The Latin American Report # 252

Chicomuselo

In Chiapas, the state prosecutor's office reported the discovery of 11 bodies on Tuesday, in what seems to be the fatal result of bloody confrontations between the two most powerful cartels in the Aztec nation. In a country where the impact of violence represents one-fifth of its GDP—some $290 billion—there is no way to relativize the problem. Villagers in Nueva Morelia, in the municipality of Chicomuselo—where the bodies were found—, said that the victims did not belong to either the Sinaloa or Jalisco Nueva Generación cartels, indicating that they were sacrificed at random or caught by stray bullets. Such appears to have been the case of two women serving in a local diocese. Armed groups have damaged power distribution infrastructure.

_{Security forces deployed in Chiapas (source).}

Electric vehicles, China, and Mexico; read this, this, and then watch 👇:

Texas vs. Mexico, again

Texans in Congress are demanding that federal funds for Mexico be withheld until Mexico fulfills its water delivery obligations according to a 1944 water treaty. https://t.co/L4nbyHI7o5

— KPRC 2 Houston (@KPRC2) May 14, 2024

Beijing-Havana

Air China will open the Beijing-Madrid-Havana route on May 17, with two round-trip flights a week. The projection of the Cuban government, which has recently exempted Chinese travelers from visa requirements, is that there will be a “significant” increase in tourists from the Asian giant who bet on the island. By including a strategic point in Europe in the itinerary, there is confidence that many tourists from the old continent will take advantage of the service, which will be covered by 290-seat B787-9 aircraft. The ideal and natural tourist for the Caribbean nation would be the Americans, but they can't travel there unless the trip complies with one of twelve licenses granted by the Treasury Department. So, China?

_Source

Man who abused minors arrested in Colombia

Colombian authorities arrested last week Jairo Amaya Ruiz, a 58-year-old man known as the Monster of Tequendama, who was under an Interpol blue notice for the crimes of carnal access with a minor under 14 years old, sexual act with a minor under 14 years old, pornography with minors, and also for the abuse of three minors from his own family. The man was wanted in about 200 countries, and his arrest occurred thanks to an alert from the United States of the existence “of digital material with sexual abuse content of minors on the Dark Web, through the International Child Sexual Exploitation database”.

In the pedophile's home, the agents seized a hard disk and three cell phones belonging to him, which are subject to digital forensic analysis to obtain more evidence, identify other victims, and evaluate if “there was complicity of third parties in reprehensible acts”. “According to the material evidence and physical evidence collected during the investigation, the alleged abuser would have uploaded to the Internet about 379 images and videos with explicit content of sexual abuse of minors, in which he appeared repeatedly committing humiliations and aberrant acts against the three minors”, added a senior official. He seduced his victims with perks that denoted a significant economic vulnerability in them.

And this is all for our report today. I have referenced the sources dynamically in the text, and remember you can learn how and where to follow the LATAM trail news by reading my work here. Have a nice day.