The Latin American Report # 379

Ecuador

A dozen people were arrested and four policemen injured as the result of a heavily repressed demonstration in the capital of the country, called by several social and union organizations. Among those arrested were reportedly high-school students, according to EFE. “The repression is an evident sign of a government that no longer has a place in the country as a result of its policies,” stated a union leader. The popular protest rejected Daniel Noboa's economic management, including disapproval of energy planning due to the long blackouts that Ecuadorian citizens have endured since September. Although the energy crisis indeed has a “climatic” trigger due to an acute drought, the people criticize a lack of foresight in ensuring alternative sources of power generation beyond hydraulics (power generation engines contracted to face the crisis were shipped from Lebanon in the last hours).

The government tried to prohibit the demonstration under the state of exception in force in several regions, including Quito, to combat organized crime, but the Constitutional Court rejected the argument. “It has been evidenced once again that the states of exception do not serve to combat drug trafficking or organized crime”, but are against ordinary people, said the leader of the largest Ecuadorian trade union organization. The results of Noboa's state of exception are surely debatable, especially looking at the latest events related to the prison complex in Guayas. The physical confrontation between the demonstrators last Thursday and the 2,000 policemen who intimidated them began when the former tried to reach the historic center of the capital.

Anxiety at the border

We continue sharing reports like this one, from EFE, on the uneasiness that prevails among migrants from the region—mostly Venezuelans and Central Americans—who are at the northern Mexican border desperate to cross into U.S. territory. The return of Donald Trump to the White House is disturbing for all. “It scares us, to tell the truth, because we have dreams, we have children, we have aspirations, things that we can't achieve back home due to lack of resources, lack of a good job,” a Honduran migrant told EFE from Ciudad Juárez, on the border with Texas. Regarding the possibility of settling in Mexico, he notes that it does not apply to him because many bad things happen in the bridge country. “There are many kidnappings, there is a lot of evil, things that we have already experienced and that almost all the people who emigrate experience,” referring to the violence at home.

A Venezuelan migrant said that while many migrants arrive to harm the United States—the only ones who fit Trump's narrative—there are many others—like him, we assume—who go to become better people there. Another Venezuelan claimed to have been trying for nearly 50 days to get an appointment—through the CBP One mobile app—to present himself at an official U.S. port of entry. There are Mexicans in the same situation, like a woman from the state of Campeche, who has been waiting in Ciudad Juárez for even longer—seven months—for the skies to open up for her to crown the “American dream”. “We come fleeing because of the risk that [criminals] will take our daughters away from us to prostitute them later [...] or that they will do something to us women. That is the risk from which we Mexicans are also fleeing,” she told EFE.

“I think we are not prepared to be able to receive those people and to be able to give them some kind of shelter [in Mexico],” said a migrant activist pastor about the potential mass deportation of migrants—with support from the military—announced by Trump.

This Sunday a new massacre was recorded in Mexico, again in a bar, this time in the state of Tabasco, where violence is surging. Claudia Sheinbaum's first months in power have been marked by rampant violence.

A sound, updated report on Haiti 👇

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.