Shootings in the greater Rio de Janeiro metro area dropped nearly 24 percent in 2019, according to data published Thursday.There were 7,363 shootings in 2019, down from 9,642 in 2018, according to the Fogo Cruzado organization, which compiled and verified the data.The group reported 1,517 shooting deaths and 1,357 injuries from gunfire last year, slightly above 2018 levels. Fogo Cruzado doesn’t have access to official police registries, meaning total deaths are likely higher.Shootings declined steadily in Brazil’s top tourist destination in the second half of 2019. In December, Fogo Cruzado registered 362 shootings, nearly half the number recorded in the same month a year earlier.Gov. Wilson Witzel, who campaigned on a platform of zero tolerance for crime, boasted about the decline in shootings.”Throughout 2019, we acted rigorously in the crackdown on crime, in addition to valuing our police,” Witzel tweeted. He has referred to criminals as “narco-terrorists” and proposed using helicopters as platforms for snipers, who could target anyone carrying large firearms.Ignacio Cano, a professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, says the trend began in 2018 in Rio and other states, before governors were sworn in on Jan. 1, 2019.Police figures compiled by website G1 show homicides fell 22% to 30,864 cases in the first nine months of the year, compared to the same period in 2018. That may be due to violence between rival drug trafficking gangs falling, Cano said.Role of militiasThe expansion of militias in Rio may also partly explain lower reports of shootouts in Rio. One estimate is that 2.2 million people in the metro area — out of more than 12 million residents — live under the thumb of militias, which were originally made up of former police officers, firefighters and military men who wanted to combat lawlessness in their neighborhoods.”When militias come in, they expel trafficking from the area,” said Rafael Alcadipani da Silveira, a public security analyst and professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Sao Paulo. “There is a visceral relationship between militias and police, and you end up seeing the state teaming up with militias to expel crime.”The paramilitary groups have become, for some experts, Rio’s biggest security threat, replacing one group of criminals with another, da Silveira warned. Their activities range from retailing smuggled cigarettes to providing cable TV, electricity or transport service, and are also known to extort businesses and carry out summary executions.Fogo Cruzado, or “Crossfire,” is a free app that was created by Amnesty International Brazil in 2016. It helps residents track shootings in real time by combining crowd-sourcing data and monitoring social media.
 
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday pledged to stick by his government’s decision to give asylum to several people in Mexico’s embassy in Bolivia, which has sparked a dispute with the interim administration in La Paz.”It’s a matter of principle,” Lopez Obrador told reporters at a regular government news conference.To hand over the people would mean abandoning what Mexico regards as a “sacred” right to grant asylum, he added.Earlier this week, Bolivia expelled the Mexican ambassador to La Paz over the asylum spat, creating an awkward standoff for Lopez Obrador, who has sought to avoid foreign entanglements.Mexico has not ejected Bolivia’s ambassador in Mexico and Lopez Obrador said he would not react to provocations.Relations have been rocky between the leftist Lopez Obrador and the conservative government in La Paz headed by caretaker president Jeanine Anez since Mexico gave asylum to Bolivia’s former socialist leader Evo Morales in November.Mexico gave refuge to nine people in La Paz, some of whom the Anez government, which is gearing up for presidential elections, has described as criminals and wants to put on trial.The Mexican government has accused the Anez administration of harassing and intimidating its diplomatic staff in La Paz.
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The United States consulate in Mexico’s border city of Nuevo Laredo issued a security alert Wednesday, warning of gun battles and urging government employees to take precautions.Gun battles have killed at least three people this week in the northern city bordering the Texas city of Laredo, media have said.Nuevo Laredo is one of the Mexican cities where the U.S. government has sent asylum-seekers to wait as their cases are decided. “The consulate has received reports of multiple gunfights throughout the city of Nuevo Laredo,” it said in a Twitter post. “U.S. government personnel are advised to shelter in place.”On Twitter, users purportedly from Laredo reported hearing gunfire ringing out from the neighboring Mexican city.In a Twitter post late Wednesday, Francisco Cabeza de Vaca, the governor of Tamaulipas, the state home to Nuevo Laredo, blamed the attacks on its Cartel of the Northeast.“After the cowardly attacks on the part of the Cartel of the Northeast in Nuevo Laredo, the (government of Tamaulipas) will not let down its guard and will continue acting with strength against criminals,” he wrote.Tension over the cartels intensified in November when suspected cartel members massacred three women and six children of U.S.-Mexican origin in northern Mexico.U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to designate the groups as terrorist organizations in response to a series of bloody security breaches triggered by cartel gunmen.
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For centuries, Mexico City residents brought warm tortillas home in reusable cloths or woven straw baskets, and toted others foods in conical rolls of paper, “ayate” mesh or net bags, or even string bundles.People in Mexico’s massive capital city may have to return to those old ways starting Wednesday, when a new law takes effect banning the plastic bags that became ubiquitous over the last 30 years. Some say they are ready and willing, and grocery stores are promising to promote reusable synthetic fiber bags, but others are struggling to get their minds around how the ban will work in practice.”We have a very rich history in ways to wrap things,” said Claudia Hernandez, the city’s director of environmental awareness. “We are finding that people are returning to baskets, to cucuruchos,” she said, referring to cone-shaped rolls of paper once used to wrap loose bulk goods like nuts, chips or seeds.Some Mexico City residents still use traditional ayate bags, or tortilla towels or baskets, and many — especially the elderly — pull two-wheeled, folding shopping baskets through grocery stores. Some merchants still use old sardine cans to measure out bulk goods.Under the new law, grocery stores will be fined if they give out plastic bags. Most will offer reusable shopping bags made of thick plastic fiber, usually selling them for around 75 cents.”They are not giving them away, they are selling them, and that is what I don’t agree with,” said city subway worker Ernesto Gallardo Chavez, who wonders what will happen if he goes grocery shopping after Jan. 1 and forgets to bring his reusable bags.A man carries loose items after leaving a grocery store in Mexico City, Jan. 1, 2020. Stores stopped providing disposable plastic bags to their customers in compliance with a city law that took effect with the new year.”Just imagine, I forget my bag and I buy a lot of stuff,” said Gallardo Chavez. “How do I carry it all, if they don’t give you bags anymore?”Like most city residents, Gallardo Chavez thinks protecting the environment is “very good.” But plastic bags in Mexico City are almost never really single-use: most city residents have bought garbage cans and waste paper baskets just the right size to be lined with supermarket bags. And the bags are commonly used to clean up after dogs on sidewalks.”We use the bags for garbage, to separate it into organic and inorganic, and then take it out to the garbage truck,” he notes.Hernandez, the environment official, said people should get out of the habit of putting their garbage in plastic bags. “They can take it out (to the garbage truck) directly in garbage cans.”But that is complicated given the city’s stubborn water shortages. It’s all very well to tell city residents not to line their trash cans with plastic bags, but washing out a kitchen receptacle every couple of days after use because it doesn’t have a plastic liner will takes its toll on water supplies.Not to mention the widespread habit of tossing used toilet paper into wastepaper baskets to spare the strain on many homes’ aged and insufficient plumbing. Used toilet paper is not the kind of thing you can turn over loose to the trash collector.Data analysis specialist Daniel Loredo says he is planning to hoard his last remaining plastic shopping bags precisely for that purpose.But he and his roommates have already taken steps to build up a supply of reusable bags and make sure whoever goes to the grocery store is carrying a few. But for poorer city residents, forgetting to do so even one day could carry a high price in a country where the 75-cent reusable bag costs the equivalent of an hour’s worth of the minimum wage.”I think this will be a challenge, because these bags represent an additional cost, and maybe not everyone can bear that cost quite as easily,” Loredo said.Aldimir Torres, the leader of the country’s Plastic Industry Chamber, called the new law “cheap populism,” noting that it was drawn up without having clear guidelines about what kind of “compostable” bags would still be allowed.The law leaves the door open to using plastic bags “for reasons of hygiene,” presumably for items like deli meats or cheese. It also allows for bags that biodegrade very quickly, but sets no specific standards for them.”This was a law that was copied and put together in a rush, without consulting people who really know about this issue,” Torres said.Hernandez acknowledged there was still a lot of work to be done on alternatives.For example, Mexico City’s ubiquitous street food stalls often use plastic bags to temporarily cover plastic plates, in areas where they have no taps or sinks to wash each plate after use. While that might seem to be covered under the “hygiene” clause of the new law, Hernandez said somewhat ingeniously that “this could be solved by some device to wash the plates.”The law, she claimed, had to be rushed into effect.”I don’t know why, but sometimes we need a little more pressure in order to take action,” Hernandez said, noting the bag ban “is an invitation, a provocation to rethink they way we consume.”Loredo thinks the law may be imperfect, but worth it.”I think that in some way this is a responsible strategy, to introduce us to some more appropriate method of consumption,” he said. “In the end, they (plastic bags) are something that pollute and hurt the environment.”By 2021, the same law will ban handing out plastic straws, spoons, coffee capsules and other single-use items.
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Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador closed out 2019 with a parting shot at his predecessors, saying imprisoned drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman Loera had had the same power as the country’s president. In a video message from the southern city of Palenque on Wednesday, Lopez Obrador recounted his administration’s successes in its first year and highlighted its challenges — foremost, surging violence. He said that he had already done away with the high-level corruption that was rampant in previous governments, and that it was crucial to draw a bright line between criminal elements and authorities so that the two sides do not mingle as they had in the past. There was a time when Guzman had the same power or had the influence that the then president had ... because there had been a conspiracy, and that made it difficult to punish those who committed crimes. That has already become history, gone to the garbage dump of history, Lopez Obrador said. It appeared to be a reference to the indictment and arrest last month of Mexico’s former public safety secretary, Genaro Garcia Luna. Garcia Luna was public safety secretary in President Felipe Calderon’s Cabinet from 2006 to 2012. Before joining Calderon’s government, Garcia Luna led Mexico’s equivalent of the FBI, the Federal Investigative Agency, under President Vicente Fox. He was charged in federal court in New York with three counts of trafficking cocaine and one count of making false statements. He had been living in Florida and was arrested in Texas. U.S. prosecutors allege he accepted millions of dollars in bribes from Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel and in exchange allowed it to operate without interference. FILE – In this photo provided U.S. law enforcement, authorities escort Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, center, from a plane to a waiting caravan of SUVs at Long Island MacArthur Airport, Jan. 19, 2017, in Ronkonkoma, N.Y.Guzman was convicted on drug conspiracy charges in New York. He was sentenced last year to life in prison. Lopez Obrador’s public safety secretary, Alfonso Durazo, on Wednesday echoed the president’s comments about rooting out corruption in the security forces. In a series of posts on Twitter, Durazo also said the government would recruit 21,170 people in 2020 to join the newly formed National Guard and continue to expand its presence in the country. Lopez Obrador has bet big that the new federal security force will be able to wrangle violence that generated a record-setting number of murders in 2019. 
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Bogota’s first woman mayor Claudia Lopez took office Wednesday promising leadership in the troubled Colombian capital and pledging to fight “racism, class distinctions and xenophobia.”The center-left mayor, who married her same-sex partner last month, takes over a city that has become a focal point of countrywide protests against the rule of right-wing President Ivan Duque.Lopez, 49, broke with tradition and held her inauguration event in the city’s Simon Bolivar park attended by hundreds of people.”Thank you to all for accompanying me in this special moment of my life by taking me as the first woman — diverse woman — elected as mayor in the history of Bogota,” she told the cheering crowd.Supporters of Bogota’s incoming Mayor Claudia Lopez attend her inauguration ceremony in Bogota on Jan. 1, 2020.Lopez’s election in October was one of a series of setbacks for Duque’s ruling Democratic Center party, which lost control of several major cities and many see her as an emerging challenger to his presidency.With seven million inhabitants, Colombia’s capital has been the main focus of a series of mass protests against Duque’s rule that have rocked the country for the past six weeks.The city is home to a quarter of the 1.6 million migrants who fled the economic crisis in neighboring Venezuela to take refuge in Colombia.The new mayor presented “an agenda of change” for her four-year term, focused on the fight against insecurity and the city’s traffic congestion, while promoting jobs and quality, free education. She also promised a “greener” Bogota under her mayorship.She called on Bogotans to build a citizen’s culture that “once and for all banishes all racism, classism, machismo and zenophobia” from its streets.”Bogota, thank you very much for trusting me with your present and your future. I promise to honor that trust, and give everything of myself so that our Bogota will be in the next four years a more caring, inclusive and sustainable city and region,” she said.Lopez married her partner Angelica Lozano, a senator, on Dec. 16.She first stepped into the national spotlight after helping to expose links between Colombian lawmakers and right-wing paramilitary groups.She was briefly forced to flee the country after the scandal came to light but returned to be elected senator in 2014 and stood as a vice presidential candidate in last year’s national elections.Lopez won the Oct. 27 mayoral poll with just over 35% of the vote in a narrow triumph over liberal Carlos Fernando Galan.
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At least 16 inmates in a central Mexico prison were killed and five more were wounded in a riot that closed out a violent 2019 for the country, authorities said. Zacatecas state security secretary Ismael Camberos Hernandez told local press that authorities had confiscated four guns believed to have been brought into the Cieneguillas state prison during visits Tuesday. He said the prison had been searched for weapons on Saturday and Sunday and that no guns had been found. The melee broke out around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday and the prison was brought under control by 5 p.m., according to a statement from the state security agency. Fifteen of the victims died at the prison and one died later at a hospital. One prisoner was detained with a gun still in his possession and the other three guns were found inside the prison, the statement said.  Camberos said not all the victims died from gunshot wounds. Some were stabbed and others beaten with objects. No guards or police were wounded, he said. Camberos did not offer a possible motive for the attacks, but such killings frequently involve score settling between rival cartel members or a battle for control of the prison’s illicit business. Mexico has a long history of deadly prison clashes. In October, six inmates were killed in a prison in Morelos state. 
In September, Nuevo Leon state closed the infamous Topo Chico prison, the site of many killings over the years. In February 2016, 49 prisoners died there during rioting when two factions of the Zetas cartel clashed. 
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Haitian President Jovenel Moise broke with tradition on Wednesday and celebrated the country’s independence day in the capital for security reasons following months of political turmoil.Moise, whose government has been accused of corruption, denounced graft during his speech at the National Palace in Port-au-Prince and urged Haiti’s elite to work with the government and help create employment.“We’re still extremely poor,” he said. “Those who continue to get rich find it normal that they do not pay taxes, find it normal that there can be no competition, find it normal that they set prices for consumers, especially when this consumer is the state itself.”Moise also apologized for the country’s ongoing power outages and renewed his 2016 campaign pledge to provide electricity 24 hours a day, saying it was harder to accomplish than he imagined.The speech that marked the 216th anniversary of the world’s first black republic was originally slated to take place in the northern coastal town of Gonaives, where Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti’s independence.But the town, like many others, was hit by violent protests that began in September amid anger over corruption, fuel shortages and dwindling food supplies as opposition leaders and supporters demanded the resignation of Moise.More than 40 people have been killed and dozens injured.Large-scale protests in Port-au-Prince have since dissipated, although smaller ones are still occurring elsewhere in the country. On Wednesday, opposition leaders and supporters gathered in Gonaives to attend the funeral of an anti-government protester and then carried his coffin through the streets as more protesters joined them.
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Heading into his second year as Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro has held firm to his combative culture-warrior policies while feuding with critics at home and abroad – an approach that has thrilled supporters but eroded his efforts to win allies and lift the world’s 9th-largest economy out of its doldrums.
                   
Bolsonaro’s inauguration last Jan. 1 marked a dramatic break from Brazil’s previous four elections, all won by the left. He vowed to attack the socialist ideology, stamp out corruption and unleash police against crime. As he did that, many moderates felt pushed away.
                   
In a national address just before Christmas, Bolsonaro said he “took over Brazil in a deep ethical, moral and economic crisis.”
                   
“The government has changed. Today we have a president who cherishes families, respects the will of its people, honors its military and believes in God,” he said, flanked by his wife Michelle Bolsonaro, who wore a shirt with JESUS written in large letters.
                   
And he has backed up that stand in deeds, such as stripping some human rights protection from LGBT people and cutting funding for arts projects that challenge “Christian values” as well as in words, inveighing against flamboyant carnival celebrations.
                   
Marco Feliciano, a conservative lower house lawmaker and evangelical pastor, believes Bolsonaro keeps true to values that were ignored by his predecessors.
                   
“At the start of the year, we clearly felt sectors within the government trying to separate the president from the evangelicals, but the president pushed those people away and stayed loyal to those who elected him. Evangelicals were never as honored by a president,” he said.
                   
Long a fringe lawmaker, Bolsonaro became president as an outsider following a deep economic crisis, a sweeping political corruption scandal and amid a wave of populist triumphs around the planet.
                   
But Bolsonaro’s focus on a far-right cultural agenda has generated infighting between military appointees and evangelicals in his administration and whittled away his support in Congress.
                   
While U.S. President Donald Trump, to whom Bolsonaro is often compared, has cemented authority over his Republican Party, Bolsonaro’s spats with his own party’s leaders led him to quit it in November. That leaves him effectively isolated until and if he can create his new party Alianca Pelo Brasil (Alliance for Brazil).
                   
“Bolsonaro started 2019, which was supposed to be his honeymoon year, in positive territory, but he will start his second year in the negative,” said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo. “He will be under a lot of pressure. And that puts him in fighting mood.”
                   
But he’ll need allies to pass some of his cultural agenda through congress. He will also need lawmakers to approve new reforms aimed at slashing costs in efforts to revive an economy that has seen six straight years of negative or stagnant growth.
                   
Bolsonaro’s most ambitious legislative win, an overhaul to Brazil’s pension system  that prior governments failed to achieve, came on a watered down version.
                   
Measures still pending include tax reforms and spending caps, some of which will be controversial as the parties head toward a test of strength in October’s mayoral elections. Lawmakers will be involved with the vote from June to the beginning of November.
                   
Congress already has felt comfortable blocking presidential decrees to loosen gun controls, allowing executive orders to expire without ratification, and watering down his bills like signature anti-crime legislation.
                   
Bolsonaro also has feuded with other international leaders, notably the leaders of France, Germany and the government of Norway, over their efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest, a region he sees as key to Brazil’s future. Deforestation there has accelerated in his first term.
                   
That has caused unease even among agribusiness leaders who voted for Bolsonaro, such as “soy king” Blairo Maggi, who have said the president’s handling of the environment jeopardizes Brazil’s exports.
                   
Poor economic results and his aggressive rhetoric have turned off many Bolsonaro voters, and only about 30% rate  his government good or excellent the lowest first year performance for an elected Brazilian president since the country’s 1985 return to democracy.
                   
But given the choice to simply approve or disapprove of Bolsonaro, the polls show his popularity runs higher _ roughly on a par with that of Trump in the U.S.
                   
“This is not a weak president,” said Christoper Garman, managing director for the Americas at Eurasia Group.
                   
The Brazilian government’s highest marks come in security. Justice Minister Sergio Moro, whose anti-corruption work as a judge largely contributed to the conviction of past President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s corruption conviction, polls better than Bolsonaro.
                   
Police figures compiled by website G1 show homicides fell 22% to 30,864 cases in the first nine months of the year, compared to the same period in 2018.
                   
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro has also been bothered by investigations into his family that could shake his image of incorruptibility among hard-core supporters.
                   
Prosecutors are investigating allegations that staffers working for his son Flavio, then a Rio state lawmaker, kicked their salaries back to his former driver, a long-time friend of the Bolsonaros.
                   
The 2020 local races could be telling for Bolsonaro’s re-election bid in 2022, according to Claudio Couto, a political science professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.
                   
“If Bolsonaro fails to get his own party in time he will have to build alliances with politicians of other parties so they can carry his banner. It could be a hard task for a politician that has had trouble in building bridges,” Couto said.
 
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Erik Prince, a major Republican donor and founder of controversial security firm Blackwater, has been referred to the U.S. Treasury Department for possible sanctions violations tied to his recent trip to Venezuela for a meeting with a top aide of President Nicolas Maduro, two senior U.S. officials said.There’s no indication that Prince, whose sister is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, will be sanctioned for the meeting last month in Caracas with Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.Vice President of Venezuela Delcy Rodriguez addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 27, 2019.But the fact the visit was flagged underscores the concern of officials in the Trump administration over what appeared to be an unauthorized diplomatic outreach to Maduro. This, as support for opposition leader Juan Guaido inside Venezuela — if not Washington — appears to be waning.The U.S. officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Little has been revealed about Prince’s surprise trip to Caracas last month. But the mere presence in Venezuela of a businessman with longstanding ties to the U.S. national security establishment prompted questions about whether he was there to open a secret back channel to Maduro on behalf of the Trump administration, something the State Department has strenuously denied. It also marks something of a reversal for Prince, who earlier in 2019 was thought to have been pitching a plan to form a mercenary army to topple Maduro.A person familiar with Prince’s visit said he had been asked to travel to Venezuela by an unidentified European businessman with longstanding ties to the oil-rich nation. The person said Prince did not discuss any business nor receive anything of value during his trip — actions that would’ve violated U.S. financial sanctions on Maduro’s socialist government.The purpose of the trip was to meet key players in the crisis-wracked nation, not to serve as an emissary for the Trump administration, according to the person, who isn’t authorized to discuss the visit and spoke on condition of anonymity.The person said Prince, a former Navy SEAL, continues to support the Trump administration’s goal of removing Maduro but believes State Department efforts to reach that goal have failed and new alternatives — which the person did not specify — need to be tried.Before traveling, Prince notified the National Security Council and Treasury Department about his plans and received no objections, the person said.In a statement, Prince’s attorney didn’t provide any details about the trip or whom his client may have alerted in the U.S. government.“Before traveling to Venezuela as a private citizen, Erik Prince received clear legal guidance, which he scrupulously followed,” Matthew Schwartz said in the statement. “There is nothing unlawful about simply visiting Venezuela and participating in non-business discussions, which is all that Mr. Prince did. We would be better served by focusing on measures that might actually restore peace and prosperity to Venezuela rather than worrying about who paid a visit to whom.”Neither the National Security Council nor the Treasury Department responded to a request for comment.Rodriguez is a key aide to Maduro and also one of more than 100 Venezuelan government insiders who have been slapped with sanctions by the U.S. In addition, the Trump administration this year has imposed sweeping sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry and a ban on U.S. companies and individuals from doing business with the Maduro administration.While in Caracas, Prince also met members of the opposition, although the person familiar with his trip declined to say whom.FILE – Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who many nations have recognized as the country’s rightful interim ruler, gestures as he speaks during an extraordinary session of Venezuela’s National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela, Dec. 17, 2019.An aide to Juan Guaido said no such meeting with anyone in the opposition took place. But the aide was unable to provide the same assurances for a small faction of minority parties that recently split from Guaido and initiated negotiations with Maduro that the U.S. considers a time-wasting sideshow.A year after the U.S. recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president, arguing that Maduro’s re-election was fraudulent, the 36-year-old lawmaker is under increasing pressure from friends and foes alike to articulate a fresh vision for unseating the socialist leader, who has grown more confident as the economy stabilizes under a flood of black-market U.S. dollars.Another person familiar with the visit said Prince, in his late November dinner at Rodriguez’s home, urged the release of six executives of Houston-based Citgo held for more than two years on what are widely seen as trumped-up corruption charges. Two weeks later, the six men — five of them dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizens — were granted house arrest. The person also spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivities surrounding the trip.Elliott Abrams, the U.S. special envoy to Venezuela, said Dec. 20 that Prince was not a messenger for the U.S. government, nor was the U.S. engaging in any secret talks with Maduro.“I have yet to find an American official who says he or she was briefed by Mr. Prince, and I have asked,” Abrams told a press briefing. “So, I don’t know if he briefed an American official, and if so, who it was.”Prince has been accused of acting as a back channel on behalf of Trump before. In 2017, he met with an official close to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Seychelles, islands off the coast of east Africa. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his Russia investigation said the meeting was set up ahead of time with the knowledge of former White House aide Stephen Bannon.Prince soared to notoriety after Blackwater employees in 2007 shot and killed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square during the Iraq war. After the scandal the company’s name was changed and Prince sold his shares to a private equity fund. Today he heads a private equity fund focused on investments in emerging markets.
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One U.S. citizen and four Mexican nationals were arrested near the Canadian border in Maine in what border officials called a “human smuggling attempt.”The five men were arraigned in Bangor on Thursday, according to court documents. Two of the men were charged with bringing immigrants into the U.S. illegally and harboring them, the Bangor Daily News reported.The other three told agents that they had traveled illegally from Mexico to Canada to gain entry to the United States, according to court documents. One of them was charged with entry after removal and the other two were charged with improper entry by an alien.Border Patrol agents saw a vehicle with two people in it on Dec. 23 in an area near Limestone that is often used as an illegal crossing between Canada and the U.S., according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The agents stopped the vehicle after they saw it leave the area with five people.Investigators determined that four of the occupants were in the U.S. illegally, three of whom crossed the border illegally near LimestoneLogan Perkins, an attorney for one of the men, said her client crossed the border simply to provide for his family in Mexico. Attorneys for the other four didn’t immediately return messages. 
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Bolivia’s interim president says her government is expelling the Mexican ambassador over an alleged attempt by members of Bolivia’s former government to leave refuge in the Mexican Embassy and flee the country.Interim President Jeanine Anez said Ambassador Maria Teresa Mercado had been given 72 hours to leave the country.A group of nine former officials in the government of deposed Bolivian President Evo Morales sought refuge in the Mexican embassy after Morales’ stepped down under pressure last month.The acting Bolivian government has initiated criminal charges against the officials for sedition, terrorism and electoral fraud and has refused to allow them safe passage out of the country.The Bolivian government has accused Spanish diplomats of trying to help the nine officials leave the Mexican embassy on Friday and says the Spaniards arrived at the embassy accompanied by a group of hooded men. Spain has denied the charges but the six Spanish diplomats departed Bolivia on Sunday after the Bolivian government asked them to leave.”A serious violation has been committed against Bolivian sovereignty and democracy, which must be respected,” Anez said.The Mexican government said Mercado had always followed the principles of Mexican foreign policy and international law.”We consider this to be a political decision,” the government said in a written statement. 
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The Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City is celebrating its second baby giraffe of the year, already as tall as a full-grown human.The female giraffe was unveiled last week after a mandatory quarantine period following her Oct. 23 birth. She will be named via a public vote to generate empathy with the little cow, zoo director Juan Carlos Sanchez Olmos said Sunday.The 96-year-old zoo on the grounds of the capital’s central park has a knack for breeding creatures in captivity: This year it welcomed 170 baby animals, including six Mexican gray wolves, which are in danger of extinction.”A new birth of a character as unique, as charismatic as a giraffe becomes emblematic – a flag for conservation, for the prestige of the zoo,” said Sanchez Olmos while four grown giraffes happily munched branches and leaves behind him.Giraffes are considered “vulnerable” because the species faces significant habitat loss in the 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where they reside.Unlike the wolves, which will be released into the Sierra de San Pedro Martir National Park in Baja California, the giraffes are expected to spend their lives under observation in a dusty patch of the Chapultepec Zoo.A team of professionals – including nutritionists, veterinarians and biologists like Sanchez Olmos_ takes care of more than 1,000 animals in the zoo, which sits under the flight path of jetliners that roar overhead.As Sanchez Olmos detailed the zoo’s mission to not just educate and amuse, but also conserve species, caretaker Alejandro Gonzalez offered long branches from a pomegranate tree to four hungry giraffes. The tallest of the pack eagerly yanked the branches from Gonzalez’s hands.”What did I tell you?” the caretaker said, looking the tall giraffe square in the eyes. “Take it easy, please.”If Gonzalez had his way, the new addition to the herd of giraffes would be called Sarita. At least, that’s what he calls her.The long-necked creatures are a favorite fixture at the zoo. The public voted in April to name the first baby giraffe of the year Jirafifita, which translates as Uppity Little Giraffe – a play on the president’s favorite word for dismissing critics.”Fifi” is slang for uppity or posh. Populist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador frequently uses the word to describe opposition politicians and others who question his decisions.
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Chile’s human rights watchdog is calling for an investigation into the electrocution of a man during anti-government protests. 
 
The death during clashes between police and protesters on Friday raised the number of those killed during protests that started in October to at least 27. 
 
The man who died was 40 years old and was electrocuted after falling into a pit with cables during chaotic street scenes, according to police and local media. 
 
The exact circumstances of the man’s death should be clarified as soon as possible, Chile’s National Institute of Human Rights said. 
 
The death happened during a protest in Plaza Italia, a focal point of unrest in  Santiago. The demonstrations started over an increase in subway fares and eventually encompassed grievances about pensions, education, health care and other issues. 
 
Demonstrations are frequently held on Fridays, and a movie theater burned in the latest clashes. 
 
Demonstrators made way for firetrucks arriving to fight the blaze at the Alameda Cultural Center, which also has been a staging ground for volunteer medics who treat injured demonstrators. 
 
Firefighters said the building was badly damaged and the cause would be investigated. 
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The United Nations General Assembly Friday adopted a $3.07 billion operating budget that for the first time includes funding for the investigation of war crimes in Syria and Myanmar.The budget represents a slight increase from 2019’s figure of $2.9 billion.The increase was the result of additional missions assigned to the U.N. Secretariat, inflation and exchange rate adjustments, according to diplomats.These include the observer mission in Yemen, a political mission established in Haiti, the investigation of crimes committed in Syria since the outbreak of civil war in 2011, and in Myanmar after the 2017 crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority.Syria, Myanmar inquiriesFor the first time, the budgets for the Syria and Myanmar investigations, which were previously financed by voluntary contributions, will in 2020 be transferred to the U.N. secretariat’s budget and will receive compulsory contributions from the 193 member states.Russia proposed multiple amendments during negotiations in the Committee on Budgetary Questions meeting and in the General Assembly plenary session.DissentersAt each vote, Russia, Syria, Myanmar and their supporters, including North Korea, Iran, Nicaragua and Venezuela, were outvoted. They all stated that they dissociated themselves from references to investigative mechanisms in the adopted resolutions.Russia said it would examine its future obligatory payments in light of the vote outcome and predicted an increase in the arrears that currently plague the U.N.’s treasury because of countries not paying enough.Moscow argued Friday the investigative mechanism was illegitimate, while Damascus stressed that it had no mandate from the Security Council.The U.N.’s operating budget is separate from the annual budget for peacekeeping operations of some $6 billion that is adopted in June.
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Mexican authorities have arrested a municipal police chief for his suspected links to the killing of three women and six children of U.S.-Mexican origin in northern Mexico last month, local media and an official said Friday. 
 
Suspected drug cartel hitmen shot dead the nine women and children from families of Mormon origin in Sonora state on November 4, sparking outrage in Mexico and the United States. 
 
Several Mexican media outlets reported that law enforcement agents arrested Fidel Alejandro Villegas, police chief of the municipality of Janos, which lies in the neighboring state of Chihuahua, on suspicion of involvement in the crime. The reports said he was suspected of having ties to organized crime, but details of his alleged role were not clear. 
 
A federal official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the arrest of Villegas, which followed the detention of other suspects earlier in the investigation. 
 
Mexican officials believe the women and children were killed after becoming caught up in a dispute between local drug cartels battling for control of the area. 
 
Under pressure from the Trump administration, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador sought U.S. cooperation in the case, inviting the FBI to help in the investigation. 
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To tourists they are a time-honored, charming way of seeing the sights, but animal rights activists say Montreal’s horse-drawn carriages are a cruel and unnecessary relic of yesteryear.A longstanding feud between the coachmen and their critics looks set to end however with the unique mode of transport set to disappear from the streets of Canada’s second city by year-end.“You can pet him if you want,” Nathalie Matte tells onlookers attracted to her hoofed beast with its flowing mane and tail.Coachwoman Nathalie Matte, 52, who will lose her job when Montreal’s horse-drawn carriages are taken off the roads Dec. 31, waits for passengers in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Dec. 22, 2019.In the heart of Montreal’s Old Port neighborhood, a half-dozen horses and carriages are lined up outside the Notre Dame basilica, waiting for riders.A group of tourists, tempted by offers of a languid and comfortable ride along cobblestone streets and a complimentary blanket across their lap on a cold winter’s day, snap pictures.The carriages this time of year are decorated with red ribbons and fir branches to mark the Christmas holidays.“It’s a unique way to see the city rather than just taking the bus or the subway,” said Mujtaba Ali, 29, who is visiting with family from neighboring Ontario, as he steps off a carriage.Cultural heritageHorses and landaus — four-wheel, convertible carriages named after the German city of their origin — are a part of Montreal’s cultural heritage, owner Luc Desparois said.“They’ve been around as long as Montreal has existed,” he told AFP.The Quebec city was founded by European settlers in the 1600s at the site of an indigenous village inhabited as far back as 4,000 years ago, although the landau itself was invented in the 18th century.City Hall has ordered an end to the tourist rides out of concern for the horses. In 2018, the council passed a bylaw banishing horse-drawn carriages, starting in 2020.The death of a horse in 2018 while pulling a carriage was the last straw for animal rights groups and prompted mayor Valerie Plante to speak out against the carriage industry, saying it was no longer welcome in Montreal.The decision will put some 50 coachmen and their horses out of work.Horse-drawn carriages line up in front of the Notre Dame basilica in Old Montreal, waiting for tourists in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Dec. 22, 2019.Animal welfare“It is a tradition that has long been appreciated but today I think it is time to move on,” said Jean-François Parenteau, the city’s pointman in the case.The city, he said, must “show concern for the animals.”His comments drew praise from Galahad, a Quebec association for the protection of horses that lobbied for the ban. Its founder, Chamie Angie Cadorette, said the horses faced tough working conditions.“It is not just an hour a day. It is eight hours a day, going up and down roads in traffic,” she said, accusing horse owners of neglect.“They say they are mistreated. Prove it,” said Desparois, who recently lost a legal challenge to the ban.City Hall, under pressure from activists, had long sought to ban the carriages, but until now had managed only incremental steps, such as requiring horses be taken off the road when summer temperatures soared.That did not satisfy animal rights groups.Loss of income, careerIn April, to prevent out-of-work horses from ending up at slaughterhouses, the city said it would pay the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Can$1,000 (US$760) for each horse offered a refuge or adoptive family.As of Dec. 16, only one application to join the program had been made.The offer is a “total insult” for Desparois, owner of the Lucky Luc stable, which has 15 horses and employs 15 coachmen.“You could offer me $10,000 tomorrow morning and I would not sell them to you,” he said, adding that after 34 years in the business his animals mean more to him than money could.A coachwoman puts a cover on her horse while waiting for tourists in freezing temperatures in Old Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Dec. 22, 2019.After the ban takes effect, the “king of horse-drawn carriages,” as local media has dubbed him, plans to take his horses to other nearby communities or maybe even to Ottawa.Neither option, he says, will be as profitable as rides in the Old Port, where he charges Can$53 per half-hour ride or Can$85 for an hour with an average of two to seven rides per day.Older coachmen will simply take early retirement. Others will likely leave the profession.“I won’t have a choice but to quit. I won’t have the means to move to Ottawa,” said Nathalie Matte, 52, a coachwoman who plans to return to a previous job as a groom.City Hall, meanwhile, is working on a retraining program to help coachmen transition to other tourist jobs.
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With an attentive eye, Henrique Almeida watches a technician carefully open a hundred cocoa pods, while another worker on the plantation collects samples in bags to check whether the batch conforms to the “South Bahia” geographical indication.Like famed wines from specific regions in Europe, such as France’s Champagne, the geographical indication (GI) denotes the origin and quality of the cocoa, leading to higher prices that are a boon to farmers who meet the exacting standards.”The production of fine cocoa and the creation of the geographical indication label make it possible to have a profitable business and pull our region upwards,” Almeida explained.The 63-year-old comes from a cocoa-growing family that has been farming for three generations. In 2006, he acquired the hundred-year-old Sagarana farm, 148 acres (60 hectares) on a hillside in Coaraci, in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia.Brazilian Henrique Almeida, owner of the Sagarama cocoa farm, poses for a photo in Coaraci, Bahia state, Brazil, Dec. 12, 2019.Farmers had previously been confined to the production of common cocoa, intended for the chocolate industry.But after the “witches’ broom” disease in 1989 drastically reduced the productivity of Bahia’s cocoa trees — which provide up to 86 percent of national output — Almeida, like other producers in southern Bahia, chose to improve the quality of his crop in order to be able to continue growing.”When I bought the farm, standard cocoa prices were low, and cocoa farmers were unmotivated, while the chocolate market was doing well,” he told AFP. “I started growing fine cocoa to make my own chocolate and add value to my product.”Cocoa beans are seen during the fermentation process at the Altamira farm in Itajuipe, Bahia state, Brazil, Dec. 13, 2019.Higher value cocoaHe then established a production method that was longer and more precise than that for common cocoa. After picking and opening the pods and sorting out the quality seeds, he would put them in wooden tubs to ferment for seven to eight days, stirring them every 24 hours to allow the chocolate aroma to develop.He would then leave the beans to dry in the sun for several days, covering them in case of strong heat or rain.It has paid off: on average, GI-labeled cocoa costs between 40 to 160 percent more than common cocoa.Fine cocoa currently makes up almost half of Almeida’s production, and 40 percent of the high-quality beans comply with the specifications for the “South Bahia” GI.This label is the result of a decade of work by Almeida and other fine cocoa producers, as well as cooperatives and researchers, after they created the South Bahia Cocoa Association (ACSB) to define the production rules.The National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) registered the GI in 2018.Quality rulesIt is the second GI given to Brazilian cocoa, after the Linhares region in the state of Espirito Santo, which was registered in 2012, and before the Tome-Acu, which was registered at the beginning of 2019.Brazilian farm workers Jose Carlos, 37, and Daniel Ferreira, 34, cut cocoa fuits and evaluate their quality as Nivaldo Novaes dos Santos, right, 27, collects them at Altamira farm in Itajuipe, Bahia state, Brazil, Dec. 13, 2019.The South Bahia registration established stricter qualitative criteria.”We didn’t want a simple certification proving the historical-cultural heritage of cocoa in the region,” said biologist Adriana Reis, a co-founder of the ACSB.”We wanted to use it to defend the quality of this product and protect the environment and social rights, which would also let us differentiate ourselves.”In particular, for a batch of cocoa to be a GI candidate, at least 65 percent of the beans must be fully fermented, with a moisture content of less than eight percent and less than three percent of internal defects, such as mold, insects or sprouts.Dry cocoa beans are tested at the Sagarama farm in Coaraci, Bahia state, Brazil, Dec. 12, 2019.In order to verify compliance with the rules, farmers send samples to the Center for Cocoa Innovation (CIC), an independent laboratory founded in 2017.If the results come back positive, the ASCB technicians will run a visual test onsite and send a second sample from the same batch to the lab.The association also monitors the agro-forestry production system, in order to protect the Atlantic forest in which the cocoa trees grow and to ensure compliance with labor codes.Since April 2018, 25 farmers have already certified 40 tons of cocoa with the GI, 15 percent of the 300 total tons of cocoa produced in southern Bahia.And the amount should increase, especially since chocolate made from GI-stamped cocoa will also be able to carry the label.”In order to get more farmers interested in the GI, buyers need to pay more for this cocoa,” said Reis. “This year, we created a QR code to improve product traceability, which is increasingly demanded by consumers.”
 
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Mexico said Thursday that it will file a complaint against the interim government of Bolivia at the International Court of Justice at The Hague.Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign relations secretary, said the buildup of Bolivian agents around the Mexican Ambassador’s residence violates international treaties regarding the rights and protections for diplomatic personnel and installations.Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard speaks during a news conference at National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico Dec. 26, 2019.Bolivian agents surrounding the residence appear to threaten Mexico’s right to give asylum to nine former officials of ousted president Evo Morales, Ebrard said.He said Bolivian authorities had refused to allow any of the nine to leave the country.Since Nov. 15, a group of ex-Cabinet ministers and others loyal to former Morales have sought refuge at the Mexican ambassador’s La Paz residence.Troops gathered in larger numbers around the residence beginning Tuesday, the Mexican Foreign Ministry said. It also said drones were flying over its ambassador’s residence and that it had summoned the top Bolivian diplomat in Mexico to “explain the actions of Bolivian officials.”Relations between the two countries have been strained since Mexico granted asylum to Morales after he resigned Nov. 10 following a national upheaval over his claim of victory in an election marred by vote-rigging.Morales has since relocated to Argentina and says he plans to stay involved in politics in neighboring Bolivia, while some former top aides remain holed up in the Mexican ambassador’s residence.Willson Santamaria, Bolivia’s deputy minister of public security, said the Morales loyalists would not be allowed to leave the country.“We have taken the necessary steps so that the security forces immediately track and detect any help, any complicity in helping the fugitives flee the country,” he said.Those who sought refuge in the Mexican ambassador’s residence include Juan Ramon Quintana, the former chief of staff for Morales, and five other former Cabinet ministers, according to a Mexican federal official. The official was not authorized to comment publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.At least four are accused by the interim government of President Jeanine Anez of electoral fraud or other crimes.Mexico has complained that Bolivian security forces are recording the movement of people in and out of Mexico’s diplomatic facilities and even impeding the “free transit” of the ambassador.Erick Foronda, Bolivia’s presidential secretary, denied authorities are interfering with Mexico’s diplomats.
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Mexico says Bolivian security forces have increased their presence around the Mexican ambassador’s La Paz residence, where a group of former Cabinet ministers and others loyal to ousted president Evo Morales have sought refuge.Troops gathered in larger numbers around the residence on Tuesday, the Mexican Foreign Ministry said. Maximiliano Reyes, Mexico’s undersecretary for Latin America, described the Bolivian patrols around the diplomatic property as a “siege.”Relations between the two countries have been strained since Mexico granted asylum to Morales after he resigned Nov. 10 following national upheaval over his claim of victory in an election marred by vote-rigging. Morales has since relocated to Argentina and says he plans to stay involved in politics in neighboring Bolivia, while some former top aides remain holed up in the Mexican ambassador’s residence.Willson Santamaría, Bolivia’s deputy minister of public security, said the Morales loyalists would not be allowed to leave the country.“We have taken the necessary steps so that the security forces immediately track and detect any help, any complicity in helping the fugitives flee the country,” he said.Those who sought refuge in the Mexican ambassador’s residence include Juan Ramón Quintana, the former chief of staff for Morales, and five other former ministers, according to a Mexican federal official. The official was not authorized to comment publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.Several are accused by the interim government of President Jeanine Áñez of electoral fraud or other crimes.Mexico has complained that Bolivian security and intelligence officials have surrounded both the Mexican ambassador’s residence and the embassy, recording the movement of people in and out of the facilities and even impeding the “free transit” of the ambassador.Erick Foronda, Bolivia’s presidential secretary, denied that authorities are interfering with the movements of Mexico’s diplomats. The police presence at the diplomatic facilities was increased for security reasons following reports of planned demonstrations in the area, he said.
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has signed into law an anti-crime bill that toughens measures to stem a rampant deadly crime wave, although he vetoed some parts of the bill, the government said Wednesday.The anti-crime package, approved by Brazil’s Senate this month, toughens laws to tackle corruption, organized crime and violent crime practiced by criminal gangs. It also simplifies sentencing in some cases.The package was a major promise by Bolsonaro, a former army captain who surged to power last year on a campaign vowing to end years of corruption and spiraling violent crime. “The final text that has been sanctioned by the president brings progress to the anti-crime legislation in the country,” Justice Minister Sergio Moro said in a statement early Wednesday.Moro, a former judge who made his name jailing scores of Brazil’s business and political elite in the “Operation Car Wash” investigation during the past five years, said Bolsonaro adopted several vetoes suggested by the Ministry of Justice.Among the vetoes by the right-wing president was a provision to triple the sentence when a crime is committed or displayed in social networks.The bill eliminates the restriction on the collection of genetic material only in cases of willful crime committed against life, sexual freedom or sexual crime.Bolsonaro, who ran on a law-and-order platform, won support from Brazilians tired of the warring drug gangs that have come to terrorize large swaths of the country.
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Helicopters on Wednesday dropped water on the outskirts of the Chilean port city of Valparaiso to extinguish a fire that destroyed about 150 homes. 
Dozens of people living in the city’s Rocuant and San Roque hills sifted through the ruins of their homes after the fire, fanned by strong winds, swept through their neighborhoods on Tuesday. Residents had been evacuated and there were no reports of casualties. 
 Some 150 homes were destroyed, according to a preliminary count announced by Interior Minister Gonzalo Blumel said. He said authorities believe arson caused the blaze and urged people to report any suspicious activity. 
“We’re not certain, but everything indicates that yesterday’s fire was intentional, and began in an area quite close to the homes,” said Ezio Passadore, emergency manager for Valparaiso. 
The fire was doused in urban areas but remains “active” in the woods, said Ricardo Toro, head of Chile’s national emergency office. 
Many homes in the low-income neighborhoods where the fire occurred don’t have running water and get their supply from tankers a couple of times a week.
Wildfires have affected parts of Valparaiso several times in the last month as Chile contends with its worst drought on record.  
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was hospitalized Monday evening after a fall in the presidential residence, his office said.Bolsonaro was taken to the armed forces’ hospital in the capital of Brasilia and underwent examinations of his skull that showed no problems, said a statement from the presidency’s communications office.The president would remain under observation for six to 12 hours, it said.The statement gave no other details on the incident, but Brazilian media reported that Bolsonaro slipped  in the bathroom and banged his head.Earlier this month, Bolsonaro reportedly  told advisers that he felt extreme tiredness and asked for his agenda to be reduced through the end of the year.
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Ecuador declared a state of emergency Sunday after a barge carrying nearly 2,300 liters of diesel fuel sank at the Galapagos Islands.A crane collapsed while loading fuel onto the ship at a port on San Cristobal, the easternmost island of the Galapagos chain. A heavy container of fuel fell to the deck, causing the barge to go down while the crew jumped overboard for their lives.Soldiers and environmentalists immediately deployed barriers and absorbent cloths to stop the spilled fuel from spreading. Experts will assess the damage.The Galapagos, which are part of Ecuador, is a United Nations World Heritage Site and is one of the globe’s most fragile ecosystems.Many of the plant and animal species who live on the islands are found nowhere else in the world.The island chain is renowned for helping Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution in the mid-19th century. 
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