Authorities in Argentina evacuated 25 residents from a nursing home in Buenos Aires Thursday night after they tested positive for the coronavirus.Initial reports indicated none of those taken from the nursing home showed any symptoms.Five workers at the nursing home also tested positive for the coronavirus.The director of the nursing home, Blas Rinaudo, said the facility will continue to care for 15 other residents who tested negative for the virus and conduct follow-up tests to check their status.Meanwhile, people banged pots and pans from their balconies in Buenos Aires on Thursday evening to protest measures the government is taking to stop the spread of the coronavirus.Argentina is heading into its eighth week of lockdown.The South American nation has 5,371 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 282 deaths.
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Venezuela has aired a video in which captured U.S. contractor Airon Berry said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was a target of Sunday’s foiled raid.This is the second video released by the Venezuelan government purporting to show the questioning of Berry and fellow security contractor Luke Denman, both former members of the U.S. Special Forces.In the video aired Thursday, Berry said the Venezuelan Intelligence Services and the airport tower were also targets.Maduro insists the men were operating under the direction of the White House.President Donald Trump has denied any U.S. involvement in the raid.Jordan Goudreau, operator of a Florida-based security contracting company implicated in the botched mission, has said he was unable to convince the Trump administration to support his plan for a private coup.Maduro announced Thursday that the government will attempt to extradite Goudreau for allegedly participating in the raid.Authorities allege the men traveled by speedboat from neighboring Colombia to the Venezuelan port city of La Guaira. Eight people were killed in the foiled attack.Venezuela authorities said Thursday that they have now captured 23 people involved in the incident.
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday authorized deployment of armed forces to fight destruction of the Amazon rainforest, giving them authority over environmental agencies in the region as military influence in the government grows.   Environmental advocates fiercely criticized the order, saying that environmental agencies are the one with the necessary expertise. Last year, Bolsonaro waited until August to send troops into the Amazon, following international outcry over a wave of fires in the rainforest, which traps vast amounts of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon hit an 11-year high in 2019, and rose another 51% through March this year.   The order, unlike last year, gives the military authority to “coordinate” activities of agencies such as environmental enforcer Ibama and parks department ICMBio. Plan called ‘unacceptable’Suely Araujo, who headed Ibama until early 2019 and now is an adviser to advocacy group Climate Observatory, said it was “unacceptable” to transfer power over environmental operations in the Amazon to the military.  “The military can help in certain situations, but in relation to environmental agencies, they should be consulted and not subordinated,” Araujo said. “It’s the environmental agencies that have expertise in this area, who know how to carry out operational planning and strategy.” Bolsonaro, a former paratrooper, has appointed a slew of current and former military officers as government ministers since taking office in 2019. This year, he increased to seven the number of military men in his 20-member cabinet, not including retired general and Vice President Hamilton Mourao. One month at a timeAraujo said putting the armed forces in charge of Amazon enforcement operations raised the question of whether Ibama would have to ask the military’s permission to destroy equipment used to commit crimes such as illegal logging inside indigenous reserves or other protected areas.   Bolsonaro has repeatedly said the government should not destroy this type of machinery, but Ibama agents have not halted the practice, long considered the only way to avoid a repeat of environmental crimes.   Ibama and the Environment Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.  The military authorization is effective from May 11 to June 10, but can be extended in 30- day increments, as Bolsonaro did once last year, for 60 days in total. Vice President Mourao said last week that the government planned to send in the military as part of a plan to establish bases in the Amazon to fight deforestation. 
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Rio de Janeiro Mayor Marcelo Crivella says the city will set up blockades Thursday in sections of the city where people have been ignoring quarantine restrictions aimed at reducing the spread of the coronavirus.Crivella said Rio has a problem with people gathering on sidewalks in densely populated business districts of Campo Grande, Santa Cruz and Bangu.He said business operators have been reopening not long after they are closed by municipal guards.Crivella said guards will now remain in the area and violators that reopen after they are closed risk being shut down.The tightening restrictions come a day after the latest COVID-19 tally revealed Brazil’s 125,218 cases leads all of Latin America and the Caribbean, with São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro provinces experiencing the worst of the outbreak.So far, 8,574 people have died from the virus in Brazil. 
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El Salvador begins a more restrictive lockdown Thursday to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, with an emphasis on the densely populated capital region of San Salvador.In a national address late Tuesday, President Nayib Bukele said residents will only be permitted to shop for groceries twice a week.He said citizens will not be allowed to travel between jurisdictions unless they have a written document justifying their movement.Under the special lockdown, El Salvador will also suspend public transportation for 15 days to help efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.Bukele said if the scale of the outbreak drops substantially during the 15 days, the country will be able to start reopening some businesses.So far, El Salvador has reported 633 cases of COVID-19 and 15 deaths.
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A former Green Beret who has claimed responsibility for an ill-fated military incursion into Venezuela is under federal investigation for arms trafficking, according to current and former U.S. law enforcement officials.The investigation into Jordan Goudreau is in its initial stages and it’s unclear if it will result in charges, according to a U.S. law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The probe stems from a frenzy of contradictory comments Goudreau has made since a small cadre of volunteer combatants he was advising on Sunday launched an impossible raid aimed at overthrowing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.Members of the U.S. Congress are also asking the State Department about its knowledge of Goudreau’s plans and raised concerns that he possibly violated arms trafficking rules.An AP investigation published prior to the failed raid places Goudreau at the center of a plot hatched with a rebellious former Venezuelan Army Gen., Cliver Alcalá, to secretly train dozens of Venezuelan military deserters in secret camps in Colombia to carry out a swift operation against Maduro. The U.S. has offered a $15 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest or conviction. He was indicted by the Trump administration in March on narcoterrorist charges .The men were being readied for combat at three rudimentary camps in Colombia with the help of Goudreau and his Florida-based company, Silvercorp USA, multiple Maduro opponents and aspiring freedom fighters told the AP. But the plot seemed doomed from the start because it lacked the support of the Trump administration and was infiltrated by Maduro’s vast, Cuban-trained intelligence network, the AP found.The law enforcement official said Goudreau’s comments suggests his work on behalf of the volunteer army may have violated laws that require any U.S. company supplying weapons or military equipment, as well as military training and advice, to foreign persons to seek State Department approval.Experts agree.”Goudreau’s public comments alone show he was exporting his lethal expertise into a foreign country,” said Sean McFate, a former U.S. Army paratrooper who worked as a private military contractor and is the author of a book, “The New Rules of War,” on the foreign policy implications of privatized warfare. “This is a serious violation.”Goudreau declined to comment on Tuesday. The State Department said it is restricted under law from confirming licensing activities.The law enforcement official said Goudreau’s possible involvement in weapons smuggling stems from the March 23 seizure by police in Colombia of a stockpile of weapons being transported in a truck. Alcalá claimed ownership of the cache shortly before surrendering to face U.S. narcotics charges in the same case for which Maduro was indicted.The stockpile, worth around $150,000, included spotting scopes, night vision goggles, two-way radios and 26 American-made assault rifles with the serial numbers rubbed off. Fifteen brown-colored helmets seized by police were manufactured by High-End Defense Solutions, a Miami-based military equipment vendor owned by a Venezuelan immigrant family, according to Colombian police.High-End Defense Solutions is the same company that Goudreau visited in November and December, allegedly to source weapons, according to two former Venezuelan soldiers who claim to have helped the American select the gear but later had a bitter falling out with Goudreau amid accusations that they were moles for Maduro. The AP could not independent verify their account.Company owner Mark Von Reitzenstein has not responded to repeated email and phone requests seeking comment.Two former law enforcement officials said an informant approached the Drug Enforcement Administration in Colombia prior to the weapons’ seizure with an unsubstantiated tip about Goudreau’s alleged involvement in weapons smuggling. The anti-narcotics agency, not knowing who Goudreau was at the time, didn’t open a formal probe but suspected that any weapons would’ve been destined for leftist rebels or criminal gangs in Colombia — not a ragtag army of Venezuelan volunteers, the former officials said on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. One of the officials said the information was later passed on to the Department of Homeland Security.The DEA said it does not comment on ongoing potential investigations.Authorities in Colombia are also looking into Goudreau as part of their investigation into the seized weapons shipment, a Colombian official told the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing case.Meanwhile, officials in U.S. Congress are expressing concern. Democratic congressional staff contacted the State Department multiple times on Monday seeking information about any possible contacts with Goudreau or knowledge of his activities, and whether his work may have violated International Traffic in Arms Regulations, according to a staffer on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private outreach.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday reiterated President Donald Trump’s claims a day earlier that there was no direct U.S. government involvement in Goudreau’s brazen operation.”If we’d have been involved, it would have gone differently,” he joked. “As for who bankrolled it, we’re not prepared to share any more information about what we know took place. We’ll unpack that at an appropriate time, we’ll share that information if it makes good sense.”Goudreau, a three-time Bronze Star recipient, has insisted that his work providing only strategic advice to the combatants doesn’t require special licensing. Still, he acknowledged sending into battle two special forces buddies associated with Silvercorp and who are now in Venezuelan custody after the plot was foiled.”You’ve got to introduce a catalyst,” he said in a phone interview with the AP on Monday from Florida. “By no means am I saying that 60 guys can come in and topple a regime. I’m saying 60 guys can go in and inspire the military and police to flip and join in the liberation of their country, which deep down is what they want.”Goudreau has said he was hired by Juan Guaidó, who the U.S. and some 60 nations recognize as Venezuela’s rightful leader. To back his claim, he’s produced an 8-page agreement he signed with what appears to be the signature of Guaidó. The opposition leader has refused to say whether the signature is authentic but has insisted he has no relationship with Silvercorp.”The dictatorship insists on lying,” Guaidó said Tuesday in a virtual session of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, over which he presides. “The interim government has nothing to do with this operation.”Contradictions abound in Goudreau’s account as well. In a televised interview with “Factores de Poder,” a Miami media outlet popular with Venezuelan exiles, he claims he never received a “single cent” for his work yet continued to prepare the men for battle, in the process going deep into debt. JJ Rendon, a Miami-based adviser to Guaidó, said that he gave Goudreau $50,000 as requested to cover some expenses. Goudreau acknowledged the payment to the AP and other media.A person familiar with the situation said the agreement was signed by Rendon and another U.S.-based aide to Guaidó, lawmaker Sergio Vergara, in October. Guaidó at one point briefly greeted Goudreau via video conference — as evidenced by an audio recording made on a hidden cellphone by Goudreau and which he shared with the Venezuelan journalist.”Let’s get to work!” said a voice that appears to be Guaidó in the leaked recording. He makes no mention of any military incursion.A few days later, the team cut off contact with Goudreau, realizing he was unable to deliver what he had promised and because they were not getting along, the person said. An attempt to reactivate the accord fell through in November because the opposition has abandoned support for a private military incursion, the person said. The last contact with Goudreau was a few weeks ago when a lawyer on the veteran’s behalf wrote Rendon seeking to collect a promised $1.5 million retainer. Goudreau, through intermediaries, made it known that if they didn’t pay up he would release the agreement to the press, the person said.It’s unclear how the weapons were smuggled into Colombia. But Silvercorp in December bought a 41-foot fiberglass boat, Florida vessel registration records show, and proceeded in February to obtain a license to install maritime navigation equipment. On his application to the Federal Communications Commission, he said the boat, named Silverpoint and with a capacity for 10 passengers, would travel to foreign ports.The boat next appeared in Jamaica, where Goudreau had gathered with a few of his special forces buddies looking to participate in the raid, according to a person familiar with the situation on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive dealings.But as they were readying their assault, the boat broke down at sea on March 28 and an emergency position-indicating radio beacon was activated, alerting naval authorities on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao. Goudreau had to return to Florida, prevented from rejoining his troops prior to the landing because of travel restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic.”He would have 100% gone out in a blaze of gunfire because that’s who he is,” said the person. 
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Former Brazilian Justice Minister Serigo Moro has reportedly told investigators that President Jair Bolsonaro wanted to personally pick the head of the federal police office in Rio de Janeiro to get access to ongoing investigations that involve his sons. Brazilian news outlets said Moro made the allegation during a lengthy deposition last Saturday, according to documents they obtained and published Tuesday. Moro reportedly said the president told him “you have 27 police superintendents. I only want one, in Rio de Janeiro.”  Rio is Bolsonaro’s hometown and where his two sons are prominent politicians:  Flavio, a senator, and Carlos, a Rio city councilman.  Both sons are under investigation for various allegations by local prosecutors and police.   Moro, a popular anti-corruption crusader, abruptly resigned from Bolsonaro’s cabinet last month after the president fired the federal police chief. Moro accused the president of trying to interfere in ongoing investigations, although he did not specify which investigations.   Bolsonaro has denied inappropriate motives for the changes and that he is trying to deflect criminal probes targeting his sons. Bolsonaro’s proposed pick for the Rio de Janeiro police chief was rejected by Brazilian lawmakers.   Brazil’s Supreme Court, which ordered an investigation into Moro’s claims, gave prosecutors permission Tuesday to interview three members of Bolsonaro’s cabinet in connection with the probe. The court rejected Bolsonaro’s first choice to replace the federal police chief due to reports of a longstanding close relationship. 
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said two Americans were among so-called “mercenary terrorists” who carried out a failed armed invasion of his country earlier this week. Maduro went on state television Tuesday and showed the passports he claimed belonged to Airan Berry and Luke Denman, who were among 13 men captured in the failed raid that took place Sunday.Maduro accused Berry and Denman of working for Jordan Goudreau, a U.S. military veteran who runs a private Florida-based security firm called Silvercorp USA. Both Berry and Denman are former U.S. Special Forces soldiers, also known as Green Berets.Venezuelan military officials said the attackers were put down and caught as they attempted to sail into the port city of La Guaira from neighboring Colombia. Eight people were killed in the foiled attack. Photos of a group of men lying face down on the ground with their hands tied behind their back was televised Monday in Venezuela.Personal documents are shown by Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro (not pictured) after Venezuela’s government said it foiled an attempted incursion by “terrorist mercenaries,” May 4, 2020.Goudreau has acknowledged organizing the operation in a video released on social media. Goudreau has also acknowledged Berry and Denman as being part of the operation, describing the pair as “my guys” in a telephone interview with the Reuters news agency. Nevertheless, U.S. President Donald Trump denied the U.S. government was involved in the failed operation. “We’ll find out. We just heard about it,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question about the armed invasion and the Americans’ arrests. “But it has nothing to do with our government.” The Pentagon also denied involvement.”The United States government had nothing to do with what’s happened in Venezuela in the last few days,” Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told reporters Tuesday. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido is denying accusations leveled by Maduro’s government that he hired Silvercorp to carry out the attack.  Maduro’s administration frequently accuses political adversaries of trying to overthrow his government. Critics have dismissed the accusations as an excuse to detain Maduro’s opponents. Maduro has overseen a six-year economic crisis in Venezuela. More than 50 countries, including the United States, have indicated their support for opposition leader Guaido after a disputed election in 2018, but Maduro maintains control of Venezuela’s military. U.S. sanctions are in place against Venezuela.VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report. 
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President Donald Trump on Tuesday denied any involvement by the U.S. government in what Venezuelan officials have called a failed armed incursion in the South American country that led to the capture of two American “mercenaries.”Trump made the comment to reporters at the White House after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday said authorities there had detained two U.S. citizens working with a U.S. military veteran who has claimed responsibility for a failed armed operation.”We’ll find out. We just heard about it,” Trump said when asked about the incident and the Americans’ arrests. “But it has nothing to do with our government.”Security forces guard the shore area and a boat in which authorities claim a group of armed men landed in the port city of La Guaira, Venezuela, May 3, 2020.In a state television address, Maduro said authorities arrested 13 “terrorists” on Monday involved in what he described as a plot coordinated with Washington to enter the country via the Caribbean coast and oust him.Eight people were killed during the foiled incursion attempt on Sunday, Venezuelan authorities said.Maduro showed what he said were the U.S. passports and other identification cards belonging to Airan Berry and Luke Denman, whom he said were in custody and had been working with Jordan Goudreau, an American military veteran who leads a Florida-based security company called Silvercorp USA.The State Department did not provide any immediate comment on the alleged arrests. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, had strongly denied any U.S. government role involvement in the incursions.Washington has waged a campaign of economic sanctions and diplomatic pressure against Venezuela in an effort to oust Maduro, a socialist it accuses of having rigged elections in 2018. Maduro’s government says the United States wants to control Venezuela’s massive oil reserves. 
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Venezuelan authorities have detained two U.S. citizens working with a U.S. military veteran who has claimed responsibility for a failed armed incursion into the oil producing country, President Nicolas Maduro said Monday. In a state television address, Maduro said authorities arrested 13 “terrorists” on Monday allegedly involved in a plot he said was coordinated with Washington to enter the American country via the Caribbean coast and oust him. Eight people were killed during the foiled incursion attempt on Sunday, Venezuelan authorities said. Maduro showed what he said were the U.S. passports and other identification cards belonging to Airan Berry and Luke Denman, who he said were in custody and had been working with Jordan Goudreau, an American military veteran who leads a Florida-based security company called Silvercorp USA. “They were playing Rambo. They were playing hero,” Maduro said, adding that Venezuelan authorities had caught wind of the plot before its execution. Security forces guard the shore area and a boat in which authorities claim a group of armed men landed in the port city of La Guaira, Venezuela, May 3, 2020.Goudreau, who identified himself as an organizer of the invasion on Sunday, told Reuters on Monday that Berry and Denman were also involved. “They’re working with me. Those are my guys,” he said by telephone. The State Department did not provide any immediate comment on the alleged arrests. U.S. officials have strongly denied any U.S. government involvement in the incursions. A person familiar with the matter said the two U.S. citizens were captured on Monday in a second-day roundup of accomplices and were believed to be in the custody of Venezuelan military intelligence. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the details came from contacts with Venezuelan security forces. FILE – Leader of Venezuela’s political opposition Juan Guaido talks to a journalist during an interview with Associated Press in Brussels, Jan. 22, 2020.Opposition leader Juan Guaido cast doubt on the government’s  version of Sunday’s events, insisting Maduro is seeking to distract from other problems in recent days including a deadly prison riot and a violent gang battle in Caracas. Guaido’s communications team on Monday denied media reports that Guaido had hired Silvercorp to remove Maduro by force,  adding the opposition leader and his allies “have no relationship with or responsibility for the actions of the company Silvercorp.” In a statement on Monday evening, Guaido’s team said: “We demand the human rights … of the people captured in recent hours be respected.” Washington has imposed tough economic sanctions against Venezuela in an effort to oust Maduro, whom it accuses of having rigged elections in 2018. Maduro’s government says the United States wants to control Venezuela’s massive oil reserves.   ‘Attack against our fatherland’  Monday’s arrests come after Maduro’s government on Sunday said mercenaries had attempted to enter the South American country on speed boats from neighboring Colombia, saying eight people had been killed and two detained. Later on Sunday, Goudreau released a video identifying himself as an organizer of the invasion, alongside dissident Venezuelan military officer Javier Nieto. Goudreau said in the video that fighters on the ground continued to carry out operations in different parts of the country. He identified one of the fighters as “Commander Sequea,” which appeared to be a reference to Antonio Sequea, who was identified on Monday by state television as one of the people arrested. Silvercorp’s website describes Goudreau as a “highly decorated Special Forces Iraq and Afghanistan veteran.” A Venezuelan state television anchor on Monday showed photos of men laid out on the ground with their hands behind their backs, adding that the group was traveling near the town of Chuao area in central Aragua state. The group was “caught by popular force, by fishermen,” the anchor said. Cabello posted a video of men in black with balaclavas pulling a shirtless man from a helicopter, whom they identified as part of the group captured. “Without a doubt, the imperialists directed this attack against our fatherland,” Cabello said on Twitter, in reference to the U.S. government. A U.S. official, who asked not to be named, said the U.S. government had no involvement with the incident. Another source familiar with U.S. intelligence analysis and reporting also said that U.S. agencies have nothing to do with any military incursions in Venezuela. 
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Peruvian opposition politician Keiko Fujimori is out of prison and back home after her attorney argued she was at risk of contracting the coronavirus because of underlying health problems, including arrhythmia. Fujimori, the daughter of jailed former president Alberto Fujimori, was admitted to the Chorrillos women’s jail in January for her alleged ties to a corruption scandal involving the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. Prosecutors investigating her for alleged money laundering are attempting to have her release revoked.   Fujimori had spent 13 months in custody when a judge added 15 months of detention. Other inmates in Peru have staged fiery protests, demanding better health conditions after hundreds of inmates became infected with the virus and at least 30 others died. In late April, nine inmates were shot dead during a prison riot in Lima. Peru has confirmed 42,534 coronavirus infections and 1,286 deaths, the second hardest hit country in Latin America behind Brazil. 
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Hundreds of demonstrators in Honduras blocked roadways to prevent funeral processions carrying COVID-19 victims to cemeteries in their towns.Protesters from nearly two dozen communities placed stones and tree branches across a highway east of the capital, Tegucigalpa, on Monday to prevent victims of COVID-19 from being buried in their towns. They say their concern is that family members of the deceased, who may themselves be infected, could bring the infection with them when they come to the local areas.Protester Evelia Oliva lashed out at President Juan Orlando Hernández, saying”We do not want him to send people to be buried into this cemetery because they are infected people. And here we have a lot of families and we do not want to get infected just because of him.”Deputy Minister of Health Roberto Cosenza said authorities will better inform the citizens about how the virus is spread and implement security measures to allow burials.Honduras has reported just over 1,000 coronavirus cases and 82 deaths.
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Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó on Monday denied having anything to do with an ex-Green Beret who claimed responsibility for a deadly beach invasion aimed at arresting socialist leader Nicolás Maduro. The government, meanwhile, said it has mobilized more than 25,000 troops to hunt for other rebel cells. Guaidó said in a statement that he has “no relationship nor responsibility for any actions” taken by the U.S. war veteran, Jordan Goudreau, who repeated assertions that Guaidó had a contract with his security company, though he said he was paid only a tiny share of the amount agreed upon. That claim could pose a danger for Guaidó, who has been harassed but not arrested in the year since he declared himself Venezuela’s legitimate leader, a role recognized by the U.S. and some 60 other nations. FILE – Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a news conference at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, March 12, 2020.The three-time Bronze Star U.S. combat veteran claims to have helped organize a seaborne raid from Colombia early Sunday on the Venezuelan coast, which the government said it foiled, killing eight insurgents and arresting two others. He said the operation had received no aid from Guaidó or the U.S. or Colombian governments. Goudreau said by telephone Monday that 52 other fighters — including two U.S. veterans — had infiltrated Venezuelan territory and were in the first stage of a mission to recruit members of the security forces to join their cause. “That’s going to take time,” Goudreau told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “The ultimate goal has never changed — it’s to liberate Venezuela.” The government’s chief of strategic operations, Adm. Remigio Ceballos, announced that more than 25,000 soldiers were mounting search operations to ensure the country is free of “mercenaries and paramilitaries.”Venezuelan authorities said Monday they arrested another eight accused “mercenaries” in a coastal town and showed images on state TV of several unidentified men handcuffed and lying prone in a street. One video depicted security forces handling a man authorities identified as Venezuelan National Guardsman Capt. Antonio Sequea, who participated in a barracks revolt against Maduro a year ago. Goudreau had identified Sequea as a commander working with him on the ground in Venezuela.  “Venezuela holds the governments of Donald Trump and Colombia’s Ivan Duque responsible for the unknown and dangerous consequences of this provocative mercenary aggression,” Maduro’s government said in a letter to the international community.  Venezuela’s Attorney General Tarek William Saab gives a press conference regarding what the government calls a failed attack over the weekend aimed at overthrowing President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, May 4, 2020.The AP was unable to verify either the government’s or Goudreau’s version of events. Opposition politicians and U.S. authorities issued statements suggesting Maduro’s allies had fabricated the assault. Officials have not released the full identities of those they say were killed or detained, though they identified one of the fallen as a man involved with Goudreau’s training camp in Colombia. An AP investigation published Friday found that Goudreau had been working with a retired Venezuelan army general — who now faces U.S. narcotics charges — to train dozens of deserters from Venezuela’s security forces at secret camps inside neighboring Colombia. The goal was to mount a cross-border raid that would end in Maduro’s arrest.  But the ragtag group lacked funding and U.S. government support. It also appears to have been penetrated by Maduro’s extensive Cuban-backed intelligence network.  Goudreau and retired Venezuelan Capt. Javier Nieto, who both live in Florida, issued a video late Sunday claiming they had organized the mission to detain Maduro that they call “Operation Gideon.” Goudreau, wearing a New York Yankees cap, spoke in English. Goudreau said Monday he’s talking with wealthy donors around the world to raise money for the second phase of the mission and hopes to raise a force of up to 5,000, he said.  “I don’t care about politics. I don’t care about people’s careers,” he said. “I care about my men on the ground right now who are in the most dangerous phase of the operation. I’m trying to get financial support in order to save their lives and to help them be successful.” Goudreau, 43, said 52 of his men were still on the ground and cells were being activated inside Venezuela. He said he hoped to join the rebels soon. There was no outward sign of fighting in the capital or elsewhere on Monday. Contract, recordingIn an interview late Sunday, Goudreau gave Miami-based journalist Patricia Poleo what he said was an eight-page contract signed by Guaidó and two political advisers in Miami in October for $213 million. The alleged “general services” contract doesn’t specify what work his company, Silvercorp USA, was to undertake. He also released via Poleo a four-minute audio recording, made on a hidden cellphone, of the moment when he purportedly signed the contract as Guaidó participated by videoconference. In the recording, a person he claims is Guaido can be heard giving vague encouragement in broken English but not discussing any military plans. “Let’s get to work!” said the man who is purportedly Guaido.  The AP was unable to confirm the veracity of the recording. Goudreau said Monday he received no more than an initial $50,000 payment from the Guaidó team and instead the Venezuelan soldiers he was advising had to scrounge for donations from Venezuelan migrants driving for car share service Uber in Colombia. Colombian officials, for their part, denied any involvement in Goudreau’s operation and in March announced their had seized weapons that had been destined for Venezuela. Venezuelan officials insisted that both Colombia and the U.S. were backing the operation and on Sunday, socialist party chief Diosdado Cabello said that one of the captured insurgents claimed to be an agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration — an agency that has accused many members of the government of involvement in drug trafficking. Both U.S. and Colombian officials dismissed the Venezuelan allegations. 
 
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday picked a new head of the federal police following a Supreme Court decision to block his effort to appoint a family friend — a tactical retreat a day after he and supporters threatened the court in anti-democratic protests. The new appointment showed Bolsonaro moving quickly to install a trusted appointee to the top law enforcement role as mounting investigations and his lax handling of the COVID-19 pandemic erode his popularity and feed talk of impeachment. The government’s official gazette said Bolsonaro had tapped as federal police chief Rolando Alexandre de Souza, who had worked as a close aide to his original choice, Alexandre Ramagem, at Brazil’s intelligence agency Abin. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro shakes hands with the new head of the federal police Rolando Alexandre de Souza at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, May 4, 2020.Bolsonaro dismissed as “gossip” accusations by former Justice Minister Sergio Moro that the president had tried to interfere in sensitive investigations by naming Ramagem, a friend of his sons, as top cop. Moro, a popular figure in Brazil’s anti-corruption efforts who locked up scores of businessmen and politicians as a judge, testified to prosecutors and police on Saturday as part of an investigation authorized by the Supreme Court. The former minister’s evidence against Bolsonaro included recordings of conversations with the president, a person with knowledge of his deposition told Reuters. Moro told investigators that army generals in Bolsonaro’s Cabinet, two of them active duty officers, witnessed the president’s pressure on the federal police and could confirm his accounts, said the source, requesting anonymity to speak freely. Moro could not be reached immediately for comment. Moro’s resignation and allegations 10 days ago set off the most serious political crisis Bolsonaro has faced in office, compounded by criticism for playing down a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 7,000 people in Brazil. Approval ratingsA record low 27% of Brazilians consider the government “good” or “great,” while those considering it “bad” or “awful” jumped 7 percentage points in a week to 49%, showed a telephone survey by pollster Ipespe commissioned by XP Investimentos. Another survey published over the weekend, run by pollster IDEIA Big Data via mobile app, showed the government’s approval rating fell 8 percentage points in a week to 22% as disapproval shot up to a record 47%. Those polls, conducted from Tuesday to Thursday, suggested that the impact of the crisis may have grown over the course of last week, after a Monday telephone poll by veteran pollster Datafolha showed Bolsonaro’s support holding firm. The far-right president came under fire again on Sunday for attacking Congress and the Supreme Court in a speech to hundreds of supporters who were calling for military rule in Brazil and an end to coronavirus quarantine measures. Bolsonaro said at the rally outside the presidential palace that he had Brazil’s armed forces behind him and he was losing patience with “interference” in his agenda. FILE – Supporters of Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro shout slogans during a protest against his former Minister of Justice Sergio Moro and the Supreme Court, in front of the Planalto presidential palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, May 3, 2020.Yet, the Defense Ministry cast doubt on Bolsonaro’s claim in a rare statement on Monday. The government body said the armed forces were on the side of democracy, the separation of powers and of Brazil’s constitution, The statement also denounced attacks on journalists, after at least three photographers were attacked during the Sunday rally. House Speaker Rodrigo Maia said Bolsonaro was out of line and called on Brazilian institutions to defend democracy. “In Brazil, unfortunately, we are fighting against coronavirus and the virus of extremism,” Maia tweeted. Former allies in Congress have joined a growing chorus in Brasilia calling for a debate on impeachment of Bolsonaro, a move with the support of about half of Brazilians, according to the most recent Datafolha survey. Last week’s XP poll surveyed 1,000 people, with a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points up or down. The IDEIA survey polled 1,609 people, with a margin of error of 4 percentage points in either direction.  
 
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Migrants returning from the United States were once considered heroes in Guatemala, where the money they send back to their hometowns is a mainstay of the economy.  
But since the coronavirus pandemic hit, migrants in town after town have been mistreated, run off or threatened by neighbors who fear they will bring the virus back with them from the United States.  
Similar mistreatment is being reported across Latin America and the Caribbean. In Haiti, police are guarding a hotel full of quarantined deportees from the U.S. — partly to prevent them from escaping and partly to stop attacks from neighbors frightened of the coronavirus.  
For immigrants already shaken by the Trump administration’s hard line on deportation, mistreatment at home is a further blow, and a disturbing illustration of how the pandemic is upending longstanding social norms in unexpected ways across the world.  
Vanessa Díaz said her mother heard rumors that neighbors were organizing to keep her from reaching her home in the northern province of Petén after she was deported back to Guatemala on a flight from the United States.
Díaz had to run inside with her 7-year-old son and hide when she arrived.  
“When we arrived my mother said, ‘Get out of the car and run into the house.’ She was afraid they were going to do something to us,” Díaz recalled.
The Guatemalan government says at least 100 migrants deported from the United States between late March and mid-April have tested positive for COVID-19. Even those who, like Díaz, are not infected — she was placed in quarantine at home for two weeks after arriving last month on flight where nobody tested positive — carry the stigma.  
“The assistant mayor was going around egging people on, because they wanted to kick me and my son out of my house,” Díaz said.
The fear hasn’t subsided; Díaz’s mother must shop for food for them all, because her daughter doesn’t dare venture out. The mother has filed a complaint with police, because she’s afraid neighbors might yet attack the house.
“I am afraid. The police came to the house and left their phone number, so we can call them” if there’s any trouble, Diaz said. But reason and the threat of legal action appear to mean little. “I have a document that says I do not have the disease,” Díaz said, referring to a letter given to her by the Public Health Ministry when she was sent home to self-quarantine.
Díaz left Guatemala on Feb. 14 and was caught entering the U.S. two weeks later. She and her son spent more than a month in detention in Texas before they were deported.  
The treatment of returning migrants by their own countrymen has become a matter of concern for President Alejandro Giammattei, who issued an appeal last month to stop the harassment.
“A few months ago, many people were happy to get their remittances checks,” Giammattei said, referring to the money migrants send back to their home country. “Now, the person who sent those checks is treated like a criminal.”
He stressed that through steps like quarantines and health checks, authorities are trying to guarantee that returning migrants are free of the virus.  
But on social media, videos have been posted of angry residents chasing fellow Guatemalans deported from Mexico who had escaped from a shelter in the western city of Quetzaltenango where they were supposed to be in quarantine, even though there have been no coronavirus cases among migrants deported from Mexico.  
And when one migrant deported from the United States who tested positive for the virus left a hospital in Guatemala City where he was supposed to remain in isolation, the persecution was almost immediate. The local radio station Sonora es la Noticias identified the man by name, posted photos of him and asked citizens to find him; comments on social media quickly turned brutal, with some suggesting the man should be killed. A judge eventually ordered his arrest because he could infect others, but he remains at large.
More than 680 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Guatemala, including those deported from the U.S., and at least 17 have died. Both figures are considered significant under counts because testing has been so limited.
Ursula Roldan, director of the Institute for Research on Global and Territorial Dynamics at Rafael Landívar University, said the government hasn’t set up shelters for returning migrants or carried out public education programs in their hometowns.
“The migrants aren’t to blame. They have made so many sacrifices on their journey, they have sustained the economy of this country,” Roldan said.
Roldan also blamed the U.S. government for deporting people with the virus, and of fostering anti-immigrant sentiments.
“Unfortunately, the tone regarding the migrants gets more aggressive when there are official statements, like for example when President Donald Trump depicts migrants as a danger in his speeches,” Roldan said.
The Roman Catholic Bishops Council has issued public calls to respect migrants, saying the situation “breaks our hearts.”
“How is it possible that both the governments of the United States and Mexico continue to deport people, during a crisis that has exposed the precarious nature of our health care system and a lack of effective strategies to contain the pandemic?” the council said in a statement.
“The example being set by both governments before the whole world is that they do not have the slightest sense of humanity,” it said, while not sparing criticism of Guatemalan society, too.
“This isn’t about finding fault with others, when we here in Guatemala are witnessing the lack of solidarity in those towns that haven’t allowed their fellow Guatemalans to return,” the council said. “When they sent money home, people congratulated them and praised them. Now, when they are deported, without a dollar in their pocket, they are rejected and suffer discrimination.”  
Meanwhile, Díaz is faced with the prospect of finding a job in a hostile town, penniless after her failed bid to reach the United States.
Asked what she would do after her quarantine ended Saturday, Díaz said: “Look for work.”
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A former Green Beret has taken responsibility for what he claimed was a failed attack Sunday aimed at overthrowing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and that the socialist government said ended with eight dead.
Jordan Goudreau’s comments in an interview with an exiled Venezuelan journalist capped a bizarre day that started with reports of a predawn amphibious raid near the South American country’s heavily guarded capital.
An AP investigation published Friday found that Goudreau had been working with a retired Venezuelan army general now facing U.S. narcotics charges to train dozens of deserters from Venezuela’s security forces at secret camps inside neighboring Colombia. The goal was to mount a cross-border raid that would end in Maduro’s arrest.  
But from the outset the ragtag army lacked funding and U.S. government support, all but guaranteeing defeat against Maduro’s sizable-if-demoralized military. It also appears to have been penetrated by Maduro’s extensive Cuban-backed intelligence network.  
Both Goudreau and retired Venezuelan Capt. Javier Nieto declined to speak to the AP on Sunday when contacted after posting a video from an undisclosed location saying they had launched an anti-Maduro putsch called “Operation Gideon.” Both men live in Florida.  
“A daring amphibious raid was launched from the border of Colombia deep into the heart of Caracas,” Goudreau, in a New York Yankees ball cap, said in the video standing next to Nieto who was dressed in armored vest with a rolled-up Venezuelan flag pinned to his shoulder. “Our units have been activated in the south, west and east of Venezuela.”  
Goudreau said 60 of his men were still on the ground and calls were being activated inside Venezuela, some of them fighting under the command of Venezuelan National Guardsman Capt. Antonio Sequea, who participated in a barracks revolt against Maduro a year ago.  
None of their claims of an ongoing operation could be independently verified. But Goudreau said he hoped to join the rebels soon and invited Venezuelans and Maduro’s troops to join the would-be insurgency although there was no sign of any fighting in the capital or elsewhere as night fell.  
In an interview later with Miami-based journalist Patricia Poleo, he provided a contradictory account of his activities and the support he claims to have once had — and then lost — from Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader recognized as Venezuela’s interim president by the U.S. and some 60 countries.
He provided to Poleo what he said was an 8-page contract signed by Guaidó and two political advisers in Miami in October for $213 million. The alleged “general services” contract doesn’t specify what work his company, Silvercorp USA, was to undertake.
He also released via Poleo a four-minute audio recording, made on a hidden cellphone, in the moment when he purportedly signed the contract as Guaidó participated via videoconference. In the recording, a person he claims is Guaido can be heard giving vague encouragement in broken English but not discussing any military plans.
“Let’s get to work!,” said the man who is purportedly Guaido.  
The AP was unable to confirm the veracity of the recording.
There was no immediate comment from Guaidó on Goudreau’s claim that the two had signed a contract. Previously, Guaidó has said he hadn’t signed any contract for a military incursion.
Goudreau said he never received a penny from the Guaidó team and instead the Venezuelan soldiers he was advising had to scrounge for donations from Venezuelan migrants driving for car share service Uber in Colombia.
“It’s almost like crowdfunded the liberating of a country,” he said.
Goudreau said everything he did was legal but in any case he’s prepared to pay the cost for anything he did if it saves the lives of Venezuelans trying to restore their democracy.  
“I’ve been a freedom fighter my whole life. This is all I know,” said Goudreau, who is a decorated three-time Bronze Star recipient for courage in deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan as a special forces medic.  
Asked about why his troops would land at one of Venezuela’s most fortified coastlines — some 20 miles from Caracas next to the country’s biggest airport — he cited the example set by Alexander the Great, who had “struck deep into the heart of the enemy” at the Battle of Guagamela.  
The government’s claims that it had foiled a beach landing Sunday triggered a frenzy of confusing claims and counterclaims about the alleged plot. While Maduro’s allies said it had been backed by Guaidó, Colombia and the U.S., the opposition accused Maduro of fabricating the whole episode to distract attention from the country’s ongoing humanitarian crisis.
“Those who assume they can attack the institutional framework in Venezuela will have to assume the consequences of their action,” said socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello, adding that one of two captured insurgents claimed to be an agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Authorities said they found Peruvian documents, high-caliber weapons, satellite phones, uniforms and helmets adorned with the U.S. flag.
Both U.S. and Colombian officials dismissed the Venezuelan allegations.
“We have little reason to believe anything that comes out of the former regime,” said a State Department spokesperson, referring to Maduro’s government. “The Maduro regime has been consistent in its use of misinformation in order to shift focus from its mismanagement of Venezuela.”
Venezuela has been in a deepening political and economic crisis under Maduro’s rule. Crumbling public services such as running water, electricity and medical care have driven nearly 5 million to migrate.
The United States has led a campaign to oust Maduro, increasing pressure in recent weeks by indicting the socialist leader as a drug trafficker and offering a $15 million reward for his arrest. The U.S. also has increased stiff sanctions.  
In addition to U.S. economic and diplomatic pressure, Maduro’s government has faced several small-scale military threats, including an attempt to assassinate Maduro with a drone in 2018 and Guaidó’s call for a military uprising a year ago.
Cabello linked Sunday’s attack to key players in the alleged plot led by Goudreau and Ret. Maj. Gen. Cliver Alcala, who is now in U.S. custody awaiting trial after being indicted alongside Maduro on narcoterrorist charges. One of the men he said was killed, nicknamed “the Panther,” had been identified as involved in obtaining weapons for the covert force in Colombia.
Guaidó accused Maduro’s government of seizing on the incident to draw the world’s attention away from the country’s problems.  
“Of course, there are patriotic members of the military willing to fight for Venezuela,” Guaidó said. “But it’s clear that what happened in Vargas is another distraction ploy.”
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A watchdog group is calling on democratic nations to prevent the election of Russia, Cuba and Saudi Arabia to the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council, saying their abysmal human rights records disqualify them from membership.   U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 24, 2019.The U.N. General Assembly will elect 15 new members to the U.N. Human Rights Council in October.  U.N. Watch, an independent group that monitors the United Nations, says it would be a travesty and outrage to permit Russia, Cuba and Saudi Arabia — three repressive, authoritarian regimes — to join this body.  Executive Director of U.N. Watch, Hillel Neuer, says governments that systematically deny basic freedoms to their own people are in no position to judge the human rights records of others. “No one is saying that every member of the Human Rights Council has to be perfect.  Obviously, there are no perfect countries.  But to choose some of the worst governments is not a strategy and it is completely contrary to the official criteria declared at the founding of the Human Rights Council and which continues to govern the elections.”   The resolution that was adopted when the Council was created in 2006 obliges members to uphold the promotion and protection of human rights. It also warns nations that commit gross human rights could be suspended.  It has been applied only once against Libya in 2010 following the violent crackdown on protestors by the late dictator Muammar Gadhafi. Neuer tells VOA the Council is a political body and for many countries, politics too often trump human rights as their guiding principle.  He says more than 50 percent of Council members are not full democracies. “Because of the membership of those countries, a large part of the work, of the proper work of the Council never gets done.  So, for example, countries like China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Turkey have never been condemned for violations of human rights.”  U.N. human rights spokesman, Rupert Colville, says running for a seat on the Council is not a cost-free exercise.  He tells VOA any member State with a poor human rights record will find itself scrutinized.“There is a bit of a price to pay actually,” he said.  “It doesn’t mean by getting on the Council you get a free ride.  If anything, it is a little bit the other way around because you get more attention put on you… Their voting patterns and what they say in debates and so on will be subject to scrutiny and will be subject to criticism, you know, if they are elected as are all States.”   Colville says Council members are held up against the high human rights standards set by the General Assembly.  He says there are examples in the past of States who have withdrawn their candidacy for a seat on the Council after receiving a barrage of criticism.   He notes the process has a long way to run before the election is held and anything could happen before then.     
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Supporters of Brazil’s president protested Sunday in Brasilia against stay-at-home guideline issued by some states to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly rejected both the dangers the virus presents and lockdown policies. “The whole of Brazil complains. Go back to work (they say). This irresponsible destruction of jobs from some governors is unacceptable. The price will be very high in the future: hunger, unemployment, misery. This is not good,” Bolsonaro said. After the firing of the federal police chief prompted the resignation of Minister of Justice and Public Security Sérgio Moro amidst the controversy of how to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, Bolsonaro proposed a replacement for the police chief, but Brazil’s Congress did not accept the nomination. The president accused the legislative body of “interference.” “We want the true independence of the three powers, not only a fraction of the constitution. We don’t want that. Enough with interference, we won’t admit any more interference, I’m being very clear, patience has run out,” Bolsonaro said.Bolsonaro did not wear a face mask as he met with supporters who were allowed into the courtyard of the presidential palace.  Sunday’s protest took place while Brazil seems headed towards a major public health emergency and economic meltdown. 
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Should the NHL restart its 2019-20 season, players on Canadian teams who have been out of the country likely would need to quarantine before they can rejoin their teammates, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday.”I think it’s a question we’ll have to look into,” Trudeau said in a press briefing. “Certainly at a strict minimum, anyone who arrives from another country will have to follow all the rules of quarantine in an extremely strict manner, but we’re not there yet in our discussions with the NHL.”
 
He continued: “We recognize that it’s a possibility, but it depends on an enormous amount of things, and I don’t want to speculate on this until there’s more discussion.”
 
The season was halted on March 12, one day after the NBA suspended play when Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz was diagnosed with the coronavirus. At least eight NHL players have been diagnosed with COVID-19 — five of them from the Ottawa Senators.
 
The NHL is hoping to finish the 2019-20 season and award the Stanley Cup, while deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a radio interview on Friday that Edmonton is among the cities under consideration should the league decide to use centralized locations for games. Toronto is another city reportedly in consideration to be a “hockey pod.”
 
Daly also said frequent testing for COVID-19 would be required for play to resume, provided that ample tests are available and that the general public would not be deprived of tests.
 
“We’re going to need to have access to testing, and we’re going to make it a point that we’re not accessing testing, even in a private way, if testing availability is an issue in the community,” Daly told 630 CHED in Edmonton. “We will not test asymptomatic players ahead of symptomatic people who are unable to get tested. It’s just something we will not do.” 
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Venezuelan officials said Sunday they foiled an attack by boats through the port city of La Guaira. Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said the would-be attackers, whom he referred to as “mercenary terrorists”, came from neighboring Colombia and were quickly repelled by Venezuelan forces. “They tried to carry out an invasion by sea, a group of terrorist mercenaries from Colombia, in order to commit terrorist acts in the country, murdering leaders of the revolutionary government,” Reverol said in a televised address Sunday. He said there were “some casualties” but did not specify how many attackers there were, who they were, or what weapons and boats they used. President Nicolas Maduro’s government frequently accuses political adversaries of trying to overthrow his government. Socialist critics have dismissed the accusations as an excuse to detain Maduro’s opponents. Maduro has overseen a six-year economic crisis in Venezuela. More than fifty countries, including the United States, have indicated their support for opposition leader Juan Guaido after a disputed election in 2018, but Maduro maintains control of the country’s military.  
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Thousands of desperate migrants are trapped in limbo and even at risk of death without food, water or shelter in scorching deserts and at sea, as governments close off borders and ports in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.Migrants have been dropped by the truckload in the Sahara or bused to Mexico’s border with Guatemala and beyond. Others are drifting in the Mediterranean after European and Libyan authorities declared their ports unsafe. And around 100 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are believed to have died in the Bay of Bengal, as country after country pushed them back out to sea.Many governments say that a public health crisis requires extraordinary measures. However, these measures are just the latest steps taken to clamp down on migrants.“They just dumped us,” said Fanny Jacqueline Ortiz, a 37-year-old Honduran who was abandoned March 26 with her two young daughters at the lonely  El Ceibo  border crossing with Guatemala, expelled first by the U.S. and then by Mexico.___This story was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.___Since the aftermath of World War II, international and some national laws have protected refugees and asylum-seekers. Nations have the right to close themselves off for national security, but cannot forcibly return migrants to danger, according to Dr.  Violeta Moreno-Lax, professor of migration law at Queen Mary University of London.Yet that is exactly what is happening.“The pandemic provides the perfect excuse,” said Moreno-Lax.The desert deportations have been happening for years in North Africa and beyond, and Europe has been deadlocked on how to handle migration on the Mediterranean since the 2015 migration crisis. In the United States, President Donald Trump made migration a central issue of his winning 2016 campaign.But this year, coronavirus has shifted the dynamic and allowed governments to crack down even harder, even as the desperation of those on the move remains unchanged.In the United States, Trump is using a little-known 1944 public health law to set aside decades-old American immigration law. Nearly 10,000 Mexicans and Central Americans were “expelled” to Mexico less than three weeks after the new rules took effect March 21, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. U.S. authorities say the decision was not about immigration but about public health.Mexico then pushes the migrants further south. Mexico denies that it leaves migrants to fend for themselves, saying it coordinates with their home governments.Migrants have also been left stranded in similarly makeshift conditions in the Sahara Desert, after being expelled from Algeria and Libya.Groups of dozens are walking 10 to 15 kilometers (6 to 10 miles) through the desert from a no-man’s-land called Point Zero to the dusty frontier village of Assamaka in neighboring Niger. There, new arrivals remain in makeshift quarantine for 14 days.More than 2,300 foreign migrants are stranded in Niger, unable to return home or go anywhere else, according to the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration.In Libya, the migrant detention center in Kufra expelled nearly 900 men and women from April 11 to 15, taking them by truck or bus across hundreds of miles of sand and leaving them either in a remote town in Chad or at a Sahara border post in Sudan, according to Lt. Mohamed Ali al-Fadil, the center’s director. Hundreds more came the following week.Al-Fadil said the center is “deporting more people faster than ever before.” He said the expulsions are an attempt to shield migrants from the coronavirus.Yet the large groups of migrants forced out are in danger not only of the coronavirus but of midday temperatures that can rise to 50 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit) this time of year.Hundreds of other migrants are stuck at sea in the Mediterranean and the Bay of Bengal.The Mediterranean has been unpatrolled by rescue boats for two weeks. The last two such vessels are lashed together off the coast of Italy along with a ferry holding 180 migrants rescued in April, all of them in a 14-day waterborne quarantine.The boats will ultimately dock. But no country has agreed to take in the migrants, who will stay on the ferry until their fate is decided. Any others who try to leave Libya’s squalid coastal detention centers or cramped smuggler’s warehouses will face an equally uncertain future, either pushed back to Libya or adrift at sea.Half a world away, hundreds of Rohingya refugees are also stranded at sea in the Bay of Bengal. Weeks ago, they boarded at least two fishing trawlers, and are now marooned off the coast of Bangladesh.Fishermen spotted the boats on April 20, and the United Nations refugee agency said they may have been at sea for weeks without enough food and water. A group of 29 made it to an island in southern Bangladesh on Saturday. The aid group Médecins Sans Frontières said survivors on another boat that ultimately made it to shore estimated around 100 had died waiting.The Bangladeshi government said it cannot sustain more refugees and still keep a handle on the coronavirus crisis. Malaysia has also denied entry to several other boats, each with dozens on board.In her tiny bamboo home in the Rohingya refugee camp at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, Rahima Khatun has been sleepless since losing contact with her daughter, who went to sea with her grandchildren more than 50 days ago to join her son-in-law in Malaysia.Khatun is not sure which boat they are on but she has heard about the stranded trawlers.“If I had wings I would fly and go see where they are,” Khatun said. “They are not being allowed to enter either Bangladesh or Malaysia – just floating in the middle with no one to help them out.”  
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A Bolivian air force plane crashed in the Amazonian region shortly after takeoff Saturday afternoon, killing all those on board.The victims on the twin-engine propeller plane included four Spanish nationals and the two-man crew, an air force captain and lieutenant.The Spaniards were en route to catch a flight back to Spain, the Bolivian Defense Ministry said in a statement.The plane went down in a marshy area on the outskirts of the northeastern city of Trinidad, the statement said.The aircraft was also carrying coronavirus test samples to the city of Santa Cruz.
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A riot broke out Saturday at a prison in the city of Manaus in Brazil’s Amazon state, as inmates protested the suspension of all visits to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.The inmates at the Puraquequara facility held prison guards hostage for more than five hours before authorities brought the situation under control and freed the guards, the state’s public security secretary said in a statement.While inmates took to the roof of the facility, people outside the penitentiary were holding signs in Portuguese reading “Peace, Peace. They just want to be treated with respect” and “They’re already paying for their offenses.”A group of family members, some wearing masks, held a sign saying “Social reintegration? In these conditions it’s not possible.”Relatives said visits at the Puraquequara prison were suspended in mid-March. Rumors that the coronavirus had begun to spread there have been circulating on social media for weeks.Brazil has reported at least 92,000 cases of COVID-19 infections as of Saturday. About 6,500 people have succumbed to the virus.
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Iran on Saturday denounced recent U.S. allegations that it was providing covert aid to help Venezuela overcome gas shortages as “baseless” without directly addressing them.  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week said “multiple aircraft” belonging to Iran’s Mahan Air had transferred “unknown support” to Venezuela’s government. He called for a halt to the flights and for other countries to bar overflights by Mahan Air.  The Associated Press reported last month that Mahan Air was delivering key chemical components used for producing gasoline to help revive an aging refinery in the South American country, which is in the grip of a severe economic crisis.Venezuela has been suffering from widespread gasoline shortages despite having the world’s largest oil reserves.Both Iran and Venezuela are under heavy U.S. sanctions, and have had close relations for the last two decades.Iran’s Foreign Ministry tweeted that the “baseless comments were made in order to prepare the ground for mounting U.S. pressure on the Venezuelan government.”Another statement said the U.S. intended to “obstruct the Venezuelan government’s plan for reviving the country’s refineries.” The statements did not directly address the allegations or elaborate on the nature of the cooperation between the two countries.The Trump administration is pursuing a “maximum pressure” campaign aimed at ousting Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, and considers opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation’s legitimate leader. The U.S. and a coalition of nearly 60 nations say Maduro clings to power following a 2018 election that critics consider a sham because the most popular opposition politicians were banned from running.The Trump administration imposed heavy sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
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