Tag Archives: caribbean

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Haiti: Funding Gap Threatens Lives of 86,000 children

PANAMA CITY, 31 May 2021 – The number of children under five suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Haiti could increase by more than double this year, warned UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jean Gough, who concluded a seven-day field visit to the country today.

Over 86,000 Haitian children under five are projected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year, compared to 41,000 children last year and could die if they don’t get urgent assistance. UNICEF is alarmed by the spike in malnutrition over the past year and concerned about the shortage of ready-to-use therapeutic food in the coming weeks.

“In just one year, more than twice the number of children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition in Haiti,” said Jean Gough, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. “In the hospitals, I was saddened to see so many children suffering from malnutrition. Some will not recover unless they receive treatment in time.”

Children’s lives in Haiti are increasingly under threat by the combined effect of the pandemic, the rising violence, lack of access to preventive nutrition services and clean water, and unhygienic environments, as well as extreme weather conditions exacerbated by climate change, such as hurricanes.

In times of COVID-19, disruption of health services and parental fear led to a sharp decline in child immunization rates last year, ranging from 28 per cent for some vaccine antigens to 44 per cent for others. According to UNICEF, 9.7 per cent of children in Haiti have not received any vaccination and 58 per cent are not fully vaccinated. Of those who are not fully vaccinated, 42 per cent live mostly in impoverished metropolitan areas, where there is a lack of access to essential services for children, and the most impacted by violence.

This drop in child immunization has resulted in rising numbers of diphtheria cases and a higher risk of a measles outbreak this year. These unvaccinated children are also more vulnerable to suffer and die from malnutrition.

Acute malnutrition among children under five has increased by 61 per cent during the last year in Haiti. In 2021, about 217,000 Haitian children could suffer from acute malnutrition compared to 134,000 children during the same period last year, according to humanitarian needs overview (HNO) estimates. In the first three months of this year alone, the number of admissions of severely acute malnourished children in health facilities across Haiti has significantly increased by 26 per cent compared to the past year.

One in four Haitians is currently facing acute food insecurity. From March to June 2021, about 4.4 million people are estimated to be food insecure in Haiti, including 1.9 million children, according to Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) estimates. The upcoming hurricane season is likely to worsen the access to nutritious food in the coming months.

“Severe acute malnutrition can and should be treated right now to save children’s lives in Haiti,” stressed Jean Gough. “We can’t look the other way and ignore one of the least funded humanitarian crises in the region. Without additional, urgent funding in the next few weeks, the life-saving treatment we are providing against malnutrition will be discontinued and some children will be at risk of dying.”

In 2020, UNICEF, together with government and partners, treated 33,372 acutely malnourished children across Haiti, by providing nutrition supplies and medicines. In June 2021, UNICEF will be running out of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) for treatment of acute malnutrition due to insufficient funding. UNICEF urgently needs US$3 million to purchase essential supplies and medicine and carry out preventive and treatment programmes. Without these funds, thousands of Haitian children will no longer receive this live-saving assistance.

“In an environment as precarious as Haiti, every child’s life we save today can be in danger again tomorrow. Unless we move beyond just *treating *malnutrition –to preventing it before it strikes,” said Jean Gough. “Increased family healthcare support at the community level will boost confidence in routine immunization and enable every home to access nutrition services every day. I was encouraged to see parents vaccinating their children in the health centers. Well-nourished, healthy, and vaccinated children will get better grades at school and become more productive adults. Building Haiti’s future in the long run starts by curbing chronic malnutrition now.”

For 2021, UNICEF is seeking US$48.9 million to meet the humanitarian needs of 1.5 million people in Haiti including over 700,000 children, a situation which has been significantly exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, this humanitarian appeal has remained almost completely underfunded.

 

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A&B Cops Deployed On Volcano Ravaged SV&G

The local contingent of police officers as they boarded the aircraft early Saturday afternoon (photos courtesy STRATCOM)

Fourteen members of the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda (RPFAB) were deployed to St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) on Saturday to assist with security and humanitarian efforts.

The officers left Antigua on a Regional Security System (RSS) aircraft, a release from the police’s communications arm, STRATCOM, noted.

The Commissioner of Police, Atlee Rodney was on hand to wish the officers a safe journey and a successful mission. He also used the opportunity to express his profound gratitude to them for undertaking the mission, and encouraged them to continue to be ambassadors for Antigua and Barbuda in the performance of their duties.

The Antiguan contingent will join Assistant Commissioner of Police, Desmond Dinard, who travelled to SVG last Wednesday, where he will be the RSS Contingent Commander.

Members of the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force (ABDF) will also be joining the RSS contingent in SVG. The officers will be on the ground for at least three weeks, in the first instance, and will be tasked with assisting their regional counterparts with the maintenance of law and order and humanitarian efforts as volcanic activity continues in the Caribbean territory.

The deployment is in keeping with the mission of the RSS, and its commitment to the region in matters of national security, especially during or following the occurrence of a natural disaster.

St Vincent and the Grenadines is currently in the midst of an ongoing volcanic crisis that has left parts of the territory uninhabitable

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World View: US Memorial Day, Texas Voting Law, Israel Political Upheaval, More

May 31, 2021

Alternate text

  • President Joe Biden marks his first Memorial Day weekend as commander in chief by paying tribute to those who sacrificed their lives for the nation while remembering his son Beau, a veteran who died six years ago from brain cancer.
  • Texas Democrats pulled off a dramatic, last-ditch walkout in the state House of Representatives to block passage of one of the most restrictive voting bills in the U.S.
  • In China, the ruling Communist Party says it will allow couples to have three children, up from two, as it faces a looming demographic crisis.

Also this morning:

  • European Union installs high-tech surveillance system at a migration flashpoint along Greece’s border with Turkey  
  • Israel’s Netanyahu could lose job as his rivals seek to unite 
  • Tiananmen crackdown exhibition opens in Hong Kong

VANESSA GERA

The Associated Press

Warsaw, Poland

The Rundown

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NEW CASTLE, Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden marked his first Memorial Day weekend as commander in chief by honoring the nation’s sacrifices in a deeply personal manner as he paid tribute Sunday to those lost while remembering his late son Beau, a…Read More

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BEIJING (AP) — China’s ruling Communist Party will ease birth limits to allow all couples to have three children instead of two in response to the population’s rising age, a state news agency said Monday. …Read More

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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A restrictive voting bill in Texas that was on the verge of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk failed to pass Sunday night after Democrats walked out of the House chamber before a midnight deadline. …Read More

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Johnson & Johnson is asking for Supreme Court review of a $2 billion verdict in favor of women who claim they developed ovarian cancer from using the company’s talc products. The case features an array of high-profile attorn…Read More

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PEPLO, Greece (AP) — As the world begins to travel again, Europe is sending migrants a loud message: Stay away! Greek border police are firing bursts of deafening noise from an armored truck over the frontier into Turkey. …Read More

OTHER TOP STORIES

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents on Sunday appeared to be moving closer toward a coalition deal that could end the 12-year rule of the …Read More

HONG KONG (AP) — The organizer of Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen Square candlelight vigil has opened its yearly exhibit of photographs and paraphernalia from the bloody 1989 c…Read More

LONDON (AP) — Sit at the back of the movie theater, and it’s possible to see the appeal of ScreenX, the latest attempt to drag film lovers off the sofa and away from Netflix…Read More

SYDNEY (AP) — Australia’s Olympic softball squad left Sydney bound for Japan on Monday and will be among the earliest arrivals for the Tokyo Games. The so-called Aussie Spir…Read Mor

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UK: A Test for Vaccinatons if 3rd Wave Underway

London- Scientists have warned ministers that a third wave of coronavirus may have already begun in Britain, casting doubt on plans in England to lift all lockdown restrictions in three weeks’ time.

Experts cautioned that any rise in coronavirus hospital admissions could leave the NHS struggling to cope as it battles to clear the huge backlog in non-Covid cases.

Downing Street insisted it was too soon for speculation about whether the plan to lift all lockdown rules in England on 21 June could go ahead, prompting calls from the hospitality industry for the government to ensure it provided “advance notice” for struggling businesses of any “lingering” measures.

The vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, refused to deny that some restrictions such as mask wearing and working from home might remain in place to reduce the spread of the virus. Senior scientific advisers believe that, where possible, working from home makes sense beyond June because it would cut the number of people who come into contact with each other.

Ministers are grappling with whether a rise in cases and further spread of the Covid variant first discovered in India could throw Boris Johnson’s roadmap off track. Despite the progress of the vaccination programme, advisers are unsure to what extent the new infections – which are at levels last seen at the end of March – will translate into hospitalisations and deaths.

Outbreak modellers advising Sage expected a resurgence of infections even before the new variant, called B.1.617.2, was found in the UK. That is because, as restrictions ease, the virus can spread more easily among millions of people who have not been protected by vaccines. Research by Public Health England that suggests the new variant is highly transmissible and partially resistant to vaccines has heightened concerns that a third wave could overwhelm the NHS.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, Zahawi refused to rule out that the planned unlocking could be tweaked, adding that an announcement will be made on 14 June. “We have to look at the data and we will share that with the country,” he said. “It would be completely wrong for me to now speculate. There are many people watching your programme, in jobs and businesses, who want to basically follow the exact direction the government is giving them whilst taking personal responsibility.

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Wait and see whether Covid lockdown will end on 21 June, says vaccines minister – video

“At the moment, we don’t have enough data. There are some parts of the country where there’s literally no B.1.617.2 and everything is pretty stable; in other parts of the country it is beginning to overtake the B.1.1.7 variant – the Kent variant.”

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, was similarly cautious, telling the Mail on Sunday: “We will know more as we approach the date.” The India variant is thought to be driving a rise in cases in parts of the UK and there are signs of a slight rise in hospitalisations. Up to three-quarters of new Covid cases in the UK are thought to be caused by the variant.

Martin McKee, a professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said he believed the third wave had begun.

“We can already see that the current measures are not stopping cases rising rapidly in many parts of the country. This looks very much as if we are now early in a third wave,” he said. “Unless there is a miracle, opening up further in June is a huge risk. The rise in cases we are seeing now should cause a reassessment of the most recent relaxation.”

Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said he was concerned the UK was seeing the early signs of a third wave earlier this month, as it became clear the India variant was spreading in the community.

Prof Ravi Gupta of the University of Cambridge, a co-opted member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), also raised concerns. “If things go as I think they are going to go, we will likely end up with a third wave. It will be a big wave of infections and there will be deaths and severe illness,” he said.

“It will put pressure on the NHS at a time when we are trying to get back to normal and it is going to require a redoubling of efforts from the government to step up vaccination and to look at boosting of waning [immune] responses.”

Gupta said he was in favour of delaying the planned 21 June relaxation in England until the summer holidays, when the chance of spread within educational settings is reduced.

A substantial rise in coronavirus patients would hit the NHS just as staff are facing lengthy waiting lists for delayed procedures. Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said staff were “going full pelt” to deal with the backlog and did not have the space for a significant increase in coronavirus admissions.

“While it’s great news that the vaccinations are working – and I think that sends us one message in terms of opening up on 21 June – what we mustn’t forget is there are still lots of people who need to be vaccinated, and we know this variant that originated in India is much more transmissible,” Hopson told BBC Breakfast.

Dr William Hanage, a professor of the evolution and epidemiology of infectious disease at Harvard, said the UK’s current approach was not enough to prevent a third wave of infections. “The only question is how consequential it will be in terms of hospitalisations and deaths, and when exactly it happens,” he said. “A full reopening in June is not compatible with controlling the virus.”

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At Least 88 Politicians Have Been Murdered in Mexico Since Sept.

Mexico City (CNN) Some parts of the campaign trail in Mexico look like anywhere else — rallies, bumper stickers, candidates making lofty promises. Other parts — the threats, the assaults, the murders — are more unique.

Political violence mars every election season here and the run up to the June 6 midterm elections has been no different. But this year has been particularly gruesome, even for a country more used to it than most.

At least 88 politicians or candidates for office have been killed since last September, according to Mexican consulting firm Etellekt Consultores.

They’re part of a group of at least 565 politicians or candidates that have been targeted by some sort of crime, according to the firm.

Mexico’s government says this year’s midterm elections will be the largest ever. By the time the polls close on June 6, they might also be its deadliest.

Candidates keep being killed

Abel Murrieta was handing out campaign flyers in broad daylight two weeks ago, along a busy street in Cajeme, the municipality where he was running for local office. The former prosecutor in the northern state of Sonora was with supporters when police say two men in a vehicle gunned him down, shooting him 10 times.

As a candidate, he consistently said fighting crime was his number one issue.

“Enough with the drugs that steal our kids and destroy our families. I’m a man of the law. I’ll lay down the law. My hand isn’t shaking. I am not afraid,” Murrieta said in his final campaign ad — recorded only one day before his murder.

Social media footage showed Murrieta lying motionless after the shooting in a bloodied white button-down shirt as a supporter waved his party’s flag nearby, one hand on her heaving chest. A second video shot later showed him being put on a stretcher and into an ambulance.

Authorities say he was deliberately targeted though they don’t know by whom. An investigation is underway.

Murietta was a high-profile figure, known for his outspoken views on crime. As a private lawyer, he was also representing the LeBaron family, a family with dual US-Mexico citizenship that lost nine of its members when they were murdered by suspected cartel members in late 2019.

On Tuesday, another aspiring candidate was gunned down during a campaign event. Alma Rosa Barragán was running for mayor in the city of Moroleón in the state of Guanajuato, one of the country’s most violent regions.

“If you’d like to accompany me, come so you can listen to my proposals, come so we can coexist for a moment. Together, we can do it better,” a cheerful Barragán said during a Facebook Live she broadcast just moments before her death.

The Guanajuato Attorney General’s office condemned the assassination, and an investigation is now underway.

Alma Barragan was killed while campaigning for the mayorship of Moroleon, in violence-plagued Guanajuato state.

Alma Barragan was killed while campaigning for the mayorship of Moroleon, in violence-plagued Guanajuato state.

What’s behind the violence?

Motives behind the murders of so many candidates throughout the country are unclear, but suspected drivers are organized crime and the fight for territorial control.

Mexican security expert Ana Maria Salazar believes in many cases smaller criminal groups or larger drug cartels are targeting candidates they don’t like to boost their preferred candidate’s ascent to office. And for these groups and cartels, territorial control is key.

“There’s a lot of intimidation. It has to do with these organizations wanting to have a person [in office] that will clearly abide by their needs and that will allow them to control the territory,” Salazar said to CNN. “It has to do with territorial control.”

It’s also not unheard of for the politicians or candidates involved to be tied in with organized crime themselves.

These groups are either financing or promoting candidates — or threatening, intimidating and killing those they want out of the game, she added.

“These criminal organizations finally understood that having control over either the political parties or the political structures in your region actually allows you to use it to traffic and exercise territorial control much easier in the last three years since Andrés Manuel López Obrador was elected,” said Salazar.

López Obrador has taken a different tack in combating organized crime since he took office, eschewing previous strategies of going to war with the cartels. He favors addressing the long-term root causes of poverty as a way to provide alternatives to cartel membership, commonly referred to as “hugs, not bullets.”

Salazar argues the strategy is partly to blame for the killings, as she says it allows criminal groups de facto free reign and a “right to exist.”

The López Obrador administration has consistently said its strategy needs more time for results to be truly felt.

The government response — or lack thereof

Critics have said for decades that the federal government does not do enough to protect candidates and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration is no different.

“It’s a difficult time for these campaigns,” President Obrador said recently during his daily press conference. “We’re going to keep protecting them.

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The words “keep protecting them” would imply that the government is already effectively protecting candidates, something that is obviously not the case.

Critics say the government’s ineffective response is in part due to not admitting the extent of the problem.

The government’s own tally of how many politicians or candidates have been killed, currently at just 14, is far lower than other estimates, including consulting firm Etellekt’s.

When asked about why his government’s figures were so much lower, the president would not disclose how his administration calculated their figures.

It doesn’t help that Mexico is a country where impunity reigns. Well over 90 percent of all crimes never get solved.

With less than two weeks until voters head to the polls, concerns about more killings of candidates will only grow.

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Canada: Remains of 215 Kids Found at Indigenous School Site

Reuters- The remains of 215 children, some as young as three years old, were found at the site of a former residential school for indigenous children, a discovery Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described as heartbreaking on Friday.

The children were students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia that closed in 1978, according to the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation, which said the remains were found with the help of a ground penetrating radar specialist.

“We had a knowing in our community that we were able to verify,” Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Chief Rosanne Casimir said in a statement. “At this time, we have more questions than answers.”

Canada’s residential school system, which forcibly separated indigenous children from their families, constituted “cultural genocide,” a six-year investigation into the now-defunct system found in 2015.

The report documented horrific physical abuse, rape, malnutrition and other atrocities suffered by many of the 150,000 children who attended the schools, typically run by Christian churches on behalf of Ottawa from the 1840s to the 1990s.

The former Kamloops Indian Residential School is pictured, after the remains of 215 children, some as young as three years old, were found at the site, in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada May 29, 2021. REUTERS/Dennis Owen
The main administrative building at the Kamloops Indian Residential School is seen in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada circa 1970. Library and Archives Canada/Handout via REUTERS
A new classroom building at the Kamloops Indian Residential School is seen in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada circa 1950. Library and Archives Canada/Handout via REUTERS

The main administrative building at the Kamloops Indian Residential School is seen in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada circa 1970. Library and Archives Canada/Handout via REUTERS

It found more than 4,100 children died while attending residential school. The deaths of the 215 children buried in the grounds of what was once Canada’s largest residential school are believed to not have been included in that figure and appear to have been undocumented until the discovery.

Trudeau wrote in a tweet that the news “breaks my heart – it is a painful reminder of that dark and shameful chapter of our country’s history.”

In 2008, the Canadian government formally apologized for the system.

The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation said it was engaging with the coroner and reaching out to the home communities whose children attended the school. They expect to have preliminary findings by mid-June.

In a statement, British Columbia Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee called finding such grave sites “urgent work” that “refreshes the grief and loss for all First Nations in British Columbia.

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Colombia: Mass Protests to End Protests as UN Steps In

Waving flags and dressed in white, thousands marched in Colombia’s capital Bogota on Sunday to demand an end to protests and roadblocks, as well as to express support for security forces, following a month of demonstrations.

“They (the roadblocks) are taking the cities hostage. They are stopping the economy,” Patricia Gonzalez, 45, said.

The roadblocks have caused shortages of food and supplies in some parts of the country.

Though acknowledging the use of excessive force by some police, Gonzalez said not all police were corrupt and that the protests had gone on long enough.

Talks between the government and national protest leaders are to restart on Sunday, after stalling last week. read more

Widespread protests began at the end of April in opposition to a now-withdrawn tax reform but have since expanded to call for a basic income, opportunities for young people and to end police violence.

The month of protests have been beset with violence. The national government has so-far linked 17 civilian deaths and the deaths of two police officers to the protests, while rights groups say security forces have killed dozens of civilians.

In Colombia’s third-largest city, Cali, 13 people were killed during a day of protests on Friday, Mayor Jorge Ivan Ospina said on Saturday, stressing it was not certain how many of these were linked to demonstrations. read more

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, on Sunday called for those responsible for the violence in Cali to be held accountable.

“I call for an end to all forms of violence,” she said in a statement, calling for an investigation into the deaths and injuries.

While a “pre-agreement” to further negotiations was reached on Monday, strike organizers have since accused the government of deliberately stalling talks by not signing the deal.

The government says protest leaders must condemn roadblocks as part of the pre-agreement, calling the point non-negotiable.

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Ready to Start: Copa America Tournament Loses Host Nation

The 2021 Copa America has been left without a host less than two weeks before it starts after Argentina was stripped of the tournament.

Argentina was originally set to co-host with Colombia, who were removed on 20 May after protests in the country.

The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) said Argentina has been removed because of the “present circumstances”.

The country is currently experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases.

Opposition to the tournament had grown both inside and outside Argentina’s government, while Uruguay striker Luis Suarez told reporters on Friday that priority had to be given “to the health of human beings”.

it was currently “analysing the offer of other countries” that showed interest in hosting the 10-team Copa America, which is scheduled to run from 13 June to 10 July.

The confederation will meet on Monday to decide on the next steps for the tournament, which did not take place in 2020 because of the pandemic.

Brazil are defending champions, having won the tournament in 2019.

Every game at the Copa America will be shown live on the BBC IF And when it begins.Chelsea forward Kai Havertz

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Brazil: Anti Bolsonaro Protests Aimed at Corona Response, World Stats

Protests have taken place across Brazil over the management of the Covid-19 crisis by the government of President Jair Bolsonaro.

Protesters in Brasilia carried a huge puppet of Jair Bolsonaro

In the capital, Brasilia, thousands gathered in front of Congress calling for the president’s impeachment, and demanding more vaccines.

Demonstrations took place in other major cities, including Rio de Janeiro.

Mr Bolsonaro’s popularity has plummeted over his response to the pandemic.

Brazil has registered nearly 460,000 deaths – the second-highest toll in the world after the US. It also has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases at more than 16 million.

Saturday’s protests piled further pressure on Mr Bolsonaro as Brazil’s Senate holds an inquiry into his government’s handling of the pandemic and the slow roll-out of the vaccine programme.

Opposition parties, trade unions and social movements accuse Mr Bolsonaro of stalling the programme and disregarding the consequences.

A protest against Jair Bolsonaro in Rio, Brazil, 29 May 2021image copyrightEPA
Opponents of Jair Bolsonaro blame him for the slow response to the Covid crisis
Protest against the government in Rio de Janeiroimage copyrightEPA
There was a large anti-government rally in Rio de Janeiro

The high number of cases has brought the country’s health system to the verge of collapse.

The far-right leader has consistently opposed lockdown measures, arguing that the damage to the economy would be worse than the effects of the coronavirus itself. He has also told Brazilians to “stop whining” about the situation.

In Brasilia, protesters marched alongside a giant plastic doll of the president. Placards demanded his impeachment and called for more vaccines and emergency financial aid. There were also calls to better protect indigenous people and to stop deforestation of the Amazon.

Demonstrators hold signs during a protest against President Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia on May 29, 2021image copyrightGetty Images
Protesters in Brasilia had a wide-range of grievances against the government

In Recife, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters who tried to march down a closed road, local media reported.

In some cities, demonstrators laid thousands of symbolic crosses in tribute to those who died in the pandemic.

On Thursday, the head of Brazil’s prestigious Butantan Institute told a Senate committee that President Bolsonaro’s actions delayed the start of the vaccination programme, the Spanish news agency Efe reports.

Dr Dimas Covas said that in August last year, Butantan offered to supply the government with 100 million doses of the CoronaVac vaccine, which the institute manufactures under licence from China’s Sinovac. He said the proposal included a pledge to deliver the first five million doses by the beginning of December.

Opponents of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro attend a protest against his government in Brasilia, Brazil, 29 May 2021image copyrightEPA
Brasilia, protesters marched to Congress where the Senate is investigation the government’s response to the pandemic

But a day after Butantan’s offer, Mr Bolsonaro vowed that his government would “never” buy a Chinese vaccine, Dr Covas said.

“We could have been the first country in the world to vaccinate,” he told the committee.

Had the offer been accepted, Butantan would have been able to deliver 100 million doses by 30 March this year, Dr Covas added.

Instead, Brazil has so far received a total of 46 million doses, due in part to shortages of raw materials amid the global scramble to obtain vaccines. Only 10% of the adult population has received the two required doses.

Earlier in the inquiry, Pfizer’s top executive for Latin America, Carlos Murillo, told the Senate committee that Mr Bolsonaro’s government never responded to an offer that would have seen 1.5 million doses of the US pharmaceutical giant’s vaccine reach Brazil last  December.

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WORLD STATS

Coronavirus Cases:

171,047,287

Deaths:

3,557,063

Recovered:

153,160,778
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

May 31 (GMT)

Updates

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Bath Abbey with Major Exhibition on Evils of Slave Trade

A church is staging an exhibition dedicated to people with links to slavery and colonialism as a way of highlighting a past it “deeply regrets”

The memorials in Bath Abbey include plantation owners and slave traders.

The abbey’s rector said it was “shameful” that slavery was practiced for so long without being challenged by the church or state.

A permanent display is planned along with school workshops and a website.

The exhibition, called Monuments, Empire & Slavery, is free to visit and is being hosted in the abbey’s north transept.

Rector of Bath Abbey Canon Guy Bridgewater said: “Slavery should have no place in society, and must be renounced utterly.

“At Bath Abbey we deeply regret the hateful industry of human exploitation, whether by ignorant complicity or evil design, that certain of our 18th and 19th Century memorials make evident.”

Sir William Baker memorialimage copyrightBath Abbey
Sir William Baker was a director of the East India Company and later worked in senior roles for the Hudson’s Bay Company

The abbey’s learning officer, Polly Andrews, said: “There hasn’t always been a great understanding or honesty about Bath’s connections with the slave trade.”

The project has received £9,000 from the National Archives and abbey staff are working with volunteers and other organisations, including the Bath Preservation Society.

“We’ve got over 200 monuments out of about 1,500 in the Abbey that we already know have connections,” Ms Andrews said.

“We’ve got 25 mentions of Barbados, 18 of Jamaica and 37 of India and Bengal and they are just the names that have been easily discovered.”

Volunteers will also be looking through editions of the Bath Chronicle from between 1760 and 1780.

“They’re taking a look at keywords like Barbados, like sugar, like Jamaica, to see what comes up just to find out what people knew at the time in Bath about the colonies and what they knew about the transatlantic slave trade,” said Ms Andrews.

“Obviously the money from that process really enabled a lot of people and a lot of businesses in Bath to be successful and have really quite grand lives and grand homes in Bath so all of that needs to be uncovered.”

The Abbey has memorials which include people such as James Dottin Maycock, who owned two plantations in Barbados, and a large memorial dedicated to Sir William Baker, who became a director of the East India Company. He later held senior roles in the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Hannah Alleyne is another person commemorated. She was born in Barbados into a plantation-owning family and married into another.

Her son, John Alleyne, was influenced by the American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, a family friend, and became an abolitionist lawyer.

Hannah Alleyne memorialimage copyrightBath Abbey
Hannah Alleyne was born into a plantation-owning family and married into another. Her son became an abolitionist

Also memorialised is Bartholomew Stibbs, a sailor who worked for the Royal African Company which trafficked 186,000 people from Africa to America, of which 38,000 died during these voyages.

While the funding from the National Archives will fund six months of work, more research is planned.

“It [the exhibition] won’t be a flash in the pan. It’s not just the abbey’s history, it’s the city’s history,” added Ms Andrews.

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