Category Archive: Brief

Russia is Re-Engaging with Latin America. What Does This Mean for the Region- and for the U.S.?

Image: Flickr

By Laura Schroeder

As violence continues in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion, more light has been shed on Russia’s presence across the globe over the past decade. In Latin America, Russian efforts to expand its influence to challenge the hegemonic power of the United States have revealed a decades-long reassessment of its strategic interactions in the region. After the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from Latin America in the 1990s, Russia has gradually been reengaging with the region, from rekindling former political ties to investing in new partnerships to deftly employing soft power. 

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Protecting the world’s trans population requires political representation

By Joseph Rojas, Jr.

This article was originally published here on The Atlantic Council’s blog, the New Atlanticist, on March 23, 2021.

The 110th International Women’s Day, celebrated this year, hailed the achievements of women. It encouraged people to raise awareness about gender-based issues and call for further action toward gender parity in a post-COVID-19 world. There is one group of women, however, that has been left behind in these conversations: trans women.

Gender and sexual minorities remain among the most vulnerable groups worldwide, and this is particularly true for trans women. Three hundred and fifty trans and gender-diverse people were murdered globally in 2020, a 6 percent increase from 2019, according to data gathered by Transrespect Versus Transphobia Worldwide (TvT)’s Trans Murder Monitoring project. That continues the trend of year-over-year increases in murders since 2008. Nearly all, or 98 percent, of those murdered were trans women or trans feminine people. Eighty-two percent of all those murders happened in Central and South America. Forty-three percent happened in Brazil alone.

But anti-trans violence is not contained to any single region and often coincides with belonging to another marginalized group. In 2020, 79 percent of the 28 trans people murdered in the United States were people of color, and 50 percent of the 11 trans people murdered in Europe were migrants. As TvT has explained, it is impossible to estimate the number of unreported cases because most countries fail to collect systematic data and authorities, families, and the media often misgender victims. To begin to address the gamut of challenges and threats trans and gender non-conforming people face, countries will have to promote and protect trans rights globally as well as advocate for and support increased trans political representation.

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Migrant women and girls from the Northern Triangle and their journey through Mexico: A downward spiral of hazards

By Iliana Yazmín Flores Pérez

Reviewed by Lilou Berenguier

This piece was originally published here by the Migration & Security Research Team, 2020-2021, Sciences Po

Abstract and keywords

This paper provides an overview of the context faced by women and girls in each specific Northern Triangle of Central America country (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador). More specifically, it analyses the reasons behind women and girls’ decisions to leave their countries of origin and the multiple dangers they face during their migratory route through Mexico. It considers the effects of the tightening of U.S. migration policies and the prolongation of the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the “Remain in Mexico,” that took place under the Trump administration. 

The paper examines the role of gender in determining the needs of migrant women and girls, but also the hazards they face. Suggesting that the principle of non-refoulement must be considered and respected in all cases in order to protect all migrants, particularly considering the petitions made by migrant women and girls, who are exposed to greater risks. And highlighting the need of special trainings with gender perspective for Mexican migration authorities and police officers, as well as a commitment to gender mainstreaming. Moreover, it considers the female migration experience as a process where women and girls –contrary to what classical views dictate– are agentic and not passive/non-agentic victims, and thus their experiences and voices should be consulted and examined when elaborating policies to better protect them.  

Keywords: Northern Triangle of Central America, feminization of migration, migrant women and girls, violence, migratory route, Mexico, MPP.

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A period of hope for Latin America begins with Biden and Harris

This article was originally published on opendemocracy.net.

For the U.S., the Latin American agenda is not a priority. Still, Biden’s arrival at the White House signifies a respite for foreign ministries, who are exhausted by the region’s tension created by Trump. What changes can we expect now?

While Donald Trump is disappointed with the results of November 8th, the world remains incredulous about the difficulties of the great American democracy in recognizing as president-elect the one who won the popular vote with 50.9% and more that 5.5 million more votes than his opponent, who obtained 47.3%.

Although Trump has raised an amendment to the entire election result, alleging massive fraud, he has been unable so far to present any evidence. Biden will be the 46th president of the United States after four years of Trumpism, which has generated turbulence worldwide. Latin America and the Caribbean wonder what the arrival of a Democrat like Joe Biden might mean for them.

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Hidden in Plain Sight: How Stories of Central American Climate Displacement Were Buried Under a Border Crisis

Image: Wikimedia Commons

By Elizabeth Courtney 

For InterAction

This piece was originally published on InterAction.org.

“I’m doing this for my children.” 

That’s what Martha from Colón, Honduras, said to a reporter in November 2018. If you turned on any U.S. news channel in the Fall of 2018, you likely saw a lot of people like Martha—people who left their homes in the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador in search of a better life in the United States. 

When large numbers of people arrive en masse to seek asylum at the U.S. border, it’s a newsworthy story. But what kind of story is it? Who decides how to tell it?

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Prejuicio racial en el sistema educativo estadounidense: Efectos del racismo en las vidas de estudiantes negros y en su éxito académico

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Escrito por Shreyansh Budhia

Traducido por Pilar Espitia

Mientras que los embates entre grupos de supremacistas blancos y opositores en Charlottesville, Virginia, en agosto 12 y 13 de 2017 demuestran que el racismo en Estados Unidos es un fenómeno generalizado que persigue a las minorías raciales, se vuelve más y más evidente que nuestra tarea como sociedad para eliminar este mal y liberar a las minorías de sus garras no está completa. A decir verdad, el racismo en ambas formas, tanto extrínseco como intrínseco, afecta a las minorías de todas las etnicidades y colores en Estados Unidos. Hoy en día, las instituciones educativas en todo Estados Unidos usan el racismo para impactar de manera desfavorable el desempeño educativo de los estudiantes negros. Las cortes y organismos policiales son liderados por reconocidos supremacistas blancos que fallan a favor de los suyos. Los hombres negros se vuelven injustamente sospechosos en encuentros con la policía, y los reclusos negros superan en números de proporciones incomprensibles a los blancos. Los profesionales negros en el gobierno y el mundo corporativo se encuentran con casos sutiles de comportamientos prejuiciosos debido al color de su piel y herencia. Todos estos ejemplos sugieren que el racismo es un problema social que actúa como un obstáculo para el desarrollo socioeconómico de la comunidad afroamericana. 

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Green Grabbing: The Modern-Day Colonization

By Jessica Turner

This piece was originally published on defineearth.com.

Imagine waking up one day to the news that your land, which you and your tribe have subsisted on for generations, has been sold by the government to someone else. In return, you will be moved to a small plot of land without the same kinds of resources as before. This loss of land creates a domino effect of loss in other areas such as income, traditional environmental knowledge, and general stability. Through green grabbing, government entities or private investors use their power over Indigenous and Afro-descendant groups to confiscate land under the guise of environmental conservation.

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