INTL Latin America and the Islands: Politics, Economics, and Military- May 2020
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Plain Jane
Just Plain Jane
This article is mostly about China and Pacific Island nations but the involvement of Caribbean Islands nations here is interesting.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
MAY 15, 2020 / 2:24 AM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO
Chinese corrals Pacific, Caribbean support ahead of World Health meeting
Kirsty Needham
4 MIN READ
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Beijing has hosted a teleconference with its Pacific island nation allies to discuss COVID-19 aid and publicised their pledge to support the “One China” principle and “oppose any attempt” to politicise the coronavirus pandemic.
The Pacific Islands meeting, with China’s vice foreign minister, Zheng Zeguang, on Wednesday, came a day after Zheng held a teleconference with nine Caribbean nations, and ahead of a World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting starting on May 18.
A resolution calling for an investigation into the coronavirus pandemic, which China opposes, is expected to be debated at the WHA.
China has reacted angrily to calls from Australia for a coronavirus investigation, and accused the United States of inciting other nations to support Taiwan’s attendance as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA).
Beijing considers Taiwan to be a wayward province. Under World Health Organization (WHO) rules Taipei is not able to attend its meetings as it is considered to be represented by Beijing.
Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Minister Patrick Pruaitu co-chaired the meeting with China’s allies in the Pacific, where 10 nations talked about their COVID-19 response, his office said.
The Vanuatu Daily Post reported the Pacific nations had given “firm support of the one-China principle” in the meeting.
China’s provision of aid funding and medical supplies to combat COVID-19 was discussed at the meeting attended by foreign ministry officials from Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, The Federated States of Micronesia, Cook Islands, Tonga, Niue, Solomon Islands and Kiribati.
Taiwan’s 15 diplomatic allies are concentrated in the Pacific Islands and the Caribbean. Last year, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati switched their allegiance to Beijing.
A statement issued by Chinese embassies in several Pacific nations and Canberra said attendees on the conference calls had pledged to “oppose any attempt at stigmatisation, politicising or labelling the virus”.
They had also “commended China for its open, transparent and responsible approach in adopting timely and robust response measures and sharing its containment experience”, the statement said.
Washington has accused Beijing of covering up its early response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Caribbean nations had also pledged to “adhere to the one-China principle” and support China on its “core interests”, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry.
Australia, the largest aid donor to the Pacific Islands, is wary of rising Chinese influence in the region, and has stepped up coronavirus aid in the past week.
Australia provided funding for the WHO to supply the Pacific with 150,000 COVID-19 tests, and airlifted some test kits and military personnel to Papua New Guinea on Monday. Australia on Thursday provided A$12.25 million ($8 million) in funding for Fiji’s COVID-19 response.
Taiwan has also sent virus aid to its Pacific allies - Palau, Nauru, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands - and 14 of its 15 allies have lodged proposals with the WHO to allow Taiwan into the WHA.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry this week expressed its “sincere thanks” for the backing of its allies and other “like-minded countries”.
But China’s Foreign Ministry said countries backing the Taiwan proposal are “seeking to severely disrupt this WHA and undermine global anti-pandemic cooperation”.
Beijing says Taiwan’s participation at the WHA must be arranged with the permission of Beijing, and it has refused permission since 2017.
Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Michael Perry
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Chinese corrals Pacific, Caribbean support ahead of World Health meeting
Beijing has hosted a teleconference with its Pacific island nation allies to discuss COVID-19 aid and publicised their pledge to support the "One China" principle and "oppose any attempt" to politicise the coronavirus pandemic.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
MAY 15, 2020 / 2:24 AM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO
Chinese corrals Pacific, Caribbean support ahead of World Health meeting
Kirsty Needham
4 MIN READ
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Beijing has hosted a teleconference with its Pacific island nation allies to discuss COVID-19 aid and publicised their pledge to support the “One China” principle and “oppose any attempt” to politicise the coronavirus pandemic.
The Pacific Islands meeting, with China’s vice foreign minister, Zheng Zeguang, on Wednesday, came a day after Zheng held a teleconference with nine Caribbean nations, and ahead of a World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting starting on May 18.
A resolution calling for an investigation into the coronavirus pandemic, which China opposes, is expected to be debated at the WHA.
China has reacted angrily to calls from Australia for a coronavirus investigation, and accused the United States of inciting other nations to support Taiwan’s attendance as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA).
Beijing considers Taiwan to be a wayward province. Under World Health Organization (WHO) rules Taipei is not able to attend its meetings as it is considered to be represented by Beijing.
Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Minister Patrick Pruaitu co-chaired the meeting with China’s allies in the Pacific, where 10 nations talked about their COVID-19 response, his office said.
The Vanuatu Daily Post reported the Pacific nations had given “firm support of the one-China principle” in the meeting.
China’s provision of aid funding and medical supplies to combat COVID-19 was discussed at the meeting attended by foreign ministry officials from Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, The Federated States of Micronesia, Cook Islands, Tonga, Niue, Solomon Islands and Kiribati.
Taiwan’s 15 diplomatic allies are concentrated in the Pacific Islands and the Caribbean. Last year, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati switched their allegiance to Beijing.
A statement issued by Chinese embassies in several Pacific nations and Canberra said attendees on the conference calls had pledged to “oppose any attempt at stigmatisation, politicising or labelling the virus”.
They had also “commended China for its open, transparent and responsible approach in adopting timely and robust response measures and sharing its containment experience”, the statement said.
Washington has accused Beijing of covering up its early response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Caribbean nations had also pledged to “adhere to the one-China principle” and support China on its “core interests”, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry.
Australia, the largest aid donor to the Pacific Islands, is wary of rising Chinese influence in the region, and has stepped up coronavirus aid in the past week.
Australia provided funding for the WHO to supply the Pacific with 150,000 COVID-19 tests, and airlifted some test kits and military personnel to Papua New Guinea on Monday. Australia on Thursday provided A$12.25 million ($8 million) in funding for Fiji’s COVID-19 response.
Taiwan has also sent virus aid to its Pacific allies - Palau, Nauru, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands - and 14 of its 15 allies have lodged proposals with the WHO to allow Taiwan into the WHA.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry this week expressed its “sincere thanks” for the backing of its allies and other “like-minded countries”.
But China’s Foreign Ministry said countries backing the Taiwan proposal are “seeking to severely disrupt this WHA and undermine global anti-pandemic cooperation”.
Beijing says Taiwan’s participation at the WHA must be arranged with the permission of Beijing, and it has refused permission since 2017.
Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Michael Perry
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Plain Jane
Just Plain Jane
Brazil loses new health minister as Bolsonaro grabs reins in coronavirus crisis
Brazil lost its second health minister in a month on Friday after President Jair Bolsonaro demanded wider use of unproven anti-malarial drugs to fight the coronavirus outbreak, adding to turmoil in one of the pandemic's worst global hotspots.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
MAY 15, 2020 / 11:15 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO
Bolsonaro's health minister quits, deepening Brazil coronavirus crisis
Lisandra Paraguassu
4 MIN READ
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian Health Minister Nelson Teich resigned on Friday after just weeks on the job, adding to turmoil in President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of an accelerating coronavirus outbreak in one of the world’s worst hotspots.
Teich, whom Bolsonaro had criticized as being too timid in the push to reopen the economy and advocate the use of anti-malarial drugs to fight the virus, submitted his resignation and will hold a news conference later on Friday, the ministry said.
The loss of his second health minister in less than a month spurred criticism of the right-wing president from politicians and calls for his impeachment. In Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, where the disease has pushed public hospitals to capacity, Brazilians banged pot and pans from their windows in protest
Military members of the Brazilian cabinet are pushing for deputy health minister Eduardo Pazuello, an army general on active duty, to become the new health minister, making permanent his interim role, a government source told Reuters.
Teich struggled to reach consensus with state governments over guidelines on reopening their economies, as Bolsonaro has demanded. He expressed surprise at a recent press conference when he learned of a presidential decree allowing gyms, beauty parlors and hairdressers to open for business.
The last straw for Teich may have been Bolsonaro’s insistence on a wider use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the novel coronavirus, which the minister has resisted due to a lack of scientific evidence.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month cautioned against the use of the malaria drug, which President Donald Trump has touted as a “game changer.” Medical researchers have found that the drug, first approved in 1955, provided no benefit and potentially higher risk of death for COVID-19 patients.
Teich resigned a day after Brazil reported a record number of new coronavirus cases. He had replaced Nelson Mandetta, who was fired April 16 for resisting Bolsonaro’s pressure to promote hydroxychloroquine and fight state government social distancing orders.
This week Brazil passed Germany and France in coronavirus cases, with more than 200,000 confirmed diagnoses by Thursday, when the health ministry reported 844 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 13,933.
Opposition and allied politicians criticized Bolsonaro’s intransigence. Lawmaker Marcelo Ramos of the centrist Liberal Party said the president would only accept a minister without regard for science-based public health policy.
Congressional opposition leader Alessandro Molon warned that Brazil was heading toward a public health catastrophe and said the president should be impeached.
“Bolsonaro does not want a technical minister, he wants someone who agrees with his ideological insanity, like ending social distancing and using chloroquine,” Molon, a lawmaker from the Brazilian Socialist Party, said in a statement.
Bolsonaro’s handling of the coronavirus has been widely criticized globally as he has minimized the severity of the disease and told Brazilians to ignore quarantine restrictions.
“Let us pray,” former minister Mandetta said on Twitter after Teich’s resignation, calling for faith in science and support for Brazil’s public health system.
Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Brad Haynes, Franklin Paul, Dan Grebler and Marguerita Choy
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Plain Jane
Just Plain Jane
Residents of Bogota slum facing eviction despite quarantine
Hundreds of people expected to be evicted from their hillside homes in a slum of Colombia's capital Bogota on Friday, despite having nowhere to go during the country's coronavirus lockdown.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
MAY 15, 2020 / 6:30 PM / UPDATED 8 HOURS AGO
Residents of Bogota slum facing eviction despite quarantine
Oliver Griffin
3 MIN READ
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Hundreds of people expected to be evicted from their hillside homes in a slum of Colombia’s capital Bogota on Friday, despite having nowhere to go during the country’s coronavirus lockdown.
The informal houses have been declared illegal by local authorities and will be knocked down as part of the evictions. Residents accuse police accompanying the eviction process of excessive force.
The evictions in the Altos de la Estancia neighborhood are taking place despite Colombia’s months-long lockdown meant to stem the spread of coronavirus, which has killed more than 500 people.
The neighborhood was home to about 1,000 families when evictions began two weeks ago. Now just some 100 families remain, residents told Reuters.
“The majority of the people that live here are unemployed because of COVID-19 and the pandemic,” said John Parra, 36, who moved to Bogota after being displaced by the country’s internal conflict.
Though his home has been destroyed, Parra said he has nowhere else to go. Some previously evicted residents are now sleeping on the streets or outside.
Many low-income Colombians who work informally have suffered during the lockdown. About a third of the country’s population lives in poverty, according to government figures.
The government promised to help poor families during quarantine with welfare payments and deliveries of supplies, but many say they have received little or no aid.
The housing minister has banned evictions through June, but officials said the Altos de la Estancia houses are illegal and the area is at risk of landslides.
“This is a high risk zone and we could not allow the occupation to continue for one more day,” Jaime Florez, the mayor of the Ciudad Bolivar district of Bogota, told journalists.
Florez said the residents were offered new accommodation in a shelter, but people who spoke to Reuters said they fear catching COVID-19 there.
The ESMAD riot police were gathered near the remaining houses on Friday. The force has been on hand during evictions and residents say it has used violence against them.
Venezuelan migrant Faridee Pinto said his 16-year-old son was badly injured at the start of the month by an ESMAD projectile.
“He lost part of his skull and 20% or 30% of his forehead,” Pinto said, as his son Ysmail removed his hat to show the stitches marring his hairline. He is awaiting surgery.
Bogota’s police did not respond to a request for comment.
“I was in pain; my forehead was covered in blood,” said the boy, clutching a toy rabbit. “I thought I was never going to wake up again.”
Reporting by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Julia Symmes Cobb and Cynthia Osterman
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Plain Jane
Just Plain Jane
Pablo Escobar's escapee hippos confound Colombia – DW – 05/14/2020
At the height of his rule, narco-kingpin Pablo Escobar imported a few hippos for his private zoo. Four decades later, they've gone feral and multiplied, and no one knows quite what to do with them.
www.dw.com
Colombia's conundrum over Pablo Escobar's escapee hippos
At the height of his rule, narco-kingpin Pablo Escobar imported a few hippos for his private zoo. Four decades later, they've gone feral and multiplied, and no one knows quite what to do with them.
Carlos Valderrama is a vet with environmental NGO WebConserva. Not to be confused with his soccer-star namesake, he nonetheless holds a world record not even the 100-capped midfielder could compete with: Valderrama boasts of being the first person in the world to castrate a hippo in the wild.
The animal was so big, it had to be maneuvered with a crane and the procedure took 12 hours. What's even more remarkable is that it took place in Colombia — thousands of kilometers from the hippo's native lands in Africa.
From gray squirrels in northern Europe to feral cats in Australia, rats in New Zealand and rabbits in Australia, invasive species can throw whole ecosystems out of whack, consuming prey with no natural defenses against the invaders, or muscling out native competitors.
Read more: Colombian teen fighting to protect her island's coral reefs
Most of these uncontrolled pests were introduced by humans, but Colombia's hippo invasion can be traced straight back to one particular human — none other than cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar.
At the height of Escobar's criminal heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, the drug lord built a zoo on his vast Hacienda Napoles ranch between Medellin and Bogota. When he was finally killed by government forces in 1993, the ranch was left to ruin.
Other exotic species from the private menagerie, such as zebras, were moved to international and Colombian zoos, but zoos were unwilling or unable to give massive, aggressive hippos a home.
Colombia's hippo invasion can be traced back to Pablo Escobar
Too much to handle
Valderrama says an often recounted tale suggests one hippo was captured by the authorities only to escape from a vehicle mid-transit. It may be apocryphal, but the vet says it he wouldn't be altogether surprised to see one of these powerful creatures — which can weigh over three tons — making such a bid for freedom.
can believe it," he said. "When we transported the hippo we were castrating, it moved just a little while anaesthetized and the back wheels of the truck lifted up."
Sedated hippos are heavy and transporting them is fraught with risk
With no one knowing quite what to do with them, the semi-aquatic giants have flourished and multiplied and now number between 65 and 80, according the local environment agency. A recent study from the Humboldt Institute suggests there could be 150 Colombian hippos in the area a decade from now.
Most still dwell in the lake at Hacienda Napoles, making it an intriguing wildlife stop for backpackers and tourists. Others have made the nearby Rio Magdelena home. The large waterway is an ideal habitat, allowing them to wallow in the day and then come ashore at night.
Read more: Brazil's Amazon rainforest has become the Wild West for illegal gold miners
A hippo's paradise
Even in Africa hippos have no natural predators, the rare bold lion aside. There have been jaguar sightings near Hacienda Napoles, but South America's apex predator wouldn't stand a chance taking on the Escobar escapees.
"A jaguar is our biggest predator. It's huge, it's beautiful," Valderrama said. "But it's 100 kilos. It is not going to be able to do anything against a grown hippo."
In their natural habitat, hippo numbers are kept in check by seasonal droughts, which put pressure on their territory and food sources. But in lush tropical Colombia, there seems little to disturb the renegade beasts' peace.
Read more: Killing endangered species to save them? Trophy hunters lobby at CITES
In fact, they are so comfortable they even appear to be reaching sexual maturity earlier, breeding earlier, and producing more offspring, according to CORNARE, the local government agency for environmental management.
Zoos in Colombia are neither interested in, nor capable of, taking them due to cost
Aggressive neighbors
Humans also largely left the hippos alone until the 2000s. But then fishermen began to complain of aggressive hippos preventing them from accessing the river. Valderrama says reports of hippos attacking humans and boats and even killing cattle sowed panic in local communities.
And it's not just the hippos' human neighbors that are finding them difficult to live with. Jonathan Shurin, a biologist at the University of California San Diego, who worked on a recent study into the hippo's environmental impact, said their poop is essentially over-fertilizing rivers.
"There is an overload of organic matter and a huge abundance of bacteria consuming that," Shurin told DW, "and then those bacteria can drive the oxygen levels really low and cause fish mortality and [damaging] algae blooms."
Read more: Coronavirus pandemic linked to destruction of wildlife and world's ecosystems
It is too early to conclude if that will have a negative impact on local species such as the manatee, but Shurin predicts the effects will only worsen as hippos continue to multiply and expand their range, with algae blooms potentially harming fish and to human health.
If nothing is done, hippo numbers will "rise exponentially" Shurin says. The solutions to the problem might not be very pleasant, but that's all the more reason to act sooner rather than later, he argues. "It's more humane to do what you're going to do to 80 animals than to a thousand."
Still, just what to do exactly, remains a live debate.
Some of the younger hippos have been sterilized over the last decade
Costly, complicated and controversial
"We have been able to control population growth a little," CORNARE biologist David Echeverri told DW. "However, it has not been enough, due to the problems hippos represent as a species; they are aggressive, territorial and spend a lot of time in the water so are hard to monitor. This all makes implementing control measures difficult, expensive and dangerous."
CORNARE has managed to sterilize 10 of the younger and thus smaller animals over the last decade. But, as Valderrama's operation demonstrated, it's far from a simple or cheap option. Nor is it easy on the patient.
Read more: Crocodiles in Belize: The fierce animals in need of protection
Tranquilizing a huge, aggressive animal is fraught with risk. Their tough skin is hard to pierce and the longer they are under anesthetic, the greater the threat to the hippo's life. And that's if you can get near enough in the first place.
Zoos are neither interested in, nor capable of, taking them due to cost, capacity and paperwork, and they cannot be relocated to Africa due to potential disease risk.
This leaves the option of a straightforward cull. But while eradicating the animals might be technically possible, it would be costly and controversial. When an army-backed operation euthanized an aggressive male hippo in 2009, there was a huge public backlash. "Everyone thinks hippos are chubby, nice, cute," Valderrama said. "They think of [Gloria] in the Madagascar movies."
Local ranchers, though, aren't such fans, and increasingly complaining of the animals damaging fences and disturbing cattle.
Echeverri would rather the hippos were contained in an enclosed reserve and more effective birth control developed. But he says that is only likely to happen with international funding, and not any time soon — particularly now the country is on lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the meantime, Escobar's escapees are free to roam and breed, well, like, hippos.
Plain Jane
Just Plain Jane
Iran news agency warns U.S. against any move on fuel shipment to Venezuela
An Iranian news agency close to the elite Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday there would be repercussions if the United States acted "just like pirates" against an Iranian fuel shipment to Venezuela.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
MAY 15, 2020 / 5:45 PM / UPDATED 5 HOURS AGO
Iran news agency warns U.S. against any move on fuel shipment to Venezuela
4 MIN READ
DUBAI (Reuters) - An Iranian news agency close to the elite Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday there would be repercussions if the United States acted “just like pirates” against an Iranian fuel shipment to Venezuela.
A senior official in President Donald Trump’s administration told Reuters on Thursday the United States was considering measures it could take in response to Iran’s shipment of fuel to crisis-stricken Venezuela.
The oil sectors of Iran and Venezuela, members of OPEC, are both under U.S. sanctions. The Trump administration official declined to specify the measures being weighed but said options would be presented to Trump.
“If the United States, just like pirates, intends to create insecurity on international waterways, it would be taking a dangerous risk and that will certainly not go without repercussion,” Iran’s Nour news agency said.
At least one tanker carrying fuel loaded at an Iranian port has set sail for Venezuela, according to vessel tracking data from Refinitiv Eikon on Wednesday, which could help ease an acute scarcity of gasoline in the South American country.
“Venezuela and Iran are both independent states that have had and will continue to have trade relations with each other,” Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei was quoted as saying by the YJC news website, linked to Iran’s state broadcaster.
“We sell goods and buy goods in return. This trade has nothing to do with anyone else. We have to sell our oil and we have ways to do it,” Rabiei said, adding that he had no information about the Venezuela-bound vessel.
Separately, a hardline Iranian analyst suggested Iran may retaliate against U.S. vessels in the Gulf if the United States takes action against the Iranian tanker.
“The U.S. Navy and its allies in the Persian Gulf are hostages to any kind of violation against Iran’s legal international shipping,” Mahdi Mohammadi said on Twitter.
“Before coming to any decision, Trump should ask his friend (British Prime Minister) Boris Johnson about the details of the British tanker experience,” he said.
Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in the Gulf last year after British forces detained an Iranian tanker off the territory of Gibraltar. Both vessels were released after a months-long standoff.
The Iran-flagged medium tanker Clavel passed the Suez Canal on Wednesday after loading fuel at the end of March at Iran’s Bandar Abbas port, according to the data.
“News received from informed sources indicate that the U.S. Navy has sent four warships and a Boeing P-8 Poseidon from the VP-26 squadron to the Caribbean region,” Nour said.
Venezuela is in desperate need of gasoline and other refined fuel products to keep the country functioning amid an economic collapse under socialist President Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela produces crude oil but its infrastructure has been crippled during the economic crisis.
A Venezuelan official said last month that Venezuela had received refining materials via plane from Iran to help it start a unit at the 310,000 barrel-per-day Cardon refinery, which is necessary to produce gasoline.
Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Grant McCool and Edmund Blair
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Shucks, in my Bohemian ancestry blood soup was considered a delicacy or so I was led to believe.
As lockdown hurts, desperate Venezuelans turn to cow blood soup
Since Venezuela went into its coronavirus lockdown, dozens of needy people have been lining up at a slaughterhouse in the western town of San Cristobal to pick up the only protein they can find for free: cattle blood.
NEWS
MAY 14, 2020 / 12:05 PM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO
As lockdown hurts, desperate Venezuelans turn to cow blood soup
Anggy Polanco, Vivian Sequera
5 MIN READ
SAN CRISTOBAL/CARACAS (Reuters) - Since Venezuela went into its coronavirus lockdown, dozens of needy people have been lining up at a slaughterhouse in the western town of San Cristobal to pick up the only protein they can find for free: cattle blood.
Mechanic Aleyair Romero, 20, goes twice a week. He lost his job at a local garage and says boxes of subsidized food from the government of President Nicolas Maduro arrive too slowly.
“I have to find food however I can,” said Romero, holding a coffee thermos dripping with blood the slaughterhouse gives away.
Though cow’s blood is a traditional ingredient for “pichon” soup in the Venezuelan Andes and neighboring Colombia, more people have been seeking it out since the COVID-19 crisis.
In a proudly carnivorous nation, few are happy about eating more blood instead of meat - a kilo of which costs about two times the monthly minimum wage.
Increased consumption of cattle blood is, like stripped mango trees, a striking symbol of hunger as Venezuela’s economy, already suffering six years of hyperinflationary implosion, has been nearly shuttered in response to the pandemic.
Though numbers of reported deaths and cases from the virus appear modest, Venezuelans are suffering from the economic shutdown and delays in the state food distribution program known as CLAP, for years the most important source of food for many.
The situation is hitting the provinces hardest because distribution is tilted toward major cities including Caracas, according to nutrition-focused charity Citizenry in Action.
The government has for years given the capital priority access to services including water and power.
In Caracas, 26.5% of families receive CLAP boxes, compared with only 4% of families in areas such as “Los Llanos” (The Plains) region, Citizenry in Action says.
It’s not the virus that’s going to kill them, it’s hunger,” said Edison Arciniegas, director of the group.
Even before COVID-19, the United Nations called Venezuela one of the world’s 10 worst humanitarian crises in 2019, noting that 9.3 million of the 30 million population consume insufficient quantities of food.
Some 5 million people have migrated as a result, it says.
‘SURVIVING ON BLOOD’
Maduro’s leftist government blames the problems on U.S. sanctions meant to force him from power, and says international aid agencies exaggerate the extent of migration. The information ministry did not reply to a request for comment.
Official figures show Venezuela has 440 cases of coronavirus and 10 deaths - though critics believe there are more.
Soup kitchens describe a big increase in use since the quarantine began in mid-March and delays in food box deliveries, which in many cases come every six to seven weeks rather than monthly as promised at the start of the programs in 2016.
The government sends boxes “whenever it wants,” said Romero.
At a soup kitchen in the poor Caracas neighborhood of Carapita run by the Feeding Solidarity group, workers say they were accustomed to providing meals for 80 children but under quarantine are now also feeding some 350 adults.
Upon receiving a bowl of soup and a ham-and-cheese sandwich, some mothers remove part of the ham and cheese for their children to have for breakfast the following day. They, too, complain the state food boxes are slow and meager.
“It’s not enough for us to get through this,” said Ysimar Pernalete, 38, a mother-of-two, of the CLAP boxes.
“How can you tell a child ‘I don’t have anything to give you’? You give them rice without anything else and they cry.”
The government in 2016 began distributing food directly to millions of Venezuelans in what authorities said would prevent merchants from overcharging for good.
Critics call it a social control mechanism that allows the government to limit dissidence and protest.
At the San Cristobal municipal slaughterhouse, thirty to forty people arrive every day to request cattle blood, according to one employee, who recalled that blood would be thrown away back in more prosperous times.
“We’re going hungry,” said Baudilio Chacon, 46, a construction worker left unemployed by the quarantine measures as he waited to collect blood at the slaughterhouse.
“We are four brothers and a 10-year-old boy, and we’re all surviving on blood.”
Writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
jward
passin' thru
Doge
@IntelDoge
10m
#Iran has launched a formal complaint with the United Nations and has summoned the Swiss Ambassador in #Tehran (represents US interests in Iran) over the US taking possible action against an Iranian fuel shipment to Venezuela (
@Jerusalem_Post
@IntelDoge
10m
#Iran has launched a formal complaint with the United Nations and has summoned the Swiss Ambassador in #Tehran (represents US interests in Iran) over the US taking possible action against an Iranian fuel shipment to Venezuela (
@Jerusalem_Post
Plain Jane
Just Plain Jane
Salvadoran president declares emergency without OK from congress, sparking controversy
El Salvador's attorney general on Sunday challenged a decree by President Nayib Bukele, who declared a state of emergency the previous evening to extend coronavirus measures without approval by congress.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
MAY 17, 2020 / 1:12 PM / UPDATED 5 HOURS AGO
Salvadoran president declares emergency without OK from congress, sparking controversy
Nelson Renteria
4 MIN READ
SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - El Salvador’s attorney general on Sunday challenged a decree by President Nayib Bukele, who declared a state of emergency the previous evening to extend coronavirus measures without approval by congress.
Congress approved an emergency declaration in March to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, but after an extension in April, the measure was due to expire Sunday. Lawmakers had planned to discuss an extension when they reconvened on Monday.
Less than a year into his administration, Bukele, a brash 38-year-old leader, has repeatedly angered rights groups, who say he has shown authoritarian tendencies. In February, Bukele and a group of soldiers armed with automatic weapons briefly occupied congress. Last month, he released startling photos of hundreds of jailed gang members stripped to underwear and pressed together in formation, horrifying advocates.
Shortly after Bukele issued his decree, the Salvadoran attorney general filed a suit alleging that the move was unconstitutional with the country’s top court.
But Bukele, who swept to the presidency last year with an outsider candidacy, maintained he was well within his rights.
“All presidents in the democratic history of our country have had the power to declare a state of emergency and have exercised it, without legislative approval,” he wrote in a post on Twitter on Sunday. “Will a president be prevented for the first time from exercising that vital power?”
He struck a more conciliatory tone in a speech Sunday night, urging various arms of the government to come together for the good of the country, though he continued to criticize lawmakers.
Bukele’s administration maintains that a civil protection law authorizes the president to declare a state of emergency if congress cannot hold a session.
They contend that the risk of the coronavirus spreading further in El Salvador justifies the measures. The country has 1,338 confirmed cases of the virus and 30 deaths.
The emergency declaration, which will remain in force over the next 30 days, extends the suspension of classes, restrictions on movement in areas affected by the pandemic and bans on gatherings of large groups. It also authorizes additional government spending during the emergency.
Lawmakers and civil society groups urged an investigation to determine whether Bukele had exceeded his powers.
“What would an autocrat do if Congress did not pass a law on his behalf? I would issue a decree. This has just been done by the young Salvadoran leader (Nayib Bukele) with the state of emergency. Another serious setback,” José Vivanco, executive director for the Americas for U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, wrote on Twitter.
In recent days, Salvadorans in the capital have protested measures taken during the quarantine, which they say have led to job losses. To avoid breaking social distancing rules, they voice their discontent by banging pots, honking the horns of their vehicles and playing loud music.
Fabricio Benitez, a 26-year-old musician who lives with his parents and sister on the outskirts of San Salvador, said that his father, a soil engineer, lost his job a month ago after his company’s operations were affected by the pandemic.
“We are subsisting on fairly scarce funds and we have not benefited in any way from government programs,” Benitez said on Friday as he played the Salvadoran national anthem on his viola.
Reporting by Nelson Renteria; writing by Julia Love, Editing by Nick Zieminski, Diane Craft and Michael Perry
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Plain Jane
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Nicaragua closes Costa Rica border to protest virus testing
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is blaming coronavirus-related health monitoring measures taken by neighboring Costa Rica for his country’s decision to close their two border crossings.
apnews.com
Nicaragua closes Costa Rica border to protest virus testing
By GABRIELA SELSER and JAVIER CORDOBAyesterday
FILE - In this March 21, 2019 file photo, Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega speaks during the inauguration ceremony of a highway overpass in Managua, Nicaragua. After not appearing in public for 34 days, Ortega spoke to the nation on Wednesday, April 15, 2020, and said that the country is fighting patiently against the new coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Alfredo Zuniga, File)
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega blamed new coronavirus-related health monitoring measures taken by neighboring Costa Rica for his country’s decision Monday to close their two border crossings.
In a nationally televised address, Ortega said more than 1,000 trucks were stranded on Nicaraguan highways. The dispute boiled over after Costa Rica on May 8 began testing all truck drivers entering the country for COVID-19.
Costa Rica said 61 truckers had so far tested positive, most trying to enter from Nicaragua though some were also entering from Panama. The truckers are tested at the border before being allowed to continue. Those who test positive are forced to turn around. Those showing symptoms are rejected without a test.
“It isn’t Nicaragua that has closed the border,” Ortega said. “It is Costa Rica (that has) with measures it began to take, to demand, to establish.” He called the testing “a pretext” used by Costa Rican authorities.
At Costa Rica’s southern border with Panama, truckers blocked traffic Monday to also protest the measures.
Costa Rica’s COVID-19 border testing policy was not only affecting regional trade and costing Nicaraguan businesses money, but the positive test results have been another piece of evidence suggesting the Ortega government’s paltry reporting of COVID-19 cases lacks transparency.
Nicaragua has reported only 25 confirmed cases of the disease and eight related deaths. Those numbers have become more difficult to defend as more Nicaraguans speak out about the deaths of their relatives.
Ortega’s government has not implemented social distancing measures used elsewhere and continues to promote mass gatherings. Schools remain open and professional sporting events still draw fans.
The lack of action in neighboring Nicaragua has concerned Costa Rican officials who have so far demurred when asked about the public health threat the country poses.
Costa Rica appears to have triggered Ortega’s response by saying Friday that truckers bringing cargo to Costa Rica could leave it at the border and have Costa Rican drivers take it to the final destination. Those drivers transiting the country could still do so, but only after testing negative and with a police escort.
The Central American Council of Economic Integration Ministers discussed the measures Monday and asked Costa Rica to suspend its latest ones. Costa Rica proposed creating a regional protocol including bio-security measures and a working group to make sure commerce continues to flow freely.
Costa Rica Foreign Trade Secretary Dyalá Jiménez said the other regional members complained that the measures were not approved by the regional body and therefore lacked legal standing.
“This situation complicated the possibility of arriving at regional agreements to quickly allow us to address the situation at our borders,” she said.
Costa Rican business groups have also complained about the effects of the measures on commerce. The Costa Rica Exporters Chamber said the government’s actions Friday had a negative impact on more than 1,000 Costa Rica exporters.
Costa Rica has 866 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus and 10 deaths.
Ortega said he was willing to talk to his Costa Rican counterparts to find a solution, “but it depends on Costa Rica.”
____ Cordoba reported from San Jose, Costa Rica.
jward
passin' thru
World News
May 20, 2020 / 4:17 PM / Updated 2 hours ago
Venezuela military to escort Iranian fuel tankers: defense minister
1 Min Read
FILE PHOTO: Venezuela's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez speaks during a broadcast at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela March 8, 2019. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela’s military will escort Iranian tankers delivering fuel to the gasoline-starved nation as soon as they enter the South American country’s exclusive economic zone, defense minister Vladimir Padrino said on Wednesday.
Padrino said in a state television interview that the escort would “welcome them in and thank the Iranian people for their solidarity and cooperation,” adding the Venezuelan government had been in contact with the Iranian defense minister.
Reporting by Vivian Sequera and Deisy Buitrago; Writing by Luc Cohen; Editing by Chris Reese
May 20, 2020 / 4:17 PM / Updated 2 hours ago
Venezuela military to escort Iranian fuel tankers: defense minister
1 Min Read
FILE PHOTO: Venezuela's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez speaks during a broadcast at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela March 8, 2019. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela’s military will escort Iranian tankers delivering fuel to the gasoline-starved nation as soon as they enter the South American country’s exclusive economic zone, defense minister Vladimir Padrino said on Wednesday.
Padrino said in a state television interview that the escort would “welcome them in and thank the Iranian people for their solidarity and cooperation,” adding the Venezuelan government had been in contact with the Iranian defense minister.
Reporting by Vivian Sequera and Deisy Buitrago; Writing by Luc Cohen; Editing by Chris Reese
jward
passin' thru
intelfeedia
@intelfeedia
·
1h
Venezuelan Defense Minister says that military will escort Iranian tankers as soon as they enter its exclusive economic zone, according to
@guyelster
. First tanker is supposed to arrive on Friday 22 May. #Iran #Venezuela #Maduro #USNavy
@TheWarMonitor
@federicoalves
@Natsecjeff
View: https://twitter.com/intelfeedia/status/1263226571130691584?s=20
-------------------
CNW
@ConflictsW
·
1h
In case anyone is interested in Venezuelan firepower that could *in theory* be used.Venezuela has a couple of Otamat anti ship missiles still available and a few KH-31 ship missiles that are launched from their Su-30s. Although it’s unknown how many missiles are still operational
Plain Jane
Just Plain Jane
Mexico orders probe into alleged graft linked to ex-president
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday ordered an investigation into allegations the former government irregularly awarded lucrative contracts to a firm allegedly tied to the family of his predecessor, Enrique Pena Nieto.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
MAY 20, 2020 / 3:29 PM / UPDATED 9 HOURS AGO
Mexico orders probe into alleged graft linked to ex-president
2 MIN READ
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday ordered an investigation into allegations the former government irregularly awarded lucrative contracts to a firm allegedly tied to the family of his predecessor, Enrique Pena Nieto.
Between 2013 and 2018 Pena Nieto’s government awarded $640 million in contracts to Plasti-Esteril, a firm founded by his family in 1991, and medical supply company Baxter International Inc, according to Mexican newspaper El Universal.
Baxter International, the owner of Plasti-Esteril, said the company was set up by the Pena family in 1991 but that the family sold all its shares to various private investors the following year.
“This family completely stopped having any type of shareholding in Plasti-Esteril since 1992,” Baxter said in a statement, noting that it took over full ownership of the company in 1999.
“We have to investigate if President Pena Nieto is involved and see how long the company has been operating, what contracts it received ... if they were awarded directly, through tenders,” Lopez Obrador said at his daily press conference.
Pena Nieto has in the past rejected accusations of wrongdoing during his time in office. He could not immediately be reached for comment.
Lopez Obrador, who took office in December 2018, has made fighting corruption one of his administration’s priorities. But he has said his government will not go after former presidents unless Mexicans demand it.
“We come from a regime defined by corruption and it takes some time to clean up,” said Lopez Obrador.
Reporting by Raul Cortes Fernandez; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Lisa Shumaker
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Plain Jane
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Brazil expands use of unproven drug as virus toll rises
Brazil has unveiled rules expanding the use of the anti-malarial chloroquine in coronavirus patients, despite a lack of clinical proof that it is effective.
apnews.com
Brazil expands use of unproven drug as virus toll rises
By DIANE JEANTETyesterday
1 of 12
Relatives attend the burial of Vandelma Rosa de Almeida, 66, whose death certificate states is suspected of having died of COVID-19, at the Caju cemetery in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, May 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — President Jair Bolsonaro unveiled rules Wednesday expanding the prescription of chloroquine, the predecessor of an anti-malaria drug promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump, for coronavirus patients despite a lack of clinical proof that it is effective.
Chloroquine was already being used in Brazil for COVID-19 patients who are hospitalized in serious condition, and under the new regulations, it can be given to people with lighter symptoms such as abdominal pain, cough or fever, according to the Health Ministry.
“There is still no scientific evidence, but it is being monitored and used in Brazil and worldwide,” Bolsonaro, who has likened the virus to a “little flu” and feuded with local governments over their stay-at-home measures, said via his official Facebook page. “We are at war: ‘Worse than being defeated is the shame of not having fought.’”
More than 291,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Brazil, the third most in the world after the United States and Russia, and the announcement came a day after the country’s single-day death toll from the virus hit a new high of more than 1,100. Officials said Wednesday that 888 more died in the subsequent 24 hours.
Trump has promoted treating COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine, a variant considered less toxic and more effective than chloroquine, and he announced Monday that he was taking the drug as a precaution. No large, rigorous studies have found either drug safe or effective for preventing or treating the virus.
Bolsonaro, a conservative populist and nationalist, has long expressed admiration for Trump and enthusiasm for chloroquine. Brazil’s new guidelines were approved by interim Health Minister Gen. Eduardo Pazuello, who had no health experience prior to becoming the ministry’s No. 2 official in April.
Pazuello’s appointment to the top job came after then-Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta was fired last month for publicly supporting state governors who shut down nonessential businesses and adopted other measures against the virus, and after Mandetta’s replacement, Nelson Teich, resigned last week. Teich did not explain why he left, but he had publicly disagreed with Bolsonaro over chloroquine.
Speaking to a group of street cleaners in the capital, Brasilia, Bolsonar suggested Wednesday that he has no plans to replace Pazuello: “This one is going to stay for a long time.”
Officials say nearly 19,000 people have died of the coronavirus in Brazil so far, and experts warn that low testing rates mean the true number of cases is likely far higher.
Health systems in various states have gone over capacity, with overwhelmed intensive care units unable to take in new COVID-19 patients, and experts say rising numbers of people are dying at home.
Cemeteries are using backhoes to dig hundreds of graves at a time, and Manaus in the heart of the Amazon rainforest is burying the dead in mass graves.
Gen. Pazuello appointed nine more military officers to the Health Ministry on Tuesday, Folha de S. Paulo reported, including his No. 2, Col. Antonio Elcio Franco Filho.
Also Wednesday, Bolsonaro announced the resignation of Culture Secretary Regina Duarte, a former soap opera star who was recently criticized by many in the opposition and the arts community for downplaying torture during the 1964-1985 dictatorship and who had warned against the dangers of “unbearable morbidity” around the virus.
Bolsonaro continues to oppose governors and mayors who are renewing stay-at-home recommendations or introducing stricter measures.
The former army captain has argued in favor of restarting the economy, even though experts say Brazil has yet to reach the peak of the pandemic. He believes that containment measures are too painful in a country where tens of millions of workers depend on low-paid jobs in the informal sector.
Several large observational studies, including one in U.S. hospitals for veterans, have not found benefit from hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID-19. Earlier this year scientists in Brazil stopped part of a study of chloroquine after seeing heart rhythm problems among patients taking a higher of two doses being compared.
https://apnews.com/94d15808768e38dbf1fc2075adb22a00
Plain Jane
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Isolation not enough to save Amazon indigenous village from COVID-19
Tres Unidos, an indigenous village in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, locked out all visitors, hoping that isolation would keep it safe. And yet the new coronavirus still came.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
MAY 22, 2020 / 2:19 PM / UPDATED 33 MINUTES AGO
Isolation not enough to save Amazon indigenous village from COVID-19
Bruno Kelly
4 MIN READ
TRES UNIDOS, BRAZIL (Reuters) - Tres Unidos, an indigenous village in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, locked out all visitors, hoping that isolation would keep it safe. And yet the new coronavirus still came.
It arrived, most likely up the Rio Negro, the giant snaking river that connects Tres Unidos with the Amazon’s largest city, Manaus - five hours away by boat.
The rivers, the lifeblood of these remote communities, are now also bringing disease. The dots of confirmed coronavirus deaths on a map published by Brazil’s government follow the rivers in these remote parts.
Waldemir da Silva, the village chief better known here as Tuxuau Kambeba, said the virus came quietly, as if carried on the wind.
“The virus is treacherous,” he said, wearing a white face mask and a wooden headdress.
“We started getting ill and thought it was a bad cold, but people got worse. Thank God the children did not get it,” the 61-year-old told Reuters.
The drama of the 35 families of the Kambeba tribe is repeated in indigenous communities across the Amazon, as the epidemic moves upriver from Manaus, one of the hardest hit cities in Brazil, where hospital have run out of intensive care units and cemeteries are using collective graves to bury the dead.
FEAR OF INFECTION
With the virus comes fear. For the inability to know who has the virus. For the poor quality healthcare. For the future of indigenous people.
A non-profit conservationist group, Fundacao Amazonia Sustentavel, based in Manaus, is trying to help.
It has donated test kits and the state government delivered 80 on Thursday to the Kambeba village.
Three people resulted positive when they were tested by the community’s nurse technician, Neurilene Kambeba, adding to 13 previous confirmed cases in the village of 106 people.
“We feared the whole village was infected because many people had symptoms and we had no way of knowing,” she said.
“We are fighting for that virus to disappear and no one dies, because Manaus is very far away and we might not get there in time to save a critical patient.”
The Kambeba, who originated in the upper reaches of the Amazon in the forests of Peru, are known for their mastery of archery. Two men from the village have won medals competing in Brazil’s national team.
The community is treating the sick with hot drinks of traditional herbs prescribed by the elder indigenous woman to cure ills, such as garlic and lemon for coughs, or mangarataia, the word for ginger in their language.
Virgilio Viana, head of the Fundacao Amazonia Sustentavel, said the villages nearest to Manaus were most vulnerable to infection by the coronavirus.
Brazil is far behind other countries in testing for the virus and the situation is even more challenging in the Amazon, he said. The government has said it had difficulties buying tests abroad but has now stepped up testing as it plans to open up the economy, despite surging deaths from COVID-19.
“The rapid tests are very important to be able to diagnose COVID-19 cases so that medical protocols of social distancing can then be followed to avoid contagion,” Viana said.
Reporting by Bruno Kelly; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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U.S. slaps sanctions on Nicaraguan army chief, finance minister
The United States on Friday sought to further pressure on Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega by imposing another round of sanctions, this time targeting the country's army chief and finance minister.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
MAY 22, 2020 / 10:32 AM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO
U.S. slaps sanctions on Nicaraguan army chief, finance minister
2 MIN READ
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday sought to further pressure on Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega by imposing another round of sanctions, this time targeting the country’s army chief and finance minister.
In a statement, the U.S. Treasury Department said it had imposed sanctions on Julio Cesar Aviles, Nicaragua’s army commander-in-chief, and Ivan Adolfo Acosta, its finance and public credit minister.
“The Ortega regime’s continued violations of basic human rights, blatant corruption, and widespread violence against the Nicaraguan people are unacceptable,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement.
Friday’s action freezes any U.S. assets held by the officials and generally bars Americans from dealing with them.
U.S. officials have previously targeted Ortega’s leftist government as the Trump administration seeks to increase pressure amid anti-government protests against what critics have said is Ortega’s increasingly authoritarian-style rule.
In March, Washington sanctioned the Nicaraguan National Police over accusations of human rights abuse. Last year, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Ortega’s son as well as three other Nicaraguan officials, among others.
“The United States will continue to apply pressure to the Ortega regime until it stops repressing the Nicaraguan people, respects human rights and fundamental freedoms, and allows the conditions for free and fair elections and the restoration of democracy in Nicaragua,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a separate statement on Friday.
Reporting by Susan Heavey and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Andrea Ricci and Chris Reese
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Plain Jane
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Zerohedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
Iranian Tankers To Reach Venezuela In Next 24 Hours Amid "Threat Of Imminent Military Force By US"
by Tyler Durden
Sat, 05/23/2020 - 14:55
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By as early as the evening on Saturday or Sunday morning it's expected that the first among the five Iranian tankers transporting fuel to gasoline-starved Venezuela will enter the Latin American country's coastal waters.
Maduro officials have issued an emergency notice to the United Nations of an illegal "threat of imminent use of military force by the United States."
And with Washington threatening to block what it deems "sanctions-busting" by two "rogue states" - both under severe sanctions - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has issued his own last minute warning.
“If our tankers in the Caribbean or anywhere in the world face trouble caused by the Americans, they [the United States] will also be in trouble,” Rouhani told the Emir of Qatar in a phone call, Tasnim News reported.
The Maduro government said days ago that it would send a military escort in the form of planes and ships once the tankers enter Venezuela's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), or within 200 miles of the coast.
Rouhani expressed hope there wouldn't be a showdown or conflict, however, amid prior reports of a Trump-ordered US 'naval build-up' in the Caribbean, in part to crackdown on what the administration has referred to Maduro's narcotrafficking operations in the region.
The Iranian oil tanker Clavel headed through the Strait of Gibraltar earlier this month, via AP.“We hope the Americans will not make a mistake,” Rouhani stressed further to Qatar’s head of state, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Iran previously warned that any US attempt at intercepting its fuel tankers "would have serious repercussions for the Trump administration ahead of the November elections"
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino upped the ante Wednesday in vowing the military escort will be prepared to defend the ships in the face of any potential American intervention:
He underscored that he was closely coordinating with Iran's defense minister, also after Washington has focused on the sanctioned Iranian airline Mahan Air's flights in and out of Caracas of late, said to be carrying vital equipment for Venezuela's derelict fuel refineres, needed for domestic gas consumption.
The US has lately accused nefarious outside state actors of helping to facilitate the scheme to 'smuggle' gold out of Caracas as payment for the inbound Iranian gasoline as well as refining supplies and support. Pompeo even threw China in the mix in statements made Tuesday.
Meanwhile, many pundits are warning of a clash in the Caribbean, given the presence of US Navy ships. Sparks could could fly in a new 'tanker wars' conflict, akin to last summer's Persian Gulf and Mediterranean tit-for-tat tense exchanges, but this time in America's 'backyard' of the Caribbean and Latin American coastline.
*********
Ongoing thread here:
GOV/MIL - In veiled warning to Iran, U.S. tells Gulf mariners to stay clear of its warships
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-military-exclusive/exclusive-eying-iran-u-s-issues-warning-to-stay-100-meters-away-from-its-warships-idUSKBN22V2Y9?il=0&__twitter_impression=true&utm_source=reddit.com Exclusive: In veiled warning to Iran, U.S. tells Gulf mariners to stay clear of...
Plain Jane
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Argentina, creditors get ready to resume debt talks after ninth sovereign default
A major Argentina creditor group said on Saturday it had been invited to sign a non-disclosure agreement by Argentina's government, signaling that talks could be moving to the next phase after the South American country defaulted a day earlier.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
MAY 23, 2020 / 11:16 AM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO
Argentina, creditors get ready to resume debt talks after ninth sovereign default
Cassandra Garrison, Rodrigo Campos
3 MIN READ
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - A major Argentina creditor group said on Saturday it had been invited to sign a non-disclosure agreement by Argentina’s government, signaling that talks could be moving to the next phase after the South American country defaulted a day earlier.
The Exchange Bondholder Group, which comprises 18 investment institutions and represents 15% of Argentina’s exchange bonds, said in a statement that Argentina approached its representatives and other creditor groups about signing a non-disclosure agreement “in contemplation of engaging in negotiations with the Ministry of Economy.”
It is common during debt restructurings for creditor committees to agree to limit the flow of information near the end of talks, as some of it may be material and non-public, a source from another creditor committee said. In some cases when multiple creditor groups are involved, as is the case with Argentina, a non-disclosure agreement is introduced, the source said.
Argentine officials are currently weighing counter-offers from its major creditor groups after their original proposal to restructure about $65 billion in foreign debt was stiffly rejected.
The South American country failed to reach an agreement by a May 22 deadline, prompting it to miss about $500 million in already delayed bond coupons, marking its ninth sovereign default.
At least one main creditor group has signed the non-disclosure agreement, a source from that committee said.
A spokesman from the Ministry of Economy did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Despite missing the deadline on Friday, a source close to the negotiations and familiar with the government’s thinking told Reuters on Friday that talks could reach a breakthrough “in a matter of days.”
Executives from major credit agencies were optimistic Argentina would eventually strike a deal, but warned that the country’s economic woes were far from over.
“Argentina has a history on this issue and many think that it will not be the last,” Gabriel Torres, a Moody’s vice president, said of Argentina’s default while speaking to local station Radio Milenium, adding that the country will eventually “have to pay what it has agreed to.”
Todd Martinez, director of Latin America sovereigns at Fitch Ratings in New York, cautioned that progress could be more challenging the longer the talks drag on.
“Should it be a default without signs of progress toward a resolution, it could heighten uncertainties and have some destabilizing effects, but these could be minimal if recent progress towards a deal continues,” Martinez said.
Reporting by Cassandra Garrison; Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos and Marc Jones; Editing by Ros Russell and Andrea Ricci
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Venezuelan high court orders DirecTV property seized
Venezuela’s high court has ordered the immediate seizure of all DirecTV property, days after the U.S. firm abandoned its services in the South American nation, citing U.S. sanctions.
apnews.com
Venezuelan high court orders DirecTV property seized
yesterday
1 of 3
A DirectTV logo identifies the company's headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, May 22, 2020. Venezuela’s high court ordered on Friday the immediate seizure of all DirecTV property, days after the U.S. firm abandoned its services in the South American nation, citing U.S. sanctions. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s high court ordered the immediate seizure of all DirecTV property Friday, days after the U.S. company abandoned its services in the South American nation, citing U.S. sanctions.
The Supreme Court ruling told the nation’s telecommunications agency to seize satellite dishes and office space at transmission centers. It also said DirecTV programming should immediately return to the airwaves, in an order that was not likely to be heeded.
Dallas-based AT&T on Tuesday cut off pay TV services in Venezuela, saying U.S. sanctions prohibit its DirecTV platform from broadcasting channels that it is required to carry by the administration of President Nicolás Maduro.
However, pro-Maduro lawmaker María Alejandra Díaz said the company is legally bound to uphold its programming.
“DirecTV unilaterally and illegally suspended the right to freedom of expression and communication for almost 10 million Venezuelans,” Díaz said outside the court. “It is not true to say that DirecTV could not comply with internal regulations.”
The abrupt move cutting off entertainment, news and sports channels, sparked widespread protests at least two nights in a row, with residents leaning from their windows across the capital of Caracas banging pots and pans.
“I want my DirecTV,” some shouted amid chants against Maduro.
Venezuelans have been ordered to stay home on quarantine since mid-March to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, which officials say has killed at least 10 people and sickened hundreds.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took a poke at Maduro over the issue Friday, saying on Twitter: “Why can’t Venezuelans watch Fútbol Total? Because Nicolás Maduro drove DirecTV out. Protecting his cronies and their money is more important than allowing ten million citizens access to uncensored information.”
DirecTV on Friday did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. It explained its decision to cut services in a statement Tuesday.
“Because it is impossible for AT&T’s DIRECTV unit to comply with the legal requirements of both countries, AT&T was forced to close its pay TV operations in Venezuela, a decision that was made by the company’s U.S. leadership team without any involvement or prior knowledge of the DIRECTV Venezuela team,” the statement said.
AT&T has a 44% share of the pay TV market and its departure is likely to hit larger cities and the interior that depend on DirecTV for access to information and entertainment.
AT&T joins a number of other U.S. companies — General Motors, Kellogg and Kimberly-Clark — that have abandoned Venezuela due to shrinking sales, government threats and the risk of U.S. sanctions. Around 700 Venezuelans depended on the unit for employment.
AT&T hasn’t made money from its Venezuelan operations for years due to strict government controls that keep the price of its packages artificially low — a few pennies per month. The situation has become so dire that DirecTV in 2012 stopped importing set-top boxes, choking its growth. In 2015, it wrote down its assets in the country by $1.1 billion.
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‘Very unprepared:’ DEA shakeup followed mounting criticism
MIAMI (AP) — It's an agency with a critical mission of keeping American streets safe from narcotics. But in recent years, the U.S.
apnews.com
‘Very unprepared:’ DEA shakeup followed mounting criticism
By JOSHUA GOODMAN and JIM MUSTIANMay 21, 2020
1 of 3
FILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019 file photo, acting Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Uttam Dhillon speaks to DEA employees at their headquarters in Arlington, Va. In less than two years on the job, many field agents complained that Dhillon, a former Los Angeles federal prosecutor, was more of a bureaucrat than a leader, lacked experience and, as an acting administrator who was never confirmed, the full authority to implement meaningful reforms. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
MIAMI (AP) — It’s an agency with a critical mission of keeping American streets safe from narcotics. But in recent years, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has needed protection from itself, with several agents charged with corruption and the agency engulfed by scandal.
This week came more upheaval as Attorney General William Barr installed the DEA’s fourth acting administrator in five years. His choice: Tim Shea, the U.S. attorney in Washington who recently oversaw the controversial effort to dismiss charges against ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Barr had been looking to provide a soft landing spot for Shea, a close aide whose stint as acting U.S. attorney was set to end in June, barring an unlikely extension by the district court in Washington. But in so doing, he found an easy target in Uttam Dhillon, who drew mounting criticism in his less than two, tumultuous years as the nation’s top U.S. anti-narcotics official.
Many field agents complained that Dhillon, a former Los Angeles federal prosecutor, was more of a bureaucrat than a leader, lacked experience and, as an acting administrator who was never confirmed, the full authority to implement meaningful reforms.
MORE STORIES:
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- – AP Exclusive: DEA agent accused of conspiring with cartel
Dhillon inherited some of the problems from the Obama administration after the agency’s last permanent administrator, Michele Leonhart, resigned in 2015 amid questions from Congress about her handling of agent misconduct allegations involving cartel-organized sex parties in Colombia.
“After that control became much more centralized and the culture more risk adverse,” said Mike Vigil, the DEA’s former chief of international operations. “But to do this work you need to trust your agents in the field.”
Since 2015, at least a dozen DEA agents across the country have been charged federally on counts ranging from wire fraud and bribery to selling firearms to drug traffickers, according to an Associated Press review of hundreds of court records. At least eight of those agents have been convicted, while four are awaiting trial.
Last year alone, a longtime special agent in Chicago pleaded guilty to infiltrating the DEA on behalf of drug traffickers and was sentenced to four years in federal prison, while another was charged with accepting $250,000 in bribes to protect the Mafia. In February of this year, a federal grand jury in Tampa indicted once-standout DEA agent Jose Irizarry on allegations he secretly used his position to divert millions of dollars in drug proceeds from the DEA’s control.
Dhillon “came in very, very unprepared,” Riley said, and leaves an agency that’s “been a little bit of a dysfunctional place for a while.”
As part of this week’s shakeup, Dhillon was moved to what officials would say only was a senior position in the Justice Department.
While pressure had been building on Dhillon for some time, the latest doubts emerged in the wake of a botched military raid May 3 of Venezuela by a ragtag contingent of U.S.-trained volunteer fighters seeking to arrest Nicolás Maduro, according to four former U.S. law enforcement officials who are in contact with senior Justice Department officials. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Maduro’s government blamed two alleged DEA informants for providing logistical support to the mercenaries, although there’s no evidence the U.S. government played any role in the undertaking. Trump even joked that had the U.S. government been involved it would have ended far worse for the socialist leader.
Still, in the raid’s aftermath, questions have been raised in Congress and at the highest levels of the Trump administration about what the DEA — and other U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies — knew about Jordan Goudreau, the former U.S. Green Beret who claimed responsibility for the armed incursion.
As part of those inquiries, Dhillon reported back that the DEA knew nothing, one of the ex-officials said.
However, on May 6, the AP, citing two former U.S. law enforcement officials, reported that an informant approached the DEA in Colombia with an unsubstantiated tip about Goudreau’s alleged involvement in weapons smuggling. The anti-narcotics agency, not knowing who Goudreau was at the time, didn’t open a formal probe but suspected that any weapons would have been destined for leftist rebels or criminal gangs in Colombia — not Venezuelan freedom fighters.
Dhillon and the DEA referred requests for comment to the Justice Department, which said only that the Venezuela matter played no role in Dhillon’s replacement. “To publish anything otherwise would be to publish a false story,” said Kerri Kupec, a department spokeswoman.
Kupec declined to answer written questions on a host of issues about Dhillon’s leadership including what, if anything, the DEA knew about Goudreau and the Venezuela raid.
Dhillon made no mention of an impending departure in a recent interview with the AP. And in a farewell email sent on his behalf Monday, a number of achievements during his tenure were highlighted.
“We have increased the number of agents going through the academy for the first time in over eight years; helped drive down drug overdose deaths for the first time in over two decades; and put some of the world’s worst offenders behind bars,” according to the message, a copy of which a recipient shared with the AP.
Former DEA officials embraced Shea’s appointment as an opportunity for change within the agency, but cautioned that some problems can’t be fixed until a permanent administrator is in place.
“He understands some of the issues we’re up against,” Riley said, “and having been a fresh U.S. attorney, I’m really hopeful."
___ Mustian reported from New York.Follow Goodman and Mustian on Twitter: @APjoshgoodman and @JimMustian
Plain Jane
Just Plain Jane
U.S. limits travel from Brazil amid worsening coronavirus outbreak
The White House on Sunday said it was restricting travel from Brazil to the United States, two days after the South American nation became the world's No. 2 hotspot for coronavirus cases.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
MAY 24, 2020 / 3:14 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
White House limits travel to U.S. from Brazil due to coronavirus
2 MIN READ
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Sunday said it was prohibiting most non-U.S. citizens from traveling to the United States if they had been in Brazil in the last two weeks, two days after the South American nation became the world No. 2 hot spot for coronavirus cases.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the new restrictions would help ensure foreign nationals do not bring additional infections to the United States, but would not apply to the flow of commerce between the two countries.
National security adviser Robert O’Brien earlier on Sunday told CBS’ “Face the Nation” he hoped the move could be reconsidered at some point.
“We hope that’ll be temporary, but because of the situation in Brazil, we’re going to take every step necessary to protect the American people,” O’Brien said.
Brazil on Friday surpassed Russia to become the world No. 2 hot spot for coronavirus cases, second only to the United States, and now has over 347,000 people infected by the virus, the Health Ministry said.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was considering imposing a ban on travel from Brazil.
“I don’t want people coming over here and infecting our people. I don’t want people over there sick either. We’re helping Brazil with ventilators. ... Brazil is having some trouble, no question about it,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
O’Brien said the United States will look at restrictions for other countries in the Southern Hemisphere on a country-by-country basis.
Trump suspended entry for most travelers from China, where the outbreak began, in January. In early March, he imposed travel restrictions on people coming from Europe.
The new restrictions bar most non-U.S. citizens who have visited Brazil within the past 14 days. Green card holders, close relatives of U.S. citizens and flight crew members, among select others, would be exempt.
Reporting by Alexandra Alper, Pete Schroeder and Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by David Shephardson; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Sonya Hepinstall
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Plain Jane
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Haiti voodoo leaders prepare temples for coronavirus sufferers
Haiti's voodoo leaders have trained priests of the Afro Caribbean religion to concoct a secret remedy for the novel coronavirus and to prepare the sacred initiation chambers of their temples to receive patients.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
MAY 24, 2020 / 4:05 PM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO
Haiti voodoo leaders prepare temples for coronavirus sufferers
Andre Paultre, Robenson Sanon
4 MIN READ
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haiti’s voodoo leaders have trained priests of the Afro Caribbean religion to concoct a secret remedy for the novel coronavirus and to prepare the sacred initiation chambers of their temples to receive patients.
Haiti, where Western healthcare services are scarce and too expensive for many, inhabitants often rely on the herbal remedies and ritual practices of their voodoo “houngan” priest or “mambo” priestess.
Draped in necklaces of colorful beads, Haitian Voodoo “Ati” or supreme leader Carl Henri Desmornes said in an interview at his “gingerbread house” in Port-au-Prince he knew there would be a deluge of patients at their temples.
While the virus took root slowly in the poorest country in the Americas, in the last two weeks the number of confirmed cases has nearly quintupled to 865 while reports of a mysterious “fever” are spreading.
“Voodoo practitioners - the Houngans and Mambos in particular - have the responsibility to look after the wellbeing of the population,” said Desmornes, 60, who was a music promoter before becoming the Ati. “They have received the powers and the knowledge to put in practice.”
More than half of Haiti’s 11 million people are believed to practice voodoo, a religion brought from West Africa centuries ago by enslaved men and women and practiced clandestinely under French colonial rule.
Ever since the first cases of the new coronavirus were confirmed in Haiti in mid-March, Voodoo priests have been serving up teas with ingredients including moringa, eucalyptus, ginger and honey to strengthen the immune system.
“We live in a country where the health system is not able to respond to the challenge of the pandemic, so we rely on natural remedies instead,” said Mambo Lamercie Charles as she ladled out potion. “I consider my temple a clinic”.
Voodoo deputy leader Euvonie Georges Auguste said the community, inspired by the “Loas” (spirits), has also come up with a potion for COVID-19 symptoms that they had taught priests virtually to prepare and administer.
The community had identified 1,000 voodoo temples that had a “Djèvo” - a sacred chamber used for initiation rituals - that was separate to the worship chambers and could be used to isolate up to 15 patients each, she said.
CORONAVIRUS MESSAGE
Auguste said it was a shame President Jovenel Moise had highlighted Madagascar’s self-proclaimed, plant-based “cure” for COVID-19 rather than Haitian voodoo treatments.
“This attitude shows he is a victim of the system that still bears the scars of slavery,” she said.
Voodoo is closely identified with Haiti’s struggle for independence but has worked hard for legitimacy. It only won recognition as an official religion in 2003 under President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Haiti’s voodoo practitioners in the past have criticized Moise for appealing publicly to Christianity’s god rather than to Voodoo’s spirits.
Sometimes misrepresented in Hollywood and pulp fiction as a black magic cult, it suffers from stigma. Some evangelical preachers blamed the 2010 earthquake on voodoo while mobs lynched at least 45 houngans and mambos they blamed for bringing about the subsequent cholera outbreak with their spells.
Voodoo priests have appeared on television and radio shows to make clear they are not responsible for coronavirus and are ready to fight it.
Still, Desmornes said maybe the pandemic carried a message for the world - one difference between voodoo and Western medicine is that it seeks meaning in illness. Perhaps it was a warning sign, Desmornes said, that humans were like a virus to other beings on earth.
“My hope is that after corona ... instead of transforming all we touch, transforming nature, we look instead to live in harmony with it,” he said.
Reporting by Andre Paultre and Robenson Sanon in Port-au-Prince; Writing by Sarah Marsh; editing by Grant McCool
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
jward
passin' thru
Aurora Intel - #StayHome
@AuroraIntel
1m
#Iran|ian Tanker Fortune is officially moored at El Palito Refinery, #Venezuela
View: https://twitter.com/AuroraIntel/status/1264783499594207233?s=20
@AuroraIntel
1m
#Iran|ian Tanker Fortune is officially moored at El Palito Refinery, #Venezuela
View: https://twitter.com/AuroraIntel/status/1264783499594207233?s=20
Plain Jane
Just Plain Jane
Lonely Peruvians learn to say 'I miss you' in the language of the Incas
Homesick Peruvians around the world in coronavirus lockdowns have been logging online in rising numbers to learn Quechua, the Andean language spoken by the Inca people.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
MAY 25, 2020 / 11:01 AM / UPDATED 7 HOURS AGO
Lonely Peruvians learn to say 'I miss you' in the language of the Incas
Maria Cervantes
2 MIN READ
LIMA (Reuters) - Homesick Peruvians around the world in coronavirus lockdowns have been logging online in rising numbers to learn Quechua, the Andean language spoken by the Inca people.
Qorichaska Quispe, whose first name means “Golden Bird” in Quechua, told Reuters there had been a six-fold increase in hits on her “Vive el Quechua” Facebook page this April compared to last year, with students logging on from Peru but also Europe, Asia and elsewhere in South America.
One class in which the shyly smiling Quispe taught her followers to say “I love you” and “I miss you” drew 6,000 viewers. Others celebrating folkloric heroes, ancestral food, and native species attracted up to 14,000.
“During quarantine, we can all feel sad or lonely at times, some people are far from their families, and we offer them a reminder of their identity,” Quispe told Reuters.
Quechua spread across southern Latin America with the Incan Empire five centuries ago and is at present spoken by some 10 million people, 3.7 million of them in Peru, where it is one of three official languages.
Speakers largely live in remote areas, however, and it has ceased to be passed down through generations, with most Peruvians opting for Spanish instead.
Now there are the green shoots of a cultural renaissance, with Quechua redeployed for a state television news broadcast, a box office hit film and in rap songs garnering cult status on YouTube.
One of Quispe’s students told Reuters he had previously tried to learn but stopped for lack of time.
Another, Paloma Abregú, who was born in the Peruvian highlands but now lives in the capital Lima, said she wanted to understand her background better.
A language carries quite a different culture and world view, which can only be understood when you speak it,” she said.
(This story amends byline)
Reporting by Ana Espinoza, writing by Aislinn Laing, Editing by Marco Aquino and Rosalba O'Brien
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Plain Jane
Just Plain Jane
Zerohedge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com
Watch: Venezuela Sends Large Fighter Jet Escort For Tankers As Iran's Flag Flies Over Caracas
by Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/26/2020 - 20:25
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To pretty much everyone's surprise it appears the five Iranian gasoline tankers will be able to offload their fuel to Venezuela without incident, despite US threats to thwart what Washington sees as illicit sanctions-busting. It remains that the return trip could be a different story, however.
Dramatic video emerged early this week showing the first couple of tankers' arrivals within Venezuelan coastal waters, accompanied by what appeared a large Venezuelan military escort, as Maduro officials promised.
First tanker to successfully arrive, the Fortune, docked by Monday, while all are now reported in Caribbean waters, with the second vessel soon to reportedly to dock as well, already safely within Venezuela's Exclusive Economic Zone.
According to multiple widely circulating videos, Maduro's military deployed multiple warships to escort the tankers along with what appears at least a half-dozen Russian-produced fighter jets and F-16s. No doubt the Pentagon and Trump administration has monitored the images closely.
There were growing fears of a 'tanker war' Caribbean-style given that last month Trump reportedly ordered a US naval build-up in the region against alleged Maduro government narcotrafficking.
Though with plenty of oil, Venezuela has struggled to obtain gasoline for domestic consumption given its network of broken and derelict refineries, which its ally Iran has responded to by delivering 1.53 million barrels of gasoline and refining components.
Venezuelan officials declared the fuel delivery as a "landmark in struggle for sovereignty" while unusually an Iranian flag appeared over downtown Caracas:
Given that Maduro made good on his promise to send significant armed forces to provide security for the tankers, it's likely the White House saw too many 'unknowns' if the US Navy were to attempt an intercept of the fuel.
But as one international report underscored days ago, "There are still chances for the US to make trouble for Iran’s tanker fleet. More ships will arrive in the coming days and then they have to go back to Iran."
Caracas is attempting to flex its military muscle as a warning to Washington and its allies, while perhaps also viewing this as a 'test run' for future Iranian fuel shipments.
"We're ready for whatever, whenever," Nicolas Maduro declared last week when he and his generals rolled out plans for a major military operation to ensure the tankers arrive safely.
Should the whole operation go down without conflict or interference, it will indeed set a precedent - meaning there will be more Iranian tankers and supplies to come in the next months.
Plain Jane
Just Plain Jane
Spread of coronavirus fuels corruption in Latin America
MIAMI (AP) — Even in a pandemic, there's no slowdown for swindlers in Latin America. From Argentina to Panama, a number of officials have been forced to resign as reports of fraudulent purchases of ventilators, masks and other medical supplies pile up.
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Spread of coronavirus fuels corruption in Latin America
By JOSHUA GOODMANtoday
1 of 8
FILE - In this May 21, 2020, file photo, a man rides a bicycle in front of the government house during a government-ordered lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Even amid a global pandemic, there’s no sign that corruption is slowing down in Latin America. From Argentina to Panama, a number of officials have been forced to resign as reports of possibly fraudulent purchases of ventilators, masks and medical supplies proliferate. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)
MIAMI (AP) — Even in a pandemic, there’s no slowdown for swindlers in Latin America.
From Argentina to Panama, a number of officials have been forced to resign as reports of fraudulent purchases of ventilators, masks and other medical supplies pile up. The thefts are driven by price-gouging from manufacturers and profiteering by politically connected middlemen who see the crisis as an opportunity for graft.
“Whenever there’s a dire situation, spending rules are relaxed and there’s always someone around looking to take advantage to make a profit,” said José Ugaz, a former Peruvian prosecutor who jailed former President Alberto Fujimori and was chairman of Transparency International from 2014-17.
Coronavirus clusters are still spreading in Latin America, fueling a spike in deaths, swamping already-precarious hospitals and threatening to ravage slumping economies.
Against this backdrop, reports of fraud have proliferated.
On Tuesday, police in Rio de Janeiro raided the governor’s residence as part of a widening probe into the alleged embezzlement of part of the $150 million in public funds earmarked for building field hospitals.
In Colombia, 14 of 32 governors are under investigation for crimes ranging from embezzlement to unlawfully awarding no-bid contracts. In Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires, prosecutors are probing a politically connected crony for buying 15,000 N95 surgical masks that, despite having expired, cost the city 10 times their listed price.
Perhaps the biggest fallout is in Bolivia, where the health minister was arrested amid allegations that 170 ventilators were bought at inflated prices. The breathing machines were purchased for nearly $28,000 each. But their Spanish manufacturer said it sold them to a distributor for only 6,000 euros ($6,500). Making matter worse, the machines aren’t suitable for longer-term care.
The probe threatens to derail the presidential candidacy of interim leader Jeanine Anez. She assumed power in November, promising a clean break from 13 years of leftist rule by Evo Morales, who resigned amid vote-rigging allegations.
Similar accusations of over-billing have shaken Panama, where a top aide to President Laurentino Cortizo quit and his vice president is under pressure to resign after prosecutors last month began investigating the planned purchase of 100 ventilators at nearly $50,000 each.
In Brazil, which has the world’s second-highest number of confirmed cases, police in one state created a task force to investigate pandemic-related crimes. Its nickname, “Corona Jato,” is a nod to the region’s biggest recent corruption scandal, the “Lava Jato,” or “Car Wash,” probe that uncovered billions stolen from state-run companies.
Tuesday’s surprise search of the governor’s mansion and 10 other addresses in Rio has rattled Brazil’s political establishment because Gov. Wilson Witzel is a fierce critic of President Jair Bolsonaro, accusing him of undermining state measures to fight the virus. Witzel denied any wrongdoing and accused Bolsonaro of ordering the raid as political retribution.
To be sure, disasters breed corruption all over the world, not just in Latin America. Spain, Italy and other countries also have been rocked by revelations of impropriety during the pandemic.
In the U.S., an estimated 16% of $1 billion in aid spent after Hurricane Katrina was lost in potentially fraudulent payments. In one example, the Federal Emergency Management Agency paid one individual rental assistance as well as $8,000 to stay 70 nights at a hotel — in Hawaii.
But stealing state funds is especially vexing in Latin America because of gaping poverty and a tattered social safety net. More than half its workers toil in the informal sector without health care or social security.
“That’s the real scandal,” said Argentine writer Martín Caparrós, co-editor of a book about the region’s most shameless stories of graft called “We Lost: Who Won the Americas Cup of Corruption?” (Spoiler alert: An Argentine vice president convicted of buying a stake in a money-printing company while overseeing its bankruptcy proceedings was voted the worst offender by readers).
Acceptance of corruption dates to the Spanish conquest, when powerful viceroys gave extensive land holdings to friends, and forgiveness of sins could literally be bought from the Roman Catholic church, Caparrós said.
Roberto de Michele, the top transparency expert at the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank, disagrees, saying that even in normal conditions, an estimated 10% to 25% of global spending on health care is lost to corruption — hundreds of billions of dollars every year.
But abuse multiplies in emergencies like natural disasters. He said the risks are even higher in the pandemic, as officials compete for limited supplies, disrupting established price mechanisms.
“If you don’t stop at the red light, and nothing happens, or you can bribe the policeman and get away with it, then more people will have incentives not to stop at the red light,” said de Michele. “That’s institutional design, not culture.”
Latin America countries consistently rank among the most corrupt. The latest survey by Berlin-based Transparency International found that more than half of the region’s residents think the problem is getting worse, with 1 in 5 admitting to paying a bribe to public officials in the past year. Scandals involving officials caught stealing from school lunch programs, passing briefcases full of cash or placing lovers in cushy jobs are frequently in the news.
Still, de Michele is optimistic that social pressure will bring change.
A turning point came in 2016, when Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht admitted to paying $788 million in bribes across Latin America over more than a decade. That led to the jailing of former presidents in Peru and Brazil.
Technology can also help protect state funds, de Michele said.
He cited Paraguay, which unveiled a platform allowing users to track in almost real time the status of 110 emergency contracts worth $26 million in spending tied to COVID-19. Finance Minister Benigno López said the platform will empower citizen groups to monitor how resources are spent.
“The solution to corruption is punitive justice,” López told The Associated Press. “But at least this tool puts all public officials on notice that our actions will be under the microscope.”
—-
Follow Goodman on Twitter: @APJoshGoodman
—-
Associated Press writers David Biller in Rio de Janeiro, Carlos Valdez in La Paz, Bolivia, Kathia Martinez in Panama City, Franklin Briceno in Lima, Peru, and Christine Armario in Bogota, Colombia, contributed.
Plain Jane
Just Plain Jane
30 deported to Haiti, but ex-strongman remains in US
A Haitian government spokesman says 30 people have been deported to Haiti, but that a former paramilitary leader accused of murder and torture was not among them as a result of recent discussions with U.S. officials.
apnews.com
30 deported to Haiti, but ex-strongman remains in US
By EVENS SANONyesterday
1 of 5
Healthcare workers watch as Haitians who were deported from the United States deplane at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, May 26, 2020. ( AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Thirty people were deported to Haiti on Tuesday, but a former paramilitary leader accused of murder and torture was not among them as a result of recent discussions with U.S. officials, according to a Haitian government spokesman.
The spokesman, Eddy Jackson Alexis, said Haiti’s prime minister talked with the U.S. State Department to avoid — for now — the deportation of Emmanuel Constant, who became the feared leader of a paramilitary group after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was toppled in 1991.
Alexis said the government would arrest Constant if he is ever deported from the U.S. to Haiti, but that he also would be eligible for a second trial. Constant has denied the accusations of murder and torture. There are concerns in Haiti that his return would further destabilize the country.
Jean Negot Bonheur Delva, director of Haiti’s migration office, said 16 of the 30 deportees who arrived Tuesday have criminal backgrounds and that the U.S. government said all of them tested negative for the new coronavirus. He said the group would be placed under a two-week quarantine and will be tested again at the end of it and placed in isolation if necessary.
It is the third such flight to Haiti since the pandemic, with more than 200 people in total deported from the U.S. Several of them have tested positive for the coronavirus amid concerns they are straining the impoverished country’s limited resources. Activists have repeatedly called on President Jovenel Moïse to stop accepting deportees and ask that U.S. President Donald Trump place a moratorium on deportations.
Haiti has reported more than 1,000 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus and at least 31 deaths.
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U.S. unit to arrive in Colombia to help fight drug trafficking
A U.S. army unit will arrive in Colombia in the coming days to help the Andean country's armed forces fight against drug trafficking for a four-month period, the U.S. embassy in Bogota said on Wednesday.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
MAY 27, 2020 / 10:04 PM / UPDATED 8 HOURS AGO
U.S. unit to arrive in Colombia to help fight drug trafficking
2 MIN READ
BOGOTA (Reuters) - A U.S. army unit will arrive in Colombia in the coming days to help the Andean country’s armed forces fight against drug trafficking for a four-month period, the U.S. embassy in Bogota said on Wednesday.
The U.S. Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB) will arrive in Colombia in early June, the embassy said, without specifying the size of the unit.
“SFAB’s mission in Colombia is an opportunity to demonstrate our mutual commitment against drug trafficking and support for regional peace, respect for sovereignty and the lasting promise to defend shared ideals and values,” said U.S. Southern Commander Admiral Craig Faller in a statement.
Last year Colombia saw cultivation of coca leaves, the chief ingredient in cocaine, rise to 212,000 hectares (523,863 acres), from 208,000 hectares in 2018.
At the same time cocaine production capacity rose to 951 tonnes in 2019, from 879 tonnes the previous year, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Colombia faces constant U.S. pressure to reduce coca cultivation. President Ivan Duque has set a target to destroy 130,000 hectares of coca crops in 2020, up from 100,000 hectares last year.
Duque has also raised the possibility of restarting aerial fumigation of coca crops using the herbicide glyphosate.
Colombia halted the practice in 2015 after the World Health Organization warned against using the herbicide, which it said can potentially cause cancer and is harmful to health and the environment.
Duque’s government must comply with various health and environmental requirements demanded by Colombia’s Constitutional Court if it is to renew aerial spraying of coca crops this year.
Colombia and the United States hope to cut coca cultivation and cocaine production capacity in half by the end of 2023.
The commander of the Colombian Military Forces, General Luis Fernando Navarro, said the U.S. unit will train task forces dedicated to fighting drug trafficking.
Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Christopher Cushing
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Plain Jane
Just Plain Jane
In Brazil's shadow, laid-back Uruguay curbs COVID-19
Leonardo Silveira, a bookstore owner in Montevideo, is hopeful about the future as Uruguay begins a gradual reopening. The small country has kept rates of COVID-19 at one of the lowest levels in Latin America, even as the region becomes a coronavirus epicenter.
www.reuters.com
NEWS
MAY 28, 2020 / 12:14 AM / UPDATED 6 HOURS AGO
In Brazil's shadow, laid-back Uruguay curbs COVID-19
Fabian Werner, Marina Lammertyn
4 MIN READ
MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Leonardo Silveira, a bookstore owner in Montevideo, is hopeful about the future as Uruguay begins a gradual reopening. The small country has kept rates of COVID-19 at one of the lowest levels in Latin America, even as the region becomes a coronavirus epicenter.
The South American nation of 3.5 million people, known for its beef, laid-back lifestyle and legalized cannabis, has recorded 789 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and 22 deaths. That’s around 23 cases per 100,000 people - versus nearly 200 cases per 100,000 in Brazil.
Uruguay moved fast in March when the first cases were detected. It introduced a voluntary quarantine, widespread monitoring and tracking of infections, randomized tests, and use of models to predict how the disease would progress in different parts of the country.
With no deaths since May 23, government adviser Rafael Radi described the situation last week as being under “relative control.”
Now it is easing the economy open, including a staggered restarting of schools. Some are calling it the New Zealand of Latin America, given its similar population size and number of deaths.
In May, customers started appearing in the bookstore who had not come for a long time, said Silveira.
“People come not only to buy books but to see you and talk for a while. It’s a happy thing to see them - at a distance but together here in the shop,” he said.
As well as Brazil, neighbors like Chile, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia have far higher rates of infection than Uruguay.
Paraguay has kept cases at a similar level but with much tougher measures, including using the military to enforce its lockdown.
Adriana Garcia Da Rosa, 57, a pediatrician in Montevideo, said the success was down to good government planning, while flu inoculations had helped keep pressure off the health service from seasonal illness.
Uruguay’s population responded well and abided by government regulations, making it possible to control the pandemic effectively,” she said.
Giovanni Escalante, Uruguay’s representative at the Pan American Health Organization, said the country’s success was down to a rapid response, robust measures, and the creation of a crisis committee led by health and epidemiological experts.
Only a handful of the country’s approximately 650 intensive care unit beds available for COVID-19 patients are currently occupied, he said.
But a shadow remains. Uruguay shares a northern border with Brazil, which now has the second highest number of recorded cases in the world.
The border city of Rivera has seen cases tick up and Uruguayan officials fear the still open border remains a “weak point,” government adviser Radi said.
The arrival of the southern hemisphere winter is another concern.
Nonetheless, many Uruguayans cheered signs of a gradual return to normality after their businesses took a hit.
Sebastian Barbat, who runs convenience stores in Montevideo, said his business had fallen to a trickle during the lockdown, but was now recovering.
“We are seeing around half the amount of customers we had at the best times in the first half of March,” he said, adding the firm was now looking to hire people again after cutting staff.
“We had to reduce our workforce to the minimum possible, with just two employees left who are the owners. Now we are coming back.”
Reporting by Fabian Werner, Alejandro Obaldía and Marina Lammertyn; Writing by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Melodi
Disaster Cat
I've got a better idea, instead of sending more troops to Afghanistan and now sending troops to Colombia, Nightwolf suggests they just "make their Coca legal to supply the entire world's need for medical coca plants and morphine poppies."
That way they go from being economic "sinks" and hotbeds for terrorism/smuggling/criminal gangs/private armies etc - to having good GDPs and are supplying a needed world product.
Sure some of it may go on the "black market" but other countries that grow these crops legally also have these issues (and besides both Nightwolf and I would like to see things legalized anyway) but long before that - just legalize the crops and le the countries' farmers sell their produce.
90 plus percent of this stuff is grown by poor farmers who are just as happy to grow for a legal market (that's safer) or switch to maize corn and potatoes if they pay better (or they don't have local armies with guns pointed at them forcing them to plant drugs that while "illegal" are also used in perfectly legally medications).
That way they go from being economic "sinks" and hotbeds for terrorism/smuggling/criminal gangs/private armies etc - to having good GDPs and are supplying a needed world product.
Sure some of it may go on the "black market" but other countries that grow these crops legally also have these issues (and besides both Nightwolf and I would like to see things legalized anyway) but long before that - just legalize the crops and le the countries' farmers sell their produce.
90 plus percent of this stuff is grown by poor farmers who are just as happy to grow for a legal market (that's safer) or switch to maize corn and potatoes if they pay better (or they don't have local armies with guns pointed at them forcing them to plant drugs that while "illegal" are also used in perfectly legally medications).
Melodi
Disaster Cat
Uruguay is a small country with both large Native American and Immigrant (largely European) immigration, so easily defined borders, lots of country people living traditional lifestyles, and a lot of Old World influences and behavior.In Brazil's shadow, laid-back Uruguay curbs COVID-19
Leonardo Silveira, a bookstore owner in Montevideo, is hopeful about the future as Uruguay begins a gradual reopening. The small country has kept rates of COVID-19 at one of the lowest levels in Latin America, even as the region becomes a coronavirus epicenter.
NEWS
MAY 28, 2020 / 12:14 AM / UPDATED 6 HOURS AGO
In Brazil's shadow, laid-back Uruguay curbs COVID-19
Fabian Werner, Marina Lammertyn
4 MIN READ
MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Leonardo Silveira, a bookstore owner in Montevideo, is hopeful about the future as Uruguay begins a gradual reopening. The small country has kept rates of COVID-19 at one of the lowest levels in Latin America, even as the region becomes a coronavirus epicenter.
The South American nation of 3.5 million people, known for its beef, laid-back lifestyle and legalized cannabis, has recorded 789 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and 22 deaths. That’s around 23 cases per 100,000 people - versus nearly 200 cases per 100,000 in Brazil.
Uruguay moved fast in March when the first cases were detected. It introduced a voluntary quarantine, widespread monitoring and tracking of infections, randomized tests, and use of models to predict how the disease would progress in different parts of the country.
With no deaths since May 23, government adviser Rafael Radi described the situation last week as being under “relative control.”
Now it is easing the economy open, including a staggered restarting of schools. Some are calling it the New Zealand of Latin America, given its similar population size and number of deaths.
In May, customers started appearing in the bookstore who had not come for a long time, said Silveira.
“People come not only to buy books but to see you and talk for a while. It’s a happy thing to see them - at a distance but together here in the shop,” he said.
As well as Brazil, neighbors like Chile, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia have far higher rates of infection than Uruguay.
Paraguay has kept cases at a similar level but with much tougher measures, including using the military to enforce its lockdown.
Adriana Garcia Da Rosa, 57, a pediatrician in Montevideo, said the success was down to good government planning, while flu inoculations had helped keep pressure off the health service from seasonal illness.
Uruguay’s population responded well and abided by government regulations, making it possible to control the pandemic effectively,” she said.
Giovanni Escalante, Uruguay’s representative at the Pan American Health Organization, said the country’s success was down to a rapid response, robust measures, and the creation of a crisis committee led by health and epidemiological experts.
Only a handful of the country’s approximately 650 intensive care unit beds available for COVID-19 patients are currently occupied, he said.
But a shadow remains. Uruguay shares a northern border with Brazil, which now has the second highest number of recorded cases in the world.
The border city of Rivera has seen cases tick up and Uruguayan officials fear the still open border remains a “weak point,” government adviser Radi said.
The arrival of the southern hemisphere winter is another concern.
Nonetheless, many Uruguayans cheered signs of a gradual return to normality after their businesses took a hit.
Sebastian Barbat, who runs convenience stores in Montevideo, said his business had fallen to a trickle during the lockdown, but was now recovering.
“We are seeing around half the amount of customers we had at the best times in the first half of March,” he said, adding the firm was now looking to hire people again after cutting staff.
“We had to reduce our workforce to the minimum possible, with just two employees left who are the owners. Now we are coming back.”
Reporting by Fabian Werner, Alejandro Obaldía and Marina Lammertyn; Writing by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Brazil is huge, has many large pockets of severe poverty and disruption (the North East, the Amazon areas flooded with Venezuelan refugees as well as "wild west" full of loggers, miners and Native Americans) and is basically impossible to totally control even in good time.
The fact that they have a "President" who claims to be a populist but who in reality seems determined simply to deny the reality on the ground (after all it is mostly killing off poor people in the slums for now).
This is not going to end well, there are already rumors of the military stepping in as things become increasingly unstable - people need a scapegoat and I think the current President of Brazil should take a few moments to reflect up the Storming of the Bastile before he has another party.
Plain Jane
Just Plain Jane
I absolutely agree and I have held that opinion since the early 90's. It was obvious by then that our War on Drugs was an abysmal failure.