Internacionales
Agreement to promote regional development to address migration
October 23 |
Latin American countries participating in the Palenque Summit on migration, held this Sunday in the Mexican state of Chiapas (southwest), agreed to develop and implement an action plan for development to address the structural causes of migration in the region.
The meeting was attended by leaders and high-level representatives from Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Panama and Venezuela.
Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Alicia Bárcena, read the communiqué-declaration of the “Palenque Meeting: for a fraternal neighborhood with well-being”, which defined that the main causes of the growing irregular migratory flow faced by the region are structural and of economic, political and social origin, in addition to factors linked to climate change.
The participants considered that the current exodus is also caused by external factors, such as unilateral restrictive measures of a criminal nature applied by third countries, which affect entire communities and, to a greater extent, the most vulnerable population groups.
In addition, they warned of the need to address irregular migration from a human rights (HR) perspective, in order to address its structural causes and regulate migratory flows jointly.
In light of this diagnosis, the heads of state and high-level representatives of the 11 countries agreed to develop a development action plan to address the structural causes of irregular migration in the region, which will be based on priority objectives and an understanding of the realities of each country.
Priority areas were defined as: food production and recovery of the agricultural sector, environmental preservation, employment generation, energy security (including migration to clean energy and decarbonization processes), health self-sufficiency, intra-regional trade and investment, and combating organized crime, corruption and human trafficking.
The heads of state and government, as well as high-level representatives attending Chiapas, urged an end to unilateral coercive measures and emphasized that they are contrary to international law.
The plan of action included the promotion of intra-regional trade and preferential tariffs for basic goods and services; the call for countries of origin, transit and destination to respect the right to migrate, safeguard the lives of migrants and create regularization options; and a call for destination countries to adopt migration policies in line with the regional reality and abandon selective policies, such as those that allow the regularization of certain nationalities.
It also called for a decisive contribution to Haiti’s sustainable development, the reestablishment of its human security environment and the normalization of its economic, political and social situation.
Other actions that make up this plan are to propose in a coordinated manner that the international financial debt architecture be rethought so that lower income countries achieve a higher level of development and reduce the intention to emigrate, and to request destination countries to expand regular, orderly and safe channels for emigration, with an emphasis on labor migration.
The participants in the Palenque Summit agreed to hold dialogues at the highest level on these issues through a working group to be created by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs. It was made clear that these agreements will be linked to the High Level Meeting on Migration and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, proposed by Colombia and Mexico, which will take place in the first quarter of 2024.
In addition, they proposed to the governments of Cuba and the United States to hold a comprehensive dialogue on their bilateral relations as soon as possible.
Referring to the meeting, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, recalled that the country has faced more than 930 unilateral coercive measures and that during the “Palenque Meeting: for a fraternal neighborhood with well-being” it was demanded that the U.S. and other nations put an end to them.
He expressed that Venezuela will fully support the approved action plan. He highlighted the unity expressed by the participants to adopt a development model and their own path that would result in integration, as the Liberator Simón Bolívar would have wished.
Internacionales
At least 15 bodies found in clandestine graves in Chiapas amid rising violence
At least 15 bodies were found in clandestine graves in the Mexican state of Chiapas (southeast), which has been hit by a rise in violence linked to organized crime, according to local authorities.
Governor Eduardo Ramírez shared details on his X account about an operation to restore security in La Frailesca, an area near the border with Guatemala, known for its significant agricultural and livestock activities but which has suffered a series of blockades by criminal cells for the past three years.
“Communication routes have been cleared,” and “fifteen bodies have been located so far in clandestine graves in two properties,” the state governor stated.
He added that four people were arrested during the operation, and weapons and vehicles were seized, though it was not specified whether those captured were connected to the clandestine burials.
According to reports, criminal cells in La Frailesca are fighting for control of drug trafficking routes and other crimes such as kidnapping and extortion.
Alongside nearly two decades of violence linked to drug trafficking, Mexico has seen an increase in the discovery of irregular graves, some containing over a hundred bodies at various points across the country.
Recently, 12 bodies were found in a grave in the state of Jalisco (west).
Since December 2006, when a controversial military-led anti-drug operation was launched, Mexico has accumulated over 450,000 violent deaths and tens of thousands of disappearances, according to official figures.
Internacionales
One dead in explosive attack on new prison site in Santa Elena, Ecuador
An explosive attack at the construction site of a high-security prison on the coast of Ecuador left one dead, the presidency reported, describing the incident as a “terrorist act.”
“On the morning of December 25, 2024, a group of armed men carried out a terrorist act by violently entering the construction site of the new Santa Elena detention center, where they detonated explosive devices,” the presidency said in a statement.
It added that the attack “resulted in one person dead,” without specifying their identity. President Daniel Noboa’s government began construction of the high-security prison in June, designed to house about 800 people in the rural town of Juntas del Pacífico, in the coastal province of Santa Elena (southwest). The prison will cost 52 million dollars.
Internacionales
Sinaloa security secretary resigns amid wave of violence and cartel infighting
The Secretary of Security for the Mexican state of Sinaloa (in the northwest), which has been shaken for over three months by a wave of criminal violence that has claimed more than 600 lives, resigned from his position, Governor Rubén Rocha Moya confirmed on Saturday.
The local leader confirmed to AFP the resignation of Secretary Gerardo Mérida, and shortly after, he swore in the new head of the department, General Óscar Rentería. The newly appointed secretary has previously served as the commander of a military zone in the also troubled state of Michoacán (in the west) and led another military region in Mexico City when the current president, Claudia Sheinbaum, was mayor (2018-2023).
The wave of killings that is hitting the state is due to an internal war between two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, the “Chapitos” and the “Mayos,” named after their leaders, the sons of drug lords Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán and Ismael “Mayo” Zambada.
Both criminal bosses are imprisoned in the United States on drug trafficking charges, but their sons are fighting for control of the legendary cartel in Sinaloa. The cartel is identified by Washington as the largest producer of illegal fentanyl in Mexico.
Mérida’s departure comes amid ongoing clashes, which have left over 600 people dead and another 700 missing in just over 100 days, according to state prosecutor data.
The resignation also follows the murder last Wednesday in the capital of Sinaloa of Halexy Guadalupe, one of the members of the investigative team leading the government’s anti-crime strategy under Sheinbaum.
The president is scheduled to visit the state on Sunday to lead a Security Table meeting to address the ongoing violence crisis.
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