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NIA announces National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving

CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — The following is an announcement from the Premier’s Ministry in the Nevis Island Administration regarding a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving.

Thursday, January 28, 2021, has been designated as a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving to express gratitude to Almighty God for His providence and goodness during the past year, and to plead for His continued guidance and protection in 2021.

All churches on the island of Nevis will therefore be open on January 28 from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. to allow the general public to enter, throughout the day, for the purpose of individual prayer.

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Battle Royal Shaping Up for Trump Senate Trial

Allies of former President Trump are waging an intense pressure campaign aimed at convincing GOP senators to vote against his conviction in next month’s impeachment trial.

The message to wavering GOP senators is that anyone who votes to convict Trump is guaranteeing a tough primary challenge that could end their political career.

The message is directed not only to red-state GOP senators who might be thinking of moving the party away from Trump, but to GOP leaders who might want to break with the president after a pro-Trump mob ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“There are several incumbent Republicans up in 2022 that would be vulnerable in a primary, from Roy Blunt to Todd Young and John Thune and many others,” said one prominent operative in Trump’s orbit. “The last thing these guys need is a pissed off Trump gunning for them.”

The warnings come as Congress is ramping up for an impeachment trial set to begin on Feb. 8.

House Democrats on Monday sent their single impeachment article against Trump to the Senate, officially putting the former president on trial for his role in the deadly mob attack.

Few think a trial will end with Trump’s conviction. This would take at least 17 GOP votes if every Democrat votes to convict, and GOP sources told The Hill last week that only five or six GOP senators would likely vote to convict Trump.

Nonetheless, Trump allies are taking nothing for granted.

They are publicly challenging the 10 House Republicans who joined Democrats to impeach Trump, sending an implicit message of what will come to GOP senators who vote to convict.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a top Trump ally, will travel to Wyoming this week to denounce Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who voted to impeach Trump and is the third-ranking House Republican. The trip by a rank-and-file member to criticize a leader of his own House caucus is strikingly unusual and comes amid an effort by pro-Trump House members to remove Cheney from GOP leadership.

Trump’s former strategist Stephen Bannon, who was pardoned by Trump in his last days in office, has been featuring GOP primary challengers on his podcast.

He recently interviewed Tom Norton, the Afghanistan War veteran who is challenging first-term Rep. Pete Meijer (R-Mich.), who voted to impeach Trump. Norton called for the other nine members to be primaried as well.

The threats to the GOP House members, and the vows to go after senators, are intended to convince members such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to oppose convicting Trump.

McConnell has not said how he will vote in the impeachment trial, but there have been reports that he has told associates he believes the president committed impeachable offenses when he told a crowd to march on the Capitol before the riot, which led to five deaths.

“It’s incumbent on party leadership to recognize that and to put their own personal vendettas with Trump aside and to work to unite the party,” the GOP operative said. “The Republican Party will not be a national party for much longer if our representatives in Washington don’t stop disrespecting their voters. So work with Trump to grow the party, or go to war with him and watch it explode in your face. It’s up to you.”

There has also been talk of Trump starting a third party, something associates say is not being actively planned but suggest could become a reality if the GOP breaks further with the former president.

“There’s nothing that’s actively being planned regarding an effort outside of that, but it’s completely up to Republican senators if this is something that becomes more serious,” said Jason Miller, a campaign aide who is now advising Trump on impeachment.

Miller says the president’s plan for now is to work with Republicans to help win back the House and Senate in 2022.

While Trump retains enormous support within the GOP, plenty of Republicans also think he’s leading their party down the drain.

Trump entered power with House and Senate majorities but lost the House in 2018 and the Senate in 2020 — after the GOP lost two runoff races in Georgia as Trump was focused on conspiracy theories surrounding his own electoral loss.

Rural voters have come out in force for Trump, but his brand has sullied the GOP image in the suburbs, where women, independents and centrist GOP voters have increasingly abandoned him.

The GOP is also concerned with the suspension of donations by corporations to Republicans after the storming of the Capitol.

It’s unclear how long this will last or whether it will be focused on those lawmakers who backed challenges to the Electoral College, but it is a subject of angst in GOP circles.

“It’s the ultimate challenge,” said veteran GOP operative Ed Rollins, who managed President Reagan’s 1984 reelection campaign. “You can’t win presidential races losing women by 15 percent. You need the MAGA voters, and 50-plus percent of independents. The Trump coalition doesn’t alone get you there, as proven by 2020 and losing a majority of voters in 2016. Angry, white, non-college males don’t get you there alone. You need to add to Hispanic numbers and clearly close the gap with women.”

Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele urged GOP senators to fight without fear of Trump or his base, saying that the former president is weaker than he appears.

“We’re trusting our elected officials to stand up and lead,” he said. “You’ll have a tough primary, but we’ll rally to your support and be behind you if you stand and fight for us now. Don’t be scared off by their threats.”

The announcement Monday by Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a pragmatic centrist, that he will retire at the end of the Congress is being seen by some as a sign of the party’s evolution — and that some Bush-era Republicans might no longer see a place for themselves. Portman is a former trade representative and budget director for former President George W. Bush.

Former Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) is worried about his party’s future.

“The Republican Party is in disarray, and it’s not a majority party because it’s abandoned the ability to attract the independent vote, especially from educated women and Hispanic voters who are the swing voters in every state,” he said. “The Trump base will be there, but it’s not as critical to building a majority. I think Trump will dissipate on his own anyway, and we’ll be looking back at the invasion of Capitol Hill and asking ourselves why we’re the party that allowed that to happen.”

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Nevis Water Department announces one-day closure

CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — The following is a notice from the Nevis Water Department in the Nevis Island Administration.

The Nevis Water Department will be closed on Tuesday, February 2. However, normal operating hours will resume on Wednesday, February 3.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause to the general public.

Thanks for your understanding.

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Mexico: Massacre of Migrant Guatemalans?

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Relatives of migrants from Guatemala said Monday they believe that 13 of the 19 charred corpses found in a northern Mexico border state could be their loved ones and the country’s Foreign Ministry said it was collecting DNA samples from a dozen relatives to see if there was a match with any of the bodies.

If true, the killings would revive memories of the 2010 massacre of 72 migrants in the same gang-ridden state of Tamaulipas.

Ramiro Coronado told The Associated Press by telephone that he had a relative among a group of 13 migrants who left the province of San Marcos and were travelling together before family members lost contact with them on Thursday.

Mexican authorities said they are not sure the bodies are those of migrants. The Guatemalan Foreign Ministry wrote in a press statement that “Mexican authorities are in the phase of conducting tests for identification, and for that reason they are not able to confirm their identities at this time.”

Camargo, the area where the bodies were found, has long been the scene of turf battles between rival drug gangs, and authorities said three rifles were found in the pickup truck where the bodies were piled.

The National Immigration Institute said it was working with foreign consulates in Mexico, but the bodies were so badly burned they cannot immediately be identified. Melted remains of what appear to be cellphones were also found.

Coronado said his nephew, Adán Coronado, 31, had left for the United States along with other migrants in the San Marcos group about two weeks ago.

“They were a group that travelled together,” Coronado said, and they kept in contact with family members back home. But they were apparently in or near Tamaulipas at the time, and since Thursday there had been no word from them.

“It was the first time he had gone (to the U.S.). He said he wanted a better life situation for himself and his family,” Coronado said.

Mario Gálvez, a congressman who represents San Marcos, wrote in his social media accounts that the missing migrants included 10 men and three women.

“We have contacted the relatives, they say that the bodies found are those of their relatives, they have information that it was that group,” Gálvez wrote. “We have asked the Foreign Ministry to help the families with the repatriation of the bodies.”

“They cannot find development opportunities in their hometowns, which have historically been totally abandoned by the government,” Gálvez wrote. “The dream of our children and youths has become to reach the United States.

The Tamaulipas state prosecutor’s office said the bodies were discovered along a dirt road outside Camargo late Friday after residents reported a burning vehicle. Four bodies were found in the cab and near the vehicles, and the other 15 were piled in the bed of the truck.

All had been shot, but shell casings were not found at the site, leading investigators to believe they were killed somewhere else.

A repeat of the 2010 massacre has long been one of the Mexican government’s worst nightmares. In 2019, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said, “We do not want a repeat of horrendous, regrettable acts like San Fernando.”

In August 2010, Zetas cartel members stopped two tractor-trailers carrying dozens of mostly Central American migrants and took them to a ranch in Tamaulipas town of San Fernando. After the migrants refused to work for the cartel, they were blindfolded, tied up on the floor and shot dead.

Camargo is a major smuggling transit point for drugs and migrants. Organized crime groups covet control of stretches of the border because they make money off everything that crosses the border.

Camargo is near the edge of territory historically controlled by factions of the Gulf cartel and in recent years a remnant of the Zetas known as the Northeast cartel has tried to take over.

In January 2020, 21 bodies, most burned, were found in various vehicles near the neighboring town of Ciudad Mier. Days later the Mexican army killed 11 alleged gunmen in the area.

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Vatican clears retired US bishop of multiple sex abuse claims

The Vatican has cleared a retired US bishop of multiple allegations he sexually abused minors and teenagers, rejecting lay experts' determination that a half-dozen claims were credible and instead slapping him on the wrist for what it called "flagrant" imprudent behaviour.

The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) exonerated retired Cheyenne, Wyoming Bishop Joseph Hart of seven accusations abuse and determined that five others couldn't be proven "with moral certitude."

Two other cases involving boys, who were 16 and 17, couldn't be prosecuted given the Catholic Church didn't consider them minors at the time of the alleged abuse, the diocese reported on Monday. A 13th allegation wasn't addressed in the decree.

Hart, 89, had long maintained his innocence and denied all allegations of misconduct.

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The Vatican decision clearly disappointed Hart's successor, Bishop Steven Biegler, who stressed that the Vatican's findings didn't mean Hart was innocent, just that the Holy See determined that the high burden of proof hadn't been met.

"Today, I want the survivors to know that I support and believe you" Mr Biegler said in a statement.

"I understand that this announcement will not bring closure to the survivors, their family members, Bishop Hart and all those affected."

Mr Biegler has previously stood by the findings of his review board, which determined a half-dozen claims were credible. And a diocesan statement noted the qualifications of its members: "law enforcement; school administration; a doctor of psychology; a paediatrician; a psychotherapist, who treats sexually abused children; and a judge, who was a criminal prosecutor for 13 years involving crimes against children, primarily child sexual abuse."

On the other hand, the Vatican's CDF relies on the judgement of priests and bishop canon lawyers, and ultimately the pope.

The Vatican for decades has been blasted by victims' groups for giving bishops a pass when they have been accused of sexual abuse themselves or of covering it up.

A few exceptions have been made in recent years, most famously in the case of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked after the CDF determined he had abused minors as well as adults, including during confession — essentially the same allegations against Hart.

As a result, the sentence showed the arbitrary nature of Vatican's canonical sex abuse deliberations and judgements, which aren't public.

Hart's previous diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph reached court settlements years ago with at least 10 victims.

But Wyoming criminal prosecutors also decided last year not to proceed with charging Hart.

Anne Barrett Doyle, of the online resource BishopAccountability.org, said the Vatican ruling was "heartbreaking and disgraceful" and showed that church law is biased in favour of priests and bishops.

"Defenders of canon law might point to the punishment of ex-cardinal McCarrick as evidence that the system works," Ms Doyle said.

"But for every McCarrick, there are five Harts: bishops who retain their titles and pensions in the face of multiple allegations."

Ms Doyle added that the ruling calls into question Pope Francis' vow to hold bishops accountable.

In its decree, the CDF rebuked Hart "for his flagrant lack of prudence as a priest and bishop for being alone with minors in his private residence and on various trips which could have been potential occasions endangering the 'obligation to observe continence' and that would 'give rise to scandal among the faithful,'" the diocese said.

Hart was also rebuked for failing to observe previous Vatican restrictions prohibiting him from having contact with minors and seminarians and from participating in public engagements, the diocese said, adding that those restrictions remain in place.

Hart was a priest in Kansas City, Missouri, for 21 years before moving to Wyoming, where he served as auxiliary and then full bishop from 1976 until his retirement in 2001.

The first known allegations against Hart dated to the early 1960s and were made in the late 1980s.

At least six men came forward in the past few years to say Hart abused them in Wyoming.