The content originally appeared on: Latin America News – Aljazeera

Quito, Ecuador – He was elected president at a time of crisis, as Ecuador’s murder rate skyrocketed and gang violence seeped across the country.

Now, Ecuadorian leader Daniel Noboa is taking a plan of action to the voters, with an 11-part referendum on Sunday.

The referendum includes a wide range of proposals, from the militarisation of Ecuador’s police to tougher punishments for crimes like drug trafficking, murder and money laundering.

But Sunday’s vote is set to go beyond beefed-up security practices. One question, for example, aims to reform the judiciary system. Another considers whether arbitration should be the default approach to settling international financial disputes.

Noboa has been pushing for Ecuadorians to vote in favour of all 11 ballot measures, in an effort to streamline the economy and stamp out gang violence.

“Voting yes will strengthen our laws and leave no opportunities for those criminals who wish to joke with our justice [system] with the help of corrupt lawmen,” Noboa said in a public event on Monday.

But the broad nature of the proposals has prompted concern, with critics wondering what the consequences could be for human rights, the economy and efforts to stabilise Ecuador’s security situation.

Some have even questioned whether the referendum reflects a shift towards the “mano dura” or “iron fist” policies popular in countries like El Salvador, where human rights organisations have warned of false imprisonment and a lack of due process.

Daniel Noboa has made the national security referendum a goal of his presidency [Dolores Ochoa/AP Photo]

Limited opposition

Still, only one major political group in the country has consistently called for Ecuadorians to vote “no” on all 11 ballot measures: the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE).

The group has accused the government of exploiting the referendum to further Noboa’s political ambitions, as the country approaches its 2025 general election.

Noboa — a 36-year-old politician and heir to a banana industry fortune — was sworn in last November to serve an abbreviated 18-month term, after the departure of embattled President Guillermo Lasso. But he is widely expected to run for a full term in the next race.

In a virtual forum on April 11, CONAIE president Leonidas Iza called the referendum a chance for Noboa to rally support.

“The government needs to consolidate its strength to impose neoliberal policies,” Iza said.

Referendums, he added, are costly to organise, and he called for the policies to instead be considered in Ecuador’s National Assembly.

Another CONAIE leader, Agustin Cachipuendo, was later quoted in the newspaper El Universo as saying any repercussions from the vote would disproportionately fall on marginalised groups.

“This government does not know poverty [but] makes decisions that affect the poor,” he said.

Soldiers patrol during a presidential visit to dairy farms in Poalo, Ecuador, on March 21 [Dolores Ochoa/AP Photo]

Rallying public support

Nevertheless, the referendum enjoys relatively broad public support. According to the research institute Comunicaliza, 42.7 percent of voters plan to back Noboa’s proposals.

Still, another 27.5 percent said they have not made up their minds yet.

Maria, a 48-year-old resident of Guayaquil who asked to use a pseudonym for her safety, is among those supporting the president’s measures to tighten security in the country.

Her city has been at the forefront of the crisis. In January, for instance, a criminal group stormed a local TV station during a live broadcast and held employees at gunpoint, generating international outcry.

Maria explained she had been targeted by a criminal group herself: They blackmailed her by threatening her children. But she said she feels safer thanks to the state of emergency Noboa imposed in January, which allowed the military to be deployed to city streets.

“Policemen and soldiers have been patrolling the borough in these months, so we can finally sleep tight at night,” Maria told Al Jazeera.

She credits the soldiers with curbing the violence in her neighbourhood. The referendum could pave the way for the military to have a permanent role in policing, something Maria hopes will happen.

“If they will leave us, what happens then? This is what everyone is worried about,” she said.

A soldier guards cell block 3 of the militarised Litoral prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on February 9 [Santiago Arcos/Reuters]

Noboa’s government has argued that the referendum is a necessary step to curb the wave of violence that has rattled the country since 2018.

Declaring a state of emergency, officials argue, is only a temporary solution.

“The general purpose of the [referendum] is to establish some permanent mechanisms, breaking the cycle of enacting emergency decrees and then going back to business as usual,” said the government spokesperson Roberto Izurieta in an interview with local television station Teleamazonas.

The state of emergency granted the government additional powers, allowing officials to impose a curfew and take stronger action against gangs.

Under the state of emergency, for instance, Noboa’s government labelled 22 criminal groups as “terrorist” organisations, clearing the way for the police and military to focus extra resources towards combatting them.

Security forces also seized 77 tonnes of drugs and detained 18,736 people, 300 of whom have since been accused of terrorism. According to the authorities, violent deaths have reduced by 26 percent since Noboa took office.

But in early April, the state of emergency came to an end. Ferdinando Carrion, a security expert, believes some of the reforms in the referendum could help Noboa to continue his campaign against the violence, but more structural reforms are needed.

“They achieved good results in the first two months,” Carrion said of the government’s state of emergency. “But it looks like the effect has been exhausted.”

He pointed to Ecuador’s prison system as a particular area of vulnerability. Investigations have shown that criminal organisations use prisons as spaces through which they can run their operations.

But under the state of emergency, the military was allowed to intervene. Carrion said that produced positive results.

“They intervened in 18 prisons out of 36, managing to sever [the gang leaders’] relations with the outside,” Carrion explained.

“But the minute the army leaves the prisons and gives them back to the national service SNAI, they will return to business as usual, since it has shown problems of efficiency, corruption and collusion.”

Carrion would like to see even greater reforms to government agencies like SNAI, beyond what is on the ballot on Sunday.

“Strengthening our institutions is paramount,” he told Al Jazeera, calling for the creation of a new body to replace SNAI.

The Ecuadorian government has deployed the military to control prisons like the one in Guayaquil [Santiago Arcos/Reuters]

Elections in the crosshairs

Still, some analysts question the efficacy of the referendum, even if it is successful.

Carla Alvarez, a professor studying security at the National Institute for Higher Studies, believes that the referendum will fall short of addressing the country’s gang crisis.

“No query made for public consultation will damage the structure of criminal organisations,” she told Al Jazeera.

She echoed concerns that the referendum has done more to bolster Noboa’s public image than to address the roots of crime in Ecuador.

Many experts trace the rise in the violence to Ecuador’s strategic location between the two largest cocaine producers in the world, Colombia and Peru.

They also point out that Ecuador’s economy was significantly weakened during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving unemployed youth vulnerable to gang recruitment.

But Alvarez said Noboa’s emphasis on holding the referendum is also motivated by his future ambitions. “This vote is happening in the middle of an electoral race. And this allows the president to revive his image on social media and achieve more visibility.”

The security situation has a direct impact on the integrity of Ecuador’s democracy. In the lead-up to the snap election last August, a presidential candidate running on an anticorruption platform was gunned down outside of a rally.

And in recent months, politicians have continued to be targets of the spike in violence.

Five mayors have been shot dead since the year began, the most recent murder unfolding on Friday, just days before Sunday’s vote.

The slain mayor, Jorge Maldonado of Portovelo, was the third to be killed in less than a month. His death followed that of Mayor Brigitte Garcia of San Vicente and Mayor Jose Sanchez of Camilo Ponce Enriquez.

Suspects and weapons are displayed for reporters at a police station in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on January 11, shortly after a TV station was stormed during a live broadcast [Ivan Alvarado/Reuters]

Chance of a split vote

Critics like Alvarez underscore that referendums are no silver bullet to the security crisis.

Rather, they are a relatively common political tool. Since 2006, Ecuadorians have been asked to express their will through referendums nine times, on issues ranging from oil exploration to presidential term limits.

Paulina Recalde, director of pollster Perfiles de Opinion, also questions whether Sunday’s referendum will create the groundswell of support Noboa seeks.

While Noboa is angling for approval on all 11 items, Recalde’s research suggests that voters will not unanimously back all the proposals.

“Since the very beginning, we never found an overall majority. People won’t vote the same in all the 11 queries,” she said.

Recalde also said there was confusion over the vote. According to her research, 68 percent of respondents knew little or nothing about the referendum a month ago.

She added that the power outages Ecuador is currently experiencing — as well as a controversial police raid on Mexico’s embassy in Quito — could dent Noboa’s popularity, regardless of the vote’s outcome.

“If people vote yes to expand the role of the military, does it mean that they are providing strong support for the president? I would say no,” she said.

A member of Ecuador’s security forces stands guard outside the Ministry of Energy and Mines in Quito, Ecuador, on April 16 [Karen Toro/Reuters]

Arbitration on the ballot

One of the most controversial ballot measures in Sunday’s referendum asks Ecuadorians to implement a system of “international arbitration” to resolve conflicts between the state and private foreign investors.

In international arbitration, a third neutral party is used to reach a binding decision that settles any claims.

Supporters of the measure feel arbitration could safeguard foreign investment in Ecuador, thereby boosting the country’s economy.

“In a dollarised economy like Ecuador, we need an increase in strong direct foreign investments aligned with our public policies,” said Eric Vinueza, investment counsellor for the Corporation for the Promotion of Exports and Investments (Corpei) who supports the measure.

But activists have criticised this proposal as a tool to discourage the government from enacting environmental reforms that might disadvantage foreign mining interests and other overseas companies.

With arbitration, foreign investors could file complaints and negotiate settlements behind closed doors, leaving the public no recourse to appeal.

“These are private and unilateral judicial spaces which allow transnational companies to sue the states, where the states are only able to defend themselves,” said Ivonne Ramos, a mining expert at the NGO Accion Ecologica.

In the 2008 constitution, Ecuador prohibited any international agreement that would limit its national sovereignty, including through international arbitration.

Sunday’s referendum would undo that protection. Ramos added that international arbitration could come with steep expenses for taxpayers.

Ecuador already owes $2.9 trillion to foreign companies. It is currently involved in 29 different lawsuits before international tribunals, with half of the complaints related to mining and fossil fuels.

“Three of the eight pending procedures could cost more than another $10 trillion, which is our national budget for education and health for 2024,” Ramos said.

​ 

The content originally appeared on: Latin America News – Aljazeera

In this episode, we will speak with guests from communities that have been affected by overtourism and how social media culture is contributing to this issue. The conversation will shed light on the cultural, environmental and socioeconomic consequences of overtourism and answer these questions: Should people continue travelling to these places, and is there a way to be a sustainable, ethical tourist?

Presenter: Myriam Francois

Guests:Saraswati Putri – Balinese poet and academicAlex Gonzalez Ormerod – Mexican writer and historianDoctor Kiona – Education Thru Travel, FounderBani Amor – Travel writer

​ 

The content originally appeared on: Latin America News – Aljazeera

The United States has sent dozens of Haitian citizens back to their country on a deportation flight, despite a surge in deadly gang violence and widespread instability in the Caribbean nation.

A spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Al Jazeera on Thursday that one of its agencies — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — “conducted a repatriation flight of around 50 Haitian nationals to Haiti”.

“Individuals are removed only if they were found to not have a legal basis to remain in the United States,” the spokesperson said in an email.

The brief statement did not say where in the US the flight took off from, or where it was scheduled to land in Haiti. Al Jazeera has requested further clarification.

The Miami Herald first reported on Thursday that US authorities informed Haiti’s Office of National Migration that 74 Haitians were aboard an ICE flight to Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti.

The plane had left the US state of Louisiana and was scheduled to make a stop in Miami, Florida, before continuing to Cap-Haitien, the Herald said. It is the first US deportation flight to Haiti since January.

The US newspaper’s report drew immediate condemnation, with rights advocates accusing President Joe Biden’s administration of sending Haitians into a dangerous and potentially deadly situation in their home country.

“It’s unconscionable for the [Biden] administration to continue deporting people given Haiti’s catastrophic human rights and humanitarian situation,” Nathalye Cotrino, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, wrote on social media.

Haiti has experienced widespread gang violence in recent years, particularly after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021 created a power vacuum.

But the already dire situation escalated further in late February, when powerful armed groups attacked prisons, police stations and other state institutions across Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.

The unrest forced Haiti’s unelected Prime Minister Ariel Henry to announce plans to step down and spurred a shaky political transition, which continues to unfold.

Meanwhile, attacks have not abated in Port-au-Prince and other parts of the country.

Hundreds of thousands of Haitians have been displaced, according to United Nations figures, and rights advocates have warned of a deepening humanitarian crisis.

Meanwhile, in the US, activists and lawmakers have urged the Biden administration to stop deportations to Haiti amid the crisis.

“Haiti is facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises right now,” US Congresswoman Cori Bush, a member of Biden’s Democratic Party, told reporters in a press call last week.

“The United States government has a moral responsibility to adopt a humane approach to helping Haitian immigrants fleeing these horrific conditions.”

Bush urged Washington to indefinitely suspend deportations, among other measures.

Some 13,000 migrants were sent back to Haiti from neighbouring countries in March, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) recently said.

The US Coast Guard also sent 65 Haitian migrants back to Haiti on March 12 after their vessel was intercepted near the Bahamas.

In addition to stopping such returns, rights advocates and civil society groups have called on the US government to extend and redesignate a programme called Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti.

The US government grants TPS to nationals of countries where temporary conditions make it too dangerous to return, including cases of armed conflict or environmental disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes.

Recipients can remain in the US without fear of deportation and work in the country. Haiti’s TPS designation is set to expire in early August.

“An upsurge in the already extreme violence in Haiti has left citizens reeling,” US-based migrant rights group Al Otro Lado wrote on X on Thursday after news of the deportation flight first broke.

“Gangs control key ports, the largest airport + much of the capital city of Port-au-Prince. People are on the brink of famine. Sending [people] back [to Haiti] could be a death sentence.”

​ 

The content originally appeared on: Latin America News – Aljazeera

The United States is reimposing sanctions on Venezuela’s vital oil sector over what it says is the government’s failure to adhere to democratic principles ahead of elections in July.

The administration of US President Joe Biden said it would not renew a licence that expired early on Thursday, and which had partially eased the punitive measures since October after a US-backed election deal was reached between the government and the Venezuelan opposition in Barbados.

“[Venezuela’s President] Nicolas Maduro and his representatives have not fully met the commitments made under the electoral roadmap agreement,” said US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller.

“Therefore, General License 44 – which authorised transactions related to the oil and gas sector with Venezuela – will expire after midnight and not be renewed.”

As the clock ticked down on the deadline, the US Treasury Department announced on Wednesday that it had issued a replacement licence giving companies 45 days to “wind down” their business and transactions in the OPEC country’s oil and gas sector.

“We are concerned that Maduro and his representatives prevented the democratic opposition from registering the candidate of their choice, harassed and intimidated political opponents, and unjustly detained numerous political actors and members of civil society,” Miller added.

The government has barred several key political opponents from participating in the July 28 presidential race, despite agreeing with the opposition last October to hold a free and fair vote.

General License 44 broadly authorised oil and gas transactions with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA. It was introduced by the US after the government agreed to reforms that would bring more competitive elections with international observers.

The reimposition of sanctions means that Venezuela’s fuel sales are expected to take a major hit, while US oil companies operating in Venezuela will have to scramble to seek special authorisations.

If the US does not grant enough individual authorisations, PDVSA is expected to resort to little-known intermediaries to sell its oil under price discounts, mainly to Asia.

“We are open [for business], willing to keep progressing along with all foreign companies that want to come,” Venezuela’s Petroleum Minister Pedro Tellechea told reporters after the US announcement.

“Venezuela is ready to secure the stability of global oil markets that we need so much.”

While hitting the Venezuelan economy, the US sanctions also carry risks for Biden as he runs for re-election since they could result in a jump in domestic oil prices or pressure from Venezuela’s government leveraging its migration policy.

Venezuela has previously warned it would cancel migrant repatriation flights for Venezuelans, hundreds of thousands of whom have crossed into the US in recent years, if Washington continued with its “economic aggression”.

The October 2023 agreement collapsed after state institutions loyal to the government disqualified Maduro’s main challenger, Maria Corina Machado, from running.

Machado said the reimposition of sanctions was the result of “a brutal wave of repression”.

Maduro, the successor of the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, is seeking a third six-year term after 11 years in office marked by sanctions, economic collapse and accusations of widespread repression.

Dozens of countries, including the US, rejected the results of the 2018 elections that were won by Maduro and boycotted by the opposition.

But years of sanctions and other pressure failed to dislodge Maduro, who enjoys support from a political patronage system, the military and from Cuba, Russia and China.

​ 

The content originally appeared on: Latin America News – Aljazeera

Humanity has only two years left “to save the world”, United Nations executive climate secretary Simon Stiell said this week.

As more people worldwide deal with record-breaking temperatures and natural disasters, what more can be done to cut emissions and cool our heating planet?

Presenter: Laura Kyle

Guests:

Patrick Ten Brink – secretary-general of the European Environmental Bureau

John Sweeney – professor emeritus at Maynooth University and contributor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Suzanne Lynch – associate editor at Politico, author of its Global Playbook newsletter

​ 

The content originally appeared on: Latin America News – Aljazeera

Amid rising gang violence in Haiti, Santo Domingo fears spillover effects. With criminal gangs dominating most of Haiti’s capital, the Dominican Republic faces human and security ramifications.

What steps will the Dominican government take to confront these challenges?

We explore these critical issues as the Dominican Republic’s Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez Gil talks to Al Jazeera.

​ 

The content originally appeared on: Latin America News – Aljazeera

Two Latin American countries — Venezuela and Honduras — announced diplomatic actions to signal displeasure at a recent police raid at Mexico’s embassy in Quito, Ecuador.

The announcements came on Tuesday as countries throughout the region gathered for a virtual summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

On the social media platform X, Honduras’s Foreign Relations Minister Enrique Reina revealed that his country had recalled its charge d’affaires from Ecuador to consult on the police raid.

Reina said the government of President Xiomara Castro hoped to send “a clear message to promote respect for international law”. He added that the storming of the embassy “should not become a disastrous precedent in the international system and that these events should not be repeated”.

Venezuela, meanwhile, announced plans to close its embassy and consulates in Ecuador, likewise in response to the raid. Its Ministry of Communication and Information (MIPPCI) said it would only reverse its decision once “international law is expressly restored in Ecuador”.

Tuesday’s actions are the latest show of support for Mexico after experts said Ecuador violated international law by sending law enforcement onto embassy grounds.

The aim was to arrest former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who had been twice convicted on corruption-related charges.

He had been sheltering in the Mexican embassy since December to avoid arrest and imprisonment.

On April 5, police officers scaled the embassy’s walls and stormed the building in a successful attempt to detain Glas.

But embassies and consulates are protected under international law from unauthorised entry by local law enforcement, and video footage of the embassy raid showed police officers at various points pointing a gun at a senior diplomat and pushing him to the ground.

Mexico has since filed a complaint at the International Court of Justice calling for Ecuador to be expelled from the United Nations, pending an apology for the embassy incident.

It also severed its diplomatic relations with Ecuador, recalling its embassy staff from the country.

Reina, the Honduran foreign minister, offered his government’s backing to Mexico in his statement on Tuesday.

“We will take the necessary steps to support Mexico’s actions before the UN and the International Court of Justice,” Reina wrote.

Speaking at CELAC’s virtual conference on Tuesday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro also echoed Mexico’s call for an apology.

He referred to the police raid as an “act of barbarism” and expressed his desire to see Glas transferred to Mexican custody. In the hours prior to his arrest, Mexico had offered Glas political asylum within its borders.

Glas is currently in prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where he undertook a hunger strike to protest against his arrest.

Ecuador has defended the embassy raid on the grounds of pursuing justice and upholding its national security.

President Daniel Noboa, for instance, responded to the international outcry by releasing a statement that said, “I have made exceptional decisions to protect national security, the rule of law and the dignity of a people who reject any type of impunity for criminals, delinquents, corrupt people or narco-terrorists.”

But last week, a three-member tribunal in Ecuador declared the embassy raid arbitrary and illegal. Still, the panel of judges nevertheless upheld Glas’s imprisonment.

“This tribunal cannot modify the sentence,” one of the judges said in the ruling.

​