Colombia

Calling it a humanitarian crisis, Governor Maura Healey has activated the National Guard to support migrants at Joint Base Cape Cod and launched two welcome centers in Boston and Quincy. But the influx of desperate people is so great that families are flooding nonprofits and local hospitals.

A six-month ceasefire between the Colombian government and the rebel group known as the National Liberation Army began this month. Support for the truce, and ongoing peace talks, could depend on whether the group ceases attacks on civilians that include kidnappings and extortion. 

Colombia’s president awarded medals to members of the search party that found the four Indigenous children in one of the world’s toughest terrains.

In El Salvador, thousands of people have been imprisoned over the past 15 months, including dozens of international visitors, as the government tries to stop gang violence through a law known as the “state of exception.”

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into what happened when Colombia’s military took on police work in Cali, the country’s third-largest city.