Guyana’s government said it captured “scores” of Brazilian workers in a crackdown on illegal mining. Police in the so-called “Operation El Dorado”, carried out April 10-15 in the northcentral region of Puruni, checked mining sites, and detained 94 miners for violating mining, immigration and environmental laws.

“The net migration flow from Mexico to the United States has stopped and may have reversed,” according to a study by the US-based Pew Hispanic Center, released April 23. Between 2005 to 2010, 1.4 million Mexicans immigrated to the United States, down by more than half from 3 million in the 1995-2000 period. Meanwhile, the number of Mexicans and their children who moved to Mexico doubled to 1.4 million. The standstill, the report said, was likely due to a weak job market in the United States, growing dangers of illegal border crossings and long-term declines in Mexico’s birth rates, Pew said.

TomÁs Borge, founder of the Sandinista National Liberation Front and symbol of the revolution in Nicaragua that overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979 dies April 30 in Managua. His time during at the helm of the Interior Ministry between 1979 to 1990, was harshly criticized by the opposition which called him a repressor. In recent years he served as ambassador to Peru.

Lawmakers in Suriname adopted a controversial amnesty law in early April that could be extended to the country’s President Desi Bouterse, and prevent him from standing trial on murder charges stemming from the killings of 15 political opponents in December 1982, the so-called “December killings.” Suriname’s Parliament is dominated by Bouterse’s party.

Trinidad and Tobago may abolish sending criminal appeals to Britain’s Privy Council, which could open the door to more applications of the death penalty. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said her government will present legislation to Parliament ending the use of the body. “The situation has been complicated by the issue of the death penalty on which the Privy Council, reflecting contemporary English [and EU] mores and jurisprudence has been rigorous in upholding Caribbean appeals in death sentence cases,” she said.