The Latin American Report # 709
Mexico's National Defense Secretary ordered the deployment of 2,000 troops in the state of Jalisco to confront any new retaliatory action from organized crime after the killing on Sunday of the drug lord Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, alias El Mencho, kingpin of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, in the town of Tapalpa. The state governor said that "[the] public transport system is gradually returning to normal." "Municipal public services are also now returning to normality by each of the city councils," he added in statements cited by EFE.
Meanwhile, towards the end of Monday afternoon, there was talk of around 73 fatal victims in total among those reported in the specific military operation that led to the death of El Mencho and the violence that broke out afterwards; thus, the figure includes soldiers, police, and alleged criminals. The escape of 23 inmates from the Ixtapa prison has also been confirmed following an attack on the facility after El Mencho's death. Today, some details of how the operation took place have been revealed, including the curious fact that tracking a lover of the veteran criminal was crucial in his downfall.
This is from Tapalpa, the locality where El Mencho was reported dead (source).Cuba
In the midst of the prolonged Cuban socioeconomic crisis, exacerbated by the oil blockade that Donald Trump's government is enforcing even beyond the now-dropped tariff threats, the Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday, Monday, in two cases related to the so-called Helms-Burton Act. In 2019, with John Bolton serving as National Security Advisor, the first Trump administration activated, for the first time, the introduction of lawsuits in courts against people "trafficking" with "confiscated" property, a problem as old as the Cuban Revolution following the nationalizations of the 1960s.
In the first case that the justices heard and debated, a final ruling will determine whether four cruise companies are liable because they obtained profits by taking travelers to Cuba during the brief thaw promoted by Barack Obama, as their ships anchored in docks that Havana Docks Corporation owned under a lease arrangement, and which were "confiscated" by Fidel Castro's government in 1960. There were excellent questions and arguments from the justices. In my opinion, the law clearly favors the cruise companies here, as the LIBERTAD Act does not consider there to be any "trafficking" in confiscated property when it comes to "transactions and uses of property incident to lawful travel to Cuba, to the extent that such transactions and uses of property are necessary to the conduct of such travel".
I don't understand how the discussion strays from this essence. The trips by Carnival and the other companies were promoted by the very Obama administration, with travelers covered by one of the twelve general licenses enabling travel to Cuba. Although the refutation made by Florida's District Judge Beth Bloom on this point has very reasonable points, it unfairly departs from the spirit of the time, because Obama's OFAC was fully aware of the veiled tourism practices it covers. She cannot address them from the political perspective of the Cuban exiles in Miami, or the MAGA hawks in general. And anyway, some good arguments can put them in harmony with the sanctions regime.
The other case that the justices heard pits Exxon Mobil—also with a validated claim related to confiscated, $70 million-valued properties in pre-revolutionary Cuba—against a group of Cuban state companies led by CIMEX, which today manages such properties. The main point of this second case is whether the state-owned companies are immune under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, or if the Helms-Burton Act implicitly abrogates immunity in a sort of extension or specific implementation of the FSIA. For Justice Kagan, Congress provided a "cause of action subject to the [long-standing] rules about jurisdictional immunity." Justice Jackson shared this reasoning, saying that "we know that cause of action and abrogation are two different things in light of a statute [i.e., the FISA] that says look over here when you're looking for the abrogation answer." The resolution of both cases will offer very interesting readings on how aligned the Supreme Court is with the reasoning and policy of this administration towards (or against) Cuba.
SourceVenezuela
The Venezuelan Parliament stated late on Monday that some 2,200 people among those under precautionary measures or serving sentences have benefited because of the recently approved and controversial Amnesty Law. So far, not much "material" progress should be noticeable, because a good part of them were under precautionary measures that did not go beyond house arrest. Later, Attorney General Tarek William Saab was already talking about 3,000 people benefited, that is, with their cases finally dismissed. The government's numbers rarely coincide with those claimed by civil society organizations. An NGO widely referenced regarding monitoring the situation of allegedly political prisoners said that since January 8, when an ad hoc release process—now subsumed into the application of this amnesty law—began, there have been around 530 releases.
"We are already tired of the secrecy, we are tired of waiting," says the mother of a detainee in a penitentiary center located in the east of the Venezuelan capital, where no new releases have occurred after the approval of the amnesty law. "We are seeing on social media that they are being released (freed) from (the prison) Yare, from El Rodeo, from other penitentiary facilities, which I am very happy about (…) I do not fight only for my son, I fight for all political prisoners, so that all are freed, but what happens with Zona 7?," she questioned in statements to the press cited by EFE. Meanwhile, the beginning of work is reported to convert a controversial penitentiary center, formerly the headquarters of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service, into a social center for the enjoyment of the "police family" and surrounding communities; the claim was disputed by activists who say that El Helicoide still houses "political" prisoners.
SourceIn another interesting development, acting President Delcy Rodríguez promoted an opposition activist as deputy minister for North America and Europe, an apparent sign that the government is moving towards greater plurality, that is, to better reflect the real political balance of Venezuelan society. "I do not militate in the Government party, and that is why I value this decision," noted the new official.
Panama
Trump wins 👇
Panama seizes 2 key canal ports from Hong Kong operator following Supreme Court ruling https://t.co/qda0x5pKnO
— Robert Pinto (@TheNewRobPinto1) February 24, 2026
