The Andes

Venezuela: Trump restores sanctions on Chevron operations

President Donald Trump announced that the US government is revoking a special permit granted to energy giant Chevron to pump and export Venezuelan oil. The move, which reverses a 2022 decision by Biden to allow the company to bring Venezuelan oil to US markets by exempting it from economic sanctions, removes one of the South American country’s few economic lifelines at a time of deepening crisis. In his post on TruthSocial, Trump claimed that the Venezuelan government had failed to keep up its side of the original bargain to meet “electoral conditions.” He also charged that the “regime has not been transporting the violent criminals they sent into our Country…back to Venezuela at the rapid pace that they had agreed to.” (Photo: Luis Ovalles via Dialogo Americas)

The Andes

Colombia: demand truce between illegal armed groups

Human rights organizations, including the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), have urged an immediate end to violence between illegal armed groups in the northeast Colombian region of Catatumbo. WOLA joined the Colombian movement “Defendamos la Paz” in a call for armed groups in Catatumbo to suspend their conflict. In the statement, WOLA wrote: “The Ejercito Nacional de Liberación (ELN) must cease human rights violations and adopt a truce to halt armed confrontations with Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) dissidents.” The rights organizations also called on the Colombian government to provide immediate humanitarian aid for the large number of internally displaced persons in the region. WOLA urged the armed groups involved to “respect international humanitarian law and allow relief efforts to reach those in need.” (Photo: Colombia Reports)

The Andes

Peru: local dissent to China’s ‘megaport’ scheme

China and Peru are set to sign an updated free-trade agreement at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which opens this week in Lima. President Xi Jinping also inaugurated a Chinese-financed “megaport” in Chancay, a fishing town some 60 kilometers up the coast from Lima. The $1.3 billion project is to be overseen and majority-owned by the Chinese shipping giant COSCO, with an overland link to Brazil foreseen, providing an exit port for resources from throughout the continent. But the official boosterism is being met with a skeptical response by impoverished local villagers, who say the project is cutting them off from fishing waters and bringing them no economic benefit. Dredging for the port has already destroyed fish breeding grounds, locals say. (Photo: CADAL)

The Andes

Bolivia: Evo supporters take soldiers hostage

Supporters of Bolivia’s former president Evo Morales took more than 200 soldiers hostage after occupying three military facilities in his home region of Chapare, where he has taken refuge. The protests have been ongoing for weeks, since Bolivian prosecutors started an investigation into Morales for human trafficking and statutory rape, and his subsequent refusal to testify in court. Since reports of a possible warrant for his arrest, Morales has been hiding in a rural area of Chapare. His supporters have demanded the closure of the cases against Morales, and threatened to take over police and military barracks in the event of an attempt to arrest him. (Photo: Radio Kausachun Coca via Wikimedia Commons)

The Andes

Bolivia: police attack protest roadblocks

The national police force of Bolivia announced that they arrested 44 protesters after supporters of former president Evo Morales set up more than 20 roadblocks on highways across the country to prevent his arrest. The police accused protestors of crimes including attacks on transportation, usurpation of functions, armed robbery and terrorism. The interior ministry condemned the the protesters’ use of weapons including dynamite, rifles and shotguns, claiming that several officers have been injured. YPFB, the state-owned oil and gas company, stated that due to the highway blockades some regions of the country face a natural gas shortage. (Photo: HormigaInsurgente)

The Andes

Ecuador moves toward return of foreign military bases

Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa announced a decision to introduce a bill amending Article 5 of the constitution, to permit the establishment of foreign military bases in the country. A video Noboa posted announcing the decision was recorded at the military base in Manta, Manabí province. Established in 1999, the base had previously been leased to and operated by the United States military to combat drug trafficking. Ecuadorian activists long protested the presence of the US military. Upon taking power in 2007, left-populist president Rafael Correa—under whom the current constitution was enacted—stated that the lease would not be renewed, resulting in the US military formally leaving the Manta base in 2009. But the statement from Noboa’s office asserts: “Ecuador is facing a battle against transnational crime. This requires a strong national and international response.” (Map: PCL)

The Andes

Ecuador court rules that river in capital has rights

A court in Quito ruled that the Machángara River, which runs through the city, possesses rights under the Constitution of Ecuador, making the municipal government responsible for keeping it free from pollution. The court recognized the river as a living entity, subject to rights under Chapter 7 of the Constitution, which establishes that nature possesses a right to protection, promotion and restoration. The provision states that “all persons, communities, peoples or nations are able to call on public authorities to enforce the rights of nature.” The municipality released a decontamination strategy after the ruling, that centers on constructing three new wastewater treatment plants. (Photo: Plan V)

The Andes

Bolivia: coup attempt collapses, top general arrested

In an apparent coup attempt against Bolivia’s President Luis Arce, military vehicles surrounded the presidential palace in La Paz—with one ramming open the building’s front doors. Arce took to Twitter to denounce the “irregular mobilization of some units of the Bolivian Army,” and called for democracy to be respected. As La Paz residents converged on Plaza Murillo to confront the troops outside the palace, Arce officially dismissed armed forces commander Gen. Juan José Zúñiga, replacing him with Gen. José Sánchez—who promptly issued orders for all troops to return to barracks. This caused the occupying troops to retreat from the plaza. Shortly thereafter, Zúñiga was arrested. Upon being taken into custody, Zúñiga told reporters that the apparent coup attempt had been requested by Arce himself to “rehabilitate his popularity.” This theory has been aggressively taken up by Bolivia’s opposition, but crowds continue to show up in Plaza Murillo in huge numbers to support Arce’s government. (Photo via Twitter)

Planet Watch

IACHR hearings on state obligations in climate crisis

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) began its first day of public hearings in Manaus, Brazil, to address the obligations of states in light of the climate crisis, based on the principles of the American Convention on Human Rights. The hearings, marked by discussion on mitigating the impacts of social imbalances and the need to protect the most vulnerable, follow a January request by Chile and Colombia for an Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency and Human Rights. The first hearings took place in Barbados at the end of April. In their request, Chile and Colombia emphasized the devastating consequences of the climate emergency in their countries, citing examples such as droughts, floods, landslides and fires. (Photo: pixundfertig/Pixabay via Jurist)

The Andes

Ecuador votes to approve tightened security measures

Ecuadorans voted to approve a number of security proposals from President Daniel Noboa as the South American country experiences a surge in violence that has claimed the lives of multiple public officials. Among the proposals was a measure to amend Ecuador’s constitution to allow the armed forces to fight organized crime alongside the police. The vote also included a “popular consultation,” containing six non-binding proposals. Among those approved was a proposal to increase penalties for crimes such as murder, human trafficking, drug trafficking and arms trafficking. (Photo: Indymedia Ecuador)

Mexico

Mexico cuts ties with Ecuador after embassy raid

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced the suspension of diplomatic ties with Ecuador following a raid by Ecuadoran police on the Mexican embassy in Quito and the subsequent arrest of the country’s former vice president Jorge Glas—who was wanted on corruption charges and seeking asylum. Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry stated that the decision was taken to forcibly enter the embassy because of the imminent risk of Glas fleeing the country. The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) issued a statement expressing its rejection of any action that endangers the inviolability of the premises of diplomatic missions. The General Secretariat called for dialogue between Ecuador and Mexico and convened a meeting of the Permanent Council of the OAS to address the issue. (Photo: Embajada de México en Ecuador via WikimediaCommons)

Planet Watch

2023: ‘bonkers year’ for global climate

Records were once again broken last year for greenhouse gas levels, surface temperatures, ocean heat and acidification, sea level rise, and retreat of glaciers, according to a new global report issued by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The WMO State of the Global Climate 2023 report finds that on an average day in 2023, nearly one third of the ocean surface was gripped by a marine heatwave, harming vital ecosystems and food systems—far beyond the already inflated levels seen in recent years. Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest extent on record—at one million square kilometers below the previous record year of 2022, an area equivalent to the size of France and Germany combined. One leading oceanographer wryly stated: “The scientific term is bonkers year.” (Photo: CounterVortex)