WEEKLY RECAP: OCT 9 TO 15

North America:

• Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador recincided his initial rejection to US President Joe Biden’s invitation to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit last Monday (Oct 9). Lopez said he rethought his initial rejection and decided maintaining good ties with the US remained important. Lopez’s initial rejection was due to his differences with Peru’s incumbent government from soured relations, who is also APEC’s next chair. The reversal also came after the meetings with senior US officials, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the week prior to this.
• The Dominican Republic announced new measures to strengthen border control last Monday (Oct 9) doubling down on their decision to close its border with Haiti last month with an indefinite extension of the border closure, increased military forces, and a new exports ban on building materials to slow down construction of structures that threaten the river or related resources.. The Dominican Republic saw the building of a canal from the Massacre River a violation of a border treaty, and called for the border shutdown. Haiti responded that it supports its citizen’s rights to the equitable use of shared waters and pressed on to have dialogues to resolve the matter. The Organisation of American States also echoed the need for dialogue.
• Costa Rica and Honduras imposed visa requirements for travellers from the other’s country last Monday (Oct 9), which went into effect the following day Tuesday (Oct 10). Costa Rica cited security reasons: increased numbers of criminal groups in the coastal town of Limon and the arrival of Honduran hitmen. Costa Rica initially announced the restriction the week before but postponed it. Honduras was ‘surprised’ but later responded based on the principle of reciprocity.
• Mexico’s migrant situation intensified last week with an increase in migrants. Texas state authorities have been stepping up cargo truck inspections at the border citing increased migrant influx, causing the Mexican government to urge the US government to mediate with Texas to stop last Monday (Oct 9). About US$1.9 billion (S$2.6 billion) in goods from Mexico were stuck. The Bridge of the Americas between the two countries was reopened partially the next day (Oct 10), following dialogues. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced last Tuesday (Oct 10) that he wants centres for handling asylum claims to be set up in migrants’ countries of origin so they would not have to come to Mexico; and plans to bring up the matter at the upcoming Chiapas Summit with the other Latin American countries.
• Barbados’ finance minister Ryan Straughan announced last Tuesday (Oct 10) that the island state is looking to execute a “debt-for-climate” swap in early 2024. The Barbadian government has been working with the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Investment Bank on credit guarantees. 2022 saw a “debt-for-nature” swap which saw $150 million (S$205 million) of international bonds swapped for cheaper debt, generating $50 million (S$68.4 million) for marine conservation – a plan which Straughan called “very, very successful”. The savings from the swap would upgrade a water treatment plant to help better manage water resources and improve food insecurity.
• Former Haitian Senator Joseph Joel John pleaded guilty last Tuesday (Oct 10) to criminal charges in Miami federal court for his role in the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. John pleaded guilty to providing material support to the plot to kill Moise: rental vehicles, and procurement of weapons. Moise’s assassination had left a political vacuum which gangs took advantage of to expand their territory with increased killings, kidnappings and gang rapes. Haiti’s unelected government called for urgent help from international forces to help restore order, to which the UN responded but the force has yet to materialise.
• Director of the International Monetary Fund’s Western Hemisphere Department, Rodrigo Vales, reported last Friday (Oct 13) that the IMF’s negotiating mission in El Salvador was “very productive” but an agreement for a new financing programme is “not there yet”. Salvadoran eurobonds have been one of the best performing so far in 2023, and investors have looked at a possible deal with the IMF. There has been no set plans to work out the next leg of negotiations and meetings. Valdes mentioned that ongoing discussions are set to happen to ascertain the financing gaps. The issue of El Salvador adoption of bitcoin as a legal tender is one of IMF’s concerns as well.

South America:

• Brazil’s first indigenous cabinet minister for Indigenous Affairs, Sonia Guajajara, urged President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to veto a bill that would undermine Indigenous land rights and their way of life last Monday (Oct 9). The bill had already passed in the Senate and would be made into law with Lula’s signature. Lula’s government initially intended to veto the whole bill, but reconsidered now to retain parts of the bill to ease growing tensions between Congress and the Supreme Court. The bill would ensure that farmers would have greater legal security of their land ownership at the detriment of the Indigenous people as Brazilian agriculture has been readily expanding into the Amazon.
• The El Nino weather phenomenon worsened conditions in the Amazon last week, prompting : the umbrella organisation APIAM that represents 63 tribes in the Amazon to urge the to the Brazilian government to declare a climate emergency, last Tuesday (Oct 10).Severe drought had been drying up rivers needed for transport, depriving villages of food, water and medicine.Brazil’s Environment Minister Marina Silva told ranchers and farmers last Friday (Oct 13), to stop setting fire to the Amazon rainforest. 60 of the 62 cities in northern Amazonas state had declared a state of emergency because of drought and wildfires.
• Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was to approve a return to Mexico-based negotiations with the opposition, almost a year since the last meeting, according to reports llast Monday (Oct 9). The talks were meant to find solutions to Venezuela’s long-running political and economic crisis, including the upcoming 2024 Presidential Elections. Supporting these efforts are the Qatari-based talks between Venezuela and USA, where electoral issues, the possibility of relief from US oil sanctions and the matter of the influx of Venezuelan migrants to the US were discussed.The easing of sanctions could directly follow a return to the Mexico negotiations.
• With a presidential election on the horizon, Argentina’s economy worsened: the pesos was at a historic low of 1,050 pesos (S$4.10) per US dollar last Tuesday (Oct 10) – 200 per cent difference with the official exchange rate, currently at 350 pesos per greenback; Argentina’s central bank raised the interest rate to 133 per cent last Thursday (Oct 12); and with analysts reported last Tuesday (Oct 10) that retail prices in October to be the third consecutive month with double-digit inflation. Analysts have stated that it is unlikely for the inflation rate to slow down even with the awaited presidential election as all data points to either a worsening or sustaining of the inflation rates.
• Ecuador chose thirty-five year old business heir Daniel Noboa as the new president last Sunday (Oct 15). Noboa vowed to rebuild the country which is struggling with a weak economy, rising crime and violence. The lead up to the election was tumultuous with outbreak of violence, including the murder of anti-corruption presidential candidate Fernado Villavicencio, and the murder suspects were all killed as well. Noboa will serve a truncated term from December 2023 to May 2025, after which he remains eligible to run again in the regularly-scheduled 2025 contest. The outgoing President Guillermo Lasso called for an early election to avoid impeachment on charges he disregarded warnings of embezzlement at a state company.

Asia Pacific:

• Japan requested the revocation of the corporate status of the Unification Church following the assassination of Shinzo Abe . The Japanese government had submitted a request to the Tokyo District Court last Friday (13 Oct) in order to revoke the corporate status of the scandal-hit Unification Church, after a month-long investigation that was prompted by the assassination of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over his perceived links to the group. If the court manages to rule to dissolve the church as a “religious juridical corporation”, the group will then lose its official status as well as tax benefits, but will continue to exist as a religious organisation
• Afghanistan was hit by sixth and seventh earthquake in eight days last Sunday (Oct 15), after the first 6.3 magnitude earthquake killed an estimated 1,000 people the week prior. Over 100 people were rushed to a hospital in the Herat province. The World Food Programme has warned the nation was in urgent need of food and aid. News footage showed mass graves being dug, while survivors slept in tents near the ruins of their homes. F
• Japan criticised Russia’s announcement of its ban on its seafood following the release of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant. Russia had mentioned that it would begin implementing import restrictions on Japanese food last Monday (Oct 9), almost two complete months after the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant had started to release treated and diluted radioactive wastewater into the ocean.
• Philippines Marcos Junior had said that the boat deaths in South China Sea were being probed after three Filipino fishermen had died after their fishing boat was struck by a still unidentified foreign commercial vessel in the South China Sea. The Philippine Coast Guard had reported that the country’s president had promised a full investigation. The incident, having occurred last Monday (Oct 9), was still under investigation to ‘ascertain the details and circumstances surrounding the collision between the fishing boat and a still unidentified commercial vessel’ as according to Marcos Jr.
• Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who had been detained in China on national security charges for more than three years had returned home last Wednesday (Oct 11) after being released, according to Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Cheng lei was detained in August 2020 for allegedly sharing state secrets with another country.
• South Korea had reported last Friday (Oct 13) regarding protests to China over suspected North Korean repatriations who human rights groups have mentioned face potential imprisonment as well as abuse at the hands of North Korean authorities. Any forced repatriation of North Koreans goes against the international norms and South Korea views it as regrettable, according to a spokesman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, Koo Byoung-sam.

Europe:

• The Brussels police killed the suspect in the shooting deaths of two Swedish football fans in Brussels last Monday night (Oct 9). The suspect was shot at a cafe in the Brussels neighbourhood of Schaerbeek, where the residential property had been searched overnight, and had been believed to be a radicalised Tunisian national who was living illegally in Belgium. The suspect was also known to the police to have been suspected of involvement in the smuggling of migrants into the country, and had been living illegally in Belgium and of a risk to state security, according to Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne. He was also denied asylum in 2019, and had been suspected to be radicalised with intents to travel abroad in order to fight in a holy war.
• Hotels in Europe turned to technology in order to fight the bedbug infestation as of last Sunday (Oct 15) Pest control company Rentokil had said that it had seen a 65% jump in the cases of bedbugs in the UK in the second quarter of 2023 as compared to a year earlier. Luton Council had also issued guidance to local residents on how to handle an outbreak, after having to deal with an “alarming number” of calls about bedbugs. He had invested in a new kind of monitoring technology developed by a UK start-up named Spotta which had enabled him to detect his case of bed bugs early. It contains a pheromone chemical that is specially designed to attract bed bugs and takes a picture of it with a small camera and sends it over the internet to a central database if a bug manages to crawl inside. Chemical pesticide or heat treatment pest control measures are then taken once a bug has been detected before the problem has spread.
• Seven people were killed after a vehicle crashes in Bavaria, Germany, including a child. The crowded minivan was operated by a suspected people smuggler, with twenty-three people in the van that was only designed to fit nine. The driver had attempted to evade the police at a road check before losing control near Ampfing in Bavaria, according to the authorities. The accident had occurred amidst a rise in human-trafficking which had led to several Central and Eastern European countries to impose border checks. The driver of the vehicle had accelerated to 180km/h before rolling over several times at a junction on the A95 motorway between the Austrian border and Munich and had later been arrested. Police had mentioned that the vehicle’s overcrowding had contributed to the high death toll
• Poland’s opposition parties, led by Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO) braced for coalition talks, after official results from the election last Sunday (Oct 15), had shown that they won enough seats to oust the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party. Marek Suski, a senior PiS official, had told the public broadcaster TCP that PiS will likely be moving into a very democratic opposition.
• Two Swedish nationals were shot to death in Brussels, and a third person was wounded on Monday night (Oct 16), by a man who identified himself as a member of the Islamic State. The suspected assailant had fled the scene after the shooting as the football match between Belgium and Sweden was about to start. It had triggered a massive manhunt and had prompted Belgium to raise its terror alert to the highest level.

Middle East:

• The death toll in Israel’s siege against Gaza rose to 2,670 Palestinians last week, with 60 per cent of fatalities to be that of women and children. At least 50 families had been wiped out from the civil registry, according to the local health ministry. According to the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, at least one million Palestinians were displaced within the first week, describing the situation as “catastrophic”.
• 70 Palestinians were killed in Israeli Air raids while trying to flee the northern Gaza Strip, following orders for 1.1 million Gazans to “evacuate” northern Gaza and move south, last Friday (Oct 13). Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said any Palestinian who wished to “save their lives” must make the move, as the threat of an Israeli ground invasion loomed. Hospitals in Gaza warned there was nowhere for many Gazans, especially the sick, to go. Rights groups have denounced the orders. The World Health Organisation labelled the call “and death sentence for the sick and injured”, and called for the order’s reversal.
• Israeli Defence Minister ****Yoav Gallant declared a complete siege on the Gaza Strip, dubbed the world’s largest “open air prison”, last Monday (Oct 9). “No electricity, no food no water, no gas – it’s all closed,” he said. “We are fighting animals and acting accordingly.” The Palestinian health ministry said hospitals running on generators were facing a shortage of medical supplies. The WHO warned hospitals in Gaza were at a “breaking point”, with humanitarian agencies last urging for the access of emergency aid into Gaza.
• Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians sheltered in UN facilities, such as schools, and were on less than a litre of water per day, according to the reports last Sunday (Oct 15). The figure reported by the United Nations was reported to be that of 338,000 people last Thursday (Oct 12). More than 1,300 buildings in the Gaza Strip had been destroyed as of last Saturday (Oct 14), as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the bombardments were “just the beginning”, as Israel sought retaliation against Hamas.
• The European Union backed Israel’s right to defend itself in line with humanitarian and international law, in a statement last Sunday (Oct 15). Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said US support for Israel was “rock solid”, and outlined military assistance to be sent to Israel. The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made a similar statement last Saturday (Oct 14), saying the nation promised Israel “unqualified support in the face of evil”.

Africa:

• Hundreds of voters took to the polls in Liberia’s presidential elections last Tuesday (Oct 10). President George Weah sought re-election amid corruption scandals and economic strife in the West African nation. The main political parties had assured voters the country’s presidential and legislative elections would proceed peacefully, however, concerns remained in light of the deaths of three people during clashes between rival party supporters last month.
• The first convoy of French troops left Niamey last Tuesday (Oct 10), at the behest of Niger’s military leaders who seized power in July. Approximately 1,000 French troops were stationed in the nation’s capital, while 400 were stationed in the northwest, in a region of high “rebel activity”. Meanwhile, the United States said it had no intention to change its military presence in Niger, while suspending about US$200 (S$) in financial assistance as they had “exhausted all available avenues to preserve constitutional order in Niger”.
• The United Kingdom’s King Charles was to acknowledge the “painful aspects” of Britain’s actions in Kenya under its colonial administration, according to reports last Wednesday (Oct 11). The Kenya Human Rights Commission said 90,000 people were executed, tortured or maimed during the British administration’s counterinsurgency operation between 1952 and 1960, in response to the Mau Mau armed movement led by Kikuyu tribe members, which involved attacks on White farmers. The recognition comes in time with Kenya’s 60th anniversary of independence from Britain. In 2013, the government had made a historic statement of regret over the “torture and other forms of ill-treatment” by the colonial administration, and paid millions in reparations to about 5,200 people.
• The Human Rights Watch published a new report last Tuesday (Oct 11), detailing the Rwandan authorities’ “systematic campaign of repression” in the nation, as well as overseas, against political acivitistst, suspected dissidents and their family members. The report raised concerns regarding the United Kingdom’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
• The Zimbabwean government introduced lockdown-style measures such as a ban on large gatherings and increased surveillance at ports of entry to curb a rise in cholera cases in the nation, according to reports last Thursday (Oct 12). The measures came following 100 suspected deaths last month, as well as 5,000 estimated cases in more than 41 districts, sparking fears of the nation’s 2008 cholera epidemic which claimed 4,000 lives.C