INTL Latin America and the Islands: Politics, Economics, Military - July 2021

[Plain Jane]

June's thread is here:

INTL - Latin America and the Islands: Politics, Economics, Military- June 2021

May's thread is here: https://www.timebomb2000.com/xf/index.php?threads/latin-america-and-the-islands-politics-economics-military-may-2021.600148/ Main Coronavirus thread beginning page 1351: https://www.timebomb2000.com/xf/index.php?threads/main-coronavirus-thread.566780/page-1351...

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CORONA - Main Coronavirus thread

Explosive Report: China Discussed Making Bioweapons to Target Certain Races Explosive Report: China Discussed Making Bioweapons to Target Certain Races by Matt PalumboPosted: June 28, 2021 If a new report is to be believed, China may have far more to answer for than just COVID-19. Rumble video...

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US publishes list of corrupt officials in Central America

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The U.S. State Department has named more than 50 current and former officials, including former presidents and active lawmakers, suspected of corruption or undermining democracy in three Central American countries.

apnews.com

US publishes list of corrupt officials in Central America
By SONIA PÉREZ D. and CHRISTOPHER SHERMANyesterday

FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2010 file photo, wearing the presidential sash, Honduran President Porfirio Lobo and his wife First Lady Rosa Elena wave after Lobo was sworn in as the new president during his inauguration ceremony in Tegucigalpa. The U.S. State Department has named in a report released on Thursday, July 1, 2021 more than 50 current and former officials suspected of corruption or undermining democracy in three Central American countries, including the former Honduran first couple, saying Lobo took bribes from a drug cartel and his wife was involved in fraud and misappropriation of funds. Both deny the allegations. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco, File)

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The U.S. State Department has named more than 50 current and former officials, including former presidents and active lawmakers, suspected of corruption or undermining democracy in three Central American countries.

Many of the cases were known in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, but the inclusion of names on the U.S. list buoyed the hopes of anti-corruption crusaders. The list was provided to the U.S. Congress in compliance with the “U.S.-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act” pushed last year by U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel.

Its release comes at a time that the Biden administration has given new attention to endemic corruption in the region as one of the factors driving Central Americans to migrate to the U.S.

Ricardo Zúñiga, White House special envoy for the Northern Triangle, said Thursday that the list was not final and that pulling U.S. visas from those named does not exclude the possibility of other sanctions. The law requires the State Department to provide a list to Congress at least once a year.

The list was composed using classified and unclassified information and more attention was given to cases involving people currently in government or in positions close to power rather than older offenses, Zúñiga said.

“Corruption and attacks on democracy are viewed as some of the most important root causes of irregular migration from Central America,” he said. “They hobble governments, they distort markets, they undercut development efforts, and ultimately they demoralize a population that decides to embark on a very dangerous irregular migration to Mexico and the United States because they don’t believe we can build their futures at home.”

Congress’ call for the report reflects growing concern “about the level of systemic corruption in the countries of the Northern Triangle, the significant backsliding that we’ve seen across the region in the last several years,” and the need to “ensure that our assistance is not ending up in the pockets of corrupt officials or their allies,” said Adriana Beltran, director of citizen security at the Washington Office on Latin America, a nongovernmental organization focused on human rights issues.

Among the most prominent figures on the list are former Honduras President Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo Sosa and former first lady Rosa Elena Bonilla de Lobo. The State Department report says Lobo Sosa took bribes from a drug cartel and his wife was involved in fraud and misappropriation of funds. Both deny the allegations. Bonilla’s conviction on related charges was invalidated by the Supreme Court last year and she is awaiting a new trial.

Perhaps as significant as Lobo Sosa’s inclusion or that of more than a dozen current lawmakers, was the omission of current Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández. U.S. prosecutors in New York have signaled Hernández as having funded his political ascent with bribes from drug traffickers, but he has not been formally charged.

He has denied any wrongdoing. His brother, former federal lawmaker Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, was sentenced in New York in March to life in prison.

Honduras analyst Raúl Pineda Alvarado, said there had been high expectations for the list, but that in general it did not include the top perpetrators, leaving him underwhelmed: “If this is the way the United States Congress wants to battle corruption in Honduras, it’s like wanting to cure cancer with aspirin.”

Instead of naming those who call the shots and control resources, most of the names were “secondary perpetrators,” he said.

“This Engel list, in a way, was very inspiring, you thought it would be a devastating blow to the real corruption heavyweights,” Pineda said. “But unfortunately those hopes have been frustrated.”

In El Salvador, former cabinet officials, a judge and the cabinet chief for President Nayib Bukele were placed on the list. Chief of Staff Carolina Recinos has kept a low profile since her name appeared on a shorter State Department list in May, but administration officials say she has maintained her presence in the presidential offices.

Thursday’s list said she “engaged in significant corruption by misusing public funds for personal benefit” and participated in a money laundering scheme.

The list also included two former presidents of the Legislative Assembly, including Walter Araujo who left the conservative Arena party to become a high-profile leader of Bukele’s New Ideas party.

The list said Araujo was included for “calling for insurrection against the Legislative Assembly and repeatedly threatening political candidates.” Araujo reacted on Twitter, saying that “gringos” and unscrupulous journalists wouldn’t silence him.

“If for defending my nation and my people they put me on the Engel list ... they can put me there 100 times more,” he wrote.

Jean Manes, former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, who recently returned temporarily as the charges d’ affaires, said in a video statement that U.S. strategy in the region centers on battling corruption because it is the greatest impediment to development.

She noted that people included on the list “immediately lose their visa to enter the United States.”
Eduardo Escobar, head of the public accountability organization Citizen Action in El Salvador, said he had met Wednesday with U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland on her visit to the country.

Escobar said that in some cases, the list lent credence to allegations that members of Bukele’s government were involved in corruption, as well as members of other political parties. He said now they would have to see if El Salvador’s Attorney General’s Office takes any action to pursue people on the list.
Bukele’s administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Guatemala, former President Alvaro Colom Caballeros, was accused of involvement in fraud and embezzlement in the case of a new bus system in Guatemala City. Current Supreme Court justice Manuel Duarte Barrera allegedly “abused his authority to inappropriately influence and manipulate the appointment of judges to high court positions.” Another high court justice, Nester Vásquez, also allegedly meddled in the selection of judges.

Guatemala’s chief anti-impunity prosecutor, Juan Francisco Sandoval, indicated the extent of Guatemala’s corruption was far beyond those named on the list.

“I think they are missing a number who have been charged with corruption,” Sandoval said. “In the prosecutor’s office, we investigate hundreds of people and hundreds more have been convicted. I think they need to touch the high positions in the corrupt structures, especially those who finance it.”
__
Sherman reported from Mexico City. AP writers Marcos Aleman in San Salvador and Marlon González in Honduras contributed to this report.

 

[jward]

Venezuela to Cut Six Zeroes Off Bolivar to Simplify Transactions
Patricia Laya, Alex Vasquez

4-5 minutes


Venezuela is preparing to once again lop off zeroes from the national currency in an attempt to simplify daily transactions which sometimes barely fit on a calculator or require swiping cards multiple times to complete a purchase.
The central bank is planning to slash six zeroes from the bolivar as early as August after previous attempts to issue larger-denomination bills failed to resolve problems created by endemic inflation, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter who aren’t authorized to speak publicly about the plans.

That means one dollar would fetch 3.2 bolivars instead of 3,219,000 at present.

Venezuela last carried out a “redenomination” of the bolivar in 2018 and in March began printing a 1 million-bolivar note, the largest in the country’s history. But that bill is now worth just $0.32 and isn’t enough to buy a cup of coffee. Since 2008, the government -- first under the late Hugo Chavez, and then under current President Nicolas Maduro -- has removed 8 zeroes from the currency, as hyperinflation decimated people’s savings.
While the country has now informally adopted the U.S. dollar for many every day transactions, most Venezuelans only earn bolivars and the local currency is needed for things like bus fare, parking and tips.

With electronic payments on the rise in Venezuela, the central bank shouldn’t have to print as many of the new bills as in previous “redenominations,” the people said. The bank will likely roll out six different denominations ranging from 2 to 100 bolivars, they said. The name would remain “bolivar soberano.”
The push for simplifying bolivar transactions has come largely from companies who have raised the issue with the government. Things like paying taxes and dealing with other accounting calculations have become absurdly complex.
“This has been desperately awaited by businesses due to the serious operational consequences that come from the overflow of digits in the system,” said economist Tamara Herrera, head of consulting firm Sintesis Financiera.

The central bank didn’t respond to several requests for comment while the government declined to comment on the matter.
Maduro’s Reluctant Reforms May Halt Venezuelan Economic Freefall
While previous attempts to relaunch the currency by cutting off zeroes and printing new bills have failed shortly after implementation, a series of recent reforms that have slowed consumer price gains may mean it has a better chance of sticking now.
Following the second-longest hyperinflation stretch in the country’s history, annual inflation is down to 2,339% a year from more than 300,000% in 2019, according to Bloomberg’s Cafe con Leche index. On a monthly basis, price gains slowed even further to about 20% in May from April. The central bank no longer publishes regular inflation data.

Venezuela’s economy may have hit bottom after seven years of economic contraction during which the currency became virtually worthless amid crashing oil prices and unchecked state spending. Under pressure by U.S. sanctions, the government was forced to scrap some price controls, reduce subsidies on goods including gasoline and remove many restrictions on foreign exchange which may allow the economy to grow this year.

“Everyone has been affected by the huge lag in providing cash for the country,” Herrera said. “Without a real economic stabilization program, we will need another redenomination in a few years.”
— With assistance by Fabiola Zerpa, and Nicolle Yapur

Posted for fair use

Venezuela to Cut Six Zeroes Off Bolivar to Simplify Transactions

Venezuela is preparing to once again lop off zeroes from the national currency in an attempt to simplify daily transactions which sometimes barely fit on a calculator or require swiping cards multiple times to complete a purchase.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[jward]

Hey Lady...In case I don't see you for the holiday, Happy Fourth!
... <3 Thoughts n Prayers, as always ...

 

[Plain Jane]

Mexican migrants sent home a record $4.5 billion in May

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexicans living abroad sent home a record amount of money in May, topping $4.5 billion in a month for the first time, Mexico’s central bank said Thursday.

apnews.com

Mexican migrants sent home a record $4.5 billion in May
yesterday

FILE - In this June 27, 2020 file photo, a customer leaves a bank where people receive international money wires in Acatlan de Osorio, Mexico. Mexico's central bank said Thursday, July 1, 2021, that migrants living abroad sent home a record amount of money to Mexico in May, topping $4.5 billion per month for the first time. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexicans living abroad sent home a record amount of money in May, topping $4.5 billion in a month for the first time, Mexico’s central bank said Thursday.
Just a year ago, it was considered a record when migrants’ money, known as remittances, broke the $4 billion per month mark in March 2020.

They now regularly send more than $4 billion. Only January and February, traditionally slow months for remittances, fell below that mark this year, with March, April and May setting new records. May is a traditionally high month because of Mother’s Day.

The $19.2 billion sent home in the first five months of 2021 is 21.7% more than during the same period of 2020.

If the pace keeps up, Mexico could be on track to top $45 billion in remittances for the full year in 2021.

As a source of foreign income, remittances earn Mexico more money than oil exports or tourism and are exceeded only by manufacturing exports.

BBVA bank said in an analysis report that the rapid U.S. economic recovery and shortages of workers in some sectors may have helped migrants send more money home. Most Mexican migrants live and work in the United States, where employment opportunities have surged as the coronavirus pandemic eases.

Remittances in Mexico have now set records for five straight years. The $40.6 billion that migrants sent to Mexico in 2020 was equivalent to the combined budgets of the Mexican government’s education, health, labor, welfare and culture departments.

About 98.5% of Mexico’s remittances are sent from the United States, almost all by bank or wire transfers.

Despite a controversial proposal to require the central bank buy all cash dollars that wind up in Mexican banks — a move that would supposedly help migrants — only about 0.7% of remittances enter the country as cash.

 

[Plain Jane]

Press groups slam Mexican leader's 'lie of the week' contest

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Press and human rights organizations on Friday criticized Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s weekly ‘contest’ that roughly translates as ‘Lie of the Week.’

apnews.com

Press groups slam Mexican leader’s ‘lie of the week’ contest
today

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his daily press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Tuesday, June 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Press and human rights organizations on Friday criticized Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s weekly ‘contest’ that roughly translates as ‘Lie of the Week.’

Each week at his daily morning press conference, López Obrador presents a few news articles he feels are unfair, an exercise he calls “Who’s Who in Lies.” It mirrors other segments like “Who’s Who in the price of gasoline?” which is meant to embarrass stations that charge high prices.

The authors of the news articles and opinion columns are singled out for criticism by López Obrador, who talks more to the press — but is also more openly hostile to them — than almost any of his predecessors. The president’s supporters often launch social-media pile-ons against reporters he criticizes.

The Inter American Press Association says the practice stigmatizes and intimidates journalists in a country that already has a high level of violence against reporters. The IAPA said in a statement that it “calls for the immediate end to its aggression.”

Carlos Jornet, the IAPA’s president on the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, wrote that “in the case of Mexico, one of the countries where exercising journalism poses the highest risk, direct speech with insults against journalists and the media from the Presidency is doubly dangerous, a type of aggression that, as experience indicates, usually ends up in acts of violence.”

The InterAmerican Human Rights Commission has also expressed concerns about the segment.

The president’s spokesman, Jesús Ramírez, defended López Obrador’s program, writing that “the Mexican government seeks to reduce the damage caused by disinformation and lies. It is not to discredit journalists or news outlets, it only stigmatizes lies.”

“This allows the public to form their own opinion about national problems, and strengthens democracy,” Ramírez wrote.

López Obrador said earlier this week he “doesn’t claim to be the owner of absolute truth,” but he is notoriously resistant to criticism and refuses to acknowledge errors.

The president claims he is the victim of a smear campaign by “conservatives” whose economic interests have been affected by his anti-corruption efforts. López Obrador has often complained the “conservatives” pay reporters or news outlets to attack him.

Press groups say nine journalists were killed in Mexico in 2020, the highest total of any country not at war.

Two journalists have been killed in Mexico so far this year, and two other reporters have disappeared.

 

[Plain Jane]

Undersea gas pipeline rupture causes fire in Gulf of Mexico

Mexico's state-owned oil company says it suffered a rupture in an undersea gas pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico.

apnews.com

Undersea gas pipeline rupture causes fire in Gulf of Mexico
yesterday


MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s state-owned oil company said Friday it suffered a rupture in an undersea gas pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico, sending flames boiling to the surface in the Gulf waters.

Petroleos Mexicanos said it had dispatched fire control boats to pump more water over the flames.

Pemex, as the company is known, said nobody was injured in the incident in the offshore Ku-Maloob-Zaap field.

The leak near dawn Friday occurred about 150 yards (meters) from a drilling platform. The company said it had brought the gas leak under control about five hours later.

But the accident gave rise to the strange sight of roiling balls of flame boiling up from below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

It was unclear how much environmental damage the gas leak and oceanic fireball had caused.
Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program director for the Center for Biological Diversity, wrote that “the frightening footage of the Gulf of Mexico is showing the world that offshore drilling is dirty and dangerous.”

Sakashita added, “These horrific accidents will continue to harm the Gulf if we don’t end offshore drilling once and for all.”

 

[Plain Jane]

Indigenous Mapuche woman to take lead in drafting Chile's post-Pinochet constitution

Delegates chose a woman on Sunday from Chile's majority indigenous Mapuche people to lead them in drafting the country's new constitution - a dramatic turnaround for a group that is unacknowledged in…

www.france24.com

Indigenous Mapuche woman to take lead in drafting Chile's post-Pinochet constitution
Issued on: 05/07/2021 - 05:45

Constitutional assembly president Elisa Loncon speaks as assembly members gather for the first session to draft a new constitution, in Santiago, Chile July 4, 2021. © Ivan Alvarado, Reuters
Text by:NEWS WIRES
3 min
Delegates chose a woman on Sunday from Chile's majority indigenous Mapuche people to lead them in drafting the country's new constitution - a dramatic turnaround for a group that is unacknowledged in the country's present rule book.


Elisa Loncon, 58, a political independent, is a Santiago university professor and activist for Mapuche educational and linguistic rights.

She was picked by 96 of the 155 men and women, including 17 indigenous people, who make up the constitutional body that will draft a new text to replace Chile's previous magna carta produced during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Loncon accepted the position with fist clenched above her head, telling her colleagues to noisy celebrations: "I salute the people of Chile from the north to Patagonia, from the sea to the mountains, to the islands, all those who are watching us today," she said.

"I am grateful for the support of the different coalitions that placed their trust and their dreams in the hands of the Mapuche nation, who voted for a Mapuche person, a woman, to change the history of this country."

Her election represents a high point in a day of high drama which included the suspension of the delegates' swearing in after protests outside and inside the venue, and clashes with police forced a delay to the event.

Problems arose after marches organised by independent, left-wing and indigenous groups fielding delegates for the constitutional body, as well as other interest groups, met heavily armed police manning barricades outside Santiago's former congress building where the ceremony was being held.

Delegates inside the event then remonstrated with the organisers over heavy-handed police tactics, banging drums and shouting over a youth classical orchestra playing the national anthem.

Amid demands by delegates for "repressive" special forces police to be withdrawn, the electoral court official presiding over the ceremony agreed to suspend the event until midday.

The fracas underscored the intense challenges for the drafting of a new magna carta against a backdrop of deep divisions that still simmer after Chile was torn apart by massive protests that started in October 2019 over inequality and elitism and were fueled by a fierce police response.

The constitutional body was picked by a popular vote in May and is dominated by independent and leftist candidates, some with roots in the protest movement, with a smaller share of more conservative candidates backed by the current centre-right government.

The delegates have vowed to address topics including water and property rights, central bank independence and labour practices, prompting jitters among investors of potentially significant changes to the free market system of the world's top copper producer.

Before the ceremony began, Aymara and Mapuche delegates held spiritual ceremonies with song and dance in the downtown streets surrounding the body's new headquarters and on a nearby hillside.

Unrecognised in the current constitution, they are hoping a new text will afford their nations new cultural, political and social rights.

The commission has up to a year to agree a common rulebook, establish committees and draft a new text.

Leandro Lima, a Southern Cone analyst for Control Risks, said the independents brought "legitimacy" to the process given Chileans' deep mistrust in established politics but a paucity of policymaking experience and deep ideological divisions could cause critical delays to the drafting of the text itself.
(REUTERS)

 

[artichoke]

June's thread is here:

INTL - Latin America and the Islands: Politics, Economics, Military- June 2021

May's thread is here: https://www.timebomb2000.com/xf/index.php?threads/latin-america-and-the-islands-politics-economics-military-may-2021.600148/ Main Coronavirus thread beginning page 1351: https://www.timebomb2000.com/xf/index.php?threads/main-coronavirus-thread.566780/page-1351...

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Main Coronavirus thread beginning page 1358:

CORONA - Main Coronavirus thread

Explosive Report: China Discussed Making Bioweapons to Target Certain Races Explosive Report: China Discussed Making Bioweapons to Target Certain Races by Matt PalumboPosted: June 28, 2021 If a new report is to be believed, China may have far more to answer for than just COVID-19. Rumble video...

www.timebomb2000.com

US publishes list of corrupt officials in Central America

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The U.S. State Department has named more than 50 current and former officials, including former presidents and active lawmakers, suspected of corruption or undermining democracy in three Central American countries.

apnews.com

US publishes list of corrupt officials in Central America
By SONIA PÉREZ D. and CHRISTOPHER SHERMANyesterday

FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2010 file photo, wearing the presidential sash, Honduran President Porfirio Lobo and his wife First Lady Rosa Elena wave after Lobo was sworn in as the new president during his inauguration ceremony in Tegucigalpa. The U.S. State Department has named in a report released on Thursday, July 1, 2021 more than 50 current and former officials suspected of corruption or undermining democracy in three Central American countries, including the former Honduran first couple, saying Lobo took bribes from a drug cartel and his wife was involved in fraud and misappropriation of funds. Both deny the allegations. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco, File)

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The U.S. State Department has named more than 50 current and former officials, including former presidents and active lawmakers, suspected of corruption or undermining democracy in three Central American countries.

Many of the cases were known in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, but the inclusion of names on the U.S. list buoyed the hopes of anti-corruption crusaders. The list was provided to the U.S. Congress in compliance with the “U.S.-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act” pushed last year by U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel.

Its release comes at a time that the Biden administration has given new attention to endemic corruption in the region as one of the factors driving Central Americans to migrate to the U.S.

Ricardo Zúñiga, White House special envoy for the Northern Triangle, said Thursday that the list was not final and that pulling U.S. visas from those named does not exclude the possibility of other sanctions. The law requires the State Department to provide a list to Congress at least once a year.

The list was composed using classified and unclassified information and more attention was given to cases involving people currently in government or in positions close to power rather than older offenses, Zúñiga said.

“Corruption and attacks on democracy are viewed as some of the most important root causes of irregular migration from Central America,” he said. “They hobble governments, they distort markets, they undercut development efforts, and ultimately they demoralize a population that decides to embark on a very dangerous irregular migration to Mexico and the United States because they don’t believe we can build their futures at home.”

Congress’ call for the report reflects growing concern “about the level of systemic corruption in the countries of the Northern Triangle, the significant backsliding that we’ve seen across the region in the last several years,” and the need to “ensure that our assistance is not ending up in the pockets of corrupt officials or their allies,” said Adriana Beltran, director of citizen security at the Washington Office on Latin America, a nongovernmental organization focused on human rights issues.

Among the most prominent figures on the list are former Honduras President Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo Sosa and former first lady Rosa Elena Bonilla de Lobo. The State Department report says Lobo Sosa took bribes from a drug cartel and his wife was involved in fraud and misappropriation of funds. Both deny the allegations. Bonilla’s conviction on related charges was invalidated by the Supreme Court last year and she is awaiting a new trial.

Perhaps as significant as Lobo Sosa’s inclusion or that of more than a dozen current lawmakers, was the omission of current Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández. U.S. prosecutors in New York have signaled Hernández as having funded his political ascent with bribes from drug traffickers, but he has not been formally charged.

He has denied any wrongdoing. His brother, former federal lawmaker Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, was sentenced in New York in March to life in prison.

Honduras analyst Raúl Pineda Alvarado, said there had been high expectations for the list, but that in general it did not include the top perpetrators, leaving him underwhelmed: “If this is the way the United States Congress wants to battle corruption in Honduras, it’s like wanting to cure cancer with aspirin.”

Instead of naming those who call the shots and control resources, most of the names were “secondary perpetrators,” he said.

“This Engel list, in a way, was very inspiring, you thought it would be a devastating blow to the real corruption heavyweights,” Pineda said. “But unfortunately those hopes have been frustrated.”

In El Salvador, former cabinet officials, a judge and the cabinet chief for President Nayib Bukele were placed on the list. Chief of Staff Carolina Recinos has kept a low profile since her name appeared on a shorter State Department list in May, but administration officials say she has maintained her presence in the presidential offices.

Thursday’s list said she “engaged in significant corruption by misusing public funds for personal benefit” and participated in a money laundering scheme.

The list also included two former presidents of the Legislative Assembly, including Walter Araujo who left the conservative Arena party to become a high-profile leader of Bukele’s New Ideas party.

The list said Araujo was included for “calling for insurrection against the Legislative Assembly and repeatedly threatening political candidates.” Araujo reacted on Twitter, saying that “gringos” and unscrupulous journalists wouldn’t silence him.

“If for defending my nation and my people they put me on the Engel list ... they can put me there 100 times more,” he wrote.

Jean Manes, former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, who recently returned temporarily as the charges d’ affaires, said in a video statement that U.S. strategy in the region centers on battling corruption because it is the greatest impediment to development.

She noted that people included on the list “immediately lose their visa to enter the United States.”
Eduardo Escobar, head of the public accountability organization Citizen Action in El Salvador, said he had met Wednesday with U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland on her visit to the country.

Escobar said that in some cases, the list lent credence to allegations that members of Bukele’s government were involved in corruption, as well as members of other political parties. He said now they would have to see if El Salvador’s Attorney General’s Office takes any action to pursue people on the list.
Bukele’s administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Guatemala, former President Alvaro Colom Caballeros, was accused of involvement in fraud and embezzlement in the case of a new bus system in Guatemala City. Current Supreme Court justice Manuel Duarte Barrera allegedly “abused his authority to inappropriately influence and manipulate the appointment of judges to high court positions.” Another high court justice, Nester Vásquez, also allegedly meddled in the selection of judges.

Guatemala’s chief anti-impunity prosecutor, Juan Francisco Sandoval, indicated the extent of Guatemala’s corruption was far beyond those named on the list.

“I think they are missing a number who have been charged with corruption,” Sandoval said. “In the prosecutor’s office, we investigate hundreds of people and hundreds more have been convicted. I think they need to touch the high positions in the corrupt structures, especially those who finance it.”
__
Sherman reported from Mexico City. AP writers Marcos Aleman in San Salvador and Marlon González in Honduras contributed to this report.

“Corruption and attacks on democracy are viewed as some of the most important root causes of irregular migration from Central America,” he said. “They hobble governments, they distort markets, they undercut development efforts, and ultimately they demoralize a population that decides to embark on a very dangerous irregular migration to Mexico and the United States because they don’t believe we can build their futures at home.”

What a strange final sentence. Who is responsible for building their futures, are we responsible? How about they should be responsible? They have a climate with at least 2 growing seasons per year, you drop a seed on the ground and it will grow. Why don't they build their own futures?

They find it more lucrative to come here, mostly illegally, and send money back. This will continue until we keep them out and send them back to build up their own countries. As it is those countries are sort of empty of young adults, men especially. They're all up here working illegally, getting "refunded" payments and credits for having children here instead of paying income tax, and consuming social services.

The corruption is irrelevant. None of them is nearly as corrupt as billion dollar Biden.

 

[Plain Jane]

Brazil's Bolsonaro faces more corruption allegations

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was involved in a scheme to skim salaries of his aides while a federal deputy, website UOL reported on Monday, citing what it said were audios of his former sister-in-law…

www.france24.com

Brazil's Bolsonaro faces more corruption allegations
Issued on: 06/07/2021 - 04:29

FILE PHOTO: Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro gets in a vehicle after attending Mass at a Catholic church in Brasilia, Brazil July 1, 2021. © Adriano Machado, Reuters
Text by:NEWS WIRES
3 min
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was involved in a scheme to skim salaries of his aides while a federal deputy, website UOL reported on Monday, citing what it said were audios of his former sister-in-law explaining his role in the alleged racket.


The scheme, known locally as rachadinha, involves hiring close associates as employees and then receiving a cut of their public salaries back from them.

Rio de Janeiro state prosecutors have formally pressed charges against federal Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the president's eldest son, over his alleged participation in a similar racket when he was a state lawmaker.

The UOL story, based on audio recordings of Bolsonaro's former sister-in-law, Andrea Siqueira Valle, provided by a source, is the first time the president has been directly implicated in a rachadinha scheme, despite numerous awkward questions about his role in Flavio Bolsonaro's alleged racket in Rio.

This comes as Bolsonaro is seeing his anti-graft credentials, which helped get him elected president in 2018, questioned by a simmering scandal over alleged corruption in the government's vaccine procurement efforts.

Senator Renan Calheiros, sponsor of a Senate inquiry into the government's handling of the pandemic, said on Monday that Siqueira Valle could be called before the committee for questioning.

While the rachadinha is not directly connected to the Senate inquiry, it adds to recent allegations about irregularities in the government's purchase of vaccines and calls into question Bolsonaro's anti-corruption platform.

The president's office declined to comment. A lawyer representing Bolsonaro contacted by UOL denied illegalities.

In one audio recording, Andrea Siqueira Valle explains that her brother, Andre Siqueira, who was also on Bolsonaro's payroll, was fired for refusing to hand back the agreed amount to the now-president.

"André had a lot of trouble because he never returned the right money that had to be returned," she says on the recording.

"Eventually, Jair said ... 'Enough. You can get rid of him because he never gives me the right amount of money.'"

Reuters was unable to confirm the legitimacy of the recordings or the information in the story. Andrea Siqueira Valle declined to comment to UOL.

UOL also reported that on two separate occasions, Siqueira Valle told people close to her about the racket allegedly being run from Bolsonaro's office.

The accusations against Bolsonaro for allegedly misusing public funds as a federal lawmaker could open him up to a federal probe.

However, Brazilian law does not allow a sitting president to be charged for any crime committed before taking power.

Instead, prosecutors would need to wait until the president has left office to bring charges.
(REUTERS)

 

[Plain Jane]

Nicaragua arrests 6 more opposition figures; EU weighs move

Nicaraguan police arrested a half dozen more opposition figures, including the sixth presidential hopeful to have been arrested in a crackdown that started last month.

apnews.com

Nicaragua arrests 6 more opposition figures; EU weighs move
yesterday



1 of 10
FILE - In this May 16, 2018 file photo, student representative Lesther Aleman interrupts Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, shouting that he must halt repression during the opening of the national dialogue on the outskirts of Managua, Nicaragua. Nicaraguan police arrested a half dozen more opposition figures on July 6, 2021, including Alemán, a former student leader who returned to Nicaragua after exile but stayed in safe houses. (AP Photo/Alfredo Zuniga, File)

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Nicaraguan police arrested a half dozen more opposition figures, including the sixth presidential hopeful to have been arrested in a crackdown that started last month.

Among those arrested Monday was Lesther Alemán, a former student leader who returned to Nicaragua after exile but stayed in safe houses. Those detained also included presidential contender Medardo Mairena, and Max Jerez, another student leader.

Two leaders of farmers’ groups, Pedro Mena and Freddy Navas, were also arrested, and a third, Pablo Morales, was listed by opposition activists as having been detained.

Almost all were arrested under “treason” laws that President President Daniel Ortega has used to detain almost all his potential rivals in the Nov. 7 elections.

On Tuesday, the European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Tuesday that “more restrictive” measures may be needed against Ortega’s Sandinista regime.

“The situation has reached such an extreme that member states will have to study more concrete actions, and not just ‘enough already, Mr. Ortega,’” Borrell told a session of the European Parliament.

Alemán played a leading role in 2018 protests against Ortega’s government that were met with brutal repression; he had gone into exile in the United States after that and knew he might be a target when he returned in 2019. Alemán hadn’t lived at home for three years.

Just last week, when Alemán went to his party’s headquarters for a meeting, police stopped him outside the building, checked his ID and took his picture before letting him enter. “When I entered eight police cars arrived,” Alemán said in an interview a short time later. “I was surrounded and everyone said it was my day.” He declined to explain how he got out.
Alemán’s relatively new Citizens for Freedom party has not selected its candidate yet, but Alemán had said last week he planned to run.

The government has arrested at least 27 opposition figures over the past month. Most face vague allegations of crimes against the state. Ortega alleges the April 2018 street protests were part of an organized coup attempt with foreign backing.

Alemán rose to fame in May 2018, a month after the huge protests erupted and paralyzed much of the country before being violently put down. At the first attempt at dialogue with Ortega, Alemán shocked those watching the live televised event.

“This is not a table of dialogue. This is a table to negotiate your exit and you know it well,” he told the president. “Give up!”

Some had said previously that opposition figures like Alemán and Mairena should not dignify the marred elections by participating. With five of the best-known potential candidates already in jail and the field tilted heavily in Ortega’s favor as he pursues a fourth consecutive term, some believe the opposition should sit out and not legitimize an Ortega victory.

But in the case of Alemán and Mairena, Ortega neatly solved that dilemma by tossing them, too, in jail, where political prisoners are mostly held in secret locations, incommunicado, with no access to relatives or lawyers.

Candidates must register by Aug. 2. Two other potential candidates from Alemán’s party — Juan Sebastián Chamorro y Arturo Cruz — have already been arrested.

 

[Plain Jane]

Haitian President Jovenel Moise assassinated by gunmen, state of emergency declared

A group of unidentified individuals attacked the private residence of Haitian President Jovenel Moise overnight and shot him dead, Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said in a statement released Wednesday.

www.france24.com

Haitian President Jovenel Moise assassinated
Issued on: 07/07/2021 - 11:51

File photo of then Haitian presidential candidate Jovenel Moise taken in April 2016. Moise was assassinated on July 7, 2021, according to the Haiti's interim prime minister. AFP - ALEX WONG
Text by:FRANCE 24Follow
2 min
A group of unidentified individuals attacked the private residence of Haitian PresidentJovenel Moise overnight and shot him dead, Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said in a statement released Wednesday.


At around 1am on Wednesday July 7, a group of unidentified people, including some speaking Spanish, attacked the private residence of the president, mortally wounding the head of state. The First Lady suffered bullet injuries and was in hospital, said a statement released by Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph’s office.

Joseph said he was now in charge of the country.

Condemning the “inhumane and barbaric act”, Joseph called for calm, saying the police and the country’s armed forces had taken control of the security situation.


Moise had been ruling Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, by decree, after legislative elections due in 2018 were delayed in the wake of disputes, including on when his own term ends.

In addition to the political crisis, kidnappings for ransom have surged in recent months, further reflecting the growing influence of armed gangs in the Caribbean nation.
Haiti also faces chronic poverty and recurrent natural disasters.

Insecurity and political instability
The president faced steep opposition from swathes of the population that deemed his mandate illegitimate, and he churned through a series of seven prime ministers in four years. Joseph was slated to be replaced this week after only three months in the post.
In addition to presidential, legislative and local elections, Haiti was due to have a constitutional referendum in September after it was twice postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Supported by Moise, the text of the constitutional reform, aimed at strengthening the executive branch, has been overwhelmingly rejected by the opposition and many civil society organizations.

The constitution currently in force was written in 1987 after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship and declares that "any popular consultation aimed at modifying the Constitution by referendum is formally prohibited."

Critics had also claimed it was impossible to organise a poll, given the general insecurity in the country.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Number of missing on Mexico's highway of death rises to 71

MEXICO CITY (AP) — At least 71 people have gone missing this year on a highway between Mexico’s industrial hub of Monterrey and the border city of Nuevo Laredo, authorities said Wednesday.

apnews.com

Number of missing on Mexico’s highway of death rises to 71
yesterday



1 of 2
Family of Ricardo Valdes, who disappeared on the road on May 25, placed missing posters during a protest in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon state, Mexico, Thursday, June 24, 2021. As many as 50 people in Mexico are missing after they set off on simple highway trips between the industrial hub of Monterrey and the border city of Nuevo Laredo; relatives say they simply disappeared on the heavily traveled road, which has been dubbed 'the highway of death,' never to be seen again. (AP Photo/Roberto Martinez)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — At least 71 people have gone missing this year on a highway between Mexico’s industrial hub of Monterrey and the border city of Nuevo Laredo, authorities said Wednesday.

Earlier estimates by relatives of the victims — at least half a dozen of whom are U.S. residents — had placed the number of disappeared so far this year at around 50.

The head of Mexico’s National Search Commission, Karla Quintana, said most of the missing are men who drove trucks or taxis on a road that local media have dubbed “the highway of death.”

Quintana said investigations are focusing on a point near where the highway enters Nuevo Laredo, which has long been dominated by the Northeast drug cartel. Quintana said the disappearances may be related to turf battles between the Jalisco and Northeast cartels.
But the missing also include women and children and men driving private cars.

The FBI office in San Antonio, Texas, has issued a bulletin seeking information on the disappearance of a Laredo, Texas, woman, Gladys Perez Sánchez, and her 16-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter, who were last seen setting out on the highway June 13. They had visited relatives in Sabinas Hidalgo, a town on the highway, and were returning to Texas in their car when they vanished.

In recent months, activists say about a half dozen men have reappeared alive and badly beaten after being abducted on the highway, and all they will say is that armed men forced them to stop on the highway and took their vehicles.

Despite alerts from relatives of the missing, the state government of Nuevo Leon, where Monterrey is located, didn’t warn people against traveling on the highway until almost a month later, on June 23. Authorities have since increased policing and security on the highway, and are searching for the missing.

The disappearances, and the June shooting of 15 apparently innocent bystanders in the border city of Reynosa, suggest Mexico is returning to the dark days of the 2006-2012 drug war when cartel gunmen often targeted the general public as well as one another.

“It’s no longer between the cartels; they are attacking the public,” said activist Angelica Orozco.

Given the propensity of cartels in the region to incinerate the bodies of their victims, it is not clear that if those who disappeared on the highway are dead whether their bodies could ever be found.

On Wednesday, Quintana revealed that at a point farther east along the border, authorities have excavated a shocking half-ton (500 kilograms) of burned bone fragments, apparently human, since the site was found in 2017. Quintana described the bone dumping ground at a spot near the border city of Matamoros as a “place of extermination.”

The total number of people who have gone missing in Mexico since 2006 and have never been found stands at almost 87,855.

Officials in the early 2000s were often quick to repeat an old belief that drug cartels only killed each other, not innocent civilians, a belief that apparently hasn’t completely died.

On Wednesday, Assistant Interior Secretary Alejandro Encinas said that almost 80% of present-day killings “are associated with criminal activities.”

 

[Plain Jane]

The Latest: Dominican Republic urges world action on Haiti

The latest developments in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse: UNITED NATIONS — The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, is urging the international community to put a high priority on dealing with the political crisis and insecurity in its...

apnews.com

The Latest: Dominican Republic urges world action on Haiti
By The Associated Pressyesterday



1 of 6
People protest against the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse near the police station of Petion Ville in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, July 8, 2021. Officials pledged to find all those responsible for the pre-dawn raid on Moïse’s home early Wednesday in which the president was shot to death and his wife, Martine, critically wounded. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn)

The latest developments in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse:
UNITED NATIONS — The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, is urging the international community to put a high priority on dealing with the political crisis and insecurity in its neighbor.

The Dominican ambassador to the United Nations told reporters Thursday that the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse can only lead to further destabilization there.
Ambassador Jose Blanco says Haiti’s instability can no longer be ignored. He says Haiti should be subject to permanent monitoring, “not only for the region, but also for all of the international community.”

He criticized the U.N. Security Council for holding a private meeting on the Haiti crisis Wednesday and also for not inviting participation by the Dominican Republic, saying its own security “is directly impacted by this situation.”
___
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti’s elections minister says a U.S. citizen is among the suspects arrested in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
Mathias Pierre told The Associated Press on Thursday that James Solages, a Haitian American, is among those arrested.
He did not give further information about Solages or about the nationality of the five others reportedly detained so far.
On a website for a charity Solages started in 2019, he describes himself as a “certified diplomatic agent,” an advocate for children and budding politician. The charity is meant to assist residents of the small coastal town of Jacmel in Haiti.
Solages also says he previously worked as “chief of bodyguards” at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti.
Calls to the foundation and Solages’ associates at the charity either did not go through or were not answered.
___
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. special envoy for Haiti says the Haitian government has requested additional security assistance as well as help in investigating the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
Speaking from Haiti’s capital Thursday, Helen La Lime told U.N. correspondents that Haitian officials haven’t yet specified what kind of security assistance they want.
La Lime says that in the meantime, the United Nations needs to use the technical assistance that is part of its political mission in Haiti in a “more dynamic” way.
In her words, “we’ve got to be really working in the most effective way to ensure that this investigation moves forward and that the perpetrators of this horrible crime are brought to justice. That’s exactly what we intend to do.”
___
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A Haitian judge involved in the investigation of the president’s assassination says that Jovenel Moïse was shot a dozen times and his office and bedroom were ransacked by the gang that attacked him, according to a Haitian newspaper.
The French-language Le Nouvelliste on Thursday quoted Judge Carl Henry Destin as saying investigators found 5.56 and 7.62 mm cartridges between the gatehouse and inside the house. It said Destin had been to the presidential residence as part of the investigation.
Moïse’s daughter, Jomarlie Jovenel Moïse, hid in her brother’s bedroom during the attack, he said, and a maid and another worker were tied up by the attackers who shouted “DEA operation” as they entered the property early Wednesday, the judge said, citing witnesses.
___
WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Jen Psaki says the U.S. believes Haiti should hold an election this year, regardless of concerns by some that the current situation in the country has made an election untenable.

“We called for an election this year, or we’re continuing to call for one, because we feel that supporting democratic institutions, the democratic process, is something that would be in the interest of the people of Haiti,” she told reporters at the White House on Thursday.

Psaki said that the White House had been in touch with the acting prime minister and “of course” the administration is “worried about, and closely monitoring, the security situation” in Haiti. And she reiterated the administration’s pledge to support the nation however needed.

“We stand ready to provide support, provide assistance, in any way that is formally requested by the government there. We are looking forward to hearing from them on what they would request and how we can help them through this period of time,” she said.
Meanwhile, the U.N.’s special envoy for Haiti, Helen La Lime, said in New York that interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph had told U.N. officials he plans to maintain the scheduled Sept. 26 election date. She said the U.N. is working with Haitian officials “to look at the issues and to do our utmost to meet this date.”
___
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — At least two suspects in the killing of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse were found and roughed up by civilians in the capital of Port-au-Prince and were then turned over to police.

Journalists saw scores of people gather around the men on Thursday, grabbing the suspects by their shirts and the back of their pants, pushing them and on occasion slapping them. People in the crowd said they had found the two hiding in bushes.

Police arrived shortly afterward to arrest the men, who were sweating heavily and were wearing clothes that seemed to be smeared with mud. Officers placed them in the back of a pickup truck and drove away as the crowd ran after them to the nearby police station.

Once the crowd arrived, some began to chant: “They killed the president! Give them to us. We’re going to burn them!”

The crowd later set fire to several abandoned cars riddled with bullet holes that they apparently believed belonged to the suspects. The cars didn’t have license plates and inside one of them was an empty box of bullets and some water.

National Police Director Léon Charles told Radio Métropole on Thursday that six people have been arrested, seven were killed and police are still looking for more of those responsible for the early Wednesday’s raid in which the president was shot to death and his wife, Martine, critically wounded.
___
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Police say they have arrested four more suspects in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, bringing the total to six detained and seven killed.

National Police Director Léon Charles told Radio Metropole Thursday that police are still looking for more of those responsible for the early Wednesday’s raid in which the president was shot to death and his wife, Martine, critically wounded.
Officials haven’t given any details about the suspects, including their nationalities, nor did they suggest a motive for the attack, which they said was carried out by “a highly trained and heavily armed group,” whose members spoke Spanish or English.
___
ROME — Italy has strongly condemned the attack “on the heart of Haitian institutions” following the shooting death of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.

The foreign ministry issued a statement on Thursday that also expressed hope that “those guilt of this crime be quickly brought to justice.” Italy appealed to “all actors and all the Haitian political forces so that they may preserve the delicate political equilibriums, prevent tensions and assure the institutional stability of the country and the security of the population.”
It urged the international community to support those efforts — even guaranteeing a constitutional referendum and elections.
___
DALLAS — Airlines canceled flights to Haiti for a second straight day on Thursday due to the closure of Haitian airports following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

Under U.S. regulations, passengers are entitled to refunds. American Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines waived costly fees for passengers who are booked on flights still scheduled over the next few days but who want to delay their plans until mid-July. The terms vary by airline.

Tracking service Flightaware said 28 flights, the vast majority of scheduled departures and arrivals at the main airport in Port-au-Prince, had been canceled by midday Thursday. The airport director had said Wednesday that only humanitarian and diplomatic flights would be allowed.
___
JIMANI, Dominican Republic — Dozens of trucks were backed up Thursday at the Dominican Republic’s border with Haiti, a crucial passage closed to most traffic following the assassination of Haiti’s president.

Journalists saw three trucks with Dominican license plates and two buses allowed through the Mal Paso crossing, but most were held back — frustrating hundreds of Haitians with baskets and carts on the other side who were waiting for the usual daily shipments of food and other cargo.

Dominican President Luís Abinader ordered the closure on Wednesday and also beefed up security along the border after Haiti’s government reported that a team of gunmen had assassinated Jovenel Moïse.

The president of the Dominican Association of Exporters, Elizabeth Mena, said she was worried that the closure could have serious repercussions for the Dominican economy.
___
ROME — Pope Francis has sent condolences to Haiti following what he said was the “heinous assassination” of President Jovenal Moïse.
Francis, who is recovering at a Rome hospital from intestinal surgery, condemned “all forms of violence as a means of resolving crises and conflicts,” according to a telegram signed by the Vatican secretary of state on Thursday.

The message said Francis was praying for the Haitian people and for Martine Moïse, the wife of the slain president who also was critically injured in the Wednesday attack at their home.

Prime Minister Claude Joseph assumed leadership of Haiti and decreed a two-week state of siege following Moïse’s killing, which stunned the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation.

Francis said in the telegram that he “wishes for the dear Haitian people a future of fraternal harmony, solidarity and prosperity.”

Moïse met with Francis in 2018 for talks on social problems afflicting the Caribbean nation, and in 2015, Francis convened a special conference on Haiti to mark the fifth anniversary of the devastating earthquake that killed more than 100,000 people.

 

[Plain Jane]

Venezuela: Security forces clash with armed gangs – DW – 07/10/2021

Government forces have waged an all-out offensive against armed groups that control parts of the capital, Caracas. President Nicolas Maduro claims the gangs are financed from abroad.

www.dw.com

Venezuela: Security forces, armed gangs clash in Caracas
Government forces have waged an all-out offensive against armed groups that control parts of the capital, Caracas. President Nicolas Maduro claims the gangs are financed from abroad.




The Special Actions Force of the Bolivarian National Police (FAES) is tasked with fighting crime

Venezuelan security forces moved into several poor neighborhoods of Caracas on Friday as part of an offensive against armed groups that control parts of the country's capital.

What do we know about the fighting?
Local media say at least a dozen people have died since fighting began on Wednesday.
Gangs from the southwestern Cota 905 neighborhood have attempted to expand their territory in Caracas in an uphill battle against the authorities. The gangs have reportedly acquired military equipment such as drones, grenades and assault rifles.


Watch video02:51
Venezuelan returnees: Fleeing from crisis to crisis
The government has vowed to continue the offensive until the gangs are pushed back. Around 800 members of the security forces are taking part in the operation against the gangs.

"The state security forces will remain in combat as long as necessary to liberate all the territories kidnapped by criminal gangs," Interior Minister Carmen Melendez tweeted Friday. "We have the morale, the professionals, the weapons, and the constitutional force to achieve this objective."

The Venezuelan government has offered a $500,000 (€420,000) reward for information regarding the location of gang leaders. One of the most notorious leaders of the Cota 905 gang is named Carlos Luis Revete, or "El Coqui."

Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro has claimed that the gangs are financed from outside the country, and believes it is a "plot" to destabilize the nation.

"The enemies of the homeland intend to sow anxiety through the financing of criminal gangs, we will not sit idly by," Maduro tweeted Friday. "We are acting forcefully, adhering to the laws."

NGOs call for deescalation
A group of 166 Venezuelan NGOs on Friday called for a deescalation of violence and criticized the government's heavy-handed tactics towards the armed groups. The statement was published by Venezuelan rights group PROVEA.

The NGOs expressed "deep concern for the lives and safety of their residents" in the neighborhoods affected by the violence and said the state must "comply with international obligations" regarding human rights.

The NGOs said "iron-fisted" policies by the government towards the criminals have only caused death and resulted in the gangs becoming stronger.

Venezuela is one of the most dangerous countries on the planet, and marked 12,000 violent deaths in 2020, according to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory.

The oil-rich nation has been embroiled in economic turmoil since 2013 and witnessed hyperinflation. The country has been also experiencing an ongoing leadership crisis between Maduro and National Assembly President Juan Guaido since January 2019.
wd/dj (AFP, Reuters)

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Activism Uncensored: Colombia In Chaos

BY TYLER DURDEN
SATURDAY, JUL 10, 2021 - 06:30 PM
Authored by Matt Taibbi via TK News,
Any American correspondent working abroad will tell you: coverage of in-country upheavals are dictated by the nature of the government’s relationship to the United States. If they’re technically allies, protests tend to be portrayed as illegitimate. Hence the dilemma in Colombia, as depicted in this episode of Activism Uncensored.
R/T 10:10

View: https://youtu.be/N86O93NYf9Y




Colombia for some time now has been considered America’s key strategic ally in South America — “think of it as similar to Israel in the Middle East,” says correspondent Maranie R. Staab, above. Colombia is the top recipient in the region of American aid, collecting $800 million in 2020 alone, being central to multiple American objectives, from drug interdiction to opposition to the left-wing government of Nicolas Maduro. The State Department last year issued a fact sheet explaining the relationship:

Colombia is a key U.S. partner in ongoing efforts to help Venezuela in its return to democracy and economic prosperity. Colombia’s leadership has been essential in coordinating regional support for Interim President Juan Guaidó, as well as condemning Maduro’s misrule and adopting policies to isolate his regime…

The usual “Democracy Promotion” script involves the U.S. backing this or that politician with money, weapons, and sometimes even military manpower, turning a blind eye to corruption or other excesses connected to that politician, then ultimately being forced to double down on the money and weapons when anti-American protest movements rise in response.

This isn’t exactly that situation, but close: a government in America’s good graces largely thanks to its role as a launching pad for the dubious effort to install Guaidó in Venezuela, under pressure from a frustrated and impoverished population reacting in this case to a proposed tax hike on basic goods.

Foreign news outlets like Al Jazeera have openly described the Colombian protests as a “class war,” while groups like Amnesty International have tried to bring attention to the fact that the Colombian police suspected in the disappearances of some of the protesters may be armed with American weapons. Outlets like the Washington Post, meanwhile, have used more neutral language in describing “anti-government protests,” almost describing the Duque administration as a bystander to the chaos:

The White House has taken notice. Spokeswoman Jen Psaki urged authorities last month to “continue to work to locate all missing persons as quickly as possible.” The government of President Iván Duque has said it’s doing all it can.
The Colombian attorney general’s office says it received 572 reports of people “not located…”
In most cases, the office told The Post, the reports “correspond to the normal dynamics of people who voluntarily left their family circle…”

The footage gathered by Staab, Ford Fischer, and News2Share above shows a different picture: the Colombian protests as a serious foreign policy dilemma for the Biden administration, which finds itself caught between its strategic sponsorship of the Colombian government and pressure to respond to wide-scale accusations of human rights violations.


When the U.S. doesn’t have a clear horse to back in these standoffs, coverage tends to be muted. Here we at least get a long look at the scene on the ground, where over 1,000 have been injured and at least 50 have been killed.

 

[Plain Jane]

Cuba: Thousands turn out to anti-government protests – DW – 07/12/2021

The demonstrators are angered by long food lines and the shortage of medicine during the coronavirus pandemic.

www.dw.com

Cuba: Thousands turn out to anti-government protests
The demonstrators are angered by long food lines and the shortage of medicine during the coronavirus pandemic.




Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel showed up to one of the demonstrations and was met by angry protesters

Thousands of Cubans poured into the streets of major cities such as Havana and Santiago on Sunday, with demonstrators calling for an end to the communist government.

What do we know so far?
Demonstrators chanted slogans such as "Down with the dictatorship" and "We want liberty."
The protesters are incensed by long food lines, rising prices and the lack of vital medicines during the coronavirus pandemic. The country is also experiencing a record number of new cases and deaths from the virus.

Watch video01:32
Cuba's own COVID vaccine nears approval
President and head of the Communist Party Miguel Diaz-Canel attended one of the protests in San Antonio de Los Banos, which is located west of Havana. Social media footage showed protesters shouting insults at the president.

Diaz-Canel has accused the United States of orchestrating the unrest, and called on government supporters to confront "provocations."

"We are calling on the revolutionaries in the country, all the communists, to hit the streets wherever there is an effort to produce these provocations," Diaz-Canel said in broadcast remarks on Sunday.

The government has deployed special forces vehicles mounted with machine guns in major cities in response to the demonstrations.

A video on Twitter showed demonstrators in San Antonio de los Banos shouting "No Tenemos Miedo" or "We are not afraid."

Ramon Espinosa, a photographer working for the Associated Press, was reportedly wounded in the face while covering the anti-government demonstrations in Havana.

Cuban-Americans express solidarity with protesters
Prominent Cuban-American officials expressed solidarity with the demonstrators. Public figures shared the #SOSCuba hashtag to raise awareness of the situation and call for foreign assistance.

"The people of Cuba are in the streets demanding freedom," Florida Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar tweeted. "The brutal Castro regime is using violence to repress all those demanding their rights. We must stand with them."

Florida Senator Marco Rubio said Cubans are frustrated with the "dictatorship's incompetence."
Rubio, a Republican lawmaker, asked US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken "to call on members of the Cuban military to not fire on their own people."

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said late Sunday that the US "supports freedom of expression and assembly across Cuba, and would strongly condemn any violence or targeting of peaceful protesters who are exercising their universal rights."

Cuban foreign affairs official Ernesto Soberon condemned a "campaign" which he said aims to "portray an image of total chaos in the country which does not correspond to the situation."



Watch video01:55
Cuba is suffering under US embargo
Michael Bustamante, a professor of Latin American history at Florida International University, said the protests were the largest since the summer of 1994.
"Only now, they weren't limited to the capital, they didn't even start there, it seems," Bustamante said.

Cuba has been under communist rule since 1959, following the overthrow of military dictator Fulgencio Batista. The Cuban government has been accused of systemic human rights abuses such as unfair trials and arbitrary imprisonment, with the US having imposed an embargo against the country.
wd/aw (AFP, Reuters, AP)

See this thread also:

VIDEO - Cubans getting twitchy all day, protesting communism

Been seeing vids since this morning: View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1414338739053072392 View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1414339367192125446 View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1414339268554547201 View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1414339015508054016 View...

www.timebomb2000.com

 

[Plain Jane]

Venezuela forces 'threaten' Guaido, arrest ally for treason – DW – 07/12/2021

The opposition leader's wife reported the presence of armed officers at their residence live on Twitter. Authorities have meanwhile arrested Guaido's close ally Freddy Guevara on charges of terrorism and treason.

www.dw.com

Venezuela forces 'threaten' Guaido, arrest ally for treason
The opposition leader's wife reported the presence of armed officers at their residence live on Twitter. Authorities have meanwhile arrested Guaido's close ally Freddy Guevara on charges of terrorism and treason.




Guaido spoke with reporters from his apartment building's basement parking garage after the incident

Fabiana Rosales, wife of Venezuelan politician and opposition leader Juan Guaido, shared images online on Monday, saying they showed armed Venezuelan security officers at the couple's Caracas apartment seeking to detain her husband.

Rosales also claimed authorities had entered the building's parking garage to keep Guaido from leaving the premises.

Shortly after the incident, Guaido told reporters that security forces had "threatened" to arrest him but had then left.

"The harassment and the threats will not stop us," said Guaido.

Guaido's wife again took to Twitter after the officers left, seeming to credit the media and locals with foiling the plot by turning up in large numbers after her alert.

"At this moment, President Guaido is in my home," Rosales wrote. "Thanks to the media and neighbors for coming."

In a later tweet, Rosales also shared a video of what she said were bullet holes left in one of her walls by the FAES agents.

Guaido's neighbors were credited with helping drive away government agents attempting to arrest him

According to Guaido's office, the raids took place minutes after another opposition politician, Freddy Guevara, was arrested and taken to a Caracas prison.

In a statement, the prosecutor's office said it had requested a warrant for Guevara's arrest due to his alleged "ties with extremist groups and paramilitaries associated with the Colombian government."

Opposition leader and Maduro rival
Guaido is president of the National Assembly and the self-proclaimed interim president of the crisis-ridden South American country.

Guaido declared himself acting president of the country on January 23, 2019 — a claim recognized by dozens of countries around the world, with the US being foremost among them.

The claim is based on the grounds that incumbent President Nicolas Maduro rigged the 2018 vote and that as president of the National Assembly. Guaido is the highest ranking elected official in the country other than Maduro and would thus be responsible for leading it until free and fair elections can be held.
js/msh (EFE, Reuters)

 

[Plain Jane]

This guy also made Kamala Harris look bad.

Guatemalan president bans most protests for 15 days

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The president of Guatemala on Tuesday banned most protests for two weeks, arguing they have been spreading the coronavirus

apnews.com

Guatemalan president bans most protests for 15 days
By SONIA PÉREZ D.today

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei speaks at a new facility to receive deported Guatemalans at La Aurora Air Force base during its inauguration ceremony also attended by U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas in Guatemala City, Wednesday, July 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The president of Guatemala on Tuesday banned most protests for two weeks, arguing they have been spreading the coronavirus.

President Alejandro Giammattei’s Cabinet approved the decree and it will go into effect Wednesday.

Protesters in recent weeks have demanded Giammattei’s resignation, saying the government has mismanaged the coronavirus pandemic and botched efforts to get vaccines. There have been delays in shipments of Russia’s Sputnik vaccine, even though Guatemala paid half up front.

It is the latest of more than a dozen decrees that Giammattei has issued to temporarily limit constitutional rights, and even Vice President Guillermo Castillo says enough is enough.
“We need states of vaccination, not a state of emergency,” Castillo told The Associated Press. “Rather than limiting constitutional rights, what the government should do is get more vaccines.”

The president’s office said open-air demonstrations by people wearing face masks and practicing social distancing will be allowed, but police may break up any protest if they judge it violates any of those rules or presents a public health risk.

The measures also include a night-time ban on alcohol sales starting at 6 p.m., and a ban on driving without a face mask.

A crowd of about 300 protesters gathered Saturday in the main square of the capital to demand the resignation of Giammattei, and on Monday banners appeared on several streets in Guatemala City demanding he go.

Referring to the protests, Giammattei said: “These people are spreading the virus and causing more problems. That is what they want and they are spreading it through a series of illegal demonstrations.”

Giammattei signed a deal in April for 16 million doses of the two-dose Russian vaccine, and paid 50%, or almost $80 million, up front. But only about 550,000 Sputnik doses have arrived so far.

About 1.5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine have been donated by the United States. But with just over 2 million doses, Guatemala doesn’t have nearly enough for its 17 million people.
So far, Guatemala has registered about 320,000 coronavirus cases and 9,721 COVID-19 deaths.

 

[Plain Jane]

Brazil's Bolsonaro hospitalized with persistent hiccups – DW – 07/14/2021

The Latin American leader has been plagued by hiccups for more than 10 days. He says they began after a dental operation.

www.dw.com

Brazil's Bolsonaro hospitalized to check persistent hiccups
The Latin American leader has been plagued by hiccups for more than 10 days. He says they began after a dental operation.




Far-right populist and coronavirus naysayer Bolsonaro has been plagued by health problems
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was admitted to a military hospital in the capital Brasilia early Wednesday morning, complaining of persistent hiccuping.

Hours later, the president was transferred to a hospital in Sao Paolo for exams to determine whether he must undergo emergency surgery for an intestinal blockage.

The president's office said Dr. Antonio Luiz Macedo, who operated on Bolsonaro after he was stabbed in the abdomen at a 2018 campaign event, ordered the transfer.
Bolsonaro was originally admitted for treatment of persistent hiccuping, which doctors in Brasilia had hoped to find the cause of. Bolsonaro says it has gone on for more than 10 days and began after a dental operation.

Questions about the 66-year-old's health have persisted since he was seriously injured in a stabbing attack on the campaign trail in 2018 — he has since had several bouts of abdominal surgery.

Later on Wednesday the right-wing firebrand took to Twitter to blame the entire ordeal on his political opponents in the Workers' Party (PT), writing: "One more challenge, a consequence of the assassination attempt promoted by a former affiliate of the PSOL, left wing of the PT, to prevent the victory of millions of Brazilians who wanted changes for Brazil. A cruel attack not only against me, but against our democracy."

Recently, the hiccups visibly impeded the far-right politician's efforts to speak during public events. "I apologize to everyone who is listening to me, because I've been hiccuping for five days now," Bolsonaro said on July 7, for instance, during an interview with Brazil's Radio Guaiba, adding, "I have the hiccups 24 hours a day."

Bolsonaro has faced growing public anger over his disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic. He has consistently dismissed the illness as a "little flu" — he was also infected last year but quickly recovered — and took a lax approach to both lockdowns and vaccine procurement. Brazil has the world's second-highest death toll in gross terms (536,000) behind the United States.

The president's approval ratings have been in free-fall for weeks and he currently trails his likely opponent, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in opinion polls, ahead of next year's presidential election.


Watch video01:54
Brazil: Thousands protest against President Bolsonaro
js/msh (AFP, AP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Guatemalan consulate sees 456 lone kids in Arizona in July

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s consulate in Tucson, Arizona, said Wednesday it has identified 456 unaccompanied Guatemalan minors, most between the ages of 7 and 17, who had been found by U.S.

apnews.com

Guatemalan consulate sees 456 lone kids in Arizona in July
yesterday


GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s consulate in Tucson, Arizona, said Wednesday it has identified 456 unaccompanied Guatemalan minors, most between the ages of 7 and 17, who had been found by U.S. Border Patrol officers so far in July.

U.S. officials often ask home-country consulates to identify minors.

The Guatemalan Foreign Relations Ministry said Wednesday that the children were found in several Arizona border communities, including Sasabe, Naco and Nogales.
Each of those communities has a Mexican town of the same name on the other side of the border. Monday and Tuesday were particularly busy, with 80 kids identified.

The minors had entered the United States without proper documents. They were mainly from the heavily indigenous and rural provinces of Huehuetenango, San Marcos and Quiche.
Ursula Roldan, who researches migration at the Rafael Landívar University, said “the number seems very high in such a short span of time.”

“I think it has to do with family reunification,” Roldan said. ”I think the immigrant smugglers are hurrying things up because there has been talk of investigating the smugglers’ structures.”

Unaccompanied minors who make it into the U.S. are sometimes placed with relatives there. But the Guatemalan government says that so far this year, 2,873 unaccompanied minors have been deported from Mexico and the United States.

 

[Plain Jane]

Fascinating...

Haiti gets 500K vaccine doses; its first of the pandemic

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti on Wednesday received its first coronavirus vaccine since the pandemic began, welcoming 500,000 doses as the country battles a spike in cases and deaths.

apnews.com

Haiti gets 500K vaccine doses; its first of the pandemic
By DÁNICA COTOyesterday



1 of 7
Neighbors stand on a roof in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, July 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti on Wednesday received its first coronavirus vaccine since the pandemic began, welcoming 500,000 doses as the country battles a spike in cases and deaths.

The Pan American Health Organization said the United States donated the doses via the United Nations’ COVAX program for low-income countries.

Spokeswoman Nadia Peimbert-Rappaport told The Associated Press that the shipment was Moderna vaccine.

“The arrival of these vaccines is quite promising and now the challenge is to get them to the people that need them the most,” the regional health agency’s director, Dr. Carissa Etienne, said in a statement.

The doses will be administered for free, said Dr. Marie Gréta Roy Clément, Haiti’s minister of public health and population.

“This first allocation of vaccines puts an end to a long period of waiting, an end to a long period of waiting not only for the Haitian population but also for the people of the region who were very concerned that Haiti was the only country in the Americas that had not yet introduced the COVID 19 vaccine,” she said in a statement.

Haiti has reported more than 19,300 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 480 deaths as it fights a wave of COVID-19 cases that has forced hospitals to turn away patients. Experts believe those numbers are widely underreported since there is scant testing in Haiti, which has more than 11 million people.

Some 756,000 doses of AstraZeneca shots had been slated to arrive in May via the COVAX program but were delayed given the government’s concern over possible clotting as a side effect and a lack of infrastructure to keep the vaccines properly refrigerated.

The Pan American Health Organization has said it would help Haiti’s Health Ministry solve those problems and would prioritize vaccinating health workers.

It was not immediately known when inoculations would begin and where.

Experts have previously warned of potential problems that could complicate vaccination efforts, including a surge in gang violence that has people afraid to leave their homes or travel to certain areas because they fear for their lives.

Haiti also is now reeling from the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

Moïse had declared a health emergency on May 24 and imposed a curfew and safety measures, including mandating the use of face masks when entering businesses. But few Haitians are following the measures while buying groceries in bustling marketplaces or riding in crowded colorful buses known as tap taps.

Last month, the nonprofit St. Luke Foundation for Haiti said the country’s insecurity was interfering with oxygen being imported as a liquid, then being converted to gas and delivered.

“It is hard and dangerous work to refill 320 tanks per day, in the red zones of Port au Prince,” it said.

See this thread also:

INTL - Mounting Evidence Shows Haitian President Moïse Was Assassinated Before Blowing Whistle on Vaccines

https://noqreport.com/2021/07/13/mounting-evidence-shows-haitian-president-moise-was-assassinated-before-blowing-whistle-on-vaccines/ It's the type of conspiracy theory we normally avoid, but the evidence continues to mount and somebody needs to be paying attention. by JD Rucker July 13...

www.timebomb2000.com

 

[Plain Jane]

This does not look good!

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Speculation Abounds Over Brazilian President's Health Given "No Timeline" For Leaving Hospital

BY TYLER DURDEN
FRIDAY, JUL 16, 2021 - 03:20 PM
Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro initially entered the hospital early Wednesday over what his communications team described as a chronic hiccup problem, and a possible corresponding issue centered on abdominal pain. He had described to reporters the night before that he'd been hiccupping for over a week and called it a "crisis" in those moments the hiccups unexpectedly come back, often making his ability to talk smoothly very difficult.

Initially the president's office said he was being kept under observation for doctors "to identify the cause of chronic hiccups" - but on Friday that appears to have changed. The medical team treating him says he's doing well and will "soon" be discharged, but a partial intestinal obstruction is now keeping him there with "no timeline" set for his exit.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1415396691763675140

View: https://twitter.com/jairbolsonaro/status/1415396691763675140?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1415396691763675140%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmedical%2Fspeculation-abounds-over-brazilian-presidents-health-given-no-timeline-leaving-hospital


What initially appeared a mere 24 to 48 hour observational stay apparently could turn indefinite as speculation abounds. "Bolsonaro is making progress and continues receiving the same treatment, his doctors said in a note Friday, adding there’s no set timeline for his release," notes Bloomberg.

Earlier in the week Bolsonaro's team said his entire schedule for the rest of the week had been canceled due to the medical issues and need for evaluation. This as his presidency has been plagued by health issues, often leading to speculation about how dire a particular situation is, especially when he and much of his staff got coronavirus last year.

In 2018 on the campaign trail he was actually stabbed, his intestines injured - for which he underwent major surgery to save his life. However, he recovered surprisingly quickly and made a rapid return to making public appearances. The crazed attacker had said he was "on a mission from God."

On Friday he appeared to be doing better...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1416044385972723714

View: https://twitter.com/jairbolsonaro/status/1416044385972723714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1416044385972723714%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmedical%2Fspeculation-abounds-over-brazilian-presidents-health-given-no-timeline-leaving-hospital



It appears that his ongoing intestinal issues stem from that prior attack, though statements from his doctors have not gone to this level of detail. Bolsonaro himself took to Twitter to confirm precisely that his current condition is a consequence of that prior attack.

CNN reported Thursday based on sources in his administration:

According to sources at the presidential palace, Bolsonaro felt abdominal pain at night, and he was admitted to a hospital in Brasilia to investigate the cause of persistent hiccups, the secretariat said.
Dr. Antonio Luiz Macedo, the physician who was responsible for surgeries on Bolsonaro following a knife attack in 2018, found an intestinal obstruction and decided to take him to a hospital in São Paulo.
Bolsonaro will undergo additional tests to see whether there is a need for emergency surgery.

There's since been contradictory reports, with some indicating he could exit the hospital as early as later in the day Friday.

 

[Plain Jane]

Hundreds greet Aristide on return to troubled Haiti

Former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has returned to Haiti after nearly a month in Cuba. That has thrilled hundreds of supporters who gathered at the airport Friday to welcome the twice-elected, twice-deposed president a time of tensions over the recent assassination of the country’s leader.

apnews.com

Hundreds greet Aristide on return to troubled Haiti
By DÁNICA COTO and ASTRID SUÁREZyesterday



1 of 11
Supporters of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide celebrate as they wait at the airport for his expected arrival from Cuba, where he underwent medical treatment, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, July 16, 2021. Aristide's return adds a potentially volatile element to an already tense situation in a country facing a power vacuum following the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned to Haiti on Friday after a nearly a month in Cuba, thrilling hundreds of supporters who gathered at the airport at a time of tensions over the recent assassination of the country’s leader.

Aristide, a charismatic yet divisive figure in Haiti who was receiving unspecified medical treatment in Cuba, arrives back in a country simmering with tension over the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse as new details about the investigation emerged.

Colombian Police Chief Gen. Jorge Luis Vargas on Friday accused a former Haitian government official of ordering ex-Colombian soldiers to kill Moïse. He said Joseph Felix Badio told Colombians Duberney Capador and Germán Rivera that “what they have to do is kill the president of Haiti.”

Vargas said Badio gave that order roughly three days before the assassination during a meeting in Haiti with the two Colombians, who had been in the country since May 10.

Capador was killed in a shootout with Haitian police hours after Moïse was slain. Rivera remains detained in Haiti while police are still searching for Badio, who previously worked for Haiti’s Justice Ministry and then the government’s anti-corruption unit until he was fired in May.

More than 20 suspects accused of direct involvement in the slaying have been arrested, the majority of them former Colombian soldiers. At least three other suspects were killed, and police have said they are still looking for at least seven others.

Colombia’s government has said only a small group of Colombian soldiers knew the true nature of the operation and that the others were duped.

Marta Lucía Ramírez, Colombia’s vice president, said Friday that the government is preparing a consular mission who will arrive in Haiti to help the detained suspects and repatriate the bodies of those killed.

Also on Friday, Police Chief Léon Charles said 24 police officers that form part of the president’s security detail have been invited for questioning. He did not say how many of them were on duty the night Moïse was killed. Charles said a fifth high-ranking police official has been placed in isolated detention with four others, although none have been named as suspects.

Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said the government will continue to bring those responsible to justice.

“We will continue to pose questions,” he said.

Officials also announced that Moïse’s funeral would be held July 23 in the northern city of Cap-Haitien. They added that his wife, Martine, who was critically injured in the attack and remains hospitalized in Miami, would attend.

Meanwhile, the investigation continues. Tickets for most of the former soldiers, at least, were purchased through a Florida-based company, Worldwide Capital Lending Group, Vargas said Friday.

Officials earlier said they had been bought by another Florida company, CTU Security, which allegedly recruited the men.

Worldwide issued a statement Thursday saying it helped provide a loan to CTU, but said it was meant to help finance infrastructure projects sought by Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian physician and pastor who has been arrested in the plot.

“At no time during any meeting or conversation with Dr. Sanon or with any of his representatives was there any mention, discussion or suggestion of an assassination plot against President Moïse or the intention to use force to bring about a change of leadership in Haiti,” the company said.

Meanwhile, throngs of Aristide supporters cheered when they saw the former president arrive. They had arrived a couple of hours before the plane landed, holding pictures of the former priest, some saying, “The king is back!”

Aristide was taken home in an ambulance that made its way through the crowd. Some touched the vehicle’s windows before being pushed away by police. Some supporters lingered outside after the ambulance entered Aristide’s home, but the former leader did not come out and speak.

Joel Edouard “Pacha” Vorbe, an executive committee member of Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas party, told The Associated Press that Aristide “is completely recovered,” although he didn’t have details about his condition. Neither Aristide nor the government have described the health issue.

Aristide’s return adds a potentially volatile element to an already tense situation in a country facing a power vacuum. Aristide has long been one of Haiti’s most polarizing politicians and is still popular with many.

Aristide became a global figure of resistance when, as a slum priest known for fiery oratory, he led a movement that ousted the hated dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier in 1986.

He was elected president in 1990, forced out in a military coup a year later and restored to power by the U.S. military in 1994 to serve out the remainder of his term. As a champion of the poor and advocate of leftist “liberation theology,” he was deeply hated by members of the elite.

Reelected in 2000, he was ousted four years later following student protests and a rebellion led by former supporters, opponents with ties to the elite and the old Duvalierist regime. Aristide spent seven years in exile in South Africa before returning in 2011. He has largely kept a low profile, except when campaigning for his party’s unsuccessful presidential candidate in 2016.
Joseph is currently governing Haiti with the backing of police and military, although he faces growing challenges to his power.

While Haiti’s government has asked for military help, U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that sending troops was “not on the agenda.” However, he said U.S. Marines would be deployed to boost security at the U.S. Embassy.

Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s elections minister, said he believes the door is still open for potential U.S. military assistance, noting that the country is in a “fragile situation” and requires a secure environment to hold elections in upcoming months.
___
Suárez reported from Bucaramanga, Colombia. AP journalists Fernando Llano and Pierre Richard contributed to this report.

 

[Housecarl]

Posted for fair use.....

LIVE UPDATES: Pro-Cuba protests in Miami, Washington as demand for response grows

Less than a week after a rare series of antigovernment protests were broken up by police and government sympathizers, and elicited self-criticism from President Miguel Díaz-Canel, things appear calm in Cuba. But many wonder for how much longer?

www.foxnews.com

Published July 17, 2021
Last Update 1 hour(s) ago
LIVE UPDATES: Cubans wonder what's next after antigovernment protests
Less than a week after a rare series of antigovernment protests were broken up by police and government sympathizers, and elicited self-criticism from President Miguel Díaz-Canel, things appear calm in Cuba. But many wonder for how much longer?

Covered by: Brie Stimson

 

[Plain Jane]

Widow of slain Haitian president returns home

Martine Moise, the widow of Haiti's assassinated president Jovenel Moise, returned to the Caribbean nation on Saturday for his funeral after she was treated in a Miami hospital for injuries sustained…

www.france24.com

Widow of slain Haitian president returns home
Issued on: 18/07/2021 - 07:21

Jovenel and Martine Moïse January 12 2020 in Titanyen, Haiti © Andres Martinez Casares, Reuters
Text by:NEWS WIRES
3 min
Martine Moise, the widow of Haiti's assassinated president Jovenel Moise, returned to the Caribbean nation on Saturday for his funeral after she was treated in a Miami hospital for injuries sustained during the July 7 attack at their private residence.


Jovenel Moise was shot dead when assassins armed with assault rifles stormed his home in the hills above Port-au-Prince, tipping the country into uncertainty and sparking a frenzied investigation to identify the authors of the plan.

The Prime Minister's office tweeted a video of Martine Moise arriving back at the Haitian capital's Toussaint Louverture international airport on Saturday, wearing all black clothing, donning a bullet proof vest and with her right arm in a sling. She was greeted by Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph.

"The Prime Minister, Dr. Claude Joseph, welcomes the First Lady, Martine Moise, who arrives in Haiti for the funeral of her husband," the Prime Minister's office said.


Martine Moise had tweeted earlier this week while in Miami that she was still coming to terms with the killing of her husband and had thanked a "team of guardian angels who helped me through this terrible time."

Earlier on Saturday, the important Core Group of international ambassadors and representatives had urged "the formation of a consensual and inclusive government".

"To this end, we strongly encourage the designated Prime Minister Ariel Henry to continue the mission entrusted to him to form such a government," the group said. Henry, who Moise designated Prime Minister shortly before being killed, has not been sworn into his position and the country is being led by Joseph.

The Core Group is made up of ambassadors from Germany, Brazil, Canada, Spain, the United States, France, the European Union and special representatives from the United Nations and the Organization of American States.

"As Haiti faces serious dangers, the members of the group express the wish that all political, economic and civil society actors in the country fully support the authorities in their efforts to restore security throughout the country," it said.

The group also called for the organization of "free, fair, transparent and credible legislative and presidential elections as quickly as possible".

Senior opposition Senator Patrice Dumont, one of only 10 sitting lawmakers in the normally 30-seat Senate said on Thursday that fair elections cannot be held for at least a year due to the influence of violent gangs and a compromised electoral council.

On Friday a Colombian police chief said the assassination may have ordered by a former Haitian justice ministry official, citing a preliminary investigation that has implicated Haitian-Americans and former Colombian soldiers.
(REUTERS)

 

[Plain Jane]

Activist hunting for missing husband slain in Mexico

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A woman who joined with other activists to seek relatives who have disappeared in Mexico's wave of violence has been murdered in the northern border state of Sonora.

apnews.com

Activist hunting for missing husband slain in Mexico
yesterday


MEXICO CITY (AP) — A woman who joined with other activists to seek relatives who have disappeared in Mexico’s wave of violence has been murdered in the northern border state of Sonora.

The state prosecutor’s office vowed that “justice will be done” in the case of Gladys Aranza Ramos Gurrola, a member of the Mothers and Searching Warriors of Sonora. She was shot to death by people who came to her house near midnight Thursday in the municipality of Guaymas.

The 28-year-old woman has been searching for her husband, who disappeared in December 2020.

The activist group said in a statement that Ramos Gurrola was taken from her home and killed following a day of searching that turned up “several clandestine crematoria, some still with embers and smoke at the moment of discovery.”

It describe the site as “a place of active extermination.”


“We are indignant and in pain that we who are searching are at risk of being killed,” the group said.

The prosecutor’s office described Ramos Gurrola as “always brave, active, enthusiastic and showing solidarity” in the group’s searches. It said it is investigating whether her activities could have played a role in the shooting.

The federal government said on Monday that 68 human rights or environmental activists have been killed since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office in December 2018. She would be the 69th.

Mexico has reported more than 87,800 missing people since 2006, when then-President Felipe Calderón expanded the country’s battle against drug cartels.

For years, groups of relatives of the disappeared have joined together to make their own searches for the missing, sometimes finding mass graves that authorities then have excavated.

 

[Plain Jane]

Haiti's interim PM Joseph says he will step down – DW – 07/19/2021

Claude Joseph has said he will stand down to let Ariel Henry, the man designated as his successor by the assassinated president, take over as interim prime minister.

www.dw.com

Haiti's interim PM Joseph says he will step down
Claude Joseph has said he will stand down to let Ariel Henry, the man designated as his successor by the assassinated president, take over as interim prime minister.




Claude Joseph (pictured) said he would return to his previous position as foreign minister after talks with Ariel Henry

Haiti's interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph has said he will step down from the top post to make way for Ariel Henry.

Joseph made the comments in an interview with the Washington Post newspaper, with his offices soon issuing similar statements to other media.

Joseph told The Washington Post that he would step down "for the good of the nation."

The acting prime minister's comments follow soon after an international group of ambassadors appeared to snub him in a statement calling for the creation of "a consensual and inclusive government" in Haiti following President Jovenel Moise's assassination.

The so-called Core Group of ambassadors from Germany, Brazil, France, Canada, the US, Spain, the EU, the UN and the Organization of American States made no mention of Joseph and instead called on Henry to lead the country toward elections.

"To this end, it strongly encourages the designated Prime Minister Ariel Henry to continue the mission entrusted to him to form such a government,'' the weekend statement from the Core Group said.


Watch video03:59
Political chaos in Haiti: Prof. Günter Maihold speaks to DW
What did Claude Joseph say?
Joseph said in the Washington Post interview that he would allow 71-year-old neurosurgeon Ariel Henry to take his place as prime minister after weeks of uncertainty in the Caribbean country.

Moise had appointed Henry before his death at the hands of automatic weapon-wielding mercenaries on July 7.

Joseph said he had talked to Henry privately and was willing to give him the mandate "as quickly as possible."

Joseph, who would return to being foreign minister, said he was not looking for "any kind of power grab" but was just "interested in seeing justice" for his former "friend" Moise.

Joseph's office said the new government's mission would be "to organize general elections as soon as possible" in line with international appeals. It added that no replacement president would be appointed in the interim period.

What has happened since Moiseꞌs death?
The authorities tracked down and arrested most of the mercenaries alleged to have killed Moise after a firefight.

Most of them were from Colombia and had been working in Haiti as bodyguards, with some having being trained by the US military.

Colombia's chief of police, General Jorge Vargas, said former Haitian official Joseph Felix Badio could have ordered Moiseꞌs assassination.

Watch video02:18
Key suspect in Haiti president's killing arrested: police
Authorities arrested a Florida-based doctor and Moise's head of security, Dimitri Herard, for being prime suspects in the plot.

Martine Moise, who was critically injured in the attack on her husband, arrived back in the country from being treated in Miami on Saturday for the president's funeral.
Henry praises Haitians for keeping calm
Ariel Henry issued an audio recording on Monday in which he praised Haitians for their restraint during a chaotic two weeks. He said he would soon announce the new members of what he called a provisional consensus government.

"I present my compliments to the Haitian people who have shown political maturity in the face of what can be considered a coup," Henry said. "Our Haitian brothers gave peace a chance, while leaving the possibility that the truth could one day be restored."

But not all voices are in agreement with the decision.

Monique Clesca, a Haitian writer, told The Associated Press that Henry, who is expected to carry on Moiseꞌs legacy, might have to have to shoulder the "burden" of being perceived as being "put there by the international community."

"What we're calling for is for Haitians to really say this is unacceptable," Clesca added. "We do not want the international community stating who ought to be in power and what ought to be done. It is up to us,'' she said.
jc/msh (Reuters, AP, AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Wielding a giant pencil, rural teacher Pedro Castillo declared Peru's new president

Rural teacher-turned-political novice Pedro Castillo on Monday became the winner of Peru’s presidential election after the country’s longest electoral count in 40 years.

www.france24.com

Wielding a giant pencil, rural teacher Pedro Castillo declared Peru's new president
Issued on: 20/07/2021 - 02:44

File photo of Pedro Castillo taken on June 25th 2021. © Jose Carlos ANGULO / AFP
Text by:NEWS WIRES
5 min
Rural teacher-turned-political novice Pedro Castillo on Monday became the winner of Peru’s presidential election after the country’s longest electoral count in 40 years.

Castillo, whose supporters included Peru’s poor and rural citizens, defeated right-wing politician Keiko Fujimori by just 44,000 votes.

Electoral authorities released the final official results more than a month after the runoff election took place in the South American nation.

Wielding a pencil the size of a cane, symbol of his Peru Libre party, Castillo popularised the phrase “No more poor in a rich country.”


The economy of Peru, the world’s second-largest copper producer, has been crushed by the coronavirus pandemic, increasing the poverty level to almost one-third of the population and eliminating the gains of a decade.

The shortfalls of Peru’s public health services have contributed to the country’s poor pandemic outcomes, leaving it with the highest global per capita death rate.

Castillo has promised to use the revenues from the mining sector to improve public services, including education and health, whose inadequacies were highlighted by the pandemic.

“Those who do not have a car should have at least one bicycle,” Castillo, 51, told The Associated Press in mid-April at his adobe house in Anguía, Peru’s third poorest district.

Since surprising Peruvians and observers by advancing to the presidential runoff election, Castillo has softened his first proposals on nationalising multinational mining and natural gas companies.

Instead, his campaign has said he is considering raising taxes on profits due to high copper prices, which exceed $10,000 per ton.

Historians say he is the first peasant to become president of Peru, where until now, Indigenous people almost always have received the worst of the deficient public services even though the nation boasted of being the economic star of Latin America in the first two decades of the century.

“There are no cases of a person unrelated to the professional, military or economic elites who reaches the presidency,” Cecilia Méndez, a Peruvian historian and professor at the University of California-Santa Barbara, told a radio station.
Fujimori, a former congresswoman, ran for a third time for president with the support of the business elites. She is the daughter of imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori.

Hundreds of Peruvians from various regions camped out for more than a month in front of the Electoral Tribunal in Lima, Peru’s capital, to await Castillo’s proclamation.

Many do not belong to Castillo’s party, but they trust the professor because “he will not be like the other politicians who have not kept their promises and do not defend the poor,” said Maruja Inquilla, an environmental activist who arrived from a town near Titicaca, the mythical lake of the Incas.

Castillo’s meteoric rise from unknown to president elect has divided the Andean nation deeply.

Author Mario Vargas Llosa, a holder of a Nobel Prize for literature, has said Castillo “represents the disappearance of democracy and freedom in Peru.” Meanwhile, retired soldiers sent a letter to the commander of the armed forces asking him not to respect Castillo’s victory.

Fujimori said Monday that she will accept Castillo’s victory, after accusing him for a month of electoral fraud without offering any evidence.

The accusation delayed his appointment as president-elect as she asked electoral authorities to annul thousands of votes, many in Indigenous and poor communities in the Andes.

Steven Levitsky, a political scientist at Harvard University, told a radio station that Castillo is arriving to the presidency “very weak,” and in some sense in a “very similar” position to Salvador Allende when he came to power in Chile in 1970 and to Joao Goulart, who became president of Brazil in 1962.

“He has almost the entire establishment of Lima against him,” said Levitsky, an expert on Latin American politics.

He added that if Castillo tried to change the constitution of Peru — enacted in 1993 during the tenure of Alberto Fujimori — “without building a consensus, (without) alliances with center games, it would be very dangerous because it would be a justification for a coup.”

The president-elect has never held office. He worked as an elementary school teacher for the last 25 years in his native San Luis de Puna, a remote village in Cajamarca, a northern region.

He campaigned wearing rubber sandals and a wide-brimmed hat, like the peasants in his community, where 40% of children are chronically malnourished.

In 2017, he led the largest teacher strike in 30 years in search of better pay and, although he did not achieve substantial improvements, he sat down to talk with Cabinet ministers, legislators and bureaucrats.

Over the past two decades, Peruvians have seen that the previous political experience and university degrees of their five former presidents did not help fight corruption.

All former Peruvian presidents who governed since 1985 have been ensnared in corruption allegations, some imprisoned or arrested in their mansions. One died by suicide before police could take him into custody.

The South American country cycled through three presidents last November.

Castillo recalled that the first turn in his life occurred one night as a child when his teacher persuaded his father to allow him to finish his primary education at a school two hours from home. It happened while both adults chewed coca leaves, an Andean custom to reduce fatigue.

“He suffered a lot in his childhood,” his wife, teacher Lilia Paredes, told AP while doing dishes at home. The couple has two children.

He got used to long walks. He would arrive at the classroom with his peasant sandals, with a woolen saddlebag on his shoulder, a notebook and his lunch, which consisted of sweet potatoes or tamales that cooled with the hours.

Castillo said his life was marked by the work he did as a child with his eight siblings, but also by the memory of the treatment that his illiterate parents received from the owner of the land where they lived. He cried when he remembered that if the rent was not paid, the landowner kept the best crops.

“You kept looking at what you had sown, you clutched your stomach, and I will not forget that, I will not forgive it either,” he said.
(AP)

 

[Melodi]

Peru is going to get really interesting, the new President sounds like a guy I would love to have dinner with his wife and my husband; but I suspect he's going to be a disaster as President if for no other reason than he has zero support among the old elites that actually have tended to run things for 500 years.

He does sound somewhat more humble and a bit more cautious than the guy next door that had a ceremony making him The Inca (for that nation). At least as a school teacher he will have a good knowledge of how things really work with the government bureaucracy on the local levels at least, but unless he has a couple of really good, really committed advisors (and he just might) things could go very badly for him.

Sad, because he looks on the surface (and I've never met him) like a good and decent person that managed to survive the horrific way his people are treated. In the 1970s, we had to read a novel written in the 1940s about life in the areas around where he comes from, and yeah, it was exactly like that then too.

Basically feudal with "lords" owning their peasants, barely letting them keep enough crops to survive (and not always that) and pretty life like it was for most European Peasants around 1300 AD.

There are a lot of people that don't want to see that system change, except for funneling some of the "excess" peasants into factors and low-wage work, because they benefit from it.

 

[Plain Jane]

Haiti: Ariel Henry assumes post as prime minister – DW – 07/21/2021

Henry has appealed for national unity as he takes office nearly two weeks after the assassination of late President Jovenel Moise.

www.dw.com

Haiti: Ariel Henry assumes post as prime minister
Henry has appealed for national unity as he takes office nearly two weeks after the assassination of late President Jovenel Moise.




PM Ariel Henry has called for Haitians to come together

Ariel Henry was formally inaugurated as Haiti's prime minister on Tuesday, almost two weeks after the assassination of late President Jovenel Moise.

Moise had designated Henry as his successor prior to his death.

'Time for unity'
Henry, a 71-year-old neurosurgeon and former Cabinet minister, has called for unity in the Caribbean country.

"It's time for unity and for stability," Henry said after he was sworn in. The new prime minister said the "Haitian people" are the solution to the country's political crisis after Moise's death.
Henry said one of his main goals is to restore law and order to Haiti.

"One of my priority tasks will be to reassure the people that we will do everything to restore order and security," he said.
"This is one of the main issues that the president wanted me to tackle, because he understood that it was a necessary step if we were to succeed in his other concern of organizing credible, honest, transparent and inclusive elections," he added.


Watch video03:59
Political chaos in Haiti: Prof. Günter Maihold speaks to DW
Claude Joseph cedes leadership
Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph had led Haiti in the days following Moise's death and declared a "state of siege" due to a lack of stability in the country. Joseph agreed to step down on Monday and hand over power to Henry.

"Your'e inheriting an exception situation characterized by the absence of a president to serve as your shield, a political crisis unprecedented in the history of the country, galloping insecurity, a morose and precarious economic situation," Joseph said in comments directed toward Henry.

Henry is backed by the US, EU and other major western countries such as Canada and France. Domestic critics of Henry claim he is a puppet of the international community.

"The United States welcomes efforts by Haiti's political leadership to come together in choosing an interim Prime Minister and a unity cabinet to chart a path forward in the wake of the heinous assassination of Jovenel Moïse," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Haitians paid their respects to Moise during a solemn ceremony in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. The official memorial service featured speeches and music to remember the late president.


Watch video02:18
Key suspect in Haiti president's killing arrested: police
Police officers arrested over Moise's killing
Moise was shot multiple times during an attack at his residence in the upscale Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Petion-Ville on July 7. First Lady Martine Moise was also injured in the attack and airlifted to the US for emergency care.

A group of 28 mercenaries are suspected of having orchestrated the killing. The Columbian government says several former Columbian soldiers are believed to have played a role in the assassination.

Haitian police chief Leon Charles announced the formal arrest of four police officers on Tuesday in connection to the assassination.

"There was infiltration in the police," he said.

Moise took office in February 2017 and was a controversial figure in Haiti.

Massive protests broke out in 2018 due to high fuel prices and continued through 2021 due to economic problems and the coronavirus pandemic. Many of the demonstrators openly called for Moise's resignation, but the Haitian president refused to step down.
wd/rt (AP, Reuters, AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

More protests in Colombia as government unveils new tax plan

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Protests against poverty and inequality resumed on Colombia's independence day Tuesday as President Ivan Duque presented a $4 billion tax plan aimed at helping the government pay for social programs and pandemic-related expenses.

apnews.com

More protests in Colombia as government unveils new tax plan
By MANUEL RUEDAyesterday



1 of 3
Young men perform in a drumline during an anti-government protest in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, July 20, 2021, as the county marks its Independence Day. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Protests against poverty and inequality resumed on Colombia’s independence day Tuesday as President Ivan Duque presented a $4 billion tax plan aimed at helping the government pay for social programs and pandemic-related expenses.

Thousands joined in marches in Colombia’s main cities while Duque outlined to congress his government’s achievements and presented a tax plan for financing subsidies to low income families that have been out of work during the pandemic.

The new plan is smaller than a $6.3 billion package that was presented in April and set off huge protests across Colombia, in which dozens of people were killed. The new proposal places a higher tax burden on companies’ earnings while discarding a previous proposal to impose sales taxes on basic items like coffee and salt.

Protesters said the new plan does not do enough to boost spending on education and job creation in Colombia, where the economy contracted 7% last year and pushed an additional 3 million people into poverty, according to the national statistics department.


“Protests continue because President Duque has not solved any of the problems faced by Colombian society,” said Francisco Maltes, president of the Central Union of Workers, one of the groups that has led anti-government demonstrations.

His union is part of a coalition of unions and student groups that plans to present congress with 10 proposals on addressing Colombia’s social and economic crisis. These include dissolving the nation’s riot police as well as creating a basic income program that would make monthly payments of $260 to 10 million people.

The government’s subsidy program currently provides monthly payments of $40 to 3 million families that are struggling to get by in the country of 50 million inhabitants. The new tax plan seeks to maintain these payments, provide subsidies to companies that hire workers aged 18 to 28, and also finance university tuition for low and middle income students.

At Tuesday’s demonstrations, which were noticeably smaller than those in April and May, protesters also said they want justice for youths killed recently by police. Human Rights Watch says it has gathered evidence linking police to the slaying of 25 protesters during the recent wave of demonstrations, while local organizations say the number could be higher.

“Our country is in mourning” said Atala Ojeda, a pensioner who joined one of the marches in Bogota, carrying a Colombian flag with a black ribbon. “Every month we are losing young people and social leaders.”

 

[Housecarl]

Posted for fair use.....

New self-defense militia appears in Chiapas, Mexico to fight organized crime

Just like the Zapatista rebels before them, the indigenous people of Chiapas state in southern Mexico have taken up arms, though this time they said it was to beat back the organized crime gangs plaguing their communities.

www.reuters.com

July 21, 2021 5:40 PM PDT
Last Updated 4 hours ago

Americas
New self-defense militia appears in Chiapas, Mexico to fight organized crime
Jacob Garcia

CHENALHÓ, Mexico, July 21 (Reuters) - Just like the Zapatista rebels before them, the indigenous people of Chiapas state in southern Mexico have taken up arms, though this time they said it was to beat back the organized crime gangs plaguing their communities.

Additional reporting by Raul Cortes Fernandez y Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien

------------------------------

Posted for fair use.....

New self-defense militia appears in Chiapas, Mexico to fight organized crime

By Jacob Garcia CHENALH, Mexico (Reuters) - Just like the Zapatista rebels before them, the indigenous people of Chiapas state in southern Mexico have...

wtvbam.com

New self-defense militia appears in Chiapas, Mexico to fight organized crime

By Syndicated Content
Jul 21, 2021 | 8:27 PM


By Jacob Garcia

CHENALHÓ, Mexico (Reuters) – Just like the Zapatista rebels before them, the indigenous people of Chiapas state in southern Mexico have taken up arms, though this time they said it was to beat back the organized crime gangs plaguing their communities.

Dozens of armed, hooded people belonging to a group called ‘El Machete’ marched over the weekend in the streets of Pantelho in the mountains of Chiapas – a first public act.

In appearance, the group resembles the hooded Zapatistas, who sparked world headlines when they emerged from the jungle in 1994, seizing towns and clashing with security forces to demand indigenous rights.

But according to a manifesto circulating online that purports to be written by the group, El Machete defines itself as a ‘David’ seeking to defeat the ‘Goliath’ represented by drug traffickers and hit men. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the document and was unable to reach the group for further comment.

“We want peace, democracy and justice,” the manifesto said.

Many tens of thousands of people have been killed or disappeared in Mexico since the government embarked on a ‘War on Drugs’ in 2006 and as fighting has intensified between drug cartels vying for control of profitable trafficking routes to the United States.

Facing spiraling violence and crime and tired of waiting for government help that they say often never comes, Mexicans in different parts of the country have formed self-defense militias.

Asked about the emergence of El Machete, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he was against groups that take “justice into their own hands.”

Twelve people have been killed, including a minor, and another person went missing between March and the first week of July, while another 3,000 people have been displaced by the violence in that area of Chiapas, according to local human rights organizations.

“We’re not afraid of them,” said Jose Ruiz, referring to El Machete, after fleeing from the violence to the neighboring Chenalhó municipality with his father and siblings. “It’s good that someone has the courage to defend the people,” said Ruiz.

(Additional reporting by Raul Cortes Fernandez y Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)

 

[Plain Jane]

Violence flares in Haiti ahead of slain president's funeral

Hundreds of workers have fled businesses in northern Haiti after demonstrations near the hometown of slain President Jovenel Moïse grew violent ahead of his funeral.

apnews.com

Violence flares in Haiti ahead of slain president’s funeral
By DÁNICA COTOtoday



1 of 6
Men walk past a flaming barricade after violence broke out and hundreds of workers fled the area when demonstration near the home town of late President Jovenel Moise grew violent, ahead of his funeral in Quartier Morin, a districto of Cap Haitien, in northern Haiti, Wednesday, July 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

QUARTIER-MORIN, Haiti (AP) — Hundreds of workers fled businesses in northern Haiti on Wednesday after demonstrations near the hometown of assassinated President Jovenel Moïse grew violent ahead of his funeral.

Associated Press journalists observed the body of one man who witnesses said was shot in the community of Quartier-Morin, which is near Trou-du-Nord, where Moïse was born. Roadblocks were set up between the two communities, temporarily barring cars from entering or leaving as two plumes of thick, black smoke rose nearby.
Many workers walked hurriedly in a single file along the main road that connects Quartier-Morin with Cap-Haitien, the city where events to honor Moïse were scheduled to start Thursday ahead of Friday’s funeral.
Fleeing people said they saw burning tires and men with weapons demanding justice for Moïse. One woman who was out of breath said the armed men told her, “Go! Go! Go!” as employees clad in uniforms of all colors obeyed and left the area. She declined to give her name, saying she feared for her life.


Abnel Pierre, who works at the Caracol Industrial Park, said he was forced to walk 45 minutes home because the bus that transports employees was stuck behind blockades. He declined further comment as he walked swiftly toward his house as the sky began to darken.

These were the first violent demonstrations since Moïse was shot to death at his private home. They came a day after Ariel Henry was sworn in as the country’s new prime minister, pledging to form a provisional consensus government and to restore order and security.

In the capital of Port-au-Prince, Martine Moïse, widow of the slain president, made her first public appearance since her surprise return to Haiti on Saturday, although she did not speak. She had been recuperating at a hospital in Miami after she was wounded in the July 7 attack at the couple’s private home.

She wore a black dress and black face mask and her right arm was in a black sling as she met with officials near the National Pantheon Museum, where ceremonies are being held to commemorate her husband. She was accompanied by her three children.

The capital remained peaceful in contrast with the community in northern Haiti.

Authorities have said at least 26 suspects have been detained as part of the investigation into the assassination, including 18 former Colombian soldiers and three Haitian police officers. At least seven high-ranking police officers have been placed in isolation, but not formally arrested, Police Chief Léon Charles has said.

On Wednesday, Colombia’s government said it would have a consular mission in Haiti on July 25-27 to help the detained ex- soldiers and repatriate the bodies of the three others killed by Haitian authorities in the aftermath of the assassination.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

YouTube Deletes 15 Videos From Brazilian President's Channel For "COVID Misinformation"

BY TYLER DURDEN
THURSDAY, JUL 22, 2021 - 02:45 PM
Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,
Google-owned YouTube is once again flexing more power than world leaders by deleting 15 videos from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s channel over claims of ‘COVID misinformation’.


Videos that were removed included one that discussed the use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID, as well as former health minister Eduardo Pazuello comparing coronavirus to AIDS.

“Post-HIV pandemic, HIV continues to exist. There are still some who are contaminated, most are treated, and life goes on,” he stated.

Some of the content was also deleted because YouTube doesn’t allow anyone to question the efficacy of masks.

This is particularly bizarre given that WHO and Anthony Fauci himself said early on during the pandemic that masks were useless.

Fauci wrote in a February 2020 email that a typical store-bought face mask “is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material.”

A similar argument was made recently by Dr Colin Axon, a SAGE advisor for the UK government, who told the London Telegraph that medics have given people a “cartoonish” view of how how microscopic viruses travel through the air, and the masks have gaps in them that are up to 5000 times bigger than COVID particles.

Apparently, discussing concerns shared by top doctors and scientists is enough to get content removed, even if you’re the leader of a major country.

“Bolsonaro and his office have not yet released a statement on the removal of the videos, but his official Twitter account did post a message urging followers to join him on Telegram to receive daily information directly,” reports RT.

As we previously highlighted, YouTube also automatically removes videos of anti-lockdown protests, even if the purpose of the video is to mock the protesters.

 

[Housecarl]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

YouTube Deletes 15 Videos From Brazilian President's Channel For "COVID Misinformation"

BY TYLER DURDEN
THURSDAY, JUL 22, 2021 - 02:45 PM
Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,
Google-owned YouTube is once again flexing more power than world leaders by deleting 15 videos from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s channel over claims of ‘COVID misinformation’.


Videos that were removed included one that discussed the use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID, as well as former health minister Eduardo Pazuello comparing coronavirus to AIDS.


Some of the content was also deleted because YouTube doesn’t allow anyone to question the efficacy of masks.

This is particularly bizarre given that WHO and Anthony Fauci himself said early on during the pandemic that masks were useless.

Fauci wrote in a February 2020 email that a typical store-bought face mask “is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material.”

A similar argument was made recently by Dr Colin Axon, a SAGE advisor for the UK government, who told the London Telegraph that medics have given people a “cartoonish” view of how how microscopic viruses travel through the air, and the masks have gaps in them that are up to 5000 times bigger than COVID particles.

Apparently, discussing concerns shared by top doctors and scientists is enough to get content removed, even if you’re the leader of a major country.



As we previously highlighted, YouTube also automatically removes videos of anti-lockdown protests, even if the purpose of the video is to mock the protesters.

One of these days these guys in Si Valley are going to ban/censor some foreign government power and relieve more than a strongly worded note in return...

 

[Plain Jane]

Ecuador president decrees emergency in prisons after clashes

Ecuador’s president has declared a state of emergency in the country’s prisons following fighting between rival gangs that killed 22 inmates and injured dozens.

apnews.com

Ecuador president decrees emergency in prisons after clashes
today



1 of 7
People wait outside Litoral Penitentiary for news of their incarcerated family members after deadly fights inside the jail in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Thursday, July 22, 2021. Rival gangs of inmates fought in two prisons in Ecuador, killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens, authorities said Thursday. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador’s president declared a state of emergency Thursday in the country’s prisons following fighting between rival gangs that killed 22 inmates and injured dozens.

The violence began Wednesday afternoon at the main prison in the city of Guayaquil, the Litoral Penitentiary, as well as at the Latacunga prison in central Ecuador, authorities said. Officials said police had quelled the rioting and regained control of the prisons, and nine officers and 59 prisoners were injured.

Police said on Twitter there had been an escape attempt at Latacunga, but that 78 prisoners were recaptured.

Gustavo Larrea, a former interior minister, said the fighting was among crime groups linked to drug trafficking that have ”relative control″ of the prisons and seek to control illegal operations on the outside.

President Guillermo Lasso decreed a state of emergency Thursday afternoon.

“I want to tell the mafias that try to intimidate this country that they are wrong ...,” the president said. “They are wrong if they think our hand is going to shake. We are going to use all our legal powers to impose the rule of law and guarantee peace and human rights in prisons in Ecuador.”

Ecuador’s prisons are under the internal control of so-called prison guides, civilians with minimal preparation, and police can only access prisons in case of emergency. Under the state of emergency, soldiers will guard the perimeters of the prisons, while police will control the entry points, to check for attempts to smuggle arms, drugs and cellphones to inmates.

Lasso added that he has removed the director of the country’s prison system, Edmundo Moncayo, from his post and appointed retired army Col. Fausto Cobo as his replacement.

Police Col. Marcelo Castillo told the Ecuavisa television network that the dead inmates in Guayaquil were “brutally murdered” while in a prison orchard.

“It was an execution, revenge, rivalry what happened in that place,” he said.

Riots and deadly clashes in prisons in Ecuador are relatively frequent. In June, a fight between gangs in a prison killed two people and injured 11. In February, fighting in Ecuadorian prisons killed about 80 prisoners.

 

[Plain Jane]

Nicaragua: Another presidential contender arrested – DW – 07/25/2021

Opposition leader Noel Vidaurre became the seventh potential candidate to be arrested by President Daniel Ortega's government ahead of Nicaragua's November 7 election.

www.dw.com

Nicaragua: Another presidential contender arrested ahead of election
Opposition leader Noel Vidaurre became the seventh potential candidate to be arrested by President Daniel Ortega's government ahead of Nicaragua's November 7 election.




Presidential contender Noel Vidaurre was arrested months before the November election

Police in Nicaragua placed another presidential contender under house arrest on Saturday, virtually clearing the way for President Daniel Ortega ahead of the November 7 elections.
Opposition leader Noel Vidaurre was accused of "undermining the sovereignty" of Nicaragua. One of the potential presidential candidates of the Citizens for Liberty alliance, Vidaurre became the seventh potential rival to be arrested in a crackdown that began on June 2.

Since then, Ortega's government has conducted a number of raids and overnight arrests to round up political rivals on charges of threatening the country’s "sovereignty." Nearly two dozen journalists and opposition activists have also been detained.

Political commentator Jaime Arellano was also put under house arrest on Saturday in relation to a commentary he wrote criticizing a speech by Ortega.

Potential rivals detained
Ortega, 75, is seeking a fourth consecutive term in November elections. Months before the polls, a majority of his potential rivals have been detained by the government under vague allegations of crimes against the state.

The first leader to be targeted was Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of ex-president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro. She was seen as the favorite to beat Ortega in this year's election.
Others detained include Medardo Mairena, Felix Maradiaga, Miguel Mora, Juan Sebastian Chamorro and Arturo Cruz.
All candidates must register by August 2.

Fourth term for Ortega
Last week, it was confirmed that Ortega will be the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front's candidate for the presidential election.

President Daniel Ortega's wife Rosario Murillo has also been his vice president since 2017
In 1979, he and the Sandinistas toppled a corrupt autocratic regime to seize control of Nicaragua. Ortega was elected president in 1984 and remained in power until 1990 when he was beaten by Chamorro. He returned to power in 2007 and has won two consecutive re-elections.

However, he has been accused of increased authoritarianism in recent years after brutally clamping down on anti-government protests in 2018. More than 300 people died and thousands were pushed into exile after the demonstrations, rights bodies say.
see/sri (AP, AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

A Mexican state suffers bloody fallout of cartel rivalry

VALPARAÍSO, Mexico (AP) — When they heard gunfire in the valley, residents locked their doors and cowered inside their homes.

apnews.com

A Mexican state suffers bloody fallout of cartel rivalry
By MARÍA VERZAtoday



1 of 15
Relatives cry outside a house where two young men were gunned down in Fresnillo, Zacatecas state, Mexico,Tuesday, July 13, 2021. Fresnillo has the highest perception of insecurity in Mexico: more than 96% of its population lives in fear, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

VALPARAÍSO, Mexico (AP) — When they heard gunfire in the valley, residents locked their doors and cowered inside their homes. Some 200 armed men had just looted a gas station, according to a witness, and the shooting would continue for hours as an equal number from an opposing group confronted them.

The authorities didn’t arrive until the next day. When they did, they found 18 bodies in San Juan Capistrano, a small community in Valparaíso, Zacatecas. The north-central Mexican state holds strategic importance for drugs being shipped to the United States. Mexico’s two strongest cartels — Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation — are locked in a battle for control.
One month after the June 24 killings, there have been no arrests. The military has sent reinforcements, but killings continue across Zacatecas: a doctor here, a police officer there, a family hacked to pieces, eight killed at a party, two girls shot along with their parents.

In a country that has suffered more than a decade of violence at the hands of powerful drug cartels, the situation in Zacatecas, as well as violence-plagued states like Michoacán and Tamaulipas, shows that neither the head-on drug war launched by former President Felipe Calderón in 2006, nor the softer “hugs not bullets” approach of current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador have managed to break Mexico’s cycle of violence.

Zacatecas’ 746 murders in the first half of the year, compared to 1,065 for all of 2020, give it the highest murder rate per 100,000 residents in the country through June, according to the Mexican government.

“The day they (soldiers) leave, we know from experience that quickly the criminal groups are going to fight over territory,” said Eleuterio Ramos, Valparaíso’s worried mayor.

What makes Zacatecas worth fighting for is its location. It borders eight other states. Among other things, the cartels are battling to control the most lucrative drug: fentanyl. Zacatecas sits between the drug’s production and its consumers.

After the chemical precursors enter the Pacific ports, they are finished into fentanyl pills in labs in Nayarit, Jalisco and Sinaloa to the west of Zacatecas, said Oscar Santiago Quintos, head of the analysis and intelligence department of Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office. To the east sits San Luis Potosi, a logistics hub filled with shipping companies that can move the tiny pills north. Highways running north to key border cities pass through Zacatecas, providing a direct route for northbound drugs and southbound guns.

“The battle for Zacatecas is part of the larger war to dominate the fentanyl market, which is the largest source of money for the cartels in the United States,” said Mike Vigil, former head of international operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In 2020, some 93,000 people died of fentanyl overdoses in the U.S., a record high.

Nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Madre, Valparaíso sits on one of those critical highways.
For the past month, a shot up pick-up truck has rested here. It’s a reminder that residents remain in the line of fire even as the army and National Guard patrol the area.

The larger currents of the international drug trade engulfing these Zacatecan communities may not be clear to their residents, but the impact is inescapable.

When the shootouts rumble across the plains dotted with ranches, farmers often can’t go out to feed their livestock. Goods to stock store shelves and medical care frequently don’t arrive for fear of cartel roadblocks. Gunmen stop residents and demand their cell phones to look for information that could tie them to the other cartel. They sometimes beat people or tie them up regardless to instill fear.

If someone doesn’t stop, they open fire. Earlier this month, a doctor was killed in neighboring Jerez for not stopping. Two paramedics carrying a woman in an ambulance from neighboring Jalisco state to a hospital were killed a few days before passing through Valparaíso.

Last month, a priest was killed in crossfire on the highway. Residents said he had been helping them get electricity back after an armed group cut the power to some ranches.

“One town is controlled by Sinaloa, the next by Jalisco, the next Sinaloa again,” said a community leader, who like more than a dozen people interviewed requested anonymity to avoid repercussions. He said just sharing territory with one group makes residents complicit in the eyes of their enemies.

A rumor circulated that the cartels were forcing youth snatched from the communities to work for them.

“There was panic,” said a 21-year-old man, the oldest of five siblings. They stayed only because “there wasn’t any way to go, nor any place.”
Plenty of families left, some for other Mexican cities to wait for the situation to calm, others to the United States where some 1 ½ million Zacatecans — the same number as in Mexico — reside.
Others just stayed inside. “There were 15 days that we didn’t go out for anything,” said Claudina Betancourt, a nurse born in San Juan Capistrano. She continues working here, but recently moved her belongings to Fresnillo where her daughter and mother live in case she has to quickly leave one day for good.

There’s no cellular coverage and just two phone booths, isolation that adds to the uncertainty.

Days after the June 24 shootout, authorities found two more corpses, raising the death count to 20. Valparaíso’s mayor could not confirm or deny figures given by some residents that were double that. A detective who apparently was investigating the shootout and was pulled out of Valparaíso for his safety was later killed.

Similar violence is occurring in other states like Michoacán and Guerrero, where residents caught between competing gangs suffer extortion, abductions and killings.

For years, attention focused on violence along Mexico’s northern border in cities like Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez and Nuevo Laredo. Zacatecas had it then too as cartels battled for control, but it was overshadowed. Now Zacatecans, including in the state capital of the same name, have awoken on several occasions to corpses dangling from overpasses.

Murders occur daily in Fresnillo, a city that mixes the local offices of major mining companies with farmers working the bean fields. With 239 murders per 100,000 residents, Fresnillo has the highest perception of insecurity in Mexico: more than 96% of its population lives in fear, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.

“There is anxiety and uncertainty not knowing where to find safety for your family,” said Ramos, Valparaíso’s mayor, who was just re-elected to a third term. He said he has not been directly threatened, but he has the same fear as everyone.

Mexico’s federal government defends its policy of targeting the root causes of violence — poverty, corruption, impunity — with social programs while deploying the National Guard and soldiers. There are more than 100,000 guardsmen deployed in the Mexico, plus the military, yet the violence continues apace.

Arturo Nahle, Zacatecas’ former attorney general and current state supreme court president, said those policies could be right, but will take years to bear fruit. “The strategies that the Mexican government has implemented over the last 15 years have not worked,” he said.
López Obrador’s party just won the governorship in Zacatecas, but it remains to be seen if coordination with federal authorities will improve.

“If we don’t manage to pacify Mexico, regardless of what has been done, we are not going to be able to historically prove our administration,” the president said earlier this month.

Last Wednesday, he announced a “special strategy” to address the cities with the most murders, among them Fresnillo: more military presence and more social development.
More troops would be welcome in Zacatecas, though the effectiveness of their patrols is debated.

“With the army the bad guys don’t move in,” said a 74-year-old farmer in San Juan Capistrano, who teared up talking about the situation in his community. “The government, if it pays attention, can put a stop to everything.”

But a resident from the same area had a different hope for peace: that one cartel wins soon.

 

[Plain Jane]

Haiti arrests security coordinator for assassinated President Moïse

Authorities in Haiti arrested a top official who served as general security coordinator when President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated, his attorney told The Associated Press on Monday.

www.france24.com

Haiti arrests security coordinator for assassinated President Moïse
Issued on: 27/07/2021 - 10:36Modified: 27/07/2021 - 10:37

Martine Moise, stands by the casket of her slain husband, President Jovenel Moise, in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, July 23, 2021. © Matias Delacroix, AP
Text by:NEWS WIRES
2 min
Authorities in Haiti arrested a top official who served as general security coordinator when President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated, his attorney told The Associated Press on Monday.

Jean Laguel Civil joins more than two dozen suspects arrested by Haiti National Police as the investigation continues into the July 7 attack at Moïse's private home.

Civil's attorney, Reynold Georges, called his client's arrest politically motivated. It wasn't immediately clear if Civil had been charged with anything.

The arrest comes as more than 1,000 demonstrators gathered around one of Haiti's most notorious gang leaders to commemorate Moïse. The crowd was mostly dressed in white as they cheered on Jimmy Cherizier, a former police officer who now leads “G9,” a federation of nine gangs that officials have blamed for a spike in violence and kidnappings in recent months.


“Everyone needs to wait on my order before we respond to the killing of Jovenel Moïse,” said Cherizier, who goes by the name of “Barbecue" and whom police say is behind several recent massacres that targeted civilians living in communities run by other gangs.

He was wearing a white suit and black tie as he spoke to the crowd at the seaside slum of La Saline in the capital of Port-au-Prince. A nearby truck played music as Cherizier knelt down before a large portrait of Moïse and began to light candles.

“No justice, no peace!” he said.

Earlier, the crowd sang as they made a circle around a bonfire and threw salt into it as part of a ceremony to honor Moïse. Many had their faces covered so as not to be identified.

Moïse was shot several times during a July 7 attack in which his wife was seriously injured. At least 26 people have been arrested, including 18 former Colombian soldiers. Police are still looking for various suspects, including a former rebel leader and an ex-Haitian senator. On Monday, they identified another suspect: Haiti Superior Court Judge Windelle Coq Thelot.
(AP)

 

[Plain Jane]

US suspends cooperation with Guatemala attorney general

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The U.S. government has suspended cooperation with Guatemala’s Attorney General’s Office in response to the firing of its top anti-corruption prosecutor, saying Tuesday that it has “lost confidence” in the Central American country’s willingness to fight corruption.

apnews.com

US suspends cooperation with Guatemala attorney general
By SONIA PÉREZ D. and MATTHEW LEEtoday



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A protestors holds a sign with a portrait of Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei outside the National Palace as people attend a rally in support of anti-corruption prosecutor Juan Francisco Sandoval, in Guatemala City, Saturday, July 24, 2021. Sandoval fled Guatemala late Friday, arriving in neighboring El Salvador just hours after he was removed from his post. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The U.S. government has suspended cooperation with Guatemala’s Attorney General’s Office in response to the firing of its top anti-corruption prosecutor, saying Tuesday that it has “lost confidence” in the Central American country’s willingness to fight corruption.

U.S. State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters in Washington that the decision by Guatemala Attorney General Consuelo Porras to fire Juan Francisco Sandoval, the special prosecutor against impunity, “fits a pattern of behavior that indicates a lack of commitment to the rule of law and independent, judicial, and prosecutorial processes.”

“As a result, we have lost confidence in the attorney general and the intention to cooperate with the U.S. government and fight corruption in good faith,” Porter said.

She said the suspension would remain in effect while the U.S. reviews its assistance to the Attorney General’s Office.

A strong U.S. response was expected after Sandoval’s dismissal Friday. He fled the country the same day. Protests in Guatemala have called for Porras’ resignation.

The firing came less than two months after Vice President Kamala Harris visited Guatemala and spoke with President Alejandro Giammattei about the importance of the country’s anti-corruption efforts. Harris has targeted corruption in the region as one of the key factors in pushing outward migration.

Porter noted that U.S. officials had repeatedly made it clear to the “highest levels of government of Guatemala our view that the fight against corruption is essential to our shared goals of strengthening the rule of law, increasing economic opportunity, and addressing the root causes of irregular migration.”

She said the U.S. government recognized that Porras had the authority to dismiss Sandoval, “but our concern is what the implications with this decision for the rule of law and regional stability.”

A day before Sandoval’s firing, Porras had reassigned another prosecutor from Sandoval’s office.
Porras has defended Sandoval’s firing, accusing him of ideological bias in his prosecutions.

Porras was appointed by the previous president, Jimmy Morales, but Giammattei has spoken of his friendship with her as well.

Sandoval said Porras had repeatedly worked to block his investigations, especially those with proximity to Giammattei.

Sandoval applauded the U.S. move. He told The Associated Press that the U.S. government’s decision was “consistent with the United States policy of respecting the culture of law.”
The Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that it had not been officially notified of the suspension in cooperation.

“We have always worked in a coordinated manner in the interests of both countries,” it said. “In this case we respect the decisions of the U.S.; the Attorney General’s Office is an independent and autonomous institution so we will continue working like normal to the benefit of the Guatemalan people.”

La oficina de prensa de la fiscalía dijo que no habían sido notificados oficialmente. “Siempre se ha trabajado de manera coordinada en favor de los intereses de ambos países. En este caso respetamos las decisiones de EE.UU; el Ministerio Público es una institución independiente y autónoma por lo que seguiremos trabajando con normalidad en beneficio de la población guatemalteca”.

On Sunday, lawyer Marco Aurelio Alveño Hernández said he had told Sandoval’s office that one of his clients, a former Guatemalan central banker, had paid a bribe through Alveño to an adviser of Porras so his corruption case was moved from Sandoval’s office to another prosecutor.

Alveño fled the country Sunday with his family fearing potential retribution for his cooperation with Sandoval’s office.

Guatemala’s government has been criticized over the past year for driving out judges known for taking a hard line on corruption. The moves are a continuation of the effort that ended the 12-year run of the United Nations’ anti-corruption mission in Guatemala in 2019 during Morales’ presidency.
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Associated Press writer Sonia Perez D. reported this story in Guatemala City and AP writer Matthew Lee reported from Washington.