The Latin American Report # 332

Attack on the port!

Haiti's ad hoc Prime Minister Garry Conille launched an SOS at the United Nations, in the face of the international community's delay in supporting a UN-backed and largely US-funded international security mission, lacking in human and financial resources. So far, only 13% of the troops committed by some ten nations have arrived in the Caribbean country, mostly from Kenya and to a lesser extent from Jamaica. There is a lot of pressure in the atmosphere, and in this sense the position of neighboring Dominican Republic is not at all positive, as Santo Domingo threatened to take “drastic measures” if the mission fails. “More than three years of instability in our [Haiti] has put significant pressure on our own security,” said the Dominican president. A few days ago the UN Secretary General complained that “[when] a bank fails [...] billions of dollars are [mobilized] to rescue it [... but] when it is a small operation to guarantee the military presence in Haiti, there is no money".

“We are nowhere near winning [the war against gangs], and the simple reality is that we won't without your help,” Conille urged from New York. “There is a sense of urgency because the Haitian people are watching with cautious optimism, they're really hoping to see clear results”. An official based at the Port-au-Prince's main port confirmed to Reuters that the facility was currently under attack, preventing the unloading of goods. This is very worrying because the port was one of the places where order had been restored with the help of Kenyan forces. “We worry that without the urgent implication of everyone to support this effort, we will lose the little success that we've been able to obtain at a very large price,” Conille warned. In the first days of October, the time approved by the UN for the international security mission expires, so next September 30 the Security Council of the organism must decide whether to renew it or not.

!_{Kenyan president greets Kenyan troops deployed in Haiti (source).}

South America burns

• A forest fire, apparently arson, continued to spread through the Ecuadorian capital today, injuring seven people, including a baby under one year old and his mother; two rescuers were also injured. Some 45 people were treated for the fires, as the haze and a strong smell of burning vitiated the atmosphere. The authorities reported the suspicious discovery of two drums with used oil near the area where the fire would be started, and have promised a reward to find the presumed perpetrators.
  

• Meanwhile, in Uruguay, six people died victims of a fire that spread in a prison, without the causes having been clarified so far. “All the cells in the sector [where the fire occurred] were open except for the one of the incident[,] which was closed with 6 charred bodies inside”, authorities refer. Last December another fire occurred in the same penitentiary, with the same number of deaths. Uruguay is one of the “calmer” countries in a region plagued by violence and organized crime.
  

• Finally, in Argentina, President Javier Milei traveled to the central province of Córdoba to assess the situation caused by fierce fires which have hit some 40,000 hectares—including an important forest ecosystem and tourist areas—and which were still active. As the fire approached their homes, threatened residents reported that the sound it made was that of “a monster”. Some 800 men were fighting the fires with support from the Army.
  

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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.

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