Tag Archives: caribbean

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Search for Remains of Indigenous Children Killed in Guatemala Massacre Blocked by Residents

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GUATEMALA CITY, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Residents of a Mayan community in Guatemala prevented experts on Tuesday from beginning to exhume the remains of more than 100 children believed to have been buried clandestinely in a former military garrison during the country’s civil war in the 1980s.

The search efforts in the village of Chiul, more than 120 miles (200 km) from Guatemala City, were scheduled to begin early on Tuesday morning but were suspended after residents disrupted the plans without offering an explanation for their opposition.

Arnulfo Oxlaj, one of the survivors of the massacre who was at the site on Tuesday, said that among those who opposed the exhumations were former members of the country’s armed forces, which has been accused of carrying out the massacre.

“(They are) interested in opposing justice,” he said.

Reuters could not independently confirm the allegations by Oxlaj, who had to be guarded by local authorities to avoid being attacked during the protest, according to the Public Ministry.

A Guatemalan army spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Arnulfo Oxlaj, a survivor of the massacre of children from the Chiul Indigenous community in Guatemala's civil war, meets with Indigenous leaders after local authorities prevented an exhumation at the site where the children are believed to be buried, in Nebaj, Guatemala September 28, 2021. REUTERS/Luis Echeverria
Arnulfo Oxlaj, a survivor of the massacre of children from the Chiul Indigenous community in Guatemala's civil war, meets with Indigenous leaders after local authorities prevented an exhumation at the site where the children are believed to be buried, in Nebaj, Guatemala September 28, 2021. REUTERS/Luis Echeverria

Arnulfo Oxlaj, a survivor of the massacre of children from the Chiul Indigenous community in Guatemala’s civil war, meets with Indigenous leaders after local authorities prevented an exhumation at the site where the children are believed to be buried, in Nebaj, Guatemala September 28, 2021. REUTERS/Luis Echeverria

During the dispute, community journalist Jose Guarcas was temporarily detained by the protesters, civil society organizations said.

The massacre, one of many targeting Mayan communities during the civil war, occurred on May 21, 1988, in the remote Chiul indigenous community. Witnesses say members of the armed forces captured hundreds of residents and took them to the military garrison, where they separated the children from their parents.

According to Oxlaj, 116 children between the ages of 2 and 15 were tortured and thrown into what was then a well inside the facility, where they drowned.

There is no official record of the number of victims or clarity about the motivations behind the killings. The Guatemalan military has been accused of conducting a genocide campaign against indigenous peoples during the conflict.

The Public Ministry opened an investigation into the case earlier this year, following a complaint filed by Oxlaj.

The planned excavation was coordinated by the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation and the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office – part of efforts to seek justice for the hundreds of thousands of victims of the armed conflict that lasted from 1960 to 1996.

Reporting by Bill Barreto; Writing by Laura Gottesdiener; Editing by Peter Cooney

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Women Across Latin America March for Abortion Rights

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MEXICO CITY, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Thousands of women demonstrated in several Latin American cities on Tuesday to commemorate the global day of action for access to safe and legal abortion, in a region where the procedure is fully permitted only in a handful of countries.

In Mexico City, women marched to the historic center under the gaze of police with shields and riot helmets. Authorities put up protective fences on some major buildings and monuments that in the past have been spray-painted during demonstrations.

“I still don’t know if I want to be a mom, but I want to have the right to decide,” read a sign held by a young woman with a green scarf around her neck.

Earlier this month Mexico’s Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional to criminalize abortion and, shortly after, the government said that those jailed on accusations of having terminated their pregnancy would be released.

Hundreds of other women marched in other parts of Mexico, including in the cities of Cuernavaca and Veracruz.

Every year, thousands of women in Latin America die from unsafe abortions at a time when teenage pregnancies and sexual violence continue to increase in the region.

In Colombia, where abortion is allowed only in cases of rape, risks to the life of the mother, or birth defects, some 800 women marched towards the center of Bogota.

“Women are reminding states and societies that we’re full citizens, not second-class, and that we have the right to abort, to voluntarily interrupt pregnancy, to decide about our bodies, about our lives, and about our maternity wards,” said Ita Maria Diez, a leader of the Bogota demonstration.

Women hold up green handkerchiefs, symbolizing the abortion rights movement, during a protest to mark International Safe Abortion Day in San Salvador, El Salvador, September 28, 2021. REUTERS/Jessica Orellana
Demonstrators march in support of legal and safe abortion and to mark the International Safe Abortion Day in Bogota, Colombia September 28, 2021. The sign reads "Neither dead nor imprisoned for aborting". REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez
A demonstrator gestures during a rally in support of legal and safe abortion and to mark the International Safe Abortion Day in Bogota, Colombia September 28, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez

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Demonstrators march in support of legal and safe abortion and to mark the International Safe Abortion Day in Bogota, Colombia September 28, 2021. The sign reads “Neither dead nor imprisoned for aborting”. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez

A march was also held in Chile, where the lower house of Congress agreed to debate a bill to decriminalize abortion for up to 14 weeks after pregnancy.

STRICT LAWS

Scores of people in El Salvador waved green flags and marched through San Salvador en route to Congress to demand a loosening of the country’s “strict” abortion laws.

Holding up banners saying “it’s our right to decide” and “legal abortion, safe and free,” the Salvadoran protesters sought to pressure legislators to ease one of the world’s strictest abortion laws, which prohibit termination of pregnancy in cases of rape and even if the mother’s life is at risk.

The proposals taken to the Salvadoran Congress have been named “Beatriz Reform,” in honor of a young woman who in 2013 openly called for an abortion to save her life as she suffered from a chronic disease, which took her life four years later.

“We are asking for minimum measures to add to the Penal Code to guarantee the life and integrity of women,” Morena Herrera, a prominent Salvadoran feminist, told journalists.

“It does not require constitutional reform. It can be done now and if it is true that there is independence of powers, the Legislative Assembly must respond,” she added.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele earlier this month ruled out any amendments to the abortion laws as part of controversial constitutional changes his government is planning. read more

But several out of more than 20 Latin American nations still ban abortion outright, including El Salvador, which has sentenced some women to up to 40 years in prison.

Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez in Mexico City, additional reporting by Gerardo Arbaiza in San Salvador; Luis Jaime Acosta in Bogota, Fabian Cambero and Gabriela Donoso in Santiago, Editing by Drazen Jorgic and Sandra Maler

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Fourth Time Haiti Polls Postponed – Electoral Body Dissolved

General elections scheduled for November in Haiti have been postponed indefinitely after the country’s prime minister dismissed all members of the body which organises elections.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he would appoint a new electoral council, but has not said when he would do so.

It is the fourth time the election has been postponed.

Haiti has been torn apart by a fierce power struggle triggered by the killing of President Jovenel Moïse in July.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was named by President Moïse just two days before the killing, ordered the dissolution of the nine-member Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) on Monday.

A decree to that effect was published in Haiti’s official gazette.

What role does the council play?

The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) is Haiti’s electoral commission and the body responsible for organising presidential and parliamentary elections.

Its role includes ensuring that elections are held feely and fairly.

The most recent controversy involving the CEP started in July 2020, when all nine members of the CEP resigned.

They did so in protest at attempts by then-President Moïse to change the 1987 constitution to strengthen the role of the presidency and lessen that of parliament.

A worker unloads a box with electoral materials delivered by the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) one day before of the general elections at a polling station in Port-au-Prince, on November 19, 2016.
The CEP organises and schedules elections 

President Moïse wanted to put those changes to the Haitian people in a referendum, which would have fallen to the CEP to organise.

But the CEP members argued that Haiti’s 1987 constitution did not allow the use of a referendum to change the constitution, and stepped down rather than organise a referendum they deemed unconstitutional.

President Moïse then proceeded to appoint nine new members to the CEP but Haiti’s Supreme Court refused to swear them in, arguing that their appointment had been “irregular”.

The president bypassed the Supreme Court and proceeded with the instalment of his chosen CEP but questions about its legitimacy has dogged its members ever since.

What about the elections?

Earlier this year, the CEP had scheduled the constitutional referendum and the parliamentary and presidential elections for 26 September 2021.

But following the killing of President Moïse by mercenaries on 7 July, the polls were postponed to 7 November.

Following the dismissal of all the CEP’s members on Monday, new CEP members will have to be appointed and a new election date set.

Prime Minister Henry did not set a deadline for the instalment of a new CEP, but only said that “sufficient time” would be allowed for its members to be chosen.

What next?

The CEP was deeply unpopular with many Haitians and the dismissal of its members has been welcomed by some.

André Michel of the opposition grouping Popular and Democratic Sector, described it on Twitter as “an important step” which would open the door to the appointment of a new “credible and legitimate” CEP.

But the renewed delay of the elections is also likely to throw Haiti into even more uncertainty at a time of extreme crisis.

Not only is the country without a president, it is also recovering from a devastating earthquake in August which killed more than 2,200 people.

Haitian opposition leader Andre Michel signs a political agreement between the main opposition parties and the Government of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, in a ceremony at his official residence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 11 September 2021.
Opposition spokesman André Michel welcomed the dismissal of the CEP members 

While the constitutional referendum proposed by the late President Moïse was unpopular with many, there was general agreement that general elections needed to be held as soon as possible – not just to replace Mr Moïse, but also to have a functioning legislative.

The mandates of the members of parliament expired in January 2020 and, before his killing, Mr Moïse had been ruling by decree.

The situation in the Senate is not much better, where only 10 out of 30 senators still have a valid mandate.

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Peru’s Ex-President Alejandro Toledo to Be Extradited from US

Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, arrested in the US two years ago on corruption charges, has been cleared for extradition back to Peru.

A US judge approved the move on Tuesday, saying sufficient evidence had been presented in a case against the former president to suggest wrongdoing.

Mr Toledo is accused of taking $20m (£15m) in bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, while in office between 2001 and 2006.

He has denied all charges against him.

The 75-year-old, who has been living in the US state of California and has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University, has previously said the allegations are politically motivated.

Peruvian authorities allege that Mr Toledo received millions of dollars in return for awarding public works contracts. They provided the US with an extradition request in May 2018.

Odebrecht earlier admitted, as part of a plea deal with the US justice department, to paying nearly $800m in bribes to governments across Latin America.

Issuing his decision to allow the extradition of the former president, Judge Thomas Hixson of the US District Court in the Northern District of California said there was enough evidence to “establish probable cause to believe that Toledo committed collusion and money laundering”.

He said that this included testimony from Odebrecht’s former executive director in Peru, Jorge Barata, and Mr Toledo’s own admission during the extradition proceeding that he had received approximately $500,000 in Odebrecht bribe money.

Judge Hixson said, however, that the case against Mr Toledo was “not airtight”, and that some witnesses had contradicted themselves while giving evidence, which would raise issues with a trial in Peru.

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Pacific Nations Face ‘Lost Decade’ Due to Economic Cost of Covid

Guardian- Pacific Islands face greatest economic contraction in four decades, according to a new report from the Lowy Institute

 

Countries in the Pacific risk a “lost decade” following the Covid pandemic, with the region facing its greatest economic contraction in four decades, according to a new report into foreign aid.

The latest Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map, which sets out aid spending and donations to the Pacific Islands region, shows US$2.44bn in foreign aid reached the Pacific in 2019, which is about 8% of the region’s GDP.

Australian aid to the region has increased, after growing fears China’s “soft diplomacy” through concessional loans for infrastructure projects was lessening Australia’s influence on the region. While Australia’s total foreign aid budget has shrunk under the Coalition, the Pacific has been the focus of what remains, with Australia “retooling” its budget to increase its contributions to Pacific neighbours.

The Holiday Inn in Suva stands empty as coronavirus travel restrictions devastate Fiji’s tourism industry.
‘Job-killer of the century’: economies of Pacific islands face collapse over Covid-19

 

But China, an emerging force in the region, slashed its contributions that same year, reducing its aid budget from US$246m in 2018 by 31%, delivering US$169m in 2019.

Lowy reports that’s the lowest level of aid China has given to the Pacific region since 2012, with the drop occurring even as Beijing secured new diplomatic alliances. China’s funding to the region is more commonly given in the form of a concessional loan, leaving countries indebted to the government. In 2019, 67% of Chinese aid was given in the form of loans, up from 41% the year before.

The Lowy Institute analysis, to be released on Wednesday, estimates an additional US$3.5bn will be needed for the region to recover from the pandemic, but donors appear in short supply.

All up, aid to the Pacific declined by 15% in 2019, with health spending accounting for just 11% of the US$2.44bn.

Lowy reports Australia accounted for 42% of all aid to the Pacific region between 2009 and 2019, but in more recent years, the amount of money being spent on health has been cut in favour of infrastructure projects.

As part of its pandemic response, Australia established a temporary AU$305m Covid package within the Pacific Step-Up program, which aimed to “to help address the economic and social costs of the pandemic in the Pacific and Timor-Leste, helping to underpin our region’s stability and economic recovery”.

A drastic economic downturn in Vanuatu has forced Warwick Le Lagon resort in Vanuatu to temporarily shutter its business.
Deserted islands: Pacific resorts struggle to survive a year without tourists

The package was mostly designed to help Pacific governments maintain essential services, including aviation, during the worst of the pandemic. Vaccines have also been sent to Pacific Island governments, along with specialist teams, to help curb the spread of Covid.

But with the world beginning to move on, the Lowy Institute points to more needing to be done to ensure nations within the Pacific region do not fall further behind.

Australia is also facing pressure from its Pacific neighbours to act on climate, with warnings the Coalition’s “inertia” on the issue was undermining its position within the Indo-Pacific, at the same time as scrambling to reassure partners the new strategic Aukus pact would not heighten defence tensions in the region.

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Covid Study: 37% of People Have Symptoms 6 Months after infection, Vaccine Mandates, World Stats, More

A large study reveals the scale of long Covid, with symptoms affected by sex, age and severity of infection.

People who did not need hospital care were more likely to have headaches than those who needed to be admitted.
People who did not need hospital care were more likely to have headaches than those who needed to be admitted. Photograph: laflor/Getty Images

One in three people infected with coronavirus will experience at least one symptom of long Covid, a new study suggests.

Much of the existing research into the condition – a mixture of symptoms reported by people often months after they were originally ill with Covid-19 – has been based either on self-reported symptoms or small studies.

Now researchers at the University of Oxford, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) have shed fresh light on the scale of the problem after studying more than 270,000 people recovering from coronavirus in the US.

They found 37% of patients had at least one long Covid symptom diagnosed three to six months after infection. The most common symptoms were breathing problems, abdominal symptoms, fatigue, pain and anxiety or depression.

“The results confirm that a significant proportion of people, of all ages, can be affected by a range of symptoms and difficulties in the six months after Covid-19 infection,” said NIHR academic clinical fellow Dr Max Taquet. “Over one-third of patients were diagnosed with at least one of the long Covid symptoms between three and six months after their Covid-19 illness.”

Severity of infection, age, and sex affected the likelihood of long Covid symptoms, according to the data from the US-based TriNetX electronic health record network.

Long Covid symptoms were more frequent in those who had been hospitalised, and they were slightly more common in women, the study published in the journal PLOS Medicine showed.

Post-illness symptoms like long Covid are probably more common than we think.

Different factors also influenced which of the symptoms people were most likely to experience. For example, older people and men had more breathing difficulties and cognitive problems, whereas young people and women had more headaches, abdominal symptoms and anxiety or depression.

Covid patients admitted to hospital were more likely to suffer cognitive problems like brain fog and fatigue compared with people who did not need to be admitted, the research found. People who did not need hospital care were more likely to have headaches than those who needed to be admitted.

Many patients had more than one long Covid symptom, the researchers said.

“These data complement findings from self-report surveys, and show that clinicians are diagnosing patients with these symptoms. We need appropriately configured services to deal with the current and future clinical need,” said Taquet.

The study also looked at the same symptoms in people recovering from flu.

People who get flu can have prolonged symptoms similar to those seen in some patients with long Covid, the study suggests, but lasting symptoms occur to a far lesser extent in those who had influenza.

Symptoms linked to long Covid were 50% more common among those who had Covid compared with those who had flu, the researchers estimated.

Prof Amitava Banerjee, Professor of Clinical Data Science and Honorary Consultant Cardiologist, University College London, who was not involved in the research, said it was a “large, well-conducted and thorough study”.

He said the findings supported the calls that have been made for “large-scale rollout of health services” for those with long Covid, including those not hospitalised with Covid.

“Over half of patients (57%) had at least one long Covid feature recorded in the six months after infection and one-third (37%) in the 90 to 180 days after diagnosis,” said Banerjee.

The study had limitations, such as the fact it had focused on the nine symptoms probably most common among those with long Covid, he stressed. However, because as many as 200 signs of long Covid have previously been suggested, “the reported incidence” of long Covid was actually “likely to be an underestimate”.

He added that the fact the nine symptoms were all more common after Covid-19 than for flu was “yet another arrow in the quiver against bogus ‘this is just like flu’ claims”.

Separate research published on Tuesday found more than one in 10 secondary school pupils and over a third of school staff who had Covid-19 in England have suffered ongoing symptoms.

The most common symptom reported by staff and pupils was weakness or tiredness, while staff were more likely to experience shortness of breath than pupils, according to the study from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Overall, the ONS estimates that 970,000 people in the UK are suffering continuing symptoms after a Covid-19 infection.

The figures, based on self-reported symptoms, also suggest 384,000 people are still living with symptoms a year after infection.

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Vaccine Mandates

Vaccine mandates for government employed workers are increasing around the world – with Costa Rica now ordering that all state workers will have to be fully vaccinated. Private companies will be able to mandate vaccination for their own employees the Costa Rican health ministry said in a statement.

Approximately 40% of the population has been fully vaccinated but big gaps remain, as almost 30% of Costa Ricans have not received even a single shot.

The Social Security Fund, which runs Costa Rica’s public hospital system, has since February required immunization against COVID-19 for all its workers.

On Monday, the University of Costa Rica, the country’s biggest university, also announced a vaccination mandate.

The health authorities did not outline the consequences for employees who refuse to take a vaccine, saying “it will be the employer’s responsibility to take measures according to the country’s legislation and institutional regulations”.

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US NBA Mandate

In the US, senior basketball players who are not vaccinated against Covid-19 will have to comply with a long list of restrictions to take part in the upcoming season ESPN is reporting.

The restrictions include having to eat separately from vaccinated players.

ESPN said that, as per the NBA’s health and safety protocols released to teams on Tuesday, vaccinated players will only be tested if they show symptoms or are a close contact of a positive case.

But unvaccinated players will have to undergo daily testing prior to entering a team facility, participating in team-organised activities, or interacting with other players and coaches.

Unvaccinated players will not be allowed to dine in the same room as other players, and must be given a locker as distant as possible from other players.

Unvaccinated players will also have to remain at their residence, or the team hotel during road trips, outside game time except for team and essential activities such as taking children to school or buying groceries.

They will also have to quarantine for seven days if they are a close contact while vaccinated players will only have to do so in “unusual circumstances”.

The report said face masks were mandatory for all players for the 2021-22 season, which starts on 19 October.

Vaccination is not mandatory but 90% of NBA players already are, the Players Association executive director Michele Roberts told Yahoo Sports in July.

Four-time NBA champion LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers said he was initially “very sceptical” about the vaccine but decided to take it after doing his research.

“I don’t talk about other people and what they should do,” James said. “I don’t think I personally should get involved in what other people do for their bodies and livelihoods.

“I know that I was very sceptical about it but after doing my own research I felt like it was best suited for me and my family and my friends.”

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Eastern Europe a COVID Hot Spot

In eastern Europe, where Covid cases are rising and vaccination rates lower than across the EU, another crisis is brewing the AFP agency reports. The fight against HIV has been seriously hampered by the Covid pandemic.

Bulgaria and Romania are both former eastern bloc countries, and in 2019, 76% of Aids cases diagnosed in Europe were in the east, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

“It is obvious that the number of contaminations has increased since the start of the pandemic”, Alina Schiau from the Romanian anti-Aids Association told AFP.

As coronavirus took hold, hospitals closed to non-Covid patients, says Davron Mukhamadiev, regional health and care coordinator for Red Cross Europe (IFRC).

Quarantine requirements, travel restrictions and reduced access to rapid testing and diagnostic services all undermined efforts to roll back HIV/Aids, he said.

UNAids data shows 140,000 new infections in eastern Europe and central Asia in 2020, compared with 170,000 in 2019, which experts attribute to a dramatic slowdown in screening, not a drop in cases.

In 2020, for example, Romania managed to screen only 234,420 people for HIV/Aids – down nearly a third from 334,410 the previous year.

It is a similar story in neighbouring Bulgaria. Regional health centres were “overwhelmed and hardly ever did any HIV testing during Covid”, said Alexander Milanov, programme director at the country’s National Patients’ Organisation.

The pandemic has disrupted supply chains and the transport of medicines, exacerbating historic shortages in countries such as Romania despite huge scientific strides that have dramatically improved outcomes for HIV patients in rich nations.

The HIV/AIDS crisis in Romania dates back to the communist years.

About 11,000 children born in the 1980s under the communist regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu were infected as a result of contaminated or unsterilised syringes or transfusions with untested blood.

Romania’s health ministry did not respond to an AFP request for a comment.

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Study to consider whether vitamin A can treat loss of smell after Covid

A study will consider whether vitamin A can help those who have lost their sense of smell after having Covid-19.

The 12-week “Apollo trial”, run by the University of East Anglia, will treat people who have experienced smell loss or an altered sense of smell as a result of viral infections with nasal drops containing the vitamin, the University of East Anglia (UEA) said in a statement.

The university said research from Germany had shown the potential benefit of the vitamin, and its team “will explore how this treatment works to help repair tissues in the nose damaged by viruses”. The researchers hope the study “could one day help improve the lives of millions around the world who suffer from smell loss, by returning their fifth sense”.

It comes after a study by an international group of smell experts, published in the journal International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology in April, advised against using steroids to treat smell loss and instead suggested “smell training”.

Prof Carl Philpott from the UEA’s Norwich Medical School said the method “aims to help recovery based on neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to reorganise itself to compensate for a change or injury”.

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WORLD STATS

Coronavirus Cases:

233,595,284

Deaths:

4,779,749

Recovered:

210,418,704
Highlighted in green
= all cases have recovered from the infection
Highlighted in grey
= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases)

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Latest News

September 29 (GMT)

Updates

  • 547 new cases and 1 new death in Laos [source]
  • 1,723 new cases and 40 new deaths in Japan [source]
  • 654 new cases and 50 new de

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US: Homicides Up 30% in Largest Increase On Record, FBI Says

By Monique Beals 
The Hill

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2020 was published Monday, showing homicides increased nearly 30 percent last year from 2019.

This data marks the first time in four years that the estimated number of violent crimes in the U.S. increased from the previous year, the FBI said in a statement.

Violent crime increased by 5 percent from 2019 to 2020, according to the FBI, while overall crime was down 6 percent during the same time period.

“In 2020, there were an estimated 1,277,696 violent crimes,” the agency said. “When compared with the estimates from 2019, the estimated number of robbery offenses fell 9.3 percent and the estimated volume of rape (revised definition) offenses decreased 12.0 percent.”

The 2020 jump in homicides, however, marked the “largest single-year increase” the FBI has reported since it began collecting the data in the 1960s, according to CNN.

There were 21,570 reported homicides last year.

The homicide rate per 100,000 people was 6.5 in 2020, still well below when murder rates peaked around 9.8 per 100,000 in the early 1990s, according to the FBI’s data.

More offenders and victims involved in violent crimes were between ages 20 and 29 than any other age group, the data showed.

The information is considered far from comprehensive as submitting data for the report is optional. About 85 percent of agencies that were eligible to participate in the report submitted data, according to the FBI. Some of the cities that did not submit data included New York, Chicago and New Orleans, CNN reported.

The FBI’s report also estimated that nationwide law enforcement agencies made about 7.6 million arrests last year.

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Jamaican Nurse’s Dedication During Pandemic Singled Out at US COVID Summit

The United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken used the recent White House Virtual COVID-19 Summit to highlight the dedication of Jamaican Registered General Nurse Antonia Richards-Stewart, one of the many healthcare workers who has been working on the frontline since the start of the pandemic.

The summit, held on September 21st, was used to highlight how the United States has assisted countries around the world to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Blinken noted that in Jamaica, Nurse Richards-Stewart, who works at the Kingston Public Hospital, was one of the frontline workers who benefited from additional training and equipment provided by USAID.

“If – if we work together with the unity and urgency required at this moment, we can end the pandemic. I am convinced we can do this, in no small part because of the extraordinary people around the world who are working at this every single day, caring for the sick and their families, working to beat back this deadly virus,” he prefaced.

“People like Antonia Richards Stewart, a nurse in Jamaica. Additional training and equipment provided by USAID helped Antonia and her colleagues at the Kingston Public Hospital save lives there as well.  But Antonia says that of everything she learned during the pandemic, the most important lesson in many ways has been the most basic, and I quote: “What is critical to winning [the] fight against COVID-19 is us, the people.”  And ultimately, that’s always what it comes down to.

So if we take one message from the summit, that’s it.  It comes down to us – what we do in this critical moment in the weeks ahead, in the months ahead,” Blinken stated.

Secretary Blinken also added that the United States plans to continue providing training and COVID-19 equipment to healthcare workers around the world, including in the Caribbean. He also announced that President Joe Biden plans to donate additional vaccines to small countries.

“The new commitments that President Biden announced today, including purchasing an additional half a billion doses of Pfizer vaccine, which brings our total commitment to more than 1.1 billion doses, shows that the United States will continue to engage and continue to lead,” he said.

The United States said it is assisting governments around the world to vaccinate billions of people. “Be must vaccinate billions more people, and quickly, fully vaccinating at least 70 percent of the population, in every country, in every major category, by 2022,” Blinken stated.

 

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Bahamas: 900+ Haitians Migrants Captured On Land & Sea

Since Wednesday, more than 900 Haitian migrants were apprehended in Bahamian waters, as Haiti continues to grapple with heightened political, economic and social unrest.

According to the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF), “400-plus” migrants were detained yesterday after their vessel sank in the Ragged Island chain.

On Saturday, 195 Haitian migrants were apprehended in two separate incidents.

On Saturday morning, a sloop carrying 50 Haitians was intercepted off Inagua.

Later in the day, a sloop was spotted in the Ragged Island chain. Marines aboard an RBDF ship discovered 145 migrants on board.

The RBDF said that on Thursday evening, while en route to Inagua with a group of 70 migrants, who were apprehended earlier in the day, marines aboard the HMBS Bahamas spotted another sloop just five miles west of Inagua with 151 Haitians on board.

On Wednesday, authorities apprehended 86 Haitian migrants off Inagua.

The more than 900 Haitian migrants detained in a five-day period represented a clear uptick in such incidents; Bahamian officials indicated weeks ago that such an influx of migration from Haiti was expected.

In July, President of Haiti Jovenel Moïse was assassinated inside his home on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, sending shockwaves across the globe and raising regional concern over the level of instability in the impoverished island nation.

The Bahamas’ then-Minister of Foreign Affairs Darren Henfield said the civil unrest in Haiti would undoubtedly have an impact in The Bahamas, where tens of thousands of Haitian migrants have settled in recent decades.

RBDF Commodore Dr. Raymond King also said at the time that additional vessels were being sent to the southeast Bahamas in anticipation of a possible mass exodus of migrants from Haiti.

Compounding the concerns, weeks later, Haiti, still reeling from Moïse’s slaying and the power vacuum it created, was struck by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, which killed more than 2,000 people and left entire communities in shambles.

The issue of irregular migration from Haiti has long been a contentious one, with the seemingly ceaseless flow of impoverished migrants breeding contempt and resentment among many Bahamians.

As the defense force rounded up more and more Haitian migrants over the weekend, Acting Prime Minister Chester Cooper traveled to Inagua on Saturday to address them.

“We are here to help you,” said Cooper with the assistance of a translator. “We need your cooperation. We have enough food and enough water. So, we ask you to be patient.

“It is important that you follow the instructions of the officers. We want you to know that you have landed in The Bahamas illegally, and therefore we will help you and process you to return back to your home.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell said yesterday the government is reviewing whether it is necessary for migrants to be processed by the court before being deported.

Mitchell said the process is too time consuming, and added that a humanitarian crisis could be brewing on Inagua if nothing changes.

An RBDF spokesman said last night that the group of migrants apprehended yesterday was being held on Flamingo Cay in the Ragged Island chain.

The remaining migrants were being detained on Inagua.

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Venezuelan Migrants in Chile Fearful After Fiery Protests

Chilean demonstrators take part in a rally against the migrants in Iquique, Chile, September 25, 2021. REUTERS/Alex Diaz
Demonstrators destroy the belongings of Venezuelan migrants at a makeshift camp in a public square during a rally against the migration in Iquique, Chile, September 25, 2021. REUTERS/Alex Diaz

SANTIAGO, Sept 27 (Reuters) – Venezuelan migrants in Iquique in northern Chile have been shaken by a series of angry protests by locals against settler camps which have popped up in city squares and even beaches, a reflection of simmering tensions over migration in the region.

On the weekend thousands of local Chileans marched with anti-immigration slogans and set fire to belongings of Venezuelan migrants, tossing clothes and mattresses in bonfires in the street, after a camp was cleared by police on Friday.

“They yell at us, ‘Go back to your country. What are you doing here?’ They yell at us a lot of ugly things,” said Jaqueline Rojas, a Venezuelan in the city.

“It makes us sad, because the truth is that we are not all the same. There are some people who come to do bad things and others who come to look for work. I am going south to look for work, with my daughter and my brother.”

Despite pandemic restrictions, many migrants from Venezuela and elsewhere keep trying to reach Chile, one of the wealthiest countries in the region, which has been rocked in recent years by protests over entrenched inequality.

Migration in Latin America has come under the spotlight recently, after large numbers of Haitian migrants, many whom had been living in Brazil and Chile, formed an large impromptu border camp at the Mexican-U.S. border. read more

In the coastal city of Iquique, more than 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) north of Santiago, hundreds of migrants had settled in tents in a city square last week, while deciding their final destination, often the country’s capital.

“This is better than being in Venezuela. Venezuela you have your home and everything you want, but you don’t have means to feed your children, dress them, or give them a good education,” Wendy González, leader of a makeshift camp, said last week.

In an operation on Friday, local police carried out evictions on the square. The Chilean government has been carrying out controversial expulsions of illegal immigrants in an attempt to discourage the arrival of new waves of families.

Juana Rodriguez, a Chilean resident in Iquique, said many locals felt anger over jobs and alleged that migrants to the country were simply asking for handouts.

The marches, mainly on Saturday, gathered an estimated 5,000 Chileans with placards reading “No more migrants.” Protesters demanded that authorities take measures to stop the entry of migrants across Chile’s northern border.

“With the march, yes, we were scared, very scared because we didn’t know what could happen,” said Nacary Mora, a Venezuelan migrant.

Reporting by Esteban Medel; Writing by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Richard Chang

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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