A Jamaican man who fled Miami more than 20 years ago after being convicted of killing three women in a car accident, has been extradited to the United States to finally serve his time.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said convicted fugitive Christopher Harvey, who first fled to Cuba before being nabbed in the country of his birth, “will now see the justice he so long sought to avoid”.

“The families of these three women killed by Christopher Harvey were revictimized when he fled the country in 2000. Mr. Harvey admitted his guilt in Criminal Court but ran away from his personal responsibility for these crimes, just as he ran away on the night of this dreadful incident 22 years ago,” she said.

Harvey was originally arrested on January 31, 1999, and charged with three counts of vehicular homicide and one count of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, the result of an automobile crash that occurred when he ran a red light, travelling at 75 miles per hour, at the intersection of Northwest 199th Street and Northwest 37th Avenue in Miami-Dade County in the early hours of January 30.

The collision killed a 24-year-old mother of two, Daylin Bueno; 37-year-old Becky Ballestas Marquez, also a mother of two children; and 24-year-old Maria Arandaans, a college student in town to visit her grandmother. The women were returning home from a gathering when the accident occurred. After the accident, Harvey fled the scene.

On March 27, 2000, he entered a plea of no contest to all charges, and the court found him guilty and sentenced him to 12 and a half years in prison.

At his lawyer’s request, the court gave Harvey until June 1, 2000, to get his affairs in order, at which point he was to turn himself in to begin serving his sentence. Instead, Harvey fled the country.

In 2007, a tip was received that Harvey was possibly in custody in Cuba. However, a lack of formal relations between Cuba and the US made extradition nearly impossible. In 2019, information was acquired that Harvey was in Jamaica. After a request to Jamaica for his extradition was submitted, he was taken into custody by the Jamaican authorities and has now been returned to Miami.

“Thanks to the resolute efforts and commitment of my prosecutors and staff in the Extradition Section of my Legal Unit and the commitment of the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Jamaica Fugitive Apprehension Team, and Homeland Security Investigations, Christopher Harvey will now see the justice he so long sought to avoid. Today is certainly a day these victimized families have long waited to see,” Rundle said.

Director of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs (OIA), Vaughn Ary, thanked Jamaica for its critical assistance on the case.

“OIA is dedicated to the mission of ensuring that fugitives who flee overseas are apprehended and are returned to face justice. Working with our foreign law enforcement counterparts, the Miami State Attorney’s Office, and U.S. law enforcement agencies, OIA was able to help facilitate the return of Christopher Harvey after 20 years – showing again that, regardless of the passage of time, OIA will not rest in its efforts to advance public safety both for our citizens and for citizens in countries around the world,” he said.

CMC

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The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) also congratulated Grenada on its 47th anniversary of independence, praising its “great example of resilience.”

CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, in a congratulatory message to Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell, said Grenada has “made great strides, and its citizens have made their mark globally in academia, diplomacy and sport, to name a few”.

La Roque said the theme for this year’s celebration, “Rebuilding Together a safer, More Resilient Nation in these Challenging Times,” resonates throughout the community during this current period.

“The people of Grenada have been a great example of resilience throughout the period of nationhood, demonstrating time and again a resolve to surmount whatever challenges stood in the way of developing the country,” the CARICOM Secretary-General said.

He also lauded Grenada for being a strong and dedicated advocate of regional integration.

“The community has benefitted significantly from your enlightened contribution in the field of Science and Technology (including Information and Communications), the country’s portfolio in the Quasi-Cabinet of the Heads of Government,” La Roque said.

“The new reality brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the need for the use of ICT (Information Communications Technology) in its efforts at recovery,” he added while reaffirming the community’s commitment to support Grenada’s efforts at achieving sustainable development.

Grenada became an independent nation on February 7, 1974.

CMC

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PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – The Haitian opposition on Monday escalated a constitutional crisis by naming a magistrate as an interim leader for the troubled Caribbean country amid a dispute over when the term of President Jovenel Moise ends.

Political tension was exacerbated on Sunday when Moise alleged there had been an attempt to overthrow the government and 23 people were arrested, including a Supreme Court judge and a senior police official.

The opposition dismissed the suggestion of a coup attempt, and said Moise should have stepped down on Feb. 7 when it says his five-year term ended.

The president has vowed to stay in power until February 2022, pointing out that an interim administration had governed for a year after he was elected in a disputed poll that was canceled by the electoral council.

Moise took power in 2017 after fresh elections.

Magistrate Joseph Mecene Jean Louis, 72, said in a video message that he had been chosen by the opposition to replace Moise, who the opposition accuses of being authoritarian and presiding over a crippling economic crisis.

“I declare to accept the choice of the opposition and the civil society to be able to serve my country as the provisional president,” Jean Louis said.

Moise, who has ruled by decree since January last year, has stated he would hand over power to the winner of the September presidential election but would not step down until his term expires in 2022.

The United States, which is the biggest donor to Haiti, appears to have backed Moise’s timeline, saying the new president should take office in February next year.

On Monday, Moise held a cabinet meeting and said on Twitter the government is “taking all measures to ensure the safety of the population”.

Haiti’s executive branch, consisting of the president, prime minister and ministers, published a decree announcing three Supreme Court judges who were approached by the opposition to replace Moise as president are to be retired.

Haiti’s military on Monday said it was concerned about political events but appeared to back Moise, saying it would defend the rule of law and “legitimate authorities democratically elected by the population”.

Earlier in the day, two journalists covering a small protest were shot in the capital and one of them is in a serious condition, according to news outlets and videos uploaded on social media.

Andre Michel, an opposition figure, told Reuters that the opposition would keep up its protests against the government this week.

“The mobilization must continue to force Jovenel Moise to leave office,” Michel said. “We hope that the international community will support our approach.”

Critics accuse Moïse of amassing more power in recent months, noting that he already has been ruling by presidential decree ever since he dissolved the majority of Parliament in January 2020 after failing to hold legislative elections in 2019 amid political gridlock.

Moïse also has approved a decree that created an intelligence agency that answers only to the president and another that limits the powers of a court that audits government contracts and had accused Moïse and other officials of embezzlement and fraud, allegations they have denied.

Another recent decree classifies robbery, arson and blocking public roads — a common ploy during protests —as terrorism, leading to heavy penalties. Some of the decrees drew rare criticism from the international community as well.

Opponents also are rejecting an upcoming constitutional referendum scheduled for April 25, the first one to be held in more than 30 years. It calls for the creation of compulsory military service for those age 18, would create the position of a vice president to replace that of prime minister and establish a unicameral legislature to be elected every five years to replace the current Senate and Chamber of Deputies.

In addition, the draft only states that a president cannot serve for more than two terms; it says nothing about whether they can be served consecutively as is currently prohibited. Experts note that the current Constitution bars changes to it via a referendum.

(This story corrects spelling of Moise’s name in paragraphs 1&2)

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President Iván Duque

Colombia is to give protected status to almost one million undocumented Venezuelan migrants resident in the country, President Iván Duque said.

The protection will last 10 years and will allow them to “normalise” into life in Colombia, Mr Duque added.

The United Nations says more than five million people have fled Venezuela since 2015, with Colombia taking in the greatest share.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi praised the decision.

At a joint news conference on Monday, he described it as a “historic gesture” and “emblematic for the region, even for the whole world”.

Some 1.7m Venezuelans are thought to have arrived in Colombia but more than half are without legal status.

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The changes mean they will be now able to apply for temporary protected status – making it easier for them to work, seek permanent residency and get access to health services.

“We hope that other countries follow our example,” Mr. Duque said at the news conference.

The announcement came days after he appealed for better international support with the situation, after reversing a policy which said undocumented Venezuelans would be excluded from Colombia’s upcoming vaccination drive.

Colombia, a nation of 50 million people, has recorded over two million virus cases and almost 56,000 deaths so far.

The UN has warned that the Covid-19 pandemic has compounded the situation for Venezuelan refugees and migrants living throughout the region, including border closures leaving them vulnerable to dangerous exploitation from traffickers.

Millions have fled Venezuela in recent years because of spiralling economic and political instability that has led to shortages of essentials like food, medicine and fuel.

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LONDON (Reuters) – It is not yet clear whether the world needs a new set of vaccines to fight different variants of the novel coronavirus but scientists are working on new ones so there is no reason for alarm, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group said on Tuesday.

South Africa has paused a planned rollout of AstraZeneca’s vaccines after data showed it gave minimal protection against mild infection among young people from the dominant variant there, stoking fears of a much longer battle with the pathogen.

AstraZeneca and Oxford University aim to produce a next generation of vaccines that will protect against variants as soon as the autumn before the Northern Hemisphere winter, AstraZeneca’s research chief said this month.

“There are definitely new questions about variants that we’re going to be addressing. And one of those is: do we need new vaccines?,” Andrew Pollard, Chief Investigator on the Oxford vaccine trial, told BBC radio.

“I think the jury is out on that at the moment, but all developers are preparing new vaccines so if we do need them, we’ll have them available to be able to protect people.”

Vaccines are seen as the swiftest path out of the COVID-19 crisis which has killed 2.33 million people and turned normal life upside down for billions.

Researchers from the University of Witwatersrand and the University of Oxford said in a prior-to-peer analysis that the AstraZeneca vaccine provided minimal protection against mild or moderate infection from the South African variant among young people.

TARGET POPULATION

Protection against moderate-severe disease, hospitalisation or death could not be assessed in the study of around 2,000 volunteers who had a median age of 31 as the target population was at such low risk, the researchers said.

“I think there’s clearly a risk of confidence in the way that people may perceive you. But as I say I don’t think that there is any reason for alarm today,” Pollard said.

“The really important question is about the severe disease and we didn’t study that in South Africa, because that wasn’t the point of that study, we were specifically asking questions about young adults.”

The so-called South African variant, known by scientists as 20I/501Y.V2 or B.1.351, is the dominant one in South Africa and is circulating in 41 countries around the world including the United States.

Other major variants include the so-called UK variant, or 20I/501Y.V1, and the Brazilian variant known as P.1.

An analysis of infections by the South African variant showed there was only a 22% lower risk of developing mild-to-moderate COVID-19 if vaccinated with the AstraZeneca shot versus those given a placebo.

If vaccines do not work as effectively as hoped against new and emerging variants, the world could be facing a much longer – and more expensive – battle against the virus than previously thought.

“As long as we have enough immunity to prevent severe disease, hospitalisations and death then we’re going to be fine in the future in the pandemic,” Pollard said.

Pollard said the South African government was right to look at how it deployed the AstraZeneca vaccine because the original plan was to use it in young adults – particularly healthcare workers – who were not expected to get severe disease.

“It needs a relook at how best to deploy the vaccine,” Pollard said.

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Local and federal authorities are investigating after an attempt Friday to poison the city of Oldsmar’s water supply, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said.

Someone remotely accessed a computer for the city’s water treatment system and briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, by a factor of more than 100, Gualtieri said at a news conference Monday. The chemical is used in small amounts to control the acidity of water but it’s also a corrosive compound commonly found in household cleaning supplies such as liquid drain cleaners.

The city’s water supply was not affected. A supervisor working remotely saw the concentration being changed on his computer screen and immediately reverted it, Gualtieri said. City officials on Monday emphasized that several other safeguards are in place to prevent contaminated water from entering the water supply and said they’ve disabled the remote-access system used in the attack.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is investigating, along with the FBI and the Secret Service, Gualtieri said. Oldsmar is located in Pinellas.

Nobody has been arrested, Gualtieri said, though investigators have some leads. They do not know why Oldsmar was targeted, he said. He added that other area municipalities have been alerted to the attack and encouraged to inspect the safeguards to their water treatment systems and other infrastructure.

Though some cities obtain water through Pinellas County, Oldsmar provides water directly to its businesses and roughly 15,000 residents, Gualtieri said. The computer system at the water treatment plant was set up to allow authorized users to remotely access it for troubleshooting.

A plant operator was monitoring the system at about 8 a.m. Friday and noticed that someone briefly accessed it. He didn’t find this unusual, Gualtieri said, because his supervisor remotely accessed the system regularly.

But at about 1:30 p.m. the same day, Gualtieri said, someone accessed the system again. This time, he said, the operator watched as someone took control of the mouse, directed it to the software that controls water treatment, worked inside it for three to five minutes and increased the amount of sodium hydroxide from 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million.

The attacker left the system, Gualtieri said, and the operator immediately changed the concentration back to 100 parts per million.

“At no time was there a significant adverse effect on the water being treated,” the sheriff said. “Importantly, the public was never in danger.”

Even if the operator hadn’t caught it, he said, it would have taken more than a day for the water to enter the water supply.

“The protocols that we have in place, monitoring protocols, they work — that’s the good news,” said Oldsmar Mayor Eric Seidel. “Even had they not caught them, there’s redundancies in the system that would have caught the change in the pH level.

“The important thing is to put everyone on notice,” he said. “There’s a bad actor out there.”

Sen. Marco Rubio also addressed the attack in a tweet Monday, saying it “should be treated as a matter of national security.”

The Sheriff’s Office learned of the attack and began investigating Friday evening, Gualtieri said. Investigators don’t yet know whether the attack originated within or outside Pinellas County, Florida or the United States. If the attacker is apprehended, he said, they’ll face state felony charges and possibly federal charges.

Contact with sodium hydroxide can kill skin and cause hair loss, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Ingestion can be fatal.

Gualtieri said he didn’t know what physiological effects would result from the concentration dialed up in the attack. Nor was it immediately apparent whether a similar attack had ever happened in the U.S. In 2007, the water of a town in Massachusetts was accidentally treated with too much lye, causing burns and skin irritation among people who showered with it.

“I’m not a chemist,” Gualtieri said. “But I can tell you what I do know is … if you put that amount of that substance into the drinking water, it’s not a good thing.”

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