All posts by MBusiness

Venezuela Court Jails 2 US Ex-soldiers for 20 Years After Failed Incursion

A Venezuelan court sentenced two former U.S. soldiers to 20 years in prison for their role in a failed incursion aimed at ousting President Nicolas Maduro in early May, chief prosecutor Tarek Saab said late on Friday.Former Green Berets Luke Denman, 34, and Airan Berry, 41, admitted to participating in the May 4 operation, Saab wrote on his Twitter account.”Said gentlemen ADMITTED to having committed the crimes,” he wrote, adding that the trials were ongoing for dozens of others captured.Denman and Berry were charged with conspiracy, terrorism and illicit weapons trafficking, Saab wrote.Alfonso Medina, a lawyer for the two, said their legal team was not allowed into the courtroom. The two men were not available for comment.The sea incursion launched from Colombia, known as Operation Gideon, left at least eight dead.Maduro’s government said it arrested a group of conspirators that included Denman and Berry near the isolated coastal town of Chuao.U.S. special forces veteran Jordan Goudreau, who ran Silvercorp USA, a private Florida-based security firm, has claimed responsibility for the raid.Denman appeared in a video on Venezuelan state TV days after their capture, saying they had been contracted by Silvercorp USA to train 50 to 60 Venezuelans in Colombia, seize control of Caracas’ airport and bring in a plane to fly Maduro to the United States.Opposition leader Juan Guaido’s office said Guaido had known about the operation since October, but did not finance or order It.Maduro, who describes Guaido as a Washington puppet, has said that President Donald Trump’s government backed the Operation.The Trump administration has denied any direct involvement. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the U.S. government would use “every tool” to secure the U.S. citizens’ return.

US Expats in Canada Worry About Family Back Home

While the COVID-19 pandemic rages in the United States, Canada has seen a dramatic decline in cases, making the U.S. health crisis particularly upsetting to American expatriates enjoying the relative safety afforded in Canada.“This has all hit so hard, and it’s distressing to see what everyone is going through,” said Derek Brett, a lawyer who once worked on American political campaigns. Now a Canadian citizen, Brett lives and works in the Canadian city of Halifax, Nova Scotia.Brett said his sister in Florida works for a long-term care facility and was diagnosed with COVID-19 but has recovered and returned to work.“My mother in particular has been in a COVID lockdown for 150 days in her home. It doesn’t seem like there is going to be a relief in the foreseeable future,” he said, adding he is lucky to be in Canada. “I feel secure. I’m happy for my family here in Nova Scotia where we go for days without any cases.”In Canada’s remote, sparsely populated Atlantic region, cases are so rare that the four easternmost provinces – Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island – have formed a “travel bubble.” Residents of these provinces may visit the other three without self-quarantining for two weeks, unlike visitors from the rest of Canada, who are required to self-isolate as if coming from abroad.Meanwhile, the Canadian-U.S. border is closed to nonessential travel.“We would like to plan a trip back to the U.S. to see family,” said Michelle Sinville about herself and her husband, Geoffrey Sinville. “But not until the border is open and the virus is under control.”From New Hampshire originally, Sinville now lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, where she is a pharmaceutical industry consultant.Portapique and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia“I had a close family member pass away in June,” Sinville siad, “and we chose not to try to go back to the U.S., due to travel restrictions and virus transmission.”Coronavirus concerns aren’t limited to foreign travel. Some favor opening the Atlantic travel bubble to the rest of the country and eliminating the self-quarantining requirement. But the idea is unpopular in the travel bubble provinces, as infection rates in the rest of the country, while lower than in many parts of the world, are still higher than in the Atlantic region.“I think it’s a mistake to open up the Atlantic bubble,” Brett said. “I don’t believe it should open up to the rest of Canada. I think the Atlantic bubble should remain the Atlantic bubble. It doesn’t seem like Quebec and Ontario are ready.”Americans in the rest of Canada feel the same concern for family back home. Daniel Lopes works in Montreal for an American publishing company that works with Canadian libraries. He is from Boston originally and lives with his partner, Andrew Zageris, who works for a tax firm in Montreal.Lopes worries about his mother, who lives in Boston and lacks health insurance. “My mother is getting older, and … we thought about renting the apartment next to us so she can stay there.”Lopes said he has been strict about social distancing. “Over eight weeks I went on one walk with a friend, and I met with one friend on his porch.”He added that he feels for COVID-19 victims and does not wish to shame people who get sick.“At the end of the day it’s people’s grandparents and cousins and neighbors. They made perhaps dumb choices, but that doesn’t mean they deserved to die.”Canadians who work with Americans have found their businesses disrupted.“I am still conducting business in the U.S. but have no intentions of travelling across the border for the foreseeable future,” said David Gough, who directs the Atlantic Canada office of the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada.Gough said Nova Scotia has been lucky during the outbreak and has been able to “stay smart.”“The problem will be in remaining smart.” 

Canada to Impose Retaliatory Tariffs on US Goods, Hopes for Resolution

Canada will slap retaliatory tariffs on C$3.6 billion ($2.7 billion) worth of U.S. aluminum products after the United States said it would impose punitive measures on Canadian aluminum imports, a senior official said on Friday.Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told a news conference the countermeasures would be put in place by Sept. 16 to allow consultations with industry.The move marks the latest ruction in a choppy relationship between the neighbors and close allies since President Donald Trump took office in 2017.Trump moved on Thursday to reimpose 10% tariffs on some Canadian aluminum products on Aug 16 to protect U.S. industry from a “surge” in imports. Canada denies any impropriety.”At a time when we are fighting a global pandemic … a trade dispute is the last thing anyone needs – it will only hurt the economic recovery on both sides of the border. However, this is what the U.S. administration has chosen to do,” said Freeland.”We do not escalate and we do not back down,” she said later, variously describing the U.S. decision as “entirely unacceptable,” absurd and ludicrous.The Canadian list of goods that might be subject to tariffs includes aluminum bars, plates, refrigerators, bicycles, washing machines and golf clubs. Trump is a keen golfer.”I think the very best outcome would be for the United States to reconsider,” said Freeland, adding that she was confident common sense would prevail.The list of goods subject to tariffs is narrower than the last time Ottawa struck back at Trump because the two sides agreed in 2019 to limit the scope of retaliation in disputes over steel and aluminum, said a Canadian government source who requested anonymity.In 2018, Ottawa slapped tariffs on C$16.6 billion ($12.5 billion) worth of goods ranging from bourbon to ketchup after Washington imposed sanctions on Canadian aluminum and steel.Ottawa may be calculating its measures will be short-lived. A source briefed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office said Canadian officials are increasingly sure Trump will lose the Nov. 3 presidential election.Trump acted just weeks after a new continental trade pact between the United States, Canada and Mexico took effect. The North American economy is highly integrated and Canada sends 75% of all its goods exports to the United States. 

Mexico Megachurch Leader Remains Jailed

Bail for the leader of a Mexican megachurch nearly doubled to $90 million after prosecutors expanded charges against him, including child rape, and possession of child pornography.The new bail ruling by a Los Angeles judge ensures Naason Joaquin Garcia, of the Guadalajara-based La Luz del Mundo church (Light of the World church) will remain in custody until his trial.Garcia, who says he has a million followers worldwide, was initially jailed on sex crimes charges last year with a $50 million bail.The attorney general’s office of California filed dozens of new felony charges, including rape, against Garcia and two co-defendants last week 

Panamanian Judge Orders Haitian Migrants Held for Trial for Role in Violent Protest

A Panamanian judge has ordered 12 Haitian migrants detained for trial for their roles in a protest Saturday during which rocks were thrown at Panamanian border service officers and supply tents set on fire.The migrants face multiple charges, including injuring the officers and arson.The migrants have challenged Panamanian authorities for not allowing them to move freely through the country on the way to the U.S. border.Haitians make up the vast majority of those at remote camps in Panama’s southern Darien province, which also has Cuban and African migrants.COVID-19 travel restrictions have complicated migrants’ efforts.In an apparent effort to ease tensions at the border, Panama is proposing to provide some Haitians flights home.

Spain Ex-King’s Exile Reignites Questions on Monarchy’s Future

In select circles in Madrid, the rumor had been making the rounds for weeks: Beset by a financial scandal that would not go away, former King Juan Carlos I was preparing to go into exile.The whispers were proven right in spectacular fashion when the ex-monarch left Spain this week.In a letter published on the royal family’s website, Juan Carlos told his son, King Felipe VI, he was leaving the country due to the “public repercussions of certain episodes of my past private life”.Stunned Spaniards were left to play a guessing game as to the whereabouts of the man who had reigned over them for nearly 40 years until he abdicated in 2014.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
A newsrack displays copies of El Nacional newspaper with a page one headline that reads in Spanish: “The whereabouts of King Juan Carlos are unknown, but it is said that he is in the DR,” Aug. 4, 2020.Reigniting an old debateIn the wake of Juan Carlos’ abrupt departure, it has prompted a surge in republican sentiment in a country which has historically maintained a complex relationship with the institution of monarchy.Across the country there are 637 squares, streets or other public edifices named after Juan Carlos but since the 82-year-old’s departure, many of these were at the center of public anger towards the royal family.Students in Madrid called for the King Juan Carlos University to change its name, with an online petition garnering over 41,000 signatures by Wednesday.“Corruption cases surrounding the royal family keep appearing, torpedoing the image of a monarchy that had been presented to us as ‘wholesome’ and ‘humble,’” the petition read.In Gijón, in northern Spain, authorities said they would change the name of its Juan Carlos I avenue because they said the name of the former monarch “does not represent the institutional, moral and democratic values of our society anymore”, according to spokeswoman Marina Pineda.Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s Socialist prime minister, said the departure of Juan Carlos would allow King Felipe to reign in a better way as the country confronted a period of instability caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.However, Pablo Iglesias, leader of the far-left Unidas Podemos, the junior partner in the coalition government with the Socialists, condemned the former king’s exit while he faced a possible investigation in Spain.“Sooner or later, young people in our country will start a republic in Spain,” he added.A poll for the right-wing ABC newspaper, which supports the monarchy, found 68% thought Juan Carlos was wrong to leave the country.Javier Sanchez-Junco, a lawyer for the former king, said his client was not trying to escape justice by going into exile and would remain available to prosecutors. A view of the Royal Palace is pictured in Madrid, Spain, Aug. 4, 2020.Scandals The fall of a monarch who is respected by some in Spain for ushering in democracy after the death of longtime ruler General Francisco Franco began in 2018 in Switzerland when a prosecutor started an investigation into the ex-king’s murky finances.The prosecutor opened an investigation into Juan Carlos’ ex-mistress Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein and the former king’s lawyer and financial adviser, who are both based in Geneva. All deny any wrongdoing. The former king maintained a relationship with Sayn-Wittgenstein, a London businesswoman, between 2005 and 2009.The Swiss investigation, probing possible money laundering relating to a $100 million ‘gift’ to Juan Carlos, from the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 2008, is ongoing. Juan Carlos is also being investigated for the first time by Spain’s Supreme Court over his role in alleged kickbacks to a high-speed train deal in Saudi Arabia.In March, after British newspaper The Daily Telegraph revealed that Juan Carlos and his son were both named as beneficiaries of a Panama-based fund started in 2008 with $100 million-dollars described as a “donation” from Saudi Arabia, King Felipe released a statement renouncing any financial inheritance from his father. Juan Carlos was also stripped of his royal allowance.Amid an almost daily drip feed of media revelations about his father, Felipe VI was coming under increasing pressure from Spain’s left-wing government to distance himself from the ex-monarch. Finally a deal was struck.Kings going into exile is nothing new in a country where Spaniards have long maintained an uneasy relationship with their monarchs. Alfonso XIII, Juan Carlos’ grandfather was forced into exile in 1931 after Spaniards voted for the Second Republic. The former monarch lived part of his young life in Italy, then Portugal before returning to Spain to become the nominated successor to General Francisco Franco.A man wearing a face mask walks past a graffiti by artist El Primo de Bansky of former Spanish King Juan Carlos in a street of Valencia, on Aug. 6, 2020.Popular figure Juan Carlos was lauded for helping to uphold a fragile new democracy after the death of Franco in 1975.In 1981, when armed police fired shots over the heads of terrified MPs in the Spanish parliament in an attempted coup d’etat, Juan Carlos made a televised address to the nation backing democracy and faced down the plotters. The coup failed.Despite his love of bullfighting, yachts and women to whom he was not married, the king was a popular figure.All this started to go wrong in 2012 when Juan Carlos had to be flown back to Spain after injuring himself during a secret elephant hunting safari in Botswana while in the company of Sayn-Wittgenstein. It caused outrage in a country struggling to survive a deep recession.A resident waves a Spanish Republican flag against Spain’s former monarch, King Juan Carlos I, in Pamplona, northern Spain, Aug. 5, 2020.However, El País, the left-wing newspaper, said this was not the moment for Spain to suffer a seismic shake-up by abolishing its monarchy.”Those who take advantage of the fall from grace of Juan Carlos I to reopen the debate on the monarchy must ask themselves whether beyond the legitimacy of the republican demand it now has sufficient parliamentary consensus to translate into a constitutional reform. The data indicates otherwise,” it said in an editorial.Some commentators believe a republic would not be the answer for a country riven by divisive politics.“I think the monarchy is not under threat because the alternative – a Third Republic – would be much worse,” William Chislett, a journalist who interviewed Juan Carlos’ father Don Juan in 1977, told VOA.“Spain is such a polarized country that a conservative or socialist president would be a disaster. What may happen next is Juan Carlos may give back some of the money which is involved in this but that will not happen soon.”Pilar Eyre, a writer and royal expert, doubted Spain would become a republic because the country’s two main parties supported the monarchy.“The two main parties, the Socialists and the (conservative) People’s Party are in favor of the monarchy and it needs their support to change the constitution and allow a referendum on a republic,” she told VOA.A spokesperson for the royal household declined to comment.When Felipe came to the throne in 2014, he promised a “renewed monarchy for new times” and vowing to “listen, understand, warn and advise”.The Spanish king faces an uphill struggle to convince many of his subjects of the validity of a monarchy.   

Economy Tanking, Cuba Launches Some Long-Delayed Reforms

With its airports closed to commercial flights and its economy tanking, Cuba has launched the first in a series of long-promised reforms meant to bolster the country’s struggling private sector.
The island’s thousands of restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts, auto mechanics and dozens of other types of private businesses have operated for years without the ability to import, export or buy supplies in wholesale markets.While the communist government began allowing widespread private enterprise a decade ago, it maintained a state monopoly on imports, exports and wholesale transactions.
As a result, the country’s roughly 613,000 private business owners have been forced to compete for scarce goods in Cuba’s understocked retail outlets or buy on the black market. That has limited the private sector’s growth and made entrepreneurs a constant target of criminal investigation.
With the essential tourism business cut off by the novel coronavirus and the government running desperately low on hard currency, the government last month announced that it would allow private restaurants to buy wholesale for the first time. Ministers also announced that private businesspeople could sign contracts to import and export goods through dozens of state-run companies with import/export licenses.
Within four days of its opening to private business, 213 restaurant owners signed up to buy beer, flour, yeast, shrimp, sugar, rum and cooking oil at a 20 percent discount off retail at the Mercabal wholesale market in Havana, state media reported. A similar market has been opened to entrepreneurs in the eastern city of Holguin, according to state media.
Government officials have not said how many import/export contracts have been signed.
Private business owners said they welcomed their new wholesale access, although some said they were skeptical given Cuba’s long history of failing to follow through on economic reforms, or of periodically launching crackdowns on what it considers illicit or excessive private sector wealth.
“It’s a really good initiative,” said Tony Baró, the 51-year-old owner of a restaurant in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood who was signing up to purchase in the market last week. “It’s not meeting all the expectations yet, but we hope that it will in the future.”
Along with limited wholesale, importing and exporting, the government has promised to allow the formation of small and mid-sized private business. Until now, the only legal category of private work has been a license for self-employed people, even though in many cases the self-employed are in fact owners of flourishing businesses with numerous employees.
The government also said it would allow extensive business between private and state-run enterprises, allowing private business to buy and sell from state companies.
Many such measures have been discussed or approved for years, without government action, or withered over time.
“With these measures endure? Is it a temporary patch that they’ll undo later, as they’ve done before?” said Camilo Condis, a 34-year-old self-employed businessman.
The Cuban government has been the target of years of increased sanctions by the Trump administration, although the shutdown of commercial flights under coronavirus has had a far more dramatic effect in less than five months. The government has managed to maintain a low rate of infection but the economy is estimated to drop 8% this year after years of near-zero growth.
”This is positive,” 59-year-old cafeteria owner Elba Zaldívar said outside the Havana wholesale market. ”I think there are will be more products in the future. … In the end, it’s the Cuban people who win.”
 

People Take Extra Steps to Secure Coronavirus Test in Brazil Hot Spot for Virus 

Some people in a Brazil hotspot for the coronavirus are taking extraordinary steps to receive a free coronavirus test in Sao Paulo state, the hardest hit region in the country. A day after missing her test because the supply ran out, Manuela Souza said, she secured her place in line and slept in the car with her children overnight to make sure she got tested. The drive-thru tests are being administered by the Butantan Institute for Biological Research. Juliana Carvalhal, the project manager at Butantan Institute said, their goal is to identify asymptomatic people carrying the virus. Carvalhal said, people unaware they are infected continue to socialize and potentially infect others.Brazil aims to test up to 400 people in Sao Paulo daily through next Monday. Sao Paulo state has confirmed 585,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 24,000 deaths. Brazil leads all of Latin America with more than 2,860,000 cases and more than 97,400 deaths. 

Colombia President Alvaro Uribe in Self Isolation with COVID-19

Colombian media outlets say that former President Alvaro Uribe is self-quarantining with the coronavirus Thursday. The local media reported Wednesday that Uribe was infected with the virus, a day after the Supreme Court ordered that he be placed on house arrest. The court is investigating if Uribe was involved in a plot to bribe witnesses in a case involving former members of paramilitary death squads. Uribe, one of the most influential politicians in Colombia, is said to be in good health with no symptoms of the virus at his ranch in Córdoba. Bogotá’s El Tiempo newspaper says Uribe is expressing concern for his wife’s well-being, with their sons Jerónimo and Tomás also infected with the coronavirus. The status of the couple’s sons is unclear.   Colombia has confirmed more than 345,700 cases of the coronavirus and more than 11,000 deaths. 

A First Diagnosis of Cancer in a Dinosaur

Canadian researchers have discovered the first known case of cancer in a dinosaur, according to a study published in the August issue of the scientific journal The Lancet Oncology.A leg bone from a Centrosaurus was discovered by paleontologists in 1989 in the Canadian province of Alberta.Experts initially believed that the deformed bone had suffered a fracture that healed.But recent examinations, under a microscope and using advanced technologies, such as high-resolution tomography, revealed that a lump on the bone, the size of an apple, was in fact a cancerous tumor.”The dinosaurs did not have an easy life, many of them had healing fractures, or bone infections,” one of the study’s authors, Mark Crowther, told AFP.On such ancient bones, “finding evidence of cancer is difficult”, he emphasizes: most tumors develop in soft tissue, poorly preserved by fossilization.Fine analysis of the bone of the prehistoric herbivore revealed a surprise: “oddly, under the microscope, it looked a lot like human osteosarcoma,” a malignant tumor of the bones, says Crowther.”It’s fascinating to see that this cancer existed tens of millions of years ago and still exists,” notes the researcher, who heads the faculty of medicine at McMaster University in Ontario.The tumor of this Centrosaurus, a horned herbivore that lived 76 to 77 million years ago, probably caused metastases that made this giant lizard limp, say the study’s authors.However, the researchers believe that it was not this cancer that killed the Centrosaurus: the bone of its leg was found among a hundred bones in the same herd, probably swept away by a sudden disaster, such as a flood.“The discovery of this cancer makes dinosaurs more real,” says Crowther. “We often imagine them as mythical creatures, walking with a heavy and robust step, but (…) they suffered from diseases like humans.””By discovering an example dating back more than 75 million years, we realize that (cancer) is part of life,” he concludes. “You have an animal that surely did not smoke, so this shows that cancer is not a recent invention, and that it is not exclusively linked to our environment.” 

Former Colombian President Uribe Placed Under House Arrest  

Colombia’s Supreme Court has ordered former President Alvaro Uribe to be placed under home detention while he is being investigated on charges of fraud and witness tampering.   The court said in its unanimous ruling on Tuesday that it was ordering Uribe to be confined to his home out of concern that he would attempt to obstruct justice.  The ruling marks the first time a former Colombian president has ever faced legal detention. Uribe served as president from 2002 to 2010, and remains a powerful figure in Colombian politics in his current role as a senator and mentor to current President Ivan Duque.   The case against Uribe stems from his accusations that Sen. Iván Cepeda, a longtime political foe, had fabricated evidence tying Uribe to a right-wing paramilitary group.  But the court closed its inquiry against Cepeda in 2018 and instead opened an investigation into Uribe for allegedly bribing witnesses who could testify against him. The former president said on Twitter that his detention had caused him “profound sadness for my wife, for my family and for the Colombians who still believe that I have done something good for the country.” Uribe’s presidency was marked by an aggressive effort to weaken Marxist rebels who had engaged in a decades-long fight against Colombian soldiers and right-wing paramilitary groups funded partly by drug traffickers. The conflict left hundreds of thousands of Colombians dead, missing or displaced.   

Key Senators Say US Policy Towards Venezuela is Failing

U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday had tough questions for the U.S. special representative for Venezuela, asking why the Trump administration has not done more to stop Russia, China, Iran and Cuba from propping up Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Under Maduro, more than five million Venezuelans have fled their once prosperous country. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington.Produced by: Rob Raffaele 

Cape Verde Agrees to Extradite Maduro Ally to US

A court in the West African nation of Cape Verde has approved extradition of Colombian businessman Álex Saab to the United States, where he faces charges involving money laundering on behalf of Venezuela’s socialist government.The court made its decision Friday but did not inform the defense team until Monday evening, João do Rosário, an attorney on Saab’s legal team, told VOA’s Portuguese service.Rosário said the defense team would appeal Saab’s extradition to Cape Verde’s Supreme Court. He said it has 10 days from the date of notification to take such action. “We will necessarily have to appeal this decision,” Rosário said, adding that it was “not properly grounded.”He said the legal team also is considering an appeal to the country’s Constitutional Court. Saab, a 48-year-old Colombian lawyer and businessman, was arrested on the island of Sal on June 12, when his private plane stopped for refueling en route from Venezuela to Iran. The United States requested Saab’s extradition within days of his arrest. Venezuela’s government protested Saab’s arrest, contending he was on a “humanitarian mission” to get food and medical supplies, according to The Associated Press. Saab is considered a possible front man for the family of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The United States and other countries blame Maduro’s socialist policies for a political and economic crisis threatening regional stability. Saab and another Colombian businessman were indicted in July 2019 in U.S. federal court in Miami for their alleged participation in an illegal bribery scheme from late 2011 through at least September 2015, according to a U.S. Justice Department news release last year.  The men allegedly laundered money from bank accounts in Venezuela “to and through bank accounts located in the United States,” a U.S. Justice Department news release said when the indictment was issued.   In September, Saab was among three individuals targeted by the U.S. Treasury Department for allegedly enabling Maduro “and his illegitimate regime to corruptly profit from imports of food aid and distribution in Venezuela,” a U.S. Treasury Department news release said at the time.  This account originated in VOA’s Portuguese service, with Eugenio Teixeira reporting from Cape Verde and Alvaro Andrade from Washington.. 

EU’s Top Diplomat, Urges Delay in Vote on Inter-American Development Bank Chief

A top European Union diplomat has called for a delay in the vote to choose the Inter-American Development Bank’s new president, a closely watched election that has sparked controversy over the first-ever U.S. candidate.
In a July 30 letter seen by Reuters, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell cited the coronavirus pandemic and the nomination of President Donald Trump’s hawkish Latin America adviser Mauricio Claver-Carone as reasons to postpone the planned Sept. 12 vote until after March.
“This postponement is more advisable if we consider the submission, without precedent, of a candidacy to preside the Bank by the United States Government,” Borrell wrote in the letter to Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya.
 
Some U.S. lawmakers and former ministers and presidents in Latin America have publicly voiced their opposition to Claver-Carone, although he is favored to win the Sept. 12 election and has support from at least 15 countries.
 
Two Argentine government officials told Reuters the country, which has its own candidate, would favor postponing the IDB election. But with just over 11% of the voting power, they would need the support of other countries to delay the vote.
 
Claver-Carone dismissed the idea that Europe would oppose his candidacy in an interview last week, saying he was already in touch with European leaders about future plans.
 
“Do you think Europe is going to look at the majority of region which has already come out publicly in support of our candidacy and say, ‘Oh, we’re going to go with one country in the region versus the overwhelming majority of the region?’ The optics of that would be horrible,” Claver-Carone said.
 
A senior U.S. administration official told Reuters the EU was not party to the IDB as an entity, and all member states had agreed to the virtual September election.
 
“Any effort by a minority of countries, let alone by non-regional countries, to hijack the election process would be an affront to the region and be challenged,” the official said.
 
Luis Almagro, secretary general of the Organization of American States, also pushed back in a tweet on Sunday: “The region is independent, sovereign and can maturely make its own decisions.”
  

Bahamas Begins 2-Week Lockdown After Another COVID Surge

The Bahamas begins a two-week national lockdown Tuesday due to a spike in coronavirus cases. Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced the restriction in a national address Monday night, saying the decision was based on the advice of health experts. Minnis said, officials will evaluate the impact of the lockdown after two weeks and the decision to relax or extend the lockdown will be made in part by the cooperation of the people living on the islands. Minnis said, citizens who break their quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus will be fined. Travel for essentials such as food, water, medicines is restricted to Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 7 am to 5 pm for the general public and essential workers have an additional day on Saturday from 7am to 1 pm. Minnis said, the onus is on the Bahamians and residents to work together and control the spread of COVID-19. The prime minister added that health care services and accommodations are being overwhelmed because of the rapid increase in coronavirus cases mostly among people 20 to 40 years old. The Bahamas confirmed the vast majority of the 679 COVID-19 cases occurred in the past month. So far, there are 14 coronavirus deaths.  

Mobile Crematory Aims to Help Bolivia Deal with Surge in COVID Deaths

A group of entrepreneurs believe their mobile crematorium is the solution to Bolivia’s surge in coronavirus deaths. Carlos Ayo, an environmental engineer, who is part of the group said, there are instances when dozens of bodies piled up in the street in Bolivia because families do not have the resources or aren’t finding places to bury or cremate the bodies of  loved ones and they end up throwing them in the streets to avoid contaminating themselves. Ayo says the mobile crematory represents a way of giving something back to his homeland. The group hauls the furnaces to communities that do not have the resources to meet the increasing demands brought on the COVID-19 pandemic. The Associated Press said, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, one of the hard-hit cities, bodies were placed in the streets because of a break down in funeral services.      So far, more than 3,200 people have died of the coronavirus in Bolivia and more than 81,000 people have been infected with the virus. 

Mobile Crematory Operators Aim to Help Bolivia with Increase  in COVID-19 Deaths

A group of entrepreneurs believe their mobile crematorium is the solution to Bolivia’s surge in coronavirus deaths. Carlos Ayo, an environmental engineer, who is part of the group said, there are instances when dozens of bodies piled up in the street in Bolivia because families do not have the resources or aren’t finding places to bury or cremate the bodies of  loved ones and they end up throwing them in the streets to avoid contaminating themselves. Ayo says the mobile crematory represents a way of giving something back to his homeland. The group hauls the furnaces to communities that do not have the resources to meet the increasing demands brought on the COVID-19 pandemic. The Associated Press said, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, one of the hard-hit cities, bodies were placed in the streets because of a break down in funeral services.      So far, more than 3,200 people have died of the coronavirus in Bolivia and more than 81,000 people have been infected with the virus. 

Brazil Reopening Despite Record COVID-19 Cases

After the United States, Brazil has the world’s highest number of COVID-19 deaths and confirmed cases — turning the South American nation into a coronavirus hotspot. Despite this grim situation, Brazil’s biggest cities — São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro — have decided to reopen businesses, even as epidemiologists warn that the rising death toll from the pandemic could grow exponentially. For VOA, Edgar Maciel reports from Sao Paulo.
Camera: Edgar Maciel, Courtesy TV Brasil  Produced by: Rod James 
 

Journalist and Police Guard Killed in Southern Mexico

Press groups called for justice Monday after unidentified gunmen in southern Mexico killed a journalist along with a police officer assigned to protect him after a 2016 attack. Pablo Morrugares was the fifth journalist to be killed in Mexico this year, in attacks that are increasingly killing police guards assigned to the victims. More than 140 journalists have been killed in the past 20 years. The prosecutors’ office in Guerrero state said Morrugares and a state police officer were at a restaurant Sunday when they were killed in a hail of bullets. Authorities found 55 shell casings from assault rifles at the scene in the city of Iguala. The killers apparently opened fire from a passing vehicle. Morrugares was director of the P.M Noticias Guerrero website, which frequently reports on the gang violence that plagues the region. Local media reported that threats against Morrugares had been displayed in the past on banners hung by roadsides, a tactic frequently used by drug gangs in Mexico. On Monday, the Inter American Press Association called on authorities to investigate the crime. It said Morrugares and his wife had survived a previous attack in 2016, when attackers opened fire on their car. The group called on Mexican authorities to provide better funding and protection for journalists registered in a government protection program. While the Mexican government has sometimes assigned police bodyguards for threatened journalists, killers have increasingly been gunning down both the journalists and their guards. In May, gunmen killed the owner of a newspaper and one of the policemen who had been assigned to protect him in northern Sonora state, following earlier threats. 

Mexico Arrests Violent Gang Leader

Mexican police and armed forces arrested the leader of the violent Santa Rosa de Lima gang who have terrorized the north-central region of the country. Authorities in the state of Guanajuato announced the arrest of José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, widely known by his Spanish nickname “El Marro,” which means “The Sledgehammer.” The Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco cartel have been engaged in a bloody turf battle for years in the industrial hub of Guanajuato, home to many foreign auto plants and parts suppliers, turning it into the most violent state in Mexico. 2,293 people have been murdered in the first half of this year alone in the Guanajuato state.   Some observers say the Santa Rosa gang, which is not a drag cartel but a powerful violent group, is responsible for killing 27 men during an attack in July on a drug rehabilitation center in the city of Irapuato. However, Mexico’s top civilian security official, Alfonso Durazo, said El Marro would be charged with organized crime and fuel theft, but not murder. The Santa Rosa de Lima gang is accused of stealing fuel from government pipelines and refineries and robbing freight from trains in north-central Guanajuato state. 

Confrontation of Mapuche Protesters and Local Residents in Chile Turn Violent

In southern Chile a confrontation between Mapuche indigenous protesters and residents turned violent Sunday. Several government buildings in the Araucanía region were damaged as the violence erupted. Local media reported that residents tried to force the Mapuche protesters out of the municipality buildings, before burning and overturning vehicles belonging to them. Chilean police intervened to evict the protesters and prevent other violent acts.  Interior Undersecretary Juan Galli said that authorities arrested 48 people during such “absolutely condemnable” unrest. The Mapuche protesters had occupied local government buildings for several days in a show of support for one of their leaders, Celestino Córdova, who is on a hunger strike in prison, and other Mapuche individuals whom they consider political prisoners.   The native Mapuche population, most of whom live in poverty, have been in conflict with authorities since the Spanish conquistadors forced them into Araucanía in the late 19th century after some 300 years of conflict. 

Mexico Captures ‘El Marro’, Cartel Boss Blamed for Fueling Violence

The Mexican Army and state security forces have captured Jose Antonio Yepez, a prominent drug gang leader blamed for helping to fuel a major surge in violence in the country in recent years, authorities said on Sunday.Widely known as “El Marro” (The Mallet), Yepez was captured in an operation carried out early on Sunday morning, according to the federal government and authorities in the central state of Guanajuato, a principal flashpoint of gang violence.Yepez, boss of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel, a Guanajuato-based gang, has been engaged in a bloody struggle for criminal control of the state with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of the country’s most powerful and violent outfits.The Guanajuato attorney general’s office said security forces captured Yepez with five other people and rescued a kidnapped local businesswoman during the operation. An “arsenal” of weapons was also secured during the raid. 

Argentine Opposition Protests Against Justice Reform Plans

Opposition groups in Argentina organized a protest at the central Buenos Aires Obelisk Saturday to voice their objections to justice reform plans announced by President Alberto Fernández.Fernández announced his justice reform project Wednesday, saying his goal was a more agile judiciary, “independent of political power” and greater transparency.Opponents believe his actual intention is to protect from prosecution former president, and now vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who is being investigated for crimes that allegedly occurred while she was in office between 2007 and 2015.”They’re trying to protect the former president (Fernández de Kirchner), the most corrupt former president on the planet Earth,” said Marina Rios Flores, a protester. “This is the pact that they’ve made with the President Alberto Fernández that before he leaves office he would declare the pardon on her.”A female protester was holding a banner with a photo of Fernández de Kirchner reading in Spanish “Watch out Supreme Court. Imprison Cristina now!””The Peronist (ruling) party has never been republican, it will never be,” said a protester who gave him name only as Sergio. “It’s an organization formed to steal.”Fernández de Kirchner is being investigated for alleged money laundering and criminal association.She is also accused of covering up the role of Iranians alleged to be connected to a terrorist van bomb attack at a Buenos Aires Jewish center on July 18, 1994, that killed 85 people. 

Mexico No. 3 in Virus Deaths; Storm Could Hinder US Response

Mexico now has the third most COVID-19 deaths in the world, behind Brazil and the United States, where a hurricane bearing down on the East Coast on Saturday is threatening to complicate efforts to contain the virus.Hurricane Isaias’ imminent arrival forced the closure of some outdoor testing sites even though Florida has become a major hot spot, and other states in the path of the storm prepared emergency shelters that comply with social-distancing measures.”We had to put safety first,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said Friday.But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said no immediate evacuation orders have been given and that hospitals in general are not being evacuated of coronavirus or other patients.Meanwhile, Mexican health officials on Friday reported 688 new deaths, pushing the country’s confirmed total to over 46,600. That put Mexico just ahead of the United Kingdom, which has more than 46,100, according to the tally by Johns Hopkins University.Where Has the New Coronavirus Spread?New virus, denoted 2019-nCoV by the WHO, has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS in 2002-2003Some countries are seeing hopeful signs: China reported a more than 50% drop in newly confirmed cases in a possible indication that its latest major outbreak in the northwestern region of Xinjiang may have run its course.However, in Hong Kong and elsewhere, infections continue to surge. Hong Kong reported more than 100 new cases as of Saturday among the population of 7.5 million. Officials have reimposed dining restrictions and mask requirements.Tokyo on Saturday saw its third day straight of record case numbers, the metropolitan government said. Nationwide, Japan’s daily count of cases totaled a record 1,579 people Friday, the health ministry said.And Vietnam, a former success story, is struggling to control an outbreak spreading in its most famous beach resort. A third person died there of coronavirus complications, officials said Saturday, a day after it recorded its first-ever death as it wrestles with a renewed outbreak after 99 days with no local cases.All three died in a hospital in Da Nang, a hot spot with more than 100 cases in the past week. Thousands of visitors had been in the city for summer vacation and are now being tested in Hanoi and elsewhere.Twelve additional cases were confirmed on Saturday, all linked to Da Nang Hospital. Officials tightened security and set up more checkpoints to prevent people from leaving or entering the city, which has been in lockdown since Tuesday.A makeshift hospital was set up, and doctors have been mobilized from other cities to help.”I want to be tested, so I can stop worrying if I have the virus or not,” said Pham Thuy Hoa, a banking official who returned to the capital from Da Nang.In South Korea, prosecutors arrested the elderly leader of a secretive religious sect linked to more than 5,200 of the country’s approximately 14,300 confirmed cases. He has denied charges of hiding members and underreporting gatherings to avoid broader quarantines.The global pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of this year’s Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, with as few as 1,000 pilgrims already residing in Saudi Arabia taking part, down from 2.5 million last year.Poverty brought on by the pandemic is also making it harder for many to join in the four-day Eid al-Adha, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” in which Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor.”I could hardly buy food for my family,” Somali civil servant Abdishakur Dahir said. “We are just surviving for now. Life is getting tougher by the day.”The Saudi Health Ministry said there have been no cases of COVID-19 among this year’s pilgrims. All were tested, their movements monitored with electronic wristbands and required to be quarantined before and after.Meanwhile, India recorded its steepest spike of 57,118 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking its coronavirus caseload close to 1.7 million, with July alone accounting for nearly 1.1 million infections.The country’s Civil Aviation Ministry delayed resumption of international flights by another month until Aug. 31. But it will continue to allow several international carriers from the United States, Europe and the Middle East to operate special flights to evacuate stranded nationals.In France, travelers entering from 16 countries where the virus is circulating widely now must undergo virus tests upon arrival at airports and ports. The country is not permitting general travel to and from the countries, which include the United States and Brazil. The testing requirement therefore only applies to people entering under limited circumstances, including French citizens who live in these countries. Those who test positive as of Saturday must quarantine for 14 days.As autumn approaches, nations around the world are grappling with how to safely reopen schools.A scientist advising the British government on the coronavirus pandemic says pubs in England may have to be closed to allow schools to reopen in September. Graham Medley, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, told the BBC that there may have to be a “trade off.”In Utah, the Salt Lake City School District Board of Education announced that its schools will start the year with all online-only classes in response to an increasing number of confirmed cases in the city. Just days after public schools around Indiana reopened their doors, at least one student and one school staff member in districts around Indianapolis have tested positive for the virus.The debate over school openings came as Dr. Anthony Fauci dismissed a tweet by President Donald Trump claiming the U.S. global lead in coronavirus cases is because of increased testing.Fauci ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ About Coronavirus VaccineTop US infectious-disease expert tells lawmakers vaccine could be available in coming monthsFauci said the scale of the U.S. outbreak is the result of multiple factors, including some states opening up too quickly and disregarding federal guidelines.On Friday, the head of the World Health Organization predicted the effects of the pandemic will be felt for “decades to come.””Most of the world’s people remain susceptible to this virus, even in areas that have experienced severe outbreaks,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in London. “Although vaccine development is happening at record speed, we must learn to live with this virus.”