bring perpetrators to account – and the role that the police archive played in assisting the criminal investigations – was an inspiration to countries across Latin America and around the world. Former police official Héctor Roderico Former police official Héctor Roderico Ramírez Ríos is taken into custody on charges of illegal detention and forced disappearance in 2009. Credit: Prensa Libre But the archive’s outsized public profile, as well as its contributions to the human rights trials, infuriated Guatemala’s powerful ultra-conservative sectors, among them retired military officers and wealthy business elites. After the political right’s favored candidate, Jimmy Morales, won the presidency in 2016, the government actively sought to put an end to advances in judicial reform, anti-corruption efforts, and human rights accountability. Morales’ primary accomplice was his attorney general, María Consuelo Porras, who he appointed in May 2018.[2] Since taking office, Porras has harassed, surveilled, indicted, and jailed dozens of human rights defenders, anti-corruption investigators, indigenous activists, lawyers, prosecutors, judges, and journalists. Her role earned her a designation by the U.S. Department of State as a “corrupt and undemocratic actor” in 2021 and sanctions imposed by the United States and by Great Britain in 2025. Guatemala is not the only country where human rights archives and documentation efforts are under direct attack or are suffering from deliberate acts of neglect. Throughout the Americas, as democracies weaken and authoritarian leaders rise to power, a new antagonism has emerged toward the individuals and organizations constructing narratives of past repression and state violence. The denialism of uncomfortable histories has led to an abandonment of historical memory initiatives across the board: through the closing of archives, the destruction of documents, new limits on the right to information, and the censorship of diverse histories. Examples include President Javier Milei’s move to defund memory sites containing records of Argentina’s dirty war (1976-83); threats to Peruvian human rights archives by right-wing politicians seeking to rewrite the country’s history; Mexico’s decision to change its freedom of information law to expand the government’s ability to deny public access to its records; and the removal of information from public displays about civil rights struggles at the National Archives of the United States. As Guatemala’s government escalated its assault on justice and human rights, the police archive soon became a target. In 2018, AHPN director Gustavo Meoño was severed from his position. He immediately went into exile; for years, he had been the subject of baseless legal complaints filed by right-wing figures and feared for his freedom.[3] Dozens of staff members – from archivists to investigators to IT experts to public access staff – were laid off, their contracts not renewed. UNDP was told to withdraw from its administrative role, which terminated the archive’s semi-autonomous status and turned it into an entity dependent on the federal government.[4] In 2019, Morales’ Interior Minister, Enrique Degenhart, threatened to confiscate the AHPN from the Ministry of Culture and Sports (MICUDE) and return its holdings to the reconstituted National Civil Police. That did not happen, largely thanks to pressure from Guatemalan human rights groups, civil society, and international allies. Responding to a legal petition from Human Rights Prosecutor Jordán Rodas Andrade to protect the AHPN, the Guatemalan Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that the archive belonged to the nation’s cultural patrimony and should be overseen by MICUDE, not the Interior Ministry. Equally important, the Court ordered MICUDE to ensure that the institution had the financial, administrative, and human resources necessary to continue the work of processing the archives, preserving and protecting them, and making them publicly accessible. In one sense, the ruling affirmed the government’s attempt to “institutionalize” the police archive by incorporating it into the country’s national archives system under the Ministry of Culture. And it was not unreasonable to consider the transition a natural one since it should have offered a more sustainable model for the future.[5] But in reality, the loss of the AHPN’s special independent status left it vulnerable to political and bureaucratic machinations that very quickly undermined its ability to function at the remarkable level it had achieved for 13 years. The processing of the police archive records in 2007 The processing of the police archive records in 2007. Credit: Harpers Magazine The Decline of the AHPN By the time the Supreme Court issued its decision, a second conservative government had taken power in Guatemala under President Alejandro Giammattei. Although the Interior Ministry abandoned efforts to reclaim the police archive, his administration practiced a form of extreme neglect, allowing the AHPN to wither on the vine. Following in his predecessor’s footsteps, Giammattei’s government continued to slash the archive’s budget, radically reduce its number of full-time employees, and shrink the AHPN’s public profile. Outside scholars reported difficulties in arranging research visits; as a result, the number of annual users plummeted. In 2023, a group of AHPN supporters conducted a systematic and detailed report of the impact of the government’s actions on the archive’s functions. Made up of members of the Association in Guatemala of Friends of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), this group used the 2020 Supreme Court ruling to compare the AHPN prior to 2018 – the year that director Meoño was fired and staff laid off – to the archive of 2023, when the report was issued.[6] Almost across the board, the authors found a lack of compliance with the orders of the Court. Their study – in English, “Historical Archive and Memory Site: Monitoring compliance with sentence 1281-2019 of the Supreme Court of Justice concerning the protection and functioning of the AHPN” – concluded that the AHPN was struggling to fulfill its obligations to process records and guarantee public access to the collection. Among the report’s most striking findings: The AHPN’s budget went from an average of $1 million/year in 2016-18, when international donors were still permitted to contribute, to an average of $124,000/year in 2019-22 after the Guatemalan government took over (pp. 13-14) The government has laid off AHPN employees at a steady pace, leaving fewer and fewer people to carry out the many tasks required to run the institution. In 2017, there were 63 people working in areas that included coordination and administration, archival processing, research and investigations, IT and digitization, maintenance, and security. In 2020 there were 30 employees, and by 2023 there were 21. The investigations team – responsible for researching human rights cases, among other critical issues – was eliminated altogether. And the staff dedicated to responding to public requests for information fell from 11 people to two, between 2020 and 2022. (pp. 15-17) According to the report, every metric related to the AHPN’s core archival functions has declined over a five-year period. Comparing the rates of document classification and description, for example, the report’s authors found that in 2022 the staff managed to complete 10 percent of what it achieved in 2017. (p. 24) Digitization (scanning the original, fragile records) in 2022 was less than 30 percent of what it was in 2017. (p. 25) Finally, regarding the public’s use of the AHPN, 5,794 researchers consulted the archive’s databases for information in 2017; in 2022, the number of users was down to 574. (p. 25) The Historical Archive of the National Police in 2025 Entrance The entrance to the AHPN in 2019, 2023, and 2025 (left to right). Credit: Antonio González Quintana/The National Security Archive In the final section of this posting, senior analyst Kate Doyle, who served for years as an international advisor to the Historical Archive of the National Police, and fellow analyst Claire Dorfman report on the conditions inside the AHPN based on a pair of on-site visits in 2023 and 2025. On both trips we were given a tour of the facilities, consulted documents in the public research room, and conducted extensive interviews with current and past employees, government officials, and human rights investigators. For the purpose of this account, we describe our visit in March of 2025, in order to provide the most updated conditions. Our first challenge was figuring out how to schedule a visit. The AHPN no longer has a website to consult and no phone number to call. After locating a Facebook page for the Archivo General de Centro América (AGCA—Guatemala’s national archives), we wrote an email to the main office (agcasecretaria@yahoo.com) and were directed to the AHPN’s current coordinator, Ulda Castillo. Ulda kindly agreed to give us a tour of the archive and allow us to speak to the staff about their work. Our second challenge was to find the building. Kate has been to the AHPN countless times since its discovery in 2005. But recently, the entrance was changed from its former location on Avenida Pedrera in Zone 6 of Guatemala City. The new entrance is still on Pedrera, but there is no formal address, no number, and no sign on the avenue indicating where to go. Areal view Aerial view of the entrance in 2025, sent to the analysts by AHPN coordinator Ulda Castillo. There is – as we discovered after wandering the avenue for 10 or 15 minutes – a blue gate that opens onto a dirt parking lot full of police buses. We walked past the buses, past a scruffy dog asleep in the sun, until we reached a long low building that belongs to the “Department of Investigations and Deactivation of Weapons and Explosives” (DIDAE), which now has the old AHPN sign bolted to its roof. The path that leads to the archive’s front door runs the length of the building, alongside a colorful mural that was painted years ago by community artists, now grimy and broken. Brokem mural wall The walk through the National Civil Police base to the AHPN in 2025. Credit: The National Security Archive We showed our IDs to a pair of police outside, then walked into the old AHPN entrance, now emptied of people. It is hard to reconcile the space with the police archive of the past: there is no more bustle of staff members, busy attending to visitors or working at their desks. Ulda met us and accompanied us through the door marked “Authorized Personnel Only” to visit with archive employees. Where once there were dozens of people laboring over the documents, we walked down empty corridors, passing empty offices. Only 17 people work here now, including the four security guards, a courier, and a cleaning woman – leaving 11 people to do the real labor of the police archive. Empty halls inside the police archive in 2025 Empty halls inside the police archive in 2025. Credit: The National Security Archive Two people work on document cleaning and conservation. Ulda told us that they had recently finished preparing police records from the department of Huehuetenango, and that they were ready to be scanned. They were now sifting through piles of documents from Baja Verapaz.[7] Walking further down the hall past doors marked “Restricted,” we entered the workspace dedicated to investigations, where there is only one person assigned to search the records system in response to requests for information. She is the last employee remaining from Gustavo Meoño’s days and the only person competent to help visiting researchers navigate the AHPN’s antiquated database to look for documents. On her desk was a thick file of letters from the government’s justice division (MP), each one representing multiple requests for information. She told us they get 10-12 letters requesting information from the MP every day and are obligated to respond within ten days.[8] She said, “It’s a lot of responsibility, I have to answer every request.” Although she is the only person in the archive fully qualified to conduct investigations, sometimes other employees have to stop what they are doing and help her because of the severe personnel shortage. Ulda told us, “We get so overwhelmed that even Paty, the cleaning woman, has pitched in to help us search and investigate so we can respond to these requests!” We moved on to the scanning area, where four people were bent over four machines. The man in charge of digitization gave us a brief demonstration of their work; the documents he was scanning were deteriorated cables from the 1960s, many eaten by insects. He told us that normally there are five people scanning all day, every day, but the fifth employee had been temporarily assigned the role of photographer for our tour and was accompanying us from room to room, snapping photos that would presumably be sent on to higher-ups as proof of the AHPN’s continued activity and visitors. Another employee manages “custodia documental,” that is, keeping track of the original paper archives and monitoring when they leave the secure area where they are stored. He led us into the stacks, where thousands of boxes fill the metal shelves. The floor at the entrance to the stacks had been ripped up, exposing a deep hole in the dirt and the pipes underneath. Rickety wooden boards were placed over parts of the hole to allow people to pass. “They’re fixing the plumbing,” explained Ulda. As we stepped over the jagged gap in the floor, the custodian described the biometric system and security cameras they had installed in order to protect the archives from damage. Our last stop was the public reading room, where there are a dozen computer terminals set up on long tables for visiting researchers. Two investigators from the Human Rights Prosecutor’s office were parked in front of screens, browsing the database for records. Juan Bautista was the attendant. He is a courteous man, in effect, the public face of the AHPN, welcoming outsiders and explaining how to file requests or consult the old “Total Image” database that the police archive still depends on. The platform is so complicated and unintuitive that Bautista often needs the help of the one staff member remaining from before 2018 to guide researchers in navigating it. Of course, when she comes to the reading room to assist researchers, she has to pause her efforts to answer the mounting MP information requests, which puts her further behind.[9] Bautista told us that very few people come to the AHPN anymore to do research. He recalled seeing a couple of international scholars over the previous few years – one Mexican, the other a Guatemalan from the United States. But no local researchers come unless they are from the government. “Sometimes former policemen or their families come to look for personal information about pensions, that kind of thing.” Since there’s so little to do in the research room, he often helps the investigations section answer the MP requests. The public reading room in 2025. Credit: The National Security Archive The public reading room in 2025. Credit: The National Security Archive Years ago, the police archive had a robust online presence through their content-rich website (now removed), their steady stream of news on Twitter and Facebook, and their occasional YouTube videos. As we prepared to leave the archive, we asked Ulda whether there was a plan to create a web page or social media account for the AHPN. The institution’s invisibility today – its lack of a public presence online and the trouble it takes even to find the actual building – is clearly an enormous obstacle for visitors. How does the AHPN update researchers or share news of the archive’s progress? For example, how would they broadcast the recent digitization of the Huehuetenango record group, a real achievement? Ulda said the AHPN is not permitted to build its own web page or unilaterally communicate with the public. Those decisions have to be made by the Ministry of Culture and Sports or by the leadership at the national archives. Nor is there an accepted procedure to share updates about advances made by the archive; outsiders learn about them through word of mouth, from visitors who post on their own social media sites, or by way of the occasional news article. Despite her position as the Coordinator of the AHPN, Ulda – along with the rest of her colleagues in the police archive – is what’s known in Guatemala as an “029,” that is, an employee working on a temporary contract, rather than occupying a permanent staff position. The archive’s contracts run for only three months and must be renewed four times every year. That lack of stability for even the most senior staff – that impermanence and uncertainty about their future – helps explain why the person who runs the daily functions of the archive does not have the authority to decide whether to launch a website, reach out to universities, or broadcast the archive’s achievements. When we told Ulda that we were going to speak with an official at MICUDE, she made prayer hands, as though to say: “Please get help.” The Fight for the Archives, Again Disappointingly, help is not on the way. Although the election of moderate, pro-democracy candidate Bernardo Arévalo as president in 2023 promised a renewed focus on human rights, Arévalo and his administration have had to govern while under constant attack by conservative members of Congress and the attorney general, Consuelo Porras. Between them, they have tried to impeach the president 13 times, and have tried ten times to have his immunity stripped from him. The ongoing political struggle has left transitional justice and memory initiatives orphaned, the police archive among them. We expressed our concerns about the AHPN during a meeting with the Ministry of Culture’s Vice Minister for Cultural Heritage, Laura Cotí Lux, one of the key officials overseeing government archives in Guatemala, including the AHPN. She readily agreed that the police archive needed more resources to operate effectively. But MICUDE does not own outright the buildings that house the police archive or the land they sit on, she added, despite the Supreme Court ruling of 2020. Those still belong to the Interior Ministry. “Conditions in the building are not ideal, as you saw. But we don’t want to invest a lot of resources into improving the installation while we are still not guaranteed that we will keep it. Every year, there are more limitations on the amount of space we can have; the AHPN is getting squeezed [by the National Civil Police—PNC] into smaller and smaller areas. Every year, the PNC territory expands and surrounds us more.” Given the scarcity of resources available to the archive in the federal budget, Cotí Lux said, international donors are once again welcome to make donations directly to the AHPN; but we saw no evidence of an active campaign to solicit funding, nor is there anyone to spearhead such an effort.[10] The vice minister pointed to the lack of professional archivists in Guatemala as one reason for the small staff of contract workers, despite the fact that the Meoño era left a legacy of experienced, trained archive employees who were the ones to rescue the abandoned repository and turn it into the institution it became. Under Presidents Morales and Giammattei, all but one of them were dismissed. When we asked why the AHPN still has no website or outreach program, Cotí Lux told us that it was Haroldo Zamora, director of the national archives (AGCA), who makes the decisions about the police archive’s communications strategy, not MICUDE.[11] The Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Culture and Sports have expressed willingness to invest new resources into the AHPN in order to improve the archive’s conditions, but to date those words have not translated into concrete actions. The government’s lackluster commitment to improving the police archive means that the conclusions made by the Association in Guatemala of Friends of UNESCO in their report – written at the tail end of the Giammattei administration in February 2023 – continue to be relevant today, 18 months into Arévalo’s presidency. The AHPN needs adequate space, funding, staff, technology, security, and infrastructure improvements to function properly. It needs permanent staff positions for stability and continuity. And it needs to be assured of its right to the land it stands on and the buildings it occupies. (pp. 32-34) From our own experience visiting the archive, we can add that the institution urgently needs a physical address, phone number, and email, so that outside researchers have a way to contact the AHPN directly. It should have its own separate and protected entrance, parking spaces for staff and visitors, and a dedicated area for community events. And the Guatemalan national archives (AGCA) should immediately facilitate the creation of a new website and reopen the archive’s social media accounts, thereby restoring public access to the archive’s past publications, photographs, videos, and historical account of its activities. The fact that the police archive has survived years of hostility directed at it by previous governments and continues to survive the sluggish pace of assistance by the present administration is testament to the sustained activism of Guatemalan civil society and international supporters. The solidarity that the coalition of friends of the AHPN showed over the years in pushing Guatemala to preserve the archive helped guarantee its continued existence. But perhaps the most important action that AHPN supporters can do today is the simplest: schedule a visit. Conduct research within its vast holdings, request copies of documents, speak to the staff, broadcast your experience on social media, and demand that the government increase the police archive’s resources.[12] The AHPN is a treasure trove of Guatemalan history. While its circumstances are unique, it fits into a larger movement of transitional justice, one that relies on an active and vocal civil society to sustain it. Guatemala was once a symbol of this effort for countries across the globe; it can be again. * * * * * * Before we left Guatemala, we sat down to talk with a group of former AHPN workers. They were among the first wave of people to be hired by Gustavo Meoño after 2005 to help rescue the enormous, deteriorating archives of the National Police: cleaning them, classifying them, scanning them, opening them to the public. None of them work there now. We agreed not to name them so they could speak freely. But most of their stories were tinged with nostalgia, not bitterness. They spoke about the role the archive has played in their lives and careers as archivists and investigators. They also recognized the singular experience of contributing to the successes of the human rights trials through their work at the AHPN. "Working there was a privilege. When the documents begin to speak..." She teared up as she spoke. Everyone nodded. Notes [1] See the English-language summary of the CEH report, Guatemala, Memory of Silence: Report of the Commission for Historical Clarification, Conclusions and Recommendations (pp. 17 and 20) for statistics regarding victims and perpetrators of human rights abuses during the conflict. [2] In 2022, Porras was appointed to a new four-year term by Morales’ successor, President Alejandro Giammattei. [3] A judge signed a warrant for his arrest in 2023, charging him for his alleged role in a 1980 bombing in Guatemala City, when Meoño was a member of the insurgency group, Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP). [4] Note that, beginning in 2019, when the police archive became a collection within Guatemala’s national archives, its name was changed to Fondo Documental del antiguo Archivo Histórico de la Policía Nacional (Record Group of the former Historical Archive of the National Police), or FDaAHPN. The clumsiness of that new acronym is no doubt why most people in Guatemala still refer to the collection as the AHPN, and we do the same in this posting. [5] As a consultant for the UNDP in 2019, Spanish archivist Antonio González Quintana concluded that the institutionalization of the AHPN was a necessary step in its evolution. He wrote that as “a cultural heritage asset of interest to the country, it should be protected by public institutions, which should ensure its safeguarding and its use.” https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/19327-plan-estrate-gico-ahpn (p. 17) [6] The report’s authors were Lucía Pellecer, Luisa Rivas, Daniel Barczay, Rodolfo Kepfer, and Juan Muñoz. [7] The AHPN consists not only of the millions of pages of files from central headquarters of the former National Police in Guatemala City, but historical files that have been transported to the archive from many of the 22 departments around the country. [8] The AHPN, like all government archives, is required to provide records for active judicial investigations. Keeping up with the sheer quantity of requests is a significant challenge under the current conditions. [9] When we visited the AHPN in 2023, we tested the system ourselves. We found that – with the investigations employee’s assistance – we were able to query the database on topics of interest to us (such as certain human rights cases, place names, the names of victims or former Guatemalan officials) and identify relevant records. We requested copies of the records, and Bautista sent us digital versions by email within a week. [10] The AHPN’s first director, Gustavo Meoño, raised millions of dollars for the archive over the years, until he was accused by officials in the Morales administration of illegally funneling foreign money to the institution. So the incentive to resume such arrangements is not immediately clear. [11] Today, the only place to find the hugely useful and informative reports that AHPN staff wrote describing the archive’s riches is a website hosted by the University of Texas at Austin, which holds a mirror copy of the 20 million records scanned before Meoño was fired in 2018. To locate the ten reports, go to the About page and scroll down to “Related Resources.” [12] As though to underscore the precarious condition of the AHPN, shortly after we left Guatemala in late March, the police archive’s database suffered a major technical problem, forcing the staff to suspend public access to the records altogether. As of late August, the problem remained, though coordinator Ulda Castillo assured us in a WhatsApp message that “steps have been taken to resolve the issue promptly and once completed, service will be restored.” The National Security Archive will continue to monitor the reestablishment of the database.

Venezuela Deploys Millions Of Fighters Over 'US Threats' To Venezuela

Venezuela Deploys Millions of Fighters Over US ‘Threats’ Venezuela Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro pledged to mobilize millions of militia members in response to the US doubling the reward for his arrest and intensifying its anti-drug operations in the Caribbean, Al Jazeera reported. Maduro said Monday that he would mobilize more than 4.5 million militia members to “ensure coverage of the entire national territory.” It’s not clear if he can hit that number, however. The militia officially counts five million members, but experts believe the real figure must be lower, as the entire population numbers only about 30 million. The plan comes in response to US actions in the neighborhood. Earlier this week, Washington deployed three US guided-missile destroyers off the coast of Venezuela as part of a broader Caribbean operation targeting narco-terrorist groups, including Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, according to MercoPress. The US mission also involved about 4,000 Marines, surveillance aircraft, additional warships, and at least one attack submarine. Maduro urged his supporters to recruit more workers and peasants into militias and promised to arm them with “rifles and missiles” to protect Venezuela’s sovereignty. He denounced the “extravagant, bizarre and outlandish threats” from Washington, after US President Donald Trump’s administration raised the reward for his arrest to $50 million and accused him of leading a cocaine-smuggling network known as the Cartel de los Soles without providing evidence. Washington, which did not recognize Maduro’s last two election victories, has also imposed new sanctions on his administration and the cartel he allegedly leads. Without mentioning the recent US actions specifically, Maduro has expressed gratitude for the international voices that opposed what he defined as a “rotten refrain” of threats, CBS News wrote. One such voice was that of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who this month rejected US allegations against Maduro, saying that her government had no evidence tying him to the drug cartel.

Trump's Tariffs Drown The Brasilian Fish Industry

Trump's tariffs drown Brazil's fish industry By Facundo Fernandez BarrioNelson ALMEIDA, 2 days ago Tilapia farming in Brazil is a major industry, but US President Donald Trump's tariffs could hurt companies like Fider Pescados /AFP When the water pump is switched on, hundreds of tilapia come to the surface of a pond at a Brazilian fish farm. Their final destination is now uncertain because of US President Donald Trump's stiff tariffs. Fish are one of the Brazilian products subject to a whopping 50 percent levy imposed by Washington a week ago -- a stunning blow to the industry, which now fears layoffs, given that 60 percent of its exports go to the United States. Fider Pescados, Brazil's second biggest exporter of tilapia, manages 400 fish ponds along the Rio Grande in the southeastern state of Sao Paulo, the country's most populous and richest. Tilapia raised there are processed at a company factory in Rifaina, a small town of 4,000 residents. Before the new wave of tariffs, 40 percent of the 9,600 tonnes of fish produced annually by Fider Pescados was shipped to the United States. Now, exports have already plummeted by a third. "We're expecting sales to the US to bottom out, as the 50 percent tariff is untenable," company director Juliano Kubitza told AFP. Once hatched, it takes eight months for farm-raised tilapia -- a mild white fish -- to reach supermarket shelves. Fider Pescados ships both fresh and frozen tilapia to the US market /AFP "This isn't like the production cycle for chicken -- that only takes 40 days and so you can recalibrate" the production schedule, explained Kubitza, whose company employs 500 people. "In the fish industry, it's like a moving train -- you can't hit the brakes too suddenly." Kubitza is now in a race against time to find new markets for his product, and he is under no illusions that it will be easy. "No other country consumes as much (tilapia) as the United States," he said. - 'Hammer blow' - Sergio Secco, an employee of Fider Pescados, is worried that the impact of US President Donald Trump's tariffs on Brazilian fish products could cost him his job /AFP Sergio Secco, a 43-year-old team leader in Fider Pescados' fish ponds, knows that he is at serious risk of losing his job. "I told the younger staff that tariffs would be a hammer blow. Whether we want it or not, it will have consequences on production and jobs, as we export a huge amount" to the US market, he said. Some 20,000 employees in Brazil's fish industry "could be laid off or made redundant by staff cuts," warned the Brazilian Fish Industry Association. While Fider Pescados has not talked about cutting any jobs so far, Rafaela Ferreira do Nascimento, a 26-year-old who prepares tilapia filets for export in the Rifaina factory, admitted she is "a bit afraid" to find herself without work. In the short term, the company cannot let anyone go. Staff cuts would prevent it from handling all of the fish ready for harvesting. - Search for new markets - Once a fish reaches a certain weight, it must be taken to the factory for processing before being shipped -- fresh or frozen. US buyers mainly purchase fresh tilapia, which is sold at a higher profit margin. Juliano Kubitza, director of Fider Pescados, is hoping to find new customers for his tilapia, either in Brazil or abroad, to make up for crippling US tariffs /AFP "If the tariffs cut into exports, we will have to freeze some products" that were intended to be sold fresh, said production supervisor Samuel Araujo Carvalho. "Few other countries could buy fresh fish from us," said Kubitza, who hopes to boost sales at home, which already account for 50 percent of total production. But those domestic sales would fetch a far lower price than the company intended to charge before the tariffs kicked in. "Since the tariff hike, they are offering us sale prices, but before they were too expensive, and now I don't plan to buy from them," said one restaurant owner in Rifaina, on condition of anonymity. As it looks for new markets, Fider Pescados has been forced to put on hold a planned expansion, which would have allowed it to increase production by 35 percent. 100

Peru Grants Amnesty FOr Military War Crimea

Peru Grants Amnesty for Military Crimes Committed Decades Ago Peru Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Wednesday signed into law a controversial bill providing amnesty to military personnel, police, and members of civilian self-defense groups accused of human rights abuses during the violent 1980-2000 fight against the Mao-inspired Shining Path insurgents, the Guardian reported. The legislation was created for those uniformed personnel who are on trial but not yet convicted of crimes committed during the conflict between the military and the Shining Path, which led a bloody campaign to overthrow the government, the Associated Press added. Also, those convicted who are currently over 70 will be released. During the two-decade fight against the rebel group, about 70,000 people were killed and 20,000 “disappeared,” France 24 noted. According to Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, most of the victims were Indigenous Peruvians caught up in clashes between security forces and Shining Path. It said the fighting led to over 4,000 secret graves in the country. United Nations experts, who urged Boluarte to veto the law and investigate the killings and the disappearances, said it could influence 156 closed cases and more than 600 that are still open. Human rights watchdogs, including Human Rights Watch, strongly criticized the bill, describing it as “a betrayal of Peruvian victims.” HRW added that the law damages Peru’s attempts to guarantee accountability for atrocities, further threatening the country’s rule of law. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights urged Peru to “immediately suspend” the approval of the law – or refrain from applying it if already enacted – while the court assesses how the amnesty would impact victims’ rights. Meanwhile, Boluarte, who has less than a year left in office and whose approval ratings are in the single digits, said the bill is the government’s way of paying tribute to the military and self-defense groups that fought terrorism. Far-right political parties that have traditionally sided with the military, such as Popular Force, welcomed the law. Peru has passed similar amnesty laws in 1995 and 2024. In 2023, it pardoned former President Alberto Fujimori, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for human rights violations carried out during his term of office, from 1990-2000.

Brasil Announces $5.58 Billion Package To Counter Trump's Tariffs

TradeBrazil Brazil announces $5.5B package to counter Trump's tariffs Felix Tamsut with AP, Reuters 08/14/2025August 14, 2025 Brazilian President Lula da Silva said the move is supposed to "create new things" out of the crisis caused by Donald Trump's tariffs. But Lula also said his country is still ready to negotiate. https://p.dw.com/p/4ywln Brazilian President Lula da Silva announcing the 'Sovereign Brazil' plan Brazilian President Lula da Silva unveiled the 'Sovereign Brazil' plan on WednesdayImage: IMAGO/Fotoarena Advertisement Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced a plan on Wednesday to support exporters who have been hit by high tariffs of up to 50% imposed by US President Donald Trump on several products from the country. The plan provides credit of 20 billion reais ($5.5 billion; €4.7 billion) to support the embattled exporters. Other measures in the plan include postponing tax charges for businesses affected by the tariffs, while also incentivizing Brazilians to buy locally produced goods that would have otherwise been exported to the US. "We cannot be scared, nervous and anxious when there is a crisis," Lula said. "A crisis is for us to create new things." Lula also said Trump has no good reasons for hitting Brazil with high tariffs. What's behind Trump's tariffs on Brazil? While the Trump administration announced sweeping tariffs on many countries around the world, Brazil was ultimately singled out with some of the highest levies of up to 50%. Trump said the additional tariffs were a reaction to the legal situation of his ally, the far-right populist former president, Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro is currently under house arrest over allegations that he plotted a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election. Brazil slapped with 50% tariffs — who's next? 01:40 Lula did not hold back on the grounds for the tariffs, saying every time the US decides to "fight with someone," they paint their rivals as the devil. "Now they want to talk about human rights in Brazil… We have to look at what happens in the country that is accusing Brazil," Lula added, hinting at Trump's domestic policies. The US president had cited "human rights abuses" by the left-wing government in support of his ally Bolsonaro. Lula calls for negotiations with Washington Lula responded to the claims, saying Brazil's judiciary is independent, with the country's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad saying Brazil is being "sanctioned for being more democratic than its aggressor." The Brazilian leader has so far refrained from imposing higher tariffs on American imports, saying he is not interested in "worsening our relations with the US." "We like to negotiate," Lula said. "We don't want conflict. I don't want conflict with Uruguay, Venezuela, or even the US. The only thing we need to demand is that our sovereignty is untouchable, and that no one should have any say in what we should do." Edited by: Zac Crellin Felix Tamsut Kommentarbild Felix Tamsut Kommentarbild Felix Tamsut Reporter for DW News @ftamsut Send us your feedbac

Brasil: Donald Trump's Tariffs On Brasil Are More Bark Than Bite

Donald Trump’s tariffs on Brazil are more bark than bite The Latin American giant may have avoided the worst—for now Save Share Summary A demonstrator holds an image of U.S. President Donald Trump with red horns during a protest against the tariffs on Brazilian products imposed by Trump. Photograph: Reuters Aug 8th 2025 | 4 min read When Donald Trump first announced his tariff barrage on April 2nd, it was pitched as payback against countries that had “looted” and “pillaged” the United States through trade. But when the latest round of levies came into force on August 7th, Brazil, a country which imports more from the United States than it exports to it, was hit with a rate of 50%, one of the steepest in the world. The reason was not economic. Mr Trump is incensed that his ally, Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s hard-right former president, is on trial, accused of plotting a coup. The tariffs, he claimed, were a response to that “witch hunt”. Brazil was not the only country targeted for political reasons. India faces a comparable rate for buying Russian oil. Mr Trump warned Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, that recognising a Palestinian state would make trade negotiations “very hard”. Brazil’s case, though, is the clearest yet of Mr Trump using trade as a cudgel to interfere in another country’s affairs. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (known as Lula) has responded with defiance. He says Brazil will not be “tutored” by foreign powers, nor “humiliate” itself before an unwanted “emperor”. Yet he has stopped short of retaliation. Instead, significant relief has come from Brazilian firms and their customers in the United States lobbying the administration directly. Mr Trump blinked. The tariffs now in place against Brazil exempt nearly 700 products, including planes, oil, wood pulp and orange juice. Exporters of coffee, beef and fruit were not so lucky. Lula has declared a victory for “sovereignty” and received a modest bump in the polls. Even before the exemptions, the impact of Mr Trump’s tariffs on Brazil’s economy seemed likely to be limited. The largest economy in Latin America is relatively closed. Its exports were worth less than a fifth of GDP last year, compared with more than a third in Mexico, and over 70% in open Asian economies like Vietnam and Thailand. Brazil is also far less dependent on the United States than it once was. Just 13% of its exports are exposed to Mr Trump’s levies, down from a quarter two decades ago. Meanwhile, the share going to China has surged nearly six-fold to 28% (see chart). Chart: The Economist The exemptions soften an already light blow. Nearly half of Brazil’s exports to the United States will be spared, estimates TS Lombard, an investment-research firm. As a result, Itaú Unibanco, a Brazilian bank, expects the effective tariff rate to be around 30%. Goldman Sachs has kept its GDP growth forecast for this year unchanged at 2.3%, citing the “notable” exemptions. Some sectors will feel the pinch. Coffee is among the worst affected. Brazil ships almost half a million tonnes of beans to the United States each year, accounting for 16% of its coffee exports. The effect is already visible: shipments in July were down by a third from a year earlier, as importers delayed orders amid uncertainty. Cecafé, a coffee-producers’ trade body, warned of a “significant” impact on Brazilian roasters and traders. The beef industry will also suffer. Nearly 17% of Brazil’s beef exports went to the United States last year, and shipments have already slumped over the past few months. Fruit exporters—particularly of mangoes, açaí berries and other tropical fruits—face similar disruption. Yet even these sectors may prove resilient. Brazil has steadily diversified its markets in recent years, and the most affected exports are commodities that can be redirected quite easily. The European Union remains the biggest buyer of Brazilian coffee. Sales to East Asia and the Middle East and North Africa rose by 25% and 61% respectively last year. Trade with China continues to grow. It already buys most of Brazil’s beef and, on August 2nd, approved imports from 183 new Brazilian coffee firms. Some losses may also be absorbed through state support. Lula’s government has pledged targeted relief, including purchases of surplus stock from affected producers. Finally, there is hope that the tariffs could be eased. Rising prices in the United States could put pressure on the White House to change course. The bigger risk may lie in what Lula does next. On August 6th he said he would consult other members of the BRICS—a group of 11 emerging-market economies which includes India and China—on ways to counter Mr Trump’s tariffs. That could well prompt an escalating trade war. Mr Trump has already labelled the group “anti-American”. He threatened an additional 10% tariff on its members’ goods during the BRICS’ summit in Rio last month. As president-elect, he floated a 100% tariff if they sought to ditch the dollar for trade settlement. Confronting Mr Trump can be politically useful. Mark Carney’s tough talk helped propel him and his Liberal Party to an unlikely victory in Canada’s recent general election. Lula’s own poll numbers have been rising since Mr Trump began targeting Brazil, and Lula started framing himself as a defender of Brazil’s sovereignty. The damage the tariffs do to Brazil will probably be constrained. Lula should probably keep reaping the benefits of being attacked by Mr Trump, and try to avoid turning it into a bigger fight. ■ Sign up to El Boletín, our subscriber-only newsletter on Latin America, to understand the forces shaping a fascinating and complex region.

Ecuador Declares A New State Of Emergeny

Ecuador Declares New State Of Emergency, Plans New Referendum Ecuador Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency in four coastal provinces this week following a surge in gang-related violence that has intensified since the recent extradition of a major gang leader to the United States, MercoPress reported. The decree will apply to the provinces of El Oro, Guayas, Los Ríos, and Manabí, and is the latest in a series of similar declarations by Noboa to fight the unprecedented security crisis that has made Ecuador one of the most violent countries in Latin America. The measure suspends the rights that had hindered searches of homes and the monitoring of communications, and allows the military and the police to conduct joint operations. The country’s constitutional court will review the measure, with observers saying the process comes amid ongoing tensions between the president and the court over using such tools to combat crime. The decree came less than 48 hours before a deadly attack in El Oro over the weekend, when about 60 armed men opened fire on a boat and launched explosives at its occupants. Local media reported at least four deaths and more than a dozen people missing, the Associated Press added. Ecuador’s navy said the attackers attempted to flee in three boats but only one escaped. But no arrests have been made, and authorities have not commented on the incident. On Sunday, a shooting at a nightclub in the Guayas province killed eight people, CBS News wrote. Authorities said the suspects were heavily armed and riding motorcycles, but did not say what prompted the shooting. Noboa, who was reelected in May, has pledged to combat drug trafficking and violent crime in the South American nation. In 2023, Ecuador recorded about 8,000 killings, with the figure falling to under 7,000 last year. However, officials said violence has risen again this year, with 4,619 killings reported from January to June. The new state of emergency comes less than a month after Ecuadorean authorities extradited infamous gang leader Adolfo Macias Villamar, also known as “Fito,” to the United States, Al Jazeera noted. Fico stands accused of international drug trafficking and weapons smuggling. His extradition came shortly after he was recaptured in June following an escape in 2024 from a maximum-security prison. Alongside the emergency measures, Noboa proposed a referendum with seven constitutional amendments, including authorizing foreign military bases, introducing labor and casino reforms, and allowing the impeachment of constitutional court members. Analysts cautioned that the proposed amendments could reshape the balance of power and erode Ecuador’s fragile democracy.

Why Is Argentina So White?

Profile photo for Folklore Folklore · Follow Knows GermanApr 6 Why is Argentina so white? I went to cities like Rosario, Bariloche, and Posadas and saw almost just white people. What happened? I’m from Córdoba, Argentina. Basically what happened is that there wasn’t a huge native civilization in Argentina like the Incas or the Aztecs, and the natives that were in Argentina some even were white: Spanish conquistadors said they resembled Spaniards from the south of Spain or even vikings, they had beards, etc. On top of that Argentina always wanted to be the best, civilized country in the world, so they made policies to encourage massive European immigration to Argentina, and it worked: millions of white Europeans from Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Poland, Britain, Ireland, etc., migrated to Argentina so the obvious result was a pretty white country.

South American Soldiers Leaving South America to Go TO Ukraine's Army for Higher Pay

South American soldiers head to Ukraine frontline for better pay By Ethan Evans, 1 days ago Ukraine's Armed Forces has welcomed recruits from 72 different nations, with nearly 40% originating from South America, according to reports. Kostiantyn Milevskyi, the officer overseeing foreign enlistment coordination, says this figure demonstrates a growing international presence in the country's defense efforts against Russia's attempted invasion. Speaking to hromadske, a Ukrainian independent media outlet, he detailed how foreign recruitment has surged dramatically since the initial stages of Russia's assault. Statistics show they were accepting between 100 to 150 international volunteers monthly in 2022, but this figure has since climbed substantially to around 600. The Ukrainian government has facilitated this growth by funding travel expenses for incoming international volunteers and providing temporary residence permits, reports the Express. Milevskyi stated: "We can say that the percentage of foreign nationals in the Armed Forces of Ukraine has increased, this has been influenced by the launch of our Foreign Recruitment Center." Hromadske reports that over 8,000 foreign nationals have enlisted in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, with the total count across all military branches likely reaching double that amount. Specific countries of origin remain classified for operational security purposes, though Milevskyi did acknowledge that significant numbers have arrived from Colombia. He said: "They've openly admitted many times that the level of pay in the Armed Forces of Ukraine is currently much higher than in their home militaries. "But these are also people with military experience, and they want to continue doing what they've been trained for, further developing their skills here, and, of course, to earn a decent wage." Ukraine has been in a state of conflict with Russia since 2014 Meanwhile, a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump has been arranged, according to a Kremlin official, and could potentially occur next week at a location that has been determined "in principle". "At the suggestion of the American side, it has been agreed in principle to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days," Mr Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters. Next week serves as the target timeframe for a summit, Mr Ushakov stated, while acknowledging that such gatherings require time to coordinate and no date has been finalized. A summit between Mr Putin and Mr Trump would mark their first encounter since the Republican president resumed office this year. It would represent a major development in the conflict, though there is no guarantee such a meeting would result in the cessation of hostilities, since Russia and Ukraine remain deeply divided on their respective terms. 452

Colombia Accuses Peru Of Annexing A Disputed Island In The Amazon

Colombia Accuses Peru of Annexing a Disputed Island in the Amazon Colombia Colombian President Gustavo Petro this week accused the country’s South American neighbor, Peru, of unilaterally annexing Santa Rosa Island in the Amazon River, reviving a long-standing disagreement between the two neighboring countries over sovereignty and river border demarcation, Al Jazeera reported. Colombia’s reaction followed a vote in Peru’s Congress in June, which turned Santa Rosa Island into its own district within Peru’s northeastern Loreto province. Peru argued that it acted in accordance with international law and that the move was necessary to ensure Santa Rosa received public funding and could collect taxes. According to Petro, Peru’s claims to the island could cut off the southern Colombian city of Leticia, home to 60,000 people, from accessing the Amazon River, disrupting travel and trade. Colombia and Peru have been debating over the control of Santa Rosa Island for nearly a century. Peru claims control based on treaties from 1922 and 1929 and has administered the territory for decades, the Associated Press noted. Colombia, however, insists that Santa Rosa is not subject to those treaties as it had not yet emerged from the Amazon River when they were signed. It also argued that the treaties define the border between the two countries along the deepest part of the Amazon River and that newly formed islands like Santa Rosa have appeared on the Colombian side of that boundary. The Amazon River, one of the longest waterways in the world, carries more water than any other river. Its strong currents constantly shift sediment across the basin, causing islands to form or disappear over time. Santa Rosa is one of these islands, showcasing forests, farmlands, and the village of Santa Rosa de Yavarí, which has fewer than 1,000 residents. The local economy relies on tourism due to the Island’s location along the Amazon.

El Salvador Grows Close To The US

Imprisoner-in-Chief: As El Salvador Grows Closer to the US, It Cracks Down at Home El Salvador In exchange for imprisoning migrants deported from the United States, El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele allegedly asked American officials to extradite top leaders of the MS-13 gang who are currently in American prisons to El Salvador. The deal was part of an American effort to expel more than 200 Venezuelans to a maximum-security prison in the small Central American country, the infamous Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT). The US paid El Salvador $6 million to house the migrants but Bukele offered a 50 percent discount if American President Donald Trump would send the MS-13 leaders. At the same time, federal prosecutors have convinced federal courts to dismiss charges against MS-13 leaders to clear administrative hurdles to returning them to El Salvador, Politico wrote. Critics at the Guardian described the move as Trump doing a “favor” for Bukele, whom he has called “one hell of a president.” Meanwhile, Bukele, who has put 85,000 citizens of his country in jail under a crackdown on crime, has been accused of making deals with criminal gangs to improve public safety and secure his position, the Hudson Institute explained. In doing so, he did win the gratitude of many El Salvadorans who say they can now live in peace. That heralded peace may last longer than the Constitution had originally allowed. Last year, Bukele violated term limits to run for a second term. Now, lawmakers have approved constitutional changes that will allow indefinite presidential reelection and extend presidential terms to six years. Like Trump, Bukele embraces a strongman image. He and Trump publicly rejected any assertion, for example, that the US mistakenly deported an American citizen to El Salvador. The US Supreme Court disagreed, however, saying the transfer of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to El Salvador was unlawful, though he still may face criminal charges in the US. Despite the setbacks, El Salvador and the US have used the migrant crisis as an opportunity to develop security, intelligence, and military ties between the two countries, too, added Mother Jones magazine. Bukele has deployed Israeli-made Pegasus spyware to muzzle journalists, dissidents, and others who oppose his administration, for example. He has intensified that crackdown on opponents. “Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has never concealed his autocratic tendencies… unabashedly (referring) to himself as the world’s coolest dictator, but since enjoying the firm embrace of US President Donald Trump, Bukele has grown emboldened,” wrote World Politics Review. “(Since May), he has intensified his crackdown on critics and accelerated his efforts to suppress dissent, turning the screws on human rights organizations, journalists and civil society at large.” Recently, Bukele’s government arrested one of the country’s most prominent human rights activists, forced its most heralded human rights group to leave the country, enacted a “foreign agents” law that resembles those in Russia and Nicaragua to weaken civil society, and threatened lawyers and journalists, prompting more of them to flee into exile out of fear of being imprisoned. That’s because CECOT is likely one of the worst places on the planet, say those who have experienced it firsthand. Venezuelans released from CECOT and other El Salvadoran jails have shown bruises, rubber bullet wounds, and other injuries, the Organization for World Peace continued. Conditions included sexual violence, excessive solitary confinement, spoiled food and water, and no contact with lawyers or family. Some were disappeared. CECOT “seemed like it was for animals,” detainee Julio Fernández Sánchez, 35, told the Washington Post. “It was designed for people to go crazy or kill themselves.” Venezuelan officials under their dictatorial socialist government are now investigating allegations of torture in CECOT and other El Salvadoran prisons that have housed Venezuelan inmates, Consortium News noted. So is an international panel, which will determine whether to refer it to the International Criminal Court. CECOT’s officers are extremely cruel, say human rights officials and inmates. Formerly consigned to CECOT after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers raided a house in North Carolina, the recently released Venezuelan musician Arturo Suárez-Trejo said he was beaten for singing in an effort to maintain his humanity and cheer up his cellmates, wrote El País. “I spent my time singing,” he told the newspaper, adding, “and that way I brightened my life a little and made it brighter for everyone else.”

Peru: Ruins of A 3,500-Year-Old City Found Near Lima

Old City, New Clues Archeologists recently unveiled their discovery of an ancient city in Peru’s northern Barranca province, a find that shed light on the Americas’ oldest known civilization, the Caral. The city, named Peñico, is 3,500 years old, and researchers think it was an important trade center linking early Pacific coastal communities with populations in the Andes and the Amazon basin. “The (Peñico community) was situated in a strategic location for trade, for exchange with societies from the coast, the highlands and the jungle,” lead archeologist Ruth Shady told Reuters. Peñico is about 125 miles north of Peru’s capital, Lima, at almost 2,000 feet above sea level. It was likely founded between 1,800 and 1,500 BCE. At around the same time, early civilizations were flourishing in the Middle East and Asia, the BBC explained. After eight years of digging, the team uncovered 18 structures, ranging from ceremonial temples to living quarters. Researchers’ drone footage captured a circular structure perched on a hillside terrace at the city’s center, encircled by remnants of stone and mud buildings. The walls of the central plaza are notable for their sculpted reliefs, including images of the pututu, a conch shell trumpet known for its ability to project sound over long distances. In other buildings at the site, archeologists found more ceremonial objects, clay sculptures of humans and animals, and necklaces made from beads and seashells. Peñico is located near the city of Caral in the Supe Valley of Peru, where the Caral civilization was established 5,000 years ago. The city of Caral contains 32 monuments, including large pyramid structures, advanced irrigation agriculture and urban settlements. The civilization likely developed on its own, without contact or influence from other early ancient civilizations like those in India, Egypt, China, Sumer in Mesopotamia, or present-day Iraq. Shady, who had already participated in the excavation on Caral in the 1990s, said that the discovery of Peñico is an important clue to what happened to the Caral civilization: Experts believe the city emerged as the Caral civilization began to abandon its major urban centers after nearly 1,000 years of habitation. While researchers are not certain why the Caral civilization disappeared, they believe factors such as climate change and internal strife played a role in their decline, the Smithsonian Magazine noted.

Bolsonaro Supporters Protest

Bolsonaro Supporters Protest Against Prosecution, US Tariffs Brazil Thousands of supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro protested over the weekend across major cities in the country, furious that the conservative leader is being prosecuted for allegedly plotting a coup after losing the 2022 general election, Al Jazeera reported. Protesters on Sunday in São Paulo, the capital Brasília, and Rio de Janeiro, clad in the usual Brazilian national team jerseys, carried both the Brazilian and the US flags and displayed banners thanking US President Donald Trump for his support for Bolsonaro, while demanding “amnesty” for those implicated in the alleged coup attempt, Reuters noted. But on Friday, demonstrators took to the streets to condemn the heavy tariffs imposed by the US, reflecting widespread frustrations as Trump launched his latest tariff threats. Last week, Trump announced 50 percent tariffs on numerous Brazilian goods, framing them as retaliation for the so-called “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro. The US also sanctioned Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes for his role in prosecuting the former leader, with the US move strongly criticized by Brazil. Bolsonaro did not take part in the protests – he is under house arrest on weekends and holidays and prohibited from using social media – according to the precautionary measures ordered by de Moraes. However, he was seen in a video greeting the crowd in Rio de Janeiro, with the clip later posted on the social media account of his son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, according to MercoPress. On Monday, de Moraes issued a house arrest order for Bolsonaro for violating the ban on using social media that was imposed on him ahead of his trial for an alleged coup attempt, the Guardian added. US officials criticized the ruling and warned that it would “hold accountable all those aiding and abetting sanctioned conduct.” Bolsonaro is currently on trial for allegedly plotting a coup to overthrow Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after narrowly losing the 2022 presidential election, a plot that prosecutors say included murdering the current president and other top officials. If convicted, Bolsonaro could face decades in prison. He has denied all accusations as politically motivated. Share this story