Tanya Wadhwa
Two weeks out from Ecuador’s runoff election, candidates debate on key issues

Leftist lawyer Luisa González and businessman Daniel Noboa outlined their government plans, debating on the matters of economy, security, social policies and political issues

Government report on Ayotzinapa disappearances links ex-president Enrique Peña Nieto to the crime

The parents of the disappeared students demand that a criminal investigation be opened against the former president and other high-ranking officials who colluded in covering up the crime

Colombia JEP Retired Colombian military officers confess to massacring innocent civilians

A total of 24 people, including retired military officers, government officials and civilians, publicly pleaded guilty of massacring about 300 innocent people in the Casanare department of Colombia, then framing them to government authorities as guerrilla fighters killed in combat to obtain rewards

Ayotzinapa parents protest Parents of disappeared Ayotzinapa students begin indefinite sit-in protest outside military camp in Mexico City

The parents are demanding that the Mexican Armed Forces hand over all the information they have in their possession about the mass kidnapping and disappearance of their loved ones

Colombia and Mexico call for new international anti-drug policy

Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Mexican President AMLO condemned the US militarized war on drugs, and called for a new international anti-drug policy from a non-militaristic vision, which promotes social justice and attention to the root causes

Abortion legal Mexico Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalizes abortion nationally in landmark ruling

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the sections of the Federal Penal Code that criminalize women, pregnant persons, and healthcare professionals for abortion are unconstitutional, thereby decriminalizing abortion at the national level

Haitians reject Kenya’s plan for armed intervention

A Kenyan assessment mission recently went to Haiti to examine the possibility of deploying a 1000-strong multinational police force, purportedly to improve security and stem gang violence. Haitian people’s movements and rights organizations rejected and condemned the proposal, saying it will escalate the issues it seeks to solve

“For the Lasso government, the economic interests of private mining companies are above the decisions of the Constitutional Court”

Ecuadorian Lawyer Patricia Carrión spoke to Peoples Dispatch about the suspension of a controversial mining decree that activists allege promoted the interests of mining companies

Argentina heads for presidential primaries in the wake of tragedies

Days ahead of the presidential primaries, Argentina was shaken by the murders of 11-year-old Morena Domínguez during a robbery and photojournalist Facundo Morales by the Buenos Aires police

Crisis in Ecuador following spurt of violence and rumors of a government deal with gangs

The announcement of a peace agreement among criminal gangs came days after a prison riot at the Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil claimed the lives of 31 inmates, and the murder of the mayor of the city of Manta, which forced the Lasso government to declare two states of emergency in two days

Fresh protests against Dina Boluarte met with violent police repression in Lima

According to a new survey conducted by the Institute of Peruvian Studies (IEP), the disapproval rating of de-facto president Dina Boluarte has risen from 71% in January to 81.6% in July, while that of the right-wing dominated Congress has increased from 89% to 90.4%

What is at stake in the early general elections in Ecuador?

Ahead of the early general elections in Ecuador, Professor Pablo Meriguet spoke to Peoples Dispatch about the reality on the ground and the significance of the upcoming electoral process for the country