Prosecutors in Canada say a man accused of deliberately killing a Muslim family with his truck will face terrorism charges in addition to those for murder. The prosecution said Monday that Nathaniel Veltman’s actions warrant an upgrade to terrorism charges. Veltman is accused of running over the family with his truck in a parking lot in London, Ontario on June 6. Police accuse the 20-year-old of planning the attack and say he was wearing what appeared to be body armor and a helmet at the time.  Veltman also faces four charges of murder for the killing of Salman Afzaal, his wife, their 15-year-old daughter and Afzaal’s mother. The family was taking an evening walk near their home when the attack took place. The couple’s nine-year-old son survived but remains in a hospital with serious injuries.  The new charges were added during a brief court hearing Monday in which Veltman appeared via video. He has yet to enter a plea and is due in court again on June 21. The attack was the deadliest against Canadian Muslims since a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City that left six people dead in 2017. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also described the incident as a terrorist attack, saying it was motivated by hatred. 
 
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The government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega arrested five opposition leaders during a major weekend round up, in what appears to be widespread detentions of anyone who might challenge his rule.The four arrests Sunday and one Saturday suggest Ortega has moved beyond arresting potential rival candidates in the Nov. 7 elections, and has begun arresting any prominent member of the opposition. The arrests bring to 12 the number of opponents detained since June 2.“It’s not just potential candidates anymore, it’s political leaders,” former general and Sandinista dissident Hugo Torres told The Associated Press before he himself was arrested Sunday. “This is not a transition to dictatorship, it is a dictatorship in every way.”On Sunday, police also arrested prominent ex-Sandinista dissident Dora María Téllez, another opposition leader, Ana Margarita Vijil, and Suyen Barahona, leader of the political movement Unamos.Tellez’s arrest is a major step: she was a leading Sandinista militant who led an assault on the National Palace in 1978, taking hostage the congress of dictator Anastasio Somoza in exchange for the release of Sandinista prisoners.Following Somoza’s overthrow, Tellez served as health minister in the first Sandinista government which ruled from 1979 to 1990. Like many former guerrillas, she later split with Ortega.On Saturday, police arrested Tamara Dávila, who was active in Unamos, which was formed by former Sandinistas angered by Ortega’s autocratic ways, nepotism and perpetual re-elections.Police said they arrested Dávila on charges related to a recently enacted law that classifies as treason any support for sanctions against officials in the Ortega regime; the U.S. has slapped sanctions on dozens of officials.Davila is also a central figure in the opposition coalition Blue and White National Unity, which was formed following Ortega’s repression of mass protests in 2018.Under a law passed in December, Ortega’s government has the power to unilaterally declare citizens “terrorists” or coup-mongers, classify them as “traitors to the homeland” and ban them from running as candidates.The law punishes those “who lead or finance a coup … encourage foreign interference, ask for military intervention … propose or plan economic blockades, applaud and champion the imposition of sanctions against Nicaragua or its citizens.”Those accused “will be traitors to the homeland, and for that reason may not run for public office.” Treason is punishable by prison terms of up to 15 years.Ortega has already arrested four potential opposition candidates who might have challenged his bid for a fourth consecutive term, and now many Nicaragua opposition leaders fear it is only a matter of time until police come for them, too.Torres said he has seen drones flying around his home in recent days, of the type used at Tellez’s house.“This interview may be the last one I give,” Torres said. “I am here, waiting for them to come for me.”Hours later, police barged into Torres’ home and arrested him.Nicaragua’s National Police arrested the four opposition pre-candidates earlier this month.On June 8, they arrested pre-candidate Félix Maradiaga, a pre-candidate for the opposition coalition Blue and White National Unity, and Sebastián Chamorro, a former director of the opposition coalition Civic Alliance.The previous week authorities detained Cristiana Chamorro, a cousin of Juan Sebastián Chamorro, and Arturo Cruz Sequeira, a former ambassador to the United States.Ortega initially led Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990 following the Sandinista revolution that ousted Somoza. He returned to the presidency in 2007 after three failed election attempts, and he won reelection in 2011. He then sidestepped term limits to get himself reelected in 2016, and packed courts and government agencies with allies. The Sandinista party controls the courts and the legislature, and has stifled universities and the Roman Catholic church.Torres said Ortega has now instituted a more suffocating dictatorship than Somoza, who faced opposition from the within the church, intellectual circles and universities.“I think Ortega has outdone Somoza,” said Torres. “He has subordinated all the power to himself as Somoza never could. He has a bigger repressive apparatus than Somoza ever had.”Julie Chung, the U.S. State Department’s acting assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, said via Twitter that Ortega’s “campaign of terror continues with more arbitrary arrests this weekend. OAS members must send a clear signal this week: enough repression. The region cannot stand by and wait to see who is next.”
 
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U.N. refugee and migration agencies are appealing for international support for 5.6 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants who have fled persecution and economic hardship and taken refuge in countries in the region.The Venezuelan refugee and migrant displacement crisis is one of the largest the world has ever seen, second only to Syria. U.N. officials say it has not received the visibility it deserves.Michael Grant is assistant deputy minister for the Americas, Global Affairs Canada.Grant said this lack of visibility is depriving the Venezuelans and host countries of the humanitarian assistance needed for them to thrive. He said this is causing more suffering for millions of people who already have endured so much distress.“The lives of nearly six million people have been upended, forced to leave their homes with little or no possessions in search of safety, security and dignity. Walking in some instances thousands of kilometers to find refuge,” he said.  At the end of their journey, he said countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean have offered the Venezuelans shelter, health care, education, and security, but, he said this generosity is unsustainable without more international support.Grant said the Venezuelan crisis is amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has hit the Latin American and Caribbean region particularly hard. He said the pandemic has had a particularly severe impact on women, children, and vulnerable groups.“Over half do not have enough to eat. Eighty to 90 percent have lost their source of income. One in four children is separated from their families during the journey and women and girls experience particular challenges such as gender-based violence and lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services,” he said.U.N. agencies report millions of impoverished Venezuelans are in dire straits and dependent upon humanitarian assistance for survival.Canada, in collaboration with the U.N. refugee agency and International Organization for Migration, is hosting an International Donors’ Conference on behalf of Venezuelan refugees and migrants on June 17.The agencies say $1.44 billion is needed to provide lifesaving aid to the 5.6 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants this year. They note half the year is gone and only five percent of this amount has been funded. They are appealing to governments to use this week’s pledging conference to fill this gap. 
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Several hundred mourners joined a public funeral Saturday of a Canadian Muslim family run over and killed by a pickup driver in an attack police said was driven by hate.The four members of the Afzaal family, spanning three generations, were killed last Sunday when Nathaniel Veltman, 20, ran into them while they were out for an evening walk near their home in London, Ontario, authorities said. A fifth family member, a 9-year-old boy, is recovering from his injuries in the hospital.Police have said the attack was premeditated and allege the family was targeted because of their Islamic faith.The hourlong ceremony started after the four coffins draped in Canadian flags rolled into the compound of the Islamic Center of Southwest Ontario and ended with prayers and condolences offered by religious and community leaders. Burial later was private.”The very fact their coffins are draped in the beautiful Canadian flag is an apt testimony of the fact that the entire Canadian nation stands with them,” Raza Bashir, Tarar High Commissioner for Pakistan to Canada, told the gathering.The family moved to Canada from Pakistan 14 years ago.The attack sparked outrage across Canada, with politicians from all sides condemning the crime, spurring growing calls to take action to curb hate crime and Islamophobia. London, 200 kilometers (120 miles) southwest of Toronto, has seen an outpouring of support in the aftermath of the attack.Veltman, who returns to court on Monday, faces four charges of first-degree murder and one of attempted murder.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the killings a “terrorist attack” and vowed to clamp down on far-right groups and online hate.”I think we’re emotionally exhausted,” Imam Aarij Anwer told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. before the ceremony. “We’re looking forward to having some closure on Saturday.” 
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Several thousand people joined an interfaith march Friday evening honoring the four members of a Muslim family who were killed in an attack that has shocked Canada.The procession started at the site where three generations of a family out for a Sunday evening stroll — 46-year-old Salman Afzaal; his 44-year-old wife, Madiha Salman; their 15-year-old daughter, Yumna Salman; and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal — were killed in London, southern Ontario, as they were waiting to cross the street.The couple’s 9-year-old son, Fayez, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.The march against racism and Islamophobia culminated at London’s mosque, about 7 kilometers away.The demonstrators, who included families with children, banged on drums while others sang John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance.”They held posters with messages like “Hate kills” and “We’re all human.”After a moment of silence marking the time of the tragedy, representatives from several religions gave speeches denouncing hatred and saluting the outpouring of support for London’s 30,000-strong Muslim community.Other rallies or vigils in Canada on Friday took place in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec, where a shooting in a mosque left six dead in 2017.The Afzaal family’s funeral is scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Nathaniel Veltman, 20, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in the truck attack. If found guilty he faces life in prison.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the assault — in which Veltman’s truck mounted a curb and struck the Afzaal family — a “terrorist attack.”Detective Superintendent Paul Waight, who is leading the investigation, has said there was evidence “that this was a planned, premeditated act, motivated by hate.”
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The U.N. General Assembly voted Friday to give two-year terms on the powerful 15-nation Security Council to five countries.    Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates all ran unopposed for available seats in their regional groups, and each secured the necessary two-thirds majority required of the secret ballots cast.They will begin their terms on Jan. 1, 2022.The council deals with issues of international peace and security.  It has the power to deploy peacekeepers to trouble spots and to sanction bad actors.  New members bring different experiences, perspectives and national interests to the council and can subtly affect dynamics among its members.The council currently has several Middle Eastern crises on its agenda, including the Israeli-Palestinian situation and conflicts in Libya, Syria and Yemen.Richard Gowan, U.N. director for the International Crisis Group and a long-time U.N. watcher, says the United Arab Emirates may play a role in those areas and elsewhere.“The UAE has a lot of influence not only in the Middle East but in the Horn of Africa, and other council members will hope the Emiratis will use their influence to help stabilize countries like Sudan and Ethiopia,” Gowan said.Gowan notes that Albania is a country that has “seen the U.N. fail awfully in its region in the past.”The U.N. failed to stop the Balkan war of the early 1990s, leading to NATO bombing in 1995. Then in 1999, Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians fought Serbs to gain independence.“Albania’s main interest on the U.N. agenda is of course still Kosovo, but the Security Council only has very limited influence there now,” Gowan told VOA. UAE Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh noted that the council’s work does not end when resolutions are adopted.“The UAE will be part of the coalition that speaks to strengthen the results-oriented nature of the council as much as possible,” she said, adding that the council is most effective when it is united.But in recent years, diverging views, particularly among its permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — have stymied action on urgent issues. “The Security Council’s record on recent crises has been pathetic,” Louis Charbonneau, U.N. director at Human Rights Watch, told VOA.    “Whether it involves war crimes in Gaza, massive human rights abuses in Myanmar, or atrocities in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the most you can usually expect is the occasional statement of concern — and that’s if you’re lucky,” he said.  The countries elected Friday will replace exiting members Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam on Jan. 1.    They will join the five other current non-permanent members: India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway, and the five veto-wielding permanent members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.   
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The Keystone XL is dead after a 12-year attempt to build the oil pipeline, yet the fight over Canadian crude rages on as emboldened environmentalists target other projects and pressure President Joe Biden to intervene — all while oil imports from the north keep rising.Biden dealt the fatal blow to the partially built $9 billion Keystone XL in January when he revoked its border-crossing permit issued by former President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, sponsors TC Energy and the province of Alberta gave up and declared the line “terminated.”Activists and many scientists had warned that the pipeline would open a new spigot on Canada’s oil sands crude — and that burning the heavily polluting fuel would lock in climate change. As the fight escalated into a national debate over fossil fuels, Canadian crude exports to the U.S. steadily increased, driven largely by production from Alberta’s oil sands region.Even before the cancellation, environmentalists had turned their attention to other projects, including the proposal by energy delivery company Enbridge to expand and rebuild its Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota, the target of protests this week that led to the arrest of some 250 activists.”Don’t expect these fights to go away anytime soon,” said Daniel Raimi, a fellow at Resources for the Future, an energy and environmental think tank in Washington. “This is going to encourage environmental advocates to do more of the same.”Bill McKibben, an author who was arrested outside the White House while protesting the Keystone XL in 2011, said its defeat provides a template to kill other pipelines, including Line 3 and the Dakota Access pipeline from North Dakota’s Bakken oil field.Describing Keystone XL as “a carbon bomb,” McKibben said Line 3 is the same size and “carries the same stuff. How on earth could anyone with a straight face say Line 3 passes the climate test?”Enbridge said the cancellation of Keystone XL will not affect its projects, describing them as “designed to meet current energy demand safely and in ways that better protect the environment.”A second TC Energy pipeline network, known simply as Keystone, has been delivering crude from Canada’s oil sands region since 2010. The company says the line that runs from Alberta to Illinois, Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast has moved more than 3 billion barrels of oil.Canada is by far the biggest foreign crude supplier to the U.S., which imported about 3.5 million barrels a day from its neighbor in 2020 — 61% of all U.S. oil imports.The flow dropped slightly during the coronavirus pandemic but has largely rebounded. Import volumes have almost doubled since the Keystone XL was first proposed in 2008, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said Thursday that it expects no immediate effect on production from Keystone XL’s cancellation, but the group predicted more oil would be moved to the U.S. by rail.A series of fiery accidents occurred in the U.S. and Canada after rail shipments of crude increased during an oil boom on the Northern Plains, including a 2013 incident in which 47 people were killed after a runaway train derailed in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic.The dispute over Keystone XL and other lines raised diplomatic tensions between the two countries, but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau adopted a conciliatory tone with Biden, who canceled the pipeline on his first day in the White House.Canada uses much less oil than it produces, making it a huge exporter, and 98% of those exports go to the U.S., according to the Natural Resources Canada.Trudeau raised Keystone XL as a top priority with Biden while acknowledging that the president had promised in his campaign to cancel the line.Both leaders have taken heat at home over Keystone, with Republicans slamming Biden for shutting it down while construction was under way, costing hundreds of jobs. The project was meant to expand oil exports for Canada, which has the third-largest oil reserves in the world, and provincial officials in Alberta wanted Trudeau to do more to save it.The White House declined to comment on the cancellation. Spokesperson Vedant Patel declined to say if Biden plans to address increased crude exports from Canada or intervene in other pipeline disputes.His action on Keystone “signals at least some appetite to get involved,” but pipelines that have operated for years would be tougher targets, Raimi said.Winona LaDuke, executive director of the Indigenous-based environmental group Honor the Earth, called on Biden to withdraw an Army Corps of Engineers permit for Line 3 and to order a new study.”He could stop the project,” she said. “Don’t ask us to be nice to Enbridge. They’re all over our land. They’re hurting us.”The Biden administration has been “disturbingly quiet” on Line 3 and the Dakota Access line, said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. He urged the administration to declare both unacceptable.Fiercely opposed by Native Americans, the Dakota Access pipeline was the impetus for protests that were quashed by law enforcement. The Biden administration has not sought to stop the line, and it’s still in court after a judge revoked its permit but allowed oil to keep flowing.Alberta sank more than $1 billion into Keystone XL last year to kick-start construction. Officials in the province are considering a trade action against the U.S. to seek compensation.Keystone XL’s price tag ballooned as the project languished, increasing from $5.4 billion to $9 billion.Another question: What to do with pipe already in place at the U.S.-Canada border and other infrastructure along its route.Jane Kleeb, a pipeline opponent in Nebraska, said state regulators should revoke the permit they approved for a route through the state. Otherwise, she said, TC Energy might try to sell the easements to another company.Until the state acts, farmers and ranchers will continue to face TC Energy attorneys in court, “protecting their property from an eminent domain land grab by a foreign corporation,” she said. 
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Two passengers on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship have tested positive for COVID-19.Cruise operator Royal Caribbean said Thursday the two guests on the Celebrity Millennium ship tested positive during required end-of-cruise testing.Royal Caribbean said the two passengers who shared a room are asymptomatic, in isolation and are being monitored by a medical team.”We are conducting contact tracing, expediting testing for all close contacts and closely monitoring the situation,” Royal Caribbean said in a statement.The cruise operator said the “comprehensive protocols” that the Celebrity Millennium had observed had exceeded “CDC guidelines to protect the health and safety of our guests.”Celebrity Millennium set sail Saturday from St. Maarten and has made several stops around the Caribbean.Royal Caribbean said its crew was fully vaccinated. Passengers were required to show proof of vaccination and negative results from a COVID test conducted within 72 hours of departure. Children too young for vaccination also were required to have negative COVID test results.
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Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of notorious Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has pleaded guilty to charges she helped her husband run the Sinaloa cartel. 
 
Coronel Aispuro, 31, pleaded guilty to three federal charges Thursday in a federal court in Washington.  
 
The charges include conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine over years, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and engaging in transactions with a foreign drug trafficker. 
 
Coronel Aispuro was arrested at Dulles International Airport outside Washington in February and has been held in custody since. 
 
Her arrest was a surprise as no moves were made against her for two years despite her being implicated during her husband’s trial in 2019.  FILE – In this courtroom sketch, Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, foreground right, reads a statement through an interpreter during his sentencing in federal court, July 17, 2019, in New York. 
Guzman’s cartel operated ruthlessly for 25 years, smuggling tons of drugs into the U.S. while using extreme violence against anyone who got in the way.  
 
He was found guilty of 10 charges and sentenced to life plus 30 years. He is being held in Colorado’s Supermax prison. 
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The top of the world got a sunrise special Thursday — a “ring of fire” solar eclipse.  This so-called annular eclipse began at the Canadian province of Ontario, then swept across Greenland, the North Pole and finally Siberia, as the moon passed directly in front of the sun.An annular eclipse occurs when a new moon is around its farthest point from us and appearing smaller, and so it doesn’t completely blot out the sun when it’s dead center.  The upper portions of North America, Europe and Asia enjoyed a partial eclipse, at least where the skies were clear. At those locations, the moon appeared to take a bite out of the sun. The moon is seen blotting out 81 percent of the sun during a solar eclipse in Washington, D.C., Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. (Photo by Diaa Bekheet)It was the first eclipse of the sun visible from North America since August 2017, when a dramatic total solar eclipse crisscrossed the U.S. The next one is coming up in 2024.A total lunar eclipse graced the skies two weeks ago.
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Leftist Peruvian presidential candidate Pedro Castillo is claiming victory in Peru’s national election, but his conservative rival, Keiko Fujimori, is suggesting hundreds of thousands of ballots cast in this week’s runoff election may have been fraudulently cast.Fujimori called on the country’s National Jury of Elections to throw out 200,000 votes cast in Sunday’s runoff between her and Castillo, and review another 300,000 votes, despite failing to provide any evidence to back up her claims.    “It’s not about my candidacy, but about respecting the vote of millions of Peruvians who want their vote to be respected and for this process to be transparent and clean,” Fujimori told reporters Wednesday in Lima.Castillo holds a very narrow lead over Fujimori, 50.2 % to 49.9 %, or just over 74,000 votes, with nearly all ballots counted.Fujimori, a former congresswoman, was imprisoned as part of a corruption investigation. She is the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, a former president serving a 25-year sentence for corruption and the killing of 25 people. She has promised economic benefits to families with victims of COVID-19. Castillo was a schoolteacher in the country’s third-poorest district before entering politics. He has said that he is committed to rewriting the constitution, which was approved during the rule of Fujimori’s father. 
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A new report finds 160 million children or nearly one child in ten is involved in child labor globally, an increase of 8.4 million since 2016.  AFILE – Children work with relatives to load a brick kiln for firing in Tobati, Paraguay, Sept. 4, 2020.The picture that emerges from this study varies by region.   The report finds child labor is continuing to decrease in Asia and the Pacific, as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean.  However, child labor has risen substantially in Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.    ILO Director General, Guy Ryder, says in Africa as a whole, 20 million more children are in child labor today than they were four years ago.  Of those, he says 16.6 million are in sub-Saharan Africa.      “So, if you look at that in percentage terms, it means that almost one in five African children are in child labor, one in four in the sub-Saharan sub region.  They are losing out on their education.  They are working at a young age.  They are working too many hours.  They often are working in hazardous occupations,” he said.     Executive Director of UNICEF Henrietta Fore expresses concern at the alarming rise in younger children who are toiling in child labor.  She says half of all children in child labor around the world are aged 5 to 11 years.    She says the COVID-19 pandemic is making this terrible situation even worse. “Faced with job losses and rising poverty, families are forced to make heartbreaking decisions.  We estimate that nine million more children could be pushed into child labor by the end of next year, a number that could rise as high as 46 million if social protection coverage falls victim to countries’ austerity measures,” she said.    To reverse the upward trend in child labor, the ILO and UNICEF are calling for adequate social protection for all, including universal child benefits and for quality education and increased spending in getting children back to school.   They say decent work for adults must be promoted so children do not have to be sent out to work to help support their families.  
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The sponsor of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline said Wednesday it is pulling the plug on the contentious project after Canadian officials failed to persuade President Joe Biden to reverse his cancellation of its permit on the day he took office.
 
Calgary-based TC Energy said it would work with government agencies “to ensure a safe termination of and exit from” the partially built line, which was to transport crude from the oil sand fields of western Canada to Steele City, Nebraska.
 
Construction on the 1,930-kilometer pipeline began last year when then-President Donald Trump revived the long-delayed project after it had stalled under the Obama administration.  
 
It would have moved up to 830,000 barrels (35 million gallons) of crude daily, connecting in Nebraska to other pipelines that feed oil refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
 
Biden canceled it in January over long-standing concerns that burning oil sands crude would make climate change worse.
 
Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau objected to the move, but officials in Alberta, where the line originated, expressed disappointment in recent weeks that he didn’t lobby harder to reinstate the pipeline’s permit.
 
Attorneys general from U.S. 21 states had sued to overturn Biden’s cancellation of the contentious pipeline, which would have created thousands of construction jobs.
 
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Officials and experts plotting Canada’s economic recovery from the global pandemic are looking to current and future immigrants as a big part of the solution.That conclusion is perhaps inevitable, given the oversized role that immigrants already play in the country’s highly pluralistic society.Canada has one of the highest immigration rates of any country, with first-generation residents accounting for 21.9% of the population, according to the latest census in 2016. Asia is the largest source of immigrants, followed by Africa and then Europe. Canada also hosts more than half a million foreign students.The flood of new arrivals – which stood at more than 300,000 per year before the pandemic – has been slowed by tough new health-related travel restrictions. But as long-awaited vaccines are finally becoming available to more residents, analysts look forward to a reopening of the immigration doors.Harald Bauder, an immigration expert with Ryerson University in Toronto, told VOA he believes immigration is needed now more than ever.“Immigration is really part of the solution of jump-starting the economy again as part of the recovery strategy,” he said. “How can we catch up from the year that we lost? I have the impression that it will not be a bad year coming up to be a prospective immigrant to Canada.”Bauder added: “We’re getting signals [from the federal government] that immigration will be part of the solution when this is over.”Economic contributionsThe rationale behind Canada’s encouragement of immigration is laid out on a FILE – An official with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, speaks with Syrian refugees waiting to pass through security at the beginning of a airlift to Canada, at the Beirut International airport, Dec. 10, 2015.Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada’s opposition New Democratic Party, insists the nation’s economic recovery “must not fall on the backs of workers and families.”“This pandemic hit people across Canada hard,” Singh said in a statement to VOA. “It has affected everyone, including newcomers to Canada and international students.”Other obstaclesDr. Idil Atak, a refugee expert with Ryerson University, said the pandemic has thrown up other obstacles for newcomers, including asylum-seekers who have been unable to secure permission to work legally while awaiting rulings on their applications for refugee status.“In terms of employment, what I noticed is that currently because of the pandemic, there are issues of processing work permits for asylum-seekers,” Atak said in an interview. “Those asylum-seekers who are in Canada who are not refugees yet, they normally do have a right to work, but for that they need a permit.“What I’ve seen in my research is that the timelines for processing the work permits are extremely long. I have spoken with some refugee lawyers who have clients who are in Canada for two years now but do not have work permits due to the pandemic delays.”Atak also expressed concern about the impact of Canada’s travel restrictions on would-be refugees.“One of the things the Canadian government can do is declare that refugees coming to Canada are part of essential travel,” Atak said. “Of course, there should be security checks and health screening … but this is perfectly feasible to also offer protection to asylum-seekers in Canada.“Despite Canada’s reputation as a diverse and inclusive society, many newcomers do find themselves facing anti-immigrant sentiment.Noah Khan is a master’s degree student in education at York University in Toronto. His research has looked at anti-Asian hate speech online during the pandemic, which he has presented at graduate student conferences.A ‘mask’ for racismKhan told VOA his research was inspired by his own experiences, including an anonymous email saying, “I’ll be watching you at the [student group] meeting and from now on, sandy.” Khan said he understood “sandy” as “a racial slur for Middle Eastern people.”“The pandemic has given racism a mask I didn’t even know it could wear,” Khan said.“It is clear in the research that anti-Asian racism has risen, spread in new ways, affected Asian mental health, and indicated further decline in Asian mental health based on the way things are going.”
 
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The United Nations refugee agency says it has helped more than 10,000 refugees, most from Central America, restart their lives in safer, more economically viable communities in Mexico.More than 70 percent of all asylum claims in Mexico are made in the south of the country, where job opportunities and services are limited. Consequently, the U.N. refugee agency started an integration program in 2016 to relocate refugees into communities with better prospects. UNHCR spokesman Babar Balloch said the program has relocated 10,000 refugees to one of eight cities in central and northern Mexico. “There, the labor and housing markets, as well as the education and health systems, have the capacity to integrate refugees, as a result of demographic transition and economic growth,” he said. “UNHCR supports program participants with temporary housing, cultural orientation, vocational training, school enrollment and job placement.” Balloch said the refugees can apply for naturalization in Mexico after two years of permanent residence.A recent review shows 92 percent of the relocated refugees were formally employed, compared with only 10 percent in the south. And, Balloch said, incomes on average were 60 percent higher than in the south. Local communities also benefit from the increased tax revenues and social security contributions, he said. The program has been a game changer for asylum-seekers, the majority of whom are fleeing parts of Central America in search of protection and a better life, Balloch added. “The causes are well known — violence, insecurity … economic hardships, as well as the compounding effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, recurrent natural disasters and climate change. In total, up to a million people in Central America have been forcibly displaced,” he said. The UNHCR is increasing its target for the refugee integration program in Mexico. It seeks to relocate 20,000 people every year from southern parts of the country. 
 
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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris stressed the importance of fixing the “root causes” of migration in her final remarks during a trip to Mexico and Central America to address the surge of migrants at the southwestern U.S. border. “I want to be very clear that the problem at the border in large part, if not entirely, stems from the problems in these countries,” Harris told reporters Tuesday evening. “I cannot say it enough: Most people don’t want to leave home. And when they do, it is usually for one of two reasons: either they are fleeing harm or to stay home means they cannot satisfy the basic needs of their families.” U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she boards Air Force Two at Benito Juarez International airport following her first international trip as Vice President to Guatemala and Mexico, in Mexico, June 8, 2021.Harris underscored conversations she had with Guatemalan officials in which agreements were struck for the U.S. to fund projects that root out corruption, strengthen the rights of laborers and farmers, empower young women and more. Earlier Tuesday, Harris met with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico City to discuss bolstering economic conditions in Central America.  When asked by a reporter whether the U.S. made specific commitments to increase legal pathways to migration, including work permits, Harris said there were discussions but “no promises” were made.Harris and Lopez Obrador watched as aides signed a “memorandum of understanding” to “establish a strategic partnership to cooperate on development programs in the Northern Triangle” countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.Vice President Kamala Harris and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador arrive for a bilateral meeting on June 8, 2021, at the National Palace in Mexico City.Tens of thousands of their citizens have left home to trek through Mexico to try to get into the United States in recent months, with more than 178,000 migrants reaching the U.S. border in April, nearly half from Central America.Harris had a blunt message Monday for Latin American migrants as she visited Guatemala: “Do not come.” She said the U.S. was “not afraid” to enforce its immigration laws and stop people at the border.However, U.S. President Joe Biden has allowed unaccompanied migrant children to stay in the United States, unlike former President Donald Trump, who expelled them.López Obrador, responding to a shouted question from a reporter whether Mexico was willing to increase its immigration enforcement, said he and Harris “will be touching on that subject, but always addressing the fundamental root causes” of the surge in migrants.Harris, according to her spokeswoman, told the Mexican leader in their private talks that the U.S. will make new efforts to increase economic investment in southern Mexico, including loans for affordable housing.In addition, the U.S. has committed about $130 million over the next three years to support workers and labor reforms. Harris told Lopez Obrador the U.S. would provide more forensic and law enforcement training in Mexico to help resolve more than 82,000 cases of missing persons and disappearances, a key concern for the Mexican leader.After meeting with Lopez Obrador, Harris is talking with female entrepreneurs and holding a roundtable with labor workers.Ricardo Zuniga, U.S. President Joe Biden’s special envoy for the Northern Triangle, speaks with the media in San Salvador, El Salvador on May 12, 2021.Ricardo Zúñiga, U.S. special envoy for the Northern Triangle, told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s meetings that the United States and Mexico “have not had this level of cooperation in Central America before.”“The main thing is that it’s very important to show that the United States and Mexico are collaborating and trying to improve conditions on the ground among our neighbors because of the importance that the countries in Central America have for both of us,” Zúñiga said. “We’re both destination countries for migration from Central America, and we both have some of the same issues trying to ensure that we have legal paths for migration and temporary labor.”Harris’ talks in Mexico were similar to those in Guatemala, where she emphasized “the power of hope” along with new efforts to fight corruption.“I am here because the root causes are my highest priority in terms of addressing the issue, and we need to deal with it, both in terms of the poverty we are seeing, the hunger that we are seeing, the effects of the hurricanes and the extreme climate conditions, what we are seeing in terms of the pandemic,” Harris told reporters.Vice President Kamala Harris, right, listens as women speak to her about their businesses during a meeting with Guatemalan women entrepreneurs and innovators at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, June 7, 2021, in Guatemala City.Harris’ trip is fraught with U.S. political implications, though, as Republicans blame Biden and Harris for the surge in migrants trying to cross the country’s southwestern border with Mexico.At a news conference in Guatemala City, Harris deflected a question about when she would visit the border, even though she has said she would at some point. At a recent news conference, some Republicans displayed a milk carton depicting Harris with the headline: “MISSING AT THE BORDER.” 
 
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The Biden administration is forming expert working groups with Canada, Mexico, the European Union and the United Kingdom to determine how best to safely restart travel after 15 months of pandemic restrictions, a White House official said on Tuesday. Another U.S. official said the administration will not move quickly to lift orders that bar people from much of the world from entering the United States because of the time it will take for the groups to do their work. The White House informed airlines and others in the travel industry about the groups, the official said. “While we are not reopening travel today, we hope that these expert working groups will help us use our collective expertise to chart a path forward, with a goal of reopening international travel with our key partners when it is determined that it is safe to do so,” the White House official said, adding “any decisions will be fully guided by the objective analysis and recommendations by public health and medical experts.” The groups will be led by the White House COVID Response Team and the National Security Council and include the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other U.S. agencies. The CDC said on Tuesday it was easing travel recommendations on 110 countries and territories, including Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Africa and Iran, but has declined to lift any COVID-19 travel restrictions. FILE – Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies during a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 18, 2021.CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the U.S. travel restrictions in place since 2020 are subject to “an interagency conversation, and we are looking at the data in real time as to how we should move forward with that.” The Biden administration has faced pressure from some lawmakers who said U.S. communities along the Canadian border have faced economic hardship because of land border restrictions. Airlines and others have pressed the administration to lift the restrictions that prevent most non-U.S. citizens who have been in the United Kingdom, the 26 Schengen nations in Europe without border controls, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil from traveling to the United States. The United States also bars most non-essential travel at its land borders with Mexico and Canada. Airlines for America, a trade group representing American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and others, praised the working groups but the group believes “these working groups should act quickly to endorse a policy backed by science that will allow travelers who are fully vaccinated to travel to the U.S. Quickly is the key – we believe the science is there.” FILE – A United Airlines airplane sits at a gate at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey.United Airlines said it was encouraged the White House was prioritizing a plan to reopen air travel to international markets and requested urgency, given the typically busy impending summer travel season. “Now is the time to implement a reopening strategy for the benefit of both the economy and the traveling public.” On Monday, the heads of all passenger airlines flying between Britain and the United States called on both countries to lift limits on trans-Atlantic travel restrictions. U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet at the G-7 meeting of advanced economies this week in Cornwall, England. U.S. and UK airline officials said they do not expect Washington to lift restrictions until around July 4 at the earliest as the administration aims to get more Americans vaccinated. The U.S. Travel Association welcomed the working groups, saying “a public-private task force can quickly develop a blueprint to reopen international inbound travel and jumpstart a sustained jobs and economic recovery.” 
 
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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met Tuesday with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City in her continuing effort to curb the surge of migrants to the southwestern U.S. border by bolstering economic conditions in Central America.Harris and Lopez Obrador watched as aides signed a “memorandum of understanding” to “establish a strategic partnership to cooperate on development programs in the Northern Triangle” countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Tens of thousands of their citizens have left home to trek through Mexico to try to get into the United States in recent months, with more than 178,000 migrants reaching the U.S. border in April, nearly half from Central America.Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to the media, June 8, 2021, at the Sofitel Mexico City Reforma in Mexico City.Harris, on her first foreign trip as vice president, had a blunt message Monday for Latin American migrants as she visited Guatemala: “Do not come.” She said the U.S. was “not afraid” to enforce its immigration laws and stop people at the border, but U.S. President Joe Biden has allowed unaccompanied migrant children to stay in the United States, unlike former President Doanld Trump, who expelled them.
López Obrador, responding to a shouted question from a reporter whether Mexico was willing to increase its immigration enforcement, said he and Harris “will be touching on that subject, but always addressing the fundamental root causes” of the surge in migrants.Harris, according to her spokeswoman, told the Mexican leader in their private talks that the U.S. will make new efforts to increase economic investment in southern Mexico, including loans for affordable housing.In addition, the U.S. has committed about $130 million over the next three years to support workers and labor reforms. Harris told Lopez Obrador the U.S. would provide more forensic and law enforcement training in Mexico to help resolve more than 82,000 cases of missing persons and disappearances, a key concern for the Mexican leader.After meeting with Lopez Obrador, Harris is talking with female entrepreneurs and holding a roundtable with labor workers.Ricardo Zuniga, U.S. President Joe Biden’s special envoy for the Northern Triangle, speaks with the media in San Salvador, El Salvador on May 12, 2021.Ricardo Zúñiga, U.S. special envoy for the Northern Triangle, told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s meetings that the United States and Mexico “have not had this level of cooperation in Central America before.”
“The main thing is that it’s very important to show that the United States and Mexico are collaborating and trying to improve conditions on the ground among our neighbors because of the importance that the countries in Central America have for both of us,” Zúñiga said. “We’re both destination countries for migration from Central America, and we both have some of the same issues trying to ensure that we have legal paths for migration and temporary labor.”
Harris’s talks in Mexico were similar to those in Guatemala, where she emphasized “the power of hope” along with new efforts to fight corruption.  
“I am here because the root causes are my highest priority in terms of addressing the issue, and we need to deal with it, both in terms of the poverty we are seeing, the hunger that we are seeing, the effects of the hurricanes and the extreme climate conditions, what we are seeing in terms of the pandemic,” Harris told reporters.
Harris’ trip is fraught with U.S. political implications, though, as Republicans blame Biden and Harris for the surge in migrants trying to cross the country’s southwestern border with Mexico.Vice President Kamala Harris, right, listens as women speak to her about their businesses during a meeting with Guatemalan women entrepreneurs and innovators at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, June 7, 2021, in Guatemala City.At a news conference in Guatemala City, Harris deflected a question about when she would visit the border, even though she has said she would at some point.  
At a recent news conference, some Republicans displayed a milk carton depicting Harris with the headline: “MISSING AT THE BORDER.” 
She told NBC in an interview before leaving for Mexico that aside from not visiting the U.S.-Mexican border, she also has not been to Europe as vice president.
“I care about what’s happening at the border,” she said. “I’m in Guatemala because my focus is dealing with the root causes of migration. There may be some who think that that is not important, but it is my firm belief that if we care about what’s happening at the border, we better care about the root causes and address them. And so that’s what I’m doing.”
But Harris said that even with her efforts to improve living and economic conditions in Mexico and Central America, “We are not going to see an immediate return. But we’re going to see progress. The real work is going to take time to manifest itself. Will it be worth it? Yes. Will it take some time? Yes.” 
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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris says she will discuss Mexico’s role in the region as she meets with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City on Tuesday as part of her trip focused on addressing a rise in migration to the southern U.S. border.  Speaking to reporters late Monday, Harris mentioned the close partnership between the neighboring countries and said Tuesday’s agenda would also include economic engagement and cooperation regarding COVID-19 vaccines.  U.S. officials said Harris and López Obrador will witness the signing of a memorandum of understanding regarding cooperation on development programs in the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Ricardo Zúñiga, U.S. special envoy for the Northern Triangle, told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s meetings the United States and Mexico “have not had this level of cooperation in Central America before.”  “The main thing is that it’s very important to show that the United States and Mexico are collaborating and trying to improve conditions on the ground among our neighbors because of the importance that the countries in Central America have for both of us,” Zúñiga said. “We’re both destination countries for migration from Central America, and we both have some of the same issues trying to ensure that we have legal paths for migration and temporary labor.”   While in Mexico City, Harris will hold talks with entrepreneurs and labor leaders as well.    She carried out a similar schedule Monday in Guatemala, where she emphasized “the power of hope” along with new efforts to fight corruption and persuade Latin Americans to stay home rather than attempt the dangerous migration north to the United States.   “I am here because the root causes are my highest priority in terms of addressing the issue, and we need to deal with it, both in terms of the poverty we are seeing, the hunger that we are seeing, the effects of the hurricanes and the extreme climate conditions, what we are seeing in terms of the pandemic,” Harris told reporters.    In her first foreign trip as the U.S. second in command, Harris said at a news conference in Guatemala City that Latin Americans “don’t want to leave the country where they grew up.”  But she said people in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, along with Mexico, need economic development that promises a better life than trying to move to the United States. Vice President Kamala Harris and Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei pose for an official photograph, June 7, 2021, at the National Palace in Guatemala City.Harris said that “help is on the way,” with Washington aid and private investments encouraged by the U.S. government in agriculture, housing and businesses. “We have reason to believe we can have an impact,” she said.       But Harris also sent a warning to Guatemalans: “Do not come” to the United States. “We’re not afraid to enforce our laws and borders,” she said.   Harris held what she described as “very frank, very candid” talks with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei about corruption in his country, pressing the need for “a strong court system” and civil governance.   Shortly after she met with the Guatemalan leader, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced in Washington the creation of a law enforcement task force aimed at fighting human trafficking and smuggling groups in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries.       “We are creating this task force to address corruption, to address human smuggling —   doing the work to make sure certain progress be made if we are going to attract investment,” Harris said.   She said the task force would combine resources from the Justice, State and Treasury departments.   At the news conference, Giammattei blamed drug traffickers for corruption. He said the United States and Guatemala agreed to create a “very simple process” through visas to permit regular migration to the United States, and that the two countries would prioritize family reunifications.   He also announced a new processing center for migrants sent back from Mexico and the United States.   Besides meeting with Giammattei, Harris participated in a roundtable with Guatemalan community and civil society leaders and then met with young innovators and entrepreneurs, including several female entrepreneurs.   “This afternoon, I got to see what students in Guatemala are working on in the lab — and hear about how local entrepreneurs are growing their local economies. Around the world, innovators and entrepreneurs create economic opportunity. We must support them,” Harris tweeted late Monday.  Harris’ trip is fraught with U.S. political implications, with Republicans blaming President Joe Biden and Harris for the surge in migrants trying to cross the country’s southwestern border with Mexico. In the most recent count, U.S. border agents faced 178,000 migrants at the border in April, 44% of them from Central America.       At her news conference, Harris deflected a question about when she would visit the border, even though she has said she would at some point.       At a recent news conference, some Republicans displayed a milk carton depicting Harris with the headline: “MISSING AT THE BORDER.”        When asked about Republican criticism that she is not doing enough, Harris said Monday that she is focused on stemming migration as “opposed to grand gestures.”    Biden has tasked Harris with leading the effort to address the root causes behind the increase in the number of migrants traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border.       Ahead of her trip, Harris announced $310 million in U.S. aid to support refugees and deal with food shortages. She also recently won commitments from U.S. companies and organizations to invest in Central American countries to promote economic opportunity and job training.   The United States also said last week it would send 500,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine to Guatemala and 1 million to Mexico. 
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Two candidates vying for Peru’s presidency were still neck and neck Monday as vote counts trickled in for the runoff election. With over 95% of the vote counted, socialist Pedro Castillo led conservative rival Keiko Fujimori by less than one percentage point, according to a Reuters tally. Castillo, an outsider candidate, barely gained a lead against his rival overnight as votes came in from rural areas of the country. Lima’s stock market plunged, and the national currency dropped to a record low as uncertainty over the vote continued Monday. Peruvians are striving for political stability as seven of the country’s last 10 leaders have been either convicted of or investigated for corruption. Peru has had four presidents over the past three years. Both candidates have promised to respect the results of the poll. The country is also suffering a recession and one of the worst coronavirus fatality rates in the world, according to Agence France-Presse. Fujimori, a former congresswoman, was imprisoned as part of a corruption investigation. She is the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, a former president serving a 25-year sentence for corruption and the killing of 25 people. She has promised economic benefits to families with victims of COVID-19. Castillo was a schoolteacher in the country’s third-poorest district before entering politics. He has said that he is committed to rewriting the constitution, which was approved during the rule of Fujimori’s father. 
 
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A driver plowed a pickup truck into a family of five, killing four of them and seriously injuring the fifth in an attack that targeted the victims because they were Muslims, Canadian police said Monday.Authorities said a young man was arrested in the parking lot of a nearby mall after the attack Sunday night in the Ontario city of London. Police said a black pickup truck mounted a curb and struck the victims at an intersection.”This was an act of mass murder perpetuated against Muslims,” London Mayor Ed Holder said. “It was rooted in unspeakable hatred. The magnitude of such hatred can make one question who we were as a city.”Police said the dead were a 74-year-old woman, a 46-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman and a 15-year-old girl. A 9-year-old boy was reported in serious condition. The family requested the names not be released, officials said.”In one act of murder some individual has wiped out three generations of family. It’s horrific,” Holder said in an interview with The Associated Press.Nathaniel Veltman, 20, was in custody facing four counts of first-degree murder. Police said Veltman, a resident of London, did not know the victims.Detective Supt. Paul Waight said Veltman was wearing a vest that appeared to be like body armor.Waight said police did not know at this point if the suspect was a member of any specific hate group. He said London police are working with federal police and prosecutors to see about potential terrorism charges. He declined to detail evidence pointing to a possible hate crime, but said the attack was planned.About a dozen police officers combed the area around the crash site looking for evidence Monday. Blue markers on the ground dotted the intersection.”We believe the victims were targeted because of their Islamic faith,” London Police Chief Stephen Williams said. “We understand that this event may cause fear and anxiety in the community, particularly in the Muslim community, in any community targeted by hate. … There is no tolerance in this community who are motivated by hate target others with violence.”Canada is generally welcoming toward immigrants and all religions, but in 2017 a French Canadian man known for far-right, nationalist views went on a shooting rampage at a Quebec City mosque and killed six people.One woman who witnessed the aftermath of the deadly crash said she couldn’t stop thinking about the victims. Paige Martin said she was stopped at a red light around 8:30 p.m. when the large pickup roared past her. She said her car shook from the force.”I was shaken up, thinking it was an erratic driver,” Martin said.Minutes later, she said, she came upon a gruesome, chaotic scene at an intersection near her home, with first responders running to help, a police officer performing chest compressions on one person and three other people lying on the ground. A few dozen people stood on the sidewalk and several drivers got out of their cars to help.”I can’t get the sound of the screams out of my head,” Martin said.From her apartment, Martin said she could see the scene and watched an official drape a sheet over one body about midnight.”My heart is just so broken for them,” she said.Zahid Khan, a family friend, said the three generations among the dead were a grandmother, father, mother and teenage daughter. The family had immigrated from Pakistan 14 years ago and were dedicated, decent and generous members of the London Muslim Mosque, he said.”They were just out for their walk that they would go out for every day,” Khan said through tears near the site of the crash. “I just wanted to see.”Qazi Khalil said he saw the family on Thursday when they were out for their nightly walk. The families lived close to each other and would get together on holidays, he said.”This has totally destroyed me from the inside,” Khalil said. “I can’t really come to the terms they were no longer here.”The National Council of Canadian Muslims said it was beyond horrified, saying Muslims in Canada have become all too familiar with the violence of Islamophobia.”This is a terrorist attack on Canadian soil, and should be treated as such,” council head Mustafa Farooq said. “We call on the government to prosecute the attacker to the fullest extent of the law, including considering terrorist charges.”The mayor said flags would be lowered for three days in London, which he said has 30,000 to 40,000 Muslims among its more than 400,000 residents.”To the Muslim community in London and to Muslims across the country, know that we stand with you. Islamophobia has no place in any of our communities. This hate is insidious and despicable — and it must stop,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted. 
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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris emphasized “the power of hope” Monday, along with new efforts to fight corruption to persuade Latin Americans to stay home rather than attempt the dangerous migration north to the United States. In her first foreign trip as the U.S. second in command, Harris said at a news conference in Guatemala City that Latin Americans “don’t want to leave the country where they grew up.” But she said people in the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, along with Mexico, need economic development that promises a better life than trying to move to the U.S. Harris said “help is on the way” with Washington aid and private investments encouraged by the U.S. government in agriculture, housing and businesses. “We have reason to believe we can have an impact,” she said. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Guatemala’s President Alejandro Giammattei wave as they pose for a photo on a balcony at the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura, in Guatemala City, Guatemala, June 7, 2021.But Harris warned Guatemalans, “Do not come” to the U.S. “We’re not afraid to enforce our laws and borders,” she declared. Harris held what she described as “very frank, very candid” talks with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei about corruption in his country, pressing the need for “a strong court system” and civil governance. Shortly after she met with the Guatemalan leader, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced in Washington the creation of a law enforcement task force aimed at fighting human trafficking and smuggling groups in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries.  “We are creating this task force to address corruption, to address human smuggling — doing the work to make sure certain progress be made if we are going to attract investment,” Harris said. At the news conference, Giammattei blamed drug traffickers for corruption. He said the U.S. and Guatemala agreed to create a “very simple process” through visas to permit regular migration to the U.S., and that the two countries would prioritize family reunifications. Vice President Kamala Harris attends a meeting with community leaders, at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, in Guatemala City, June 7, 2021.Besides meeting with Giammattei, Harris participated in a roundtable with Guatemalan community and civil society leaders, and then met with young innovators and entrepreneurs, including several female entrepreneurs. On Tuesday, she is holding talks with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City and also meeting with entrepreneurs and labor leaders. Harris’ trip is fraught with U.S. political implications, with Republicans blaming President Joe Biden and Harris for the surge in migrants trying to cross the country’s southwestern border with Mexico. In the most recent count, U.S. border agents faced 178,000 migrants at the border in April, 44% of them from Central America. At her news conference, Harris deflected a question about when she would visit the border, even though she has said she would at some point. At a recent news conference, some Republicans displayed a milk carton depicting Harris with the headline: “MISSING AT THE BORDER.”  Biden has tasked Harris with leading the effort to address the root causes behind the increase in the number of migrants traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border. Administration officials highlighted corruption as a major factor behind the migration and private companies avoiding expanding their investments in Central America. “For us, it’s a direct correlation between corruption and people arriving on our southwest border,” one official said. Ahead of her trip, Harris announced $310 million in U.S. aid to support refugees and deal with food shortages. She also recently won commitments from U.S. companies and organizations to invest in Central American countries to promote economic opportunity and job training.  The U.S. also last week said it would send 500,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine to Guatemala and a million to Mexico.  
 
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Adrián is trying to settle in to his third new city since 2016, when his wife was raped and mother was killed in Haiti. He will go anywhere but home.
“Why do they send us back to Haiti?” he said outside a cheap Mexican hotel blocks from the border with El Paso, Texas, where he was living with his wife and about 20 other Haitians last month. “We don’t have anything there. There’s no security. … I need a solution to not be sent back to my country.”
Haitians rejoiced when U.S. Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas announced last month an 18-month extension of protections for Haitians living in the United States, citing “serious security concerns, social unrest, an increase in human rights abuses, crippling poverty, and lack of basic resources, which are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.” 
The reprieve benefits an estimated 100,000 people who came after a devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti and are eligible for Temporary Protected Status, which gives a temporary haven to people fleeing countries struggling with civil strife or natural disasters.
Mayorkas noted that it doesn’t apply to Haitians outside the U.S. and said those who enter the country may be flown home. To qualify, Haitians must have been in the United States on May 21.
The Biden administration has dismayed some pro-immigration allies by sharply increasing repatriation flights to Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The government chartered 14 flights in February and 10 in March, more than any other destination, before tapering off to six flights in April, according to Witness at the Border,  an advocacy group that tracks U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flights.  
Removals have continued despite Haiti’s political and humanitarian crises cited by U.S. officials in their decision to extend Temporary Protected Status. Kidnappings have become commonplace. UNICEF expects child malnutrition to double this year as an indirect consequence of the pandemic in a country where 1.1 million are already going hungry.
Adrián, who spoke on condition that his last name not be published to protect his wife’s identity, is among legions of Haitians who fled the Caribbean nation sometime after the 2010 earthquake. Many initially escaped to South America. He went to Chile, while others went to Brazil.
As construction jobs for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro ended and Brazil descended into political turmoil, many Haitians crossed 10 countries by plane, boat, bus and foot to get to San Diego, where U.S. authorities let them in on humanitarian grounds. But then-President Barack Obama shifted course and began deporting Haitian arrivals in 2016. Many then started calling Mexico home.
Haitian restaurants opened in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, serving mangoes and mashed plantains. Factories that export to the U.S. recruited Haitians, who also wait tables and worship at congregations that have added services in Creole.
In recent months, some Haitians have moved from Tijuana to Ciudad Juarez, another large border city with jobs at export-driven factories. They’re driven by job prospects, hopes of less racial discrimination and a temptation to cross what they perceive to be less-guarded stretches of border.  
The shift was evident Feb. 3 when U.S. authorities expelled dozens of Haitians to Ciudad Juarez, an apparent violation of pandemic-related powers that deny a right to seek asylum. Under the public health rules, only people from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador can quickly be sent back to Mexico.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has acknowledged the Haitian expulsions but not explained why they were done.
“They are in transit,” said Nicole Phillips, legal director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, an advocacy group. “It’s very much a transitory population. They may start out in Tijuana and shift eastward. Other times they start east and shift to Tijuana.”
Adrián, 34, said he saw racial discrimination in Chile and Tijuana, where he worked in data entry for a company that assembled neck braces and other medical devices. He said he saw Mexicans getting paid more than twice as much for the same work.  
He lost his job when his temporary work visa expired and heard that Ciudad Juarez had work. A straight shot by bus, he decided to take another chance on a new life.  
During his first week in Ciudad Juarez last month, Adrián asked downtown merchants to let him sell items on the streets, which are still half-empty amid COVID-19. No one let him. Factories are known to hire foreigners, but he no longer had a work permit.
Adrián wants to settle in Ciudad Juarez and save money, saying he may try to get to the U.S. one day. For now, he fears being sent back to Haiti too much to risk applying for asylum or enter the country illegally.  
A scar on the back of his head is from being pistol-whipped by an attacker in 2016, he says, and one on his left hand is from being tied up. He said his mother was targeted at her home and killed because she refused to participate in rallies for the Tet Kale party, whose presidential candidate, Jovenel Moïse, won the 2016 election.
Adrián believes the men who killed her and assaulted his wife worked for party bosses. He recognized one and went to the police, but nothing came of it.
Haiti has long been wracked by poverty and violence. In April, then-Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe resigned amid a spike in killings.
Other Haitians staying at the hotel with Adrián also had left Tijuana. Some said they would stay and try to find work; others said they wanted to go to the United States.
Some people who have been sent back to Haiti simply save for another attempt to cross into the U.S.
“I’ve been back in Haiti over nine months now. I’m struggling to stay alive,” said a mechanic in Port-au-Prince who was caught by border agents in South Texas. “Soon as I crossed into the U.S., police picked us up, and the guide was nowhere to be found.”
The 27-year-old man spoke on the condition of anonymity because he plans on crossing the border again. He said his training as a mechanic hasn’t gotten him work in Haiti, though he plied his trade from Chile to Guatemala on his journey to the U.S.
Jean-Piere, another Haitian migrant who was trained as a mechanical engineer and spoke on condition that his last name not be published for safety reasons, spent two years in Tijuana. After moving to Ciudad Juarez and failing to find a job, he said he wants to go to the United States. He carries a folder with documents for an eventual asylum case.
He said his father died due to “political problems” stemming from his work for Haiti’s governing party.
“I can’t go back to my country,” Jean-Piere said.
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The daughter of an imprisoned former president was leading the race for Peru’s presidency late Sunday, hours after polls closed in a runoff election held as the coronavirus pandemic continues to batter the Andean country. With 42% of votes tallied, conservative Keiko Fujimori had 52.9% of the vote, while rural teacher-turned-political novice Pedro Castillo had 47%, according to official results. This is Fujimori’s third run for president, a role her father held in the 1990s. The polarizing populist candidates have promised coronavirus vaccines for all and other strategies to alleviate the health emergency that has killed more than 180,000 people in Peru and pushed millions into poverty. The election followed a statistical revision from Peru’s government that more than doubled the COVID-19 death toll previously acknowledged by officials.      “Never was a second round so clearly divided as the present election,” Peruvian political analyst Fernando Tuesta said on his Twitter account. In 2016, now-former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski defeated Fujimori by just 42,597 votes.     Voters across Peru, where voting is mandatory, headed to the polls throughout Sunday under a set schedule meant to minimize long lines. No disturbances were reported at voting sites, which even opened in San Miguel del Ene, a remote village in a cocaine-producing area where two weeks ago a massacre ended with 16 people dead.  Pre-election polls indicated the candidates were virtually tied heading into the runoff. In the first round of voting, featuring 18 candidates, neither received more than 20% support and both were strongly opposed by sectors of Peruvian society.     “Well, the truth is that I believe that Peruvians are used to this type of decision – of being left with two options that leave much to be desired, but what do we do?” one voter, Paul Perez, said at a school in the capital of Lima where he was voting. “We are in a social, cultural situation that limits us to anticipating all of this.”     The pandemic not only has collapsed Peru’s medical and cemetery infrastructure, left millions unemployed and highlighted longstanding inequalities in the country, it has also deepened people’s mistrust of government as it mismanaged the COVID-19 response and a secret vaccination drive for the well-connected erupted into a national scandal.  Amid protests and corruption allegations, the South American country cycled through three presidents in November. Now, analysts warn this election could be another tipping point for people’s simmering frustrations and bring more political instability. Supporters of presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori cheer as they listen to the results of an unofficial exit poll on the runoff election, in Lima, Peru, June 6, 2021.“I think in both situations the risk of social unrest is high. It’s a time bomb,” said Claudia Navas, an analyst with the global firm Control Risks. “I think if Castillo wins, people who support Fujimori or support the continuation to some extent of the economic model may protest.” But Navas said “a more complex scenario will evolve if Fujimori wins because Castillo has been able to create a discourse that has played well in some rural communities with regards to the social divide and saying that political and economic elites have orchestrated things to remain in power and maintain the social inequalities”  The fears of more political instability were evident Sunday.  President Francisco Sagasti after voting said the candidates should respect the results and ask their followers to refrain from staging protests over the outcome. Meanwhile, leftist Castillo asked his supporters before results were released to remain calm.      “Let’s wait for the official data, and we will come out to pronounce ourselves at that moment,” he said, using a bullhorn in the remote northern district of Tacabamba.      Dozens of Castillo’s followers marched in support of the candidate through the streets of Huancayo, the most important city in central Peru. Fujimori remained at her campaign headquarters in Lima, where she received a visit from a locally known Brazilian seer.     For Lima resident Felipa Yanacris, Peru’s presidential politics “desperately” need a shake-up. “We want change, we have been waiting for 30 years of change,” Yanacris said. Fujimori voted in the wealthy neighborhood of the capital of Lima where she lives, urging people to vote “without fear,” while Castillo appealed for calm while casting his ballot alongside his parents in the rural Anguia area.     The former congresswoman, has promised various bonuses to people, including a $2,500 one-time payment to each family with at least one COVID-19 victim. She has also proposed distributing 40% of a tax for the extraction of minerals, oil or gas among families who live near those areas. Her supporters include the wealthy players of the national soccer team and Mario Vargas Llosa, Peru’s foremost author and the winner of a Nobel Prize in literature. Vargas, who lost a presidential election three decades ago to the candidate’s father, Alberto Fujimori, has moved from calling her the daughter of the dictator'' in 2016 to considering her to be the representative offreedom and progress.”      Keiko Fujimori herself has been imprisoned as part of a graft investigation though she was later released. Her father governed between 1990 and 2000 and is serving a 25-year sentence for corruption and the killings of 25 people. She has promised to free him should she win. Castillo until recently was a rural schoolteacher in the country’s third-poorest district, deep in the Andes. The son of illiterate peasants entered politics by leading a teachers’ strike. While his stance on nationalizing key sectors of the economy has softened, he remains committed to rewriting the constitution that was approved under the regime of Fujimori’s father. Among Castillo’s supporters are former Bolivia President Evo Morales and former Uruguay President Jose Mujica, who in a conversation via Facebook told Castillo on Thursday to “not fall into authoritarianism.”  Peru is the second largest copper exporter in the world and mining accounts for almost 10% of its GDP and 60% of its exports, so Castillo’s initial proposal to nationalize the nation’s mining industry set off alarm bells among business leaders. But regardless of who gets picked to succeed Sagasti on July 28, investors will remain skittish.      “A victory for left-wing populist Pedro Castillo in Peru’s presidential election on Sunday would probably send local financial markets into a tailspin, but we doubt that investors would have much to cheer about even if his rival Keiko Fujimori wins,” Nikhil Sanghani, emerging markets economist with Capital Economics, wrote in an investors note Friday.     “Fujimori is a controversial figure who is under investigation for corruption charges. Given Peru’s recent history, it’s not hard to imagine that this could spark impeachment proceedings,” he said.  
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