All posts by MBusiness

US Forming Expert Groups on Safely Lifting Global Travel Restrictions

The Biden administration is forming expert working groups with Canada, Mexico, the European Union and the United Kingdom to determine how best to safely restart travel after 15 months of pandemic restrictions, a White House official said on Tuesday. Another U.S. official said the administration will not move quickly to lift orders that bar people from much of the world from entering the United States because of the time it will take for the groups to do their work. The White House informed airlines and others in the travel industry about the groups, the official said. “While we are not reopening travel today, we hope that these expert working groups will help us use our collective expertise to chart a path forward, with a goal of reopening international travel with our key partners when it is determined that it is safe to do so,” the White House official said, adding “any decisions will be fully guided by the objective analysis and recommendations by public health and medical experts.” The groups will be led by the White House COVID Response Team and the National Security Council and include the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other U.S. agencies. The CDC said on Tuesday it was easing travel recommendations on 110 countries and territories, including Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Africa and Iran, but has declined to lift any COVID-19 travel restrictions. FILE – Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies during a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 18, 2021.CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the U.S. travel restrictions in place since 2020 are subject to “an interagency conversation, and we are looking at the data in real time as to how we should move forward with that.” The Biden administration has faced pressure from some lawmakers who said U.S. communities along the Canadian border have faced economic hardship because of land border restrictions. Airlines and others have pressed the administration to lift the restrictions that prevent most non-U.S. citizens who have been in the United Kingdom, the 26 Schengen nations in Europe without border controls, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil from traveling to the United States. The United States also bars most non-essential travel at its land borders with Mexico and Canada. Airlines for America, a trade group representing American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and others, praised the working groups but the group believes “these working groups should act quickly to endorse a policy backed by science that will allow travelers who are fully vaccinated to travel to the U.S. Quickly is the key – we believe the science is there.” FILE – A United Airlines airplane sits at a gate at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey.United Airlines said it was encouraged the White House was prioritizing a plan to reopen air travel to international markets and requested urgency, given the typically busy impending summer travel season. “Now is the time to implement a reopening strategy for the benefit of both the economy and the traveling public.” On Monday, the heads of all passenger airlines flying between Britain and the United States called on both countries to lift limits on trans-Atlantic travel restrictions. U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet at the G-7 meeting of advanced economies this week in Cornwall, England. U.S. and UK airline officials said they do not expect Washington to lift restrictions until around July 4 at the earliest as the administration aims to get more Americans vaccinated. The U.S. Travel Association welcomed the working groups, saying “a public-private task force can quickly develop a blueprint to reopen international inbound travel and jumpstart a sustained jobs and economic recovery.” 
 

US, Mexico Expand Cooperation on Development Programs in Northern Triangle

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met Tuesday with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City in her continuing effort to curb the surge of migrants to the southwestern U.S. border by bolstering economic conditions in Central America.Harris and Lopez Obrador watched as aides signed a “memorandum of understanding” to “establish a strategic partnership to cooperate on development programs in the Northern Triangle” countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Tens of thousands of their citizens have left home to trek through Mexico to try to get into the United States in recent months, with more than 178,000 migrants reaching the U.S. border in April, nearly half from Central America.Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to the media, June 8, 2021, at the Sofitel Mexico City Reforma in Mexico City.Harris, on her first foreign trip as vice president, had a blunt message Monday for Latin American migrants as she visited Guatemala: “Do not come.” She said the U.S. was “not afraid” to enforce its immigration laws and stop people at the border, but U.S. President Joe Biden has allowed unaccompanied migrant children to stay in the United States, unlike former President Doanld Trump, who expelled them.
López Obrador, responding to a shouted question from a reporter whether Mexico was willing to increase its immigration enforcement, said he and Harris “will be touching on that subject, but always addressing the fundamental root causes” of the surge in migrants.Harris, according to her spokeswoman, told the Mexican leader in their private talks that the U.S. will make new efforts to increase economic investment in southern Mexico, including loans for affordable housing.In addition, the U.S. has committed about $130 million over the next three years to support workers and labor reforms. Harris told Lopez Obrador the U.S. would provide more forensic and law enforcement training in Mexico to help resolve more than 82,000 cases of missing persons and disappearances, a key concern for the Mexican leader.After meeting with Lopez Obrador, Harris is talking with female entrepreneurs and holding a roundtable with labor workers.Ricardo Zuniga, U.S. President Joe Biden’s special envoy for the Northern Triangle, speaks with the media in San Salvador, El Salvador on May 12, 2021.Ricardo Zúñiga, U.S. special envoy for the Northern Triangle, told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s meetings that the United States and Mexico “have not had this level of cooperation in Central America before.”
“The main thing is that it’s very important to show that the United States and Mexico are collaborating and trying to improve conditions on the ground among our neighbors because of the importance that the countries in Central America have for both of us,” Zúñiga said. “We’re both destination countries for migration from Central America, and we both have some of the same issues trying to ensure that we have legal paths for migration and temporary labor.”
Harris’s talks in Mexico were similar to those in Guatemala, where she emphasized “the power of hope” along with new efforts to fight corruption.  
“I am here because the root causes are my highest priority in terms of addressing the issue, and we need to deal with it, both in terms of the poverty we are seeing, the hunger that we are seeing, the effects of the hurricanes and the extreme climate conditions, what we are seeing in terms of the pandemic,” Harris told reporters.
Harris’ trip is fraught with U.S. political implications, though, as Republicans blame Biden and Harris for the surge in migrants trying to cross the country’s southwestern border with Mexico.Vice President Kamala Harris, right, listens as women speak to her about their businesses during a meeting with Guatemalan women entrepreneurs and innovators at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, June 7, 2021, in Guatemala City.At a news conference in Guatemala City, Harris deflected a question about when she would visit the border, even though she has said she would at some point.  
At a recent news conference, some Republicans displayed a milk carton depicting Harris with the headline: “MISSING AT THE BORDER.” 
She told NBC in an interview before leaving for Mexico that aside from not visiting the U.S.-Mexican border, she also has not been to Europe as vice president.
“I care about what’s happening at the border,” she said. “I’m in Guatemala because my focus is dealing with the root causes of migration. There may be some who think that that is not important, but it is my firm belief that if we care about what’s happening at the border, we better care about the root causes and address them. And so that’s what I’m doing.”
But Harris said that even with her efforts to improve living and economic conditions in Mexico and Central America, “We are not going to see an immediate return. But we’re going to see progress. The real work is going to take time to manifest itself. Will it be worth it? Yes. Will it take some time? Yes.” 

US, Mexico to Expand Cooperation Development Programs in Northern Triangle

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris says she will discuss Mexico’s role in the region as she meets with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City on Tuesday as part of her trip focused on addressing a rise in migration to the southern U.S. border.  Speaking to reporters late Monday, Harris mentioned the close partnership between the neighboring countries and said Tuesday’s agenda would also include economic engagement and cooperation regarding COVID-19 vaccines.  U.S. officials said Harris and López Obrador will witness the signing of a memorandum of understanding regarding cooperation on development programs in the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Ricardo Zúñiga, U.S. special envoy for the Northern Triangle, told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s meetings the United States and Mexico “have not had this level of cooperation in Central America before.”  “The main thing is that it’s very important to show that the United States and Mexico are collaborating and trying to improve conditions on the ground among our neighbors because of the importance that the countries in Central America have for both of us,” Zúñiga said. “We’re both destination countries for migration from Central America, and we both have some of the same issues trying to ensure that we have legal paths for migration and temporary labor.”   While in Mexico City, Harris will hold talks with entrepreneurs and labor leaders as well.    She carried out a similar schedule Monday in Guatemala, where she emphasized “the power of hope” along with new efforts to fight corruption and persuade Latin Americans to stay home rather than attempt the dangerous migration north to the United States.   “I am here because the root causes are my highest priority in terms of addressing the issue, and we need to deal with it, both in terms of the poverty we are seeing, the hunger that we are seeing, the effects of the hurricanes and the extreme climate conditions, what we are seeing in terms of the pandemic,” Harris told reporters.    In her first foreign trip as the U.S. second in command, Harris said at a news conference in Guatemala City that Latin Americans “don’t want to leave the country where they grew up.”  But she said people in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, along with Mexico, need economic development that promises a better life than trying to move to the United States. Vice President Kamala Harris and Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei pose for an official photograph, June 7, 2021, at the National Palace in Guatemala City.Harris said that “help is on the way,” with Washington aid and private investments encouraged by the U.S. government in agriculture, housing and businesses. “We have reason to believe we can have an impact,” she said.       But Harris also sent a warning to Guatemalans: “Do not come” to the United States. “We’re not afraid to enforce our laws and borders,” she said.   Harris held what she described as “very frank, very candid” talks with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei about corruption in his country, pressing the need for “a strong court system” and civil governance.   Shortly after she met with the Guatemalan leader, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced in Washington the creation of a law enforcement task force aimed at fighting human trafficking and smuggling groups in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries.       “We are creating this task force to address corruption, to address human smuggling —   doing the work to make sure certain progress be made if we are going to attract investment,” Harris said.   She said the task force would combine resources from the Justice, State and Treasury departments.   At the news conference, Giammattei blamed drug traffickers for corruption. He said the United States and Guatemala agreed to create a “very simple process” through visas to permit regular migration to the United States, and that the two countries would prioritize family reunifications.   He also announced a new processing center for migrants sent back from Mexico and the United States.   Besides meeting with Giammattei, Harris participated in a roundtable with Guatemalan community and civil society leaders and then met with young innovators and entrepreneurs, including several female entrepreneurs.   “This afternoon, I got to see what students in Guatemala are working on in the lab — and hear about how local entrepreneurs are growing their local economies. Around the world, innovators and entrepreneurs create economic opportunity. We must support them,” Harris tweeted late Monday.  Harris’ trip is fraught with U.S. political implications, with Republicans blaming President Joe Biden and Harris for the surge in migrants trying to cross the country’s southwestern border with Mexico. In the most recent count, U.S. border agents faced 178,000 migrants at the border in April, 44% of them from Central America.       At her news conference, Harris deflected a question about when she would visit the border, even though she has said she would at some point.       At a recent news conference, some Republicans displayed a milk carton depicting Harris with the headline: “MISSING AT THE BORDER.”        When asked about Republican criticism that she is not doing enough, Harris said Monday that she is focused on stemming migration as “opposed to grand gestures.”    Biden has tasked Harris with leading the effort to address the root causes behind the increase in the number of migrants traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border.       Ahead of her trip, Harris announced $310 million in U.S. aid to support refugees and deal with food shortages. She also recently won commitments from U.S. companies and organizations to invest in Central American countries to promote economic opportunity and job training.   The United States also said last week it would send 500,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine to Guatemala and 1 million to Mexico. 

Peru Presidential Elections Too Close to Call

Two candidates vying for Peru’s presidency were still neck and neck Monday as vote counts trickled in for the runoff election. With over 95% of the vote counted, socialist Pedro Castillo led conservative rival Keiko Fujimori by less than one percentage point, according to a Reuters tally. Castillo, an outsider candidate, barely gained a lead against his rival overnight as votes came in from rural areas of the country. Lima’s stock market plunged, and the national currency dropped to a record low as uncertainty over the vote continued Monday. Peruvians are striving for political stability as seven of the country’s last 10 leaders have been either convicted of or investigated for corruption. Peru has had four presidents over the past three years. Both candidates have promised to respect the results of the poll. The country is also suffering a recession and one of the worst coronavirus fatality rates in the world, according to Agence France-Presse. Fujimori, a former congresswoman, was imprisoned as part of a corruption investigation. She is the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, a former president serving a 25-year sentence for corruption and the killing of 25 people. She has promised economic benefits to families with victims of COVID-19. Castillo was a schoolteacher in the country’s third-poorest district before entering politics. He has said that he is committed to rewriting the constitution, which was approved during the rule of Fujimori’s father. 
 

Canadian Police Say Muslim Family Targeted in Deadly Truck Attack

A driver plowed a pickup truck into a family of five, killing four of them and seriously injuring the fifth in an attack that targeted the victims because they were Muslims, Canadian police said Monday.Authorities said a young man was arrested in the parking lot of a nearby mall after the attack Sunday night in the Ontario city of London. Police said a black pickup truck mounted a curb and struck the victims at an intersection.”This was an act of mass murder perpetuated against Muslims,” London Mayor Ed Holder said. “It was rooted in unspeakable hatred. The magnitude of such hatred can make one question who we were as a city.”Police said the dead were a 74-year-old woman, a 46-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman and a 15-year-old girl. A 9-year-old boy was reported in serious condition. The family requested the names not be released, officials said.”In one act of murder some individual has wiped out three generations of family. It’s horrific,” Holder said in an interview with The Associated Press.Nathaniel Veltman, 20, was in custody facing four counts of first-degree murder. Police said Veltman, a resident of London, did not know the victims.Detective Supt. Paul Waight said Veltman was wearing a vest that appeared to be like body armor.Waight said police did not know at this point if the suspect was a member of any specific hate group. He said London police are working with federal police and prosecutors to see about potential terrorism charges. He declined to detail evidence pointing to a possible hate crime, but said the attack was planned.About a dozen police officers combed the area around the crash site looking for evidence Monday. Blue markers on the ground dotted the intersection.”We believe the victims were targeted because of their Islamic faith,” London Police Chief Stephen Williams said. “We understand that this event may cause fear and anxiety in the community, particularly in the Muslim community, in any community targeted by hate. … There is no tolerance in this community who are motivated by hate target others with violence.”Canada is generally welcoming toward immigrants and all religions, but in 2017 a French Canadian man known for far-right, nationalist views went on a shooting rampage at a Quebec City mosque and killed six people.One woman who witnessed the aftermath of the deadly crash said she couldn’t stop thinking about the victims. Paige Martin said she was stopped at a red light around 8:30 p.m. when the large pickup roared past her. She said her car shook from the force.”I was shaken up, thinking it was an erratic driver,” Martin said.Minutes later, she said, she came upon a gruesome, chaotic scene at an intersection near her home, with first responders running to help, a police officer performing chest compressions on one person and three other people lying on the ground. A few dozen people stood on the sidewalk and several drivers got out of their cars to help.”I can’t get the sound of the screams out of my head,” Martin said.From her apartment, Martin said she could see the scene and watched an official drape a sheet over one body about midnight.”My heart is just so broken for them,” she said.Zahid Khan, a family friend, said the three generations among the dead were a grandmother, father, mother and teenage daughter. The family had immigrated from Pakistan 14 years ago and were dedicated, decent and generous members of the London Muslim Mosque, he said.”They were just out for their walk that they would go out for every day,” Khan said through tears near the site of the crash. “I just wanted to see.”Qazi Khalil said he saw the family on Thursday when they were out for their nightly walk. The families lived close to each other and would get together on holidays, he said.”This has totally destroyed me from the inside,” Khalil said. “I can’t really come to the terms they were no longer here.”The National Council of Canadian Muslims said it was beyond horrified, saying Muslims in Canada have become all too familiar with the violence of Islamophobia.”This is a terrorist attack on Canadian soil, and should be treated as such,” council head Mustafa Farooq said. “We call on the government to prosecute the attacker to the fullest extent of the law, including considering terrorist charges.”The mayor said flags would be lowered for three days in London, which he said has 30,000 to 40,000 Muslims among its more than 400,000 residents.”To the Muslim community in London and to Muslims across the country, know that we stand with you. Islamophobia has no place in any of our communities. This hate is insidious and despicable — and it must stop,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted. 

Harris Emphasizes ‘Power of Hope’ to Keep Latin Americans from Migrating to US

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris emphasized “the power of hope” Monday, along with new efforts to fight corruption to persuade Latin Americans to stay home rather than attempt the dangerous migration north to the United States. In her first foreign trip as the U.S. second in command, Harris said at a news conference in Guatemala City that Latin Americans “don’t want to leave the country where they grew up.” But she said people in the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, along with Mexico, need economic development that promises a better life than trying to move to the U.S. Harris said “help is on the way” with Washington aid and private investments encouraged by the U.S. government in agriculture, housing and businesses. “We have reason to believe we can have an impact,” she said. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Guatemala’s President Alejandro Giammattei wave as they pose for a photo on a balcony at the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura, in Guatemala City, Guatemala, June 7, 2021.But Harris warned Guatemalans, “Do not come” to the U.S. “We’re not afraid to enforce our laws and borders,” she declared. Harris held what she described as “very frank, very candid” talks with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei about corruption in his country, pressing the need for “a strong court system” and civil governance. Shortly after she met with the Guatemalan leader, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced in Washington the creation of a law enforcement task force aimed at fighting human trafficking and smuggling groups in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries.  “We are creating this task force to address corruption, to address human smuggling — doing the work to make sure certain progress be made if we are going to attract investment,” Harris said. At the news conference, Giammattei blamed drug traffickers for corruption. He said the U.S. and Guatemala agreed to create a “very simple process” through visas to permit regular migration to the U.S., and that the two countries would prioritize family reunifications. Vice President Kamala Harris attends a meeting with community leaders, at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, in Guatemala City, June 7, 2021.Besides meeting with Giammattei, Harris participated in a roundtable with Guatemalan community and civil society leaders, and then met with young innovators and entrepreneurs, including several female entrepreneurs. On Tuesday, she is holding talks with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City and also meeting with entrepreneurs and labor leaders. Harris’ trip is fraught with U.S. political implications, with Republicans blaming President Joe Biden and Harris for the surge in migrants trying to cross the country’s southwestern border with Mexico. In the most recent count, U.S. border agents faced 178,000 migrants at the border in April, 44% of them from Central America. At her news conference, Harris deflected a question about when she would visit the border, even though she has said she would at some point. At a recent news conference, some Republicans displayed a milk carton depicting Harris with the headline: “MISSING AT THE BORDER.”  Biden has tasked Harris with leading the effort to address the root causes behind the increase in the number of migrants traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border. Administration officials highlighted corruption as a major factor behind the migration and private companies avoiding expanding their investments in Central America. “For us, it’s a direct correlation between corruption and people arriving on our southwest border,” one official said. Ahead of her trip, Harris announced $310 million in U.S. aid to support refugees and deal with food shortages. She also recently won commitments from U.S. companies and organizations to invest in Central American countries to promote economic opportunity and job training.  The U.S. also last week said it would send 500,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine to Guatemala and a million to Mexico.  
 

Haitians in Mexico See Bleak Choices as they Seek Protection

Adrián is trying to settle in to his third new city since 2016, when his wife was raped and mother was killed in Haiti. He will go anywhere but home.
“Why do they send us back to Haiti?” he said outside a cheap Mexican hotel blocks from the border with El Paso, Texas, where he was living with his wife and about 20 other Haitians last month. “We don’t have anything there. There’s no security. … I need a solution to not be sent back to my country.”
Haitians rejoiced when U.S. Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas announced last month an 18-month extension of protections for Haitians living in the United States, citing “serious security concerns, social unrest, an increase in human rights abuses, crippling poverty, and lack of basic resources, which are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.” 
The reprieve benefits an estimated 100,000 people who came after a devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti and are eligible for Temporary Protected Status, which gives a temporary haven to people fleeing countries struggling with civil strife or natural disasters.
Mayorkas noted that it doesn’t apply to Haitians outside the U.S. and said those who enter the country may be flown home. To qualify, Haitians must have been in the United States on May 21.
The Biden administration has dismayed some pro-immigration allies by sharply increasing repatriation flights to Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The government chartered 14 flights in February and 10 in March, more than any other destination, before tapering off to six flights in April, according to Witness at the Border,  an advocacy group that tracks U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flights.  
Removals have continued despite Haiti’s political and humanitarian crises cited by U.S. officials in their decision to extend Temporary Protected Status. Kidnappings have become commonplace. UNICEF expects child malnutrition to double this year as an indirect consequence of the pandemic in a country where 1.1 million are already going hungry.
Adrián, who spoke on condition that his last name not be published to protect his wife’s identity, is among legions of Haitians who fled the Caribbean nation sometime after the 2010 earthquake. Many initially escaped to South America. He went to Chile, while others went to Brazil.
As construction jobs for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro ended and Brazil descended into political turmoil, many Haitians crossed 10 countries by plane, boat, bus and foot to get to San Diego, where U.S. authorities let them in on humanitarian grounds. But then-President Barack Obama shifted course and began deporting Haitian arrivals in 2016. Many then started calling Mexico home.
Haitian restaurants opened in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, serving mangoes and mashed plantains. Factories that export to the U.S. recruited Haitians, who also wait tables and worship at congregations that have added services in Creole.
In recent months, some Haitians have moved from Tijuana to Ciudad Juarez, another large border city with jobs at export-driven factories. They’re driven by job prospects, hopes of less racial discrimination and a temptation to cross what they perceive to be less-guarded stretches of border.  
The shift was evident Feb. 3 when U.S. authorities expelled dozens of Haitians to Ciudad Juarez, an apparent violation of pandemic-related powers that deny a right to seek asylum. Under the public health rules, only people from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador can quickly be sent back to Mexico.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has acknowledged the Haitian expulsions but not explained why they were done.
“They are in transit,” said Nicole Phillips, legal director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, an advocacy group. “It’s very much a transitory population. They may start out in Tijuana and shift eastward. Other times they start east and shift to Tijuana.”
Adrián, 34, said he saw racial discrimination in Chile and Tijuana, where he worked in data entry for a company that assembled neck braces and other medical devices. He said he saw Mexicans getting paid more than twice as much for the same work.  
He lost his job when his temporary work visa expired and heard that Ciudad Juarez had work. A straight shot by bus, he decided to take another chance on a new life.  
During his first week in Ciudad Juarez last month, Adrián asked downtown merchants to let him sell items on the streets, which are still half-empty amid COVID-19. No one let him. Factories are known to hire foreigners, but he no longer had a work permit.
Adrián wants to settle in Ciudad Juarez and save money, saying he may try to get to the U.S. one day. For now, he fears being sent back to Haiti too much to risk applying for asylum or enter the country illegally.  
A scar on the back of his head is from being pistol-whipped by an attacker in 2016, he says, and one on his left hand is from being tied up. He said his mother was targeted at her home and killed because she refused to participate in rallies for the Tet Kale party, whose presidential candidate, Jovenel Moïse, won the 2016 election.
Adrián believes the men who killed her and assaulted his wife worked for party bosses. He recognized one and went to the police, but nothing came of it.
Haiti has long been wracked by poverty and violence. In April, then-Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe resigned amid a spike in killings.
Other Haitians staying at the hotel with Adrián also had left Tijuana. Some said they would stay and try to find work; others said they wanted to go to the United States.
Some people who have been sent back to Haiti simply save for another attempt to cross into the U.S.
“I’ve been back in Haiti over nine months now. I’m struggling to stay alive,” said a mechanic in Port-au-Prince who was caught by border agents in South Texas. “Soon as I crossed into the U.S., police picked us up, and the guide was nowhere to be found.”
The 27-year-old man spoke on the condition of anonymity because he plans on crossing the border again. He said his training as a mechanic hasn’t gotten him work in Haiti, though he plied his trade from Chile to Guatemala on his journey to the U.S.
Jean-Piere, another Haitian migrant who was trained as a mechanical engineer and spoke on condition that his last name not be published for safety reasons, spent two years in Tijuana. After moving to Ciudad Juarez and failing to find a job, he said he wants to go to the United States. He carries a folder with documents for an eventual asylum case.
He said his father died due to “political problems” stemming from his work for Haiti’s governing party.
“I can’t go back to my country,” Jean-Piere said.

Daughter of Imprisoned Ex-president Leads Peru’s Election

The daughter of an imprisoned former president was leading the race for Peru’s presidency late Sunday, hours after polls closed in a runoff election held as the coronavirus pandemic continues to batter the Andean country. With 42% of votes tallied, conservative Keiko Fujimori had 52.9% of the vote, while rural teacher-turned-political novice Pedro Castillo had 47%, according to official results. This is Fujimori’s third run for president, a role her father held in the 1990s. The polarizing populist candidates have promised coronavirus vaccines for all and other strategies to alleviate the health emergency that has killed more than 180,000 people in Peru and pushed millions into poverty. The election followed a statistical revision from Peru’s government that more than doubled the COVID-19 death toll previously acknowledged by officials.      “Never was a second round so clearly divided as the present election,” Peruvian political analyst Fernando Tuesta said on his Twitter account. In 2016, now-former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski defeated Fujimori by just 42,597 votes.     Voters across Peru, where voting is mandatory, headed to the polls throughout Sunday under a set schedule meant to minimize long lines. No disturbances were reported at voting sites, which even opened in San Miguel del Ene, a remote village in a cocaine-producing area where two weeks ago a massacre ended with 16 people dead.  Pre-election polls indicated the candidates were virtually tied heading into the runoff. In the first round of voting, featuring 18 candidates, neither received more than 20% support and both were strongly opposed by sectors of Peruvian society.     “Well, the truth is that I believe that Peruvians are used to this type of decision – of being left with two options that leave much to be desired, but what do we do?” one voter, Paul Perez, said at a school in the capital of Lima where he was voting. “We are in a social, cultural situation that limits us to anticipating all of this.”     The pandemic not only has collapsed Peru’s medical and cemetery infrastructure, left millions unemployed and highlighted longstanding inequalities in the country, it has also deepened people’s mistrust of government as it mismanaged the COVID-19 response and a secret vaccination drive for the well-connected erupted into a national scandal.  Amid protests and corruption allegations, the South American country cycled through three presidents in November. Now, analysts warn this election could be another tipping point for people’s simmering frustrations and bring more political instability. Supporters of presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori cheer as they listen to the results of an unofficial exit poll on the runoff election, in Lima, Peru, June 6, 2021.“I think in both situations the risk of social unrest is high. It’s a time bomb,” said Claudia Navas, an analyst with the global firm Control Risks. “I think if Castillo wins, people who support Fujimori or support the continuation to some extent of the economic model may protest.” But Navas said “a more complex scenario will evolve if Fujimori wins because Castillo has been able to create a discourse that has played well in some rural communities with regards to the social divide and saying that political and economic elites have orchestrated things to remain in power and maintain the social inequalities”  The fears of more political instability were evident Sunday.  President Francisco Sagasti after voting said the candidates should respect the results and ask their followers to refrain from staging protests over the outcome. Meanwhile, leftist Castillo asked his supporters before results were released to remain calm.      “Let’s wait for the official data, and we will come out to pronounce ourselves at that moment,” he said, using a bullhorn in the remote northern district of Tacabamba.      Dozens of Castillo’s followers marched in support of the candidate through the streets of Huancayo, the most important city in central Peru. Fujimori remained at her campaign headquarters in Lima, where she received a visit from a locally known Brazilian seer.     For Lima resident Felipa Yanacris, Peru’s presidential politics “desperately” need a shake-up. “We want change, we have been waiting for 30 years of change,” Yanacris said. Fujimori voted in the wealthy neighborhood of the capital of Lima where she lives, urging people to vote “without fear,” while Castillo appealed for calm while casting his ballot alongside his parents in the rural Anguia area.     The former congresswoman, has promised various bonuses to people, including a $2,500 one-time payment to each family with at least one COVID-19 victim. She has also proposed distributing 40% of a tax for the extraction of minerals, oil or gas among families who live near those areas. Her supporters include the wealthy players of the national soccer team and Mario Vargas Llosa, Peru’s foremost author and the winner of a Nobel Prize in literature. Vargas, who lost a presidential election three decades ago to the candidate’s father, Alberto Fujimori, has moved from calling her the daughter of the dictator'' in 2016 to considering her to be the representative offreedom and progress.”      Keiko Fujimori herself has been imprisoned as part of a graft investigation though she was later released. Her father governed between 1990 and 2000 and is serving a 25-year sentence for corruption and the killings of 25 people. She has promised to free him should she win. Castillo until recently was a rural schoolteacher in the country’s third-poorest district, deep in the Andes. The son of illiterate peasants entered politics by leading a teachers’ strike. While his stance on nationalizing key sectors of the economy has softened, he remains committed to rewriting the constitution that was approved under the regime of Fujimori’s father. Among Castillo’s supporters are former Bolivia President Evo Morales and former Uruguay President Jose Mujica, who in a conversation via Facebook told Castillo on Thursday to “not fall into authoritarianism.”  Peru is the second largest copper exporter in the world and mining accounts for almost 10% of its GDP and 60% of its exports, so Castillo’s initial proposal to nationalize the nation’s mining industry set off alarm bells among business leaders. But regardless of who gets picked to succeed Sagasti on July 28, investors will remain skittish.      “A victory for left-wing populist Pedro Castillo in Peru’s presidential election on Sunday would probably send local financial markets into a tailspin, but we doubt that investors would have much to cheer about even if his rival Keiko Fujimori wins,” Nikhil Sanghani, emerging markets economist with Capital Economics, wrote in an investors note Friday.     “Fujimori is a controversial figure who is under investigation for corruption charges. Given Peru’s recent history, it’s not hard to imagine that this could spark impeachment proceedings,” he said.  

Mexico President Suffers Setback in Legislative Election

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s party lost its absolute majority in the lower house in elections Sunday, initial results indicated, in a setback to his promised “transformation” of the country. Lopez Obrador’s Morena party was set to take between 190 and 203 of the 500 seats, the National Electoral Institute said, though it could still secure an absolute majority with its allies. The polls were seen as a referendum on his more than two years in office overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic and cartel-related violence.   Dozens of politicians have been murdered in the months leading up to the midterm elections for the lower house of Congress, 15 of 32 state governors and thousands of local politicians. On the eve of the election, gunmen killed five people helping to organize voting in southern Mexico, while two human heads were left at polling stations in the border city of Tijuana. Lopez Obrador was elected in 2018 for a term of six years, vowing to overhaul Mexico’s “neoliberal” economic model, root out corruption and end profligacy by a privileged elite. The future of the left-wing populist’s reform agenda — such as seeking greater energy independence — hinged on whether voters would punish him for issues such as the pandemic.   “They never had a plan and they still don’t,” said Claudia Cervantes, a hospital worker. But some other voters such as Tania Calderon were willing to give the ruling party more time.   “Without the pandemic, the government would have done better,” the 37-year-old said. High approval ratingsMexico’s economy, the second largest in Latin America, plunged by 8.5 percent in 2020 in the worst slump in decades, although the government predicts a rebound this year.   Despite more than a quarter of a million coronavirus deaths — one of the world’s highest tolls — the 67-year-old president continues to enjoy public approval ratings above 60 percent.   Deaths and infections from Covid-19 have fallen steadily for several months, helped by a vaccination campaign. Lopez Obrador owes much of his popularity to his social welfare programs aimed at helping the elderly and disadvantaged Mexicans. His supporters say he is their first president to put the interests of the Mexican majority, many of whom live in poverty, before those of the wealthy elite.   The president’s critics accuse him of a dangerous tilt towards authoritarianism with attacks on the judiciary and the National Electoral Institute. “Long live democracy,” Lopez Obrador declared Sunday after voting. Political violenceThe ruling coalition has had a two-thirds supermajority in the lower house of Congress that enabled Lopez Obrador to amend the constitution without negotiating with his opponents.   Without it, he faces a tougher time pushing through his reforms.   Sunday’s vote has been overshadowed by a wave of political bloodshed that has seen more than 90 politicians murdered since the electoral process began in September. In the southern state of Chiapas, gunmen killed five people on Saturday in an attack that coincided with the delivery of ballot boxes and other voting materials.   A manhunt was launched for the perpetrators, whose motives were not immediately known. In Guerrero, one of the country’s most violent regions, also located in southern Mexico, members of a community police force kept watch over voting. “Members of organized crime come to divide the people. They don’t let them vote freely,” said community police leader Isaias Posotema. 

Peruvian Voters Choose Between Two Polarizing Populists

Peruvian voters chose between two polarizing populist candidates Sunday in a presidential runoff held as the coronavirus pandemic continues to batter the Andean country and festering anger has led to fears of more political instability.  Political novice Pedro Castillo and Keiko Fujimori, making her third run for the presidency, both promised coronavirus vaccines for all and other strategies to alleviate the health emergency that has killed more than 180,000 people in Peru and pushed millions into poverty. The election follows a statistical revision from Peru’s government that more than doubled the death toll previously acknowledged by officials.  The pandemic not only has collapsed Peru’s medical and cemetery infrastructure, left millions unemployed and highlighted longstanding inequalities in the country, it has also deepened people’s mistrust of government as it mismanaged the COVID-19 response and a secret vaccination drive for the well-connected erupted into a national scandal.  Amid protests and corruption allegations, the South American country cycled through three presidents in November. Now, analysts warn this election could be another tipping point for people’s simmering frustrations and bring more political instability.”I think in both situations the risk of social unrest is high. It’s a time bomb,” said Claudia Navas, an analyst with the global firm Control Risks. “I think if Castillo wins, people who support Fujimori or support the continuation to some extent of the economic model may protest.”But Navas said “a more complex scenario will evolve if Fujimori wins because Castillo has been able to create a discourse that has played well in some rural communities with regards to the social divide and saying that political and economic elites have orchestrated things to remain in power and maintain the social inequalities.”  Pre-election polls indicated the candidates were virtually tied heading into the runoff. In the first round of voting, featuring 18 candidates, neither received more than 20% support and both were strongly opposed by sectors of Peruvian society.”Well, the truth is that I believe that Peruvians are used to this type of decision — of being left with two options that leave much to be desired, but what do we do?” one voter, Paul Perez, said at a school in Lima where he was voting. “We are in a social, cultural situation that limits us to anticipating all of this.”For Lima resident Felipa Yanacris, Peru’s presidential politics desperately need a shake-up.  “We want change, we have been waiting for 30 years of change,” Yanacris said.Fujimori voted in the wealthy neighborhood of the capital of Lima where she lives, urging people to vote ”without fear,” while Castillo appealed for calm while casting his ballot alongside his parents in the rural Anguia area.President Francisco Sagasti also voted, saying both candidates should respect the results and ask their followers to refrain from staging protests over the outcome.  Fujimori, a conservative former congresswoman, has promised various bonuses to people, including a $2,500 one-time payment to each family with at least one COVID-19 victim. She has also proposed distributing 40% of a tax for the extraction of minerals, oil or gas among families who live near those areas.Her supporters include the wealthy players of the national soccer team and Mario Vargas Llosa, Peru’s foremost author and the winner of a Nobel Prize in literature. Vargas, who lost a presidential election three decades ago to the candidate’s father, Alberto Fujimori, called her the “daughter of the dictator” in 2016 but now considers her to be the representative of “freedom and progress.”  Keiko Fujimori herself has been imprisoned as part of a graft investigation though she was later released. Her father governed between 1990 and 2000 and is serving a 25-year sentence for corruption and the killings of 25 people. She has promised to free him should she win.Castillo until recently was a rural schoolteacher in the country’s third-poorest district, deep in the Andes. The son of illiterate peasants entered politics by leading a teachers’ strike. While his stance on nationalizing key sectors of the economy has softened, he remains committed to rewriting the constitution that was approved under the regime of Fujimori’s father.Among Castillo’s supporters are former Bolivia President Evo Morales and former Uruguay President José Mujica, who in a conversation via Facebook told Castillo on Thursday to “not fall into authoritarianism.”  Peru is the second largest copper exporter in the world and mining accounts for almost 10% of its GDP and 60% of its exports, so Castillo’s initial proposal to nationalize the nation’s mining industry set off alarm bells among business leaders. But regardless of who gets picked to succeed Sagasti on July 28, investors will remain skittish.  “A victory for left-wing populist Pedro Castillo in Peru’s presidential election on Sunday would probably send local financial markets into a tailspin, but we doubt that investors would have much to cheer about even if his rival Keiko Fujimori wins,” Nikhil Sanghani, emerging markets economist with Capital Economics, wrote in an investors note Friday.”Fujimori is a controversial figure who is under investigation for corruption charges. Given Peru’s recent history, it’s not hard to imagine that this could spark impeachment proceedings,” he said. 
 

Harris Heads to Guatemala, Mexico in First Foreign Trip as US Vice President

Kamala Harris left Sunday on her first trip as U.S. vice president, visiting Guatemala and Mexico on a mission to try to figure out how to keep the people there and in Honduras and El Salvador from migrating north to the United States.As thousands of migrants try to cross the southwestern U.S. border with Mexico, Harris is looking to reach agreements for more cooperation on border security and economic development to keep people in their home countries even as corruption in the region complicates already difficult issues.Harris, who has little foreign policy experience, was tasked by President Joe Biden to resolve the migration dilemma for the U.S., searching for a way to stem the flow of migrants in a humane way and not allow unfettered access into the U.S.She is meeting with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei on Monday and Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Tuesday. In addition, Harris is meeting community leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs in Guatemala, and while in Mexico, she is participating in a conversation with female entrepreneurs and holding a roundtable with labor workers.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 11 MB480p | 15 MB540p | 21 MB720p | 42 MB1080p | 86 MBOriginal | 606 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioWatch: ‘Kamala Harris Heads to Mexico, Guatemala’ by VOA’s Patsy WidakuswaraAhead of her visits to the two countries, she has emphasized the need for increased employment opportunities and better living conditions. She announced $310 million in U.S. aid to support refugees and deal with food shortages. She also recently won commitments from U.S. companies and organizations to invest in Central American countries to promote economic opportunity and job training.The U.S. also last week said it would send a combined 1.5 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to Guatemala and Mexico.Harris’s diplomatic outreach has touched off political mockery at home because she has yet to visit the U.S.-Mexico border even though she said she would at some point.At a news conference, some Republicans displayed a milk carton showing Harris with the headline: “MISSING AT THE BORDER.”Over recent years, the U.S. has sent billions of dollars in assistance to Central American countries in hopes of curbing the motivation for residents there to migrate north to the U.S. But so far, the aid has not stemmed the tide of migration as people look to escape crime and poverty in search of a better life in the U.S.Former President Donald Trump adopted get-tough policies at the border to turn back migrants. Biden also is turning back migrants but has allowed unaccompanied children to enter the U.S., unlike Trump. The policy shift combined with a predictable rise in spring migration and the easing of pandemic restrictions at the border, contributed to the arrival of thousands of migrants in recent months, increasing pressure on the Biden administration to resolve the issue.”We have to give people a sense of hope, a sense of hope that help is on the way, a sense of hope that if they stay, things will get better,” Harris said after Biden named her to lead diplomatic efforts in Latin America.The Harris trip got off to a tentative start when her plane leaving Washington was forced to return after 30 minutes by what was described as a “technical issue.” She boarded another plane and left about an hour and a half later.
 

Pope Voices ‘Pain’ over Canadian Deaths, Doesn’t Apologize 

Pope Francis on Sunday expressed his pain over the discovery in Canada of the remains of 215 Indigenous students of church-run boarding schools and pressed religious and political authorities to shed light on “this sad affair.” But he didn’t offer the apology sought by the Canadian prime minister.Francis, in remarks to faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, also called on the authorities to foster healing but made no reference to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s insistence, two days earlier, that the Vatican apologize and take responsibility.From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend state-funded Christian schools, the majority of them run by Roman Catholic missionary congregations, in a campaign to assimilate them into Canadian society.The Canadian government has admitted that physical and sexual abuse was rampant in the schools, with students beaten for speaking their native languages.Ground-penetrating radar was used to confirm the remains of the children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia, last month. The school was Canada’s largest such facility and was operated by the Catholic Church between 1890 and 1969.”I am following with pain the news that arrives from Canada about the upsetting discovery of the remains of 215 children,” Francis said in his customary Sunday noon remarks to the public.”I join with the Canadian bishops and the entire Catholic Church in Canada in expressing my closeness to the Canadian people traumatized by the shocking news,” Francis said.”This sad discovery adds to the awareness of the sorrows and sufferings of the past,” he added.Trudeau on Friday blasted the church for being “silent” and “not stepping up,” and called on it to formally apologize and to make amends for its prominent role in his nation’s former system of church-run Indigenous boarding schools.He noted that when he met with Francis at the Vatican in 2017, he had asked him to “move forward on apologizing” and on making records available. But, Trudeau said, “we’re still seeing resistance from the church, possibly from the church in Canada.”Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation in British Columbia has said her nation wants a public apology from the Catholic Church. The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, which ran nearly half of Canada’s residential schools, has yet to release any records about the Kamloops school, she also said.Francis’ comments spoke of healing but not of apology.”May the political and religious authorities continue to collaborate with determination to shed light on this sad affair and to commit humbly to a path of reconciliation and healing,” Francis said.”These difficult moments represent a strong call to distance ourselves from the colonial model and from today’s ideological colonizing and to walk side by side in dialogue, in mutual respect and in recognizing rights and cultural values of all the daughters and sons of Canada,” the pope said.”Let’s entrust to the Lord the souls of all those children, deceased in the residential schools of Canada,” the pontiff added. “Let us pray for the families and for the indigenous Canadian communities overcome by sorrow.” Francis then asked the public in the square below his window to join him in silent prayer.Last week, the Vatican spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment about the demands for a formal apology from the pope.On Wednesday, Vancouver Archbishop Michael Miller tweeted his “deep apology and profound condolences to the families and communities that have been devastated by this horrific news.” The churchman, who leads Catholics in that British Columbia archdiocese, added that the church was “unquestionably wrong in implementing a government colonialist policy which resulted in devastation for children, families and communities.”The United, Presbyterian and Anglican churches have apologized for their roles in the abuse, as has the Canadian government, which has offered compensation.Among the many recommendations of a government-established Truth and Reconciliation Commission was a papal apology.In 2009, then Pope Benedict XVI met with former students and survivors and told them of his “personal anguish” over their suffering. But his words weren’t described as an apology. 

Mexicans Vote in Midterm Elections Seen as Referendum on President 

Mexicans headed to the polls on Sunday to vote for a new lower house of Congress, state governors and local lawmakers, in a race seen as a referendum on President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s policies and efforts to shake up Mexico’s institutions.All 500 seats in the lower house, 15 state governorships and thousands of local leadership positions are up for grabs, with some 93.5 million Mexicans eligible to vote. 
The elections have been tinged by the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine rollout, as well as record criminal violence, with security consultancy Etellekt saying 91 politicians have been killed in this election cycle. Since taking office in 2018 after a landslide victory, Lopez Obrador has expanded the role of the state in the energy industry and radically cut back on the cost of government to channel resources to the poor and his priority infrastructure projects. In the process, he has eroded institutional checks and balances and frequently criticized autonomous bodies, including the Bank of Mexico, prompting critics to sound the alarm about a dangerous centralization of power. Though voters tend to criticize his government’s record on job creation and fighting crime, they are more skeptical of Mexico’s former rulers, now in opposition. Lopez Obrador has also benefited from the vaccine rollout. Recent polls suggest his National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) may lose some of its current 253 seats in the lower house, but is still likely to retain a majority with the help of the allied Green and Labor parties. The Senate is not up for election. That support partly reflects discontent with older parties. To stay on top in the long term, MORENA must improve its record on the economy, officials, lawmakers and voters say. At least one survey pointed to a tight race with the three opposition parties, the center-right National Action Party (PAN), centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), that have forged an electoral alliance nipping at the heels of the MORENA-led coalition.Though the president’s name is not on the ballot, a big win “may embolden Lopez Obrador to pursue more interventionist policies and could open the door to constitutional changes,” said Nikhil Sanghani, Latin America economist at Capital Economics. Sanghani said the president would likely deepen his state-centric policies, especially in the energy sector, in his remaining three years in office. Lopez Obrador has made reversing his predecessor’s opening of the energy sector a top priority and has bolstered state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and national power utility the Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE), often to the detriment of private enterprise. Duncan Wood of the Washington-based Wilson Center said that Lopez Obrador, who describes his administration as the “Fourth Transformation,” wants to leave a lasting imprint on Mexico’s political landscape. “To leave a lasting legacy means changing the constitution, because if you change the constitution, it’s much more difficult for governments who follow you to change it back,” said Wood, adding the president would likely want to further centralize power in the hands of the executive and federal government over the states. Lopez Obrador has signaled that he has already carried out the core of his legislative agenda, however, and says that only a few major issues are pending for the second half of his administration. By law Lopez Obrador can only serve one term, so keeping or expanding a majority in the lower house is needed to accelerate the “structural economic and social transformation the president has been advocating, and pave the way for a friendly political succession in 2024,” said Goldman Sachs economist Alberto Ramos. In the campaign leading up to Sunday’s election, former President Felipe Calderon, a longstanding adversary of Lopez Obrador, said Mexicans were choosing between “democracy and dictatorship.” Lopez Obrador has repeatedly rejected suggestions that he could turn Mexico into a dictatorship. Calderon, who ruled Mexico for the center-right PAN from 2006 to 2012, said the leftist government of Lopez Obrador had little regard for the constitution or the law. “If we don’t stop this, we’re going directly to where Venezuela is,” he said in an online discussion in May. For his part, Lopez Obrador has accused Calderon of robbing him of the presidency in 2006 and often pillories him as part of a corrupt political system. A loss at the ballot box for MORENA and its allies, though unlikely, could help moderate Lopez Obrador by creating a new check on his power. But it could also prompt a backlash. “It could also bring out Lopez Obrador’s combativeness, and lead to legal challenges against results, more anti-business rhetoric, and increased political polarization,” said Nicholas Watson, managing director of consultancy Teneo. 

Peruvians Choose Between Right-wing Populist and Radical Leftist

Peruvians face a polarizing choice between right-wing populist Keiko Fujimori and radical leftist Pedro Castillo when they elect a new president Sunday, in a country desperate for a return to normalcy after years of political turbulence.The new leader will need to tackle a country in crisis, suffering from recession and with the worst coronavirus death rate in the world after recording 184,000 mortalities among the 33 million population.And after four presidents in the last three years and with seven of the last 10 of the country’s leaders either having been convicted of or investigated for corruption, Peruvians will look to their next leader to bring an end to the recent turbulence.At the height of the political storm in November last year, Peru had three different presidents in just five days.Two million Peruvians have lost their jobs during the pandemic and nearly a third of the country now lives in poverty, according to official figures.Fujimori, 46, and Castillo, 51, caused a surprise when taking the top two spots in April’s first round of voting.Now voters must decide between their polar opposite economic and political programs.In the most recent poll, Castillo had a narrow 2 percentage points edge but 18% of people remained undecided in a country where voting is obligatory.Fujimori, the daughter of disgraced and jailed former president Alberto Fujimori, represents the neoliberal economic model of tax cuts and boosting private activity to generate jobs.Trade unionist schoolteacher Castillo has pledged to nationalize vital industries, raise taxes, eliminate tax exemptions and increase state regulation.Fujimori’s bastion is the capital Lima, while Castillo’s bulwark is the rural deep interior.”We’re fed up with always being governed by the same people, we want Peru to change,” Martha Huaman, 27, a fruit seller in Tacabamba, in the Cajamarca region where Castillo lives, told AFP.”For us it’s a dream, it’s an awakening, we’re really happy to be with” Castillo, said evangelical priest Victor Cieza Rivera, whose church is attended by the presidential candidate’s wife, Lilia Paredes.Tacabamba and other villages in Cajamarca are full of posters for Castillo, who topped the first round of voting.’I don’t want to vote’Favored by the business sector and middle classes, Fujimori has tried to portray Castillo as a communist threat, warning that Peru would become a new Venezuela or North Korea should he win.Castillo has pointed to the Fujimori family’s history of corruption scandals. Keiko Fujimori is under investigation for accepting illegal campaign funding in her 2011 and 2016 presidential bids and has already spent 16 months in pre-trial detention.Her father is serving a 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity and corruption.For many in Peru this election is about the “lesser of evils.””I don’t even want to vote, neither of them deserve it, but Castillo panics me so I’m going to vote for Fujimori,” said trucker Johnny Samaniego, 51, who lives in Lima.Whoever wins will have a hard time governing as Congress is fragmented. Castillo’s Free Peru is the largest single party, just ahead of Fujimori’s Popular Force, but without a majority.If Fujimori wins “it won’t be easy given the mistrust her name and that of her family generates in many sectors. She’ll have to quickly calm the markets and generate ways to reactivate them,” political scientist Jessica Smith told AFP.If Castillo triumphs, he’ll have to “consolidate a parliamentary majority that will allow him to deliver his ambitious program,” added Smith.But in either case “it will take time to calm the waters because there’s fierce polarization and an atmosphere of social conflict,” analyst Luis Pasaraindico told AFP.Some 160,000 police and soldiers have been deployed to guarantee peace on election day.The 11,400 voting centers will open at 7:00 am (1200 GMT) for 12 hours.Some 25 million people will vote, plus another 1 million from the Peruvian diaspora living in 75 countries around the world.The first results are expected at 11:00 pm on Sunday (0400 GMT Monday).The new president will take office on July 28, replacing centrist interim leader Francisco Sagasti. 

El Salvador’s President to Propose Making Bitcoin Legal Tender

El Salvador may become the first country to make bitcoin legal tender, President Nayid Bukele announced Saturday, saying he would soon propose a bill that could transform the remittance-dependent economy.The move would make the Central American nation the first in the world to formally accept the cryptocurrency as legal money and would “allow the financial inclusion of thousands of people who are outside the legal economy,” Bukele said.”Next week, I will send to Congress a bill that makes Bitcoin legal money,” the populist leader said during a video message to the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami, Florida.The bill aims to create jobs, he said, in a country where “70% of the population does not have a bank account and works in the informal economy.”The El Salvador government is yet to give details of the bill, which will require approval from a parliament dominated by the president’s allies.Remittances from Salvadorans working overseas represent a major chunk of the economy — equivalent to roughly 22% of Gross Domestic Product.In 2020, remittances to the country totaled $5.9 billion, according to official reports.According to Bukele, bitcoin represented “the fastest growing way to transfer” those billions of dollars in remittances and to prevent millions from being lost to intermediaries.”Thanks to the use of bitcoin, the amount received by more than a million low-income families increases by several billion dollars every year,” said the president.”This improves life and the future of millions of people.”The cryptocurrency market grew to more than $2.5 trillion in mid-May 2020, according to the Coinmarketcap page, driven by interest from increasingly serious investors from Wall Street to Silicon Valley.But the volatility of bitcoin — currently priced at $36,127 — and its murky legal status has raised questions about whether it could ever replace fiat currency in day-to-day transactions.

US Vice President to Bring Message of ‘Hope’ to Guatemala and Mexico

U.S Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Guatemala and Mexico this week, bringing a message of hope to a region hammered by COVID-19 and which is the source of most of the undocumented migrants seeking entry in the U.S.Harris is taking her first trip abroad as President Joe Biden’s deputy with an eye towards tackling the root causes of migration from the region — one of the thorniest issues facing the White House.”We have to give people a sense of hope, a sense of hope that help is on the way, a sense of hope that if they stay, things will get better,” Harris has said, after Biden tasked her with leading diplomatic efforts on the issue in March.She is set to fly Sunday to Guatemala, where she will meet with President Alejandro Giammattei on Monday before setting off to meet with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday.Harris also has plans to meet with community, labor and business leaders, according to her team.Harris said she hopes to have “very frank and honest discussions” about corruption, crime and violence.Detentions of undocumented travelers, including unaccompanied minors, along the US-Mexico border hit a 15-year record high in April, with nearly 180,000 people intercepted — more than 80% of them coming from Mexico or the so-called Northern Triangle of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.Vaccines, TPS, Title 42Donation of coronavirus vaccines by the United States to the region is also expected to be up for discussion.Harris already addressed the subject over the phone with Giammattei and Lopez Obrador on Thursday, just before Biden announced the shipment of a first batch of 6 million doses to be distributed in Central America and the Caribbean through the global Covax program, plus others to be sent directly from Washington to partner countries such as Mexico.For security and democracy expert Rebecca Bill Chavez, “a real commitment” on the number of doses destined for the Northern Triangle would be “one very positive outcome” of Harris’s trip.Another potential topic is the possibility of granting Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Guatemalans living in the United States, allowing them to work legally.And there could be talk in Mexico of the end of “Title 42,” a Trump-era coronavirus policy allowing the immediate deportation of undocumented migrants — even those who arrive seeking asylum.’A lot tougher’The vice president’s trip to Central America is part of the Biden administration’s promise of a more humane immigration policy — in contrast to the hardline approach taken by his predecessor Donald Trump.But Harris faces challenges even more complicated than the ones Biden dealt with as vice president under Barack Obama, when he himself was charged with handling the same matter.”The conditions have deteriorated dramatically since 2014,” said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank, referring to a worsening economic situation and an increase in violence, both exacerbated by the pandemic.Harris’s work is therefore “a lot tougher,” Shifter said, “because the (country) partners are far more problematic.”The relationship between Washington and El Salvador has been tense since the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly, led by the ruling party, fired judges and the attorney general May 1, and after the U.S. labeled members of President Nayib Bukele’s government as corrupt.And Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was implicated of cocaine trafficking in a New York court earlier this year.A group of 18 US Democratic senators wrote a letter to Harris ahead of her trip.”Ensuring stability in Central America directly supports the national interests of the United States,” said the group, led by Foreign Relations Committee head Bob Menendez.The Republican opposition, on the other hand, has accused Biden of creating a “crisis” on the country’s southern border.Congress must still decide whether to approve the $861 million Biden has asked for next year as part of his $4 billion plan to take on the issue of illegal immigration.

El Salvador to End Work With OAS Anti-impunity Mission

El Salvador’s new attorney general announced Friday that he would end the cooperation agreement between his office and an anti-impunity mission from the Organization of American States that was supporting the country’s justice system.Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado, who was named to the post last month by the congress, suggested the move was triggered by the OAS naming former San Salvador Mayor Ernesto Muyshondt as an adviser.Delgado said that he would ask the Foreign Ministry to cancel the agreement and that cooperation with the mission would end in 30 days.”We are open to working with the international community and receiving support in the fight against impunity, but it is not possible to receive this kind of support from an organization that now has the advice of a criminal,” he said.Muyshondt is being prosecuted with others for alleged crimes related to electoral fraud and illegal association for allegedly negotiating payments to the country’s powerful street gangs in exchange for their electoral support in 2014.Muyshondt, who has called his prosecution politically motivated, responded that his appointment as an OAS adviser was an excuse to end the cooperation agreement so the administration of President Nayib Bukele could “continue doing the corruption it has been doing.”The U.S. Embassy said via Twitter that it regretted the announcement.”The fight against corruption is essential and fundamental,” it said. “We are going to continue looking for ways to reduce and combat corruption and impunity.”On Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a National Security Study Memorandum that established fighting corruption as a core national security interest.Earlier Friday, the congress passed laws proposed by Bukele that strip the country’s most powerful business association of its right to representation on nearly two dozen autonomous boards that oversee activities ranging from water distribution to airports and seaports.Bukele said via Twitter that he had sent 23 initiatives to the congress to remove the National Private Business Association from the institutions “to put them at the service of the people.”The business association, known by its Spanish initials ANEP, and its president, Javier Simán, are among Bukele’s most outspoken critics.ANEP said in a statement Friday that the changes would “open the door for companies and people with direct conflicts of interest to nominate candidates” to the institutions.The statement said the change would replace “representation of the independent, critical and watchful private sector with obliging, submissive and patronizing voices.”It was just the latest in a series of moves by Bukele and his New Ideas party, which holds a supermajority in the Legislative Assembly, to remove critical voices from government and quasi-governmental positions. 

Trudeau Calls on Catholic Church to Apologize, Turn Over Indigenous School Documents

The Catholic Church must take responsibility for its role in running many of Canada’s residential schools for Indigenous children, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday, after the discovery of the remains of 215 children at one former school last month.”As a Catholic, I am deeply disappointed by the position the Catholic Church has taken now and over the past many years,” Trudeau told reporters. “We expect the Church to step up and take responsibility for its role in this.”The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops did not respond to a request for comment.Between 1831 and 1996, Canada’s residential school system forcibly separated about 150,000 children from their homes. Many were subjected to abuse, rape and malnutrition in what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015 called “cultural genocide.”Run by the government and church groups, the majority of them Catholic, the schools’ stated aim was to assimilate Indigenous children.The discovery this week of the remains of the children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, which closed in 1978, has reopened old wounds and is fueling outrage about a persistent lack of information and accountability.From 1893-1969, a Catholic congregation called the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate ran the Kamloops school, which was once Canada’s largest.Seeking an apologyOn Friday, Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc Chief Rosanne Casimir, on whose land the Kamloops school still stands, told reporters the nation has not received any records from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate that would help identify the children.”We do want an apology” from the Catholic Church, Casimir said. “A public apology. Not just for us, but for the world.”In 2008, the Canadian government formally apologized for the system. Trudeau said many are “wondering why the Catholic Church in Canada is silent.”He added: “Before we have to start taking the Catholic Church to court, I am very hopeful that religious leaders will understand this is something they need to participate in and not hide from.”Trudeau has not directed such pointed comments at the Catholic Church over the residential schools since taking office in 2015.’Unquestionably wrong’On Wednesday, Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller said on Twitter “the Church was unquestionably wrong” and his archdiocese would be transparent with its archives and records regarding residential schools.The Conference said on its website that each diocese is separate and responsible for its own actions.”The Catholic Church as a whole in Canada was not associated with the residential schools, nor was the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops,” it said.Separately, United Nations human rights experts on Friday called on both Canada and the Vatican to further investigate the deaths of the children found in Kamloops.”It is inconceivable that Canada and the Holy See would leave such heinous crimes unaccounted for and without full redress,” they said in a statement.

The Risky Job of Covering Local Elections in Mexico

Mexican voters will go to the polls Sunday to elect candidates for thousands of local offices, and in a country where elections have a tradition of violence, journalists will be in the crosshairs.“We know that when there’s so much violence, journalists who cover these elections, they can become targets, too,” said Jan-Albert Hootsen, the Mexico representative at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).In April, the U.S.-based rights group went so far as to publish a “journalists safety kit” just for the Mexico elections, citing harassment, online bullying and assassination. Five journalists were killed in 2020; one was shot and killed in May, and another survived a knife attack.Mexico emerged as Guadalupe Severo, the wife of slain journalist Julio Valdivia, is embraced during his wake inside their home in Tezonapa, Veracruz, Mexico, Sept. 10, 2020. Valdivia’s decapitated body was found five miles from Tezonapa a day earlier.The journalists had all been involved in investigating or working on reports of high-level official corruption, or government involvement in human rights abuses. Targets received text messages with personal and sexual taunts and kidnapping warnings, among other threats.More recently, on March 23, 2021, in the state of Baja California, investigative reporter Dianeth Perez Arreola received a letter from a special prosecutor for electoral crimes.The letter ordered her to remove online content with references to a female political candidate and warned Perez Arreola not to publish details about the candidate that “denigrate or degrade a woman.”’Absurd’ allegationsPerez Arreola had published a video alleging that the candidate used her position in the Sonora governor’s office to enrich herself. Perez Arreola faces arrest or fines if she refuses to comply with the letter, according to an account by CPJ.“The allegations are absurd, as none of the videos were about [the candidate’s] personal life, and none of them contained any content that would be degrading to her as a woman,” Perez Arreola said to CPJ.Given the gang violence and government corruption in Mexico, journalists often don’t know where threats are coming from. That makes it hard to take precautions.“Even if measures are taken to stay safe, they are an illusion. When someone is a clear target, there is no army to protect anyone,” said Aguilar Perez.Still, Hootsen said journalists can create their own mutual safety net.“When reporting on the election, try to check in with your colleagues. Try to make sure that people know where you are, what you’re doing, and make sure that you know who to call when you get into trouble,” Hootsen said.Despite the risks, Aguilar Perez takes solace in the belief that Mexicans still respect and respond to journalism that holds politicians accountable for their actions.“The only thing that still weighs on Mexican politics is the public claim of citizens,” he said. “In my case, the support of citizens and fellow media has been the most important factor.”

US Taps Humanitarian Groups to Determine Which Asylum-Seekers Should Gain Entry

The Biden administration has quietly tasked six humanitarian groups with recommending which migrants should be allowed to stay in the U.S. instead of being rapidly expelled from the country under federal pandemic-related powers that block people from seeking asylum.
 
The groups will determine who is most vulnerable in Mexico, and their criteria has not been made public. It comes as large numbers of people are crossing the southern border and as the government faces intensifying pressure to lift the public health powers instituted by former President Donald Trump and kept in place by President Joe Biden during the coronavirus pandemic.
 
Several members of the consortium spoke to The Associated Press about the criteria and provided details of the system that have not been previously reported. The government is aiming to admit to the country up to 250 asylum-seekers a day who are referred by the groups and is agreeing to that system only until July 31. By then, the consortium hopes the Biden administration will have lifted the public health rules, though the government has not committed to that.
 
So far, a total of nearly 800 asylum-seekers have been let in since May 3, and members of the consortium say there is already more demand than they can meet.  
 
The groups have not been publicly identified except for the International Rescue Committee, a global relief organization. The others are London-based Save the Children; two U.S.-based organizations, HIAS and Kids in Need of Defense; and two Mexico-based organizations, Asylum Access and the Institute for Women in Migration, according to two people with direct knowledge who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not intended for public release.
 
Asylum Access, which provides services to people seeing asylum in Mexico, characterized its role as minimal.
 
The effort started in El Paso, Texas, and is expanding to Nogales, Arizona.  
A similar but separate mechanism led by the American Civil Liberties Union began in late March and allows 35 families a day into the United States at places along the border. It has no end date.
 
The twin tracks are described by participating organizations as an imperfect transition from so-called Title 42 authority, named for a section of an obscure 1944 public health law that Trump used in March 2020 to effectively end asylum at the Mexican border. With COVID-19 vaccination rates rising, Biden is finding it increasingly difficult to justify the expulsions on public health grounds and faces demands to end it from the U.N. refugee agency and members of his own party and administration.  
 
Critics of the new selection processes say too much power is vested in a small number of organizations and that the effort is shrouded in secrecy without a clear explanation of how the groups were chosen. Critics also say there are no assurances that the most vulnerable or deserving migrants will be chosen to seek asylum.
 
Some consortium members are concerned that going public may cause their offices in Mexico to be mobbed by asylum-seekers, overwhelming their tiny staffs and exposing them to potential threats and physical attacks from extortionists and other criminals.  
 
The consortium was formed after the U.S. government asked the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees’ office in Mexico for the names of organizations with deep experience and capacity in Mexico, said Sibylla Brodzinsky, a spokeswoman for the U.N. office.
 
“We’ve had long relationships with them and they’re trusted partners,” she said.  
 
The groups say they are merely streamlining the process but that the vulnerable migrants’ cases can come from anywhere.
 
In Nogales, Arizona, the International Rescue Committee is connecting to migrants via social media and smartphones to find candidates. It plans to refer up to 600 people a month to U.S. officials, said Raymundo Tamayo, the group’s director in Mexico.  
 
Special consideration is being given to people who have been in Mexico a long time, need acute medical attention or who have disabilities, are members of the LGBTQ community or are non-Spanish speakers, though each case is being weighed on its unique circumstances, Tamayo said.
 
ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said advocacy groups are in “a very difficult position because they need to essentially rank the desperation” of people, but he insisted it was temporary. The government, he said, “cannot farm out the asylum system.”
 
Migration experts not involved in the process have questioned how the groups determine who is eligible.
 
“It has been murky,” said Jessica Bolter, an analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute who believes the administration is trying to quietly be humane without encouraging more people to come, a balancing act she doubts will succeed.
 
“Setting out clear and accurate information about how and who might get in might lead to fewer migrants making the trip, so there’s not this game of chance that kind of seems to be in place right now,” Bolter said.
 
U.S. border authorities recorded the highest number of encounters with migrants in more than 20 years in April, though many were repeat crossers who had previously been expelled from the country. The number of children crossing the border alone also is hovering at all-time highs.
 
Against that backdrop, some advocates are seeing the makings of the “humane” asylum system that Biden promised during his campaign. Details have been elusive, with administration officials saying they need time.
 
Susana Coreas, who fled El Salvador, was among those identified as vulnerable and allowed into the United States last month. Coreas spent more than a year in Ciudad Juarez waiting to apply for asylum but was barred by the public health order.
 
She and other transgender women refurbished an abandoned hotel to have a safe place to stay after they felt uncomfortable at several shelters in the rough Mexican city.
 
But they continued to have problems. One woman had a knife pointed at her. Another had a gun pulled on her.  
 
“There was so much anxiety,” Coreas said. “I now feel at peace.”

Brazil Building Collapse Kills Two

At least two people died early Thursday after a residential building collapsed in a working-class area of Rio de Janeiro.People nearby reported hearing a booming sound, according to Reuters. The collapsed four-story building reportedly also caught fire.More than 100 firefighters responded to the scene in the Rio das Pedras neighborhood, but they were too late to save an adult and child.An aerial view shows a collapsed building in the Rio das Pedras slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 3, 2021.The neighborhood is known to be controlled by organized crime groups reportedly involved in the construction of many substandard buildings.In 2019, in the adjacent neighborhood of Itanhanga, another organized crime-built building collapsed and killed two people, Reuters reported.
 

Blinken Calls for Better Governance in Central America to Stem Migration

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Central American leaders to tackle corruption, poverty and drug trafficking to improve the lives of their citizens and stem migration to the United States. Blinken made the appeal in Costa Rica, where he met with the region’s leaders, as VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.

Blinken Urges Central America to Confront Root of Irregular Migration

The United States is calling on Central American countries to confront corruption and poverty as Washington examines root causes and strategies to manage the flood of migrants at its southern border.
 
Wednesday in Costa Rica, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard discussed “a variety of issues to promote the prosperity and security” in the region.The top U.S. diplomat thanked Ebrard “for the Mexican government’s continued collaboration on addressing the root causes of irregular migration in the region.”Both also “discussed progress toward addressing COVID-19 and economic recovery, as well as issues related to regional democracy and governance, and security,” according to the U.S. State Department.Blinken embarked on his first in-person trip to the Western Hemisphere this week when he traveled to San Jose, Costa Rica.U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris stands by as President Joe Biden delivers remarks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building’s South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington, June 2, 2021.The top U.S. diplomat’s trip comes ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris’ upcoming visit to Guatemala and Mexico.Harris has been tapped by U.S. President Joe Biden to lead diplomatic efforts in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to address the underlying causes of migration in hopes of halting the flow of Central American migrants to the U.S.Some experts see Blinken’s visit to Costa Rica as laying the foundation for a successful visit by Harris.“The U.S. is also looking for cooperation on immigration, and we’re more likely to get that cooperation when governments see the carrot of a broad-based economic integration program,” said Professor Richard Feinberg, who teaches international political economy at the University of California, San Diego.Feinberg suggested including Caribbean Basin countries in the U.S. “transportation networks” and “economic integration,” as Biden is eyeing large expenditures on infrastructure, roads, ports and airports in the U.S.COVID vaccinesBlinken’s trip to the region also comes as China actively positions itself as the dominating provider of COVID-19 vaccinations in Latin America. FILE – Refrigerated containers with supplies to produce China’s Sinovac vaccines against the coronavirus disease arrive at Sao Paulo International Airport in Guarulhos, Brazil, April 19, 2021.As countries in Latin America continue to get doses, three Chinese vaccines — CanSino, Sinopharm, and Sinovac — are reaching wider distribution in the region.  The U.S. has announced its goal to ship 80 million vaccine doses abroad by the end of June. Blinken said Biden will detail this global distribution plan, possibly as early as Thursday.  
 
“In a few short days — in fact, possibly as early as tomorrow — the president is going to announce in more detail the plan that he has put together to push out 80 million vaccines around the world that we have at our disposal,” Blinken said Wednesday during his remarks at the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica.
A day before, the top U.S. diplomat pledged no political strings would be attached when providing U.S. vaccines to other countries.“Among other things, we will focus on equity — on the equitable distribution of vaccines. We’ll focus on science. We’ll work in coordination with COVAX. And we will distribute vaccines without political requirements of those receiving them,” Blinken said during a joint press conference with Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado on Tuesday.
 
Asked if he was worried that getting Chinese vaccines would come with certain conditions, Alvarado said there should be “no strings attached.”“Our condition is that those vaccines that we buy or receive as donations should be qualified by a strict agency,” he said.In May, the United States said it would share an additional 20 million coronavirus vaccine doses with other countries, in addition to the 60 million it has already committed. Officials said the U.S. will distribute according to need and not to curry favor.US to Distribute 80 Million Vaccine Doses Globally, on Basis of Need  Sharing is caring: US distribution of vaccines is, president says, a case of ‘the fundamental decency of American people’  Blinken also attended a regional meeting of the Central American foreign ministers held Tuesday under the auspices of the Central American Integration System, where collaborating on migration challenges, combating the COVID-19 pandemic, improving economic growth, as well as reinforcing democratic institutions, were said to be high on the agenda.VOA’s Cindy Saine contributed to this report.