The Latin American Report # 705

Ecuador

"The events that occurred in Guayaquil are not fortuitous. Structures are operating in the shadows to provoke violence and disorder," said the Interior Minister of the South American country on X, referring to two fires that occurred during the week and yesterday, Sunday, in Guayaquil, the capital of the hyper-violent province of Guayas. Their sequence has raised suspicions for the authorities, as the first fire severely affected a key multi-commercial building.

"Citizens deserve clear answers. It is unacceptable for emergencies to repeat without determining responsibilities regarding the use of the affected properties and compliance with safety and control regulations," stated the Ministry of Government in a communiqué requesting the Attorney General's Office to open a formal investigation. Regardless of whether there is any involvement of organized crime or smaller local gangs in these particular fires, the truth is that Guayaquil, and Guayas in general, continue to be locations where violence becomes entrenched, despite the deployment of military and police there and in other provinces trapped in the same tragedy, primarily in the coastal zone. Last year, a record 9,300 homicides were officially counted.

Thus, last Saturday, police found eight human heads in two jute sacks in a municipality of Guayas, the latest example of the deep level of mental imbalance that can be found in the country; most of the victims were from coastal Manabí. This grim picture, which includes murdered and burned children—do not ever forget this ominous case from late 2024—, does not seem to significantly affect the firm support that Washington is providing to a Daniel Noboa, who, perhaps to a lesser extent than Milei, has not ceased to be obsequious towards Donald Trump. Quito has recently clinched a "reciprocal trade agreement" with the United States, which implies significant tariff exemptions for Ecuadorian products in the US market.

Venezuela

The postponement last week of the approval of an amnesty bill in Venezuela, due to natural differences in its scope, has led to a strengthening of protest actions by relatives of hundreds of so-called political prisoners, who have been outside various detention centers for over a month waiting for the release of their loved ones after the announcement in early January—by Jorge Rodríguez, the head of the National Assembly—of the start of an ad hoc release process that has been carried out in drips, opaquely, with some peaks or moments of greater activity. The initiative of an amnesty act is aimed at accelerating and giving legislative backing to this process, which has so far resulted in about 450 political prisoners released according to certain estimates.

If the bill is approved, both the criminal prosecution and the final sentences against those ultimately benefited would be extinguished. This, instead of applying precautionary measures such as house arrest and other controversial, practical movement and expression restrictions, as has been the case with the majority of those recently released. One of the main points of conflict in the project is that, although it covers the entire period of Chavismo in power, it delimits its scope to specific events of political upheaval. Many relatives have been on hunger strike since early Saturday, with some cases of decompensation, fainting, headaches, and altered blood pressure reported yesterday, Sunday.

The new phase opened in the country following the capture and removal of Nicolás Maduro last January 3rd has given a boost to expressions of social protest, as Delcy Rodríguez's government appears quite handcuffed by the Trump administration. Also, yesterday, the closure of several government dependencies attached to the Ministry of the Presidency was announced. Four of them had been established by Maduro himself, and two by the late Hugo Chávez. Is there a planned demolition of the entire Chavist movement taking place?

The War Department's diary 👇