One of Venezuela’s oldest newspapers was evicted from its own building Friday, after members of the National Guard, accompanied by a judge, executed a court order.
 
The Caracas offices of El Nacional were seized as part of a civil defamation case in which a court ordered the media outlet to pay more than US $13 million to Diosdado Cabello, a high-ranking official in Venezuela’s ruling Socialist Party and former president of the National Assembly.   
 
Miguel Henrique Otero, the paper’s editor-in-chief who lives in exile in Madrid, Spain, compared the court order to “a robbery” and said it was proof that freedom of the press no longer exists in Venezuela.  
 
In April, Venezuela’s Civil Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice ordered El Nacional to pay damages to Cabello as part of a civil defamation complaint filed after the outlet republished an article by Spanish news outlet ABC.
 
Cabello has denied any links to drug trafficking.  
 
Otero said the seizure was “worse than expropriation” — where a government takes ownership of a property for public benefit — because it did not involve any legal procedure.
 
Lawyers for El Nacional plan to appeal. Because the media group publishes only online, it is still able to produce news content.
 
“The value of the building has nothing to do with the compensation,” Otero said, adding that he believes the damages are “an arbitrary figure” that is unjustified.  
 
The journalist compared the case to when Venezuela expropriated the studios of Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) in 2007. The then government of Hugo Chavez refused to renew the broadcaster’s license and a court ordered the military to seize control of RCTV’s equipment and installations, Reuters reported at the time.FILE – The last print edition of El Nacional, one of Venezuela’s oldest newspapers, is seen in a December 2018 photo. (VOA/Adriana Nuñez Rabascall and Alvaro Algarra)RCTV was replaced by the state-run TVES television channel, but in El Nacional’s case, Otero said, his building was turned over to Cabello. “They make him a millionaire,” he said.  
 
Cabello was cited on May 12 as saying on Twitter that the El Nacional building is not for the Venezuela government, and demanded that Otero pay the damages ordered by the court. “You can pay me in cash, or by check (with verified funds) I’ll use the money to buy vaccines. If not, I will have to seize your properties,” Cabello was cited as saying. 
 
The lawmaker said that he intends to use the building for a university of communications.
 
“The U.S. and media rights groups have condemned the actions against El Nacional.
 
Julie Chung, acting assistant secretary for the U.S. State Department’s bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, said on Twitter, “The raid on [El Nacional] is not against a building or property, but against freedom of the press. This responsibility for this violation falls directly on the regime.”
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) described the court order as “the latest step in a long and arbitrary process of judicial harassment and abuses” against El Nacional for its reporting on corruption.   
 
“By taking control of the headquarters of one of the most influential outlets in the country, Venezuelan authorities have shown they will go to extraordinary lengths to suppress independent news,” Natalie Southwick, who heads CPJ’s South and Central America program said in a statement.
 
Venezuela has a poor press freedom record, scoring 148 out of 180 counties, where 1 is the most free, according to an annual index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The media watchdog cites harassment of independent media, arbitrary arrests and a “tense climate” that has led many journalists to flee.
 
Founded in 1943, El Nacional is one of Venezuela’s oldest newspapers. Under Nicolás Maduro’s government, it has faced obstacles to its reporting, including administration officials who refuse to speak to its staff, government advertising being pulled, and a shortage of paper forcing the daily to eventually move online.  
 
As part of the Cabello lawsuit, a court in 2015 imposed a travel ban on Otero and around 20 other journalists, staff and shareholders at the paper, according to the CPJ.
 
Otero told VOA that the newspaper’s archives “are outside” of the building. Venezuelan analysts, intellectuals and journalists say that with nearly 80 years’ history, El Nacional has one of the largest and more complete archives in the country.
 This article originated in VOA’s Spanish-language division. 
…

The United States announced this week that it will share an additional 20 million coronavirus vaccine doses with other countries, in addition to the 60 million it has already committed. The unanswered question: where will the vaccines go?U.S. State Department Coordinator for Global COVID Response Gayle Smith sidestepped that issue Wednesday during a rapid-fire teleconference, despite repeated, urgent inquires from journalists in the Caribbean, India, Brazil, Africa, East Asia, and the European Union. However, Smith emphasized the U.S. is working closely with the global COVAX facility to determine where the vaccines are needed most, and how they can be most equitably distributed.    FILE – Gayle Smith, State Department Coordinator for Global COVID-19 Response and Health Security, speaks about U.S. leadership in fighting the coronavirus pandemic at the State Department in Washington, April 5, 2021.“We have not made the decisions on allocations yet,” she said, repeatedly. “We’ll have that information for you sometime in the near term. What we are doing is looking at every region in the world and we are well aware of the extremely low vaccine coverage on the African continent.”  Health experts at the United Nations estimate that of the 1.4 billion doses administered worldwide, only 24 million have reached Africa — less than 2%. The other point Smith emphasized: Despite the fact that the U.S.’s top adversaries, China and Russia, are ramping up their own vaccine donations around the world, this move by the U.S. is not a case of “vaccine diplomacy.” Smith stressed repeatedly that the U.S. will distribute according to need, and not to curry favor.      “Our view, with respect to vaccine diplomacy — and I think a really important point here — is that vaccines are tools for public health,” she said. “They are the means for bringing this pandemic to an end. We do not see them, do not intend to use them as a means for influence or pressure. And our decisions will be made on the basis of need, public health data and again, collaboration with key partners, absolutely including COVAX.”   However, Smith did note that the U.S. is the biggest donor of vaccines to the COVAX facility, and urged other wealthy nations to step up. She also noted that this vaccine donation will be accompanied by investments in vaccine manufacturing sites around the world, and U.S. assistance to improve other countries’ access to therapeutics and testing.     In making the donation announcement earlier this week, President Joe Biden explained his rationale for sending these vaccines, which were funded in large part by U.S. taxpayers, across the planet. “There’s a lot of talk about Russia and China influencing the world with vaccines,” he said. “We want to lead the world with our values, with this illustration of our innovation and ingenuity, and the fundamental decency of American people. Just as in World War II, America was the arsenal of democracy, in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic our nation is going to be the arsenal of vaccines for the rest of the world.” 
…

Members of Colombia’s national police force who are responsible for abuses or acts of violence amid ongoing protests will be punished to the full extent of the law, the head of the force said.Demonstrators and human rights groups have repeatedly accused police officers of killing civilians, excessive use of force, sexual abuse and the use of firearms, both during current protests and previous ones.Accusations of possible abuse of a minor in the city of Popayan have sparked violent protests there this week.”They must respond before the authorities and whoever has knowingly committed a crime; the response will have the full weight of the law,” national police director General Jorge Luis Vargas told Reuters in an interview.”We are the first to reject illegal behavior by an officer and we will ask for forgiveness when there’s a judicial decision,” said Vargas.  Vargas said 122 disciplinary proceedings have been opened against police since protests began last month, while three have been arrested on murder charges tied to civilian deaths.”There cannot be, there must not be and there will not be impunity,” said the 30-year police veteran.Accused officers will have due process, he said, adding cops have also been the victims of physical aggression, firearm attacks and one incident where a mob set fire to a station.One police officer has died and nearly 900 have been injured.Police who have intervened to control looting and vandalism during protests have not used firearms, Vargas said. Instead non-lethal weapons are employed according to national and international rules.Groups like Human Rights Watch say misuse of non-lethal weapons can lead to deaths.Protesters, who originally called marches against a now-canceled tax plan, have expanded demands to include a basic income, an end to police violence and opportunities for young people, among other things.The protests’ death toll is disputed. The human rights ombudsman is investigating 41 civilian deaths, while the attorney general’s office has confirmed 14.Road blockades causing shortages will be broken up by the police whenever the government orders, Vargas said, repeating accusations that criminal groups and guerrillas have infiltrated protests to stoke violence.Leftist politicians and student groups have long demanded the police be transferred out of defense ministry control, use of lethal weapons during protests be banned, the riot police disbanded and officers implicated in abuse be tried in civilian and not military courts.Vargas ruled out the dissolution of the riot squad but said he supports more options for punishing police abuse.  
…

The World Health Organization reports the COVID-19 pandemic has set back years of gains made in efforts to eliminate neglected tropical diseases, a diverse group of 20 illnesses that disproportionately affect impoverished communities in tropical areas. Neglected tropical diseases affect 1.7 billion people globally.  Forty percent are in Africa, a continent that encompasses most of the 10 high burden countries in the world.  Over the past decade, the World Health Organization reports great progress has been made in the treatment of many of these life-threatening and debilitating diseases.  It notes 42 countries around the world have eliminated at least one disease.However, Mwelecele Malecela, director of WHO’s department of control of neglected tropical diseases says she fears a lot of this good work could be undone because of the negative impact of COVID-19.  UN Calls for Action to Achieve a Malaria-Free WorldThis year’s commemoration of World Malaria Day celebrates progress being made in eliminating diseaseShe says the pandemic has caused disruptions and delays in NTD services.  She says mass treatment campaigns, surveys of affected areas, and the transport and delivery of medicines have been interrupted.”All the efforts that have been done to control neglected tropical diseases, to bring about elimination in most of the affected countries, will be reversed if the focus is not kept, a good focus on surveillance, a good focus on continued interventions in some of the countries which are nearing elimination,” said Malecela.WHO reports Guinea Worm disease is on the cusp of eradication, with only 27 human cases reported in six African countries last year.  In 1986, about 3.5 million human cases occurred annually in 21 countries in Africa and Asia.  WHO says Yaws, a chronic skin infection is a disease that can be eradicated in the Indian sub-continent.  Malecela cites several other success stories.”In terms of elimination of trachoma, we have Morocco, we have Ghana and more recently, we have Gambia,” said Malecela. “We have the elimination of lymphatic filariasis in Togo and in Malawi…In Yemen, which is outside Africa in the middle east, we have eliminated lymphatic filariasis under very difficult conditions.  But they have managed to do it and that has been a very impressive feat.” At the end of January, WHO formally launched a new road map aimed at driving progress towards a world free of NTDs by 2030.  Health officials consider the road map a key piece in ensuring countries build back better after COVID-19 by focusing on resilience and strengthening health systems.
…

Paola Celeste Torres knows all too well the dangers for journalists in Nicaragua. She was working in the Radio Dario building in the city of León in April 2018 when arsonists set fire to the station.The attack, which destroyed the station’s equipment, took place during a period of View of the destroyed facilities of “Radio Dario” in the Nicaraguan city of Leon, on April 24, 2018, after it was set on fire during protests against President Daniel Ortega’s government on April 21.Torres is director of Sin Censura, or Without Censorship, a news outlet that broadcasts via social media. “We had a regular radio [broadcast], but seeing that we couldn’t continue working in the same location, we decided to move it to Facebook,” said Torres.Sin Censura used to be produced in the Radio Dario studios, but since the fire it has grown as a social media news platform focused on local stories. It has around 120,000 followers on Facebook and an audience that reacts and comments on the reporting.New media projects like Sin Censura are filling the gaps left in Nicaragua’s restrictive environment.The situation for the country’s media worsened in the wake of the 2018 protests. Several journalists went into self-imposed exile to avoid retaliation; those reporting in the field face violence; and independent outlets are censored or harassed, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The country scores 121 out of 180, where 1 is the freest, on RSF’s annual World Press Freedom Index. Nicaraguan officials say the government respects press freedom. But one official with whom VOA spoke said that some journalists “fall into debauchery.”Wilfredo Navarro, a deputy in the ruling Sandinista party, told VOA that “the media makes up news and says anything. … Journalists say what they want. They invent what they want.”José Cardoza, right, the creator of Nicaragua’s Primer Orden podcast, distributed on at least 25 digital platforms. (Houston Castillo/VOA)Innovation during adversityUsing a similar model as Sin Censura, the podcast Primer Orden, or First Order, uses social media to distribute its daily news summaries.Its founder, José Cardoza, records the news show in a small room, improvised as a radio studio, in Managua, then distributes it on multiple platforms.The podcast initially started as a hobby for Cardoza in 2018, because his other job in public relations didn’t allow him to dedicate himself “fully to journalism.” Cardoza decided to use the pandemic and recent unemployment as an opportunity.Since its creation, the format has varied. “Currently it is a little more adapted to the needs of the audience; to be informed in a few minutes,” Cardoza said. “In the first six minutes you already know what the situation is in Nicaragua.”The Primer Orden newscast now has a team of five who collaborate daily to produce content.Running a podcast has advantages, but the journalists still face obstacles. Like others in media, they receive threats, face police harassment and lack financial support.“The advantage is technology, the internet. You can listen to it again, share it and even be able to download it. However, you go to a conference to get an interview and you find a huge number of policemen outside the event,” said Javier Bermúdez, a Primer Orden journalist.The same problems affect more traditional media.Aníbal Toruño, director and owner of Radio Darío in León, said he admires the ability of his team to report despite the pressure and threats from police and government officials.“I see it as a great opportunity and a testament to the environment in which you work, that if you could reach 50,000 people, now you can reach 100,000 or 150,000,” said Toruño.Cooperation and support among colleagues and associations with other media are a bonus, Toruño said, adding that competition among outlets is over.The municipal Radio Camoapa Estéreo, which covers Nicaragua’s central region, relies on collaboration and a few journalists.“We have a network of friends who are there, they help us and support us, people who send us contributions,” said Juan Carlos Duarte Sequeira, its co-founder. “Many of us earn absolutely nothing, we have no salary. We are simply here because we believe in the project.”The country’s media also face obstacles from legislation, including a cybercrime law approved in October. The law establishes fines and in some cases jail time for spreading “false news.”Journalists and members of Nicaragua’s opposition raised concerns about the law, pointing out that other legislation has been used to retaliate against critics.”We have seen other colleagues to whom previous laws have been applied, accusing them of defamation, and receiving a prison sentence, even when they have not committed any crime,” said Torres, of Sin Censura.The journalist believes the law is a tool to punish the media and journalists, but her team put fear aside. “If we allow ourselves to be overcome by fear, we will close down and what will become of independent media? Communication? The people will be most affected.”Government deputy Navarro denied the cybercrime law is aimed at media.“Journalists can say what they want,” Navarro told VOA. “What we want to do with the cybercrime law is to prevent online sexual trafficking,” as well as “ensure that the internet is not used to generate chaos.”Uncertain futureMedia professors from private universities in León told VOA there is disenchantment with prospective students. In 2018, they received more than 80 applications. In 2021, only three.The professors, who asked that they and their institutions remain anonymous out of security concerns, said many students were disappointed to see the police repression.“They go for an assignment; and we tell them to take photos and images. And they experience firsthand when the police or other people ask them what they’re doing and demand photo ID,” one of the academics said.Many also do not see journalism as a profitable career, saying you need a second job to survive in media.Torres said that journalists are more often bearing the financial burden of running their own outlets.“When we lost sponsors, our advertisements, we had to … acquire a microphone or a tripod. We had to migrate to other alternative jobs to be able to subsist as individuals and as journalists,” she said.But Torres, said, “This is my passion, despite everything. Despite having been at Radio Darío when it was set on fire, having seen that terrorist attack against freedom of expression. I’m one of the survivors of the attack on Radio Darío, along with colleagues from Sin Censura … we have to fight.”This story originated in VOA’s Spanish language division.
…

Spain has promised to donate 7.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Latin American and Caribbean countries this summer as its vaccine diplomacy contrasts with the more cautious approach taken by the United States.   Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pledged to ship between 5% and 10% of the country’s total vaccine supply in an effort to combat a third wave of the pandemic that is raging in a number of Latin American nations.   Spain’s leftist government is confident that 70% of its population of 47 million will be inoculated by the end of August.  Sanchez said this week the country was “100 days away from herd immunity,” and will send surplus vaccines to donate to Latin America.     The vaccines that Madrid will send are AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen. FILE – People receive a dose of the AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Barcelona, Spain, Apr. 26, 2021.In Spain, more than 29% of the population has had at least one dose while 13.3% has had both as the vaccine program picks up pace.   Going further Sanchez supported U.S. President Joe Biden’s initiative to drop patent rights to COVID-19 vaccines to reduce costs for poorer countries but wants to go further.   “Spain is proposing a comprehensive initiative to facilitate the transmission of the necessary technology and expertise, lift all barriers to ramping up production and accelerate vaccine production,” Sanchez wrote in Britain’s Financial Times Wednesday. In contrast, and as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to travel to Mexico and Guatemala next month, the United States has faced calls to do more to help Latin American nations with scant vaccine resources.   U.S, Democrats have called on the Biden administration to make Latin America a priority.   US response    The U.S. State Department said the government was working on plans to share vaccines when they became available, but that the priority is vaccinating American citizens.  “Right now, this administration is focused first and forecast foremost? on ensuring that Americans have access to the safe and effective vaccine. At the same time, we understand that for Americans to be truly safe from this virus both now and over the long term we need to demonstrate leadership, because as long as the virus is in the wild, it will continue to mutate, it will continue to pose a threat to Americans back here at home,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said last month.The scarcity of vaccines has prompted wealthier Latin Americans to travel to the U.S. to be inoculated, something which the U.S. government has discouraged.  Shortages of vaccines or materials to make them are crippling for many Latin American states.  Brazil, which recorded 425,000 deaths from COVID-19, will run out of the raw materials to produce the Chinese Sinovac vaccine by Friday, after a shipment was held up in China, authorities in Sao Paulo state said.   Alicia Martinez holds her vaccination card while resting after her second shot of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine in the outdoor patio of a home for the elderly in Santiago, Chile, March 5, 2021.In Chile, where the vaccine program is one of the fastest in the world, this progress has been muted by a sharp rise in coronavirus cases last month, reaching 9,000 in one day. It forced the government to bring in a quarantine for 80% of the population.   Pleas President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic called on Biden to release U.S. stocks of the AstraZeneca vaccine.“President @JoeBiden, less-developed countries and traditional allies of the USA, like Dominican Republic, have approved the AstraZeneca vaccine and we need it urgently,” he tweeted.Euclides Acevedo, the foreign minister of Paraguay, pleaded with Washington to come to its help as COVID-19 cases mounted. “What use is fraternity if now they don’t give us a response?” he said.  FILE – Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya speaks during a media briefing at San Carlos Palace in Bogota, Colombia, Feb. 26, 2021.Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya criticized the U.S. for delaying a response on sharing vaccines. “Europe has recently exported 200 million doses of vaccines to the world. Countries like the United States have still not exported any. This has to change,” she told eldiario.es, a Spanish online newspaper this week. The U.S. government refutes this claim, saying it has so far shared 4 million vaccines with Canada and Mexico. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters last week that Washington planned to send another 60 million doses from its supply over the next two months. He did not specify the countries.  The U.S. has contributed $2 billion to the COVAX, an initiative involving the World Health Organization and others to facilitate the sharing of vaccines by richer countries with poorer nations. COVAX has sent a total of 6.5 million doses with Latin America. Blinken has pledged another $2 billion to the program.However, the U.S. offer to share vaccines and the supplies from the COVAX initiative is small compared to the vast Latin American and Caribbean regions, whose populations total 650 million. Politics Spain wants to take a leading role among European powers when it comes to vaccine diplomacy, while Biden is under domestic political pressure to prioritize U.S. citizens — at the moment at least. “Sanchez’s gesture is a change for Spain to show solidarity with Latin America and to show that Europe cares about the problems of vaccine supply which countries there are facing,” Carlos Malamud, a senior investigator at the Real Elcano Institute, a Madrid research organization, told VOA.   “However, Biden may be under more domestic pressure to change the America First policy of the Trump era but not to open its hand straight away,” Malamud said.  It comes as Chinese vaccines dominate Latin American efforts to combat the pandemic, with Beijing sending more than half of the 143.5 million doses of the vaccine which have been sent to the continent’s 10 largest countries. FILE – Trucks carrying Chinese Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccines against the COVID-19 disease leave the San Oscar Romero International Airport in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, on March 28, 2021.China’s Sinovac has delivered 78.5 million finished doses or ingredients to make the vaccine, while AstraZeneca and Pfizer are the two main Western suppliers who have sent 59 million doses.     Ana Ayuso, a Latin America analyst at the CIDOB think tank in Barcelona, believes the U.S. may have to use vaccine diplomacy to stem the tide of migrants who are crossing the border to be inoculated. “At present the U.S. may not be shipping many vaccines to Latin America but this may change as a way to stop people crossing into the U.S. to get the jab,” she told VOA. 
…

The U.N. human rights office is calling on the Brazilian government to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into a deadly police operation in one of the favelas in Rio de Janeiro Thursday. 
At least 25 people, including one policeman, were killed in a dawn raid in one of Rio de Janeiro’s shantytowns. The dramatic operation reportedly involved police officers on the ground and in a helicopter overhead shooting into the neighborhood, allegedly against members of a criminal organization.U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville, says an unknown number of people were injured, including bystanders and people inside their houses.  “It appears to be the deadliest such operation in more than a decade in Rio de Janeiro and confirms a long-standing trend of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force by police in Brazil’s poor, marginalized and predominantly Afro-Brazilian neighborhoods, known as favelas,” Colville said.  A woman raises her fist as Black movement activists protest in Sao Paulo against police violence in Rio de Janeiro’s Jacarezinho slum, in Brazil, May 8, 2021.Colville notes the operation went ahead despite a ruling by the Federal Supreme Court in 2020, restricting police operations in Rio’s favelas during the COVID-19 pandemic.He says clearly something is not working in Brazil’s political, governmental and judiciary systems and they need to be fixed. He says problems in the favelas, including criminal activities, have been going on for generations.“One cannot ignore that. It is a fact of life. But the way of dealing with that, it is the responsibility of the authorities to deal with issues relating to crime, while ensuring that the civilian population and women and children in these very packed and crowded places with many women and children—that they are not affected by these types of operations,” Colville said.  Colville expresses concerns about the veracity of a government-run probe into these disturbing events. He says his office has received worrying reports that police did not take steps to preserve evidence at the crime scene. He adds this could hinder investigations into this lethal operation.Responding to the raid, Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Maurao was quoted as saying that it was unfortunate that “true narco-guerrillas” retain control over parts of Rio. Reports say President Jair Bolsonaro did not mention the incident during his weekly live broadcast last week on Facebook.Brazilian police say all those killed in the raid, other than the policeman, were suspected drug traffickers.   
…

Some have claimed she’s indulging a forbidden romance. More likely, loneliness compels her to seek company at Rio de Janeiro’s zoo. Either way, a blue-and-yellow macaw that zookeepers named Juliet is believed to be the only wild bird of its kind left in the Brazilian city where the birds once flew far and wide.Almost every morning for the last two decades, Juliet has appeared. She swoops onto the zoo enclosure where macaws are kept and, through its fence, engages in grooming behavior that looks like conjugal canoodling. Sometimes she just sits, relishing the presence of others. She is quieter — shier? more coy? — than her squawking chums. Blue-and-yellow macaws live to be about 35 years old and Juliet — no spring chicken — should have found a lifelong mate years ago, according to Neiva Guedes, president of the Hyacinth Macaw Institute, an environmental group. But Juliet hasn’t coupled, built a nest or had chicks, so at most she’s “still just dating.”A blue-and-yellow macaw that zookeepers named Juliet flies outside the enclosure where macaws are kept at BioParque, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, May 5, 2021.“They’re social birds, and that means they don’t like to live alone, whether in nature or captivity. They need company,” said Guedes, who also coordinates a project that researches macaws in urban settings. Juliet “very probably feels lonely, and for that reason goes to the enclosure to communicate and interact.”Aside from Juliet, the last sighting of a blue-and-yellow macaw flying free in Rio was in 1818 by an Austrian naturalist, according to Marcelo Rheingantz, a biologist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and there are no other types of macaws in the city.  The lovebirds featured in the 2011 film “Rio″ are Spix’s macaws, which are native to a different region of Brazil and possibly extinct in the wild.Being boisterous with brilliant plumage helps macaws find each other in dense forest, but also makes them easier targets for hunters and animal traffickers. They’re often seen in other Brazilian states and across the Amazon, and it is suspected Juliet escaped from captivity.Biologists at BioParque aren’t sure if Juliet’s nuzzling is limited to one caged Romeo, or a few of them. They’re not even certain Juliet is female; macaw gender is near impossible to determine by sight, and requires either genetic testing of feathers or blood, or examination of the gonads.Either would be interference merely to satisfy human curiosity with no scientific end, biologist Angelita Capobianco said inside the enclosure. Nor would they consider confining Juliet, who often soars overhead and appears well-nourished.A blue-and-yellow macaw that zookeepers have named Juliet, left, grooms with a captive macaw at BioParque, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, May 5, 2021.“We don’t want to project human feelings. I look at the animal, and see an animal at ease,” Capobianco said, noting Juliet has never exhibited behavior to indicate disturbance, such as insistently pecking at the fence.“Who am I to decide it should only stay here? I won’t. It comes and goes, and its feathers are beautiful.”After more than a year of COVID-19 quarantine and travel bans, the appeal of roaming without restriction is evident to humankind. Macaws are used to flying great distances of more than 30 kilometers a day, Guedes said.Last year, BioParque gave its macaws more space: a 1,000-square-meter aviary where they fly beside green parrots and golden parakeets to compose an aerial, technicolor swirl. It’s a massive upgrade from prior enclosures that were roughly 9 square meters.BioParque reopened to the public in March, after privatization of Rio’s dilapidated zoo and almost 17 months of renovations.BioParque aims to feature species associated with research programs at universities and institutes. One such initiative is Refauna, which reintroduces species into protected areas with an eye on rebuilding ecosystems, and is participating with BioParque to start breeding blue-and-yellow macaws.The plan is for parents to raise some 20 chicks that will receive training on forest food sources, the peril of predators and avoidance of power lines. Then the youngsters will be released into Rio’s immense Tijuca Forest National Park, where Juliet has been sighted and is thought to sleep each night.“Their role could be important in terms of ecosystem and reforestation. It’s a big animal with big beak that can crack the biggest seeds, and not all birds can,” said Rheingantz, the university biologist, who is also Refauna’s technical coordinator. “The idea is for it to start dispersing those seeds, complementing forest animals that can’t.”After some pandemic-induced delays, the project has slowly restarted and Rheingantz expects to release blue-and-yellow macaws into Tijuca park toward the end of 2022.After two decades of relative solitude, Juliet will then have the chance to fly with friends. Neves said Juliet could teach them how to navigate the forest, or even find a love of her own.
…

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday the U.S. and Mexico must collaborate to reduce immigration from Mexico by attacking violence and corruption in Central America.
 
The vice president made her appeal during virtual immigration talks with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.  
 
Harris told Lopez Obrador it was in the best interests of both countries to address the root causes of migration from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, all located in a Central American region known as the Northern Triangle.“Together we must fight violence, we must fight corruption and impunity,” Harris said after the meeting. “It is in our country’s mutual interest to provide immediate relief to the Northern Triangle and to address the root causes of migration.”Harris spokesperson Symone Sanders said in a statement after the meeting the two leaders agreed to “establish a strategic partnership” to address economic underdevelopment and other factors that cause migration from the Northern Triangle.“Through this joint initiative, the United States and Mexico will leverage their expertise and resources to tackle a range of challenges, including lack of employment, limited market access, and deforestation and regional instability caused by climate change,” the statement said.U.S. President Joe Biden has tasked Harris with leading the White House effort to curb immigration at the U.S. southern border, through which more than 20,000 unaccompanied children entered the U.S. since January.
 
President Lopez Obrador told reporters at his regular news conference shortly before Friday’s meeting he supports safer migration and that he had a specific proposal to discuss with Harris.
 
Lopez Obrador touted a tree-planting jobs program in Central America that he said could help participants get work visas in the U.S. He first mentioned the proposal at a Washington climate summit last month, to the surprise of some in attendance.Following Friday’s meeting, Lopez Obrador said, “It is in our best interests based on our political, historical and friendship relations. Sometimes there have been differences among us. However, we have a common border that is over 3,000 kilometers long, and we need to understand one another.“And we will help. That is what I can say,” Lopez Obrador added. “As of now, you can count on us.”Harris said on Wednesday she would visit Mexico and Guatemala on June 7-8 to search for solutions to the immigration challenge, her first foreign trip as vice president.
 
Prior to the meeting, Lopez Obrador also told reporters that his government sent a diplomatic letter asking the U.S. to explain funding for an anti-corruption organization that has criticized his government.
 
Lopez Obrador accused Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, a group that investigates political corruption, of trying to undermine his government. He described funding for the group from the U.S. Agency for International Development as “promoting a form of coup.”
…

A decision to change cars to in order get closer to a station exit may have saved Erik Bravo, a 34-year-old financial adviser who survived the collapse of an elevated line in Mexico City’s subway system that killed 25 people and injured around 80.  
Bravo said Thursday that he and two colleagues from work were accustomed to taking the Number 12 line home from their jobs. His two friends got off late Monday, as usual, at their stops.
 
Alone, Bravo decided to put on his headphones and use the time before his stop at the Olivos station to walk forward through a couple of subway cars, to be closer to the exit at the end of the platform when he arrived.  
The move likely kept him from disaster.
“You realize that, in some way, you got a second chance, because that could have been you,” Bravo said.  
As his car pulled next to the platform, he felt the train jerk, as if pulled from behind, and shudder to a stop as smoke filled the cabin. A male passenger shouted for people to lie on the floor for safety.
“People were desperate, they tried to break the glass, they wanted to open the windows to escape,” Bravo recalled.  
The automatic doors wouldn’t open, but a police officer told them that a door was open farther back.
Bravo walked toward the back not knowing the last two cars of the subway train had fallen into the rubble of the collapsed elevated rail bed.
In one of the last cars still standing on the track, two people lay unconscious on the floor. A little girl was crying. “I saw a man with his two little girls,” Bravo said, but he doesn’t know what happened to them.
Stunned, he walked home.
“When I got home … we began to look at everything that was coming out on the internet,” Bravo said. “It was a shock, I had been there. We began to see that people had died, people were missing, wounded, and here I was, unhurt, still here.”
Authorities say the collapse occurred after a steel beam that held up the elevated line broke. Investigators are now trying to figure out how and why.  
The line, the subway’s newest, stretches far into the city’s south side. Like many of the system’ s dozen subway lines, it runs underground through more central areas of the city of 9 million people but is on elevated concrete structures on the outskirts.
Allegations of poor design and construction on the Number 12 line emerged soon after it was inaugurated in 2012, and the line had to be partly closed in 2014 so tracks could be repaired.
The city’s magnitude 7.1 earthquake in 2017 revealed some structural defects that experts say should have resulted in a total closure and complete inspection of the line. Instead, authorities applied some patchwork fixes and re-opened it.
While Bravo knew there were cracks and defects, it never occurred to him that it might collapse.
“Yes, you knew there were defects, but not that kind of defect that would cause what happened to occur,” he said.  
Most think the tragedy was preventable.
“They could have avoided this, if the government had paid attention to the services they provide us,” said another regular passenger on the line, Ana María Luna. “But they didn’t pay attention to all the reports” of defects, she said.  
Even with the subway, Luna had to travel for hours to get to her job as a security guard. Since the disaster, her commute has stretched to three hours.
The collapse has temporarily closed the subway line, leaving thousands of residents on the south side dependent on bus service. People waited in long lines to board buses Thursday.
“Politicians don’t care if they do things right or not,” said Victor Luna, who was trying to get to his job as a watchman.
María Isabel Fuentes, a domestic worker, said the subway’s defects had long worried her. “Ever since it opened, it was scary,” she said.  
Because it serves low-income neighborhoods, the line seldom seemed a priority, she said. “We’re the same ones who always pay.”  
Bravo has kept busy since his near miss, fixing up an old motorcycle he owns so he can get to work now that the line is out of service. His nights have been sleepless, though, as he reflects on what might have been.
“In some way, I feel thankful grateful to someone, something up there, that for some reason decided it wasn’t my time,” Bravo said.
…

Police targeting drug traffickers raided a slum in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, and at least one officer and two dozen others died after being shot, authorities said.  The civil police’s press office confirmed the death of the officer and 24 alleged criminals in a message to The Associated Press.  A police helicopter flew low over the Jacarezinho favela as heavily armed men fled police by leaping from roof to roof, according to images shown on local television.  One woman told The Associated Press she saw police kill a badly wounded man, whom she described as helpless and unarmed, whom they found after he had fled into her house. Felipe Curi, a detective in Rio’s civil police, denied there had been any executions. “There were no suspects killed. They were all traffickers or criminals who tried to take the lives of our police officers, and there was no other alternative,” he said during a press conference. Police had to struggle to enter the favela because of concrete barriers built by the criminals, according to the detective. Shooting spread throughout the community. During the operation, several people Curi described as criminals invaded neighboring houses, trying to hide. Six were arrested, he said.  The police also seized 16 pistols, six rifles, a submachine gun, 12 grenades and a shotgun. Service on a subway line was suspended “due to intense shooting in the region,” according to a statement from the company that operates it. Earlier, two subway passengers were injured when a stray bullet shattered the glass of one car. Jacarezinho, one of the city’s most populous favelas, with some 40,000 residents, is dominated by the Comando Vermelho, one of Brazil’s leading criminal organizations. The police consider Jacarezinho to be one of the group’s headquarters. Thursday’s operation was aimed at investigating the recruitment of teenagers to hijack trains and commit other crimes, police said in a statement.  A group of about 50 residents in Jacarezinho poured into a narrow street on Thursday afternoon to follow members of the state legislature’s human rights commission as it conducted an inspection. They shouted “justice” while clapping their hands, and some raised their right fist into the air. Human Rights Watch Brazil said in a statement that the public prosecutor must immediately investigate possible police abuses. The police statement said the criminal gang has a “warlike structure of soldiers equipped with rifles, grenades, bulletproof vests, pistols, camouflaged clothing and other military accessories.” The Candido Mendes University’s Public Safety Observatory said that at least 12 police operations in Rio state this year have resulted in three or more deaths. Observatory director Silvia Ramos said Thursday’s raid was among the deadliest in the city’s recent history. Many of them appear to violate a ruling by Brazil’s Supreme Court last year that ordered the police to suspend operations during the pandemic, restricting them to “absolutely exceptional” situations. The Supreme Court declined to comment when asked by The Associated Press if Thursday’s operation would qualify. Rio police killed an average of more than five people a day during the first quarter of 2021, the most lethal start of a year since the state government began regularly releasing such data more than two decades ago, according to the Observatory. 
…

The European Union announced Thursday that it would neither finance the organization of the referendum scheduled for June 27 in Haiti nor send observers for this election, deeming the process insufficiently transparent and democratic in a country plagued by insecurity and political instability.”The conditions for financial and technical support for the organization of the elections are absolutely not met at this stage, so we have refused to contribute to this process as it is,” said the ambassador of the European Union to Haiti, Sylvie Tabesse.”We consider that the process does not give all the guarantees of transparency and democracy that we would be entitled to expect, therefore … if the [Haitian] government asked us, we are not considering to respond positively for an observation mission,” added the diplomat during a meeting with several journalists in the Haitian capital.Since January 2020, President Jovenel Moise has governed by decrees and without checks and balances because of the lack of elections in recent years.FILE – Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Nov. 15, 2019.The president has drawn up a busy electoral calendar for 2021. In addition to the presidential, legislative and local elections in the fall, he wants to submit to a popular vote a project for a new constitution.Last week, the United States renewed its call for the organization of elections in Haiti while affirming its opposition to a constitutional change.Despite these reservations from the international community, the Haitian government refuses to give up its project.”A referendum is an act of sovereignty. It mainly concerns Haitians: It is they who decide whether or not they want a referendum to change the constitution,” Haitian Prime Minister Claude Joseph said Tuesday.The organization of this election stirs criticism even in Moise’s camp because the chosen procedure does not seem to respect the provisions of the current constitution.Written in 1987, after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship, the text currently in force declares that “any popular consultation aimed at modifying the constitution by referendum is formally prohibited.”The grip of gangs in the country has worsened in recent months, allowing an upsurge in kidnappings for ransom in Port-au-Prince and in the provinces.
…

At least 25 people, including a police officer, were killed in a shootout on Thursday during an operation against drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro’s Jacarezinho slum, police said. Suspects tried to escape across rooftops as police entered the slum in armored vehicles and helicopters flew overhead, television images showed. The intense firefight kept residents in their homes. Three policemen were hit and one died of a head wound in the hospital, police said. Bullets fired during the shootout struck a light rail coach and two passengers were hurt by shattered glass from the broken window, the fire brigade said. Policemen take position during an operation against drug dealers in Jacarezinho slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 6, 2021.It was the deadliest single police operation in the state of Rio de Janeiro, which has suffered for decades from drug violence in its poor neighborhoods known as favelas. “This is the largest number of deaths in a police operation in Rio, surpassing 19 at Complexo do Alemão slum in 2007, except we did not lose one of ours in that action,” police chief Ronaldo Oliveira told Reuters. Police said that among the dead in Jacarezinho were leaders of the drug trafficking gang that dominated life in the slum. At least 10 suspects were arrested, they said. Besides drug trafficking, the gang robbed trucks of their cargo and had hijacked commuter trains earlier this year to steal from passengers. 
 
…

President Joe Biden has offered condolences and pledged U.S. assistance following the collapse of a rail overpass in Mexico City that left at least 24 dead.”We send our deepest condolences to all those who lost a loved one and offer our best wishes for the recovery of all those who were injured. As neighbors and partners, our nations are closely linked, and the United States is ready to assist Mexico as it rebuilds from this tragedy,” said Biden in a statement released Wednesday by the White House.More than 60 people were injured and at least 24 died when the Mexico City subway train overpass collapsed Monday night onto a busy road, with hanging carriages crushing cars below it.The accident occurred on Line 12 near the Olivos station in the southeast of the city about 10:30 p.m. local time.Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said at the scene that a “support beam gave way” just as the train passed over it.Sheinbaum confirmed Tuesday that federal justice experts would be assisting the city with an investigation to “discover exactly what happened and what the causes” were.”We need experts from federal justice as well as an external and unbiased team to conduct the investigation and all the reports that need to be done and get to the truth,” she said.She added that a “Norwegian company will be in charge of the external investigation.”Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at his regular news conference Tuesday that the investigation should be done quickly and that nothing would be hidden from the Mexican people.The Metro 12 line that runs over the now-collapsed overpass was built almost a decade ago.
…

President Joe Biden has offered condolences and pledged U.S. assistance following the collapse of a rail overpass in Mexico City that left at least 24 dead.”We send our deepest condolences to all those who lost a loved one and offer our best wishes for the recovery of all those who were injured. As neighbors and partners, our nations are closely linked, and the United States is ready to assist Mexico as it rebuilds from this tragedy,” said Biden in a statement released Wednesday by the White House.More than 60 people were injured and at least 24 died when the Mexico City subway train overpass collapsed Monday night onto a busy road, with hanging carriages crushing cars below it.The accident occurred on Line 12 near the Olivos station in the southeast of the city about 10:30 p.m. local time.Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said at the scene that a “support beam gave way” just as the train passed over it.Sheinbaum confirmed Tuesday that federal justice experts would be assisting the city with an investigation to “discover exactly what happened and what the causes” were.”We need experts from federal justice as well as an external and unbiased team to conduct the investigation and all the reports that need to be done and get to the truth,” she said.She added that a “Norwegian company will be in charge of the external investigation.”Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at his regular news conference Tuesday that the investigation should be done quickly and that nothing would be hidden from the Mexican people.The Metro 12 line that runs over the now-collapsed overpass was built almost a decade ago.
…

Canada has become the first country to approve Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children as young as 12. The announcement was made Wednesday by Dr. Supriya Sharma, chief medical adviser at Health Canada, who said the move would help children return to a normal life. Previously, the vaccine was approved only for those 16 and older. The United States and the European Union are considering similar moves. In March, the company released preliminary results of a study on the effectiveness of the vaccine on younger people. In the study of 2,260 U.S. volunteers ages 12 to 15, there were no cases of infection among those given the vaccine. Those who received the vaccine had similar side effects as their adult counterparts, including pain, fever, chills and fatigue, particularly after the second dose. More than 34% of Canadians have received at least one vaccine dose, The Associated Press reported.  
…

Police in the Colombian city of Cali reportedly opened fire on demonstrators who were protesting tax reforms. The U.N. human rights office said it is in the process of verifying the exact number of casualties and trying to determine how this incident could have happened.Human rights spokeswoman Marta Hurtado said it is important to get to the bottom of these events.Hurtado said her office has received reports about people being arbitrarily detained. Human rights defenders, she said, report being harassed and threatened by security forces.“We have seen videos of police dragging demonstrators, including injured demonstrators…” Hurtado said. “We have witnesses of excessive use of force by security officers — shootings, live ammunition being used, beating of demonstrators.”There has been no response from the Colombian government to the U.N. remarks. Colombia’s defense minister, Diego Molano, has alleged that illegal armed groups are infiltrating the protests to cause violence.The head of Colombia’s national police force, General Jorge Luis Varga, said 26 allegations of police brutality are under investigation. News reports cite police as saying their forces came under attack amid acts of looting and burning of buses.Strikes against a proposed tax reform bill have been ongoing since April 28. Demonstrators have continued their protests despite an announcement from the Colombian presidency on May 2 that it would remove the bill from consideration by Congress.Hurtado said there have been at least 14 deaths since the protests began, including one police officer. She said most of the protests have been peaceful and hopes they remain so during mass demonstrations called for Wednesday.“Given the extremely tense situation, with soldiers as well as police officers deployed to police the protest, we call for calm,” Hurtado said. “We remind the state authorities of their responsibility to protect human rights, including the right to life and security of person, and to facilitate the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.”The human rights office said under international law, force should only be used if strictly necessary and in proportion to the threat posed. It said law enforcement officers should only use firearms as a measure of last resort against an imminent threat of death or serious injury.
…

Colombian President Ivan Duque said on Tuesday the government is ready for national dialogue after days of protests led to over 20 deaths and international concern about excessive use of force by police.The protests, set to continue on Wednesday, were originally called in opposition to the government’s now-canceled tax reform plan but have become a broad cry for action against poverty and what demonstrators and advocacy groups say is police violence.All Colombians should work to reject violence, protect the most vulnerable and support COVID-19 vaccination and economic reactivation, Duque said in a video.”I want to announce that we will create a space to listen to citizens and construct solutions oriented toward those goals, where our most profound patriotism, and not political differences, should intercede,” Duque said.Colombian President Ivan Duque holds a press conference with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Italian Filippo Grandi in Bogota on Feb. 8, 2021.Duque’s promise echoed the 2019 creation of a so-called national dialogue after days of anti-government protests.Civil society groups, especially major unions, have said the government has not lived up to those promises and has done little to change deep inequalities in the Andean country.Mass marches and a national strike are planned for Wednesday, where demonstrators will call for a basic income guarantee, the withdrawal of a government health reform proposal and the dissolution of the ESMAD riot police.Duque responded to allegations of police overreach and rejected attacks on officers.”To those who work for the security of Colombians: all our support, and at the same time, all our expectation.”The national police force has said it will investigate more than two dozen allegations of brutality, while the defense minister has accused illegal armed groups of infiltrating the protests to cause violence.The western city of Cali has become the focus of protests since they began almost a week ago and is the site of 11 of the 19 deaths confirmed by the Andean country’s human rights ombudsman as of Monday. Local authorities said five more people were killed during protests there Monday night.Some 87 people have been reported missing nationally since the protests started, according to the ombudsman.Intermittent road blockades are delaying shipments out of the Pacific port city of Buenaventura, according to local authorities.The United Nation’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights urged calm, saying it was “deeply alarmed” by reports of police shootings.The European Union also called for security forces to avoid a heavy-handed response.Protests have so far led to the withdrawal of the original tax reform and the resignation of Finance Minister Alberto Carrasquilla. The government said the reform, which originally levied sales tax on public services and some food, would shore up the economy.Duque has said his government will draw up another proposal after consultations with lawmakers, civil society and businesses.New Finance Minister Jose Manuel Restrepo will need to convince Colombians, many of whom have seen their incomes battered by coronavirus lockdowns, that reform is vital, former Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas told the Reuters Global Markets Forum on Tuesday.Restrepo “has a huge challenge ahead” Cardenas said.Duque has offered military assistance to protect infrastructure and guarantee access to essential services, though mayors of cities including Bogota and Medellin said it was unnecessary.Duque on Tuesday canceled his nightly television show for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began, and the protests forced the South American Football Confederation to move two Copa Libertadores games to Paraguay.
…

An elevated section of the Mexico City metro collapsed and sent a subway car plunging toward a busy boulevard late Monday, killing at least 23 people and injuring about 70, city officials said. Rescuers searched a car left dangling from the overpass for hours for anyone who might be trapped.Those efforts were suspended early Tuesday, however, because of safety concerns for those working near the precariously dangling car. A crane was brought in to help shore it up.“We don’t know if they are alive,” Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said of the people possibly trapped inside the car following one of the deadliest accidents in the city’s subway system, which is among the busiest in the world.Rescuers work at a site where an overpass for a metro partially collapsed with train cars on it at Olivos station in Mexico City, Mexico, May 3, 2021.Rescue efforts were briefly interrupted at midnight because the partially dangling train was “very weak.” “We don’t know if they are alive,” Sheinbaum said of the people possibly trapped inside the subway car. Hundreds of police officers and firefighters cordoned off the scene as desperate friends and relatives of people believed to be on the trains gathered outside the security perimeter. Oscar López, 26, was searching for his friend, Adriana Salas, 26. Six months pregnant, she was riding the subway home from her work as a dentist when her phone stopped answering around the time the accident occurred. “We lost contact with her, at 10:50 p.m., there was literally no more contact,” López said. With little information and a still serious coronavirus situation in Mexico City, López said “they are not telling us anything, and people are just crowding together.” The collapse occurred on the newest of the Mexico City subway’s lines, Line 12, which stretches far into the city’s southside. Like many of the city’s dozen subway lines, it runs underground through more central areas of the city of 9 million, but then runs on elevated, pre-formed concrete structures on the city’s outskirts. The collapse could represent a major blow for Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, who was Mexico City’s mayor from 2006 to 2012, when Line 12 was built. Allegations about poor design and construction on the subway line emerged soon after Ebrard left office as mayor. The line had to be partly closed in 2013 so tracks could be repaired. Ebrard wrote on Twitter: “What happened today on the Metro is a terrible tragedy.” “Of course, the causes should be investigated and those responsible should be identified,” he wrote. “I repeat that I am entirely at the disposition of authorities to contribute in whatever way is necessary.” Rescuers transport an injured person on a stretcher at a site where an overpass for a metro partially collapsed with train cars on it at Olivos station in Mexico City, Mexico, May 3, 2021.It was not clear whether a 7.1-magnitude earthquake in 2017 could have affected the subway line. The Mexico City Metro, one of the largest and busiest in the world, has had at least two serious accidents since its inauguration half a century ago. In March of last year, a collision between two trains at the Tacubaya station left one passenger dead and injured 41 people. In 2015, a train that did not stop on time crashed into another at the Oceania station, injuring 12 people. 
…

An elevated section of the Mexico City metro collapsed and sent a subway car plunging toward a busy boulevard late Monday, killing at least 20 people and injuring about 70, city officials said. A crane was working to hold up one subway car left dangling on the collapsed section so that emergency workers could enter to check the car to see if anyone was still trapped. Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said 49 of the injured were hospitalized, and that seven were in serious condition and undergoing surgery. Sheinbaum said a motorist had been pulled alive from a car that was trapped on the roadway below. Dozens of rescuers continued searching through wreckage from the collapsed, preformed concrete structure. “There are unfortunately children among the dead,” Sheinbaum said, without specifying how many. , The overpass was about 5 meters (16 feet) above the road in the southside borough of Tlahuac, but the train ran above a concrete median strip, which apparently lessened the casualties among motorists on the roadway below. “A support beam gave way,” Sheinbaum said, adding that the beam collapsed just as the train passed over it. Rescue efforts were briefly interrupted at midnight because the partially dangling train was “very weak.” “We don’t know if they are alive,” Sheinbaum said of the people possibly trapped inside the subway car. Hundreds of police officers and firefighters cordoned off the scene as desperate friends and relatives of people believed to be on the trains gathered outside the security perimeter. Oscar López, 26, was searching for his friend, Adriana Salas, 26. Six months pregnant, she was riding the subway home from her work as a dentist when her phone stopped answering around the time the accident occurred. “We lost contact with her, at 10:50 p.m., there was literally no more contact,” López said. With little information and a still serious coronavirus situation in Mexico City, López said “they are not telling us anything, and people are just crowding together.” The collapse occurred on the newest of the Mexico City subway’s lines, Line 12, which stretches far into the city’s southside. Like many of the city’s dozen subway lines, it runs underground through more central areas of the city of 9 million, but then runs on elevated, pre-formed concrete structures on the city’s outskirts. The collapse could represent a major blow for Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, who was Mexico City’s mayor from 2006 to 2012, when Line 12 was built. Allegations about poor design and construction on the subway line emerged soon after Ebrard left office as mayor. The line had to be partly closed in 2013 so tracks could be repaired. Ebrard wrote on Twitter: “What happened today on the Metro is a terrible tragedy.” “Of course, the causes should be investigated and those responsible should be identified,” he wrote. “I repeat that I am entirely at the disposition of authorities to contribute in whatever way is necessary.” It was not clear whether a 7.1-magnitude earthquake in 2017 could have affected the subway line. The Mexico City Metro, one of the largest and busiest in the world, has had at least two serious accidents since its inauguration half a century ago. In March of last year, a collision between two trains at the Tacubaya station left one passenger dead and injured 41 people. In 2015, a train that did not stop on time crashed into another at the Oceania station, injuring 12 people. 
…

Colombia’s finance minister resigned on Monday following five days of protests over a tax reform proposal that left at least 17 dead.Alberto Carrasquilla’s resignation comes a day after President Ivan Duque withdrew the tax plan from congress in response to the protests, which have included riots and violent clashes with police.According to Colombia’s human rights ombudsman, 16 protesters have been killed since Wednesday as well as a policeman who was stabbed to death.Carrasquilla had designed the tax reform, which was aimed at raising $6.7 billion for Colombia’s government as it struggles to pay debts while attempting to provide poor families with subsidies to mitigate the pandemic’s impact.The finance minister’s plan included a 19% sales tax on gasoline as well as an effort to expand the country’s tax base by charging income taxes to people making $700 a month or more.Carrasquilla had also proposed a 19% sales tax on utilities in middle-class neighborhoods, and a wealth tax for individuals with a net worth of $1.3 million or more.The government said it needs the money to pay for health care improvements and to continue implementing a basic income scheme that started during the pandemic.But the tax plan was rejected by most political parties, which are currently preparing for elections in 2021, and had also angered unions, student groups and small-business leaders whose incomes have been affected by the pandemic. Protesters asked the government to raise corporate taxes and decrease military spending instead of taxing the middle class.Sergio Guzmán, a political analyst in Bogota, said Carrasquilla’s resignation could “embolden” protesters to stay in the streets until the government meets other demands such as reforming the police or stopping plans to fumigate illegal coca crops with a chemical that could cause cancer. He pointed out that Colombia’s president now has few options but to start negotiations over taxes with different political and social groups.”The problem is that Duque has little credibility now,” Guzmán said.Colombia’s president on Sunday encouraged politicians to come together and design another tax plan.”Withdrawing this tax reform or not is not what should be debated,” Duque said in a nationally televised speech. “The real debate is how to guarantee the continuation of social programs.” 
…

A medical report on the death of Diego Maradona given to prosecutors Monday said the Argentine soccer legend agonized for more than 12 hours, did not receive adequate treatment and could still be alive if he had been properly hospitalized.The medical panel worked for two months on the report, which was written by more than 20 doctors. Maradona, who led Argentina to a 1986 World Cup, is considered one of the greatest soccer players ever.The document further complicates the defense of seven people under investigation in the case, including brain surgeon Leopoldo Luque and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, both of whom worked for Maradona.The 60-year-old Maradona died of a heart attack at a rented residence outside Buenos Aires following a November 3 brain operation.The medical report said, “the patient’s signs of risk of life were ignored,” adding that Maradona “showed unequivocal signs of a prolonged agony period” of at least 12 hours.The document also said the attention Maradona was getting at the rented house “did not fulfill the minimum requirements” for a patient with his medical history. It said the Argentine star would not have died with “adequate hospitalization.”Maradona had suffered a series of medical problems, some the result of excesses of drugs and alcohol. He was reportedly near death in 2000 and 2004.Julio Rivas, a lawyer for Luque, said he will try to annul the medical forensics of the report.”They have made a biased report, a bad one, with no scientific foundation,” he said.
…

Cuba’s government put an end Sunday to a weeklong hunger strike staged by a leading dissident, the head of a group that has protested state censorship of artistic works. He was reported by authorities to be in stable condition.
 
A note published by the Havana Department of Public Health said Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara was “referred” to a local hospital early Sunday for “self-imposed food deprivation” and arrived by ambulance “and walking without difficulty.” He had spent seven days without food or fluids.
 
The San Isidro Movement led by Otero Alcantara, a performance artist, is a dissident group that includes a few dozen artists, writers and activists.
 
The health department said the hospital had found no sign of malnutrition or other chemical imbalances but said Otero Alcantara had been admitted, was in stable condition and was being attended to by physicians.
 
Members of the San Isidro movement said state security had forced Otero Alcantara from his home and that he was in custody, presumably at the hospital. They questioned the report and demanded more information.
 
“How is it possible he has no signs of malnutrition or dehydration after being on a hunger and thirst strike for more than 7 days?” the group asked in a post on Twitter.
Otero Alcantara’s home had been surrounded by police for days with no one allowed in or out during his hunger strike.
 
The U.S. State Department, in a post on Twitter Saturday, had expressed concern over Otero Alcantara’s health and urged “the Cuban government to take immediate steps to protect his life and health.”
 
Members of the San Isidro Movement in November had staged a hunger strike against censorship and harassment of independent creators and activists by the communist government. Police ended the hunger strike, prompting a rare protest by about 300 people in front of the Culture Ministry in Havana.
 
Authorities since then have vilified members of the group as outside agitators working with the United States. Its members repeatedly have been temporarily detained and often told they cannot leave their homes, with communications cut.
 
Otero Alcantara was arrested a few weeks ago as he protested a Communist Party congress by sitting in a garrote. Authorities seized or destroyed some of his art.
 
In his hunger strike, Otero Alcantara was demanding a return of his art, compensation, freedom of expression and an end to police harassment. The dissident group has been appealing for support since his hunger strike began, gaining little traction in Cuba but some notice abroad including from human rights organizations and the U.S. government.
 
…

The vote by El Salvador’s new congress to remove the magistrates of the Supreme Court’s constitutional chamber and the attorney general on the newly elected legislative body’s very first day drew concern and condemnation from multinational groups and the United States.U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday about the previous day’s vote, saying “that an independent judiciary is essential to democratic governance,” the State Department said.  Bukele’s New Ideas party won 56 out of the 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly in February elections that pushed aside the country’s traditional parties, weakened by corruption scandals.The dominant electoral performance raised concerns that Bukele would seek to change the court, which along with the previous congress, had been the only obstacles that the very popular leader faced. The vote Saturday to remove the five magistrates was 64 lawmakers in favor, 19 opposed and one abstention.Now with effective control of the congress and the high court, few if any checks remain on Bukele’s power.He swept into office in 2019 as a break from the country’s corrupt and troubled traditional parties, though his political career had started in the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front.  Even before the assembly was in his sway, Bukele sought to bully and intimidate El Salvador’s other democratic institutions. In February 2020, he sent heavily armed soldiers to surround the congress when it delayed voting on a security loan he had sought.Bukele clashed repeatedly with the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court during the pandemic. When it ruled his obligatory stay-at-home order unconstitutional last June, Bukele said, “The court has just ordered us to murder dozens of thousands of Salvadorans within five days.”Blinken also expressed concern about the removal of Attorney General Raúl Melara, saying he was fighting corruption and has been “an effective partner of efforts to combat crime in both the United States and El Salvador,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said. Melara had been selected by the previous congress and was an outspoken Bukele critic.Blinken said the U.S. is committed to supporting democratic institutions in El Salvador.  In a statement, the general secretariat of the Organization of American States criticized the dismissal of the magistrates and the attorney general.  Bukele appeared to be unmoved. He said he felt very satisfied with the congress’ first session and said it was beginning of the change he had promised for the country.”I know they can’t do it all in a day,” Bukele said via Twitter. “I know that most of the Salvadoran people eagerly await the second session.”Juan Sánchez Toledo, an unemployed man in the capital, San Salvador, backed Bukele.”I was already hoping for it,” he said of the vote. “They promised to get rid of all of the corrupt. We’ll see if they do it. I hope that things change for the good of the people.”During the Trump administration, Bukele’s tendencies toward disrespecting the separation of powers was largely ignored as El Salvador’s homicide rate dropped and fewer Salvadorans tried to migrate to the United States.But the administration of President Joe Biden has appeared more wary. When Bukele made an unannounced trip to Washington in February, administration officials declined to meet with him. Bukele said he had not sought a meeting.Bukele appeared to respond in kind last month when he refused to meet with a visiting senior U.S. diplomat.  Governing party lawmakers defended the decision, saying the court had put private interests above the health and welfare of the people. The opposition called it a power grab by a president seeking total control.The magistrates’ replacements and new Attorney General Rodolfo Antonio Delgado assumed their new positions under police protection Saturday.El Salvador’s constitution states that the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice may be removed by the Legislative Assembly for specific causes established by law. Both the election and dismissal of its magistrates must have the support of two-thirds of the lawmakers.  Aldo Cader Camilot, one of the ousted magistrates, published a resignation letter hours after the vote on social media. In it, he rejected any suggestion that he was tied to a political party or doing the bidding of economic interests.Diego García-Sayán, the United Nations’ special investigator on the independence of legal systems, was blunt: “I condemn the steps the political power is taking to dismantle and weaken the judicial independence of the magistrates by removing the members of the constitutional chamber.”The Jesuit-led Central American University José Simeón Cañas said in a statement that “in this dark hour for our already weak democracy, the UCA calls for the defense of what was built after the war at the cost of so much effort and so many lives: a society where saying ‘no’ to power is not a fantasy.”Civil society groups under the umbrella of “Salvadorans against authoritarianism” called for public demonstrations to condemn the congressional action.
 
…