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Ecuador was once famous for sheltering a man on the lam: For seven years it allowed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to hole up in its embassy in London, invoking an international treaty that makes diplomatic premises places of refuge. Then, last week, the South American nation appeared to tear that treaty to shreds, sending the police into the Mexican Embassy in Quito — over Mexico’s protests — where they arrested a former vice president accused of corruption. President Daniel Noboa of Ecuador defended the decision to detain the former vice president, Jorge Glas, calling him a criminal and citing the country’s growing security crisis to justify the move. But his critics said it one of the most egregious violations of the treaty since its creation in 1961. They saw a more personal motive: Mr. Noboa’s political agenda.

Persons: Julian Assange, Daniel Noboa, Jorge Glas Organizations: Quito — Locations: Ecuador, London, American, Mexican, Quito

Authorities found a former Ecuadorean vice president, Jorge Glas, in a “deep self-induced coma” in jail on Monday, just days after he was captured by the police in a dramatic arrest inside the Mexican embassy in Quito. Mr. Glas ingested anti-depressants and sedatives, according to a police report, and was being transferred to a military hospital for observation. The former vice president faces a charge of embezzlement in Ecuador, and he had sought refuge in the Mexican embassy in an attempt to avoid arrest. He became the subject of a diplomatic scuffle last week when police in Quito entered the embassy and successfully captured him, eventually transferring him to a detention center in the large port city of Guayaquil. A 1961 diplomatic treaty says that governments cannot enter foreign embassies without permission from the embassy’s host country, establishing a line that has been crossed only on rare occasions.

Persons: Jorge Glas, Glas Locations: Mexican, Quito, Ecuador, Guayaquil

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☆ Sexual Assault of Migrants in Panama Rises to Level Rarely Seen Outside War
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Julie Turkewitz | Federico Rios | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The girl, 8, from Venezuela, had slept fitfully the night before, wailing in her dreams, her mother said, about the men trying to kill her. Days earlier, the family had entered the Darién Gap, the jungle straddling Colombia and Panama that in the last three years has become one of the world’s busiest migrant highways. After climbing mountains and crisscrossing rivers in their quest to reach the United States, their group was accosted by a half-dozen men in ski masks, holding long guns and issuing threats. “Women, take off your clothes!” the assailants shouted, the mother said, before they probed each woman’s intimate parts looking for cash. Then the men turned to the girl, her mother said, ordering her to undress for a search, too.

Locations: Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, United States

☆ Why Some Colombians Call Their Mothers ‘Your Mercy’
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-02 | by ( Julie Turkewitz | Nathalia Angarita | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

After Altair Jaspe moved from Venezuela to the Colombian capital, Bogotá, she was taken aback by the way she was addressed when she walked into any shop, cafe or doctor’s office. In a city that was once part of the Spanish empire, she was no longer “señora,” as she would have been called in Caracas, or perhaps, in her younger years, “muchacha” or “chama.” (Venezuelan terms for “girl” or “young woman.”)Instead, all around her, she was awarded an honorific that felt more fitting for a woman in cape and crown: Your mercy. Would your mercy like a coffee? Will your mercy be taking the appointment at 3 p.m.? Excuse me, your mercy, people told her as they passed in a doorway or elevator.

Persons: Altair Jaspe, “ Locations: Venezuela, Bogotá, Caracas

☆ Darién Gap Migration Is Halted After Colombia Arrests Boat Captains
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Julie Turkewitz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Migration toward the United States through the dangerous jungle passage known as the Darién Gap has been halted, at least temporarily, following the arrest of two boat captains working for companies that play an essential role in ferrying migrants to the jungle. Boat companies suspended migrant crossings from two northern Colombia towns, Necoclí and Turbo, to the entrance of the Darién forest, according to the mayor of Necoclí, leaving roughly 3,000 migrants stranded in those communities. The Colombian law enforcement action in the region is sure to be watched closely by U.S. officials: The Biden administration has been pressuring Colombia for months to try harder to stop people from using the Darién as a path to the United States. The boat route is the main way into the Darién Gap, a strip of land linking South and North America that was once rarely traversed but has emerged in recent years as one of the hemisphere’s most important and busiest migration routes.

Persons: Biden Locations: United States, Colombia, Necoclí, U.S, South, North America

Of all the government critics, few thought that Rocío San Miguel would be the one to disappear. Ms. San Miguel, 57, has long been one of Venezuela’s best known security experts, a woman who dared investigate her country’s authoritarian government even as others fled. But late last week, Ms. San Miguel arrived at the airport outside Caracas with her daughter, bound for what a relative called a short trip to Miami, when she was picked up by counterintelligence agents. For four days, the only public information about Ms. San Miguel came from Venezuela’s top prosecutor, who claimed on social media, without providing evidence, that Ms. San Miguel had been linked to a plot to kill the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. Finally, on Tuesday evening, her lawyers said she had surfaced — and was being held in a notoriously brutal detention center.

Persons: San, San Miguel, Nicolás Maduro Organizations: Venezuelan Locations: San Miguel, Caracas, Miami, Venezuela’s

When the Venezuelan government released five political prisoners late Wednesday to cheers from the country’s opposition, it was the most emotional in a rapid series of policy shifts in the South American country that together represent the most significant softening of relations between Venezuela and the United States in years. In a matter of days, Venezuela’s authoritarian government has agreed to accept Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States and signed an agreement with opposition leaders designed to move toward a free and fair presidential election in 2024. In exchange, the United States has agreed to lift some economic sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry, a vital source of income for the government of President Nicolás Maduro. The developments come just days before more than one million Venezuelans are expected to head to the polls for a primary election to choose the opposition leader who will face Mr. Maduro next year.

Persons: Nicolás Maduro, Maduro Locations: Venezuelan, American, Venezuela, United States

Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have arrived at the United States border in the last two years, part of a historic wave of migrants headed north amid growing global crises. But Venezuela has been in the midst of an economic and humanitarian crisis for roughly a decade. Why are so many people going to the United States now? Over the last year, we’ve interviewed hundreds of Venezuelans headed to the United States. At the same time, social media has popularized the route to the United States, while a thriving people-moving business near the start of the journey has accelerated the pace of migration — even as a United Nations tally shows a record number of people dying on their way north.

Persons: we’ve Organizations: United Nations Locations: United States, Venezuela, Latin America

Every step through the jungle, there is money to be made. A guide on the treacherous route once you start walking: $170. A porter to carry your backpack over the muddy mountains: $100. Special, all-inclusive packages to make the perilous slog faster and more bearable, with tents, boots and other necessities: $500, or more. They are politicians, prominent businessmen and elected leaders, now sending thousands of migrants toward the United States in plain sight each day — and charging millions of dollars a month for the privilege.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Colombian Locations: United States, South America

Map locates the Darién Gap at the border with Colombia and Panama. Also shown are the towns of Capurganá and Acandí on the northwest Colombian coast, and Necolí , a town on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Urabá. Caribbean Sea Gulf of Urabá PANAMA Panama City Capurganá Acandí Necoclí DARIÉN GAP Colombia Pacific Ocean Medellín 50 miles UNITED States 800 miles Atlantic Ocean Mexico Detail area costa rica VENEZuela Pacific Ocean Ecuador BRAZIL

Organizations: Urabá PANAMA, Urabá PANAMA Panama City, GAP, UNITED Locations: Colombia, Panama, Capurganá, Colombian, Urabá ., Urabá, Urabá PANAMA Panama, GAP Colombia, Mexico, VENEZuela, Ocean Ecuador BRAZIL

The 12 shots fired on Wednesday evening, killing an Ecuadorean presidential candidate as he exited a campaign event, marked a dramatic turning point for a nation that a few years ago seemed an island of security in a violent region. A video of the moments just before the killing of the candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, began circulating online even before his death had been confirmed. And for many Ecuadoreans, those shots echoed with a bleak message: Their nation was forever changed. “I feel that it represents a total loss of control for the government,” said Ingrid Ríos, a political scientist in the city of Guayaquil, “and for the citizens, as well.”Ecuador, a country of 18 million on South America’s western coast, has survived authoritarian governments, financial crises, mass protests and at least one presidential kidnapping. It has never, however, been shaken by the kind of drug-related warfare that has plagued neighboring Colombia, unleashing violence that has killed thousands, corroded democracy and turned citizens against one another.

Persons: Fernando Villavicencio, ”, Ingrid Ríos Locations: Guayaquil, “, Ecuador, South, Colombia

A presidential candidate in Ecuador who had been outspoken about the link between organized crime and government officials was assassinated on Wednesday evening at a political rally in the capital, just days before an election that was expected to be dominated by concerns over drug-related violence. The candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, a former journalist, was gunned down outside a high school in Quito after speaking to young supporters. “When he stepped outside the door, he was met with gunfire,” said Carlos Figueroa, who worked for Mr. Villavicencio’s campaign and was at the rally. “There was nothing to be done, because they were shots to the head.”Mr. Villavicencio, 59, was polling near the middle of an eight-person race. He was among the most vocal candidates on the issue of crime and state corruption.

Persons: Fernando Villavicencio, “, ”, Carlos Figueroa, ” Mr, Villavicencio Organizations: Mr Locations: Ecuador, Quito

Before the president’s asylum changes took effect on May 11, border patrol officials were encountering about 7,500 migrants trying to cross the border illegally each day — record-breaking numbers that were putting severe strains on the immigration officials and border communities. Since then, the numbers have declined to about 3,000 migrants each day. That is still historically high, but dramatically lower. On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that Mr. Biden’s changes to the asylum system were illegal. Here is a look at the various forces at play when it comes to migration at the southern border.

Persons: Jon S, “ Organizations: U.S, ” Locations: Northern California, Central, South America, United States

A total of 210 tons of drugs seized in a single year, a record. And all this chaos financed by powerful outsiders with deep pockets and lots of experience in the global drug business. Ecuador, on South America’s western edge, has in just a few years become the drug trade’s gold rush state, with major cartels from as far as Mexico and Albania joining forces with prison and street gangs, unleashing a wave of violence unlike anything in the country’s recent history. Fueling this turmoil is the world’s growing demand for cocaine. “People consume abroad,” said Maj. Edison Núñez, an intelligence official with the Ecuadorean national police, “but they don’t understand the consequences that take place here.”

Persons: ”, Edison Núñez Organizations: Prisons Locations: Ecuador, South, Mexico, Albania

☆ The Indigenous Guardsmen Who Rescued Colombia’s Missing Children
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Genevieve Glatsky | Julie Turkewitz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Then, just beyond the broad leaves of the jungle, Nicolás Ordóñez could make out the form of a small girl, a baby in her arms. Mr. Ordóñez, 27, a young man from the humblest of backgrounds, stepped forward, soon to become a national hero. He and three other men had found four Colombian children who had survived a terrifying plane crash followed by 40 harrowing days in the Amazon rain forest — and whose plight had drawn worldwide attention. But these men did not wear the uniform of the Colombian military, or any other force backed by millions of dollars mobilized for the massive search. Instead, they were members of a civilian patrol known as the Indigenous Guard — a confederation of defense groups that have sought to protect broad swaths of Indigenous territory from violence and environmental destruction linked to the country’s long internal conflict.

Persons: Ordóñez Organizations: Colombian, Indigenous Guard

☆ Colombian Children Rescued in Jungle Had Been Fleeing for Their Lives
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Julie Turkewitz | Genevieve Glatsky | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The four children who survived an almost unfathomable 40 days in the Colombian jungle after their tiny plane crashed in the Amazon rainforest had boarded the plane because they were fleeing for their lives. Manuel Ranoque, the father of the two youngest survivors, explained in an interview that an armed group that forcibly recruited children by threatening violence had seized control of their home region in southern Colombia. Fearing their family was next, he said, relatives had tried to fly the children out of the territory, to a city where they could live safely. Then the children's escape plane crashed, killing their mother and two other adults and sending the quartet on a traumatic weekslong survival journey in the Amazon jungle. The oldest of the children, Lesly, 13, played the role of guide and mother to her siblings, helping them navigate the forest.

Persons: Manuel Ranoque Locations: Colombian, Colombia

☆ What’s in Our Queue? ChocQuibTown and More
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Julie Turkewitz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Gabriela Brito is a 12-year-old Venezuelan immigrant to Colombia who, under the name Lela, gained fame rapping on buses to support her family. She channels the experiences of the seven million displaced Venezuelans in songs like “Calendario,” about her migration journey. “Just like you, I still hold the dream of returning,” she rasps in Spanish.

Persons: Gabriela Brito, “ Organizations: ” Locations: Colombia, Spanish

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The death threats came as the Americans withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban marched across her country, she said. In the chaos, cell doors were flung open, freeing the rapists and abusers she had helped send to prison. But after saving so many women’s lives, she was suddenly trying to save her own. “They left us behind,” she said of the Americans. “Sometimes I think maybe God left all Afghans behind.”

☆ Ecuador’s President Dissolves Congress Amid Impeachment Trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Julie Turkewitz | Genevieve Glatsky | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Guillermo Lasso of Ecuador disbanded the country’s opposition-led National Assembly on Wednesday, a drastic move as the right-leaning leader faced impeachment proceedings over accusations of embezzlement. The constitutional measure, never before used, allows the president to rule by decree until new elections can be held, marking a moment of extraordinary political turbulence for a country of 18 million already in turmoil. Ecuador has long been a relatively safe haven in the region, but in recent years it has seen rising violence and a skyrocketing homicide rate as increasingly powerful narco-trafficking groups fight for territory. Opposition lawmakers accused Mr. Lasso of turning a blind eye to irregularities and embezzlement in a contract between a state-run shipping company and an oil tanker company that wasn’t delivering on its promises — allegations first made in media reports. The country’s constitutional court later approved a charge of embezzlement against the president but denied two charges of bribery.

☆ What’s Driving Record Levels of Migration to the U.S. Border?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Natalie Kitroeff | Julie Turkewitz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico — Millions of people are leaving their homes across Latin America in numbers not seen in decades, many of them pressing toward the United States. While migration to the U.S. southern border has always fluctuated, the pandemic and the recession that followed hit Latin America harder than almost anywhere else in the world, plunging millions into hunger, destitution and despair. Unemployment hit a two-decade high. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine choked off a key pipeline for grain and fertilizer, triggering a spike in food prices. Economic shocks were worsened by violence, as conflict between armed groups festered in once relatively peaceful countries and raged in places long accustomed to the terror.

Mr. Brinsky said he and Mr. Bowers, 46, grew up together but that he never met Mr. Bowers’s parents and got the impression that Mr. Bowers had a difficult home life. They drifted apart by the time they got to Baldwin High School, where Mr. Brinsky said Mr. Bowers wore a camouflage jacket and drifted alone through the halls. Mr. Bowers is not listed in any activities or sports in his 1989 junior-class yearbook, and he does not appear in the next year’s book as a senior at all. “He was pretty much a ghost,” Mr. Brinsky said. Mr. Bowers said he worked as a truck driver and needed the apartment primarily to store his stuff, Ms. Owens said.

Persons: Robert Bowers, gunning, “, ”, Jim Brinsky, Brinsky, Bowers, Mr, Kerri Owens, Owens Organizations: PITTSBURGH, Baldwin High School Locations: Pittsburgh

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