The U.N. refugee agency says tens of thousands of Nicaraguan refugees and asylum-seekers in Costa Rica are going hungry because COVID-19 restrictions have eliminated job opportunities.More than 81,000 Nicaraguans have sought international protection in Costa Rica from rights violations and political persecution in Nicaragua. Before the pandemic, the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reports, most of the refugees and asylum-seekers could find work to support themselves.This situation has changed dramatically for the worse because of lockdowns and other restrictions imposed to curb the impact of COVID-19. The UNHCR reports more than three-quarters of Nicaragua’s refugee population is going hungry as a direct consequence of these measures.UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo said forcibly displaced Latin Americans largely depend on the informal economy to earn a living.  These jobs, she said, have essentially dried up because of COVID-19.  She said most of these families now eat only two meals a day.“Only 59% of refugee families in Costa Rica are reporting steady work-related income streams as of the end of July.  And, this is a staggering decrease from 93% before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.  So, this now leaves many also at risk of eviction and homelessness.  A fifth of Nicaraguan refugees surveyed in Costa Rica said they now do not know where they will live in the next month,” she said.A recent survey of 21% of Nicaraguan refugees and asylum-seekers indicates at least one member of their households is thinking of returning to Nicaragua because they cannot make a living.  Mantoo told VOA more than 3,000 asylum claims in Costa Rica, most from Nicaraguans also have been withdrawn.“Families are reporting that they are considering these returns back to Nicaragua where maybe what is driving them is this pressing socioeconomic condition—the desperation, the hardship, the poverty that they are enduring …That is just the data that we have and it points as part of the bigger picture that we are seeing—sort of a pressing humanitarian situation there for refugees driving premature returns, but also affecting day-to-day lives,” she said.  Mantoo said the UNHCR is stepping up cash assistance programs throughout Central America to support vulnerable forcibly displaced people.  In face of the worsening situation in Costa Rica, she said her agency and its partners are working with the government to support asylum-seekers and refugees who cannot return to Nicaragua. 
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In May, facing urgent international demands for action after a string of massive wildfires in the Amazon, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro put the army in charge of protecting the rainforest.
 
Instead, The Associated Press has found, the operation dubbed as “Green Brazil 2” has had the opposite effect. Under military command, Brazil’s once-effective but recently declining investigation and prosecution of rainforest destruction by ranchers, farmers and miners has come to a virtual halt, even as this year’s burning season picks up.
 
The Brazilian army appears to be focusing on dozens of small road-and-bridge-building projects that allow exports to flow faster to ports and ease access to protected areas, opening the rainforest to further exploitation. In the meantime, there have been no major raids against illegal activity since Bolsonaro required military approval for them in May, according to public officials, reporting from the area and interviews with nine current and former members of Brazil’s environmental enforcement agency.  
 The AP also found that:
 
— The number of fines issued for environmental crimes has been cut by almost half since four years ago, especially under Bolsonaro.
 
— Two high-ranking officials from IBAMA, the environmental agency, say they have stopped using satellite maps to locate deforestation sites and fine their owners __ a once-widely used technique. IBAMA officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.  
 
— IBAMA is no longer penalizing the heads of big networks of illegal logging, mining and farming, according to two other officials. Meat packers who sell beef from deforested areas now operate freely, according to three IBAMA officials.
 
The order putting the military in charge of fighting deforestation was initially due to end in June, but it was recently extended by Bolsonaro until November despite widespread criticism that it is making the problem worse.  
 
At stake is the fate of the forest itself, and hopes of limiting global warming. Experts say blazes and deforestation are pushing the world’s largest rainforest toward a tipping point, after which it will cease to generate enough rainfall to sustain itself. About two-thirds of the forest would then begin an irreversible, decades-long decline into tropical savanna.
 
The Amazon has lost about 17% of its original area and, at the current pace, is expected to reach a tipping point in the next 15 to 30 years. As it decomposes, it will release hundreds of billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
 
“From the occupation of the land to mining and the fires, it is all connected,” said Suely Vaz, who headed IBAMA between 2016 and 2019 and is now a specialist of the Climate Observatory, comprised of 50 non-governmental groups. “IBAMA should fight the whole network of deforestation. But it just doesn’t now.”  
 
Bolsonaro’s office and IBAMA did not respond to requests for comment, but Bolsonaro declared in May that “our effort is great, enormous in fighting fires and deforestation.” He also called reports of the forest on fire “a lie.”
 
Brazil’s Defense Ministry defended its record, saying its deployment was ’’an operation of multiple agencies” involving 2,090 people a day, along with 89 vehicles and 19 ships.
“Those figures are rising by the day, as resources become available and operations are gradually intensified,” the ministry said.  
 
It said the operation had led to the destruction of 253 machines involved in illegal logging as of Aug. 24 but did not specify what type of machines or say anything about other illegal activities like mining.  
 
While the threat under Bolsonaro’s administration is the latest and most severe, efforts to preserve the Amazon have been struggling for years.  
 
In the 2003-2011 administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil developed a multi-agency plan to slow Amazon deforestation that worked well, according to virtually all observers. That ended in 2012 when the government of his successor, Dilma Rousseff, pardoned illegal deforestation prior to 2008, among other measures that emboldened violators. Many believe Bolsonaro will issue new pardons.
 
IBAMA once had more than 1,300 agents. That has dropped to about 600 since 2012, when the agency stopped hiring under Rousseff in an attempt to rein in spending.
 
The weakening of IBAMA accelerated after Rousseff was ousted in 2016 and replaced by right-wing Michel Temer. Observers on all sides say the change has been far more fast-moving and dramatic since Bolsonaro was elected in 2018, after a campaign that dismissed the threat of deforestation and pledged more development of the rainforest.  
 
In the field, IBAMA has hundreds of inspectors who are supposed to conduct investigations, raid illegal sites, issue fines, destroy equipment and request arrests by local and federal police, along with a corps of temporary contract firefighters. But after the last major raid by IBAMA against illegal mining in April, the two inspectors in charge were fired by the environment ministry, allegedly for “political-ideological bias.″
 
A former Bolsonaro minister, Gen. Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz, told the AP that the army is best at supporting inspections in the Amazon, not leading them.
 
“In some places you cannot find any other institution, no police or IBAMA. There’s no structure and the military steps up,” he said. “The armed forces can help and they are helping. But inspections need to be done by those that are experts. And you have to work with local authorities, they are the ones who know who the criminals are.”
 
In 2016, the year Temer took office, there were almost 10,000 fines nationwide for environmental crimes, according to IBAMA’s website. In 2019, the first year of the Bolsonaro presidency, that shrank to 7,148. In the first six months of 2020, it stood at 3,721.
 
Defense Ministry numbers confirm that fines under operation Green Brazil 2 have continued at a lower rate, with 1,526 fines so far over about three months’ worth almost $80 million.
 
“There is a reduction in fines because the president doesn’t like them, campaigns against them,” an IBAMA inspector based in the Amazon said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press by agency heads in the capital, Brasilia.
 
“Appointees to local IBAMA offices know that,” the official said. “If a given unit fines too much, they get a call from Brasilia.”
 
Last week, a group of five soldiers and five IBAMA firefighters drove into Nova Fronteira, a remote district of Pará state. Satellite images showed a big fire threatening a part of the forest on the edges of a private property.
 
Upon arrival, they saw a wooden gate closed with a single padlock. In the past, IBAMA staff would enter private properties in emergencies, as allowed by Brazilian law. That policy has changed with the army’s arrival.
 
“We can’t come in if the owner is not here,” said one soldier, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the press.
 
A simple but effective change could be issuing fines to land owners through satellite imagery-aided investigation. An IBAMA specialist on data said 70% of deforestation in many areas can be located on aerial maps by Brazil’s space agency. That alone would allow IBAMA to find who owns the land and hold them accountable — which is not happening under the army, agency veterans said.  
 
“We are not even trying now,” one high-ranking official said.  
 
A former top IBAMA official said the army didn’t know how to lead investigations and could not legally issue fines, seize equipment or block construction. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he has received death threats from people involved in Amazon development.  
 
“The army could use their technology to see where deforestation is growing, map it all and go after who is responsible,” he said. “But they spend their time either stopping IBAMA from doing that or working on construction projects.”  
 
Another IBAMA agent who has organized hundreds of raids nationwide said the agency also is no longer investigating the heads of big networks of illegal logging, mining and farming. That type of high-end investigative work slowed down under Temer, with a few prominent exceptions, and stopped entirely under Bolsonaro, with new regional leaders of IBAMA offices tending to be former or active military or police officials seconded to civilian positions.
 
Those who support development applaud the army’s foray into the Amazon.  
 
Part-time farmer Antonio Silva has noticed the changes in the operations of Brazil’s environmental enforcement agency — and he loves them. Silva struggled for years doing odd jobs in northern Brazil before he moved to the country’s Amazon frontier and bought himself a 4-acre poultry farm outside the city of Novo Progresso, where he also works as a security guard.  
 
As ranching and mining ate into the rainforest, the city grew from a few thousand to 25,000 residents, and the market for Silva’s chicken and turkeys grew. There are now three electronics stores in town, instead of just one.  
 
 
He said IBAMA used to aggressively patrol around his little farm, seeking out those who seized public lands and chopped and burned the rainforest for profit. A few years ago, they came in by helicopter, bringing police with machine guns. They arrested people and destroyed machinery.
 
“It was shocking,” Silva said. “It is better now….they come twice a week to put out some fires, talk and that’s it.”
 
Every morning the city is covered in smoke from the previous days, which dissipates before fires start again in the afternoon. Novo Progresso has a dozen IBAMA inspectors and firefighters.
 
Residents say inspectors have barely left the office since the army arrived and firefighters are being called only in urgent situations or long after the blazes are out.
Last week, a group of IBAMA firefighters drove two hours to a fire started three days earlier. An area equivalent to eight soccer fields had already been burned and some trees were still on fire, endangering a region of dense forest.
 
A man who did not identify himself blamed a neighbor for starting the blaze, but did not name the person or file a complaint. Agents saw a chainsaw on the ground and the man took it away, without answering whether he had a license for it, as required by Brazilian law. Records show no investigation was opened, no fines were issued.
 
The former top IBAMA official said the professional corps of inspectors used to have little fear of fining violators, confiscating their equipment or even destroying the whole operation. After the inspectors had their powers cut back, poorly paid and locally hired firefighters started giving them less information on wrongdoing.  
 
“The firefighters would do it at their own risk,” the former official said. “And what for? After that gig ends six months later they have to live in the same place.”
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Cuban officials say the capital, Havana, is set begin a new ban on the movement of people and vehicles as part of an effort to slow a new surge in coronavirus cases.
 
Havana Governor Reinaldo García Zapata said Thursday a 7pm to 5am curfew will begin Tuesday.   
 
Zapata also announced a ban on travel from the Cuban capital to other provinces.    
 
He said, the government will reassess the impact of the new measures after 15 days.
 
Cuba had mostly contained its COVID 19 outbreak by isolating patients and conducting rigorous contact tracing.  
 
It had eased lockdown restrictions by the end of June but tightened them again six weeks later after cases jumped again. It continued to allow domestic tourism as long as would-be vacationers took a coronavirus test before traveling.
 
A Cuban biologist said Havana recorded 269 coronavirus cases last week, the highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic five months ago.  
 
So far, Cuba has confirmed slightly more than 3,800 infections and 92 deaths.
 
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Hundreds of fans of Argentinean football (soccer) superstar Lionel Messi held a car caravan rally through the player’s hometown Thursday in hopes of persuading him to return to the organization where he began his career.After five months without football due to the coronavirus pandemic, the fans of the Newell’s Old Boys football club dusted off flags, donned the club’s symbolic red and black jerseys and staged a noisy and colorful caravan from the “Marcelo Bielsa” stadium to the Flag Monument in Rosario, well north of Buenos Aires.The initiative is based on the premise that the arrival of Messi is not only good for Newell’s but for all of Argentine football, since it could lead to higher profits in sponsors and international television rights.Club Newell’s Old Boys reportedly does not have the wealth of owners of other teams, such as Manchester City, but fans are hoping to rekindle a spirit of nostalgia that will lure the sports superstar home, stressing his return would be good for all of Argentine football.Hopes for Messi’s return accelerated earlier this week, when he revealed he did not want to remain with Barcelona, the team he signed with 20 years ago.Messi, who is a captain on the Argentina national team, has openly said he would like to play for Newell’s, but his next stop remains unclear.     
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Health care workers in Peru protested outside the Ministry of Health and one of largest hospitals in the capital, Lima, Wednesday, demanding better working conditions and pay as infections of the novel coronavirus spread among their colleagues.The protesters washed disposable masks outside of the National Hospital Edgardo Rebagliati Martins to bring attention to what they complain is a lack of protective supplies.During Wednesday’s street demonstration, anti-riot police attempted to stop protesters from advancing.Healthcare professionals say they deserve better pay considering the heightened risk they take using inadequate protective gear while attending to patients with the contagious disease.Minister of Health Pilar Mazzetti on Monday called the street demonstrations regrettable, saying medical workers taking part in the protests neglected their patients.Dr. Godofredo Talavera, president of the Medical Federation, rejected a claim saying personnel participating in the demonstrations were off duty.Peru has confirmed more than 610,000 coronavirus cases and more than 28,000 deaths, both tallies among the highest in Latin America.       
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Rights group researchers warns that health system struggling to provide care for older COVID-19 patients will be flooded with new patients suffering respiratory illnesses due to the smoke
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An independent body exonerated Wednesday, in a report which angered the family of the victim, six police officers who intervened at the home of a young Black woman when she fell from the 24th floor of her building in Toronto.Regis Korchinski-Paquet, 29, died on May 27 after falling from the balcony of her apartment.The incident occurred during a police response, called by her mother after a family dispute. The young woman, who suffered from mental health problems, was having an epileptic seizure, according to Canadian media.Six Toronto police officers were present at her home at the time of his fall, which had led to the opening of an investigation by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) to determine the circumstances of the tragedy.”After reviewing the evidence file, the director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, concluded that there were no reasonable grounds to believe that any of the police officers involved had committed a criminal offense in connection with the death of Ms. Korchinski-Paquet,” said the SIU.The Special Investigations Unit is an independent body responsible for investigating incidents involving police officers causing death or serious injury or involving allegations of sexual assault.”There have been allegations that she was pushed off the balcony by the police. The evidence shows that this did not happen,” Martino said.The family of Regis Korchinski-Paquet said they were “absolutely disgusted” by the results of the investigation and promised to continue their fight to shed light on this affair.”People must be held accountable for their actions, but they are not. And it is a problem, a big problem,” lamented Renee Korchinski, the sister of the victim, during a press conference.Regis Korchinski-Paquet died two days before George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man died while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Floyd’s death had led to numerous protests against police violence and racism in the United States and Canada, as well as around the world.
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The storm system known as Laura became a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to intensify as it hits warmer water, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its Paul Humphrey, of New Orleans, loads plywood into his truck, to board a friend’s home in preparation for the arrival of hurricanes Marco and Laura, at Lowe’s in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., Aug. 23, 2020.Hurricane and storm surge warnings are in effect for the northwestern Gulf coast.The storm could also bring up to 30 centimeters of rain to some parts of Louisiana and Texas, according to the National Hurricane Center. Laura is blamed for at least 11 deaths in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where it caused flooding Monday evening and knocked out power. The storm also took out power to hundreds of thousands of customers in Puerto Rico.  Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency on Friday, August 21, in anticipation of Laura and Tropical Storm Marco, which made landfall in Texas Monday, while Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a state disaster declaration on Sunday. Both states receive federal funding to help with evacuations, search and rescue and mass sheltering. After making landfall, Marco began weakening almost immediately. It is now a post-tropical system and forecast to dissipate by early Wednesday. 
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Businesses in El Salvador are operating without restrictions for the first time in nearly six months, since measures were put in place to curtail the spread of the coronavirus. The total reopening is the result of the Salvadoran Supreme Court of Justice ruling a government decree regulating the reopening in five stages was unconstitutional, concluding it was a decision left to the Legislative Assembly. Still, without the government oversight, businesses and people are urged to act responsibly and continue to try and contain the spread of the virus.  Following Monday’s announcement of the reopening, public transit companies said they will operate at between 50 to 80 per cent of their services. The reopening will not include public and private schools and universities because in person classes are suspended. The airport will restart operations for connecting international flights next Friday and flights to and from El Salvador on September 19. El Salvador has reported more than 24,800 coronavirus cases and more than 660 deaths. 
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Millions of public-school students in Mexico are taking classes by way of a television broadcast after being idled for months because of the coronavirus outbreak. Both parents and teachers said, Monday’s return to class got off to a bumpy start.  Still, Reuters said nearly two million students from private schools are expected to join the public-school enrollment because of the crisis. In an effort to keep its students, private schools are offering discounts and other benefits, but it’s unclear if the incentives are changing the minds of parents concerned about paying tuition without in person classes.  The pandemic has eased some in Mexico, but the government said that infections are still too high to resume in person classes.  Mexico has confirmed more than 560,000 COVID-19 infections and more than 60,800 deaths. 
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Brazil’s president threatened Sunday to punch a reporter in the face for asking about his wife’s bank deposits, allegedly linked to a corruption scheme involving an aide to their senator son. “I want to punch you in the face, OK?” the right-wing Bolsonaro was heard replying to the reporter from O Globo newspaper in an audio recording released by the daily. The president did not take any follow-up questions from other journalists after the exchange and left without making further comments. The O Globo reporter was referring to an article published earlier this month in the magazine Crusoe that linked First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro to retired police officer Fabrício Queiroz, a friend of the president, and former adviser to their now senator son Flavio Bolsonaro. According to the magazine, Queiroz deposited about $13,000 in checks from government employees in the first lady’s account between 2011 and 2016. Queiroz was an aide to younger Bolsonaro when he was a Rio de Janeiro state legislator, before his father became president in January 2019. During and after the campaign Jair Bolsonaro has promised not to tolerate corruption. While both Queiroz and Flavio Bolsonaro are being investigated, Queiroz is under arrest in connection with bank deposits of $213,500 made at the time. 
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Five people are dead in Haiti’s southeast and west departments, presidential press secretary Eddy Jackson Alexis announced Sunday after Tropical Storm Laura hit the country with an estimated 200 mm (8 inches) rain and maximum sustained winds of up to 85 kph. The president and all the members of his government presented their condolences to the victims’ families, Alexis tweeted.5 moun deja mouri pandan pasaj tanpèt twopikal #TTLaura nan depatman Sidès ak Lwès peyi a. Chèf Leta a ansanm ak tout Gouvènman an prezante senpati yo a fanmi viktim yo. Alèt wouj la toujou kenbe sou tout peyi a. @Pwoteksyonsivilpic.twitter.com/O5LTQ16m64— Communication Haïti (@MCHaiti) August 23, 2020 The press secretary said the death toll is still being assessed and that among the victims were a 10-year-old girl, a woman who was swept away by flood waters and a man who was found dead in the Bicentenaire neighborhood of the capital, Port-au-Prince, near the national palace.In an earlier tweet Sunday, the press secretary said the Peligre Dam, a flood-controlling and energy generating hydroelectric plant in the Artibonite River valley in Haiti’s lush agricultural sector, had flooded and was subsequently opened.5 moun deja mouri pandan pasaj tanpet twopikal #Laura nan depatman Sidès ak Lwès peyi a. Baraj Pelig la ranpli. Otorite yo blije lage dlo a. Moun nan Latibonit atansyon pral gen anpil dlo nan vale a. ALÈT WOUJ la toujou kenbe sou tout teritwa nasyonal la.@Pwoteksyonsivil#COUN— Eddy Jackson Alexis (@Eddyjalexis) August 23, 2020″Residents of the Artibonite region, stay alert, there will be flooding in the valley. The Red Alert is still in effect for the entire country,” Alexis warned.  
 
In Riviere Froide, in the southeastern Nippes Department, residents told VOA Creole they fear for their lives as the river threatens homes and businesses near its banks.  “We are in grave danger because when this river overflows it causes major problems. There are people who have children who need to evacuate but they don’t have the resources to do that,” a man who stood on the bank of the overflowing, muddy river told VOA. He urged the government to send help immediately.   Another male resident told VOA many of the homes on the bank of the river have multiple people living in them and that the river also swept away livestock.”The river is a big threat to the people living near it (now),” he said.  Video recorded by VOA Creole shows river waters sweeping away parts of makeshift, tin-roof homes. Some people are seen standing seemingly helpless on the front porch of their homes as the river creeps closer and closer. Other residents attempt to salvage property as people standing on the opposite side of the riverbank shout at them to watch out. In the background a woman screams.Raging floodwaters of the Riviere Froide in Haiti’s southwest theatens homes, Aug. 23, 2020. (Photo: Matiado Vilme / VOA)Residents said some people regularly wade or swim across the river because there is no passible road they can take.   The latest weather forecast Sunday predicts wind and thunderstorms continuing through Tuesday as Laura still threaten lives in Haiti and the Dominican Republic with flash flooding. According to the U.S.  National Hurricane Center, the tropical storm is now heading east toward Cuba.  Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File352p | 1 MB352p | 2 MBOriginal | 5 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioTropical Storm Laura lashed Haiti with torrential rains, high winds and flash flooding. In the Riviere Froide region in the southeast, residents lives and homes are threatened by raging river waters. (Video by Matiado Vilme/VOA Creole)Haiti’s ministry for the protection of civilians (Homeland Security) announced on Twitter that a press conference is planned for later Sunday to inform the public about the storm damage. The ministry says the prime minister, interior minister, homeland security minister and other government officials will be on hand to answer reporters’ questions.   Tropical Storm Laura hits Haiti at a time when the Caribbean nation is still struggling with the coronavirus. The latest public health ministry figures published this week indicate 8,082 infections and 196 deaths.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File352p | 4 MB352p | 5 MB352p | 6 MBOriginal | 12 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioTropical Storm Laura caused major flooding in the Riviere Froide region of Haiti’s southeast where the raging river swept away homes and livestock, Aug. 23, 2020. (Video by Matiado Vilme/VOA Creole)
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At least 13 people suffocated in a crush during a raid on a nightclub in Peru’s capital where a party was being held despite a coronavirus ban on such gatherings, police said.Latin America has been badly hit by the pandemic, and this month Peru reimposed stricter restrictions on movement.The illegal birthday party on Saturday was organized on social media and drew a crowd of around 120 at the Thomas Restobar, the interior ministry said in a statement confirming the 13 deaths.”Faced with the police operation, which did not use any type of weapon or tear gas, those attending the party tried to escape through the single exit, trampling each other and getting trapped in the stairway,” the ministry said. However, some who were at the party and others living near the nightclub in Lima’s Los Olivos district disputed the ministry’s version of events.”It appears that police entered and threw tear gas canisters at them, and boxed them in,” one local resident told RPP radio.Six people, including three police officers, were injured, the interior ministry said.Local media reported that the victims were in their 20s.Women’s Minister Rosario Sasieta said she was outraged.”It should never have happened. We are in a pandemic, in a health emergency. I am calling for the maximum punishment possible for the nightclub owners,” she told RPP.The interior ministry said 23 people had been detained and that authorities are trying to identify the organizers and the owners of the premises.Peru, with a population of 33 million, has recorded more than half a million coronavirus cases and over 27,000 fatalities.This month the country re-imposed a curfew on Sundays in response to the rising number of infections.A nighttime curfew has been in place since March 16 while the borders are closed and school classes have been suspended for the rest of the year. 
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At least 17 people were killed in three attacks across Colombia in regions contested by criminal groups, drug traffickers, and dissidents of the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.Officials and local media reported on Saturday that the attacks occurred within 24 hours in three Colombian provinces.Colombia’s President Ivan Duque condemned the violence.”The rejection of violence is because it mainly hurts the young people of Colombia,” he said. “It hurts that in recent years we have seen that the main victims of violence are youth. It hurts that in many communities these armed groups have always tried to recruit children.”The attacks in the Columbian provinces of Cauca and Narino claimed the life of 12 people, six in each, while the attack in the province of Arauca left five people dead.Just a week ago, eight people were killed by an unidentified armed group in a contested drug trafficking area in Narino. Five other people were killed on August 11 in a neighborhood in the eastern part of the city of Cali.More than 260,000 people have been killed and millions displaced during Colombia’s decades-long drug trafficking conflicts that have involved drug gangs, other criminal groups and former members of FARC who reject the Duque’s 2016 peace deal.     
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“He’s in the next room — if he hears me, I’ll have to hang up.”That call to the FILE – An advocate works in a cubicle at the National Domestic Violence Hotline center’s facility in Austin, Texas, June 27, 2016.Hotline callsOverall, calls to domestic violence hotlines in Texas cities spiked in March as the state locked down, according to a roundup compiled by the magazine FILE – Women stay in a line to hold a banner during an action against domestic violence on the Patriarshy Bridge, with the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in the background, in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 14, 2019.RussiaRussia Psychologist Daniel Ramirez from the APIS Center Foundation for Equity attends to a patient who accuses her partner of domestic abuse, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in Mexico City, Mexico, April 23, 2020.MexicoIn Mexico, the secretary of the interior and civil society organizations said that violence against women was increasing during lockdowns, although President FILE – A woman stands outside the health clinic in the village of Migowi, Malawi, Dec. 10, 2019.MalawiIn Malawi, one of the world’s poorest countries, where 46% of girls are married before age 18 and 9% before age 15, the organization People Serving Girls at Risk (PSGR) discerned a spike in child marriages when lockdowns began in March.PSGR director Caleb Ng’ombo attributed the increase to parents thinking that marrying off their daughters would relieve them of a burden during the pandemic.“It is so horrifying,” Ng’ombo said. “It is so horrifying in the sense that the girls are being forced to get into marriage.”The loss of income also has put women and girls at a greater risk of commercial sexual exploitation and pregnancy from transactional sex.“People have to weigh their options,” Ng’ombo said. “[They think], ‘If I just stay at home and don’t go out to do anything, I’ll still be killed by hunger anyways … I still have to go and sell sex.’ ”“This is where unscrupulous people are coming in to recruit children, to steal children, to abduct children, but especially girls,” said Ng’ombo, a crusader against child trafficking.Despite “very cordial” help from government institutions and police in combating sexual exploitation during the pandemic, PSGR has laid off staffers because of a lack of funding.“And this is at a critical time when we are needed the most by the girls, by the women,” Ng’ombo said. “Because time and time again, we keep getting distressing calls from women … and they’re looking for help.”As of Saturday, Malawi had reported a COVID-19 toll of more than 5,300 confirmed cases and 166 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.
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Mexico’s president on Friday called on authorities to investigate videos showing his brother receiving cash but said the money was part of fundraising and used for 2015 regional elections, not corruption.Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador made the comments to reporters after two videos were published online by a news outlet.”They’re contributions to strengthen the movement at a time when the people were the ones basically supporting it,” he said. “We have been fighting for many years and the people have financed us, just like what happened when revolutions have taken place.”The videos were published by Mexican news outlet Latinus while Mexico is conducting a high-profile corruption trial involving the former chief of Mexico’s state oil company, Pemex, who has also implicated former presidents and senior politicians.”The aim (of this video) is to damage the image of the government but they will not achieve it,” Lopez Obrador said. “There are birds that go through the swamp and never get dirty. That’s what my feathers are like. I’ve always come out of slander unscathed.”The videos show David Leon, a Lopez Obrador adviser before becoming the head of Mexico’s Civil Protection agency, giving cash to the president’s brother.Asked if the money was registered as a campaign contribution with authorities, Lopez Obrador said he did not know.
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The U.S. National Weather Service is predicting that two storm systems in and around the Caribbean Sea will strengthen and could both be hurricanes next week in the Gulf of Mexico.The This satellite image released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Tropical Storm Laura in the North Atlantic Ocean, Aug. 21, 2020.The Washington Post reports Laura is the earliest forming “L” named storm on record, beating out Tropical Storm Luis, which formed on August 29, 1995. The season has already featured the earliest-forming C, E, F, G, H, I, J and K storms on record.Meanwhile, further to the west, in the southern Caribbean, forecasters are watching Tropical Depression 14, which they say will likely strengthen into Tropical Storm Marco.Forecasters say both storms will likely move into the Gulf of Mexico and could become hurricanes by early next week. If they do, it will be the first time two hurricanes are in the gulf at the same time in the satellite era.Some computer models say both hurricanes could hit the southern United States at roughly the same time, or could interact with each other in some way, depending on their size.Tropical storm warnings have been issued across the Caribbean, including in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Haiti, the northern Leeward Islands and the southeast Bahamas. Monroe County in the Florida Keys declared a state of emergency Friday and ordered mandatory evacuations for people living in boats and mobile homes.Tropical Depression 14 is expected reach the eastern Yucatan coast of Mexico by midday Saturday, where tropical storm warnings are in effect. It is forecast to move into the south-central Gulf of Mexico by Sunday afternoon.
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The U.S. National Weather Service is predicting that two storm systems in and around the Caribbean Sea will strengthen and could both be hurricanes next week in the Gulf of Mexico.The National Hurricane Center reports Tropical Storm Laura formed early Friday just northeast of the Lesser Antilles, and by last report, was 280 kilometers east of the northern Leeward Islands in the Caribbean.This satellite image released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Tropical Storm Laura in the North Atlantic Ocean, Aug. 21, 2020.The Washington Post reports Laura is the earliest forming “L” named storm on record, beating out Tropical Storm Luis, which formed Aug. 29, 1995. The season has already featured the earliest-forming C, E, F, G, H, I, J and K storms on record.Meanwhile, further to the west, in the southern Caribbean, forecasters are watching Tropical Depression 14, which they say will strengthen into Tropical Storm Marco later Friday.Forecasters say both storms are likely to move into the Gulf of Mexico and become hurricanes by early next week. If they do, it will be the first time two hurricanes are in the gulf at the same time in the satellite era.Some computer models say both hurricanes could hit the southern United States at roughly the same time, or could interact with each other in some way, depending on their size.Tropical storm warnings have been issued in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the northern Leeward Islands and the southeast Bahamas, where tropical storm conditions from Laura could arrive as early as Friday night.Tropical Depression 14 is expected reach the eastern Yucatan coast by midday Saturday, where tropical storm warnings are in effect. It is forecast to move into the south-central Gulf of Mexico by Sunday afternoon. 
 
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Mexico could begin testing a Russian-licensed coronavirus vaccine as early as next month.The country said Thursday it will receive at least 2,000 doses of the vaccine.Russia became the first country to license a vaccine last week when President Vladimir Putin announced its approval, although only a few dozen people have tested the vaccine.The World Health Organization is withholding approval because the Russian vaccine has not passed the extensive trials usually required before a vaccine is licensed.Mexico is also working with vaccine producers in Britain, the United States and China to acquire a vaccine soon as possible for its people.Mexico has confirmed more than 540,000 coronavirus cases, and more than 59,000 people have died.
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Mexico has issued a hurricane watch and a tropical storm warning for portions of the eastern Yucatan Peninsula northward to Cancun.The system is a remnant of Hurricane Genevieve, which weakened to a tropical storm Thursday before threatening Mexico’s Baja California with strong winds and fierce rain.Genevieve caused at least two storm-related deaths when a teenage girl was caught by high surf and the adult who tried to rescue her drowned.Another system triggered a tropical storm warning Friday for sections of Honduras and Nicaragua.Meanwhile, forecasters say two tropical depressions in the Atlantic could develop into tropical storms by Friday.Another tropical depression prompted forecasters to issue tropical storm watches for the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. 
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Hurricane Genevieve weakened to a tropical storm Thursday but still threatens Mexico’s Baja California with strong winds and fierce rain.  Genevieve is forecast to drench the southern portion of the peninsula with as much as 30 centimeters of rain in some parts before weakening into what forecasters call a remnant low sometime Friday. Genevieve was at one point a powerful Category 4 hurricane but weakened before lashing Mexico’s Los Cabos resorts. At least two storm-related deaths have been reported — a teenage girl who was caught by high surf and the adult who tried to rescue her. Meanwhile, forecasters are keeping an eye on two tropical depressions that formed Thursday in the Atlantic but could build into named tropical storms by Friday. Tropical storm warnings are already out for portions of Honduras and Nicaragua.  Another tropical depression has prompted forecasters to issue tropical storm watches for the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
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The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is blocking U.S. citizens in the country from leaving, rebuffing efforts by Washington to arrange humanitarian evacuation flights, a State Department spokeswoman said Thursday.”We have made offers in the past that would allow U.S. citizens to leave, but all were rejected by Maduro and his cronies,” the spokeswoman, Morgan Ortagus, said in an emailed statement, adding that Washington was looking at all options to ensure the secure return home of U.S. citizens.She did not say how many Americans were stuck in Venezuela.Washington has disavowed the government of Maduro and instead recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, even though Maduro remains in control of state institutions.Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza wrote on Twitter on Thursday that Caracas had offered to repatriate U.S. citizens via flights to the United States on state-owned airline Conviasa.That proposal would be impossible under Trump administration sanctions that bar flights between the two countries and prohibit U.S. citizens from dealings with Conviasa.U.S. diplomat James Story of the Venezuela Affairs Unit, based in neighboring Colombia, said last week that Americans were being held hostage by Maduro’s government.”I have more than 800 people who have asked for my support in helping leave the country,” Story said in an interview with Venezuelan journalist Vladimir Villegas broadcast online.He did not say how many of those were U.S. citizens. It was not immediately clear how many Americans are in Venezuela.Countries including Spain have been allowed by Maduro’s government to organize flights to repatriate their citizens.The United States and about 60 other countries recognize Guaido and regard Maduro’s 2018 re-election as a sham. But Maduro has remained in power, backed by the OPEC nation’s military as well as Russia, China, Cuba and Iran.U.S. officials say privately that Maduro’s continued rule despite heavy U.S. sanctions has been a source of frustration for U.S. President Donald Trump.
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Environmentalists are increasingly alarmed at the growing pace of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.  With the fire season under way, Brazil’s rainforests face the threat of even more destruction. The number of trees destroyed has accelerated since Jair Bolsonaro became president in 2019.  Facing criticism, the Brazilian leader is defending his policy on rainforests and countering critics by enacting what he says is a zero-tolerance campaign to stop those who are illegally burning down the country’s forests.  Edgar Maciel in Sao Paulo has the story, in this report narrated by Jonathan Spier.Camera: Edgar Maciel, TV Brazil      Produced by:  Jon Spier 
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Some inmates in Peru’s most populated prison are now acting as health care monitors, alerting doctors to possible new coronavirus infections.Just four month ago, inmates at the Lurigancho prison were demanding improvements for protection against the coronavirus when the protest ended with nine people dead and dozens more wounded.Rafael Castillo, vice president of the National Penitentiary Council said, the intent is to create an epidemiological containment ring within the prison facility.  He says this would  prevent thousands of inmates from overcrowding hospitals outside the prison.Prior to the inmates’ demand for sanitary improvements, some 2,500 prisoners had become infected with the coronavirus and 33 others died of the disease.Nationwide Peru has the third-highest coronavirus totals in Latin America behind Brazil and Mexico, with more than 500,000 coronavirus infections and more than 26,000 deaths.    
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