Latin America and the Caribbean Overview: March 2024

Brazil: Arrests provide insight into Marielle Franco’s assassination

In a significant development concerning the 2018 killing of City Councilwoman Marielle Franco, the Brazilian federal police arrested three Rio de Janeiro officials on 24 March. The arrests mark a turning point in the investigation into Franco’s assassination, shedding light on alleged connections between Rio’s political elite and criminal militias. The arrested individuals include federal Congressman Chiquinho Brazão and his brother, state auditor Domingos Brazão, on accusations that they ordered Franco’s murder, and former Civil Police Chief Rivaldo Barbosa, for allegedly obstructing the investigation.¹ The arrests come after a former militia leader implicated in the killing, Ronnie Lessa, cooperated with authorities and revealed that Franco’s opposition to a bill legalizing militias’ illegal constructions was a potential motive for her assassination.² Militias are often composed of former and current police officers, who hold longstanding ties to politicians, wield significant power in Rio, and have been involved in almost 9,000 events of violence in Rio de Janeiro since 2018.

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Colombia: The government’s suspension of its ceasefire with the FARC-EMC triggers deadly clashes

On 17 March, the government suspended the bilateral ceasefire with FARC dissidents from the Central General Staff (EMC), resuming military operations against the group.³ The decision came after the EMC’s Dagoberto Ramos faction killed a woman social leader and injured several people during an attack targeting a Nasa Indigenous community, which was opposing the forced recruitment of a teenager in Toribío, Cauca. The government deployed more than 32,000 troops to confront the group in the Cauca, Valle del Cauca, and Nariño departments.⁴ In response, on 1 April, the EMC announced the creation of a new armed unit that will operate in the Valle del Cauca, Huila, Tolima, and Quindío departments.⁵

Following the suspension of the ceasefire, clashes between FARC dissidents and security forces increased, resulting in at least 11 reported fatalities between 20 and 31 March, especially in the Cañón del Micay area in the Cauca department, a strategic corridor for coca production. The disruption of talks with the EMC could prompt heightened political violence levels in the upcoming months, even as another key conflict actor, the Gulf Clan, has opened to the possibility of engaging in peace talks with the government.⁶ Clashes between security forces and FARC dissident groups had dropped since the government agreed on a bilateral ceasefire with the EMC in October 2023. However, violence targeting civilians involving FARC dissidents continued, challenging the effectiveness of President Gustavo Petro’s ‘Total Peace’ plan, which aims to negotiate peace with armed groups and address social issues fueling Colombia’s longstanding conflict.

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Cuba: Power outages spark unrest amid worsening socioeconomic conditions

Constant power outages triggered a spike in demonstrations in March, reaching the highest number of such events recorded in a month since October 2022. Demonstrations started early in March and intensified on 17 March, taking place in at least eight provinces. Demonstrators took to the streets to demand solutions for the energy problems, also shouting anti-government slogans and denouncing food scarcity and the increasing cost of living.⁷ In Holguín and Cienfuegos provinces, rioters threw stones at stores and government buildings. Meanwhile, police intervened in over half of the 16 demonstrations recorded in March. According to the Spanish human rights NGO Prisoners Defenders, around 38 participants were arrested on 17 March for alleged vandalism and contempt for authority.⁸ The collapse of Cuba’s energy system, mainly caused by poor infrastructure and fuel scarcity,⁹ has led to demonstrations in the past, including a surge in activity between August and October 2022. The recent demonstrations follow a government decision to increase fuel and energy prices as a measure to face the country’s economic downturn.¹⁰

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Ecuador: Attacks targeting politicians continue amid enduring gang-related violence

During March, local government officials were targeted in at least five violent incidents in Manabí and Guayas. In Manabí, on 24 March, gunmen shot and killed the mayor of San Vicente, Brigitte García, and her communications director, as well as the husband of the local government’s treasurer. In Guayas, unidentified armed assailants shot at the house of the mayor of the Balzar municipality, and an alternate council member of the Samborondón local government died of a heart attack while he was being kidnapped. Although the identity of the perpetrators remains unknown, violence targeting political figures is often attributed to gangs, who seek to pressure officials and secure their illicit activities.¹¹ 

The violence came amid persistent gang targeting of civilians, including a series of attacks that reportedly killed at least 80 people in the span of a weekend at the end of March.¹² These events underscore the still-pervasive influence of gangs in the country, despite a state of emergency declared by President Daniel Noboa to combat gang violence, which has led to the arrest of at least 13,000 suspected gang members since January.¹³ Ecuador’s coastal departments, including Manabí and Guayas, have been the epicenter of disputes between gangs for the control of drug trafficking activities in recent years.¹⁴ Gangs have also sought to co-opt local and even national authorities through bribes and direct attacks, translating into a string of political killings, including the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in August 2023.

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 Haiti: Gangs’ offensive forces Prime Minister Henry to resign and start political transition

Coordinated gang attacks against government buildings and infrastructure in Port-au-Prince intensified throughout March. In early March, gangs targeted structures including the National Palace, several police stations, the airport, and the city’s main port, impeding Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s return from Kenya, where he was negotiating the creation of a United Nations-approved multinational police mission. Gangs also raided the National Penitentiary on 2 March, causing at least 30 reported deaths and the escape of more than 3,000 inmates.¹⁵ Following this attack, the government imposed a 72-hour state of emergency on 3 March in the Ouest department, then extended it until 3 April.¹⁶

Unable to return to the country, Henry announced that he would step down after the establishment of a nine-member transitional council in charge of appointing the next interim prime minister, a council of ministers, and organizing the upcoming elections. The solution was proposed during a meeting between members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and other partners, such as the UN, United States, France, Brazil, and Canada.¹⁷ The leader of the opposition Platfòm Pitit Desalin party, Jean Charles Moïse, initially rejected the initiative, claiming it was a solution imposed from outside the country, but eventually joined the council.¹⁸

Despite Henry’s resignation and the setting of a transitional plan, gang violence continued at a high level in March. Compared with the previous month, violent events rose in the Port-au-Prince arrondissement. This violence also grew notably deadlier in the wealthy neighborhoods of Pétion-Ville, where the targeting of civilians reportedly led to at least 10 fatalities, doubling the number recorded in February. Police responded to the attacks with interventions in Pétion-Ville between 19 and 26 March that led to the reported deaths of about 20 gang members. Amid this chaos, ACLED records several vigilante incidents, with members of the Bwa Kale movement reportedly behind the lynching and killing of several gang members.¹⁹

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Jamaica: Gang rivalries drive an increase in violence

Violence levels reached a peak in March in Westmoreland and Saint Catherine parishes, with at least 11 recorded events, contributing to a 36% general increase in violence in the country compared to the month prior. In Westmoreland, the increase was driven by a series of attacks by unidentified gang members that left six dead in March in Grange Hill and Little London municipalities. The attacks occur amid a dispute between the Ants Posse Gang and King Valley Gang for the control of criminal activities, including extortion and lottery scamming.²⁰ Similarly, in Saint Catherine, targeted attacks against civilians prompted an increase in violence, including two attacks in Central Village between 11 and 12 March that resulted in five reported fatalities. In response to the increasing violence in the country, police have imposed several temporary curfews. In March, the government implemented curfews in sections of Westmoreland, Saint Catherine, Kingston, and Clarendon parishes.

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