Tag Archives: caribbean

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Haitian President’s Frantic Phone Call for Help

Miami Herald- Assassinated Haitian president Jovenel Moise made a frantic phone for help before being killed.

The call came at 1:34 a.m. Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, who was on the other line,was in difficulty, and he needed reinforcement.

“They are shooting by the house,” he told the Haitian National Police commissioner. “Mobilize people.”

The non-stop automatic gunfire in Pelerin 5 where Moïse, his wife Martine and two children lived, started at about 1:30 a.m., according to a resident in the area, who said she ducked underneath her bed to escape the sound as she looked at her phone to see what time it was.

While neighbors in the area weren’t sure what was happening, unknown assailants who would later claim to be part of the Drug Enforcement Administration (a claim denied by the DEA) were advancing and making their way to the president’s private residence in the foothills of Haiti’s capital.

Inside the president’s bedroom, they would open fire. He was shot in the forehead, chest, hip and stomach, and his left eye was gouged, according to Charles Henry Destin, a justice of the peace who later documented the crime scene.

The deadly assault followed 10 minutes of frantic pleas. With no sign of his security forces, Moïse, 53, would make another call, this time to a tactically trained officer with the Haiti National Police.

“Where are you?” Moïse said, calling the officer by name after he answered, “Mr. President.”

“I need your assistance, now!” Moïse said. “My life is in danger. Come quick; come save my life.”

Before the phone call ended, there was silence. Then, the sound of an assault rifle. Refusing to accept what was inevitable, the officer — who asked to remain anonymous in an interview with the Herald, yelled to his fellow officers, “Everyone get back in your cars. We need to leave now.”

The three-car convoy was headed to Pelerin 5, the hilltop neighborhood of modest homes, unpaved roads and million-dollar mansions where Moïse lived.

What ensued in the next hours would be a police manhunt for former Colombian special forces and two Haitian Americans from South Florida, using high-beam lights and specialized units of Haiti’s national police along a well-traveled road.

The fierce pursuit started on the main road leading to Moïse’s residence. It would subsequently involve nearby impoverished neighborhoods, an abandoned building behind a police station and the Taiwanese Embassy, on whose premises 11 of the alleged commandos were apprehended.

More than a week after the murder, 18 Colombians and two Haitian Americans are in custody, while three Colombians are dead and five remain-at-large. Haitian security forces have also made other arrests, including that of a South Florida-based Haitian doctor, Christian Emmanuel Sanon. The owner of a Doral-based firm, CTU Security, run by a Venezuelan émigré, has been named as a person of interest.

Still questions linger. The Miami Herald and the McClatchy Washington Bureau have spoken to at least three people who received calls from inside the president’s house on the morning of July 7. All agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the ongoing probe, which has led to 24 security agents being sanctioned and five high-ranking members of the president’s security team being relieved of administrative duties and placed in isolation.

All have recounted the final moments of Moïse, who was killed in the brazen middle-of-the night assassination as his alleged assailants ransacked his house and bedroom, according to multiple sources, and then shot him after positively identifying him with a caller on the other line.

“They came inside, went straight to the room and kept talking to someone on the phone to identify the president,” the officer said, confirming the report of another person familiar with the investigation. “They turned the house upside down.’ ”

When the shooter described the president’s profile to the other person on the line, “he turned to face the president and shot him without any conversation.”

‘When I send you to protect a president, I don’t send you to live’

How foreign mercenaries got past at least three police checkpoints on the road to Moïse’s house and past presumably dozens of security agents inside his walled-off compound to gain access to his second-floor bedroom remains one of the key questions more than a week after his shocking death.

The ongoing multi-national investigation involves at least four countries and four law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and has so far led to the arrest of several Haitians with ties to South Florida.

What happened to the president’s security team, none of whom were killed or reportedly shot, is another unsolved mystery — one that one of several Haitian national police officers who arrived at the scene shortly after 2 a.m. say they are also asking themselves.

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World View: US Fires, German Floods, Japan Olympics, More

July 19, 2021

Alternate text

AP Morning Wire

Good morning from The Hague.

  • Dangerous conditions are complicating firefighters’ efforts to battle wildfires in the Western United States,
  • While in Germany, authorities are defending their preparations for flooding that left more than 180 people dead in Western Europe.
  • The AP looks at global inequity in COVID-19 vaccinations that persists deep into the pandemic.
  • And Japan prepares for an Olympics unlike any other as Tokyo counts down to the July 23 start of a Summer Games unlike any other.
  • Man faces 1st sentencing for felony in US capitol rioting.
  • American father, son sent to prison in Carlos Ghosn escape.
  • Survivors of Breivik massacre worry racism is re-emerging in Norway.

MIKE CORDER

The Associated Press

 

The Rundown

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BLY, Ore. (AP) — Erratic winds and parched Oregon forests added to the dangers for firefighters on Monday as they battled the largest wildfire in the U.S., one of dozens burning across several Western states….Read More
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PARIS (AP) — No one disputes that the world is unfair. But no one expected a vaccine gap between the global rich and poor that was this bad, this far into the pandemic. Inequity is everywhere: Inoculations go…Read More
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TOKYO (AP) — After a yearlong delay and months of hand-wringing that rippled across a pandemic-inflected world, a Summer Games unlike any other is at hand. It’s an Olympics, sure, but also, in a very real way…Read More

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CHICAGO (AP) — A Florida man who breached the U.S. Senate chamber carrying a Trump campaign flag is scheduled to become the first Jan. 6 rioter sentenced for a felony, in a hearing that will help set a benchm…Read More
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BERLIN (AP) — German officials are defending their preparations for flooding in the face of the raging torrents that caught many people by surprise and left over 180 people dead in Western Europe, but they co…Read More

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TOKYO (AP) — A Tokyo court handed down prison terms for the American father and son accused of helping Nissan’s former chairman, Carlos Ghosn, escape to Lebanon while aw…Read More

STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — On the 10th anniversary of Norway’s worst peacetime slaughter, survivors of Anders Behring Breivik’s assault worry that the racism which nurture…Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is set to host King Abdullah II of Jordan during one of the most difficult moments of the Jordanian leader’s 22-year rule and at a …Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — A cocktail of propaganda, conspiracy theory and disinformation — of the kind intoxicating to the masses in the darkest turns of history — is fueling de…Read More

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Local Hip Hop Song Drives Cuban Protests

Cuba is suffering through a summer of dire shortages, from food and electricity to medicine. Fed-up Cubans are taking to the streets in unprecedented protests — and they’re voicing their outrage through a song called Patria y Vida — homeland and life.

The slogan is a spin on the communist regime’s decades-old slogan of “patria o muerte” — homeland or death. In strong terms, the song accuses the government of destroying the quality of life in Cuba, a message that quickly found traction with protesters who are demanding change.

“No more lies. My people demand freedom. No more doctrines!” the song says. It calls for people to shout “patria y vida … and start building what we dreamed of/ what they destroyed with their hands.”

The viral hit has become a political slogan

Patria y Vida has been a phenomenon since its release this year. The song is a collaboration between a group of Afro-Cuban reggaeton and hip-hop stars based in Miami, such as Yotuel Romero and Alexander Delgado, along with rappers Maykel Osorbo and El Funky, who live in Cuba. A YouTube video of the song has been viewed nearly 6 million times.

YouTube

When the single was released, Romero, who is part of the group Orishas, said that for him, the song was motivated by a look back at Cuba’s long history.

“Before the revolution, we had a beautiful Havana; now we have ruins,” he told Billboard in February. “From that point on, I said, ‘I’m not going to be quiet anymore.’ ”

Where the original Castro-era slogan was a call to arms for people to stand against outside influence, the new slogan tells people to hit the streets and take back their country.

“It’s over now! And we’re not afraid,” the song declares.

Patria y Vida quickly became an anthem. When large protests erupted in April, NPR’s Carrie Kahn declared it “astonishing” and a sign of “a growing movement challenging the regime like we haven’t seen in decades.”

After the song’s release, Cuban authorities arrested Osorbo. His supporters have submitted complaints to the United Nations over his treatment, saying that the government is persecuting him for expressing his views and for helping create the song.

The protests have been some of Cuba’s largest

Thousands of Cubans have been taking part in protests in Havana and elsewhere on the island, shouting their demands for more freedom along with calls for an end to high prices and economic turmoil. A run of electrical blackouts has added to their frustrations.

Crowds have been chanting slogans against Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel as well as demanding more access to vaccines. Cuba has been experiencing a record spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths in recent weeks. Overall, the nation has reported nearly 245,000 cases.

Marches and protests have been disrupted by police, who made mass arrests and used tear gas against demonstrators on Sunday. Videos circulating online have also shown officers firing toward crowds, reporter Nora Gámez Torres of the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald told NPR.

“There were really unprecedented images coming out of the island,” she said.

Thousands In Cuba Demonstrate In One Of The Biggest Anti-Government Protests

Latin America

Thousands In Cuba Demonstrate In One Of The Biggest Anti-Government Protests

Why is Cuba suffering?

There are several main reasons, including U.S. economic sanctions that were tightened under former President Donald Trump and the pandemic’s toll on the island’s economy and infrastructure. Cuba is also getting less economic help from one of its main allies, Venezuela.

“The government is in debt and has no money,” Torres said. “So the population has been enduring severe scarcities of food and medicine.”

Many are also angry and frustrated by Cuba’s policy of selling food in U.S dollars — which most of the country’s people don’t earn.

Remittances from relatives in the U.S. and elsewhere are also down. And like many places, Cuba’s tourism industry has been hollowed out by more than a year of travel restrictions due to COVID-19.

It’s not yet clear what will happen next, Torres said.

“Even if the government retains control, which is the most likely scenario, Cubans now see what they can do if enough people come out to protest,” she said. “So the genie is out of the bottle now and the frustration is not going anywhere.”

With the government facing a deep crisis, she warned, we’ll likely see more repression in the coming days.

The Cuban government is blaming the U.S.

Granma, the Communist Party newspaper, blames the protests on “annexationist interests, paid and directed by the United States.”

Díaz-Canel has said Cuba is facing difficulties that it knew were coming when the U.S. put tight economic sanctions on the country. And while the pandemic has made the situation worse, the president said every country in the world is being forced to cope with the coronavirus.

In a speech Monday, Díaz-Canel also dwelled on his country’s national electrical system, saying its infrastructure is hobbled by both the U.S. embargo and by overconsumption.

The U.S. stance

President Biden said he strongly supports the protesters.

“The Cuban people are demanding their freedom from an authoritarian regime,” Biden said during a White House event Monday. “I don’t think we’ve seen anything like these protests in a long, long time if, quite frankly, ever.”

Biden added, “The U.S. stands firmly with the people of Cuba as they assert their universal rights. And we call on the government of Cuba to refrain from violence in their attempt to silence the voices of the people of Cuba.”

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Back Home: Honduran Toddler Found Alone in Mexico

CABAÑAS, Honduras, July 18 (Reuters) – Wilder, the 2-year-old Honduran boy found abandoned and half-naked on a secluded Mexican highway near a truck carrying migrants, was welcomed home with cake and fireworks by relatives in the poor rural town of Cabañas in western Honduras.

The toddler made international headlines when Mexican security agents found him crying alone in southern Mexico in June near the cargo truck that contained dozens of people trying to make their way to the U.S. border.

The boy, who is in good condition, was flown on Friday to the northern Honduran city of San Pedro Sula where he was reunited with his mother after nearly 20 days in the custody of Mexican authorities. read more

“Never again will I let my child go. I’m so happy to have him with me,” Lorena Garcia, 23, told Reuters by phone. “Eating beans and corn, we’ll get by,” said Garcia, a farmer, who lives in a modest home with dirt floors.

Grandparents, uncles and cousins greeted the boy on Saturday with fireworks and a sign reading: “Welcome back Wilder.”

Garcia said her husband, Noel Ladino, left with Wilder in a bid to migrate to the United States with a human smuggler. It was unclear why the father and son became separated before the boy was found by Mexican authorities.

Elated to have her son back in her arms, Garcia lamented not being able to reunite as well with her husband, who she said is detained in Mexico. “I hope he comes back to help us too,” Garcia said.

The young family survived on Noel Ladino’s precarious salary of 100 lempiras a day, the equivalent of $4, when he could find work, which is scarce in the area, Garcia said.

They are among the thousands of people living in Cabañas in the mountains of the Copan department of Honduras, where 94% of the inhabitants are poor, according to official data.

Hundreds of thousands of Hondurans, including families with children, have set off for the United States in recent years to escape poverty, violence and corruption. Many are turned back by Mexico or the United States.

There has been an increase this year in unaccompanied children, mainly from Central America, arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, even as President Joe Biden’s administration warns migrants not to come.

Reporting by Jose Cabezas in Cabañas, Honduras and Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Peter Cooney

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Biden says Cuba Is a Failed State’ and Calls Communism ‘a Universally Failed System’

(CNN) President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Cuba is a “failed state” and called communism a “failed system” as protests play out against the Caribbean nation’s repressive regime.

During a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Biden said that the United States is looking into ways to possibly reinstate access to the internet in Cuba but indicated that the US is not considering reestablishing US to Cuba remittances — the practice of Americans transferring money to their Cuban relatives — over concerns that the regime would confiscate the funds.
“Cuba is unfortunately a failed state and repressing their citizens. There are a number of things that we would consider doing to help the people of Cuba, but it would require a different circumstance or a guarantee that they would not be taken advantage of by the government,” Biden said. “For example, the ability to send remittances back to Cuba. We would not do that now because the fact is it’s highly likely the regime would confiscate those remittances or big chunks of it.”

When asked about his views on communism, the President added: “Communism is a failed system — a universally failed system. And I don’t see socialism as a very useful substitute. But that’s another story.”

Thousands of Cubans took to the streets across the island nation last weekend to protest chronic shortages of basic goods, curbs on civil liberties and the government’s handling of a worsening coronavirus outbreak, marking the most significant unrest in decades.

Since Biden’s arrival in office, Cuba policies have remained in review.

Under the Obama administration, Cuba oversaw the reopening of embassies and relaxing of many restrictions long in place since the embargo. But the Trump administration enacted some of the toughest economic measures against Cuba in decades, reinstated travel restrictions and — before leaving office — named Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism.

On Friday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel responded to Biden’s comments by calling on him to repeal Trump’s moves.

“If President Joe Biden really had humanitarian concerns for the Cuban people he would eliminate the 243 measures applied by President Donald Trump, including 50 imposed cruelly during the pandemic,” Diaz-Canel posted on his official Twitter account. He added, “The US has failed in its attempts to destroy Cuba, although by trying to achieve it has wasted millions of dollars.”

The demonstrations in Cuba, along with the recent presidential assassination in Haiti, has forced the Biden administration to place a focus on foreign policy with nations in the Caribbean. The President confirmed that he plans to send US Marines to Haiti to secure the US embassy there, but no plans are in the works for additional troops to go to Haiti.

Biden said he was ready to send Covid-19 vaccines to Cuba, but the nation has not joined the international vaccine coalition, COVAX, with whom the US is working closely.

“I’d be prepared to give significant amounts of vaccine if in fact I was assured an international organization would administer those vaccines and would do it in a way that average citizens would have access to those vaccines,” he continued.

The President volunteered information about reinstating internet access in Cuba, telling reporters, “We’re considering whether we have the technological ability to reinstate that access.”

Earlier this week social media platforms were being restricted in Cuba, according to internet monitor NetBlocks. The NetBlocks website said its metrics showed that WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and some Telegram servers were being disrupted.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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Haiti: Moise’s Widow Back Home After Treatment in US

The widow of Haiti’s assassinated president has returned to the Caribbean nation after being treated in Florida for wounds suffered in the attack.

Martine Moïse was seen wearing an arm sling and a bulletproof vest after arriving by plane at Port-au-Prince airport on Saturday.

Her husband Jovenel Moïse was killed by assassins in their home on 7 July.

Mrs Moïse was injured in the attack, and was flown to a hospital in Miami, Florida for treatment.

In a tweet, a Haitian official said Mrs Moïse had returned to the country to prepare for her husband’s funeral next week.

Flanked by security agents, she was pictured being greeted by Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph and other officials on the tarmac.

Mrs Moïse has made few comments since the attack, for which police have blamed a group of foreign mercenaries, most of them Colombians.

From her hospital bed, she recorded an audio message in which she described the moment assassins “riddled” her husband with bullets after bursting into their home in the middle of the night.

Mrs Moïse said the attack happened so quickly that her husband was unable to “say a single word”. Earlier this week, she tweeted: “This pain will never pass.”

Mr Moïse, 53, had been president of Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, since 2017. His time in office was rocky as he faced accusations of corruption and there were widespread demonstrations against him earlier this year.

Correspondents say that as a witness to the attack, Ms Moïse could help investigators understand who carried out the assassination and why.

Many of the details surrounding the attack remain a mystery.

Haitian police say a group of mainly foreign mercenaries – 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans – made up the group that carried out the killing.

At least 20 have been detained, while three were killed by police and five are still on the run.

Haitian police have also arrested a Florida-based Haitian doctor, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, whom they described as a “key suspect” in the assassination.

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Latin American Foto Festival: Strength and Resistance

Portraits of survival and resistance go on show in New York, at The Bronx Documentary Center’s fourth Annual Latin American Foto Festival.

Works by artists from Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru and El Salvador are displayed from a variety of long-term projects focusing on social issues.

Here is a selection of some of this year’s featured photographers alongside their comments on their projects.

Five-year-old Alfred Flores holds a bunch of quenettes in Patanemo, Venezuela.image copyrightAndrea Hernandez Briceno
image captionFive-year-old Alfred Flores holds a bunch of quenettes in Patanemo, Venezuela.

Andrea Hernández Briceño

“We call it mango season. It happens every year in the dry season when the fruit starts falling from the trees, abundant and generous to those who are hungry.

“In Venezuela this past year, its arrival was particularly celebrated, as the pandemic wore away access to basic necessities in a country wracked by deepening poverty and crisis.

“I made these images while walking on the streets of Caracas, the capital, and smaller towns. On my long trips I observed that most Venezuelans eat fewer than two meals a day.”

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Paola during Ash Wednesday.image copyrightCarlos Saavedra
image captionPaola during Ash Wednesday. In her youth, she was a victim of sexual violence perpetrated by paramilitaries.

Carlos Saavedra

“This photo project concentrates on a community called ‘La Isla’, composed of mainly displaced Afro-Colombians from the Pacific coast of the country, one of the most affected sectors due to the internal violence from guerrillas, paramilitaries and the Colombian Army.

“We worked with the community members targeted by the social cleansing campaigns – some are reformed drug addicts, some live with NGOs and some are activists who advocate against these violent ‘cleansings’.

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Camilo Gálvez, 24, is a sound technician, Puente Alto, Santiagoimage copyrightCamilo Gálvez
image captionCamilo Gálvez, 24, is a sound technician who lives in Puente Alto, Santiago
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Cristóbal Olivares

“Camilo received the impact of a pellet that lodged in his right eye on 15 November 2019, near the Catholic University of Santiago, Chile. His diagnosis was an ocular burst and fracture with total loss of the right eye.

“Four hundred and sixty people have had serious eye injuries, 34 of whom suffered total loss due to the indiscriminate use of pellets and tear gas bombs by the Carabineros, Chilean special forces.”

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Alex (13), right, and other children stand during a Regional Co-ordinator of Community Authorities community police force gun training presentation in Ayahualtempa, Guerrero state, Mexico.image copyrightLuis Antonio Rojas
image captionAlex, 13, right, and other children stand during a Regional Co-ordinator of Community Authorities community police force gun training presentation in Ayahualtempa, Guerrero state, Mexico.
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Luis Antonio Rojas

“Documenting the way organised crime has ripped through Mexico was never something I intended to do.

“I grew up in a safe place in Mexico City, where violence never reached me directly, and I was unsure about how to cover such baffling and obscure events.

“But these realities cannot escape the daily news or documentary projects, and covering them is fundamental for many Mexican photographers.

“Alex had to stop attending high school in the town of Hueycantenango due to the presence of drug cartel Los Ardillos.”

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Villagers take a break from cleaning oil off freshly harvested crabs from Lake Maracaibo, in Punta Gorda, Cabimas, Venezuela.image copyrightRodrigo Abd
image captionVillagers take a break from cleaning oil off freshly harvested crabs from Lake Maracaibo, in Punta Gorda, Cabimas, Venezuela.
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Rodrigo Abd

“The wreckage of Venezuela’s oil industry, once the richest in the world, lies all around fishermen and their families who live in villages clustered on the edge of Lake Maracaibo.

“Their struggles on a briny bay fouled by petroleum leaks and derelict oil rigs are etched on to their faces and stained into their clothes.

“Seeing these people and this place on an earlier reporting trip, I knew I had to return with my wooden box film camera to make black-and-white portraits of the fishermen and the industrial decay they call home.

“The slower pace and mood of box photography would help capture the poignancy and pain of Cabimas, where fishermen live and work among the idle, grey machinery.”

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Informal vendors disinfect their bodies before entering the municipal market in Nahuizalco, Sonsonate, to sell their fruit and vegetables.image copyrightVíctor Peña
image captionInformal vendors disinfect their bodies before entering the municipal market in Nahuizalco, Sonsonate, to sell their fruit and vegetables.
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Víctor Peña

“The pandemic health crisis in El Salvador has become a political crisis.

“In the cities and in the small villages, the streets were silent and lonely during the quarantine, with the lockdown enforced by the military.

“Most of the country’s economic activity was paralysed for those three months. El Salvador’s economy will suffer the greatest decline in Central America.”

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A hand holding a photograph of two people on a locketimage copyrightVictoria Razo
image captionSometimes I think that I don’t want my parents to go through the pain of searching and recognising my body. Veracruz, Mexico.
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Victoria Razo

“Resilience is a series of photographs taken over the years that I have lived and walked with a camera in my hand, portraying episodes from my personal life, and documenting the stories of women who have crossed my path.

“It is a series that helps me to know my own history of violence, questioning and reflecting while I relive the memory, and to fight for the construction of a more equitable society – one in which being a woman does not imply a risk to life itself.

“In this project, I have tried to make resilience visible. I photograph the pain and anger of mothers who scratch the earth to find their missing loved ones; through the women who endured domestic abuse and in the resistance of trans women who live in violence after understanding and assuming their gender identity.”

The Bronx Documentary Center’s fourth Annual Latin American Foto Festival is taking place in New York, until 1 August 2021.

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Covid-19: Second Doses Run Dry in Brazil’s Scramble to Vaccinate

By Ana Ionova
Rio de Janeiro

 

Vinicius Alexis da Cruz felt a wave of relief when his turn came to take the Covid-19 vaccine.

As the virus ravaged Brazil, the 32-year-old had spent more than a year risking his life, working as an Uber driver. Diabetes and high blood pressure made Mr Cruz especially vulnerable. But he kept driving passengers across São Paulo to make ends meet.

“I was really scared of getting sick,” said the father of one, who lost his job as a sports commentator before the pandemic hit. “But I was taking the risk because I had to keep working.”

Mr Cruz got his first dose of CoronaVac in late May. But when the time came to get his second jab, he was turned away. “Nobody had a vaccine for me,” he said. “I went to five clinics near my house. I couldn’t find it anywhere. The same thing happened the next day, and the day after that.”

He scoured the city for four days before he got his hands on a second shot. “Finally, I’m fully vaccinated. But it became really clear to me just how short we are on vaccines.”

Like Mr Cruz, millions are struggling to get their second shot of the Covid-19 vaccine, dealing a blow to Brazil’s already troubled vaccination campaign. Some 3.1 million Brazilians had not had their second jab as of 4 July despite being eligible for it, according to researchers tracking vaccinations.

Some have intentionally skipped their second dose, falling for misinformation campaigns that have sowed doubts about the vaccine or claimed a single shot offers enough protection. But the main hurdle has been a supply crunch of doses driven by a rushed vaccine rollout, said Dr Ligia Bahia, a public health specialist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

“There is this drive to speed up vaccination with the first dose,” said Dr Bahia, one of the researchers tracking immunisations. “And the second dose has ended up on the backburner.”

Coronavirus has claimed more than 530,000 lives in Brazil, a toll second only to the United States. Yet only about 40% of Brazilians have received at least one dose of the vaccine and just 15% are fully immunised.

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19 July: England Covid Restrictions Ease as Variant Surges, World Stats

By Hazel Shearing
BBC News

People in the sunshine in St James's Park, Londonimage copyrightPA Media

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged caution as most legal restrictions on social contact are lifted in England.

There are now no limits on how many people can meet or attend events, nightclubs reopened at midnight, and table service will not be necessary in pubs and restaurants.

Face coverings will be recommended in some spaces, but not required by law.

Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi said he would make an announcement on vaccinating 12 to 17-year-olds later.

The PM, chancellor and the health secretary are self-isolating, and there are warnings cases will surge.

Some scientists are predicting that UK infections – currently at about 50,000 a day – could reach 200,000 a day later in the summer.

But with more than 68% of UK adults fully vaccinated modelling suggests hospital admissions, serious illness and deaths from Covid-19 will be at a lower level than in earlier peaks.

In a video posted on Twitter on Sunday afternoon, the prime minister said now was the “right moment” to move to the final stage of England’s roadmap out of lockdown.

“If we don’t do it now we’ve got to ask ourselves, when will we ever do it?” he asked, adding that the virus would have the “advantage of the cold weather” in autumn and winter.

“But we’ve got to do it cautiously. We’ve got to remember that this virus is sadly still out there. Cases are rising, we can see the extreme contagiousness of the Delta variant.”

Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said ending legal mask requirements and the recommendation to work from home was “reckless” and warned of a “day of chaos” on the transport network as people returned to offices after months away.

“The last thing we want on a day like this is chaos and for the public health measures to be undermined,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

But Nadhim Zahawi defended the reopening, saying 90% of the most vulnerable had been vaccinated and it was right for people to take “personal and corporate responsibility” over measures such as wearing masks.

“We’re doing the right thing to get as close to normal as possible, as quickly as possible,” he told BBC Breakfast, saying that the end of the school term would reduce the spread of the virus.

He also said he had received the recommendation from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation about vaccinating children aged 12 to 17 and would make a statement to Parliament on Monday afternoon.

The committee has recommended giving the vaccine to children with conditions that make them vulnerable to Covid, children who live with someone vulnerable and those who are close to turning 18.

As restrictions ease in England, businesses such as nightclubs – and large events – will be encouraged to use the NHS Covid Pass to check people are fully vaccinated, have natural immunity from infection or have a recent negative test.

media caption‘This is what life’s about’ – clubbers in England enjoy their first night out in 16 months

At Fibre in Leeds, these checks were not being used. While some clubgoers said they were a little nervous, most were overjoyed to return to the dance floor.

“It’s been literally the best night of our lives. We’ve been waiting for this since we turned 18. This has been like life has come back to normal all of a sudden,” said Mollie, 20.

Mark, an estate agent, said he had previously had Covid and was now fully vaccinated. “I want my life back,” he said.

Terry George, the owner of Fibre, said many of his customers told him they had not been vaccinated or only had one dose so they would not get in if proof of full vaccination was required. But he also said the government had not provided the tools to scan for vaccination status.

Contact tracing and self-isolation requirements will remain in place as other restrictions end.

UK-wide guidance recommending against travel to amber list countries is also being removed. Adults who have been fully vaccinated in the UK will not have to self-isolate for 10 days after visiting these countries – with the exception of those returning from France to England, Scotland or Wales, because of concerns over the spread of the Beta variant of the virus.

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Clubbers at Fibre in Leeds

‘They just wanted to dance’

By Hannah Morrison, BBC Newsbeat at Fibre nightclub in Leeds

The countdown began, midnight struck, confetti cannons went off and the queue erupted into cheers and screams of joy.

Then the doors opened and hundreds of people poured into Fibre – a nightclub in the centre of Leeds. No proof of a negative test required, no Covid passports needed here, just the option of hand sanitiser on the door.

It was straight onto the dance floor for most people; arms in the air singing along to the DJ’s carefully selected first track – Ultra Nate’s Free.

No-one was wearing masks and it felt like everything was normal again. No-one wanted to talk about rising cases of coronavirus or the risks – they just wanted to dance. And for the first time in 16 months they could.

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As the legal requirement for masks ended, signs at Manchester Piccadilly station urged travellers to continue wearing them, but several people declined.

Mark Dawson, on his way to Scunthorpe for work, said: “I’ll do what the government tells me to do but if they say I don’t have to, I won’t.”

Another man said he was confused about the rules. “I just wish there was one clear message to either do it or don’t do it,” he said.

Scotland is easing restrictions so that pubs and restaurants can open until midnight – but limits on outdoor meetings will remain, the return of workers to offices will be delayed and face coverings will still be mandatory.

Restrictions are set to be relaxed in Wales on 7 August and in Northern Ireland on 26 July.

Graphic showing changes from 19 July

Mr Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak are self-isolating after contact with the health secretary, who announced on Saturday that he had tested positive for coronavirus.

No 10 initially said they would not have to isolate, as they were taking part in a pilot scheme that involves daily testing instead – sparking a backlash from opposition parties and businesses affected by staff quarantining.

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunakimage copyrightPA Media
image captionRishi Sunak and Boris Johnson will both be self-isolating on the day restrictions are being eased

The UK recorded a further 48,161 cases and 25 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test on Sunday. On both Friday and Saturday daily cases exceeded 50,000 – the first time this level has been reached since mid-January.

Almost 88% of adults in the UK have had a first dose of a Covid vaccine, and 68.3% are double jabbed, according to the government’s coronavirus dashboard.

A decision on routinely offering Covid jabs to under-18s is expected within days.

However, the scientist whose modelling led to the first nationwide restrictions has expressed concern that the UK could see as many as 200,000 cases and 2,000 hospital admissions a day.

=====================================================

WORLD STATS

Coronavirus Cases:

191,265,853

Deaths:

4,106,672

Recovered:

174,211,540
Highlighted in green
= all cases have recovered from the infection
Highlighted in grey
= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases)

[back to top ↑]

Latest News

July 19 (GMT)

Updates

  • 3,103 new cases and 8 new deaths in Japan [source]
  • 24,633 new cases and 719 new deaths in Russia [source]
  • 440 new cases and 15 new deaths in Bolivia [sou

 

The post 19 July: England Covid Restrictions Ease as Variant Surges, World Stats appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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Haiti: Former Govt. Official Implicated in Moise Murder

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN)Colombia’s National Police chief has claimed that former Haitian Justice Ministry official Joseph Felix Badio was a key player in the assassination of Haiti’s president.

Speaking in an edited video provided to media outlets, Gen. Jorge Vargas alleged that newly obtained information from the ongoing investigation had led Colombian authorities to believe that Badio told two Colombians suspected to have been involved in the operation to assassinate President Jovenel Moise.

Vargas provided no evidence to support these claims against Badio, only reiterating that the information came from the joint commission of Colombian and Haitian authorities involved in the investigation.

Moise was killed last Wednesday during an attack on his private residence, throwing Haiti into political chaos with multiple figures now vying to lead the Caribbean nation.

Authorities say the operation involved at least 26 Colombians, some former members of the Colombian military, hired through a Florida-based security company.

There were no reporters present in the room to ask questions to the Colombian police chief when he recorded the video.

Haiti’s elections minister Mathias Pierre told CNN on Friday that Badio, “is effectively in the heart of the assassination, but we believe he is working for big fishes. The intellectual masterminds are bigger than that. Who financed the operation is still the big question mark.”

Haitian authorities, including the acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph and Police Chief Leon Charles also held a news conference Friday where they made no mention of Badio or the claims made by Colombia.

Badio was fired on May 17 from his position at the Haitian government’s Anti-Corruption Unit, according to a statement issued by the agency on July 13.

According to the statement, he was fired due to serious breaches in professional conduct. The statement also cited a complaint against Badio that had been filed on May 20 but did not disclose the content of the complaint.

The Port-au-Prince prosecutor’s office on Sunday issued an arrest warrant for Badio, CNN learned Friday. The warrant said Badio is accused of murder and armed robbery against President Moise.

CNN has not been able to reach out to Badio for comment and it is unclear if he has legal representation.

Ongoing investigation

The FBI began holding interviews in Port-au-Prince on Friday as part of the investigation into President Moise’s assassination, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN.

On Monday, the Justice Department said it will “investigate whether there were any violations of US criminal law” in connection with the plot to assassinate Moise. Haitian authorities have provided limited details on the investigation, but the growing number of Florida connections to the plot appear to portray an operation at least partly hatched in the United States.

Responding to a CNN question at a news conference on Friday, Haitian police chief Charles said both Colombian and American investigators had interviewed “key suspects” in the case. He also said that some of the 24 police currently under “precautionary measures,” which typically limit movement, had been at the presidential residence on the night of the assassination.

A senior government source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN: “We think four police officers were working with Badio to neutralize the police around President house to facilitate access. One police officer has been arrested, three are at large.”

The four officers are not part of the 24 who are under precautionary measures, and were not members of the president’s security team, according to the source. The officers appear to have been part of a group doing personal security for Badio, the source also said.

The aftermath of an assassination

Moise’s assassination sparked a sprawling ongoing investigation across multiple countries, supported by both the US FBI and Colombian intelligence services.

At least 39 people have been implicated in the killing of President Moise. Citing Haitian authorities, Colombian police said Thursday that some of the 26 Colombian suspects were hired and brought to Haiti on the understanding their job was to detain the leader and hand him over to US law enforcement.

Haitian President Jovenel Moise

Haiti’s leader has been killed. Here’s what you need to know

A number of suspected killers were likely deceived by their compatriots, Colombian President Ivan Duque told a local radio station on Thursday. Preliminary investigation suggests the Colombians were working in two groups, he said: A smaller group who knew of a “criminal” objective and were aware the bigger operation was a cover-up, and a larger group that had been kept in the dark.

The two Colombian suspects named in the video by Vargas are German Rivera and the late Duberney Capador. The pair, both former Colombian military officers, have been accused of leading the operation.

They previously met with Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Florida-based pastor whom Haitian authorities allege coordinated the military operation in hopes of seizing power for himself, according to Vargas, the Colombian police chief.

Sanon has denied all knowledge of the operation and insisted on his innocence, according to a source close to the investigation who cannot be named because they are not authorized to discuss the affair.

Capador and least two other Colombians were killed by Haitian authorities responding to the assassination.

CNN’s Natalie Gallón, Caitlin Hu and journalist Etant Dupain reported from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Journalist Karol Suarez in Mexico City and CNNE’s Marlon Soto in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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