The Latin America thread (VE, BR, AR, CU, MX...)

That is completely independent of who is in power in Mexico. It’s not the first time that American citizens have been killed, accidentally or not, in Mexico by drug cartels. The difference here is that the victims are African-Americans who came to Mexico to buy medicines that would cost them an arm and a leg in their country. And if we add the racial and cultural conflicts that exist in the U.S., along with the classism and racism problems that exist in Mexican society, we can say that this case came at the worst time for both countries, and both Biden and AMLO will attack each other because of it.

Edited by luisedgarf on Mar 8th 2023 at 3:43:12 AM

AP reported that the Scorpions faction of the Gulf cartel apologized to the residents of Matamoros, the Mexican woman who died and the Americans who died.

They cut their losses and turned in their own soldiers and said that they're responsible for their own actions.

The five men responsible were left inside a vehicle that was deemed suspicious, all tied up for the police/military to "collect".

That's a very rare move by them.

I think that it's more than they are deadly afraid of having to face against the American military forces in the future. They know that it's one thing facing the Mexican law enforcement or the military, and another different thing is having to face the US military in their worst, as they are fully aware of the vindictive nature of American law enforcement.

Cross posted from the Brazilian Politics Thread.

The Federal Police arrests 9 suspects of plotting to kill the judge Sergio Moro and other public agents.

This attempt also makes a callback to how the PCC treasury accountant had leaked audios where he downright complained how "during the previous administrations the party had a pretty good dialog with the Workers Party and the government, now with Moro and the current administration (2019), there is none and he was making life harder for the organized crime.

Good thing these scumbags didn't succeed.

Edited by CosmosAndChaos on Mar 23rd 2023 at 7:44:09 AM

Reuters mentioned that the Honduran foreign minister is going to meet with Chinese officials in Beijing, which means that they'll likely to shift recognition.

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/honduras-ends-decades-long-diplomatic-ties-with-taiwan

Honduras now recognized China instead of Taiwan.

Makes sense, if you're a small country that needs assistance the benefits of courting Beijing are obvious.

So Another latin america bow his head to the other imperalist powers? how....little surprising.

Not like they have an option of recognizing Taiwan's independence.

Let's not forget that Beijing's assistance is a straight up Deal with the Devil if we go by the examples in the African continent.

Edited by raziel365 on Mar 26th 2023 at 3:16:54 AM

Agreements with great powers usually are.

Some more than others And china is very blatant about that fact. So I cant share that "well we are small, so this is sensible" idea.

Maybe, but that doesn't mean it's the worst option. If I had to choose between IMF loans that require destroying my public sector and questionable Chinese investment I would at least consider the latter.

Of course this is a moot point, there isn't any deal yet so it's hard to say whether it would be worth it. Either way the logic of their action is clear.

Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Mar 26th 2023 at 4:24:32 AM

Look, I loathe the IMF and the World Bank for that, but between them and entering a debt with the geopolitical equivalent of a Loan Shark, it's not exactly a better option.

Not that there are good options in general though, both options suck, just one sucks less.

Given it pretty much honduras decide to toe the line bejin have being repeating and saying they will not go back from that in exchange for maybe future help.....yeah I dont like this one that much.

One of the reasons why I really don't trust the Chinese companies doing business in Latin America, isn't just over the exorbitant prices and rates they charge. It is that the same companies are still under the thumbs of the CCP and have no autonomy on their own. So dealing with them requires mediation with the CCP first.

And not only that, they also tend to leave a lot of half assed works because they are still corrupt and they also import Chinese workers instead of hiring local contractors. Which means all the money that would be spent locally isn't going to stay in the country.

For all the anti-imperialist rhetoric and as bad as the EU and US practices are, the Chinese managed to be worse.

Fire at migrant detention facility on U.S.-Mexico border kills 38

A mattress was set on fire as a protest when they learned they would be deported.

Video shows guards walking away during fire that killed 38

An truly awful tragedy.

Of course the guards let them die.

Disgusting.

https://thediplomat.com/2023/03/honduras-china-switch-and-the-aftershocks/

Diplomat article points out that the US never carried out anything against Honduras for recognizing China instead of Taiwan under the Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative (TAIPEI) Act of 2019, which would pressure countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan against recognizing China.

It also states that the next country in LATAM that can dump Taiwan is Paraguay. President Mario Abdo Benítez called for Taiwanese investments up to $1 billion. Opposition party candidate Efrain Alegre said that he's all for dumping Taiwan anyway.

Edited by Ominae on Mar 31st 2023 at 8:22:43 AM

What an utterly hypocritical Act for the US to have passed, given that they recognize China and have extensive trade relations with it (and the power to still be able to interact with Taiwan). Rich countries are allowed to act on their interests, but poorer ones aren’t and should be punished if they do? Ugh.

Well said. It's just selfish power-politics pretending to be some crusade against tyranny.

I'll say that Angelus Nox summarizes my thoughts.