The Latin American Report # 660

We start our trip today in Ecuador, where six people were killed last Sunday in the locality of Nueva Prosperina, located in the troubled city of Guayaquil. According to information shared by a security forces officer, cited by EFE, hitmen stormed a home and killed five people, and then shot a woman in the street who apparently came out to complain. Among the first five victims there are three women, including an 81-year-old who was celebrating her birthday.

A survivor may be critical to shed light on this latest massacre in Nueva Prosperina, a region that has been the scene of slightly more than 25% of the homicides recorded in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city. Meanwhile, in Colombia, a teacher from the Indigenous Wiwa people was killed on the Caribbean coast, allegedly by an illegal armed group. The Office in Colombia of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for investigating, prosecuting, and sanctioning those responsible.

Honduras

Vote counting is moving at a snail’s pace there, a manifestation of the antithesis of what a coherent electoral system should be. Conservatives Nasry Asfura and Salvador Nasralla were separated by 515 votes in the last known update. I have been unable to access the results website today. Rixi Moncada, the governing party’s candidate, performed far below the forecasts, which had shown her at least in line with the projected performance of Nasralla and Asfura. The latter was endorsed at the last minute by President Donald Trump, who works in broad daylight to shape Latin America in his own image. Nevertheless, Nasralla has said that he can work with him just as naturally.

Trump vs. Venezuela

The controversial attacks coordinated by the U.S. War Department against vessels suspected of transporting drugs through the Caribbean Sea may backfire badly on the Trump administration, following the recent leak of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s decision—executed by Vice Admiral and then-commander of Joint Special Operations Command Frank Bradley—to finish off two survivors of the first strike in early September, described by some experts and activists as a “war crime.” “I can’t imagine anyone, no matter what the circumstance, believing it is appropriate to kill people who are clinging to a boat in the water,” a professor emeritus at the U.S. Naval War College and also a former Air Force lawyer told AP.

In a hasty “argument,” the White House spokeswoman defended that the second strike was “in self-defense,” which implies a reference, I guess, to the potential drug recipients in the United States, and not to Southern Command personnel. According to the Washington Post, Hegseth literally ordered them to kill everyone, including those two low-level drug smugglers who had been left clinging to the wreckage after the first missile. “I wouldn’t have wanted that — not a second strike,” Trump said, but I think he is trying to tamp down the scandal by hiding his true rationale.

The narrative defended by Karoline Leavitt seems to indicate that if someone is sacrificed here, it will be Bradley, because they deny that Hegseth gave the order. “It has been clear for well over a century that you may not declare what’s called ‘no quarter’ — take no survivors, kill everyone,” said the referred expert linked to the prestigious U.S. Naval War College. “The term for a premeditated killing outside of armed conflict is murder,” said a senior adviser with the International Crisis Group with experience in Foggy Bottom.

“Obviously, if there was a direction to take a second shot and kill people, that’s a violation of an ethical, moral or legal code. We need to get to the bottom of it,” stated a Republican senator from the state of North Carolina, as both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees opened bipartisan investigations into the matter. In this regard, Bradley, strongly backed by Hegseth, will offer a classified briefing on Thursday to “key lawmakers,” AP reports.

Maduro and some of Colombia´s backing

For his part, Maduro on Thursday appointed an ad hoc political body composed of 12 leaders of Chavismo, who will be in charge of “the highest-level direction of the political, social and Bolivarian revolutionary forces.” Early on Monday, and following Trump’s announcement declaring Venezuelan airspace “closed,” major European airlines such as Iberia and Air Europa suspended their operations to and from Maiquetía Airport, which serves Caracas, after the recommendation of the Spanish Aviation Safety Agency not to fly over Venezuela at least until December 31.

“The U.S. has no right to close Venezuelan airspace. It can do so with its own airlines, but not with those of the world. Colombia is reestablishing civil air service with Venezuela and invites the world to do so. This is a time for dialogue, not barbarism,” expressed the head of the House of Nariño on X, in statements cited by EFE. However, two Colombian airlines have never stopped flying to Caracas, unlike Latam Colombia.