Haitian Foreign Minister Claude Joseph says an apology by the head of a South Korean television station after the broadcaster portrayed Haiti using stereotypical images “didn’t go far enough.”Munhwa Broadcasting Corp. (MBC) used video footage of a riot in Haiti as Haitian athletes marched in the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony. The broadcaster is under fire for its use of stereotypical images to portray several countries, including a picture of Count Dracula for the Romanian team and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster to represent Team Ukraine.At a press conference Monday, Park Sung-jae, the president of MBC, bowed deeply and promised a “major makeover,” including installing an ethics committee and better screening system.The station also apologized to the embassies of Ukraine and Romania in Seoul, Park said.”Their apology didn’t go far enough, but the incident shouldn’t be allowed to distract from the athletes who have worked tirelessly for years to get to the Olympics,” Joseph told VOA.”The Olympics are that unique, unifying global event: all nations come together, not for politics but for the beauty of sport,” Joseph said.Haiti has a delegation of six athletes participating in the Tokyo Games.MBC’s coverage of the Friday opening ceremony quickly went viral on the internet, with some users expressing outrage and others laughing at the simplistic, offensive images. For Norway, MBC used a picture of fresh salmon. For Italy: pizza. For Mongolia: Genghis Khan.In an English statement posted online, MBC said the images and captions were intended to “make it easier for the viewers to understand the entering countries quickly” during the ceremony.”However, we admit that there was a lack of consideration for the countries concerned, and inspection was not thorough enough,” the statement read. “It is an inexcusable mistake.”MBC has been rebuked before for such behavior. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it referred to Chad as the “dead heart of Africa” and spoke of “murderous inflation” in Zimbabwe.   
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The United States and 20 other countries on Monday condemned Cuba for its crackdown on thousands of freedom protesters and called on Havana to release the demonstrators and restore internet access on the island nation.“Today, democracies around the world are coming together to support the Cuban people, calling on the Cuban government to respect Cubans’ demands for universal human rights,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.He said the Cuban government, which has arrested hundreds of protesters, “has responded, not by recognizing the voices of its own people, but by further stifling those voices through arbitrary detentions and secret summary trials lacking due process guarantees.”The joint statement said that the tens of thousands of Cubans who took to the streets on July 11 “exercised universal freedoms of expression and assembly, rights enshrined” in international human rights charters.“We urge the Cuban government to heed the voices and demands of the Cuban people,” the joint statement said. “The international community will not waver in its support of the Cuban people and all those who stand up for the basic freedoms all people deserve.”Joining the U.S. in the statement were the governments of Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Guatemala, Greece, Honduras, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, South Korea and Ukraine.U.S. President Joe Biden last week assailed the Cuban crackdown and sanctioned the Cuban military chief and the country’s internal security division for its arrest and detention of hundreds of protesters. The Cuban government has denounced the protests.
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A lagoon in Argentina’s southern Patagonia region has turned bright pink in a striking, but frightful phenomenon experts and activists blame on pollution by a chemical used to preserve prawns for export.The color is caused by sodium sulfite, an anti-bacterial product used in fish factories, whose waste is blamed for contaminating the Chubut river that feeds the Corfo lagoon and other water sources in the region, according to activists.Residents have long complained of foul smells and other environmental issues around the river and lagoon.”Those who should be in control are the ones who authorize the poisoning of people,” environmental activist Pablo Lada told AFP, blaming the government for the mess.The lagoon turned pink last week and remained the abnormal color on Sunday, said Lada, who lives in the city of Trelew, not far from the lagoon and some 1,400 kilometers south of Buenos Aires.Environmental engineer and virologist Federico Restrepo told AFP the coloration was due to sodium sulfite in fish waste, which by law, should be treated before being dumped.The lagoon, which is not used for recreation, receives runoff from the Trelew industrial park and has turned the color of fuchsia before.But residents of the area are fed up.In recent weeks, residents of Rawson, neighboring Trelew, blocked roads used by trucks carrying processed fish waste through their streets to treatment plants on the city’s outskirts.”We get dozens of trucks daily, the residents are getting tired of it,” said Lada.With Rawson off limits due to the protest, provincial authorities granted authorization for factories to dump their waste instead in the Corfo lagoon.  “The reddish color does not cause damage and will disappear in a few days,” environmental control chief for Chubut province, Juan Micheloud, told AFP last week.Sebastian de la Vallina, planning secretary for the city of Trelew disagreed: “It is not possible to minimize something so serious.”Plants that process fish for export, mainly prawns and hake, generate thousands of jobs for Chubut province, home to some 600,000 people.Dozens of foreign fishing companies operate in the area in waters under Argentina’s Atlantic jurisdiction.”Fish processing generates work… it’s true. But these are multi-million-dollar profit companies that don’t want to pay freight to take the waste to a treatment plant that already exists in Puerto Madryn, 35 miles away, or build a plant closer,” said Lada.
 
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that he was aiming to begin a dialogue with the country’s political opposition next month in Mexico facilitated by Norway, a process he hoped the United States would embrace.In May the opposition changed strategy and indicated its willingness to return to negotiations to resolve the political crisis in OPEC member Venezuela.Maduro has overseen an economic collapse in once-prosperous Venezuela since taking office in 2013, and stands accused by his domestic opponents, the United States and the European Union of corruption, human rights violations and rigging his 2018 re-election. Maduro denies the accusations.In June, top diplomats in Washington, Brussels and Ottawa said they would be willing to revise their sanctions on Maduro’s government if the dialogue with the opposition led to significant progress toward free and fair elections.”I can tell you that we are ready to go to Mexico,” Maduro said in an interview on the state-funded Telesur television network late on Saturday. “We have begun to discuss a complicated, difficult agenda.”Venezuela’s opposition, led by Juan Guaido, has accused Maduro of using previous rounds to buy time in the face of diplomatic and sanctions pressure by the United States and others. Guaido is recognized by Washington and several other Western democracies as the country’s rightful leader.Opposition groups have said they are willing to negotiate the conditions for presidential and parliamentary elections with Maduro’s government.Maduro, in turn, has said he wants the negotiations to focus on the lifting of U.S. sanctions targeting the financial and oil sectors.He added that the negotiations would include “all the oppositions,” a reference to opposition politicians who broke with Guaido’s call to boycott the 2020 parliamentary elections, which were won handily by Maduro’s ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela. 
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Nicaraguan police placed under house arrest a seventh presidential contender on Saturday, meaning that almost all of those who could have challenged President Daniel Ortega in the November 7 elections have now been detained.Opposition leader Noel Vidaurre was placed under police custody Saturday at his home, as was political commentator Jaime Arellano. Arellano had been called in for questioning regarding a commentary he wrote criticizing an Ortega speech.Vidaurre was one of the potential presidential candidates of the Citizens for Liberty alliance. The conservative alliance announced it had chosen as its candidate Oscar Sovalbarro, a leader of the U.S.-supported Contra insurgency that fought the Sandinistas in the 1980s. It was not clear if Sovalbarro had accepted the nomination.Half a dozen other potential candidates have been arrested in a crackdown that began almost two months ago. Also almost two dozen journalists and opposition activists have been detained.Almost all were arrested under treason laws that Ortega has used against political rivals. Most face vague allegations of crimes against the state. Ortega alleges the country’s April 2018 street protests were part of an organized coup attempt with foreign backing.Another potential candidate, Cristiana Chamorro, is also under house arrest. Most of those arrested in a crackdown that began in late May are being held at undisclosed locations with no access to lawyers or family visits. They include Medardo Mairena, Félix Maradiaga and Miguel Mora.Potential candidates Juan Sebastián Chamorro and Arturo Cruz were also arrested. Candidates must register by August 2.Lesther Alemán, a former student leader who returned to Nicaragua after exile but stayed in safe houses, has also been detained. And several of the leading Sandinista revolutionaries who fought alongside Ortega in 1979 have also been jailed by him.Those currently under arrest include Dora María Téllez, 65, a former guerrilla commander who later split with Ortega and became a leader of the Sandinista Renovation Movement. Another jailed former Sandinista guerrilla and Renovation Movement leader, Hugo Torres, is 73.Another is Víctor Hugo Tinoco, the leader of the political movement Unamos. He’s a former assistant foreign minister and former ambassador to the United Nations.Ortega, 75, is seeking a fourth consecutive term in November 7 elections.
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Guatemala’s top anti-graft investigator, Juan Francisco Sandoval, fled the country Saturday hours after he was fired, a move that sparked international backlash, a human rights official said.Guatemalan Ombudsman Jordan Rodas accompanied Sandoval to the Salvadoran border “in light of the difficult decision to leave the country to safeguard his life and integrity due to recent events,” according to the Central American country’s human rights body.Sandoval had been fired from his post as head of Guatemala’s Prosecutor Against Corruption and Impunity (FECI) on Friday by Attorney General Consuelo Porras.Sandoval said he had encountered many obstacles in his work at FECI and that he was told not to investigate President Alejandro Giammattei without the attorney general’s consent, something he said went “against the autonomy and independence” of FECI.The Attorney General’s Office said he had been let go because of “constant abuses and frequent violations” of the institution and that attempts had been made to “undermine” the “work, integrity and dignity” of Porras.His firing sparked criticism from the U.S. State Department, which has called him an “anti-corruption champion,” as well as outcry from humanitarian groups, civil society and businesses.Julie Chung, the acting assistant secretary for the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, condemned Sandoval’s sacking in a tweet on Friday, saying it was “a significant setback to rule of law.””It contributes to perceptions of a systemic effort to undermine those known to be fighting corruption,” she added.The Center against Corruption and Impunity in the North of Central America also criticized Porras’ decision, saying it would create “setbacks in the fight against corruption in the region.”FECI was initially created to work alongside the U.N. International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala to combat corruption and impunity, but the body’s work was stopped in 2019 under a decision by then-President Jimmy Morales, after he was singled out by both entities for electoral corruption.
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Fifty-nine Cubans have been prosecuted so far for participating in unprecedented demonstrations against the government earlier this month, a senior official said Saturday.The charges were minor, and the total number of people detained has not been released amid complaints from relatives seeking information about loved ones.”Until yesterday, 19 judicial processes had reached the municipal courts of the country, cases involving 59 people accused of committing alleged crimes [during] these disturbances,” Ruben Remigio Ferro, president of the Supreme Court, told reporters.On July 11 and 12, thousands of Cubans took to the streets, shouting “Freedom,” “Down with the dictatorship” and “We’re hungry” in the biggest protests since the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959.Hundreds of people were arrested and many face charges of contempt, public disorder, vandalism and propagation of the coronavirus epidemic for allegedly marching without face masks.Independent observers and activists have published lists of those arrested with at least 600 names on them.Ferro said a faster trial system was being used to prosecute the accused but made assurances that due process was being followed.The rallies came as the country endures its worst economic crisis in 30 years, with chronic shortages of electricity, food and medicine amid an increase in COVID-19 cases.Anyelo Troya, one of the creators of an anti-government rap song adopted by protesters, was sentenced to a year in prison Wednesday for “public disorder,” according to his family.
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The body of slain Haitian President Jovenel Moise was laid to rest in the northern port city of Cap-Haitien today. Moise was gunned down in his home in Port-au-Prince on July 7. The assassination underscored the continuing influence of foreign actors in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country.  VOA’s Laurel Bowman has our story.
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Guatemala’s attorney general has removed the leader of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity less than two months after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris stressed the office’s importance amid a growing push against anti-corruption efforts in the country.Attorney General Consuelo Porras removed Juan Francisco Sandoval on Friday because of “constant abuses and frequent abuses to the institutionality” of the ministry, according to a government statement.Sandoval is a respected anti-corruption prosecutor with a record of pursuing dozens of criminal networks. Together with the former United Nations anti-corruption mission in Guatemala he helped take down former President Otto Pérez Molina and some members of his Cabinet on corruption charges.In June, Harris visited Guatemala as part of her work to find ways the U.S. can help address the root causes of Central American migration, among them corruption. She told Guatemalan officials that the U.S. wanted to support anti-corruption efforts and that the participation of the anti-impunity prosecutor’s office and Sandoval would be essential.Observers had worried that Porras was blocking the work of Sandoval’s office and that his own job could be jeopardy.Porras did not provide details of Sandoval’s alleged abuses. She had blocked attempts by Sandoval’s office to lift the immunity of government officials suspected of crimes or make arrests of powerful individuals investigated for corruption. Sandoval confirmed his firing to the AP.On Thursday, Porras removed another prosecutor from the anti-impunity office. 
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The funeral of Haiti’s assassinated president, Jovenel Moise, was disrupted Friday by tear gas used on nearby protesters as well as sounds of gunfire, prompting U.S. officials to leave before the end of the ceremony.Hundreds of protesters gathered Friday outside the site of the state funeral in the northern city of Cap-Haitien, burning barricades and shouting loudly, causing police to fire tear gas. Protesters were calling for justice for the July 7 assassination of Moise.Media reports said smoke billowed into the private compound where the funeral was taking place.Supporters of slain Haitian President Jovenel Moise are blocked by security forces from attending Moise’s funeral outside the former leader’s family home in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, July 23, 2021.There were no reports that anyone attending the funeral was injured.The funeral was held amid heavy security. Reuters news agency reported that police formed protective cordons around Haitian officials who attended the ceremony.The U.S. delegation, led by the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left before Moise’s widow spoke.“The Presidential Delegation to the funeral of President Moise is safe and accounted for, and those traveling from Washington, D.C., have arrived safely back in the United States,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.Thomas-Greenfield said Friday on Twitter, “We urge everyone to express themselves peacefully and refrain from violence.”She said, “The Haitian people deserve democracy, stability, security and prosperity, and we stand with them in this time of crisis.”Once the funeral ended, protesters threw rocks at a caravan of Haitian authorities and journalists as they were leaving, according to The Associated Press.People attend the funeral for slain Haitian President Jovenel Moise at his family home, where smoke in the background rises from where Moise’s supporters burn tires to protest his killing and not being allowed into the funeral.Moise was shot and killed in a pre-dawn attack at his private residence in a wealthy suburb of Port-au-Prince. His wife, Martine Moise, was injured during the attack and received treatment at a Miami, Florida, hospital. She returned to Haiti last week to help plan and attend the funeral of her husband.The funeral came days after Prime Minister Ariel Henry took power in Haiti after receiving support from key international diplomats.Henry had been designated prime minister by Moise but had not been sworn in because of Moise’s assassination. He has vowed to form a consensus government until elections can be held.Thomas-Greenfield called on Henry to create conditions for legislative and presidential elections “as soon as feasible,” in remarks when the U.S. delegation arrived in Cap-Haitien.Some information in this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
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The discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential schools for Indigenous children in Canada have prompted renewed calls for a reckoning over the traumatic legacy of similar schools in the United States — and in particular by the churches that operated many of them.U.S. Catholic and Protestant denominations operated more than 150 boarding schools between the 19th and 20th centuries. Native American and Alaskan Native children were regularly severed from their tribal families, customs, language and religion and brought to the schools in a push to assimilate and Christianize them.Some U.S. churches have been reckoning with this activity for years through ceremonies, apologies and archival investigations, while others are just getting started.Some advocates say churches have more work to do in opening their archives, educating the public about what was done in the name of their faith and helping former students and their relatives tell their stories of family trauma.“We all need to work together on this,” said the Rev. Bradley Hauff, a Minnesota-based Episcopal priest and missioner for Indigenous Ministries with the Episcopal Church.“What’s happening in Canada, that’s a wakeup call to us,” said Hauff, who is enrolled with the Oglala Sioux Tribe.This painful history has drawn relatively little attention in the United States compared with Canada, where the recent discoveries of graves underscored what a 2015 government commission called a “cultural genocide.”That’s beginning to change.This month top officials with the U.S. Episcopal Church acknowledged the denomination’s own need to reckon with its involvement with such boarding schools.“We have heard with sorrow stories of how this history has harmed the families of many Indigenous Episcopalians,” read a July 12 statement from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the denomination’s House of Deputies.“We must come to a full understanding of the legacies of these schools,” they added, calling for the denomination’s next legislative session in 2022 to earmark funds for independent research into church archives and to educate church members.Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a U.S. Cabinet secretary, announced last month that her department would investigate “the loss of human life and the lasting consequences of residential Indian boarding schools.” That would include seeking to identify the schools and their burial sites.FILE – This July 8, 2021, image of material archived at the Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, shows a group of unidentified Indigenous students in the late 19th century.Soon afterward, she spoke at a long-planned ceremony at the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, where the remains of nine children who died at the school more than a century earlier were returned to Rosebud Sioux tribal representatives for reburial in South Dakota.U.S. religious groups were affiliated at least 156 such schools, according to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, formed in 2012 to raise awareness and address the traumas of the institutions. That’s more than 40% of the 367 schools documented so far by the coalition.Eighty-four were affiliated with the Catholic Church or its religious orders, such as the Jesuits. The other 72 were affiliated with various Protestant groups, including Presbyterians (21), Quakers (15) and Methodists (12). Most have been closed for decades.Samuel Torres, director of research and programs for the coalition, said church apologies can be a good start but “there is a lot more to be done” on engaging Indigenous community members and educating the public.Such information is crucial given how little most Americans know about the schools, both in their impact on Indigenous communities and their role “as an armament toward acquisition of Native lands,” he said.“Without that truth, then there’s really very limited possibilities of healing,” said Torres, who is a descendant of Mexica/Nahua ancestors, an Indigenous group from present-day Mexico.Hauff noted that the experiences of former students, such as his own parents, ranged widely. Some said that even amid austerity, loneliness and family separation, they received a good education, made friends, learned skills and freely spoke tribal languages with peers. But others talked of “unspeakable, cruel abuse,” including physical and sexual assault, malnourishment and being punished for speaking Native languages.“Even if some of the children did say they had a positive experience, it did come at a price,” Hauff said. “Our church worked hand in hand with the government to assimilate these children. … We need to acknowledge it happened.”In Canada, where more than 150,000 Indigenous children attended residential schools over more than a century, a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission identified 3,201 deaths amid poor conditions.The United Church of Canada, which operated 15 such schools, has apologized for its role, opened its archives and helped identify burial sites.The Rev. Richard Bott, moderator of the United Church, lamented that “we were perpetrators in this” and that the church “put the national goal of assimilation ahead of our responsibility as Christians.”The Catholic Church’s response in Canada remains controversial. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in June that he was “deeply disappointed” the Vatican has not offered a formal apology. Pope Francis expressed “sorrow” following the discovery of the graves and has agreed to meet at the Vatican in December with school survivors and other Indigenous leaders.FILE – This photo made available by the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, shows students at a Presbyterian boarding school in Sitka, Alaska, in the summer of 1883.Canada’s Catholic bishops said in a joint statement this month that they are “saddened by the Residential Schools legacy.” In Saskatchewan, bishops have launched a fundraising campaign to benefit survivors and other reconciliation efforts.The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, meanwhile, said it would “look for ways to be of assistance” in the Interior Department’s inquiry.“We cannot even begin to imagine the deep sorrow these discoveries are causing in Native communities across North America,” spokesperson Chieko Noguchi said.Influential voices such as the Jesuit-affiliated America Magazine are urging U.S. Catholic bishops not to repeat their mishandling of cases of child sex abuse by priests and other religious leaders.“For decades the people of God were anguished by the obfuscation on the part of those church leaders who allowed only a trickle of incomplete document releases from diocesan and provincial archives while investigators struggled to get to the truth,” the magazine said in an editorial. “The church in the United States must demonstrate that it has learned from … such failures.”Individual efforts are underway, however, such as at the Red Cloud Indian School in South Dakota, which has formed a Truth and Healing Advisory Committee to reckon with the years it was managed by Catholic orders.Other churches have addressed their legacy to varying degrees.Early in 2017, leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) traveled to Utqiagvik, on Alaska’s North Slope, to deliver a sweeping apology before a packed school auditorium for the treatment of Indigenous persons in general, and specifically for how it operated the boarding schools.The Rev. Gradye Parsons, former stated clerk for the denomination, told the gathering that the church had been “in contempt of its own proclaimed faith” in suppressing Native spiritual traditions amid its zeal to spread Christianity, and “the church judged when it should have listened.”“It has taken us too long to get to this apology,” Parsons said. “Many of your people who deserved the apology the most are gone.”The United Methodist Church held a ceremony of repentance in 2012 for historic injustices against Native peoples, and in 2016 it acknowledged its role in the boarding schools in tandem with a government effort to “intentionally” destroy traditional cultures and belief systems.Still, the Native American International Caucus of the United Methodist Church recently urged the church to do more “to uncover the truth about our denomination’s role and responsibility in this reprehensible history.”  
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Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, on the eve of slain President Jovenel Moise’s national funeral to be held there Friday.The day began with a special mass in honor of Moise, attended by members of the president’s PHTK political party. Immediately afterward, protesters wearing white in a sign of mourning marched through the streets chanting, “Justice!””We are saying there must be justice for President Moise,” a protester wearing a Haitian flag bandana on his head told VOA Creole. An investigation into Moise’s death has already resulted in more than 20 arrests.Other protesters yelled slogans against opposition politicians and wealthy Haitians, whom they blame for the assassination.A band played traditional rara music while marching alongside protesters. The demonstration ended at the Vertières historical site, located to the south of Cape Haitian, where one of the most decisive battles of the Haitian Revolution was fought in 1803.In some parts of the Caribbean nation’s second-largest city, tires were seen burning in the streets. VOA Creole’s reporter in Port-au-Prince, who traveled Thursday to Cap-Haitien, said she saw a group of people trying to set fire to a bridge. Police rushed to the scene to stop them, she said. The main highway to the north was jammed with cars, the reporter said.Extra security measures are in place as the city prepares to host an A-list of Haitian government officials, foreign officials, diplomats and ordinary citizens for Moise’s funeral on Friday.Moise was assassinated inside his private residence in a wealthy suburb of the Haitian capital in the pre-dawn hours of July 7. His wife, Martine Moise, was injured during the attack and was transferred to a Miami, Florida, hospital for treatment. The first lady returned to Haiti last weekend to help plan and attend her husband’s funeral.New US Haiti envoyMeanwhile in Washington, the U.S. State Department announced the appointment of a new envoy to Haiti. Ambassador Daniel Foote is a career Foreign Service officer whose experience as a diplomat includes serving as the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince twice. He also served as U.S. ambassador to Zambia under the Trump administration.A State Department statement emailed to VOA says Foote will work with the U.S. ambassador to “lead U.S. diplomatic efforts and coordinate the effort of U.S. federal agencies in Haiti from Washington, advise the secretary and acting assistant secretary for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, and coordinate closely with the National Security Council staff on the administration’s efforts to support the Haitian people and Haiti’s democratic institutions in the aftermath of the tragic assassination of Jovenel Moise.”U.S. Representative Albio Sires applauded the appointment in a message posted on Twitter.I welcome the Biden admin’s naming of Daniel Foote as special envoy for #Haiti. It’s a positive step toward supporting the Haitian people in restoring their democracy. https://t.co/lpJTxs6iog— Albio Sires (@RepSires) July 22, 2021“I welcome the Biden admin’s naming of Daniel Foote as special envoy for #Haiti. It’s a positive step toward supporting the Haitian people in restoring their democracy,” Sires said.It is unclear when Foote will arrive in Haiti, but earlier this week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters the U.S. would send a delegation to attend Moise’s funeral. She did not specify who would be part of the delegation.Washington diaspora honor MoiseAt the Haitian Embassy in Washington, Haitian Americans and foreign dignitaries gathered for a somber ceremony honoring Moise. Among the diplomats present was former U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten. He declined to comment to VOA on the event.During the well-choreographed program featuring a slideshow of Moise, poetry, prayers and music, Haitian Ambassador Bocchit Edmond recounted highlights of Moise’s political career in French and English. He also criticized The New York Times for reporting that Moise was seeking a third term. Haiti’s constitution bars heads of state from seeking successive terms.”They killed the president but not his dream,” Edmond said.Members of the Haitian diaspora who spoke to VOA after the program expressed sadness and regret about not being in Haiti for the funeral.”No matter where we are living in the world, we can come together in support of an event like this,” Jean Junior Morisett told VOA. “I would personally love to travel to Haiti to attend the funeral, but unfortunately, I’m unable to. So, I’m participating in this event in honor of the president.”Marie Rachelle Volcy, a member of a musical group that sang during the memorial service, said the people of Haiti should know they are in the thoughts and prayers of the diaspora.”You’re not alone. We don’t know where we are heading, we know how this started. Although we are not physically by your side, we do share the burden of having lost a fellow Haitian who was a child of Haiti,” Volcy said. “We will continue to pray and work together toward peace.” 
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U.S. President Joe Biden assailed the Cuban government Thursday for its crackdown on freedom protesters on the island nation and imposed sanctions on the head of the Cuban military and the internal security division that led the attacks on demonstrators.“I unequivocally condemn the mass detentions and sham trials that are unjustly sentencing to prison those who dared to speak out in an effort to intimidate and threaten the Cuban people into silence,” Biden said in announcing the sanctions.”The Cuban people have the same right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly as all people,” Biden said. “The United States stands with the brave Cubans who have taken to the streets to oppose 62 years of repression under a communist regime.”Biden’s rebuke of Cuba’s actions is an about-face for him. He had promised to try to ease relations with the country that is a mere 145 kilometers from the U.S. coastal state of Florida after former President Donald Trump had taken a tough stance against Cuba.The sanctions targeted Alvaro Lopez Miera, the Cuban minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and the Cuban Ministry of the Interior’s Special National Brigade, also known as the Black Berets.The sanctions, imposed under the U.S. Global Magnitsky Act, freeze any of the Cubans’ assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit travel to the U.S. As a practical effect, the action serves to publicly name and shame Cuban officials for the crackdown.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined Biden in condemning the Cuban government’s response to the protests that started July 11. Hundreds of dissidents have been arrested in the most significant demonstrations in Cuba in decades. Many of the protesters remain out of touch with family members.“The actions of the Cuban security forces,” Blinken said, “lay bare the regime’s fear of its own people and unwillingness to meet their basic needs and aspirations.”He said Lopez Miera and the Special National Brigade “have been involved in suppressing the protests, including through physical violation and intimidation.”Biden said Thursday’s sanctions and condemnation of the government of President Miguel Diaz-Canel were “just the beginning – the United States will continue to sanction individuals responsible for oppression of the Cuban people.”“As we hold the Cuban regime accountable,” Biden said, “our support for the Cuban people is unwavering, and we are making sure Cuban Americans are a vital partner in our efforts to provide relief to suffering people on the island.”The U.S. leader said his administration is “working with civil society organizations and the private sector to provide internet access to the Cuban people that circumvents the regime’s censorship efforts.”In addition, Biden said the U.S. is reviewing its cash remittance policy to prevent theft of the money by Cuban officials. Expatriates have reported sending money to relatives in Cuba only to find that the government has pilfered it.Biden said the U.S. is committed to increasing the size of its embassy staff in Havana to provide consular services to Cubans after all but 10 U.S. diplomats there were withdrawn in 2017 and 2018. Numerous envoys in Havana had complained of sonic attacks that left them physically impaired.“Advancing human dignity and freedom is a top priority for my administration, and we will work closely with our partners throughout the region, including the Organization of American States, to pressure the regime to immediately release wrongfully detained political prisoners, restore internet access, and allow the Cuban people to enjoy their fundamental rights,” Biden said.
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When thousands of Cubans took to the streets to protest this month, their calls for freedom and an end of “the dictatorship” were heard across the world, thanks to the rise in social media.In the town of San Antonio de los Baños, 20 kilometers southwest of the capital, Havana, residents gathered on July 11 to protest the shortage of basic products and medicine. Their calls were shared via Facebook Live in broadcasts known on the island as “direct.”The images revealed an unprecedented crowd, replicated in at least 20 towns and cities throughout the island.But by about 4 p.m., the broadcasts suddenly came to an end in several areas, due to internet service restrictions and selective blocking of some networks.FILE – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a news conference at Orlando Regional Medical Center, June 23, 2020, in Orlando, Fla.The partial interruptions led Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to request that President Joe Biden’s administration support efforts to maintain internet service in Cuba with the use of wi-fi balloons, The Associated Press reported.Andrés Cañizález, a Venezuelan journalist and managing director of Medianálisis, a nonprofit that promotes and supports media, believes frustration at Cuba’s socio-economic situation has been “heating up” in recent months, in part because of comments shared via social media by youths and artists.“What we have seen now was unpredictable in Cuba, it was an outbreak, but expressions of rejection of the dictatorship on social media can connect with the Arab Spring,” Cañizález told VOA in an interview, referring to the movement demanding democracy and greater rights across several countries in North Africa and the Middle East in 2011.“Once the first demonstrations are seen on the streets, it has a multiplier effect on a jaded population,” Cañizález added.Cañizález, who previously lived in Cuba, cited the title of a book by the Czech author Václav Havel to describe the impact of social media on the protests.”For me, social media is ‘The power of the powerless.’ They are catalysts. It is the possibility that ordinary people or activists who do not have a cannon, a newspaper or a news channel, can demonstrate, connect, speak with others and express their rejection of what they are living. That’s key,” he said.Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel visits with residents after arriving in Caimanera, Cuba, Nov. 14, 2019.Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has denounced the protests, saying they involved “vulgar” behavior by protesters who attacked police.Cuban authorities have said that some protesters “had legitimate dissatisfactions” but blamed the protests on U.S.-financed “counter-revolutionaries” exploiting economic hardship caused by U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported.Hundreds of protesters and opposition figures have been arrested, rights groups say. At least 47 are journalists, according to the Cuban Institute for the Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP), an organization that supports opposition media on the island. Journalists who spoke with VOA this week say police attempted to intimidate them in custody, or that security guards had been positioned outside their homes. One journalist, Juan Manuel Moreno Borrego with the local news website Amanecer Habanero, was detained briefly Thursday while covering protests, ICLEP says.FILE – Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., takes notes during a Senate Judiciary Hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 14, 2021.Daily unique users of Psiphon increased significantly since the protests, said Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn.“What it does is to allow people that are in a country where the government has cut off the internet, trying to isolate people and keep them from communicating, they can use this technology so that they can still communicate,” Blackburn told VOA, which is also part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media.“As of (July 14) we had over a quarter million Cubans that were using this in their fight for democracy, their fight for freedom, their fight to get food and water and electricity and jobs,” Blackburn added.She pointed to the video footage and interviews coming out of Cuba as an example of the importance of such tools.Journalist Díaz told VOA that restrictions on internet connectivity are a common characteristic of dictatorships, such as Cuba, China, Russia, Belarus and some countries in the Middle East.He said the worst restrictions are in Venezuela, which has “the most blocked web pages, more people imprisoned by online opinions and with the greatest drop in connectivity in the region.”But even with those obstacles, citizens find ways to access information and document events.“People without internet can continue to record what happens. You can record, photograph, write, interview, document,” he said. “And then when the connection comes back, when someone reconnects, the information flows again.”Stopping that process is difficult in countries like Cuba or Venezuela, Díaz said, adding, “Hope is contagious.”Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.This report originated in VOA’s Spanish language service. 
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Canada may be sending one of their biggest Olympics teams to the Tokyo Games but only a small fraction will attend the opening ceremony, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) said on Thursday.Around 30-40 athletes from the 370-strong team will be at Friday’s event in a largely empty Tokyo Olympic stadium, bar a few hundred officials.”Athletes are only arriving in the village five days before they compete,” the COC said in a news release. “This means that there are less athletes in the village and that most of them are on the verge of competing.”The focus of Team Canada remains on safety, performance, and adhering to the letter and spirit of the Tokyo 2020 playbooks.”Basketball player Miranda Ayim and rugby sevens co-captain Nathan Hirayama will be the flag bearers for Canada’s biggest Olympic team since the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games. 
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Thousands of residents fled blazes in western Canada on Wednesday with several hundred soldiers scheduled to deploy to fight this year’s virulent and early fires, which are wreaking havoc across portions of western North America.”I have a holiday trailer that is my new home,” said Margo Wagner, head of a district in the western province of British Columbia, who has found herself among the evacuees.The fire marks the second time in four years that her home in the province’s central Canim Lake rural area has been threatened by a blaze.South of the border, a number of communities in the United States are being threatened by wildfires, creating conditions that are so extreme that the blazes have generated their own climate, according to experts.Nearly 80 huge fires are currently ravaging hundreds of thousands of hectares in California, Oregon, Montana and Nevada.The largest among these is still the Bootleg Fire in Oregon, which has burned through a section of land the same size as the city of Los Angeles, in just two weeks.In neighboring California, several towns were evacuated as they faced rising flames from the Dixie Fire, a conflagration that may have been caused by a tree falling on Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) lines.Back in Canada, British Columbia declared a state of emergency on Monday, with more than 5,700 people under an evacuation order and more than 32,000 people under evacuation alert.”We did it in 2017 and we will do it again in 2021. Is it stressful? Is it scary? Absolutely it is,” Wagner said.Other neighboring areas are preparing for the worst since weather conditions — particularly wind and heat — are not expected to give 3,000 firefighters already fighting the blazes a break anytime soon.”I have been living here in Ashcroft for almost 25 years now and I have never seen anything like this before,” said Mayor Barbara Roden, whose municipality in the center of the province has been on high alert since July 14.”The most frightening thing in a lot of ways is that we’re all looking at the calendar and this is only halfway through July,” she said.Climate change amplifies droughts which dry out regions, creating ideal conditions for wildfires.The Canadian armed forces are preparing to deploy 350 additional troops to British Columbia and 120 to Manitoba, a central province also struggling with large fire outbreaks, according to the Canadian Joint Operations Command.In Ontario, some 75 military personnel are helping firefighters.   
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The United States has extended the closure of land borders it shares with Canada and Mexico to non-essential travel through Aug. 21, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday.DHS extended the closures by 30 days after Canada said on Monday it would allow fully vaccinated visitors from the U.S. for non-essential travel beginning Aug. 9, ending a 16-month travel ban prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.The U.S. and Canada’s easing of travel restrictions comes as the delta variant spreads in parts of the U.S. where vaccination rates are relatively low, raising concern among U.S. health officials.DHS said it “is in constant contact with Canadian and Mexican counterparts to identify the conditions under which restrictions may be eased safely and sustainably.”Businesses in the U.S. and Canada have pushed to have limits lifted on non-essential travel between the two countries that were imposed in March 2020. The U.S. has allowed Canadians to enter the country by air after first receiving a negative COVID-19 test, but Canada has not allowed travelers from the U.S. to do the same.The Biden administration created interagency working groups last month with Canada, Mexico, Britain and the European Union to study how to eventually lift border and travel restrictions.
 
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The United States has extended the closure of land borders it shares with Canada and Mexico to non-essential travel through Aug. 21, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday.DHS extended the closures by 30 days after Canada said on Monday it would allow fully vaccinated visitors from the U.S. for non-essential travel beginning Aug. 9, ending a 16-month travel ban prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.The U.S. and Canada’s easing of travel restrictions comes as the delta variant spreads in parts of the U.S. where vaccination rates are relatively low, raising concern among U.S. health officials.DHS said it “is in constant contact with Canadian and Mexican counterparts to identify the conditions under which restrictions may be eased safely and sustainably.”Businesses in the U.S. and Canada have pushed to have limits lifted on non-essential travel between the two countries that were imposed in March 2020. The U.S. has allowed Canadians to enter the country by air after first receiving a negative COVID-19 test, but Canada has not allowed travelers from the U.S. to do the same.The Biden administration created interagency working groups last month with Canada, Mexico, Britain and the European Union to study how to eventually lift border and travel restrictions.
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Tens of thousands of people once again were in the streets across Colombia on Tuesday in anti-government demonstrations. The widespread demonstrations came as the government unveiled a new version of an unpopular tax reform plan that sparked initial protests in April, but observers say they point to long-spanning political turmoil in the South American country.  Violence surrounding strikes earlier this year left at least 34 people dead, and scores went missing in the clashes. This time, it was unclear how many people were injured in clashes between demonstrators and police.  A protester holds up a fist in a crowd during anti-government protests in Bogota, Colombia, July 20, 2021. (Megan Janetsky/VOA)The “Paro Nacional,” or National Strike, that began in late April was an outcry against an unpopular tax reform bill and economic turmoil caused by the pandemic. It soon exploded, though, as backlash to a violent state response to largely peaceful protests.  Those tensions surfaced once more Tuesday on the streets of the capital, Bogotá, and other cities across the country, including Cali and Medellín.  Yellow, blue and red Colombian flags dotted the crowds in Bogotá to commemorate the country’s Independence Day, July 20, as groups of marchers chanted “Dónde están los desaparecidos?” or “Where are the disappeared?” Among them was 19-year-old Michelle Calderón, who carried a bicycle helmet to protect her head, and whose face was covered by a Colombian flag bandana reading “RESISTENCIA,” Spanish for “resistance.”  “They say they don’t have money,” Calderón said. “But they have money to make war. There’s no money for health services — for education, unemployment, but there’s always money for tanks, for guns, for bullets.”  Protesters Michelle Calderón and Diego Parra take part in anti-government protests in Bogota, Colombia, July 20, 2021. (Megan Janetsky/VOA)This new round of marches also ended in violent clashes between police and protesters, although fewer incidents than earlier this year.  Still, by the end of the day Tuesday, clouds of tear gas hovered over where Calderón stood hours earlier, and the sounds of clashes between police and protesters echoed in the streets of the country’s capital. In April and May, the government of right-wing President Ivan Duque made a number of concessions to protesters, including withdrawing the tax reform proposal and promising small reforms to national police, including human rights training for riot police. As Colombians revived their street protests, Duque’s government submitted a new version of the controversial tax reform legislation to Congress cutting a number of unpopular facets, like taxing basic food staples and placing a higher tax burden on companies. Deeper problems  But critics call those concessions minor and say they fail to address Colombia’s deeper problems.   Ariel Ávila, deputy director of the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation research group, said the protests have continued because the underlying problems that fuel discontent in Colombia remain.  “They’ve achieved important things, but the structural problems haven’t gone away,” Ávila said. “But the people are protesting because there’s no food, people are marching because there are no jobs. That hasn’t changed.” Thousands of people take to the streets in anti-government protests, in Bogota, Colombia, July 20, 2021. (Megan Janetsky/VOA)The South American country has been locked in political and social tensions for years. Much of that anger has come from failures by the Duque administration to implement historical peace accords signed in 2016 by the previous government, a political adversary.  As a result, violence by rural armed groups in Colombia came roaring back, fueling the first “Paro Nacional” in 2019, one of the biggest mass-demonstrations the country had seen in years. That discontent only festered in the pandemic as poverty, unemployment, rural violence and political polarization rose across the board, leading to this year’s protests. Protester Jhomman Montiel attends anti-government protests in Bogota, Colombia, July 20, 2021. (Megan Janetsky/VOA)”We’re tired of all the same,” said 31-year-old Jhomman Montiel, who leaned on his bike among a crowd of thousands of people. “We’re tired of having to come out, to demand that we live better, because the only people who live well here are a small few.” Crackdown The security forces’ response to demonstrations has drawn criticism from international rights groups. In early July, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights accused the Duque government of “an excessive and disproportionate use of force” against civilians. In the face of criticisms, the Duque government considers the violence a product of what his administration labels as “terrorist” protesters and armed groups seeking to stir chaos.  Officials began a crackdown before demonstrations had even begun Tuesday. They arrested a number of younger protesters who had previously skirmished with police and announced they would seize protective gear like shields, helmets, goggles and respirators from demonstrators. “We will not allow violent people to once again rob Colombians of their peace,” tweeted Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano Aponte, with a photo of arrested protesters. No permitiremos que los violentos vuelvan a robarles la tranquilidad a los colombianos. En varias ciudades, la A protester stands on painted outlines of bodies representing the Colombians who disappeared during previous protests, in Bogota, July 20, 2021. (Megan Janetsky/VOA)Dickinson told VOA she expects to see the crisis persist until upcoming elections in May 2022, largely because of a lack of a “significant or substantive response” by the Duque administration to protester demands.  She worries that continued protests also could provide armed groups opportunities to latch onto security vacuums and fuel more violence in the country.   “What I think we’re going to see in the next months is a slowly churning crisis, which is dangerous,” she said. Meanwhile Calderón and many other protesters said they planned to continue protesting. “The younger generation, we’re the change,” Calderón said. “And if we don’t do anything, we’re going to continue with more of the same. If we don’t come out to march, who is going to defend us?” 
 
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Haiti’s new prime minister, Ariel Henry, took office Tuesday in the aftermath of the president’s assassination two weeks ago, pledging to improve the country’s dire security and to organize long-delayed elections. Henry was installed as head of a new government in an attempt to stabilize a country on the brink of chaos since the murder of President Jovenel Moise at his residence in the early hours of July 7. The swearing in of Henry, who was named to the post by Moise days before his death, was seen as a key step toward holding elections as demanded by many Haitians and the international community. After the president was killed by armed commandos, acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph declared a “state of siege” and said he was in charge, launching a power tussle in the violence-wracked impoverished Caribbean nation. “One of my priority tasks will be to reassure the people that we will do everything to restore order and security,” Henry said Tuesday to Haiti’s population of 10 million people. “This is one of the main issues that the president wanted me to tackle, because he understood that it was a necessary step if we were to succeed in his other concern of organizing credible, honest, transparent and inclusive elections.” The inauguration ceremony in Port-au-Prince was preceded by solemn tributes to Moise, including speeches, dancing and music on a stage set with bouquets of white flowers and a giant portrait of the assassinated president.   Haitian authorities, with the help of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, are still investigating the murky motives for Moise’s assassination.  More than 20 people, many of them retired Colombian military personnel, have been arrested in connection with the killing. In the new government, Joseph, who agreed to stand down and cede the role to Henry, returned to his former post as foreign minister.   Moise, 53, had ruled Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, by decree after legislative elections due in 2018 were delayed in the wake of multiple disputes, including about when his own term ended. As well as presidential, legislative and local elections, Haiti had been due to have a constitutional referendum in September after it was twice postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.   In the power struggle after Moise’s killing, the balance tipped toward Henry when ambassadors — including some from the United States, France and the United Nations — informally threw their support behind the 71-year-old neurosurgeon. Haiti has no working parliament and no workable succession process and was already mired deep in a political and security crisis when Moise was killed.   Haitian police have accused a Haitian doctor with ties to Florida, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, of being a mastermind of the plot and having “political objectives.” “All the culprits, perpetrators and sponsors must be identified and brought before Haitian justice,” Henry, who has previously held several ministerial jobs, said in his speech. “And I hope that exemplary and dissuasive sentences will be pronounced. The nation expects no less from its leaders. Never again will we have to relive such a tragedy.” “The solution to the Haitian crisis must come from the Haitians,” he added. “Everything is negotiable, except democracy, elections and the rule of law.”   Henry also thanked international partners for the arrival of the country’s first batch of COVID-19 vaccines, which arrived last week in a nation with scarce health resources.   The United States, which exerts wide influence in Haiti, welcomed the new government, with State Department spokesman Ned Price saying Washington was “encouraged to see Haitian political and civil actors working to form a unity government that can stabilize the country.” Moise will be laid to rest on Friday in the northern city of Cap-Haitien. His widow, Martine Moise, who was seriously wounded in the attack, was treated in a Miami hospital before returning home over the weekend.  
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Canadian officials announced that fully vaccinated American citizens and permanent residents can enter Canada for what is being called “discretionary travel” beginning August 9. Those wanting to cross the 8,891-kilometer border by land or air into Canada will have to arrive asymptomatic and provide proof of full vaccination as well as a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of arrival. The required documentation must be uploaded to the ArriveCAN app ahead of the trip, and travelers will need to have the paper version physically available. Canada’s easing of entry restrictions will extend to travelers from all other countries starting September 7, with identical requirements.   The U.S.-Canada border has been closed to nonessential travel since March of last year. Canadians, however, have been able to fly into the United States with only a negative COVID-19 test. Laurie Trautman, Director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University in Bellingham. (Photo courtesy of Laurie Trautman)Laurie Trautman, director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University in Bellingham, is not surprised by Ottawa’s decision.  “I think that is a natural next step to allow Americans coming from the United States to Canada who are fully vaccinated for any trip purpose to be exempt,” Trautman said.”So I’m glad to see there’s a date. I’m glad to see there’s a plan.” For Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, the announcement is good for commerce — and people’s outlook on both sides of the border.   Goldy Hyder, President and CEO of the Business Council of Canada“When you think about it, what we have been through as human beings over the last 16-17 months or so is not natural, and what’s natural for people is to interact with each other,” Hyder said.”To celebrate events, to mourn events, to, you know, meet our customers, to take vacations — all of these things are part of being a human being. And those are the things that we sacrificed for the last 16-17 months.” Perrin Beatty, the president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, welcomes the reopening, particularly for the tourism sector and other businesses that rely on cross-border travel with the United States.Perrin Beatty, the President and CEO of The Canadian Chamber of CommerceOne concern he has going forward is potential delays at the border for checking health documents.   “And the government is going to need to look for ways of speeding that up,” Beatty said. “Otherwise, we’ll have massive traffic jams with people trying to cross the border at peak times. And that’s why it’s so important for us to have digital secure vaccination certification.”   Beatty also said the Canadian government should eliminate the requirement to have a negative COVID-19 test.  In making the announcements at a virtual press conference, Canadian Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair said he talked with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about the changes.Blair said the current restrictions that expire on the 21st of July are expected to continue for travelers going by land into the United States. Bill Blair, Canadian Minister of Public Safety (Courtesy: Government of Canada)“They are obviously considering additional measures and data,” Blair said. “But at the present time, they have not indicated a plan to make any changes in their current border restrictions that are in place.” Residents of the French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon will also be allowed into Canada for nonessential travel on Aug. 9. Earlier, the Canadian government shortened the ban on cruise ships docking in the country to Nov. 1, four months earlier than it originally planned. The Canada Border Services Agency staffs 117 legal crossing points along the Canada-U.S. border and 13 international airports.  
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The White House said Tuesday it is exploring ways the United States can aid the people of Cuba engaged in anti-government protests and also hold the Cuban government accountable for repressing freedom in the island nation. The U.S. is working to identify Cuban officials responsible for attacks on peaceful protesters, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. At the same time, she said the U.S. is looking to increase access to the internet in Cuba, boost humanitarian assistance and devise a workable remittance system for Cuban expatriates to send money to their relatives in Cuba without the government pilfering it. Psaki said the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control “will continue to explore designated Cuban officials responsible for … human rights violations against peaceful protesters.” FILE – Demonstrators gather outside The White House on July 17, 2021 protesting against the Cuban government — demanding assistance from the Biden administration to help free Cuban citizens from oppression.In addition, she said the government is forming “a remittance working group to identify the most effective way to get remittances directly into the hands of the Cuban people.” Psaki said the U.S. has long been concerned about Havana stealing money intended for its citizens. “That’s certainly something that we’re mindful of,” she said. “That will be a point of discussion in these working groups” considering a response to unrest in Cuba. In a statement, Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, praised the Biden administration’s efforts to assist the Cuban people. FILE – Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., speaks during a confirmation hearing on Jan. 27, 2021.”The Cuban people are risking it all by taking to the streets to call for an end to tyranny, and it is more important than ever that the international community listen to their stories, feel the despair and fear with which they live, and stand up with and for them,” Menendez said.  “I commend President Biden’s showing of support for Cubans at this critical moment and his willingness to listen to directly impacted people on and off the island,” he said. The U.S. is also considering expanding U.S. Embassy staff in Havana. The State Department reduced the number of staff at the embassy by more than half in 2017 after more than 40 U.S. diplomats serving in Cuba said they suffered persistent ear pain, headaches, and problems with memory, concentration, balance and sleeping in 2016. The administration of former President Donald Trump said the injuries resulted from what it termed a “sonic attack.” The Biden administration has not announced any intended actions, but it has been conducting an ongoing review of U.S.-Cuba policies. The White House said Monday that several officials met with a group of Cuban American leaders “to listen to their policy recommendations and concerns.” A White House statement stressed that addressing the current situation in Cuba “is a top priority.” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Monday that the administration is concerned about human rights, democracy and civil rights. “That’s precisely what you’re seeing and what we have said in the mechanisms of support over the years that the United States has provided to the Cuban people. And it is precisely what we mean when we say that we will consider additional forms of support, including any humanitarian support for the Cuban people,” Price said. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 
 
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The United States is examining potential ways to aid the people of Cuba following anti-government protests this month that were the biggest on the island nation in decades. Senior administration officials who spoke to news agencies on the condition of anonymity said the steps under consideration include changes to remittances that would allow people in the United States to send money to their family in Cuba without the Cuban government taking a portion. Other potential actions include ways to make it easier to access the internet, working with international organizations to provide more humanitarian aid, and increasing U.S. Embassy staff in Havana.Demonstrators gather outside The White House on July 17, 2021 protesting against the Cuban government – demanding assistance from the Biden administration to help free Cuban citizens from oppression.The State Department reduced the number of staff at the embassy by more than half in 2017 after more than 40 American diplomats serving in Cuba said they suffered persistent ear pain, headaches, and problems with memory, concentration, balance and sleeping in 2016. The Trump administration said the injuries resulted from what it termed a “sonic attack.” The Biden administration has not publicly announced any intended actions, but it has been conducting an ongoing review of U.S.-Cuba policies. The White House said Monday several officials met with a group of Cuban American leaders “to listen to their policy recommendations and concern.” A White House statement stressed that addressing the current situation in Cuba “is a top priority.” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Monday that the administration is concerned about human rights, democracy and civil rights. “That’s precisely what you’re seeing and what we have said in the mechanisms of support over the years that the United States has provided to the Cuban people, and it is precisely what we mean when we say that we will consider additional forms of support, including any humanitarian support for the Cuban people,” Price said. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters. 
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Rural teacher-turned-political novice Pedro Castillo on Monday became the winner of Peru’s presidential election after the country’s longest electoral count in 40 years. Castillo, whose supporters included Peru’s poor and rural citizens, defeated right-wing politician Keiko Fujimori by 44,000 votes. Electoral authorities released the final official results more than a month after the runoff election took place in the South American nation. Wielding a pencil the size of a cane, symbol of his Peru Libre party, Castillo popularized the phrase “No more poor in a rich country.” The economy of Peru, the world’s second-largest copper producer, has been crushed by the coronavirus pandemic, increasing the poverty level to almost one-third of the population and eliminating the gains of a decade.  The shortfalls of Peru’s public health services have contributed to the country’s poor pandemic outcomes, leaving it with the highest global per capita death rate. Castillo has promised to use the revenues from the mining sector to improve public services, including education and health, whose inadequacies were highlighted by the pandemic.  “Those who do not have a car should have at least one bicycle,” Castillo, 51, told The Associated Press in mid-April at his adobe house in Anguía, Peru’s third poorest district. Pedro Castillo speaks to his supporters after election authorities declared him president-elect, during celebrations at his party’s campaign headquarters in Lima, Peru, July 19, 2021.Since surprising Peruvians and observers by advancing to the presidential runoff election, Castillo has softened his first proposals on nationalizing multinational mining and natural gas companies. Instead, his campaign has said he is considering raising taxes on profits because of high copper prices, which exceed $10,000 per ton. Historians say he is the first peasant to become president of Peru, where until now, Indigenous people almost always have received the worst of the deficient public services even though the nation boasted of being the economic star of Latin America in the first two decades of the century. “There are no cases of a person unrelated to the professional, military or economic elites who reaches the presidency,” Cecilia Méndez, a Peruvian historian and professor at the University of California-Santa Barbara, told a radio station. Fujimori, a former congresswoman, ran for a third time for president with the support of the business elites. She is the daughter of imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori.  Hundreds of Peruvians from various regions camped out for more than a month in front of the Electoral Tribunal in Lima, Peru’s capital, to await Castillo’s proclamation. Many do not belong to Castillo’s party, but they trust the professor because “he will not be like the other politicians who have not kept their promises and do not defend the poor,” said Maruja Inquilla, an environmental activist who arrived from a town near Titicaca, the mythical lake of the Incas. Castillo’s meteoric rise from unknown to president-elect has divided the Andean nation deeply. Author Mario Vargas Llosa, a holder of a Nobel Prize for literature, has said Castillo “represents the disappearance of democracy and freedom in Peru.” Meanwhile, retired soldiers sent a letter to the commander of the armed forces asking him not to respect Castillo’s victory.  Fujimori said Monday that she will accept Castillo’s victory, after accusing him of electoral fraud without offering any evidence. The accusation delayed his appointment as president-elect as she asked electoral authorities to annul thousands of votes, many in Indigenous and poor communities in the Andes.  “Let’s not put the obstacles to move this country forward,” Castillo asked Fujimori in his first remarks in front of hundreds of followers in Lima. The United States, European Union and 14 electoral missions determined that the voting was fair. The U.S. called the election a “model of democracy” for the region. Steven Levitsky, a political scientist at Harvard University, told a radio station that Castillo is arriving to the presidency “very weak,” and in some sense in a “very similar” position to Salvador Allende when he came to power in Chile in 1970 and to Joao Goulart, who became president of Brazil in 1962.  “He has almost the entire establishment of Lima against him,” said Levitsky, an expert on Latin American politics.  The president-elect has never held office. He worked as an elementary school teacher for the last 25 years in his native San Luis de Puna, a remote village in Cajamarca, a northern region. He campaigned wearing rubber sandals and a wide-brimmed hat, like the peasants in his community, where 40% of children are chronically malnourished. In 2017, he led the largest teacher strike in 30 years in search of better pay and, although he did not achieve substantial improvements, he sat down to talk with Cabinet ministers, legislators and bureaucrats.  Over the past two decades, Peruvians have seen that the previous political experience and university degrees of their five former presidents did not help fight corruption. All former Peruvian presidents who governed since 1985 have been ensnared in corruption allegations, some imprisoned or arrested in their mansions. One died by suicide before police could take him into custody. The South American country cycled through three presidents last November. Castillo recalled that the first turn in his life occurred one night as a child when his teacher persuaded his father to allow him to finish his primary education at a school two hours from home. It happened while both adults chewed coca leaves, an Andean custom to reduce fatigue.  “He suffered a lot in his childhood,” his wife, teacher Lilia Paredes, told AP while doing dishes at home. The couple has two children. He got used to long walks. He would arrive at the classroom with his peasant sandals, with a woolen saddlebag on his shoulder, a notebook and his lunch, which consisted of sweet potatoes or tamales that cooled with the hours. Castillo said his life was marked by the work he did as a child with his eight siblings, but also by the memory of the treatment that his illiterate parents received from the owner of the land where they lived. He cried when he remembered that if the rent was not paid, the landowner kept the best crops. “You kept looking at what you had sown, you clutched your stomach, and I will not forget that, I will not forgive it either,” he said. 
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