The Latin American Report # 327

Bolivia

Evo Morales continues leading a massive march, which, according to his bases, seeks "to save the country" from the acute crisis it is facing, marked by the shortage of dollars and fuels. In addition, Morales tries to force being on the ballot again for the 2025 presidential elections, something in principle at odds with the Constitution and the provisions of competent institutions. He had already tried this before and it backfired. The administration of his former co-religionist Luis Arce sees in the march an attempt of coup d'état. Except in electoral matters, the motives to which Morales appeals have been adopted by other organizations and sectors of civil society, including those “ideologically” opposed to the broken-in-two MAS. One of the theses wielded by the government is that Morales seeks to depose Arce so that the presidency falls to the Senate chief, loyal to the former president. The march is scheduled to arrive in La Paz next Monday.

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Bloody Ojinaga

The bodies of eleven people were spotted this Friday in Ojinaga, a Mexican town on the border with the United States, bathed by the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande), in the state of Chihuahua. Two of them were decapitated, in a new manifestation of a macabre practice of organized crime in Mexico. The Chihuahua prosecutor explained to the media that the region where the bodies were abandoned suffers the consequences of heavy clashes between groups fighting for control of the border with Texas, one of them linked to the Sinaloa cartel. Near the bodies, alleged members of a criminal cell left a narco message that read: “Here I leave this for you, Roberto. You see that the plaza was deserted and you were the one who controlled it. You went to talk to Durango and in the end, you abandoned them, but here I am putting them together for you. NCJ.”

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Sonora Violence Crisis Update

The prosecutor's office in the state rocked by flagrant violence since last week, reportedly generated by the capture in the United States of the historic druglord “El Mayo” Zambada, has informed the occurrence of 14 homicides between Wednesday and Thursday. As of two hours ago, an independent media report put the total number of homicides at 56, in principle related to the wave of violence pitting “La Mayiza”—Zambada's people—against “La Chapiza” or “Los Chapitos”—the human assets fighting for “El Chapo” Guzmán's sons. There are also some 85 reported stolen vehicles and more than 50 reports of kidnappings. In another controversial statement on Friday, President Andres Manuel López Obrador held U.S. authorities partly responsible for what is happening there, again blaming them for leaving his government in the dark about the Zambada operation. AMLO's security philosophy is to attack the social problems that feed organized crime, not to attack the gangs.

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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.