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COVID: Jamaica Imposes 8 PM Nightly Curfew

Jamaica has imposed a new 8 PM to 5 AM daily curfew, amid the current spike in COVID-19 cases.

Between February 4 and February 8, the island had some 1,451 new cases of COVID-19, with over 200 cases being reported each day.

The highest single-day total of 403 cases was reported on February 8. Jamaica’s current positivity rate stands at 20.8%. In the last week of 2020, Jamaica’s positivity rate was 7%.

The island’s curfew will run from Wednesday, February 10 until February 24. The previous curfew, imposed in December, was from 10 PM to 5Public gatherings have also been reduced from 15 to 10 people.

In making the announcement, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that the government’s priority is making sure that the healthcare system is not overwhelmed.

“We cannot dedicate the entire capacity of our healthcare system to COVID-19 alone. There are other critical illnesses and events to which our healthcare professionals have to continue to respond,” Holness said.

He also pointed out that three of the country’s biggest hospitals, the Kingston Public Hospital, Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine and the May Pen Hospital in Clarendon are all above 90% capacity.

Before the curfew announcement, these same sentiments were shared by the Former President of the Nurses Association of Jamaica, Carmen Johnson, who said that wards and isolation areas in hospitals across the country are now full, as hospitalizations are increasing.

The President of the Medical Association of Jamaica, Dr. Andrew Manning also stated that the healthcare system was approaching the point of over-capacity.

“In the blink of an eye, we could reach a stage where people come to the hospitals for treatment and we have nowhere to put them. We’re not far from that,” he said on Nationwide Radio on February 9.

In the meantime, the Prime Minister has warned that the police will be enforcing the curfew in a more vigorous manner. Holness urged Jamaicans to take the virus more seriously and to display a greater sense of personal responsibility.

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COVID-19 Latest: Case Numbers Worldwide Continue Decline

(CNN) The number of new Covid-19 cases reported across the globe has declined for a fourth week in a row, according to data from the World Health Organization, offering a glimmer of hope that the world is turning a corner in its efforts to contain the pandemic.

The number of Covid-19 deaths reported worldwide decreased for the second week running, with 88,000 new deaths reported last week, a 10% drop compared to the previous week, according to WHO.

More than 3.1 million new cases of Covid-19 were reported around the world last week, the WHO said in its weekly epidemiological update. That was a 17% decline from the previous week and the lowest number of cases worldwide since the week of October 26, 2020.

“Although there are still many countries with increasing numbers of cases, at the global level, this is encouraging,” the weekly update said.

The United States accounted for the highest number of new Covid-19 cases, with 871,365. However, this figure represented a 19% decline in cases from the previous week, according to WHO data.

Brazil, France, Russia and the United Kingdom were also among the nations reporting the highest number of new cases worldwide, the WHO noted, although all of them saw a decrease compared to figures from the previous week.

Of all the regions, compared to WHO’s previous weekly update, Africa saw the greatest decline in cases, at 22%, while the Eastern Mediterranean saw the smallest, at 2%.

Overall, new cases in the Americas accounted for more than half of all new cases worldwide, with more than 1.5 million new cases and more than 45,000 new deaths.

Globally, there have been almost 107 million Covid-19 cases, and more than 2.3 million deaths from the virus, since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University figures.

Many countries are hoping that coronavirus vaccines will offer a way out of the crisis.

But while some countries have already administered millions of doses, about 130 countries — home to some 2.5 billion people — are yet to administer a single dose, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a briefing Friday.

Early data this week showing that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine may provide only “minimal protection” against mild to moderate illness caused by the coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa has dented optimism in some quarters.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is cheaper and easier to transport and store than some of the other vaccines approved for use to date and, as such, has been tipped to play a key role in combating the pandemic in low and middle-income countrys

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3 Cubans Rescued from Deserted Island After 33 Days

Stranded boaters seen on deserted Island

(CNN) — The U.S. Coast Guard rescued three Cuban nationals from a deserted Bahaman island, where they had been living off coconuts for 33 days, the agency announced.

“It was incredible. I don’t know how they did it. I was amazed they were in as good as shape as they were,” Lt. Justin Dougherty told CNN affiliate WPLG.

While doing routine patrols on Monday, US Coast Guard aircrews saw the two men and a woman waving makeshift flags on Anguilla Cay, located in a chain of islands between the Lower Florida Keys and Cuba.

The Coast Guard dropped down a radio, food, and water to the trio on Monday and rescued them off the island on Tuesday.

The Cubans’ boat capsized in rough waters about five weeks ago, the trio told the Coast Guard, and they swam to the island.

The trio reportedly had no serious injuries but were flown to the Lower Keys Medical Center to be checked out. .

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Associated Press World View-Feb. 10, 2021

Feb 10, 2021

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AP MORNING WIRE

  • Impeachment trial to proceed after emotional first day; Trump fumes.

  • US vaccine drive complicated by first, second dose juggling act.

  • Israel’s ultra-Orthodox reject sharp criticism, defy virus safety rules.

  • Safety officials: Kobe Bryant crash pilot got disoriented flying in clouds.

     

TAMER FAKAHANY
DEPUTY DIRECTOR – GLOBAL NEWS COORDINATION, LONDON

The Rundown

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Impeachment trial gets go-ahead after emotional, graphic first day; Senators to hear opening arguments as Trump fumes 

Confronting a painful and bloody moment or period in a nation’s history can take years, decades, even centuries, if it transpires at all. And even then, there will be those who fight against addressing and extricating the thorn in the country’s shared past.

It’s rare, almost inconceivable, such a reckoning in a hallowed democratic setting would take place just one month after it occurred.

But that’s what is happening as U.S. House prosecutors wrenched senators and the country back to the deadly attack on Congress on Jan. 6.

They opened Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial with graphic video of the insurrection and Trump’s own calls for a rally crowd to march to the iconic building and “fight like hell” against his reelection defeat to Joe Biden.

Trump is charged with inciting the violent mob attack.

“That’s a high crime and misdemeanor,” Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin declared in opening remarks. “If that’s not an impeachable offense, then there’s no such thing.”

Democratic prosecutors argue Trump committed a “grievous constitutional crime,” but his defense team insists his fiery words at the rally were just figures of speech — and thus protected by the Constitution’s First Amendment.

The opening arguments are set to begin today.  House Democrats prosecuting the case and Trump’s attorneys will lay out their opposing arguments before the senators, who are serving as jurors. Lisa Mascaro, Eric Tucker, Mary Clare Jalonick and Jill Colvin report.

The defense lost a vote seeking to halt the trial on constitutional grounds, 56-44

Trump fumed over his lawyers’ widely-panned, meandering performance as a disaster, and his allies are openly questioning the defense strategy, Jonathan Lemire and Jill Colvin report.

Trial Highlights: History lessons, Trump tweets and more from Brian Slodysko on the opening day.

VIDEO: Trump’s historic second impeachment trial opens.

VIDEO: Republicans criticize Trump lawyers’ performance. 

What to Watch Today: Democrats to argue Trump is solely responsible for inciting the mob.

AP FACT CHECK: Trump’s lawyers and the Constitution: The question of impeaching a former president has not been settled, but the AP’s Hope Yen and Calvin Woodward find that the weight of legal views contradicts the Trump team’s assertions.

Rep. Raskin: Congressman Raskin evoked tragedy in his own life as he argued for Trump’s conviction during the trial. Raskin described how, because of the funeral of his son who took his own life in December, his adult daughter was with him at the Capitol when the mob overran the building. The Maryland Democrat wiped away tears as he recalled his daughter believing that she would be killed and how she said afterward that she didn’t want to come back to the Capitol again, Will Weissert reports.

VIDEO: Raskin recounts Capitol riot after son’s death.

Media Decisions: The opening of the trial featured some explicit language not normally seen on daytime television or broadcast TV at all. But ABC, CBS, NBC and the cable news networks all aired unedited the 13-minute film prepared by House impeachment managers that showed disturbing details of the attack on the Capitol.The language included obscene chants by demonstrators surging toward the Capitol, David Bauder reports.

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SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL VIA AP/JOE CAVARETTA

US vaccine drive complicated by first, second dose juggling act; Stimulus plan: Democrats attempt to push through school funding, wage increase

The U.S. has entered a precarious phase of the COVID-19 vaccination effort as providers try to ramp up the number of people getting first shots while also ensuring a growing number of others get the required second doses.

The shift is happening just when millions more Americans are becoming eligible to receive vaccines, Candice Choi and Marion Renault report.

The need to give each person two doses a few weeks apart vastly complicates the country’s biggest-ever vaccination campaign. And persistent uncertainty about future vaccine supplies fuels worries that some people will not be able to get their second shots in time.

Some providers have curbed or canceled appointments for first doses to ensure there are enough second doses.

U.S. Relief Bill: House Democrats muscled past Republicans on major portions of President Biden’s pandemic plan, including a proposed $130 billion in school relief and a gradual increase of the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. It’s part of a $1.9 trillion relief package of Biden’s plan reopening plan. Democrats say schools won’t be able to reopen safely until they get funding to repair ventilation systems, buy protective equipment and take other steps recommended by health officials. Republicans oppose the legislation. Colin Binkley reports.

 

Small Business Struggles-New Orleans: The pandemic is tamping down the joy — and revenue — associated with Carnival season in New Orleans. Parades that normally draw thousands in the weeks before Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, which falls on Feb. 16 this year, have been canceled. Bars and restaurants that usually overflow with customers are closed or operating at limited capacity. Live music is all but dead. Many small business owners have weathered a lot already. Even as vaccinations ramp up, they’re preparing for a long wait before business gets back to normal, Rebecca Santana reports.

 

The Garden in Winter: Deep into this pandemic winter, it’s worth noting everything that a garden offers — indoors, outdoors and even in people’s own minds. It can be hard to remember what a refuge gardens were for many people last spring and summer. Seed companies sold out and household vegetable plots sprang up all over in the U.S. But even in winter the garden can provide comfort and perspective, assuring that spring is coming. Already, seed companies are selling out again. And along with spring, the arrival of vaccines might just signal a turn in the season, Julia Rubin reports.

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AP PHOTO/ODED BALILTY

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox believers defy virus safety rules, reject sharp criticism; South Africa scraps AstraZeneca vaccine, will give J&J jabs; World’s second-oldest person survives COVID-19 at age 116

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community has come under heavy criticism for holding large funerals and weddings in clear and dangerous violations of coronavirus restrictions.

The gatherings have brought clashes with police and unprecedented public anger toward the religious community. But many of its members believe Israeli society fails to understand their way of life and has turned the community into a scapegoat, reports Ilan Ben Zion from Jerusalem.

The ultra-Orthodox community makes up 12% of Israel’s 9.3 million people but accounts for an estimated third of the country’s virus cases.

Preserving the ultra-Orthodox way of life is the community’s ultimate aim. And if that means infections spread and put others at risk, it’s a price that some members are willing to pay.

South Africa Vaccines: The country will begin administering the unapproved Johnson & Johnson vaccine to its front-line health care workers next week. It will also study them to see what protection the J&J shot provides from COVID-19, particularly against the variant dominant in the country. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said South Africa has scrapped its plans to use the AstraZeneca vaccine because it “does not prevent mild to moderate disease” of the variant dominant in the nation. Mkhize said the J&J vaccine, which is still being tested internationally, is safe. Andrew Meldrum reports from Johannesburg.

WHO in Wuhan: A team of international and Chinese scientists looking for the origins of the virus have said it most likely first appeared in humans after jumping from an animal. The team dismissed as unlikely a theory that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab. The mission leader of the closely watched visit by the World Health Organization to Wuhan said the probe did not dramatically change the current understanding of the early days of the pandemic,  But it did offer more details. The pandemic has now killed more than 2.3 million people worldwide. Emily Wang Fujiyama reports from Wuhan.

France Island Inequality: It’s the poorest corner of the European Union and was the last to receive any coronavirus vaccines. Welcome to the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, where virus cases are spiking to their highest levels since the pandemic began, and demand for ICU beds is more than triple the supply. The French army is sending in relief, but the temporary aid will only go so far in a region where masks are a luxury and where nearly a third of the population has no running water. Local authorities say their difficulties in fighting the virus reflect long-standing inequalities between the French mainland and its far-flung former colonies, Sony Chamsidine and Angela Charlton  report.

France Oldest Survivor: A 116-year-old French nun who is believed to be the world’s second-oldest person has survived COVID-19. Sister André tested positive for the coronavirus in mid-January in France’s southern city of Toulon. But just three weeks later, she has recovered and is healthy enough to look forward to her 117th birthday on Thursday. She said, “I didn’t even realize I had it.” Once doctors declared the nun no longer infected, she was allowed to attend Mass. The Gerontology Research Group lists her as the second-oldest known living person in the world.

Japan Quarantine: What’s it like traveling to Japan, six months ahead of the Olympics? Almost impossible, unless you’re Japanese or have resident status. A state of emergency for a large part of the country means even those allowed to enter have to take multiple coronavirus tests and stay quarantined. So, what could the entry process be like for the thousands of Olympic athletes scheduled to arrive for the July Games? Plans now call for the athletes to be tested 72 hours before they leave home, again when they arrive and frequently inside the athletes’ village “bubble.” There are other restrictions too, but the biggest caveat is that the plans can change quickly. Mayuko Ono reports from Tokyo.

 

PHOTOS: Raucous dragon dance ban in Manila’s Chinatown saddens residents. 

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AP PHOTO/CHRIS CARLSON

Kobe Bryant Crash

The pilot of the helicopter that crashed last year in South California, killing Kobe Bryant and seven other passengers, made a key error by flying through thick clouds that ended up disorienting him, U.S. safety officials said during a hearing aimed at pinpointing probable causes of the crash.

Pilot Ara Zobayan violated federal standards that required him to be able to see where he was going before the helicopter crashed during a roughly 40-minute flight, according to members of the National Transportation Safety Board, Stefanie Dazio, Brian Melley and David Koenig report.

Zobayan was among the nine people killed, including Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna.

The pilot went against his training by becoming spatially disoriented in thick clouds, a condition that can happen to pilots in low visibility, when they cannot tell up from down or discern which way an aircraft is banking, board members said.

The NTSB said  Zobayan was under self-induced pressure to deliver the star, his daughter and six others to a girls basketball game. 

The others killed in the crash were Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and their daughter Alyssa; Christina Mauser, who helped Bryant coach his daughter’s basketball team; and Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton. Alyssa and Payton were Gianna’s teammates.

The crash has generated lawsuits and countersuits.

On the day that a massive memorial service was held at the Staples Center, where Bryant played most of his career for the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, Vanessa Bryant sued Zobayan and the companies that owned and operated the helicopter for alleged negligence and the wrongful deaths of her husband and daughter. Families of other victims sued the helicopter companies but not the pilot.

VIDEO: US safety panel says pilot error likely in Bryant crash.

TIMELINE of chopper crash that killed Bryant, 8 others in California on Jan. 26, 2020.

Other Top Stories

Larger numbers of immigrant families have been crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in the first weeks of the Biden administration. Warning signs are emerging of the border crises that marked Donald Trump’s term: Hundreds of newly released immigrants are getting dropped off with nonprofit groups and there are growing accounts of prolonged detention in short-term facilities. Measures to control the virus have sharply cut space in holding facilities that got overwhelmed during a surge of arrivals in 2018 and 2019. To deal with the new influx, the Border Patrol reopened a large tent facility in South Texas to house migrant families and children. Meanwhile, long-term facilities for kids who cross alone are 80% full.

Crowds demonstrating against the military takeover in Myanmar have again defied a ban on protests even after security forces ratcheted up the use of force against them and raided the headquarters of the political party of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Fresh protests were reported in Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s two biggest cities, as well as the capital Naypyitaw and elsewhere. The protesters are demanding that power be restored to Suu Kyi. They’re also seeking freedom for her and other governing party members since the military detained them after blocking the new session of Parliament on Feb. 1. The growing rallies and the junta’s latest raid suggest there is little room for reconciliation.

A hacker’s botched attempt to poison the water of a small Florida city is raising alarms about just how vulnerable such systems may be to attacks by more sophisticated intruders. Treatment plants are typically cash-strapped and lack the cybersecurity depth of the power grid and nuclear plants. Suspicious incidents are usually chalked up to mechanical or procedural errors. But experts say they occur more often than the public is told and many go unreported to protect reputations, customer trust — and revenues. Officials say the Florida town of Oldsmar was only briefly in jeopardy last week, with safety features likely to have triggered alarms had the hack gone undetected.

The offspring of hippos illegally imported to Colombia by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in the 1980s are flourishing in the lush area and experts are warning about the dangers of the growing numbers. One group of scientists is now urging that some of the animals be killed. They say the hippos pose a major threat to the area’s biodiversity and could lead to deadly encounters with humans. The scientists concluded that Colombia’s current sterilization program is not enough to control hippo numbers. The population has increased in the last eight years from 35 to somewhere between 65 and 80. The scientists’ forecast published last month says there could be roughly 1,500 by 2035 if some aren’t killed.

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Hard Hit Peru Begins COVID Vaccination Program

The first doses of Sinopharm vaccines have arrived

Peru, with one of the world’s highest virus death rates, has started its Covid vaccination campaign after the first consignment of 300,000 Sinopharm vaccines arrived on Sunday.

The South American country is in the midst of a second wave of the pandemic. With the hospitals close to full capacity, the authorities have decided that medical staff should be among the first to be vaccinated.

On Tuesday morning local time, Josef Vallejos, the chief of the intensive care unit at a hospital in Lima, received the first jab.

Members of the military, security guards and election workers will also be given priority ahead of the general election scheduled for 11 April.

Peru has had almost 1.2 million confirmed cases and more than 42,000 people have died.

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Jamaica PM: No Evidence of New Pandemic Phase Here

A woman has blood drawn for COVID-19 antibody testing. The Ministry of Health and Wellness has sent samples overseas to determine if the latest variant of the virus is in Jamaica.

PRIME Minister Andrew Holness said yesterday that while there has been a significant increase recently in the number of people testing positive for COVID-19, there is no evidence that the country has entered a new phase of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Holness made the statement while announcing new measures which have been included in the orders under the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA), which regulates activities during the crisis, as follows:

Effective today, February 10, the islandwide curfew will commence at 8:00 pm instead of 10:00 pm, and end at 5:00 am the following morning, until February 24. Additionally, the gathering limit will be reduced from 15 to 10 people.

However, the prime minister conceded that he was well aware there were other issues which were still on the minds of the public.

“I know one of the questions on persons’ minds is whether the spread we are now seeing is related, in any way, to the new strains or variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” Holness told the House of Representatives.

He said the Ministry of Health and Wellness has advised that, as part of its surveillance activities on new variants, it has sent off for genome sequencing, 14 positive samples from travellers from the United Kingdom and, later this week, plan to send off another 101 samples randomly selected from parishes.

“The results from genome sequencing will give us better insights into how prevalent the new variants may be in Jamaica,” he told the House.


 

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Hundreds Die from Colombia Human Right Crimes

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia has failed to protect human rights activists in its remote communities, resulting in hundreds of slayings since the government reached a peace deal with the country’s biggest rebel movement in 2016, an international monitoring group said Wednesday.

Armed groups, including some that emerged from the now-demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, are responsible for part of the killings, researchers with Human Rights Watch said in a report.

“Authorities’ failure to exercise effective control over many areas previously controlled by the FARC has in large part enabled the violence against human rights defenders,” the report said. “The government has deployed the military to many parts of the country but has failed simultaneously to strengthen the justice system and ensure adequate access to economic and educational opportunities and public services.”

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has documented more than 400 slayings of activists since 2016, of which 108 happened in 2019 and 53 in 2020. The figure for last year could increase because 80 additional reported killings are still being verified.

Human rights defenders include community, Indigenous, peasant and Afro-Colombian leaders as well as victims’ and women’s rights activists.

The 2016 peace deal with the FARC ended five decades of war. But the group has suffered deep divisions, with some of its members heading to mainstream leftist movements while others have given up on the peace process and returned to arms.

While the accord included strategies for remedying problems that have kindled conflict for decades, the government has been slow to implement initiatives to strengthen authorities’ presence in rural areas, combat illegal economies and address the dearth of legitimate economic opportunities, according to the report.

Left to act as quasi government officials, the leaders of Indigenous groups and other social organizations are put at increased risk as armed groups can target them. The New York-based human rights organization said some rights activists have been killed for their support of government proposals started under the accord, including substituting food crops for the cultivation of coca, the plant from which cocaine is produced.

Among the slayings mentioned in the report is that of Deiver Quintero Pérez, who organized activities for children to keep them away from armed groups in his northern Colombia community. He was shot multiple times in the head in February 2018, and his body was found by a river. Prosecutors have said another rebel group, the Popular Liberation Army, killed him because he appeared to be assisting the government.

“Colombia has had the highest number of human rights defenders killed of any Latin American country in recent years, but the government’s response has been mostly talk, with little meaningful action,” José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “The administration of President Iván Duque frequently condemns the killings, but most of the government systems to address the problem are barely functional or have serious shortcomings.

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International CEO avoids medi-hotel lockdown in Adelaide

A high-powered international businessman who landed in Adelaide from COVID-stricken France will quarantine at a suburban home instead of a medi-hotel.

He has been granted an exemption by authorities.

Pierre-Eric Pommellet is the global CEO of Naval Group, the company contracted to build Australia's submarines in South Australia.

READ MORE: Two more cases in Melbourne's Holiday Inn outbreak

He is based in France, which has had more than three million COVID-19 cases, including 18,000 yesterday.

However, on his arrival in Adelaide, he was allowed to travel to a suburban house for 14 days in quarantine.

READ MORE: World's second-oldest person survives COVID-19 infection

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens told 9News there were officers at the property 24 hours a day, and additional security had also been built into the house.

A statement from SA Health said additional testing and high levels of infection control are in place for the exemption.

Haiti: Moise Arrests Judges to Maintain Power

WASHINGTON/PORT-AU-PRINCE (VOA) – In an exclusive interview with VOA Creole, Haitian President Jovenel Moise on Tuesday defended his decree announcing the “retirement” of three Supreme Court justices saying the move is aimed at “protecting” the high court.

On Monday, opponents seeking to end Moïse’s rule declared Supreme Court Judge Joseph Mécène Jean-Louis as interim president. That move came one day after Moïse announced police had arrested more than 20 people he accused of trying to kill him and overthrow his government, including Judge Joseph Mécène Jean-Louis.

The opposition and Moise, who is currently ruling by decree after dissolving a majority of Parliament in January 2020, are embroiled in a long-running dispute over the length of Moïse’s term. The opposition says it ended Sunday. Moïse says he has another year.

“The council of ministers met yesterday and we took measures to protect democracy and the independence of the judiciary branch. Because as you know, the judiciary branch is independent, the executive branch is independent, the legislative branch is independent. But the president is the guarantor of the national institutions and in reality this decision was made, as I said, to protect the institution of the republic which is called the Supreme Court,” President Moise told VOA Creole, speaking via Skype from his office in Port-au-Prince.

Haitian Président Jovenel Moïse speaks to VOA Creole about his decision to retire three Supreme Court Justices, Feb. 9, 2021.
Haitian Président Jovenel Moïse speaks to VOA Creole about his decision to retire three Supreme Court Justices, Feb. 9, 2021.

The U.S. State Department expressed concern Tuesday.

“We are deeply concerned about any actions that risk damaging Haiti’s democratic institutions,” a spokesperson for the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs told VOA. “The executive order is now being widely scrutinized to determine whether it conforms to Haiti’s Constitution and laws.”

The United Nations also told VOA it is closely following developments in Haiti.

“We emphasize the importance of ensuring the separation of powers, the non-politicization and respect for and autonomy of the independence of a judiciary,” a spokesperson told VOA.

The decree 

Moise alarmed Haitians Monday when he issued the decree announcing that justices Yvickel Dabrezil, who was arrested by national police during an operation to thwart the alleged coup in the early hours of Sunday, Wendelle Coq Thelot and Jean-Louis are now retired.

Jean-Louis, the most senior member of the Supreme Court, posted a video to social media on Monday in which he declared he had accepted the nomination by the opposition and civil society members to “serve his country as provisional president of the transition.”

President Moise defended his actions, telling VOA they were justified because the three targeted judges decided to involve themselves in politics.

“I see that people are asking many questions,” he said. “There’s a lot of talk out there, but as I said, we are here to respect the law and the mission of the law … and that is why, as a guarantor of the institutions, we cannot allow an institution such as the Supreme Court to stray from its mission.”

Is it legal? 

Jean Wilner Morin, president of the National Association of Haitian Judges, called Moise’s decree retaliatory and unconstitutional.

“This is retaliation against the justices of the Supreme Court,” Morin told VOA. “[They are] all judges of character who want to apply the law.”

Judge Jean Wilner Morin, president of the National Association of Haitian Judges, ANAMAH. (VOA/Renan Toussaint)
Judge Jean Wilner Morin, president of the National Association of Haitian Judges, ANAMAH. (VOA/Renan Toussaint)

Pressed by VOA Creole, Moise denied his decision was retaliatory or meant to remove officials in line of presidential succession, which, as stipulated by Haiti’s constitution, requires a Supreme Court justice to replace a president deemed unable to perform official duties.

“There is no connection. The connection is with the law and what it dictates. As president the law dictates how I do my job,” Moise said. “The same law dictates how a judge should function. Put yourself in my shoes … you see a judge giving a speech as president. How can a country have a president and then a judge gives a [presidential] speech? That means one is stepping on the other’s toes.

“That’s why I made the decision,” he added. “The judges were retired to avoid this dangerous situation that the country is living. We have three judges who claim to be president — in fact, when a person reads a speech claiming he is president, the only thing left [for him] to do is move into the palace,” Moise said.

Morin told VOA that “Article 177 of the Haitian constitution states that the justices of the Supreme Court, the Appeals Court, the Circuit Courts are irremovable.” The judge said a 1995 amendment to the constitution addresses the retirement of judges.

“A judge cannot retire, be promoted or moved from one jurisdiction to another without his consent,” Morin told VOA.

After the age of 60, if a judge’s health is failing or his mental faculties are not 100% he has the right to request retirement, Morin said. A law adopted in 2007 separates judges from other public servants and sets “special procedures” regarding how they are to be dealt with.

Judge transferred to prison   

Justice Dabrezil, who was arrested Sunday, was transferred out of detention this afternoon and moved to the Prison Civile de Croix des Bouquets in a Port-au-Prince suburb.

VOA Creole reporter Matiado Vilme says Dabrezil was moved without being arraigned. As a Supreme Court judge, his authority would supercede that of a lower court judge.

A protester in the Solino neighborhood of Port au Prince holds a photo of Supreme Court Justice Joseph Mécène Jean Louis. (VOA/Matiado Vilme)
A protester in the Solino neighborhood of Port au Prince holds a photo of Supreme Court Justice Joseph Mécène Jean Louis. (VOA/Matiado Vilme)

Protesters say Moise no longer president 

Tuesday afternoon, people in the Solino neighborhood of the capital, took to the streets and danced to Rara music as they protested the president’s latest actions and refusal to step down.

“Enough, we can’t take it anymore!” a protester shouted.

“We’re on the street because Jovenel Moise’s presidency is over as of February 7, according to article 134-2 of the constitution,” said a protester holding a poster of Supreme Court Justice Jean Louis. “Jovenel Moise has chosen to violate the constitution he swore to uphold. We want people to know we applaud the opposition for giving us a new president who will be the 59th president [of Haiti] — Joseph Mecene Jean Louis.”

Reported in collaboration with VOA’s Creole Service

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