Interamerican Watch Newsletter - Issue 509
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Inter-American Watch
Thursday 7/9/2026Analysis
Transnational recruitment networks operating in Latin America have ceased to be an isolated problem and have become a regional humanitarian crisis. Using a combination of social engineering, aggressive financial promises, and the exploitation of socioeconomic vulnerability, these mafias have perfected a recruitment mechanism that circumvents immigration controls and ends with hundreds of Latin American citizens trapped on the Ukrainian front. ...Read more >>Source: infobae.com
Bolivia
The Pro-Santa Cruz Committee requested reports on deaths, injuries, shortages, airlifts, and blockade points to expand the criminal investigation. The vice president of the Pro-Santa Cruz Civic Committee, Agustín Zambrana, reported this Monday that the organization filed six formal requests for prosecution as part of the criminal complaint against former president Evo Morales and the leader of the Bolivian Workers' Central Union, Mario Argollo. He indicated that the documentation aims to strengthen the investigation and support the request for arrest warrants. ...Read more >>Source: eldeber.com.bo
Colombia
Abelardo de la Espriella, Colombia's president-elect, accused outgoing president Gustavo Petro this Tuesday of attempting "a coup d'état" after refusing to recognize his victory in the June 21 elections, and called on the Armed Forces to guarantee constitutional order. ...Read more >>Source: es.euronews.com
Costa Rica
At least seven Nicaraguan journalists in exile in Costa Rica have been victims of surveillance and threats by agents of the government of the husband-and-wife team of co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, the NGO Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Democracy (FLED) reported on Wednesday (July 8, 2026). ...Read more >>Source: amp.dw.com
Cuba
The Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH) documented at least 1,949 repressive actions in Cuba during the first half of 2026, including arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions in homes, and abuses against political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, according to a report released Tuesday by the organization. ...Read more >>Source: martinoticias.com
The European Union held the Cuban government responsible for the crisis on the island and demanded political and economic reforms, as well as an end to its support for Russia in the war against Ukraine. During a United Nations General Assembly debate convened by the Cuban regime on the need to end the US embargo, the head of the European Union delegation to the UN, Stavros Lambrinidis, stated that the bloc recognizes the “negative humanitarian impact” of the sanctions and reiterated that the UN Charter should serve as the framework for addressing the situation. “Humanitarian support and access must be protected under all circumstances,” he asserted. ...Read more >>
Source: martinoticias.com
Cuba has been experiencing a profound crisis for six years, with shortages of basic goods, constant blackouts, rampant inflation, partial dollarization, and a collapse of basic services. Pressure from the United States in the last six months has further aggravated the situation. ...Read more >>
Source: infobae.com
Artist and political prisoner Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was taken from Guanajay prison in Artemisa on Tuesday, but his whereabouts are unknown, according to family members and people close to the leader of the San Isidro Movement. In a post on Otero Alcántara's social media, activists Anamely Ramos and Yanelys Núñez reported that they were able to confirm with the family that the opposition member "is not at his home in El Cerro" and that they do not yet know "where he is or under what conditions he was taken." Information about his release from the prison was obtained thanks to other inmates. ...Read more >>
Source: diariodecuba.com
Ecuador
The US State Department has added the Chone Killers in Ecuador to its list of foreign terrorist organizations operating across Latin America. InSight Crime Managing Editor Deborah Bonello discusses this latest development and what it means for organized crime dynamics on the ground in Ecuador with Co-director Steven Dudley and investigator Gavin Voss. ...Read more >>Source: insightcrime.org
El Salvador
El Salvador has seized 14 tons of drugs so far this year, valued at $351.8 million. In 2026, 16 drug traffickers were captured: three Ecuadorians, eight Colombians, two Panamanians, and three Nicaraguans. The most recent operation, carried out on June 18 by the National Navy, represented the largest cocaine seizure in the country's history, totaling 6.68 tons. ...Read more >>Source: infobae.com
Interamerican Institute for Democracy
By our Director: Carlos Sánchez BerzaínCastro-Chavismo relinquishes the government but not the power, as it maintains its laws, impunity, and remains a political actor. To restore democracy, good governance is needed to take power ...Read more >>
Source: intdemocratic.org
On Wednesday, at the Trump National Doral Miami—a symbolic location for US politics—the Interamerican Institute for Democracy organized the seminar “Football, Corruption, and Justice,” dedicated exclusively to the so-called AFAgate scandal. Investigative journalists, transparency specialists, leaders, and whistleblowers participated in the event, presenting on the financial operations detected in the United States surrounding TourProdEnter, the company that managed the AFA's international revenue. ...Read more >>
Source: infobae.com
By our Director: César Vidal
The news of his death brought a pang of sorrow, followed by a flood of memories filled with gratitude and humor, wit and erudition, warmth and elegance. ...Read more >>
Source: intdemocratic.org
Guest Columnist | Pedro Corzo
As a free man and a Cuban, I feel happily obliged to pay tribute to this great nation on its two hundred and fifty years of uninterrupted democracy, in which it has forged a reality that, despite its imperfections, is a dream that many of us desire for our respective peoples. ...Read more >>
Source: intdemocratic.org
By our Director: Luis Beltrán Guerra G.
We wouldn't know whether to call the proposed "refounding of Venezuela" one of the most imaginative earthquakes in our history, as it still shakes our aspiring, but unrealized, republic. Unfortunately. ...Read more >>
Source: intdemocratic.org
Nicaragua
The Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Democracy (FLED) denounced this Wednesday that hundreds of Nicaraguan journalists in exile continue to face threats, surveillance, and obstacles to practicing their profession, while also warning about the expansion of repressive actions outside of Nicaragua attributed to the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. ...Read more >>Source: diariolasamericas.com
Bishop Emeritus Abelardo Mata, 80, is “disappeared” in Nicaragua, according to his relatives. Four days after the regime of Daniel Ortega and his wife and co-president, Rosario Murillo, subjected him to a police “inquiry,” church sources consulted by EL PAÍS report that they have not been able to see him or verify his condition. The regime reported that he was sent home. “We have not been able to see Monsignor Mata,” the religious sources say, describing a climate of fear among family members and people close to the Diocese of Estelí (in the north of the country, which the prelate presided over until 2021), which is under police surveillance and siege. ...Read more >>
Source: elpais.com
Venezuela
Relatives of political prisoners in Venezuela denounced on Tuesday that the Chavista government authorities abandoned political prisoners after the double earthquake that struck the northern part of the country on June 24, causing a deterioration in food supplies and a lack of attention to prison facilities damaged by the disaster. ...Read more >>Source: infobae.com
World
An international operation against Indian organized crime groups resulted in 24 arrests related to crimes including targeted killings, extortion, and drug trafficking, US officials reported on Tuesday. Among those arrested is a suspect in the Canadian murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent member of the Sikh community and an activist for the Khalistan separatist movement. ...Read more >>Source: infobae.com