Six American oil executives jailed in Venezuela more than three years ago on corruption charges were granted house arrest on Friday in a gesture of goodwill toward the Biden administration as it reviews its policy toward the politically turbulent South American country.The partial release of the six employees of Houston-based Citgo was confirmed to The Associated Press by lawyers and family members of the men.Tomeu Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo, Gustavo Cardenas and Jose Pereira were hauled away by masked security agents during a meeting in Caracas just before Thanksgiving in 2017. They had been lured to Venezuela to attend a meeting at the headquarters of Citgo’s parent, state-run oil giant PDVSA.The so-called Citgo 6 were granted house arrest once before — in December 2019 — only to be re-jailed two months later, on the same day that President Donald Trump welcomed opposition leader Juan Guaidó to the White House.In releasing the men, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro could be betting he’ll receive a better hearing from President Joe Biden, who on the campaign trail called Trump’s policy of regime change an “abject failure” that has served only to strengthen the socialist leader.Earlier this week, senior Biden officials from several federal agencies were scheduled to meet to weigh U.S. options, including whether to ease up on crippling oil sanctions it inherited and take steps to support an uncertain attempt at dialogue between Maduro and his opponents, according to two people familiar with the plans.However, the continued imprisonment of Americans is seen as a formidable obstacle to any outreach.In recent weeks, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was among those working behind the scenes to press Maduro’s government to release the men.”This is a positive and important step that should help secure their wellbeing during the COVID-19 outbreak in Venezuela,” said Richardson in a statement.Richardson, who has opened back channels to hostile governments in Iran, Cuba and North Korea to win the release of some 40 Americans, vowed to work tirelessly to bring the men back home.He also urged the release of Luke Denman and Airan Berry — two former Green Berets who participated in a failed raid last year staged from neighboring Colombia — and former U.S. Marine Matthew Heath, who is being held on unrelated allegations.
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A medical board appointed to investigate the death of Diego Maradona has concluded that the soccer star’s medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless manner,” according to a copy of the report shared with Reuters on Friday.Maradona’s death in November last year rocked the South American nation where he was revered, prompting a period of mourning and angry finger-pointing about who was to blame after the icon’s yearslong battle with addiction and ill health.Argentine prosecutors launched investigations shortly after Maradona’s death at age 60 from heart failure at a house near Buenos Aires, including ordering searches of properties of his personal doctor and probing others involved in his care.Maradona, nicknamed “D10S,” a play on the Spanish word for god, and “Pelusa” for his prominent mane of hair, had battled alcohol and drug addiction for many years and had undergone brain surgery in November.In March this year, a medical board appointed by the Justice Ministry met to analyze allegations that members of the health team who attended Maradona did not treat him adequately.”The action of the health team in charge of treating DAM [Diego Armando Maradona] was inadequate, deficient and reckless,” said the medical board report dated Friday and shared with Reuters by a source close to the investigation.The report said Maradona had become seriously unwell and was dying for around 12 hours before his death at around midday on November 25.”He presented unequivocal signs of a prolonged agonizing period, so we conclude that the patient was not properly monitored from 00:30 on 11/25/2020,” the report added.Reuters could not reach prosecutors and lawyers involved in the case for comment on Friday.Maradona, a champion with Argentina in the 1986 World Cup, played for Barcelona, Napoli, Seville, Boca Juniors and Argentinos Juniors, and is widely heralded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time.
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The remaining Catholic clergy who were kidnapped in Haiti earlier in April have been released, a missionary group said Friday.
 
The Society of Priests of Saint Jacques said the clergy were freed but did not say if a ransom had been paid.
 
A total of 10 people were abducted in Croix-des-Bouquets, a town northeast of the capital Port-au-Prince, on April 11, including the seven clergy — three of whom have already been released.  
 
The clergy members were a group of four priests and a nun from Haiti, as well as one priest and one nun from France. The three non-clergy were members of the family of a Haitian priest, who was not among those kidnapped.
 
“Our hearts are filled with joy because we have found our colleagues, the sisters and the family members of Father Jean Anel Joseph in good health,” the missionary society said in a statement, without specifying whether a ransom has been paid.
 
Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is plagued by insecurity and natural disasters.
 
Kidnappings for ransom have surged in recent months in Port-au-Prince and other provinces, reflecting the growing influence of armed gangs in the Caribbean nation.
 
Haiti’s government resigned and a new prime minister was appointed in the wake of the kidnappings, a move President Jovenel Moise said “will make it possible to address the glaring problem of insecurity and continue discussions with a view to reaching the consensus necessary for the political and institutional stability of our country.”
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Brazil on Thursday became the second country to officially top 400,000 COVID-19 deaths, losing another 100,000 lives in just one month, as some health experts warn there may be gruesome days ahead when the Southern Hemisphere enters winter.April was Brazil’s deadliest month of the pandemic, with thousands of people losing their lives daily at crowded hospitals.The country’s Health Ministry registered more than 4,000 deaths on two days early in the month, and its seven-day average topped out at above 3,100. That figure has tilted downward in the last two weeks, to less than 2,400 deaths per day, though on Thursday, the Health Ministry announced another 3,001 deaths, bringing Brazil’s total to 401,186.Local health experts have celebrated the recent decline of cases and deaths, plus the eased pressure on the Brazilian health care system — but only modestly. They are apprehensive of another wave of the disease, like those seen in some European nations, due to a premature resumption of activity in states and cities combined with slow vaccination rollout.Fewer than 6% of Brazilians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to Our World in Data, an online research site. President Jair Bolsonaro, who is now being investigated by a Senate panel over his administration’s handling of the crisis, has repeated he will be the last to get a shot, and he has attacked mayors and governors who enforce restrictions to control the virus’ spread.Shortly after the grim landmark was published, Bolsonaro said in a live broadcast on his social media channels that “a big number of deaths has been announced,” adding that he is “sorry for every death.” But he repeated his stance against social distancing measures.”I pray to God so there is not a third wave” of the coronavirus, the president said. “But if the lockdown policies continue, this country will be dragged to extreme poverty.”Epidemiologist Wanderson Oliveira, one of the Health Ministry’s top officials at the start of the pandemic, said he expects a third wave to hit by mid-June. He told radio station CBN on Tuesday that the country’s immunization effort won’t prevent a new surge because many people won’t receive shots before winter, when indoor gatherings and activities are more common even in the tropical nation.”Our vaccination is such that in 2022, maybe we will have a much less tragic summer than we did now,” he said, referring to the last few months.He added he expects limited help from local leaders’ partial shutdowns, which have yielded weaker results than European-style lockdowns. Many Brazilians flouted social distancing recommendations and partial shutdowns even in the throes of the pandemic’s peak.Brazil’s vaccination program, though a far cry from its triumphant campaigns of decades past, has slowed the pace of deaths among the nation’s elderly, according to death certificate data published on Monday. Younger people remain unprotected and have begun falling ill in far greater numbers as a more transmissible variant circulates in Brazil.Adding to concerns, Brazil’s Health Ministry has repeatedly cut its outlook for vaccines in the short term. The country’s two biggest laboratories are facing supply constraints for imports from producers in China and India, which has become the pandemic’s global epicenter.
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Tens of thousands of protesters across Colombia took to the streets Wednesday in a nationwide strike that ended in violent clashes between riot police and demonstrators.The protests came at a time of soaring COVID infection rates in the South American country, where a third wave of the virus has threatened to overwhelm hospital intensive care units. Despite a court order to postpone the strike over concerns of the potential consequences on health systems, masses filled the streets of some of Colombia’s major cities.The strike, known as the Paro Nacional, was a reaction to proposed tax hikes by the administration of embattled Colombian President Iván Duque, but the marches soon became a backlash to tensions and economic turmoil caused by the pandemic. Demonstrators escape from tear gas during a national protest against President Duque’s proposed tax reform in Bogotá, Colombia, April 28, 2021. (Pu Ying Huang/VOA)Alicia Prieto, 59, walked among those crowds touting a surgical mask and a sign reading “the power of the people is growing.”“We’re more scared to stay at home and go hungry than of the pandemic, Prieto said. “We’re not scared of the pandemic anymore, we’re scared of the government.”More than 2.8 million cases of the virus have been reported and 72,000 people have died from the virus in the country of 50 million people.The widely unpopular tax reform would add a 19% tax on things like Internet service, gasoline, electricity, water, among other things, and impose income taxes on people who earn more than $700 a month.The money raised would go toward covering deficits caused by the pandemic, and providing small cash payments to households living in poverty and extreme poverty.Critics like Prieto are quick to say that at a time of surging poverty and when workers have been crippled by government-imposed lockdowns, corporations are the ones who should take on the brunt of the taxes instead of citizens. Small payments do little to tackle the depth of the crisis, she said.“We are already struggling to make ends meet. We’ve already been affected,” Prieto, a member of the middle class, said. “They keep us in our homes, but we don’t know how to economically survive. I’m talking about people like us in the middle class. Poorer people simply go hungry.”The pandemic has generated rising inequalities and poverty rates across the world. Though for Latin America, a region already grappling with such problems before the pandemic, the fallout has been devastating.Colombia saw its economy shrink an estimated 7% last year.Sergio Guzmán, director of Colombia Risk Analysis, said the protest was less about one specific policy and more about a general feeling of inequality that has permeated the country, especially since the onset of the pandemic.“I think there’s a lot of frustration. There’s been a year of lockdowns, a year of COVID,” Guzmán said. “People are fed up, people are tired. People need outlets to vent their frustration and outrage about the status quo.”Instability threatOthers, like 26-year-old Lorena Vasquez, came out to call against a surge of violence in Colombia. She and other protesters place the blame on right-wing Duque’s failures to follow through on key promises in Colombia’s peace pact with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC.The 2016 peace accords ended more than a half century of war with the rebel group, and offered the nation a chance at peace. But power vacuums left by the government and failures to implement the accords have led to a surge of violence in large swathes of the country as rivaling armed groups fight for power. Massacres and targeted assassinations of human rights defenders and social leaders –people who often challenge the power of armed groups – have also risen across the country during the pandemic.“The number of social leaders being killed goes up every day, and they don’t do anything,” Vasquez said. “What they do is keep quiet about the reality that we’re living through: a huge massacre in our country.”Similar violence was what spurred on months of protest during the country’s first Paro Nacional in 2019.ClashesAs protests wound on Wednesday, violent clashes between police and protesters broke out in Bogotá, Cali and other major cities. Tear gas hovered over much of downtown Bogotá Wednesday night.  Demonstrators run away from tear gas during a national protest against tax reform in Bogotá, Colombia, April 28, 2021. (Pu Ying Huang/VOA)In the country’s third biggest city of Cali, public buses were burnt, and across the country windows were shattered, with reports saying rioters had broken into into stores and banks. In Bogotá, local officials reported that vandalism left 11% of the city’s transport system affected or in disrepair. By early Thursday, police and protesters reported nearly a hundred injured between officers and civilians, and officials confirmed that at least two protesters died during demonstrations.Organizers vowed to continue the protests. Duque responded to the strike, refusing to withdraw the proposal from Colombia’s Congress, but saying he hopes to open dialogues with protest leaders.“With us listening to everyone’s positions, we can find a solution and set goals,” the president said Wednesday night.While Guzmán said he thinks protests will continue to stretch on, fueled by festering discontent in the Latin American nation, he also said he doubts marches will end in any significant change.Meanwhile, 29-year-old Vasquez continued to hold onto hope that the marches would spark change.“I hope they hear us, I hope there’s no attacks or injuries,” she said as protesters milled by her. “And more than anything, I hope there’s justice in Colombia,” she said. 
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Jose Luis Boyeduana waited 13 years to reunite with his parents. The 16-year-old Ecuadorian national made the decision at the end of 2020 to travel to the U.S., undertaking a 3,000-kilometer journey to America’s southern border.“I entered on January 26, through a border crossing at Miguel Aleman [a municipality in Tamaulipas, Mexico],” Boyeduana told VOA, adding that he was held for two months at a federal facility in Roma, Texas.Tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors have been intercepted at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months, forcing the Biden administration to scramble to identify additional facilities — some makeshift — to house them.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Young unaccompanied migrants, ages 3-9 sit inside a playpen at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in Donna, Texas, March 30, 2021.It is a process Boyeduana knows firsthand. Last month, U.S. authorities reunited him with his mother and father, both of whom reside in the United States, after verifying that they were his legal guardians.”This happiness is forever, being with my son,” Carlos Lozada, Boyeduana’s father, told VOA.Boyeduana had been living with his grandparents in Ecuador since he was 3.He was allowed to stay in the United States under the Biden administration’s policy exempting minors and some families with small children from a blanket ban on accepting unauthorized border crossers. The ban was enacted under the former Trump administration as an emergency measure necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic.The Biden administration has retained the policy in an amended form, expelling adult migrants as well as families with older children.As of April 22, more than 23,000 migrant children remained in U.S. custody.White House weighs inThe White House has made it clear that asking for asylum does not guarantee permanent residency in the U.S.“What I want to emphasize is that many people are not going to get their asylum claims in the United States and it is possible that they will return to their country of origin at the end of that process,” Roberta Jacobson, Biden’s coordinator on the southern border who is leaving the position at the end of April, told VOA. “So really the message is to wait because there will be more options — more secure, less expensive and in a safe way, to perhaps have the possibility of reaching the United States in the future.”To seek FILE – In this March 30, 2021, young migrants wait to be tested for COVID-19 at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas.Why they leaveMigrants’ motivations for coming to the United States may or may not meet the standards set forth for asylum relief.Many unauthorized border crossers say they seek to escape violence, poverty and, in many cases, the effects of natural disasters. Large swaths of Central America were devastated by hurricanes coinciding with the coronavirus pandemic that has stunted recovery efforts.Trump’s Unfinished Border Wall Continues to Stir Passions Some residents along Mexico-US divide would like to see the work completedHuman Trafficking a Profitable Business at Migrants’ ExpenseMany escaping violence, poverty in their home countries pay huge sums to smugglers and endanger themselves to cross US borderHonduran Eda Cristelia Melendez, who is in her 70s, is currently living with her young granddaughter in a shelter in Mexico, just across the border from El Paso, Texas.She says U.S. authorities sent the pair back to Mexico after they tried to cross the border.The grandmother says she made the trip after refusing a request by the girl’s mother, who lives in Chicago, to send the child across the border by herself.“‘Have you thought [of what could happen] if the girl goes alone?’” Melendez recalled asking.U.S. officials echo the grandmother’s concerns.”We’re working with partners throughout the region to deter the dangerous travel of those unaccompanied children from the region,” said Emily Mendrala, State Department Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers blame the Biden administration for sharp increases in border arrivals, saying it signaled a departure from former President Donald Trump’s restrictive policies, causing migrants to believe the United States would take them in.Representative John Katko, a Republican from New York and ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, says he cautioned the Biden administration against sudden immigration policy shifts.“Homeland Security Republicans warned of this impending crisis months ago and we are committed to prioritizing the safety of Americans and the security of our homeland,” Katko wrote.Amid the political cacophony in Washington, José Luis Boyeduana is celebrating a goal reached.“Happiness can only be found with your parents,” he said.Click here for full VOA Spanish branch coverage.
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government is intensifying efforts to court the Biden administration as the new U.S. president weighs whether to risk a political backlash in Florida and ease up on sanctions seeking to isolate the socialist leader.In the past two weeks, Maduro conceded to longstanding U.S. demands that the World Food Program be allowed to establish a foothold in the country at a time of growing hunger. His allies also vowed to work with the U.S.-backed opposition to vaccinate Venezuelans against the coronavirus and have met with diplomats from Norway trying to revive negotiations to end the country’s never-ceasing political strife.The frenzy of activity comes as senior U.S. officials are reviewing policy toward Venezuela. An interagency meeting, which was originally scheduled to take place Monday and include Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman but was postponed at the last minute, will focus on whether the U.S. should take steps to support an uncertain attempt at dialogue between Maduro and his opponents, said two people who insisted on anonymity to discuss classified diplomatic matters.”All these recent movement points to Maduro trying to get Washington’s attention,” said Geoffrey Ramsey, a Venezuela watcher at the Washington Office on Latin America. “The question is whether the White House is ready to commit to a full-fledged negotiations strategy, or whether it will continue to play it safe and keep the policy on the back burner.”Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and Jorge Rodriguez, the head of the pro-Maduro congress and a key promoter of dialogue, wouldn’t comment when asked about the recent moves by Maduro.Ramsey said even more goodwill gestures could be on the horizon.Tuesday is the deadline for a committee in the Maduro-controlled congress to present a list of candidates for the National Electoral Council. Behind the scenes, moderates aligned with former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles have been meeting with Maduro representatives to push for the inclusion of two opposition rectors on the five-member board.If the demand is met, it could pave the way for Maduro’s opponents to participate in mayoral and gubernatorial elections later this year.Also in the mix is future of several American citizens jailed in Venezuela. In recent months, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has pressed Maduro and senior aides to release six former executives at Houston-based CITGO who U.S. officials believe are unjustly imprisoned as well as two former Green Berets who participated in a failed raid last year staged from neighboring Colombia and a former U.S. Marine being held on unrelated allegations.So far, the posturing by Maduro has failed to impress officials in Washington.Secretary of State Antony Blinken has described Maduro as a “brutal dictator” and vowed to continue recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s rightful leader — a position shared by more than 50 nations.Other than promising to work more with U.S. allies and support the delivery of more humanitarian aid to Venezuela, the Biden administration has done little to unwind Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign to unseat Maduro.The politics of engaging with Maduro are treacherous. Past attempts at dialogue have failed to produce a breakthrough and ended up strengthening Maduro, whose grip on power relies on support from the military as well as allies Iran, China and Russia — all of whom have seen their influence expand since Guaidó, with U.S. support, tried to ignite protests by declaring himself president in 2019 after Maduro was re-elected in a vote boycotted by the opposition when several of its leaders were barred from running.That hasn’t stopped others from trying to bring the two sides together, however. This week, the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, is traveling to Venezuela in what many observers see as an effort by the Holy See to test the waters for another attempt at negotiations like the ones it mediated with former Spanish President Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero in 2016.While the trip’s stated purpose is to attend the April 30 beatification of Jose Gregorio Hernandez, known as the “doctor of the poor” for his caring of the sick in the 1800s, Parolin is the Vatican’s former ambassador to Venezuela and his highly unusual trip suggests more than just saint-making is on the agenda.But both supporters and opponents of more active U.S. engagement agree that the biggest obstacle is Florida. Trump comfortably carried the battleground state in part due to hardline policies preferred by immigrant voters fleeing Cuba, Venezuela and other authoritarian governments. With Democrats holding a slim six-seat majority in the House of Representatives, betting on Maduro to follow through on his word could end up hurting their chances in midterm elections.”As of today, there is simply no reason to believe the Maduro regime is acting in good faith,” said Elliott Abrams, who served as Trump’s special envoy to Venezuela and Iran. He cited Maduro’s failure to honor an agreement last year brokered by the World Health Organization’s regional arm to combat the coronavirus pandemic as just one example.”Every engagement by Biden with the Maduro regime undermines the democratic opposition,” said Abrams, now a senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations. “If the US is going to engage at any point, it should only be done in the context of serious negotiations between the regime and the opposition, to help those negotiations succeed.”The planned U.S. policy meeting is unlikely to produce any immediate shift and follows at least one previous high-level meeting by senior Biden officials at several agencies — the Treasury, Justice, Commerce and State Departments as well as the White House — to discuss Venezuela.However, it could provide a roadmap for future U.S. actions should momentum toward negotiations build, the two people said, including the lifting of a Trump-era ban on diesel fuel swaps that even some of Maduro’s opponents say is worsening hunger by making it harder to move food supplies to market in diesel-powered trucks.The U.S. must also decide by June whether to allow Chevron to resume limited drilling and oil shipments — a potential lifeline to Maduro, who is desperate for every dollar as oil production under his watch has fallen to its lowest level since the 1930s despite abundant crude reserves. As part of a waiver from sanctions granted last year, the U.S. oil giant and its American partners were ordered to cease all operations except those strictly necessary to maintain its assets in the country.The State Department wouldn’t comment on Monday’s meeting or the status of the review of U.S. policy. However, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere said the U.S. welcomes efforts to relieve the suffering of the Venezuelan people and bring the country’s humanitarian crisis to an end through effective international cooperation.To be sure, not all of the signals coming from Caracas are encouraging.Last week, when the State Department celebrated the World Food Program’s announcement it would begin providing emergency food assistance to 1.5 million Venezuelan children, Foreign Minister Arreaza took to Twitter to accuse the U.S. of “kidnapping” Venezuela’s resources in international banks through “criminal sanctions.”That triggered a bitter exchange which ended with Arreaza vowing to present as evidence of blackmail to the International Criminal Court a tweet by a senior State Department official conditioning sanctions relief on the release of political prisoners and the organizing of free and fair elections.”If Washington’s responses remain exclusively public — via Twitter or television ؅— without a counterpart in a private diplomatic channel, progress or any sort of thaw or transition will be painful and full of mistrust,” said Phil Gunson, a Caracas-based analyst for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.While Gunson said Maduro’s limited willingness to engage in partial agreements should be reciprocated wherever possible to encourage further opening, overcoming the inertia of the Trump years will be difficult.”There is no quick fix in Venezuela,” said Gunson. “A solution is going to require subtlety and long-term engagement.”
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Peru is now mandating that people wear two face masks in places where crowding is possible like commercial buildings. The regulation, aimed at slowing a deadly second wave of the virus, began Monday, and was first reported in Peru’s national newspaper, El Peruano. The paper said a Supreme Decree (#083-2021-PCM) also mandates double masking in malls, grocery stores, shopping arcades, markets and warehouses. Under the new initiative face shields are also recommended along with the double masks. The government still requires people to wear face mask in all public spaces.Additionally, health authorities are conducting intensive epidemiological surveillance to identify any increase in cases of people infected with COVID-19 and responding to the situations.Peru is racing to get people vaccinated as the country’s COVID-19 rates remains among the highest in Latin American, with 1,761,575 confirmed infections and 59,724 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University Covid Resource Center.
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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei during a virtual call Monday that the U.S. will give $310 million in humanitarian relief to Central America, her office said, as the region tackles a wave of migration north. Harris, who leads President Joe Biden’s efforts to address the influx of migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to the U.S.-Mexico border, met with Giammattei by videoconference, prior to her visit to Central America scheduled for June.  “In light of the dire situation and acute suffering faced by millions of people in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, Vice President Harris announced an additional $310 million in US government support for humanitarian relief and to address food insecurity,” a statement from her office said after the meeting. Honduran migrants clash with Guatemalan soldiers in Vado Hondo, Guatemala.It said the two governments will also coordinate law enforcement efforts to tackle criminal organizations whose activities help drive migration and to open migrant resource centers to establish safe, legal migration.  “The United States plans to increase relief to the region, strengthen our cooperation to manage migration in an effective, secure and humane manner,” Harris promised Giammattei. Biden has asked Congress for $861 million to address the causes that drive irregular immigration from Central America, within the framework of his $4 billion plan for the region.  His proposal is included in the budget project for next year that has yet to be discussed and approved by legislators.    More than 172,000 undocumented immigrants, including nearly 19,000 unaccompanied minors, were detained in March at the southern border of the United States, a rise of 71% in a month and the highest level in 15 years.  Most of the migrants come from the three countries of the Central American Northern Triangle. That area, vulnerable to natural disasters, was hit by two devastating hurricanes in November and is struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic and a prolonged drought.  “We want to work with you to address both the acute causes and the root causes (of migration) in a way that gives hope to the people of Guatemala that there will be an opportunity for them if they stay home,” Harris also told Giammattei during the virtual meeting. Giammattei agreed on the need to “create hope” in Guatemala.  “The Guatemalan government wants to be a partner (of the United States) to address … not only poverty but also the many evils that affect us all,” he said.  In addition, the president said he looked forward to Harris’ visit in June. Many migrants in recent weeks say they were given new hope by Biden’s reversal of the hardline immigration policies of his predecessor Donald Trump. Biden to Lift Refugee Cap Next Month, White House SaysPresident initially retained historically low 15,000-person limit set by Trump administrationThe changes include allowing unaccompanied children to stay and be united with relatives living inside the United States. The number of unaccompanied children detained after crossing the border illegally, or trying to sneak through official entry ports, doubled in March from February to 18,890, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
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Victor Guevara knows people his age have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in many countries. His own relatives in Houston have been inoculated.But the 72-year-old Honduran lawyer, like so many others in his country, is still waiting. And increasingly, he is wondering why the United States is not doing more to help, particularly as the American vaccine supply begins to outpace demand and doses that have been approved for use elsewhere in the world, but not in the U.S., sit idle.“We live in a state of defenselessness on every level,” Guevara said of the situation in his Central American homeland.Honduras has obtained a paltry 59,000 vaccine doses for its 10 million people. Similar gaps in vaccine access are found across Africa, where just 36 million doses have been acquired for the continent’s 1.3 billion people, as well as in parts of Asia.In the United States, more than one-fourth of the population — nearly 90 million people — has been fully vaccinated and supplies are so robust that some states are turning down planned shipments from the federal government.This stark access gap is prompting increased calls across the world for the U.S. to start shipping vaccine supplies to poorer countries. That is creating an early test for President Joe Biden, who has pledged to restore American leadership on the world stage and prove to wary nations that the U.S. is a reliable partner after years of retrenchment during the Trump administration.J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president and director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, said that as the U.S. moves from vaccine scarcity to abundance, it has an opportunity to “shape the outcomes dramatically in this next phase because of the assets we have.”Biden, who took office in January as the virus was raging in the U.S., has responded cautiously to calls for help from abroad.He has focused the bulk of his administration’s vaccinations efforts at home. He kept in place an agreement struck by the Trump administration requiring drugmakers that got U.S. aid in developing or expanding vaccine manufacturing to sell their first doses produced in the country to the U.S. government. The U.S. has also used the Defense Production Act to secure vital supplies for the production of vaccine, a move that has blocked the export of some supplies outside the country.White House aides have argued that Biden’s cautious approach to promises around vaccine supply and delivery was validated in the wake of manufacturing issues with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and the subsequent safety “pause” to investigate a handful of reported blood clots. In addition, officials say they need to maintain reserves in the U.S. to vaccinate teenagers and younger children once safety studies for those age groups are completed and if booster shots should be required later.The White House is aware that the rest of the world is watching. Last month, the U.S. shared 4 million vaccine doses with neighboring Canada and Mexico, and this past week, Biden said those countries would be targets for additional supplies. He also said countries in Central America could receive U.S. vaccination help, though officials have not detailed any specific plans.The lack of U.S. vaccine assistance around the world has created an opportunity for China and Russia, which have promised millions of doses of domestically produced shots to other countries, though there have been production delays that have hampered the delivery of some supplies. China’s foreign minister Wang Yi said this month that China opposes “vaccine nationalism” and that vaccines should become a global public good.Norma Gonzalez, 68, waits for results after she was tested for the COVID-19 virus, in a Red Cross laboratory in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, April 23, 2021.Professor Willem Hanekom, director of the Africa Health Research Institute and a vaccinologist, said wealthy countries have a stake in the success of vaccination efforts in other corners of the world.“Beyond the moral obligation, the problem is that if there is not going to be control of the epidemic globally, this may ultimately backfire for these rich countries, if in areas where vaccines are not available variants emerge against which the vaccines might not work,” Hanekom said.The U.S. has also faced criticism that it is not only hoarding its own stockpiles, but also blocking other countries from accessing vaccines, including through its use of the law that gives Washington broad authority to direct private companies to meet the needs of the national defense.Adar Poonawalla, chief executive of the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest maker of vaccines and a critical supplier of the U.N.-backed COVAX facility, asked Biden on Twitter on April 16 to lift the U.S. embargo on exporting raw materials needed to make the jabs.India is battling the world’s fastest pace of spreading infections. Its government has blocked vaccine exports for several months to better meet needs at home, exacerbating the difficulty of poor countries to access vaccine.The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ 2020 annual report also raised eyebrows for a section titled “Combatting malign influences in the Americas,” which said the U.S. had convinced Brazil to not buy the Russian shot.The U.S. Embassy denied exerting any pressure regarding vaccines approved by Brazil’s health regulator, which has not yet signed off on Sputnik V. Since March 13, Brazil has been trying to negotiate supply of U.S. surplus vaccines for itself, according to the foreign ministry.There are also concerns that the U.S. might link vaccine sharing to other diplomatic efforts. Washington’s loan of 2.7 million doses of AstraZeneca’s shots to Mexico last month came on the same day Mexico announced it was restricting crossings at its southern border, an effort that could help decrease the number of migrants seeking entry into the United States.A retired doctor from the public health system stands in a line as he waits to be inoculated with the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, as part of a vaccination campaign in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, April 23, 2021.Those sort of parallel tracks of diplomacy will be closely watched as the Biden administration decides with whom to share its surplus vaccine, particularly in Central America, home to many countries where migrant families and unaccompanied children are trying to make their way to the U.S.“What we would hope to avoid is any perception that increased access to lifesaving vaccines in Central America is in exchange for increased tightening of border security,” said Maureen Meyer, vice president for programs at the Washington Office on Latin America.As the wait for vaccines continues in Honduras, desperation is growing.Last week, a private business group announced it would try to buy 1.5 million vaccine doses to help government efforts, though it was unclear how it might obtain them. In March, authorities in Mexico seized 5,700 doses of purported Russian vaccines found in false bottoms of ice chests aboard a private plane bound for Honduras. The company owner who chartered the plane said he was trying to obtain vaccines for his employees and their families. The vaccine’s Russian distributor said the vaccines were fake.Lilian Tilbeth Hernández Banegas, 46, was infected with COVID-19 in late November and spent 13 days in a Tegucigalpa hospital. The first days she struggled to breathe and thought she would die.The experience has made the mother of three more anxious about the virus and more diligent about avoiding it. The pandemic rocked her family’s finances. Her husband sells used cars but has not made a sale in more than four months.“I want to vaccinate myself, my family to be vaccinated, because my husband and my children go out to work, but it’s frustrating that the vaccines don’t arrive,” Hernández said.There is plenty of blame to go around, said Marco Tulio Medina, coordinator of the COVID-19 committee at the National Autonomous University of Honduras, noting his own government’s lackadaisical approach and the ferocity of the vaccine marketplace. But the wealthy can do more.“There’s a lack of humanism on the part of the rich countries,” he said. “They’re acting in an egotistical way, thinking of themselves and not of the world.”
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Canada’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday that U.S.-based descendants of the Sinixt Indigenous nation maintained ancestral land rights in Canada, a landmark decision that opens the door to other groups with similar ties to assert their rights on matters from hunting to environmental concerns.The ruling means any U.S.-based Indigenous group whose ancestors lived in Canada before first contact with Europeans could claim rights laid out in Canada’s constitution.The case was brought by Rick Desautel, a Sinixt descendant who lives in Washington state. In 2010, he shot an elk without a hunting license on traditional Sinixt lands in British Columbia, intending to force the question of whether his ancestral ties would be recognized across the border.Canada’s constitution guarantees the right of Indigenous people to hunt in their traditional lands.In 1956, Canada declared the Sinixt “extinct” because members of the nation had either died or were no longer living in the country.Rodney Cawston, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington state, whose members trace their lineage back to the Sinixt in Canada, said the ruling validated what they had always known — that the Sinixt were not extinct.”What’s most important to me is that our future generations will be able to go up into Canada and receive that recognition and respect as a Canadian First Nation,” he said.The court said the Canadian government may also have to consult U.S.-based Indigenous peoples with ties to Canada when they reach out to domestic-based Indigenous groups on issues — although the court specified the onus was on U.S. groups to make the Canadian government aware of their potential claim.The ruling “will have a huge effect,” said Bruce McIvor, a Vancouver lawyer who intervened in the case on behalf of the Indigenous Bar Association.”The border is the ultimate symbol of colonization for Indigenous people,” McIvor said. It has divided families and territories, he said, adding that Friday’s ruling means their rights “can’t simply be wiped away” by an imposed border.Canada’s government is “reviewing the decision, analyzing impacts and next steps,” a spokesperson for the ministry of Indigenous Relations said.Federal prosecutors argued the Sinixt were not protected by the rights in Canada’s constitution because they no longer were present in the country.But the Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts and dismissed the federal appeal, ruling that as long as a nation could prove ties to the land from before first contact with Europeans, they did not have to consistently use that land for their rights to apply.Refusing rights to Indigenous people who were forced to leave Canada “would risk perpetuating the historical injustice suffered by Aboriginal peoples at the hands of Europeans,” the court said.Desautel said he was inspired to pursue the court claim after visiting his ancestors’ land in British Columbia, where he was told that the Sinixt people were extinct.”There’s a plaque right over there that says you’re extinct,” he said. “That’s crazy. No, I’m not.”Desautel said he felt “relieved and jubilation” at the ruling and looked forward to a family gathering later Friday to celebrate.”It’s a long time coming,” he added.   
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U.S. President Joe Biden joined business and union leaders Friday in touting the economic benefits of addressing global warming when he delivered remarks from the White House on the last day of a two-day virtual climate change summit.“When we invest in climate resilience and infrastructure, we create opportunities for everyone,” Biden said.Biden’s remarks at a session on the “economic opportunities of climate action” came one day after he announced a new goal of cutting U.S. greenhouse gas pollution by 50-52% by 2030.Biden’s commitment is the most ambitious U.S. climate goal ever, nearly doubling the cuts the Obama administration pledged to meet in the Paris climate accord.The White House arranged for billionaires, CEOs and union executives to help promote Biden’s plan to reduce the U.S. economy’s reliance on fossil fuels by investing trillions of dollars in clean-energy technology, research and infrastructure while simultaneously saving the planet.Billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared “We can’t beat climate change without a historic amount of new investment,” adding “We have to do more, faster to cut emissions.”Biden climate change envoy John Kerry emphasized Biden’s call for modernizing U.S. infrastructure to operate more cleanly, maintaining it would provide long-term benefits for the U.S. economy. “No one is being asked for a sacrifice,” Kerry said. “This is an opportunity.”John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, looks up at a video screen while participating in a virtual Climate Summit with world leaders in the East Room at the White House in Washington, April 22, 2021.Leaders from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Spain, Nigeria and Vietnam are also participating in Friday’s session, along with representatives from the U.S. transportation, energy and commerce departments.The U.S. target is relative to 2005 levels and the White House says efforts to reach it, include moving toward carbon pollution-free electricity, boosting fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, supporting carbon capture at industrial facilities and reducing the use of methane.   U.S. allies have also vowed to cut emissions, aiming to convince other countries to follow suit ahead of the November U.N. climate change summit in Glasgow, where governments will determine the extent of each country’s reductions in fossil fuel emissions.Japan announced new plans to cut emissions by 46%, while South Korea said it would halt the investment of public funding of new coal-fired power plants. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would increase its cuts in fossil fuel pollution by about 10% to at least 40%.President Joe Biden speaks to the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate, from the East Room of the White House, April 23, 2021, in Washington.The two-day summit is part of Biden’s efforts to restore U.S. leadership on the issue after his predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew the United States from the legally binding Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2017. Biden reversed the decision shortly after taking office.  There is skepticism about the commitment announced Thursday by Biden and there is certain to be a partisan political battle over his pledge to reduce fossil fuel use in every sector of the U.S. economy.    Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 9 MB480p | 12 MB540p | 16 MB720p | 32 MB1080p | 62 MBOriginal | 80 MB Embed” />Copy Download Audio“Toothless requests of our foreign adversaries and maximum pain for American citizens,” reacted the top Republican party leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, calling Biden’s climate plan full of “misplaced priorities.” World leaders agreed to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius in the 2015 U.N. Paris climate agreement and to aim for 1.5 degrees Celsius.   Averaged over the entire globe, temperatures have increased more than 1.1 degree Celsius since 1980. Scientists link the increase to more severe heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms and other impacts. And they note that the rate of temperature rise has accelerated since the 1980s.     
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U.S. President Joe Biden praised world leaders for coming together on climate change and urged them to make good on promises as he closed a virtual climate change summit hosted from the White House.“The commitments we’ve made must become real,” Biden said Friday on the last day of the two-day summit that involved 40 world leaders.Biden pledged during the summit to cut U.S. greenhouse gas pollution by 50-52% by 2030. Japan and Canada also raised climate commitments during the summit while the European Union and Britain announced stronger climate targets earlier this week.John Kerry, Biden’s climate envoy, said that more than half the world’s economy has now pledged action to stop warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a goal set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.Kerry said Biden’s call for modernizing U.S. infrastructure to operate more cleanly would provide long-term benefits for the U.S. economy. “No one is being asked for a sacrifice,” Kerry said. “This is an opportunity.”Biden’s commitment is the most ambitious U.S. climate goal ever, nearly doubling the cuts the Obama administration pledged to meet in the Paris climate accord.The White House arranged for billionaires, CEOs and union executives to help promote Biden’s plan to reduce the U.S. economy’s reliance on fossil fuels by investing trillions of dollars in clean-energy technology, research and infrastructure while simultaneously saving the planet.Billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared Friday, “We can’t beat climate change without a historic amount of new investment,” adding “We have to do more, faster to cut emissions.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 9 MB480p | 12 MB540p | 16 MB720p | 32 MB1080p | 62 MBOriginal | 80 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioLeaders from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Spain, Nigeria and Vietnam participated in Friday’s session, along with representatives from the U.S. transportation, energy and commerce departments.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said hundreds of Israeli start-ups are working to improve battery storage for renewable energy.Denmark’s Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, renewed her government’s pledge to end oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.The new U.S. target for greenhouse gas pollution is relative to 2005 levels and the White House says efforts to reach them include moving toward carbon pollution-free electricity, boosting fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, supporting carbon capture at industrial facilities and reducing the use of methane. U.S. allies have also vowed to cut emissions, aiming to convince other countries to follow suit ahead of the November U.N. climate change summit in Glasgow, where governments will determine the extent of each country’s reductions in fossil fuel emissions.Japan announced new plans to cut emissions by 46%, while South Korea said it would halt public funding of new coal-fired power plants. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would increase its cuts in fossil fuel pollution by about 10% to at least 40%.The two-day summit was part of Biden’s efforts to restore U.S. leadership on the issue after his predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew the United States from the legally binding Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2017. Biden reversed the decision shortly after taking office.There is skepticism about the commitment announced Thursday by Biden and there is certain to be a partisan political battle over his pledge to reduce fossil fuel use in every sector of the U.S. economy.“Toothless requests of our foreign adversaries and maximum pain for American citizens,” reacted the top Republican party leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, calling Biden’s climate plan full of “misplaced priorities.”World leaders agreed to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius in the 2015 U.N. Paris climate agreement and to aim for 1.5 degrees Celsius.Averaged over the entire globe, temperatures have increased more than 1.1 degree Celsius since 1980. Scientists link the increase to more severe heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms and other impacts. And they note that the rate of temperature rise has accelerated since the 1980s.
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U.S. President Joe Biden joined business and union leaders Friday in touting the economic benefits of addressing global warming when he delivered remarks from the White House on the last day of a two-day virtual climate change summit.“When we invest in climate resilience and infrastructure, we create opportunities for everyone,” Biden said. Biden’s remarks at a session on the “economic opportunities of climate action” came one day after he announced a new goal of cutting U.S. greenhouse gas pollution by 50-52% by 2030.Biden’s commitment is the most ambitious U.S. climate goal ever, nearly doubling the cuts the Obama administration pledged to meet in the Paris climate accord.The White House arranged for billionaires, CEOs and union executives to help promote Biden’s plan to reduce the U.S. economy’s reliance on fossil fuels by investing trillions of dollars in clean-energy technology, research and infrastructure while simultaneously saving the planet.Billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared “We can’t beat climate change without a historic amount of new investment,” adding “We have to do more, faster to cut emissions.” Biden climate change envoy John Kerry emphasized Biden’s call for modernizing U.S. infrastructure to operate more cleanly, maintaining it would provide long-term benefits for the U.S. economy. “No one is being asked for a sacrifice,” Kerry said. “This is an opportunity.”John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, looks up at a video screen while participating in a virtual Climate Summit with world leaders in the East Room at the White House in Washington, April 22, 2021.Leaders from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Spain, Nigeria and Vietnam are also participating in Friday’s session, along with representatives from the U.S. transportation, energy and commerce departments.The U.S. target is relative to 2005 levels and the White House says efforts to reach it, include moving toward carbon pollution-free electricity, boosting fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, supporting carbon capture at industrial facilities and reducing the use of methane.   U.S. allies have also vowed to cut emissions, aiming to convince other countries to follow suit ahead of the November U.N. climate change summit in Glasgow, where governments will determine the extent of each country’s reductions in fossil fuel emissions. Japan announced new plans to cut emissions by 46%, while South Korea said it would halt the investment of public funding of new coal-fired power plants. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would increase its cuts in fossil fuel pollution by about 10% to at least 40%.President Joe Biden speaks to the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate, from the East Room of the White House, April 23, 2021, in Washington.The two-day summit is part of Biden’s efforts to restore U.S. leadership on the issue after his predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew the United States from the legally binding Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2017. Biden reversed the decision shortly after taking office.  There is skepticism about the commitment announced Thursday by Biden and there is certain to be a partisan political battle over his pledge to reduce fossil fuel use in every sector of the U.S. economy.     “Toothless requests of our foreign adversaries and maximum pain for American citizens,” reacted the top Republican party leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, calling Biden’s climate plan full of “misplaced priorities.” World leaders agreed to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius in the 2015 U.N. Paris climate agreement and to aim for 1.5 degrees Celsius.    Averaged over the entire globe, temperatures have increased more than 1.1 degree Celsius since 1980. Scientists link the increase to more severe heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms and other impacts. And they note that the rate of temperature rise has accelerated since the 1980s.     
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The White House brought out the billionaires, the CEOs and the union executives Friday to help sell President Joe Biden’s vision of a climate-friendly transformation of the U.S. economy at his virtual summit of world leaders.The closing day of the two-day summit on climate change showcased Bill Gates and Mike Bloomberg, steelworker and electrical union leaders and executives for solar and other renewable energy, all arguing that pouring money now into emerging technology and efficient transport and electric systems will pay off in jobs and wealth long-term.Presidents and prime ministers from around the world joined in to describe their own investments and commitments to break away from reliance on climate-damaging petroleum and coal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking virtually like the dozens of other participating international officials, described scientists at hundreds of Israeli start-ups working hard to improve crucial battery storage for solar, wind and other renewable energy.President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta described Kenya leapfrogging its economy from coal, kerosene and wood fires to a leading user and producer of geothermal and wind.Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen renewed Denmark’s pledge to end oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, switching from offshore oil and gas rigs to wind farms.Bloomberg spoke from the U.S., declaring, “We can’t beat climate change without a historic amount of new investment.”“We have to do more, faster to cut emissions,” said Bloomberg, who’s donated millions to promote replacing dirty-burning coal-fired power plants with increasingly cheaper renewable energy.John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, looks up at a video screen while participating in a virtual Climate Summit with world leaders in the East Room at the White House in Washington, April 22, 2021. Biden envoy John Kerry stressed the political selling point that the president’s call for retrofitting creaky U.S. infrastructure to run more cleanly would put the U.S. on a better economic footing long-term. “No one is being asked for a sacrifice,” Kerry said. “This is an opportunity.”It’s all in service of an argument U.S. officials say will make or break Biden’s climate agenda: Pouring trillions of dollars into clean-energy technology, research and infrastructure will speed a competitive U.S. economy into the future and create jobs, while saving the planet.Republicans are sticking to the arguments that former President Donald Trump made in pulling the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris climate accord. They point to China as the world’s worst climate polluter — the U.S. is No. 2 — and say any transition to clean energy hurts American oil, natural gas and coal workers.FILE – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., turns to an aide at the Capitol in Washington. It means “putting good-paying American jobs into the shredder,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor Thursday in a speech in which he dismissed the administration’s plans as costly and ineffective.“This is quite the one-two punch,” McConnell said. “Toothless requests of our foreign adversaries … and maximum pain for American citizens.”Much of the proposed spending to address climate change is included in Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure bill, which would pay for new roads, safe bridges and reliable public transit, while boosting electric vehicles, clean drinking water and investments in clean energy such as solar and wind power.Biden’s plan faces a steep road in the closely divided Senate, where Republicans led by McConnell have objected.The White House says administration officials will continue to reach out to Republicans and will remind them that the proposal’s ideas are already widely popular with Americans of all political persuasions.The urgency comes as scientists say that climate change caused by coal plants, car engines and other fossil fuel use is worsening droughts, floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters and that humans are running out of time to stave off catastrophic extremes of global warming.The event has featured the world’s major powers — and major polluters — pledging to cooperate on cutting petroleum and coal emissions that are rapidly warming the planet.In an announcement timed to his summit, Biden pledged the U.S. will cut fossil fuel emissions as much as 52% by 2030.Allies joined the U.S. in announcing new moves to cut emissions. That’s ahead of November’s U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, where governments will say how far each is willing to go to cut the amount of fossil fuel fumes it pumps out.Japan announced its own new 46% emissions reduction target, and South Korea said it would stop public financing of new coal-fired power plants, potentially an important step toward persuading China and other coal-reliant nations to curb the building and funding of new ones as well. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his nation would boost its fossil fuel pollution cuts from 30% to at least 40%.President Joe Biden speaks to the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate, from the East Room of the White House, April 23, 2021, in Washington. Biden was scheduled to address the summit Friday at a session on the “economic opportunities of climate action.”Biden’s new goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 52% from 2005 levels, announced Thursday at the summit, puts the United States among the four most ambitious nations in curbing climate change, the Rhodium Group, an independent research organization, announced overnight.Different nations use different base years for their emission cuts so comparisons are difficult and can look different based on baseline years. The Rhodium Group said using the U.S.-preferred 2005 baseline, America is in the top four, behind the United Kingdom but right with the European Union. It’s ahead of a “second tier” of countries that include Canada, Japan, Iceland and Norway.The Biden administration’s pledge would require by far the most ambitious U.S. climate effort ever, nearly doubling the reductions that the Obama administration had committed to in the Paris climate accord. 
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Three of seven Catholic clergy who were kidnapped in Haiti earlier this month have been released, a church spokesman told AFP on Thursday, as the island nation grapples with a rise in violence and an ongoing political crisis.A total of 10 people were abducted in Croix-des-Bouquets, a town northeast of the capital Port-au-Prince, in mid-April, including the seven clergy — five of them Haitian, as well as two French citizens, a priest and a nun.Father Loudger Mazile, spokesman for the Bishop’s Conference for the island nation, said “the French were not released. There were no lay people among those released.””Three of the seven clergy kidnapped on April 11 were released,” he told AFP.Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is plagued by insecurity and natural disaster.Kidnappings for ransom have surged in recent months in Port-au-Prince and other provinces, reflecting the growing influence of armed gangs in the Caribbean nation.Haiti’s government resigned and a new prime minister was appointed in the wake of the clergy kidnappings, a move President Jovenel Moise said “will make it possible to address the glaring problem of insecurity and continue discussions with a view to reaching the consensus necessary for the political and institutional stability of our country.”The kidnapped victims were “on their way to the installation of a new parish priest” when they were abducted, Mazile had previously told AFP, with the kidnappers demanding a $1 million ransom for the group.Authorities suspect an armed gang called “400 Mawozo” — which is active in kidnappings — is behind the abduction, according to a police source.
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Drought conditions now cover 85% of Mexico, and residents of the nation’s central region said Thursday that lakes and reservoirs are simply drying up, including the country’s second-largest body of fresh water.The mayor of Mexico City said the drought was the worst in 30 years, and the problem can be seen at the reservoirs that store water from other states to supply the capital.Some of them, like the Villa Victoria reservoir west of the capital, are at one-third of their normal capacity, with a month and a half to go before any significant rain is expected.Isais Salgado, 60, was trying to fill his water tank truck at Villa Victoria, a task that normally takes him just half an hour. On Thursday he estimated it was taking 3½ hours to pump water into his 10,000-liter tanker.”The reservoir is drying up,” Salgado said. “If they keep pumping water out, by May it will be completely dry, and the fish will die.”Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said that as the drought worsened, more people tended to water their lawns and gardens, which worsens the problem.The capital’s 9 million inhabitants rely on reservoirs such as Villa Victoria and two others — which together are at about 44% capacity — for a quarter of their water; most of the rest comes from wells within city limits. But the city’s own water table is dropping, and leaky pipes waste much of what is brought into the city.Rogelio Angeles Hernandez, 61, has been fishing the waters of Villa Victoria for the past 30 years. He isn’t so much worried about his own catch; in past dry seasons, residents could cart fish off in wheelbarrows as water levels receded.But tourism at reservoirs, such as Valle de Bravo further to the west, has been hit by falling water levels.In the end, it is the capital that is really going to suffer.”Fishing is the same, but the real impact will be on the people in Mexico City, who are going to get less water,” Angeles Hernandez said.Further to the west, in Michoacan state, the country is at risk of losing its second-largest lake, Lake Cuitzeo, where about 70% of the lake bed is now dry. The main culprit is drought, but residents say that roads built across the shallow lake and diversion of water for human use have also played a role.Michoacan Governor Silvano Aureoles said so much of the lake has dried up that shoreline communities now suffer dust storms. He said communities might have to start planting vegetation on the lake bed to prevent them.In a petition to the government, residents of communities around the lake said only six of 19 fish species once present in Cuitzeo now remain. They said the dust storms had caused tens of thousands of respiratory and intestinal infections among residents.
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A group of Haitian protesters is using Vodou and a battle tactic inspired by a Bible passage to get President Jovenel Moise to step down.About 20 demonstrators circled Haiti’s national palace seven times around midday Wednesday, a tactic taken from a Bible passage that was used by the Israelites to eliminate their first major obstacle on their path to the Promised Land — the fortified city of Jericho.In the Bible passage, the Israelites walked around the walls of Jericho once a day for six days and seven times on the seventh day, then shouted, causing the walls to come tumbling down.Haitian protest organizer Etzer Jean Louis explained why he took this tactic.“It represents seven tours of deliverance. Seven tours that broke the walls of Jericho. Seven tours that will eliminate the mafia (gangs). Seven tours that will eliminate the criminals (holding us hostage). Today, you can already see the miracles these seven tours have made happen,” he told VOA, without citing any examples.Vodou symbols were also drawn using a white substance on a street near the presidential palace. A bundle of firewood was placed to the side and then set on fire, as protesters standing in a circle watched.Haitian protesters used Voodoo and a battle tactic taken from the Bible to get president Jovenel Moïse to step down. #Haitipic.twitter.com/V7E5zbPGYM— Sandra Lemaire (@SandraDVOA) April 21, 2021“God will strike them down so the Haitian people can breathe freely. COVID-19 has not stricken us down, but we are struggling, nonetheless. We are climbing up a steep hill,” Jean Louis said. “Haiti must be liberated. And to make that happen, the first thing is to get Jovenel Moise out. We won’t back down.”Moise said he will step down when his term expires February 7, 2022. The international community supports that stance but urged him to organize legislative and presidential elections as soon as possible. A constitutional referendum is planned for June 27, followed by legislative and presidential elections in September and November.A spike in kidnappings during the past month has terrorized Haitians and threatens to derail the electoral process. Gangs are currently holding five Catholic priests, two nuns and three relatives of a priest they kidnapped on April 11. The abduction sparked national and international outrage and prompted condemnation from the religious sector.The Catholic Church called for a three-day closure this week of all its institutions, including schools across Haiti.VOA Creole’s reporter on the scene said the president’s motorcade arrived at the national palace as protesters were making their third round. National palace guards were in position outside the gates, preventing them from interacting with Moise.On their fourth circle around the palace, police fired tear gas to disperse them. Although some of the protesters ran away, the majority remained to finish as planned.Opposition politician Abel Loreston. (VOA/Renan Toussaint)It’s not the first time protesters have used this tactic to effect change, according to anti-corruption activist Reginald Dume.“On April 7, we circled the palace seven times, so today’s seven tours (and the seven tours we made in March) will make it 21 tours of the palace in total,” Dume told VOA. The activist said he also joined the protest to show support for the abductees.“We’re out here in a show of solidarity with all priests and nuns who are being subjected to a series of acts that people should never be subjected to. It’s important for the Haitian people to know we don’t have a choice. We should show the world that we are dignified people and continue mobilizing against the government,” Dume said.Opposition politician Abel Loreston, who participated in the protest, said progress has been made.“We’re advancing, we’re fighting against state-sanctioned kidnappings, planned acts of violence, human rights violations. Too much blood has been shed, too many people have died. The nation can’t take it anymore,” said Loreston, who spoke to VOA during his fourth march around the national palace.Moise denies having ties to gang members and has taken measures to shore up security in the capital.During a national speech in March, he warned kidnappers that they would be hunted down and severely punished. An anti-kidnapping cell has been established within the national police force, and a state of emergency has been declared in neighborhoods where gangs are most active, the president announced. Despite these measures, the kidnappings continue.A protester who declined to give his name said they know it won’t be an easy fight.“We knew the battle against Jovenel Moise and the PHTK (ruling party) wouldn’t be easy. But we can’t get discouraged. We must continue fighting. When you’re at war, you may not know how long the battle will last, but we will fight until we get a victory,” he said.“Everyone should find what is happening (in Haiti) today revolting,” Dume said.
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Residents of small communities living around Guatemala’s Pacaya volcano wake each day wondering if the lava will reach their homes.A lava flow descending the volcano has advanced between El Patrocinio and San José el Rodeo. In the case of the latter, the lava has advanced to within two and a half blocks of the outermost homes.Emma Quezada, a 38-year-old homemaker in one of those houses, has lived there her entire life and said she’s used to the volcanic activity. Still, this time she’s afraid.”These last three days the lava stopped; we hope it stays there,” Quezada said.Local authorities had spoken to residents about moving the community to another location about 100 kilometers away, but without the space they have now, she said.”As if you’re going to go from here to a little piece of land!” she said. “Maybe we don’t have a great thing here, but we live in blessed peace. We don’t face any other danger, not even thieves. … The options they give you don’t compare with what we have here.”The Pacaya volcano rises about 2,552 meters between the departments of Guatemala and Escuintla south of the capital. It’s a popular tourist destination, and 21 communities surround it.In early February, a chasm opened in one of the volcano’s flanks, and lava began to flow. It now stretches at least 5 kilometers. Meanwhile, ash and gases spewed from its crater.Even if the lava doesn’t reach their homes, the ash has damaged their corn crops and the pastures where their cows graze.El Rodeo is home to 57 families, about 350 people, said Juventino Pineda, president of the Urban and Rural Development Community Council.Pineda, 67, can recall various eruptions during his lifetime. “One of the worst was 1962. I was a child, and lava also came out of a fissure in the volcano. That time it was 20 kilometers of lava,” he said.This time, Pineda said, “we believe that at least 50% of the homes in the community would be destroyed because of the lava’s path.” There is an evacuation plan if the situation worsens.”At night, when the volcano erupts, everything turns red, everything shines. It looks like day,” he said.Near the lava, the ambient temperature rises, and there’s a light sulfur smell. A crunching can be heard.”It’s important to know that we need help. Maybe someone can help us on the international level,” Pineda said.
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Catholic institutions including schools and universities closed Wednesday across Haiti in a three-day protest to demand the release of five priests, two nuns and two other people kidnapped more than a week ago amid a spike in violence that the government is struggling to control.Catholic officials also organized Masses to pray for those kidnapped — at least two of whom are French — as they tolled the bells at noon at St. Pierre church in Pétionville, where hundreds gathered to show their support.”No one is safe,” said 65-year-old Margaret Jean Louis. “I’m hoping the people kidnapped will make it out safely.”The April 11 kidnapping of the priests, nuns and three relatives of one of the priests in the capital of Port-au-Prince is one of the most shocking recent abductions in Haiti, which saw a 200% increase in kidnappings last year, according to the United Nations.Those kidnapped were identified as nuns Anne-Marie Dorcelus and Agnès Bordeau, priests Michel Briand, Evens Joseph, Jean-Nicaise Millien, Joël Thomas and Hugues Baptiste and three relatives of another priest. Briand was identified as French.One of the relatives was released because she was sick, according to a radio interview broadcast on Monday of a man who claimed to be the leader of the kidnap gang.The man, who identified himself as Lanmò San Jou of the 400 Mawozo gang, told Radio Mega that the French nationals are among the most important hostages: “If Haiti is like this, it’s because of the French.”Haiti won independence in 1804 from France, which demanded huge indemnity payments.The alleged gang leader said he wants restitution from France and that he would stop feeding the people he kidnapped. He declined to say how much ransom he was seeking.Church officials who organized the shutdown said Masses would be held on Wednesday and Thursday and that on Friday, church bells across Haiti would toll for the victims.”We, the Catholic bishops of Haiti, see with great sorrow that there has been no change in the situation of our brothers and sisters in the hands of the bandits,” the Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a Tuesday statement. “Ten days in the hands of kidnappers is too much.”One of the kidnapped priests had been working as a missionary in Haiti since 1985 and was assaulted and shot a couple of years ago, the Rev. Paul Dossous, superior general of the Society of Priests of Saint-Jacques, told Paris-based Franceinfo in an interview published last week.He said church authorities try to stay in touch with the kidnappers as much as possible, and that while he worries about those kidnapped because some of them are sick, he doesn’t foresee canceling any missions: “We are not men to run away from a situation, no, even if we are afraid anyway because we’re human.” 
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The prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines appealed for international help Tuesday as the Caribbean island nation begins to tackle the daunting cleanup from a series of volcanic eruptions that have not stopped. ”The lives and livelihoods of our people have been terribly affected,” Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves told reporters in a video press conference. ”We are in a dire situation, frankly.” About 20,000 people were evacuated from the area nearest to La Soufrière volcano on the north side of St. Vincent after it began erupting on April 9 for the first time in 42 years. The island nation has a population of about 110,000. In some areas, ash is a meter deep, and it has given the normally green and lush island an apocalyptic appearance. No one was killed in the eruptions, which the prime minister said have spewed more than 100 million cubic meters of ash on the island and into the sea, and has been carried as far away as India. But damage has been extensive to agriculture, homes and the island’s tourism industry.”The humanitarian relief for the prolonged period is going to be huge,” Gonsalves said. “The cost is massive, no question about that, before we reach reconstruction.”He estimates that rebuilding will run to the hundreds of millions of dollars.The United Nations launched a humanitarian appeal for $29.2 million on Tuesday to assist the most vulnerable with basic needs, including clean water, food and shelter, as well as to help initiate recovery. Last Thursday, the United Nations released $1 million from its emergency fund to help with urgent needs.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 18 MB480p | 25 MB540p | 33 MB720p | 72 MB1080p | 134 MBOriginal | 778 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioUnited Nations Barbados and Eastern Caribbean visit the volcano Red Zone in St. Vincent. (Video courtesy of United Nations)The world body is also deploying a team of a dozen experts this week to work with the government to assess what is needed to clean up and safely dispose of the massive amounts of ash, as well as to evaluate the ecological impact, Didier Trebucq, U.N. resident coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, said.Trebucq added that there is still a lot of uncertainty as eruptions continue.”We felt a tremor this morning,” he told reporters. “Two days ago, we could see another eruption.”Gonsalves said when La Soufrière last erupted in 1979, it did so over a period of about seven months. Prior to that, in 1902, it went on even longer.But should the volcano cease erupting sooner, the island nation will not be entirely at ease. Hurricane season starts in six weeks, and this year, it is forecast to be very active.
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The U.N. World Food Program says it has reached a deal with the Venezuelan government to provide daily school meals to 185,000 of the country’s most vulnerable children by the end of the year.The deal was sealed with a handshake by WFP Director David Beasley and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Monday in the capital, Caracas. The school feeding program initially will take place in areas where food shortages are most severe.But, WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri says his agency aims to expand the operation over the coming two years to reach 1.5 million students, who often miss out on meals during the day. He says the operation will be conducted without state interference.“Our school meals program will be independent and separate from the national social protection programs,” said Phiri. “In Venezuela and across the world, WFP’s operations follow the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and operational independence.”Past efforts by WFP to provide food assistance to Venezuela’s hungry have been rebuffed. Opposition critics have accused the government of wanting to control aid distribution and using it as a political tool, a claim denied by Maduro.In finalizing the agreement, WFP Director Beasley thanked Maduro for allowing his agency to be independent and free of politicization.Venezuela has been in economic free-fall for years. The United Nations reports 5.6 million people have fled the country because of political repression and economic hardship.A World Food Program assessment of conditions in the country finds one in three Venezuelans are food insecure and in need of assistance. This includes 2.3 million people who are severely food insecure and do not know from where their next meal is coming.
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Peru began new nationwide restrictions for one month Monday, a day after reaching a new record of COVID-19 deaths. The country’s health ministry registered 433 COVID-19 related deaths on Sunday, following a steady increase in deaths this month. Under the new government order, residents cannot use private vehicles on Sunday, but public transportation will be available. The order also places limits on the size of gatherings and the mandatory social curfew accordance comes with threat alert levels, beginning with moderate, high, very high, and extreme risk.  The capital, Lima, is listed at the extreme risk level, meaning residents are prohibited from going outside on Sundays, the state run Andina News Agency reported. The curfew hours vary based on levels set for social curfew from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., and to 4:00 a.m. from Mondays through Sundays. People performing essential duties, such as healthcare workers, supermarket workers and financial services are exempt. Under new international travel restrictions through May 9, non-resident foreigners from the United Kingdom, South Africa, or Brazil, or those who have made a stopover in any of said places during the last 14 calendar days are prohibited from entering the country. The decree also extends the national state of emergency for 31 days (about one month), beginning May 1. Peru has one of the highest COVID-19 totals in Latin America, with more than 1,697,000 cases and 56,797 deaths, according to Johns Hopkin University Covid Resource Center. 
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Cuba’s president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, will become the leader of country’s communist party, two days after Raul Castro said he was retiring from the position.  The announcement was made on Monday, making it the second time Miguel Diaz-Canel has followed in the footsteps of Raul Castro. The first time as president and now with more influential position of becoming the leader of the party. Diaz-Canel, 60, took over the presidency from his mentor, Raul Castro, in 2018. But during Castro’s retirement speech, part of which was televised, Castro fell short of announcing who would succeed him as party leader. Diaz-Canel, who turns 61 Tuesday, has begun to open the state-dominated economy, something that many young Cubans support.Cuban President Diaz-Canel made Communist Party leader, ending Castro era, April 19, 2021.His appointment ends the rule of the Castros but hardly their influence. The Castros led a revolution that overthrew the authoritarian rule of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. The Cuban Communist Party was formed six years after with Fedel Castron, Rau’s older brother, as its leader. Fidel Castro held the country under his tight control until his health forced him to cede the presidency to Raul in 2006. In 2011, Fidel Castro handed over the leadership of the communist party to his younger brother to continue their legacy. Four years later, in 2016, Castro died. Although he was born a year after the revolution, Diaz-Canel has always been in the shadow of the Castros. He was appointed a minister of higher education in 2009, rose through the ranks until his appointment in 2012 as first vice president. Diaz-Canel, a one-time youth non-conformist is an engineer by profession but has mostly been a politician who worked his way to the top. 
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