Iran and Venezuela have managed to maintain their commercial relationship, despite U.S. sanctions. Cristina Caicedo Smit reports.
 
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Honduran Foreign Minister Lisandro Rosales will lead a delegation to Washington on Friday to seek economic help following two devastating hurricanes that have contributed to increased immigration, Honduran government officials said.Hurricanes Eta and Iota, which struck Honduras two weeks apart around November, flooded vast areas, destroyed homes and caused about $1.8 billion in damages, affecting some 4 million people, Honduran officials said.Rosales’ trip to Washington will focus on aid to address the root causes of immigration, such as the coronavirus pandemic and the hurricanes that have exacerbated poverty, a Honduran presidency source said.”Honduras has raised with U.S. officials the need for help for national reconstruction, especially in areas severely affected by hurricanes Eta and Iota,” the source added.Carlos Madero, the Honduran government’s cabinet coordinator and a member of the delegation, confirmed the trip was due to take place this week, saying “we will have meetings with high-ranking members of the State Department.”The presidency and foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment. The White House and the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are known as the Northern Triangle of Central America. Surging immigration from the region is a major challenge for U.S. President Joe Biden’s new administration.Rosales’ trip to Washington follows a visit this week by U.S. special envoy for the Northern Triangle, Ricardo Zuñiga, to Guatemala and El Salvador — but not Honduras.Zuñiga’s trip has not yielded any major new aid pledges, though he said on Wednesday that the United States would provide $2 million to support anti-corruption efforts in El Salvador.On Tuesday, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced it will deploy a disaster response team to the Northern Triangle to address urgent needs of disaster victims but did not mention funding beyond the $112 million previously announced since the storms.Relations between Washington and Honduras have been strained after a U.S. court handed down a life sentence for drug trafficking to the brother of President Juan Orlando Hernandez, whose government has also been accused of embezzling public funds. The government has denied wrongdoing.
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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Wednesday defended the 2013 ruling that freed one of the drug lords most wanted by U.S. authorities, even though Mexico’s Supreme Court later ruled it was a mistake.Rafael Caro Quintero walked free while serving a 40-year sentence for the torture-murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985 and has since apparently resumed his role as a violent drug trafficker.Caro Quintero is at the top of the DEA’s Most Wanted list, with a $20 million reward for his capture.López Obrador said Wednesday the legal appeal that led to Caro Quintero’s release was “justified” because supposedly no verdict had been handed down against the drug lord after 27 years in jail. López Obrador also depicted a later warrant for his re-arrest as an example of U.S. pressure.”Once he was out, they had to look for him again, because the United States demanded he shouldn’t have been released, but legally the appeal was justified,” López Obrador said.Presidential spokesperson Jesús Ramírez said, “The president was just saying that it was a legal aberration that the judge had not issued a verdict on Mr. Caro Quintero after 27 years … but he was not defending his release.”There was a verdict, but a Mexican appeals court initially decided it had come from the wrong judge.In August 2013, the appeals court overturned Caro Quintero’s 40-year sentence in the killing of Camarena and a Mexican government pilot. The panel argued a state court should have overseen the case, not a federal one, and ordered his immediate release from a maximum-security prison.Mexico’s Supreme Court annulled the order releasing him months later, saying Camarena was a registered U.S. government agent and therefore his killing was a federal crime and had been properly tried. An arrest warrant was issued for Caro Quintero, who has been in hiding since his release.His late-night release angered the U.S. government and surprised Mexican prosecutors, who weren’t notified until hours after it took place.The issue is a thorny one for López Obrador, who has publicly stated that the Mexican government is no longer interested in detaining drug lords. In 2019, López Obrador ordered the release of Ovidio Guzman, a son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman, to avoid bloodshed.Even if the president was misinformed about why Caro Quintero was released in 2013, more than five years before he took office, it seems to illustrate how little importance the case — or the search for the drug lord — apparently has for the Mexican government, even while it remains a top priority for the United States.Since his release, Caro Quintero has reportedly established alliances with other cartels and has established an operation in the northern state of Sonora, reputedly to wrest territory from Guzman’s sons and the Sinaloa cartel.
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Haiti does not have a single vaccine to offer its more than 11 million people over a year after the pandemic began, raising concerns among health experts that the well-being of Haitians is being pushed aside as violence and political instability across the country deepen.So far, Haiti is slated to receive only 756,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through a United Nations program aimed at ensuring the neediest countries get COVID-19 shots. The free doses were scheduled to arrive in May at the latest, but delays are expected because Haiti missed a deadline and the key Indian manufacturer is now prioritizing an increase in domestic demand.
“Haiti has only recently completed some of the essential documentation that are prerequisites for processing of a shipping order,” said Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a Geneva-based public-private partnership that is co-managing the U.N.-backed COVAX effort.
The country also didn’t apply for a pilot program in which it would have received some of its allotted doses early, according to the Pan American Health Organization. However, a spokeswoman commended its other pandemic efforts, including reinforcing hospital preparedness.
Meanwhile, a human rights research center cited in a new U.S. State Department report found Haiti’s government misappropriated more than $1 million worth of coronavirus aid. The report also accused government officials of spending $34 million in the “greatest opacity,” bypassing an agency charged with approving state contracts.
Lauré Adrien, general director of Haiti’s Health Ministry, blamed the vaccine delay on scrutiny of the AstraZeneca shots and concerns that the country lacks the necessary infrastructure to ensure proper vaccine storage, adding that his agency prefers a single-dose vaccine. AstraZeneca requires two doses.
“It’s no secret that we don’t have excellent conservation facilities,” he said. “We wanted to be sure that we had all the parameters under control before we received vaccine stocks.”
Adrien also noted all the money his agency received has been properly spent, but said he could not speak for other agencies. A presidential spokesman did not return calls for comment.
Many poorer countries have experienced long waits in getting COVAX vaccines as richer countries snapped up supplies, though most have received at least an initial shipment. Some took matters into their own hands, securing shots through donations and private deals.
Haiti’s lack of vaccines comes as it reports more than 12,700 cases and 250 deaths, numbers that experts believe are underreported.
Perceptions also remain a big challenge.In this March 14, 2020 file photo, boxes of rum are stacked as a duty free employee wears a mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic while working at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.While face masks remain mandatory at Haiti businesses, airport closures and curfews have long since been lifted, and other precautions are rare.
“People don’t really believe in the coronavirus,” said Esther Racine, a 26-year-old mother of two boys whose father died in the catastrophic 2010 earthquake.
Racine once worked as a maid but began selling face masks at the beginning of the pandemic, making brisk business with some 800 sales a month. Now, she barely sells 200.
“Look around,” she said, waving at a maskless crowd bustling around her in downtown Port-au-Prince. The only customers nowadays are those who need a mask to enter a nearby grocery store, she said, adding that Haitians have other problems on their mind: “People worry more about violence than the virus.”
Ongoing protests and a spike in kidnappings and gang-related killings have some wondering how any vaccine will be administered given the lack of stability coupled with a growing number of people afraid to leave their homes.
Many also fear being inoculated, despite educational campaigns. In addition, some officials have raised concern about the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has recently come under scrutiny in Europe after a very small number of people who received it developed unusual blood clots.
“We can receive the vaccine and then discover with a heavy heart that the stocks expired a couple of months later because no one wanted to be vaccinated,” Adrien said.
Among those in Haiti who say they will not be vaccinated is Dorcelus Perkin, a brick factory owner. On a recent morning, the 60-year-old supervised more than a dozen employees working outdoors. No one was wearing any personal protective equipment.
“We can’t wear masks in the sun. We would be suffocating,” he said, adding that the sun kills the virus, something scientists have not proven.
Perkin also credited drinking a traditional green tea mixed with salt every day for his good health: “I believe more in these remedies than the vaccines. I don’t know what’s in the inside of these vaccines.”
International groups are behind most of the resources and educational campaigns related to COVID-19 in Haiti, with the Pan American Health Organization providing the government 500 test kits, along with instruction on lab diagnosis and virus detection. It also supplied thermometers, PPE and other items including megaphones and batteries as workers fanned out into rural areas. In addition, PAHO trained more than 2,800 health workers in Haiti and met with community leaders including Voodoo priests and traditional birth attendants to share information about protective measures and treatment centers.
In May 2020, the organization’s director said she was particularly concerned about the effects of a potential large-scale outbreak given Haiti’s frail health care system and the fact that many live in overcrowded households and lack access to clean water. But perplexed experts say that anticipated outbreak has not happened.
“It’s a surprise to a lot of people,” said Aline Serin, head of mission in Haiti for the international aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres. “For the moment, there is not enough research and documentation to explain why some countries were less affected by severe COVID-19 cases.”
Meanwhile, it’s unclear exactly when the country’s first vaccines, via COVAX, will arrive.
Haiti is among 92 low-income countries expected to receive them. It’s also among dozens that will be affected by last week’s announcement of a suspension of deliveries in March and April of doses made for the program by the Serum Institute of India – the world’s largest vaccine maker – amid a spike of coronavirus cases in India.
When the shots do become available, experts acknowledge it will be a struggle to get them into arms.
They would have to convince Haitians like Duperval Germain, a 55-year-old carpenter who said neither he nor his children will be getting a vaccine. He worries about falling ill from it and not being able to receive proper medical care.
“All these heads of state who have been here, any time they get sick, they all fly out of here,” he said. “If we get sick, where would we go? They can keep (the vaccines) to themselves. Use it in places that need it. Haiti doesn’t need the vaccine.”
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Nationwide electoral restrictions are now in effect in Peru, leading up to Sunday’s general elections. The National Elections Board said media outlets face fines up to $118,900 if they violate a ban on disseminating or publishing voting intention surveys, according to the state run Andina News Agency. On Thursday, the last day candidates are allowed to campaign, anyone holding political meetings or demonstrations could face jail time from three months to two years. Popular Action party presidential candidate Yonhy Lescano dances while campaigning at the Caqueta market in Lima, Peru, April 5, 2021.Candidates or their supporters will not be allowed to participate in any type of political messaging, including interviews, starting on Friday. Violators face a fine no greater than $118,900 and a prison sentence of at least two years. Voters are heading to the polls Sunday to choose the country’s next president and congressional representatives, with Peru still struggling to control the spread of COVID-19 virus, which has killed just under 52,877 people, according to Johns Hopkins University Covid Resource Center. Presidential candidate George Forsyth of the National Victory party announced Sunday that he contracted COVID-19 while campaigning. Forsyth said in a video message that after four days he was feeling a bit beaten, the Associated Press reported.  The latest polls show Forsyth is second only to Yonhy Lescano of the Popular Action party in the field of 18 candidates. The winner of Sunday’s elections, will replace President Francisco Sagasti, who took office after his predecessor, Martin Vizcarra, was impeached during an investigation on corruption allegations. 
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Venezuela has created a special military unit for an area on its border with Colombia that has been the center of clashes between troops and illegal armed groups since last month, the defense minister said Monday. Thousands of civilians have been displaced by combat with fighters that the government of President Nicolas Maduro calls terrorists. General Vladimir Padrino said a temporary unit called an Integrated Operational Defense Zone, or ZODI, will operate in several municipalities of Apure state, where the clashes have taken place. “We are not going to allow any type of force, be it conventional, irregular, criminal, drug trafficker, etcetera, to come to Venezuelan territory to commit crimes,” Padrino said in a televised statement. Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano told El Tiempo newspaper over the weekend that Maduro’s government had become entangled in fights between different groups of the former FARC guerrillas and was in drug trafficking cahoots with some. FILE – Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano, center, gestures to a police officer in Soacha, outskirts of Bogota, March 12, 2021.Meetings had been held between the Venezuelan armed forces and dissident allies to coordinate an offensive against other ex-FARC, he said. “The objective of the operations there is not the protection of the border, it’s the protection of the drug trafficking business,” Molano told the newspaper. Venezuela denies any links to Colombian guerrillas or drug trafficking groups. Officials in recent weeks have talked about clashes with “irregular groups” without providing additional information about them. Venezuela’s military maintains standing ZODI units for each of its 23 states and the capital, Caracas. Padrino said eight soldiers had been killed in the fighting, while 34 soldiers had been injured, nine members of the armed groups had been killed, and 33 people were being prosecuted by the military justice system. Opposition critics say the fighters include dissident FARC guerrillas who reject a 2016 peace deal with the Colombian government. 
 
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Protests against Haitian President Jovenel Moise’s plan to reform the constitution are mounting in the Caribbean nation. As the Moise government prepares for a June referendum, the opposition is urging voters not to participate. VOA’s Sandra Lemaire reports.
Camera: Renan Toussaint and Matiado Vilme
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Christians in the Holy Land are marking Good Friday this year amid signs the coronavirus crisis is winding down, with religious sites open to limited numbers of faithful but none of the mass pilgrimages usually seen in the Holy Week leading up to Easter.The virus is still raging in the Philippines, France, Brazil and other predominantly Christian countries, where worshippers are marking a second annual Holy Week under various movement restrictions amid outbreaks fanned by more contagious strains.Last year, Jerusalem was under a strict lockdown, with sacred rites observed by small groups of priests, often behind closed doors. It was a stark departure from past years, when tens of thousands of pilgrims would descend on the city’s holy sites.This year, Franciscan friars in brown robes led hundreds of worshippers down the Via Dolorosa, retracing what tradition holds were Jesus’ final steps, while reciting prayers through loudspeakers at the Stations of the Cross. Another group carried a wooden cross along the route through the Old City, singing hymns and pausing to offer prayers.The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, died and rose from the dead, is open to visitors with masks and social distancing.”Things are open, but cautiously and gradually,” said Wadie Abunassar, an adviser to church leaders in the Holy Land. “In regular years we urge people to come out. Last year we told people to stay at home … This year we are somehow silent.”Israel has launched one of the world’s most successful vaccination campaigns, allowing it to reopen restaurants, hotels and religious sites. But air travel is still limited by quarantine and other restrictions, keeping away the foreign pilgrims who usually throng Jerusalem during Holy Week.The main holy sites are in the Old City in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured along with the West Bank in the 1967 war. Israel annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city its unified capital, while the Palestinians want both territories for their future state.  Israel included Palestinian residents of Jerusalem in its vaccination campaign, but has only provided a small number of vaccines to those in the occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority has imported tens of thousands of doses for a population of more than 2.5 million.Israeli authorities said up to 5,000 Christian Palestinians from the West Bank would be permitted to enter for Easter celebrations. Abunassar said he was not aware of any large tour groups from the West Bank planning to enter, as in years past, likely reflecting concerns about the virus.Pope Francis began Good Friday with a visit to the Vatican’s COVID-19 vaccination center, where volunteers have spent the past week administering some 1,200 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to poor and disadvantaged people in Rome.Pope Francis speaks to medical staff on Good Friday at a vaccination site in the Paul VI Hall where the poor and homeless are being inoculated, at the Vatican, April 2, 2021. (Vatican Media/Handout via Reuters)The Vatican City State bought its own doses to vaccinate Holy See employees and their families, and it has been giving away surplus supplies to homeless people. A masked Francis posed for photos with some of the volunteers and recipients in the Vatican audience hall.Later Friday, Francis was to preside over the Way of the Cross procession in a nearly empty St. Peter’s Square, instead of the popular torchlit ritual he usually celebrates at the Colosseum.In France, a nationwide 7 p.m. curfew is forcing parishes to move Good Friday ceremonies forward in the day, as the traditional Catholic night processions are being drastically scaled back or canceled. Nineteen departments in France are on localized lockdowns, where parishioners can attend daytime Mass if they sign the government’s “travel certificate.”  Although a third lockdown “light” is being imposed Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron has wavered on a travel ban for Easter weekend, allowing the French to drive between regions to meet up with family on Friday.FILE – Churchgoers wearing face masks lineup outside the Notre-Dame-des-Champs church in Paris, France.Fire-ravaged Notre Dame will not hold a Good Friday Mass this year, but the cathedral’s “Crown of Thorns” will be venerated by the cathedral’s clergy at its new temporary liturgical hub in the nearby church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois.In Spain, there will be no traditional processions for a second year in a row, and churches will limit the number of worshippers. Many parishes are going online with Mass and prayers via video streaming services.In the Philippines, streets were eerily quiet and religious gatherings were prohibited in the capital, Manila, and four outlying provinces. The government placed the bustling region of more than 25 million people back under lockdown this week as it scrambled to contain an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases.The Philippines had started to reopen in hopes of stemming a severe economic crisis, but infections surged last month, apparently because of more contagious strains, increased public mobility and complacency.
 
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Protests against Haitian President Jovenel Moise’s plan to reform the constitution are mounting in the Caribbean nation. As the Moise government prepares for a June referendum, the opposition is urging voters not to participate. VOA’s Sandra Lemaire reports.
Camera: Renan Toussaint and Matiado Vilme
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Mexico is about to legalize marijuana for recreational use, turning the Latin American nation into the world’s largest market for the drug. The move comes after Mexico’s lower house of Congress passed a legalization bill early in March; the country’s Senate is expected to approve a similar measure in coming weeks. Mike O’Sullivan looks at what legalization of the cannabis plant means for Mexico and the United States, the country’s northern neighbor.
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El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said on Wednesday that a missing teenager had been found, identifying her as the daughter of Victoria Salazar, who died in Mexico after a Mexican female police officer was seen in a video kneeling on her back.The attorney general’s office of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, where Salazar died, said on Tuesday night that an amber alert had been issued for her daughter, Francela Yaritza Salazar Arriaza, 16. Francela was last seen in the Caribbean tourist resort of Tulum, where her mother was killed.”The oldest daughter of Victoria has been found. She is now in the custody of FGE,” Bukele tweeted, referring to the state attorney general’s office. “She is physically well.”Quintana Roo’s attorney general’s office also did not respond to a request for comment.Salazar’s partner was arrested on Tuesday for abuse of her and her daughters, Quintana Roo Governor Carlos Joaquin said.FILE – Rosibel Emerita Arriaza, the mother of Victoria Esperanza Salazar who died in police custody, talks to the press in Antiguo Cuzcatlan, El Salvador, March 29, 2021.Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador this week said Salazar, 36, had been subject to “brutal treatment and murdered” after her detention on Saturday by four police officers. An autopsy showed Salazar’s neck had been broken.Her death had echoes of the case of George Floyd, an African-American man who died in May as a Minneapolis policeman knelt on his neck. It sparked outrage on social media and calls by El Salvador’s president for the officers to be punished.”They used excessive force,” her mother, Rosibel Arriaza, told Mexican television network TV Azteca. She noted that her daughter’s death was similar to that of Floyd.Newly released surveillance camera video, published by Mexican newspaper Reforma, showed Salazar looking frightened and holding on to workers in a convenience store just before police arrived at the scene, apparently in the run-up to her death.The Quintana Roo attorney general’s office has opened a homicide investigation into her death, which has led to the arrest of the four officers seen on videos of the incident.
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Mexican authorities are searching for the daughter of Salvadoran woman Victoria Salazar, who died after a female police officer was seen in a video kneeling on her back, a case that triggered an outpouring of anger in Mexico. The attorney general’s office of the state of Quintana Roo, where Salazar died, said on Tuesday shortly before midnight that an Amber Alert had been issued for her daughter, 16-year-old Francela Yaritza Salazar Arriaza. Francela was last seen in the Caribbean tourist resort of Tulum, where her mother was killed. Salazar’s partner was arrested on Tuesday for abuse of her and her daughters, Quintana Roo Governor Carlos Joaquin said. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador this week said Salazar, 36, had been subject to “brutal treatment and murdered” after her detention on Saturday by four police officers. An autopsy showed Salazar’s neck had been broken. Her death, which had echoes of the case of George Floyd, an African American man who died in May as a Minneapolis policeman knelt on his neck, sparked outrage on social media and calls by El Salvador’s president for the officers to be punished. “They used excessive force,” her mother, Rosibel Arriaza, told Mexican television network TV Azteca. She noted that her daughter’s death was similar to that of George Floyd. FILE – Rosibel Emerita Arriaza, the mother of Victoria Esperanza Salazar who died in police custody, talks to the press in Antiguo Cuzcatlan, El Salvador, March 29, 2021.Newly released surveillance camera video, published by Mexican newspaper Reforma, showed Salazar looking frightened and holding on to workers in a convenience store just before police arrived at the scene, apparently in the run-up to her death. The Quintana Roo attorney general’s office has opened a homicide investigation into her death, which has led to the arrest of the four officers seen on videos of the incident. 
 
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The leaders of all three branches of Brazil’s armed forces jointly resigned Tuesday following President Jair Bolsonaro’s replacement of the defense minister, causing widespread apprehension of a military shakeup to serve the president’s political interests. The Defense Ministry reported the resignations – apparently unprecedented since at least the end of military rule 36 years ago – in a statement released without giving reasons. Replacements were not named. But analysts expressed fears the president, increasingly under pressure, was moving to assert greater control over the military. “Since 1985, we haven’t had news of such clear intervention of the president with regard to the armed forces,” said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo. Bolsonaro, a conservative former army captain who has often praised Brazil’s former period of military dictatorship, has relied heavily on current and former soldiers to staff key Cabinet positions since taking office in January 2019, but Melo said the military itself has so far refrained from politics. “Will this resistance continue? That’s the question,” Melo said. The announcement came after the heads of the army, navy and air force met with the new defense minister, Gen. Walter Souza Braga Netto, on Tuesday morning. Braga Netto’s first statement on the new job showed he is aligned with Bolsonaro’s views for the armed forces. The incoming defense minister, unlike his predecessor, celebrated the 1964-1985 military dictatorship that killed and tortured thousands of Brazilians. “The armed forces ended up assuming the responsibility for pacifying the country, facing the challenges to reorganize it and secure the democratic liberties that today we enjoy,” said Braga Netto, who did not discuss the departure of the military chiefs.”The 1964 movement is part of Brazil’s historic trajectory. And as such the events of that March 31st must be understood and celebrated.” A retired army general who has a relationship with the three commanders as well as with Braga Netto told The Associated Press that “there was an embarrassing circumstance so they all resigned.” He agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name, expressing fear of retribution.Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to the media at the Alvorada Palace, amid the coronavirus outbreak, in Brasilia, Brazil, March 10, 2021.Bolsonaro on Monday carried out a shake-up of top Cabinet positions that was initially seen as a response to demands for a course correction by lawmakers, diplomats and economists, particularly over his handling of the pandemic that has caused more than 300,000 deaths in Brazil. That included the replacement of Defense Minister Fernando Azevedo e Silva, who said in his resignation letter that he had preserved the armed forces as state institutions,'' a nod at his effort to keep generals out of politics. Bolsonaro has often bristled at the checks and balances imposed by other branches of government and has attended protests targeting the Supreme Court and Congress. He has also criticized the Supreme Court for upholding local governments' rights to adopt pandemic restrictions that he adamantly opposes, arguing that the economic effects are worse than the disease itself. His recent slide in popularity, and the sudden likelihood that he will face leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the 2022 presidential election, has analysts saying he is looking to the armed forces for support. Retired Gen. Carlos Alberto Santos Cruz, who previously served as Bolsonaro's government secretary, appeared to refer to such concerns when he responded to early rumors of military resignations with a tweet saying,THE ARMED FORCES WON’T GO ON AN ADVENTURE.” Since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985, the armed forces have tried to keep a distance from partisan political quarrels. “The government has to give explanations to the population about the change in the Defense Ministry,” Santos Cruz added. Sen. Katia Abreu, who heads the Senate’s foreign relations commission, said it would be “prudent” that the new defense minister speak to calm the nation down about the impossibility of a military intervention. “I have a conviction that we built a strong democracy. The armed forces are part of the Brazilian state and they have the confidence of all of us,” said Abreu, a right-leaning Bolsonaro critic. Earlier this month, Bolsonaro began mentioning the armed forces in connection with his dispute with state governors and mayors over restrictive measures meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Latin America’s largest nation. “My army doesn’t go to the street to force people to stay at home,” Bolsonaro told reporters March 19.  Thomas Traumann, an independent political analyst, told AP that it was the first time in living memory that all leaders of the armed forces had quit simultaneously. “He wants people who will do whatever he wants, and so it is extremely risky,” Traumann said. “He can put the army out to allow people to go to work. So the army would be in his hands, and not in the hands of the generals.” Speaking to supporters outside the presidential palace Tuesday night, Bolsonaro did not discuss the three commanders. When asked about the pandemic restrictions imposed by governors and mayors, the president said he respects the constitution, though he added: “But it has been some time that some authorities are not playing within the limits of the constitution.”  Bolsonaro saw his popularity rise last year, thanks to a generous pandemic welfare aid program. That popularity has dropped since the program ended in December, and there have been renewed protests against him as the nation’s daily death toll surged to the highest in the world. Further clouding the outlook for Bolsonaro is the reemergence of da Silva after a Supreme Court justice annulled two corruption convictions and restored his political rights. Early polls indicate he would be a formidable challenger in next year’s election. In other Cabinet changes, Bolsonaro replaced Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo, who was accused by some of impeding the supply of vaccines by making comments seen as insulting to the Chinese and by not aggressively seeking sources.  Earlier this month, Bolsonaro also replaced his health minister, active-duty army Gen. Eduardo Pazuello, the third health minister to leave office since the beginning of the pandemic. Pazuello’s tenure coincided with most of Brazil’s 317,000 COVID-19 deaths. On Tuesday, Brazil’s health ministry said a new daily high of 3,780 deaths related to COVID-19 had been registered in the previous 24 hours. The previous high of 3,650 deaths was recorded Friday. 
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Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez’s brother was sentenced to life in prison by a New York judge Tuesday for large-scale drug trafficking after a trial that implicated the leader of the Central American country. Tony Hernandez, 42, was found guilty in October 2019 on four counts, including conspiring to import cocaine into the United States, possessing machine guns and making false statements. Judge P. Kevin Castel said a life sentence for the former Honduran congressman who trafficked more than 185 tons of cocaine into the United States, some branded with his initials “TH,” was “richly deserved.” Prosecutors had demanded life, stressing that Hernandez had “shown no remorse” and was “a central figure in one of the largest and most violent cocaine trafficking conspiracies in the world.” FILE – Tony Hernandez, brother of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, arrives for a press conference in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, March 16, 2017.His defense team had called for the mandatory minimum sentence of 40 years. Hernandez, who served as a member of the Honduran Congress from 2014 to 2018, was arrested at a Miami airport in November 2018. During the trial, U.S. prosecutors said President Hernandez had been a “co-conspirator” in his brother’s crimes, although he has not been formally charged by the U.S. judicial system. Government attorneys said the president took millions of dollars in bribes from drug lords, including jailed Mexican kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. President Hernandez has repeatedly denied all allegations of drug trafficking. In a tweet ahead of the sentencing, the president said the news from New York would “be painful” and repeated an allegation that the main witness in the trial had lied. FILE – Honduras’ President Juan Orlando Hernandez arrives for a swearing-in ceremony in Guatemala City, Jan. 14, 2020.Hernandez, a lawyer who came to power in January 2014 and is in his second term, has styled himself as a champion in the fight against drugs. During his brother’s trial, the U.S. government successfully argued that Tony Hernandez was a large-scale drug trafficker who worked from 2004 to 2016 with others in Colombia, Honduras and Mexico to import cocaine into the U.S. by plane, boat and submarine. Hernandez made millions of dollars from the trafficking and used the proceeds to influence three presidential elections, according to U.S. attorneys. The prosecution also said Hernandez was involved in at least two murders of rival drug traffickers in 2011 and 2013. Defense lawyers unsuccessfully questioned the credibility of witnesses, many of them former drug traffickers, some of whom had been convicted of murder. U.S. prosecutors have aggressively pursued current or former Honduran public officials and their relatives over drug trafficking allegations. Earlier this month, a New York jury found Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez, an alleged associate of President Hernandez, guilty of drug trafficking. During his trial, U.S. prosecutors said the Honduran leader had helped Fuentes smuggle tons of cocaine into the United States, an allegation the president described as “obvious lies.” Guzman, the former co-leader of Mexico’s feared Sinaloa drug cartel, was convicted in New York in February 2019 of smuggling hundreds of tons of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and marijuana into the United States. 
 
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro reshuffled his Cabinet on Monday amid intense pressure to sack his foreign relations minister whose tenure has been characterized by an anti-globalism bent that made him a lightning rod for critics. In addition to replacing foreign minister Ernesto Araújo, the president shifted three other ministers into new positions — chief of staff, defense minister and attorney general. His announcement on Twitter said he also named a new justice and public security minister and government secretary. The statement did not provide any reasons for the changes. The shake-up underscores recent turmoil for Bolsonaro, who has seen his approval ratings slide this year.  The president in mid-March replaced the health minister whose tenure coincided with most of Brazil’s 314,000 COVID-19 deaths and became the target of fierce criticism. In February, Bolsonaro tapped an army general to take over state-run oil behemoth Petrobras, seeking to appeal to his constituency of truck drivers who had threatened to strike over fuel price increases.  Araújo had most recently faced fierce criticism and calls to resign for comments and actions that his opponents said had impeded faster access to coronavirus vaccines.  FILE – Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo delivers a statement to members of the media at the Department of State in Washington, Sept. 13, 2019.Senate insistence became too overpowering for Bolsonaro to withstand, said Maurício Santoro, professor of political science and international relations at the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro.”The vaccine issue was the spark that lit the fire,” Santoro said. “The general context is Araújo failed in all the most important tasks he had to do as a minister. Brazil is facing bad political dialogue with its biggest trade partners — China, the U.S., the EU and Argentina — all for different reasons. Araújo is being replaced by Carlos França, who is likewise a career diplomat. Unlike Araújo, França isn’t a follower of far-right ideologue Olavo de Carvalho, the newspaper O Globo reported. He is an adviser to Bolsonaro and former ceremonial chief at the presidential palace and is considered to be pragmatic rather than ideological.  By contrast, Araújo has denied climate change, which he has called a leftist dogma, and made comments perceived as critical of China, Brazil’s biggest trading partner. In just more than two years, he repeatedly dismayed foreign policy veterans by breaking with Brazil’s tradition of multilateralism and adopting policy based on ideology, particularly aligning with the U.S. during the Trump administration.  On Saturday, a group of 300 diplomats published a letter saying Araújo had tarnished Brazil’s image abroad and demanded his removal, according to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo. Brazil was one of the last countries in the world to recognize U.S. President Joe Biden’s election victory, and Araújo declined to attend his inauguration. Instead, he took a vacation.  Santoro, the professor, said Araújo’s climate change position was an impediment to Brazil dealing with the U.S. and Europe on curbing Amazon deforestation. That issue has been the focus of European governments and many foreign investors, and Biden has said he intends to prioritize the issue. Early in the pandemic, Araújo wrote on a personal blog that globalists were seeking to use the coronavirus as a means to subvert liberal democracy and market economics in order to install communism and enslave humans. He made other comments that angered China. Clamor for the minister’s resignation grew as Brazil’s COVID-19 death toll surged this year and the nation suffered delays in getting active ingredients needed to bottle vaccines, mostly from China. Slow arrival was widely speculated to be political retribution by the Asian power, although both Araújo and Chinese authorities in Brazil claimed technical reasons. “When the country needed Araújo and the foreign relations ministry to operate to guarantee what we needed to vaccinate people, they kept playing at highly ideological foreign policy,” said Hussein Kalout, formerly Brazil’s special secretary for strategic affairs and now a research scholar at Harvard University. Aráujo defended his ministry’s actions for nearly five hours before a Senate hearing last week. Center-right Sen. Tasso Jereissati told the minister that he no longer had the standing to remain in the post and that his exit would end the help end the crisis. 
 
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The number of child migrants passing through the perilous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama has risen dramatically, the U.N. child welfare agency said Monday.  Underage migrants made up only about 2% of those using the jungle corridor in 2017. In 2020, children made up 25% of the migrants making the hard trek on foot, UNICEF’s report said.  The Darien Gap is a 60-mile (97-kilometer) stretch of roadless jungle that provides the only land route north out of South America. There is little food or shelter on the weeklong trek and bandits and wild animals prey on migrants. FILE – Aerial view of La Penita indigenous village, Darien province, Panama, May 23, 2019. Migrants cross the border between Colombia and Panama through the Darien Gap on their way to the United States.Most migrants making the hike are from Haiti or Cuba, with smaller numbers from African nations, such as Cameroon and Congo, and South Asian countries, such as India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. “I have seen women coming out of the jungle with babies in their arms after walking for more than seven days without water, food or any type of protection,” said Jean Gough, the UNICEF regional director who made a two-day trip to the zone. “These families go beyond their limits and put their lives at risk, often without realizing the risks they are taking,” Gough said. The risks for children are particularly serious. “The migrants who get trapped there (in the jungle) are exposed to many threats, including death,” the U.N. report said. “In this context, women, especially pregnant women, girls, children and adolescents, are the most vulnerable.” While 109 children made the journey in 2017, that swelled to 3,956 in 2019. The coronavirus pandemic and travel restriction reduced both adult and child numbers in 2020, with the latter falling to 1,653. Over the last four years, a total of at least 46,500 migrants had made the trek, and in total for those years they included 6,240 minors. “The socioeconomic repercussion of the COVID-19 pandemic, together with violence, racism, unemployment and extreme climate events will probably increase poverty and lead more families to migrate north in the coming months,” the report added. The U.S. government has been facing an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors and families with children arriving at its southern border in recent months. Last week there were about 18,000 unaccompanied children in government custody. 
 
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Mexico has revised its coronavirus death toll figures, increasing the tally by 60% to make Mexico’s death count second only to the United States and overtaking Brazil as the place with the second highest death count.   The new statistics are staggering as the Mexican population of 126 million is far below the populations of the U.S. and Brazil.  The Mexican health ministry released the data Saturday that raised the country’s COVID death count to more than 321,000.  The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is more than 549,000, while Brazil’s is more than 312,000, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.  Public health analysts had warned that Mexico’s death count was likely higher than previous figures had indicated because the country’s healthcare system was overwhelmed by the pandemic, resulting in few available intensive care beds that led to many people dying at home whose deaths had not been included in the COVID count.  The new numbers follow a government review of death certificates.  While the United States’ vaccination campaign against COVID-19 is well under way, daily rates of infection remain high. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s top adviser on the pandemic, expressed concern Sunday that this could be the result of states lifting some restrictions too early — especially around Spring Break. “I think it is premature,” Fauci told CBS, speaking of some states lifting restrictions as vaccination rates rise, warning that there is “really a risk” of seeing a third epidemic wave. Answering reporters’ questions Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden said he believes rates may be plateauing, instead of decreasing, because people are “letting their guard down.”  Last Thursday, Biden pledged to put 200 million shots into arms in his first 100 days as president. On Sunday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Sunday that more than 51.5 million Americans have received at least one coronavirus shot and 93.6 million have received both of their shots.  Shots in Little Arms: COVID-19 Vaccine Testing Turns to KidsPandemic will require vaccinating children tooAt the same time, the U.S. has been confirming roughly 60,000 new cases of the virus daily for the past few days. A plateau of cases at such a high number is concerning. “I remain deeply concerned about a potential shift in the trajectory of the pandemic. The latest CDC data continue to suggest that recent declines in cases have leveled off at a very high number,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC. Earlier Sunday, Dr. Deborah Birx, who had served as the Trump White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, told CNN that she believes the U.S. death toll of nearly 550,000 could have been much lower if officials in cities and states had taken more aggressive steps to mitigate the disease’s spread by learning lessons of the first surge.  “There were about 100,000 deaths that came from that original surge,” Birx said. “All of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially.” In Venezuela, opposition leader Juan Guaido announced on Twitter that he has tested positive for the virus and is currently in isolation. Como Presidente Encargado, pero también como venezolano, y sobre todo como ser humano, quiero informarle responsablemente al país que, tras cuatro días de cuarentena producto de algunos malestares y pese a haber tomado precauciones, he dado positivo para Covid-19.— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) March 28, 2021The announcement follows news that the Facebook page of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been frozen, according to a spokesman for the social media giant, because the page contained misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic.  Maduro violated Facebook policy when he posted a video without any medical evidence, promoting Carvativir, a drink made with the herb thyme, as a cure for the coronavirus, a Facebook spokesman told Reuters. He described the drink as a “miracle” medication capable of neutralizing the coronavirus without any side effects. Neighboring Brazil is averaging 2,500 deaths a day from COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The South American nation is on pace to reach 4,000 deaths a day, six experts told The Associated Press, a level that would rival the worst seen in the U.S., which has about one-third more people. The U.S. set a record of 4,477 deaths on January 12, 2021, according to Johns Hopkins data. “Four thousand deaths a day seems to be right around the corner,” Dr. José Antônio Curiati, a supervisor at Sao Paulo’s Hospital das Clinicas, the biggest hospital complex in Latin America, told the AP. President Jair Bolsonaro appeared on television last week to declare 2021 “as the year of the vaccine.” Brazil’s Supreme Court backed some states that have implemented nightly curfews, which the Bolsonaro administration fought, saying that only the federal government can impose such restrictions.  The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported late Sunday that there are more than 127 million global COVID-19 infections.  
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It can take hundreds of years for plastic containers to break down, if ever at all. Their presence reshapes entire ecosystems, and experts in Bolivia are calling for action to protect their communities. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.Producer: Arash Arabasadi
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In one of Mexico’s most notorious cities for organized crime, migrants are expelled from the United States throughout the night, exhausted from the journey, disillusioned about not getting a chance to seek asylum and at a crossroads about where to go next. Marisela Ramirez, who was returned to Reynosa about 4 a.m. Thursday, brought her 14-year-old son and left five other children — one only 8 months old — in Guatemala because she could not afford to pay smugglers more money. Now, facing another agonizing choice, she leaned toward sending her son across the border alone to settle with a sister in Missouri, aware that the United States is allowing unaccompanied children to pursue asylum. “We’re in God’s hands,” Ramirez, 30, said in a barren park with dying grass and a large gazebo in the center that serves as shelter for migrants. Lesdny Suyapa Castillo, 35, said through tears that she would return to Honduras with her 8-year-old daughter, who lay under the gazebo breathing heavily with her eyes partly open and flies circling her face. After not getting paid for three months’ work as a nurse in Honduras during the pandemic, she wants steady work in the U.S. to send an older daughter to medical school. A friend in New York encouraged her to try again. “I would love to go, but a mother doesn’t want to see her child in this condition,” she said after being dropped in Reynosa at 10 p.m. The decisions unfold amid what Border Patrol officials say is an extraordinarily high 30-day average of 5,000 daily encounters with migrants. Children traveling alone are allowed to remain in the U.S. to pursue asylum while nearly all single adults are expelled to Mexico under pandemic-era rules that deny them a chance to seek humanitarian protection. Families with children younger than 7 are being allowed to remain in the U.S. to pursue asylum, according to a Border Patrol official speaking to reporters Friday on condition of anonymity. Others in families — only 300 out of 2,200 on Thursday — are expelled. Reynosa, a city of 700,000 people, is where many migrants are returned after being expelled from Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. The Border Patrol has said the vast majority of migrants are expelled to Mexico after less than two hours in the United States to limit the spread of COVID-19, which means many arrive when it is dark. Migrants recently expelled from the U.S. after trying to seek asylum sit next to the international bridge in the Mexican border city of Reynosa, March 27, 2021.In normal times, migrants are returned to Mexico under bilateral agreements that limit deportations to daytime hours and the largest crossings. But under pandemic authority, Mexicans and citizens of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras can be expelled to Mexico throughout the night and in smaller towns. Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott acknowledged in an interview last year that agreements limiting hours and locations for deportations are suspended “on paper” but said U.S. authorities try to accommodate wishes of Mexican officials. The U.S. also coordinates with nongovernmental organizations. “I would never sit here and look at you and say Tijuana is not dangerous, Juarez is not dangerous, Tamaulipas (state) is not dangerous,” Scott said. “However, a lot of it is like any other U.S. city. There are certain U.S. cities that there are pockets of it that are very dangerous and there are pockets of it that aren’t.” Tamaulipas, which includes Reynosa, is among five Mexican states that the U.S. State Department says American citizens should not visit. A U.S. travel advisory says heavily armed criminal groups patrol Reynosa in marked and unmarked vehicles. More than 100 fathers, mothers and children who were expelled overnight waited in a plaza outside the Mexican border crossing at sunrise Saturday, many bitter about the experience and scared to venture into the city. Several said they left Central American in the past two months because they could finally afford it, but information about President Joe Biden’s more immigrant-friendly policies contributed to their decisions. Some reported paying smugglers as much as $10,000 a person to reach U.S. soil. Michel Maeco, who sold his land in Guatemala to pay smugglers $35,000 to bring his family of five, including children aged 15, 11 and 7, said he was going home after a 25-day journey. He left Guatemala after hearing “on the news” that Biden would allow families to enter the United States. Maeco’s family was expelled to the streets of Reynosa at 3 a.m. Saturday. “Supposedly (Biden) was going to help migrants, but I see nothing,” said Maeco, 36. A Honduran woman who declined to give her name said she left two months ago because her home was destroyed in Tropical Storm Eta and she heard Biden would “open the border” for 100 days — unaware that the president’s 100-day moratorium on deportations, suspended by courts, does not cover new arrivals. She planned to send her 9-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son across alone to live with their aunt in Alabama while she returns to Honduras. Underscoring the dangers, the Border Patrol said Friday that a 9-year-old Mexican girl died crossing the Rio Grande near the city of Eagle Pass. Mexico’s migrant protection agency, Grupos Beta, persuaded many overnight arrivals to be bused to a distant shelter. Crowds at the nearby park had thinned from a few hundred migrants days earlier. Felicia Rangel, founder of the Sidewalk School, which gives educational opportunities to asylum-seeking children in Mexican border cities, sees the makings of a squalid migrant camp like in nearby Matamoros, which recently closed. “If they get a foothold in this gazebo, this is going to turn into an encampment,” she said as a church distributed chicken soup, bread and water to migrants for breakfast. “They do not want another encampment in their country.” Martin Vasquez is among the migrants staying for now. The 19-year-old was expelled after being separated from his 12-year-old brother, who was considered an unaccompanied child and will almost certainly be released to a grandfather in Florida. He said he was inclined to return to Guatemala, where he worked for a moving company, but wanted to wait a while “to see what the news says.” 
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Facebook has frozen Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s page, according to a spokesperson for the social media giant, because the page contained misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic.Maduro violated Facebook policy when he posted a video without any medical evidence, promoting Carvativir, a drink made with the herb thyme, as a cure for the coronavirus, a company spokesperson told Reuters. He described the drink as a “miracle” medication capable of neutralizing the coronavirus without any side effects.“We follow guidance from the WHO [World Health Organization] that says there is currently no medication to cure the virus,” Facebook’s spokesperson told Reuters.The company said it is taking action to limit use of Maduro’s Facebook page. “Due to repeated violations of our rules, we are also freezing the page for 30 days,” the company spokesperson said, “during which it will be read-only.”Brazil is averaging nearly 2,400 deaths a day from COVID-19, about one-fourth of the world’s daily tally, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.The South American nation is on pace to reach 4,000 deaths a day, six experts told The Associated Press, a level that would rival the worst seen in the U.S., which has about one-third more people. The U.S. set a record of 4,477 deaths on Jan. 12, according to Johns Hopkins data.“Four thousand deaths a day seems to be right around the corner,” Dr. José Antônio Curiati, a supervisor at Sao Paulo’s Hospital das Clinicas, the biggest hospital complex in Latin America, told the AP.President Jair Bolsonaro remains unconvinced that restrictions on activity are needed. At this point, they may be too late.Miguel Nicolelis, a professor of neurobiology at Duke University who advised several Brazilian governors and mayors on pandemic control, anticipates the total death toll reaching 500,000 by July and exceeding that of the U.S. by year-end, according to the AP.“We have surpassed levels never imagined for a country with a public health care system, a history of efficient immunization campaigns and health workers who are second to none in the world,” Nicolelis said. “The next stage is the health system collapse.”Spain tests mass-gathering limitsIn Spain, an experiment is under way to find a pandemic-safe way to hold mass events indoors. The setting is an arena in Barcelona filled with 5,000 fans Saturday night for a live concert.The morning of the show, those looking to attend came to one of three field hospitals set up in closed nightclubs. They were given COVID-19 and antigen tests, tests introduced to the body to induce an immune response. If they tested negative, they received a pass to the show and were told to wear a surgical mask. The arena was equipped with a ventilation system.“Over the next 14 days we will look at how many of the audience test positive for COVID and will report back,” Josep Maria Llibre, a doctor at the Germans Trias i Pujol hospital just north of Barcelona, told Agence France-Presse.The aim is “to discover a way in which we can coexist with COVID and hold concerts which are completely safe,” Ventura Barba, executive director of Barcelona’s Sonar festival, one of the organizers, told AFP.WHO seeks COVAX donationsThe head of the World Health Organization on Friday urged the global community to donate COVID-19 vaccines to lower-income countries, citing the urgent need for 10 million doses for a WHO-backed vaccine distribution program.“COVAX is ready to deliver but we can’t deliver vaccines we don’t have,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a virtual news conference in Geneva.COVAX, an abbreviation for the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access initiative, aims to provide equitable access to vaccines worldwide to low- and middle-income countries.“Bilateral deals, export bans, and vaccine nationalism have caused distortions in the market with gross inequities in supply and demand,” Tedros said. “Ten million doses are not much, and it’s not nearly enough.”Tedros’ appeal comes after India, a key supplier to the agency’s COVAX vaccine-sharing program, said it was prioritizing local needs.The WHO chief said India’s move was “understandable” given the rising number of infections in India. He said talks were in progress with India to find a balance between local and international needs.India said Friday it set a record with a tally of more than 59,000 new cases from the previous 24-hour period.UN demands fair vaccine accessAt the United Nations in New York, 181 nations signed onto a political declaration that calls for COVID-19 vaccinations to be treated as a global public good, ensuring affordable, equitable and fair access to vaccines for all.“We can see the end of the crisis, but to reach it, we need to work together with a deeper sense of collaboration,” part of the declaration states.Among the appeals are calls on nations to fully fund the COVAX facility to distribute vaccines to low-income and developing countries, scale up vaccine production through the distribution of technology and licenses and launch public information campaigns on the importance and safety of COVID-19 vaccines.COVAX has so far distributed more than 31 million doses of vaccines to 57 countries.“There is a race everywhere between the vaccines and the pandemic,” said Lebanon’s Ambassador Amal Mudallali, on behalf of the countries that drafted the document. “This race will be won before the start by the ‘haves,’ if there is no equitable, affordable sharing of vaccines.”The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday there are more 126 million global COVID-19 infections. The research center updates its data constantly and provides expert input.The United States has more cases than any other country, with more than 30.2 million infections, followed by Brazil, with 12.5 million, and India, with almost 12 million, according to the center.
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China on Saturday announced tit-for-tat sanctions against two Americans, a Canadian and a rights advocacy body in response to sanctions imposed this week by the two countries over Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs.Two members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Gayle Manchin and Tony Perkins; Canadian Member of Parliament Michael Chong; and a Canadian parliamentary committee on human rights are prohibited from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, the Chinese foreign ministry said.Chong reacted by calling the sanctions a “badge of honor.””We’ve got a duty to call out China for its crackdown in #HongKong & its genocide of #Uyghurs,” Chong wrote on Twitter. “We who live freely in democracies under the rule of law must speak for the voiceless.”At least 1 million Uyghurs and people from other mostly Muslim groups have been held in camps in northwestern Xinjiang, according to rights groups, who accuse authorities of forcibly sterilizing women and using forced labor.The European Union, Britain, Canada and the United States sanctioned several members of Xinjiang’s political and economic hierarchy this week in coordinated action over the allegations, prompting retaliation from Beijing in the form of sanctions on individuals from the EU and Britain. China’s foreign ministry on Saturday accused the U.S. and Canada of imposing sanctions “based on rumors and disinformation.” The sanctioned officials, who are also banned from conducting business with Chinese citizens and institutions, “must stop political manipulation on Xinjiang-related issues, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs in any form,” the ministry said. “Otherwise, they will get their fingers burnt,” the foreign ministry statement warned.FILE – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a COVID-19 pandemic briefing from Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, Nov. 20, 2020.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the sanctions were “an attack on transparency and freedom of expression.””We will continue to defend human rights around the world with our international partners,” he said on Twitter.Trudeau’s comments came after top Canadian diplomat Marc Garneau accused Beijing of deploying heavy-handed tactics.”Bullies don’t change unless you send very clear messages to them,” Garneau told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in an interview recorded shortly before Beijing announced its retaliatory sanctions.Consumer boycottsThe diplomatic standoff spilled over into the fashion world this week when pledges made last year by several companies to boycott Xinjiang cotton resurfaced this week on Chinese-owned social network Weibo, triggering additional controversy.The resurfacing of the pledges, made by the likes of Sweden’s H&M, American sportswear giant Nike, Germany’s Adidas and Japan’s Uniqlo, was denounced Friday by the United States, which implied the timely reappearance was a calculated move by Beijing. “The U.S. condemns the PRC … social media campaign and corporate and consumer boycott against companies, including American, European and Japanese businesses,” U.S. State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.Chinese celebrities and tech firms have pulled partnerships with companies ranging from Nike and H&M to Adidas, Burberry and Calvin Klein.Beijing, which insists Xinjiang is an “internal affair,” announced sanctions Friday against nine British individuals and four entities, saying they had “maliciously spread lies and disinformation” over the treatment of Uyghurs.China flatly denies any abuses in the region, describing detention centers there as work camps intended to boost incomes and deter extremism in a region made restive by central control.China previously sanctioned dozens of U.S. officials including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for “crazy moves” against Beijing under the Trump administration.Meanwhile, Canada-China relations are at their lowest point in decades, with China trying two Canadians for alleged espionage this month while an extradition hearing in Vancouver for Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou enters its final months. 
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The U.N.’s premiere global body fighting for gender equality called for a sharp increase of women in global decision-making in a hotly debated final document adopted Friday night that saw continuing pushback against women’s rights and a refusal to address issues of gender identity.The Commission on the Status of Women reaffirmed the blueprint to achieve gender equality adopted 25 years ago at the Beijing women’s conference and shone a spotlight on several major issues today, including the imbalance of power between men and women in public life and the growing impact of violence against women and girls in the digital world.Diplomats were negotiating until almost the last minute over language on women human rights defenders, gender-based violence, and earlier on reproductive and sexual health and rights. Some Western nations sought unsuccessfully to get the commission to recognize gender non-conforming and transgender women. The closest they got was a reference to women and girls “who experience multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination” and face “diverse situations and conditions.”The European Union said it would have liked to see “more ambitious language” in the 23-page document, stressing that “the systematic attempts by some delegations to derail the process and question international commitments and obligations on gender equality show that the pushback against women’s rights continue.”Shannon Kowalski, director of advocacy and policy for The International Women’s Health Coalition, said at a briefing earlier Friday that this year “Russia has been very vocal and on the front lines” in pushing “for language that is often regressing and that seeks to deny women and girls … their rights.” The Holy See often joined their positions, and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Cuba were also vocal opponents on many issues, she said, while China opposed any reference to women human rights defenders.”Russia played an exceptionally disruptive role in the negotiations,” an EU diplomat said. “Today’s low common denominator result demonstrates that a pushback against women’s rights continues at the U.N., and that Russia is doing all it can to undermine progress on the issue.” The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of private discussions.Saudi Arabia, China have objectionsThe “Agreed Conclusions” were negotiated by the 193 U.N. member nations and adopted by consensus by the commission’s 45 members at the end of a two-week meeting. The U.N. women’s agency said more than 25,000 members of civil society registered to participate in the partly in-person but mainly virtual meeting that saw 200 side events led by member states and more than 700 events by civil society representatives.After Ambassador Mher Margaryan, the commission chair, banged the gavel signifying consensus, about two dozen countries spoke.Saudi Arabia stressed that any reference to gender “means women and men” and to marriage as “between women and men.” China said it would not join consensus on the role of women human rights defenders.In the document, the commission supports the important role of civil society in promoting and protecting the human rights and freedoms of all women, “including women human rights defenders.”U.N. Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said areas in the outcome document “do not please everybody,” and the conclusions could have been “more ambitious” and the recommendations “even bolder and decisive.”She urged member states to use the recommendations “as a building block and to outperform what is contained in these Agreed Conclusions.” She said next week’s mainly virtual Gender Equality Forum in Mexico City, another follow-up to the 1995 Beijing conference, “will take forward what we have learned from the discussions of this commission and look at how we take concrete actions.”Mlambo-Ngcuka said the conclusions “contribute to important advances” on women’s participation in public life, the main focus of the meeting along with tackling violence against women which increased during last year’s COVID-19 pandemic.The commission recognized that despite some progress women have a long road to reach equality with men in elections or appointments to decision-making bodies and administrative posts, she said. And it recognized that temporary special measures, including quotas, substantially contribute to increasing women’s representation in national and local legislatures, and called on all governments to set specific targets and timelines to achieve the goal of 50/50 gender balance in elected positions.’Very strong leadership’On violence against women in the digital world, Mlambo-Ngcuka said the commission noted the lack of preventive measures and remedies. She said member states should take action to encourage women’s digital participation and protect them, including from cyberstalking and cyberbullying.The Beijing declaration and platform approved by 189 countries in 1995 called for bold action in 12 areas to achieve gender equality, including combating poverty and gender-based violence, ensuring all girls get an education and putting women at top levels of business and government, as well as at peacemaking tables.It also said, for the first time in a U.N. document, that women’s human rights include the right to control and decide “on matters relating to their sexuality, including their sexual and reproductive health, free of discrimination, coercion and violence.”In Friday’s outcome document, the commission urges governments at all levels to “ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.”It also urges governments to provide information on sexual and reproductive health and HIV prevention, gender equality and women’s empowerment” to adolescent girls and boys and young women and men, “with appropriate direction and guidance from parents and legal guardians.”On a positive note, the International Women’s Health Coalition’s Kowalski said the commission’s meeting saw “very strong leadership” from a number of Latin American and Pacific island countries and the “really strong and vital return of the United States as a leader and defender of sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality and women’s rights more broadly.”A highlight of the meeting was the virtual appearance by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who told the commission “the status of women is the status of democracy” and President Joe Biden’s administration will work to improve both.
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Fifteen people accused of plotting a coup in Haiti were released from prison Friday, 48 hours after an appeals court judge’s order.Two detainees, a man and a woman, are still incarcerated.According to Le Nouvelliste newspaper, the woman remains in prison because her name was misspelled in the release order. The name of the man, who is being detained at the Croix-des-Bouquets prison, was withheld. One of the lawyers representing the group, Marc-Antoine Maisonneuve, said he was doing everything possible to secure their release soon.The judge who ordered the 17 people released agreed with Maisonneuve’s argument that the arrests were illegal because they occurred outside the parameters set out in the constitution. According to the law, arrests must be made between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., unless they occur during the commission of a crime.The accused were asleep in their beds when they were arrested by law enforcement February 7.Haitian Président Jovenel Moïse speaks to VOA Creole about his decision to retire three Supreme Court Justices, Feb. 9, 2021.President Jovenel Moise announced the arrest of 23 people during a midday address streamed live on Facebook on February 7. Standing in front of his private plane at the international airport with first lady Martine Moise, the president told Haitians that Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe would provide more details later that afternoon.Jouthe said among those arrested was Supreme Court Justice Yvickel Dabresil.“Those people had contacted the official in charge of security for the national palace who were to arrest the president and take him to Habitation Petit Bois and also facilitate the swearing in of a new provisional president who would oversee the transition,” the prime minister told reporters.Jouthe said he saw and heard proof in the form of audio recordings, signed documents and the text of a speech for the inauguration of the new president.American Dan Whitman, a retired U.S. State Department and Foreign Service employee, was allegedly the mastermind of the plot. Whitman denied the accusation in an interview with VOA a day after the incident.”I don’t know who is spreading this narrative or why. I’ve never met or heard of any of the individuals mentioned — and don’t know why my name would be used in this regard,” Whitman told VOA in a phone interview, adding that he has not been to Haiti in 20 years. Five of the detainees were released within days, after it was determined they were not involved in the coup plot. Supreme Court Justice Dabresil was released February 11.The arrests sparked outcry from the opposition and nationwide protests calling for their release. The country’s judges have been on strike for weeks as well, to protest their colleague’s arrest and the forced retirement of three supreme court justices. The work stoppage has virtually paralyzed Haiti’s judicial system.Matiado Vilme contributed to this report from Port au Prince, Haiti.
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Popular Haitian Rapper Izolan, is a free man after being arrested Wednesday night at the Toussaint Louverture international Airport in Port-au-Prince by agents of the anti-drug trafficking branch of the Haitian National Police. News of the arrest went viral on Twitter and Instagram after lawyer and opposition leader Andre Michel alerted his followers. 
 La DCPJ vient de procéder illégalement à l’arrestation de Jean Léonard Tout Puissant( IZOLAN),un artiste populaire.Maitre Palvin Phizéma, un avocat du du Secteur Démocratique et Populaire,est en route pour la DCPJ.Le Secteur Démocratique et Populaire exige sa libération immédiate— Me. André Michel (@avokapepla) March 24, 2021″DCPJ has just illegally arrested Jean Leonard Tout Puissant (IZOLAN) a popular artist. Palvin Phizema, a lawyer who works for the Democratic and Popular sector (of opposition groups), is on his way to the DCPJ. The Democratic and Popular Sector demand his immediate release,” Michel tweeted.   
 
VOA spoke to Phizema shortly after he arrived at the headquarters of the judiciary police, DCPJ. He told VOA he had not yet been allowed to see or speak with the rapper. It is still unclear why the rapper was arrested.  
 
Popular Haitian American rapper Wyclef Jean, who has recorded several songs with Izolan, posted a video on his Instagram account condemning the arrest. .⁦@wyclef⁩ on the news that pioneering rap Kreyol artist ⁦@izolanofficial⁩ was arrested today in #Haiti, (we’re still waiting info from ⁦@PNH_officiel⁩ ) calls for his immediate release. pic.twitter.com/JMHIlcNIEL— Jacqueline Charles (@Jacquiecharles) March 25, 2021 
“I’m only going to say this once, this thing – I’m not going for it,” Wyclef said, speaking in a mixture of Haitian Creole and English. “I’m not going for it, we’re not going for it … Let Izolan go. Please let Izolan go.” The video has since been deleted from Wyclef’s Instagram account.  
 
About 10 p.m., after being released from DCPJ custody, Izolan posted a black-and- white selfie on his Instagram account and thanked fans for their support.  
 
“Thanks everybody for your support. DCPJ asked me to join them to respond to some questions. I didn’t panic because I know myself. I will always be who I am, nothing can change that,” Izolan posted in Creole.   
 
The rapper told a local radio station he had been interrogated but did not elaborate. He would say only that he was not asked about his ties to Fantom 509, the renegade group of former and current police officers who have been blamed for a series of jailbreaks, looting, violence and the Monday hold-up at gunpoint of the Belize national team bus, shortly after they arrived in Haiti for a World Cup qualifier. The team was unharmed. The U.S. State Department has described the group as “criminals.” Earlier this week, the national police announced several arrest warrants for members of Fantom 509.  
 
Lawyer Michel tweeted his thanks.  
 
“Good News. IZOLAN has just been released. In the name of the Democratic and Popular Sector I would like to thank all the lawyers who went to the DCPJ to help IZOLAN,” he tweeted. 
 Bonne nouvelle. IZOLAN fenk Jwenn liberasyon li.Nan non Sektè Demokratik e Popilè a,Mwen Remèsye Tout Avoka( Mèt Palvin Phizéma, Arnel Rémy, Jules Frantz, Bellevue, Théophin) Ki te rive nan DCPJ nan Kad Dosye IZOLAN an.— Me. André Michel (@avokapepla) March 25, 2021Izolan says he is ready to talk to the police again if needed. 
 
The rapper has been an outspoken critic of President Jovenel Moise’s governance and widespread insecurity. In an interview with VOA during a pro-democracy demonstration on February 21, Izolan said he has received threats due to his outspokenness.  
 
“I’m one of the people who receives threats all the time because of my political views. That’s why I don’t bother anyone, and I don’t want anyone to bother me either. Everyone clearly sees that gangs rule this capital [Port-au-Prince],” he told VOA.  He also had a message for Fantom 509. “Everyone knows the 509 policemen are not illegal, they are legal, they are working with the union (SPNH17) to claim their rights. They are unable to eat or sleep and they spend their days out in the streets,” he told VOA, adding that as an artist he considers the police to be heroes. 
 Our reporter ran into rapper @izolanofficial on the street during the protest against dictatorship and kidnapping in #Haiti. He expressed support for the 509 Policemen who are trying to unionize. ?Matiado Vilme pic.twitter.com/BcxdoSz62w— Sandra Lemaire (@SandraDVOA) February 21, 2021
Izolan says he will participate in two days of protests on March 28 and March 29. The demonstrations, organized by Haitian civil society groups, aim to protest violence and demand respect for the constitution.Matiado Vilme in Port-au-Prince, Haiti contributed to this report
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