Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Wednesday acknowledged shortcomings in his government’s handling of shortages and of neglecting certain sectors, but he urged Cubans to not act with hate — a reference to violence during recent street protests.Until now, the Cuban government had only blamed social media and the U.S. government for the weekend protests, which were the biggest seen in Cuba since a quarter century ago, when then-President Fidel Castro personally went into the streets to calm crowds of thousands furious over dire shortages following the collapse of the Soviet Union and its economic subsidies for the island.

In a nighttime address on state television, Diaz-Canel for the first time was self critical and acknowledged that failings by the state played a role in the protests over food shortages, rising prices and other grievances.

“We have to gain experience from the disturbances,” he said. “We also have to carry out a critical analysis of our problems in order to act and overcome, and avoid their repetition.”

In the protests, many Cubans expressed anger over long lines and shortages of food and medicines, as well as repeated electricity outages. Some demanded a faster pace of vaccination against the coronavirus. But there were also calls for political change in a country governed by the Communist Party for some six decades.

Police moved in and arrested dozens of protesters, sometimes violently, and the government has accused protesters of looting and vandalizing shops. Smaller protests continued Monday and officials reported at least one death. No incidents were reported Wednesday.

“Our society is not a society that generates hatred and those people acted with hatred,” Diaz-Canel said. “The feeling of Cubans is a feeling of solidarity and these people carried out these armed acts, with vandalism … yelling for deaths … planning to raid public places, breaking, robbing, throwing stones.

Cuba is suffering its worst crisis in years from a combination of the coronavirus pandemic that has paralyzed its economy, including the vital tourism industry, inefficiencies in the state-run economy and the tightening of U.S. sanctions on the island. The administration of President Donald Trump imposed more than 200 measures against the island in four years.

Diaz-Canel said that this “complex situation” was taken advantage of “by those who do not really want the Cuban revolution to develop or a civilized relationship with respect with the United States.”

Shortly before the president’s remarks, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero announced some measures such as customs flexibility for Cuban citizens who go on foreign trips to bring home toiletries, food and medicines, which are among the most hard to find items in Cuba.

Marrero also said that work is being done to improve the stability of the national electricity system and that officials will seek to improve the supply of medicines, many of which are produced on the island but whose inputs must be imported.

Meanwhile, Economy Minister Alejandro Gil announced the directors of state-owned enterprises will be allowed to determine salaries beyond the regulations. He also said that in the coming weeks long-promised rules will be instituted for small- and medium-size enterprises to be formed, a step once unthinkable under the communist government.

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 14 (Reuters) – Haiti received on Wednesday its first 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the U.S. government through the COVAX vaccine distribution scheme, regional health officials said.

The batch was part of a U.S. pledge to donate some 12 million vaccine doses to countries in the Caribbean and Latin America, according to a statement from PAHO, the regional office of the World Health Organization. The donations were made through the global vaccine facility COVAX, which distributes vaccines to poorer countries.

A national vaccine campaign has yet to begin in Haiti, which has plunged deeper into turmoil following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Some private companies, however, have distributed doses to their employees.

Preliminary results of a study conducted by the University of Haiti showed only 22% of Haitians, however, would accept the vaccine, according to Jean Gough, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean in a separate statement.

“Reaching communities with doses of vaccines doesn’t guarantee they want to get vaccinated,” Gough said.

Haiti’s health ministry reported earlier this month that the country to date has registered around 19,400 total cases, and about 500 deaths. Both figures, however, likely undercount the real impact of COVID-19 due to little testing.

Reporting by David Alire Garcia in Port-Au-Prince and Sarah Marsh in Havana, Writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Jacqueline Wong

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‘We’re drowning’: Argentines struggle under COVID-19 as death toll hits 100,000

Agustin MarcarianMiguel Lo Bianco

 

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Relatives of people who died from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are pictured next to new graves at the San Vicente cemetery, in Cordoba, Argentina, July 11, 2021. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian

CORDOBA/BUENOS AIRES, July 14 (Reuters) – In the San Vicente cemetery in the central Argentine city of Cordoba, Sandra del Valle Pereyra, 50, has come to visit the graves of her parents who both died from COVID-19 that has ripped through the South American nation.

“I have been left alone,” Valle Pereyra told Reuters, saying that she and her siblings were isolating from one another to avoid contagion. “First my mother died and then my father. I don’t know what to feel any more about this terrible disease.”

Argentina has been one of the hardest-hit countries in the region in terms of cases and deaths per capita, with some 4.7 million confirmed infections and a death toll from the pandemic that hit 100,000 on Wednesday. (Graphic on cases and deaths)

Daily average cases have fallen since a peak last month and ICU bed occupancy is coming down, though still above 60% nationwide.

“Every life that has gone is a great regret for me,” President Alberto Fernandez said in a speech last week. “I guarantee that we are not going to stop in these months vaccinating each and every Argentine man and woman.”

While developed countries like the United States have reduced fatalities with rapid inoculation programs, countries in South America have topped the charts for daily per capita cases and deaths, with vaccines rollouts stalled by slow supply.

Argentina, a country of some 45 million people, has carried out 25.7 million vaccine jabs, though only around 5 million people are inoculated with the full two doses, mainly using Russia’s Sputnik V, AstraZeneca’s (AZN.L) vaccine and China’s Sinopharm (1099.HK).

The vaccine rollout is raising hopes that the country can control the pandemic, but the more contagious Delta variant is igniting surges in cases even in countries like Israel with high vaccination rates, causing them to rethink their vaccination campaigns. read more

‘RELATIVES CALL US CRYING’

The pandemic has sharpened an economic crisis already existing in Argentina, which has been largely stuck in recession since 2018 with rampant inflation, strict capital controls and a weak peso currency sparking an outflow of dollars.

“It’s not just the pandemic drowning us in this country. There is also the huge economic crisis,” said Gastón Rusichi, 34, from a team of firefighters in Cordoba who have taken charge of transferring the dead during the pandemic.

“Many relatives call us crying, not only because of the death, but because they don’t have the money… to be able to give a burial as a person deserves,” added Rusichi, who works 12-hour shifts in a biohazard suit for safety.

Argentina’s government reimposed lockdown measures earlier this year amid a steep second wave of infections, some of which have since been rolled back. It has a strict cap on arrivals at the border in a bid to keep out contagious virus variants.

Ezequiel González, a 35-year-old worker in Buenos Aires suburb Tigre, said that it was hard to see how the country could have stopped the pandemic given the need to balance restrictions while battling rising poverty levels.

“We would all have had to lock ourselves up completely and that’s very difficult. You have to go out to the street to earn money to be able to eat and survive,” he said.

A local laboratory is now starting to produce Sputnik V to speed up inoculations and the country recently sealed a deal for 20 million doses of Moderna’s (MRNA.O) vaccine. read more

Lautaro Fabian Gomez, 20, however, said lax attitudes by some people going out into crowded areas without wearing face masks was stymieing improvements.

“It makes me very angry and helpless,” he said. “It seems to me that if this is how we act then we are going to have the coronavirus here until 2050.”

Reporting by Agustín Marcarian and Miguel Lo Bianco; Written by Lucila Sigal; Editing by Nicolas Misculin, Adam Jourdan and Lisa Shumaker

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 14 (Reuters) – Scattered protests broke out in Haiti’s capital on Wednesday as gasoline shortages added to concerns over insecurity and police announced new arrests a week after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise pitched the already-troubled Caribbean nation into political chaos.

Nearly all the gas stations in Port-au-Prince were closed and long lines formed outside the few that were still operating, with residents blaming both the criminal gangs that control key supply routes and opportunistic black market fuel sellers paralyzing distribution into Haiti’s biggest city.

Some protesters set tires ablaze in the middle of gritty streets, which remained quieter than usual in the aftermath of Moise’s killing early on July 7.

Moise was shot dead at his home by what Haitian authorities describe as a unit of assassins, including 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans. Eighteen of the Colombians were detained, three were killed by police and five were still on the run, Haitian police said. A third Haitian-American, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, was arrested on Sunday by Haitian authorities, who accused him of being a mastermind of the attack.

Haitian police announced Wednesday that they arrested two more men after searching their homes and finding weapons.

Police said at a news conference that 24 police officers have been subjected to “precautionary” measures and four were in isolation as part of the investigation.

National Police chief Leon Charles identified former Haitian Senator John Joel Joseph as a key player in the plot. He supplied weapons and planned meetings, Charles said, adding that police were searching for him.

Charles also pointed a finger at a company he identified as World Wide Capital Lending Group as being responsible for fundraising “to execute this criminal act.”

World Wide Capital Lending Group, which is based in Florida, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Colombian news outlet Semana reported that one of the Colombians in custody confessed on Wednesday afternoon to Haitian authorities that seven of the Colombian suspects were what it called the “killers” of Moise, without elaborating.

Semana did not provide a source for the apparent confession, which it said the retired soldier had made “in tears.” The report was not verified by Reuters, and Colombian officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors have been preparing to question the head of Moise’s security team, Dimitri Herard. It was not clear if the questioning has yet taken place.

Moise’s killing came amid a surge in gang violence in recent months that has displaced thousands and hampered economic activity in the poorest country in the Americas. At the justice ministry where Herard was to be questioned, graffiti spray-painted on the wall declared: “We reject the power of the gangs.”

Eugene France, 63, speaking outside the ministry, said he was struggling to sell any of the men’s dress shoes he had slung around his neck and feared more violence.

“No one is safe, not even the police,” he said. “I’m scared because the gangs just keep killing people and I can’t sell anything.”

Outside the national palace, a small crowd gathered at a makeshift memorial with flower arrangements, rows of white candles and a Haitian flag at half staff in front of a large photograph of Moise.

Damy Makenson, a 30-year-old office worker, slowly approached the memorial, laid down some flowers and solemnly made the sign of the cross over his head and chest.

“He died working to remake Haiti, and I want you to know that his ideas did not die with him,” Makenson said, comparing Moise to Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a Haitian founding father and military leader who helped put an end to French colonial rule in the early 1800s.

In New York, Haiti’s U.N. ambassador, Antonio Rodrigue, on Wednesday appealed for international help.

“At this uncertain time, Haiti needs the support of the international community more than ever,” he told the 193-member U.N. General Assembly, where ambassadors stood to mark a moment’s silence to honor Moise.

Rodrigue listed organizing democratic elections and the government’s ability to meet Haiti’s socio-economic needs as challenges facing the nation.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said a U.S. delegation recently in Haiti had called for dialogue to help enable free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections.

The United States is still evaluating Haiti’s request for assistance, and its focus is helping the Haitian government “with navigating the investigation into the assassination of President Moise,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

“The Department of Justice will continue to support Haitian authorities in their review of the facts and the circumstances surrounding this attack,” Price said at a news briefing on Wednesday.

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He said all MPs were “united” in admiration for the England team, adding: “I don’t want to engage in a political culture war of any kind, I want to get on with delivering for the people of this country.”

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By David E. Sanger

Just days after President Biden called President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and demanded that he act to shut down ransomware groups that are attacking American targets, the biggest of them has gone off-line. The mystery is who made that happen.

The group, called REvil, short for “Ransomware evil,” is believed responsible for the attack that brought down one of America’s largest beef producers, JBS, and it took credit for a hack that affected thousands of businesses around the world over the July 4 holiday. On Friday, describing his ultimatum to the Russian president, Mr. Biden said “we expect them to act,” and when asked later if he would take down the group’s servers if Mr. Putin did not, the president simply said, “Yes.”

But that is only one possible explanation for what happened around 1 a.m. on Tuesday, when the group’s sites on the dark web suddenly disappeared. Gone was the publicly-available “happy blog’’ that the group maintained, listing its victims, and internet security groups said the custom-made sites where victims negotiate with REvil over how much they will pay to get their data unlocked were also missing.

While their disappearance was celebrated by many who see ransomware as a new scourge, one that Mr. Biden has called a critical national security threat, it left others in the lurch — unable to pay the ransom to get their data back, and their businesses back up and running.

“What’s the plan for the victims?” asked Kurtis Minder, the chief executive of Groupsense, a digital risk protection company that was negotiating with the extortionists on behalf of a regional law firm whose data was stolen.

There were three main theories floating around about why REvil, which seemed to revel in the publicity and reaped huge ransoms — including $11 million from JBS — suddenly disappeared.

One is that Mr. Biden ordered the United States Cyber Command, working with domestic law enforcement agencies, including the F.B.I., to bring it down. Cyber Command proved last year that it could do just that, paralyzing a ransomware group that it feared might turn its skills to freezing up voter registrations or other election data in the 2020 election.

The second theory is that Mr. Putin ordered the group taken down by Russia. If so, that would be a gesture toward heeding Mr. Biden’s warning, which he offered, in more general terms, when the two leaders met June 16 in Geneva.

And a third is that REvil decided that the heat was too intense, and took itself down to avoid becoming part of the crossfire between the American and Russian presidents. That is what another Russian-based group, Darkside, did after the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, the U.S. company that had to shut down the gasoline and jet fuel running up the East Coast in May.

But many experts think that Darkside’s going-out-of-business move was digital theater, and that all of the key ransomware talent would reassemble under a different name. If so, the same could happen with REvil.

Just a few months ago, ransomware was considered largely a criminal problem. But after the attack on Colonial Pipeline, Mr. Biden and his advisers began to declare that attacks which threaten critical infrastructure constitute a major national security threat.

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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, July 14, 2021 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – As the fight to control and contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the Federation continues, Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris is calling on all sectors of society to continue to do their part to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of citizens and residents across St. Kitts and Nevis.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Team Unity-led Government has been doing all it can to keep its people safe through the implementation of restrictive measures and protocols and the provision of necessary assistance to those most impacted by the fallout from the pandemic through the introduction of targeted stimulus relief packages.

Prime Minister Harris, while speaking on the most recent edition of Leadership Matters on Tuesday, July 13, stated that while the Government is doing its part, it will not be successful in this fight against COVID-19 without the support of the people.

The prime minister said, “The reality is that no government, no matter how well staffed, well equipped or well financed, can by itself fully protect us. It must be a partnership. We the citizens and residents, along with our Government, have to continue demonstrating that sense of shared responsibility of which I often speak, and that we have exhibited in the past. My Government is doing its part. We need every citizen and resident to do his or her part in this continuing all-of-society approach.”

“The stimulus, the easing of restrictions, and the established COVID-19 protocols are testament to your government doing its part. It is for the institutions and businesses, large and small, to adopt and ensure that these protocols are continually and correctly complied with at their places of business. It is important for our citizens and residents to abide by these protocols. This is the tripartite effort, moving together to a common goal that will get us soonest to a new state of normalcy,” Dr. Harris added.

Within the last week, the Government introduced its second stimulus relief package which included an income support programme of $15 million to citizens who are unemployed and who have not worked from March 2020; the waiver of fees for small businesses renting from the Government; a further reduction of the VAT rate from 10% to five % for businesses utilizing private commercial space; a fuel subsidy of $400 monthly to be paid to passenger bus operators for the next three months; reinstatement of the annual import duty exemption for 16 tyres, four pairs of brake pads and three pairs of brake shoes over a six month period for passenger bus operators, and support for families with persons living with disabilities.

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 NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (July 14, 2021) — The public on Nevis can expect some sweeping changes when the Nevis Solid Waste Management Authority Bill 2021 takes effect shortly.

The Bill which repeals and replaces the 19-year-old existing Nevis Solid Waste Management Authority Ordinance Cap. 3.03 legislation was passed at a sitting of the Nevis Island Assembly on July 13, 2021. It addresses issues including the unauthorised disposal of solid waste; the prohibition on the importation of waste, the appointment of litter wardens, and the management of vacant land.

Hon. Hazel Brandy-Williams, Junior Minister of Health, who tabled the Bill, noted that under Section 28 of Part 1V – Waste Management Licences and Permits – dealing with the Unauthorised disposal of solid waste, no one should deposit or knowingly cause to be deposited solid waste in or on any waste land, beach, foreshore, marine waters, rivers or river banks.

Any person who contravenes Section 28 shall be liable upon summary conviction. If the person liable is an individual, they will be subject to a fine of not less than $25,000 but not exceeding $50,000 or imprisonment for a term of not less than six months but not exceeding two years or both.

 If the offender is a company, it will face a fine of not less than $250,000 but not exceeding $400,000 or imprisonment for a term not less than two years but not exceeding four years or both fine and imprisonment.

 Under Section 32 of Part V – Waste Management Operations – dealing with the Prohibition on the importation of waste, no person shall import any waste other than what is provided for in subsection (1) including waste generated by aircraft landing on the island and also in manufacturing.

 Any person who imports any hazardous waste contrary to subsection (1) commits an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than $650,000 but not exceeding $800,000 or imprisonment for a term of five years or both;

 On conviction on indictment, the offender would be subject to a fine of not less than $1million but not exceeding $2million or imprisonment for a term of seven years or both.

 Any person who imports any waste, other than hazardous waste, in contravention of section (1) commits an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than $85,000 but not exceeding $150,000 or imprisonment for a term of two years and six months or both.

 On conviction on indictment, a fine of not less than $250,000 but not exceeding $350,000 or imprisonment for a term of four years or both would also be imposed on the offender.

 Also, under Part V in Section 40 which speaks to Derelict vehicles etc. in subsection (1), a person who owns a derelict vehicle, white goods or other scrap metal shall take such vehicle, goods or scrap metal to an approved landfill site or another site approved for the purpose of managing such vehicles, goods or scrap metal.

 According to subsection (2), the Authority or an authorised officer may order a person referred to subsection (1) to remove such vehicle within seven days by issuing an enforcement order.

 Where a person who owns a vehicle referred to in subsection (2)   cannot be identified, the Authority or authorised officer shall affix the enforcement order on the vehicle that is required to be removed and if on the expiry of seven days such vehicle is not removed, the Authority or an authorised officer shall arrange for the removal of such vehicle and take it to a site referred to in subsection (1).

 All expenses incurred by the Authority related to the removal may be recovered from the owner or person in charge of the vehicle as a civil debt owing to the Authority at the Magistrate’s Court in Charlestown.

 In Part V11 – Litter Abatement – in Section 49 which speaks to the appointment of litter wardens, the following persons shall be ex-officio litter wardens:

 A member of the Board; the General Manager of the Solid Waste Management Authority; the Operations Manager; an Environmental Health Officer and a member of the police force. The Minister may by instrument in writing appoint other persons to be litter wardens.

 The litter wardens will be responsible for preventing contravention, ensuring enforcement, and assisting generally in administrating any provision of Part V11.

 Under Section 52 which deals with the cleanliness of vacant land, according to subsection (1), any person who owns or is in charge of vacant land shall keep that land clean and free of overgrown grass, bush or trees, and shall not allow that land to be used as a place for the dumping of litter.

 A litter warden, according to subsection (2) may, in accordance with the provisions of Section 48 which deals with the prohibition on disposal of litter, can issue a litter removal order.

 When a litter removal order is issued and the offender fails to comply with the terms of the order, the litter warden may make arrangements for the cleaning of the vacant land and recover the expenses incurred in cleaning up the land as a civil debt owing to the Nevis Solid Waste Management Authority in the Magistrate’s Court in Charlestown.

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NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (July 14, 2021) – – Deputy Premier Hon. Alexis Jeffers, Minister responsible for Housing in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA), has announced the imminent construction of almost 100 new affordable homes as the Nevis government resumes its housing solution program.

In a Ministerial statement made during the July 13, 2021, sitting of the Nevis Island Assembly, Hon. Jeffers revealed that the NIA, through the Nevis Housing and Land Development Corporation (NHLDC), is about to roll out several housing projects across the island over the coming months.

“The Hamilton project that has been long in the making, we would have bought land from three different owners so that process of consolidating all of those lands up there under one title would have taken some time… We had some difficulty having that done, but that has been completed so we’re about to roll out. We’ll have a groundbreaking shortly. We will be constructing 14 houses up there at Hamilton on 3.09 acres of land.

“We’ve had some approvals by some of the various financial institutions so we are ready to go at Hamilton, so in short order we’ll see construction started there,” he said.

The government will be constructing 21 houses on 3.6 acres of land at Craddock Road, which will be named Mountain Crest Residences, in addition to nine houses on 1.89 acres of land in Rices, Gingerland.

Sixteen affordable homes will be constructed on 2.5 acres of land in Low Ground, which forms phase three of the Cherry Garden Housing Development.

The Housing Minister also informed that 38 houses will be built on 5.4 acres of land as phase three of the Cedar View Housing Development in Maddens.

He pointed out that lands had to be purchased at Low Ground, at Maddens, and Craddock Road as the NIA had no government lands available in those areas. He said plans are already in place to start construction on these projects in the immediate future.

“So that is what will be accomplished over the next couple of months. We have some approvals that we are working on and shortly we will start construction, assigning houses to contractors, sub-contractors, electricians, plumbers, painters and the like.

“As such the Nevis Housing and Land Development Corporation will be fulfilling its mandate to its people, that is, providing affordable housing to Nevisians.”

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