Venezuela’s currency, the bolivar, is worth almost nothing these days. That’s forced the country’s citizens to figure out new ways to put food on their tables. Adriana Nunez Rabascall reports this story narrated by Cristina Smit.
…

A Serbian court has sentenced a former mayor to four years in prison for ordering an arson attack on the home of an investigative journalist.In a trial that lasted nearly two years, a court Tuesday found Dragoljub Simonovic guilty of ordering the December 2018 attack on Milan Jovanovic, a reporter for the news website Zig Info. Simonovic, a member of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), was mayor of Grocka, a municipality near the capital, Belgrade, at the time of the attack.”I hope that this verdict will be the harbinger of more media freedom in Serbia,” Jovanovic told reporters outside the court, adding that he was satisfied with the ruling.Jovanovic and his wife were at home at the time of the attack and had to escape through a window after Molotov cocktails were thrown through a window, according to reports at the time. The journalist suffered smoke inhalation, Milan Jovanovic in front of his burned home, in Belgrade, Serbia, December 2018.Jovanovic said he believed he was targeted for investigating cases of corruption and graft allegedly linked to the mayor.A man accused of carrying out the attack, Aleksandar Marinkovic, was sentenced in absentia by the court.The verdict was a rare case of justice being secured for journalists in a region where press freedoms are withering. Hostile rhetoric, sometimes from politicians, a lack of independence in media regulatory bodies, online attacks on journalists and weak mechanisms to support news associations are among the obstacles for media in the Balkans.Serbia’s ranking on the World Press Freedom Index has also worsened in the past four years, dropping three places in 2020, according to data compiled by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. (RSF)Significant rulingInternational media rights groups welcomed Tuesday’s court ruling.Milan Jovanovic’s burned vehicle and garage, in Belgrade, Serbia, December 2018. (RFE/RL)The conviction of a mastermind was significant in the fight against impunity in attacks on the press, Pavol Szalai, head of the European Union and Balkans desk at RSF, told VOA Serbian.“The arson attack against the home of Milan Jovanovic is an emblematic case for press freedom not only in Serbia, but also in the whole Balkans,” Szalai said, adding that the region was “plagued by impunity” regarding crimes against the media.“When RSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire met the Serbian president in 2019, Aleksandar Vucic committed to healing this disease. Today’s verdict is the beginning of the healing process; it is the beginning of the end of impunity for crimes committed against journalists in Serbia,” Szalai said.Noting that Jovanovic and his wife could have been killed in the attack, the media watchdog representative said that RSF would monitor the appeal hearings closely, adding that it was “crucial” that the verdict be confirmed.“Europe is still traumatized by last year’s acquittal of the alleged mastermind of the assassination of Jan Kuciak in Slovakia. If the perpetrators of the attack against Milan Jovanovic are definitively condemned, it will be an important measure to protect the physical security journalists.” Szalai said.Marian Kocner, a powerful businessman in Slovakia, was acquitted last year of involvement in the 2018 slaying of investigative journalist Kuciak. He denied any role in the killing.Milan Jovanovic’s burned vehicle, in Belgrade, Serbia, December 2018. (RFE/RL)The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists also welcomed the sentencing.“The verdict is a strong signal from Serbian authorities that acts of violence against journalists will not remain unpunished,” Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, said in a statement forwarded to VOA. “Fighting impunity for such acts is an important step toward preventing further attacks, and it is especially welcome in Serbia where threats, intimidation and acts of violence against journalists are not unprecedented.”Journalist safetySerbia is under pressure to improve press freedom and safety for journalists as part of its steps toward joining the European Union. In its 2020 country report, the European Commission said “cases of threats, intimidation and violence against journalists are still a source of serious concern” in Serbia.Szalai, from RSF, said the country needs to address several issues, including securing justice in crimes against the media and ending verbal assaults and threats, including those from state officials.”Perpetrators of crimes committed against journalists must be swiftly condemned, regardless if they are state officials or not,” Szalai said, adding, “The editorial independence of the public media must be granted, and economic and institutional pressures on the private media’s editorial independence must stop.”Szalai said that law enforcement should also investigate evidence of crime and corruption exposed by reporters. “All these changes would not only contribute to improving media freedom, but also accelerate Serbia’s integration to the EU,” he said.This story originated in VOA’s Serbian Service. Some information is from AFP.   
…

After 3½ years of living inside a Missouri church to avoid deportation, Honduran immigrant Alex Garcia finally stepped outside Wednesday, following a promise from President Joe Biden’s administration to let him be.Garcia, a married father of five, was slated for removal from the U.S. in 2017, the first year of President Donald Trump’s administration. Days before he would have been deported, Christ Church United Church of Christ in the St. Louis suburb of Maplewood offered sanctuary.Sara John of the St. Louis Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America said Garcia’s decision to leave the church came after Immigration and Customs Enforcement declared that he was no longer a deportation priority, and that the agency would not pursue his detention or removal.Garcia, in a statement, said he was separated from living with his family for 1,252 days. A crowd of about 100 people cheered as he and his family left the church Wednesday.”We are not done yet,” Garcia said. “There is still so much work that has to be done and I look forward to being able to join you all out there in the community and continue to fight for my permanent protection.”In his first weeks as president, Biden has signed several executive orders on immigration issues that undo his predecessor’s policies, though several Republican members of Congress are pushing legal challenges.Myrna Orozco, organizing coordinator at Church World Service, said 33 immigrants remain inside churches across the U.S., a number that should continue to drop.”We expect it to change in the next couple of weeks as we get more clarity from ICE or [immigrants] get a decision on their cases,” Orozco said.Others emergeOthers who have emerged from sanctuary since Biden took office include Jose Chicas, a 55-year-old El Salvador native, who left a church-owned house in Durham, North Carolina, on January 22. Saheeda Nadeem, 65, of Pakistan, left a Kalamazoo, Michigan, church this month. Edith Espinal, a native of Mexico, left an Ohio church after more than three years.In Maplewood, Pastor Becky Turner said Garcia has become a valued part of the church family.”The hearts of all of us at Christ Church are overflowing today,” Turner said. “God has answered our prayers for Alex Garcia to live freely, without the threat of being separated from his family.”Garcia’s exit came just two days after U.S. Representative Cori Bush, a St. Louis Democrat, announced she was sponsoring a private bill seeking permanent residency for Garcia. Bush said Wednesday that she would still push the bill forward.”ICE has promised not to deport Alex, and we will stop at nothing to ensure that they keep their promise,” Bush said in a statement.Garcia fled extreme poverty and violence in Honduras, his advocates have said. After entering the U.S. in 2004, he hopped a train that he thought was headed for Houston, but instead ended up in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, a town of about 17,000 residents in the southeastern corner of the state.He landed a job and met his wife, Carly, a U.S. citizen, and for more than a decade they lived quietly with their blended family.In 2015, Garcia accompanied his sister to an immigration office for a check-in in Kansas City, Missouri, where officials realized Garcia was in the country illegally. He received two one-year reprieves during Barack Obama’s administration. 
…

German customs authorities Wednesday announced the largest seizure of cocaine in European history, more than 23 tons discovered in two raids this month at ports in Hamburg, Germany and Antwerp, Belgium.German customs official Rene Matchke told reporters the 28-year-old owner of a Dutch import company was arrested Wednesday in the Netherlands, where police say both shipments were bound.  German officers had first discovered 16 tons of cocaine hidden in containers from Paraguay at the port of Hamburg February 12, following a tip from a Netherlands-based company. German and Dutch investigations led the officials Sunday to seize another 7.2 tons of cocaine at the port of Antwerp.German and Dutch police confirm the two shipments account for the largest amount of cocaine confiscated in a criminal investigation, and one of the top five in the world.  German customs officials say the investigation is ongoing and that they do not believe the man who was arrested acted alone. They say the drug haul would have been worth billions of dollars.
 
…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law bills that impose fines for violating a controversial law on “foreign agents” as well as other legislation relating to protests, such as the financing of rallies and disobedience of law enforcement.
 
According to the laws, signed by Putin Feb. 24, releasing information about so-called “foreign agents” and their materials without also indicating their status could lead to fines of up to 2,500 rubles ($34) for individuals and up to 500,000 rubles ($6,720) for entities. The law applies regardless of whether the “foreign agent” in question is a mass media outlet or an individual.
 
The other laws signed by Putin the same day set fines for individuals found guilty of illegally financing a rally at up to 15,000 rubles ($200), while officials and organizations for such actions will be ordered to pay up to 30,000 rubles ($400) and 100,000 rubles ($1,345), respectively. Putin also signed a law that significantly increases fines for disobedience of police and security forces.
 
Russia’s “foreign agent” legislation was adopted in 2012 and has been modified repeatedly. It requires nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign assistance and that the government deems to be engaged in political activity to be registered, to identify themselves as “foreign agents,” and submit to audits.
 
Later modifications of the law targeted foreign-funded media, including RFE/RL’s Russian Service, six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services, as well as Current Time, the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.
 
At the end of 2020, the legislation was modified to allow the Russian government to include individuals, including foreign journalists, on its “foreign agents” list and to impose restrictions on them.
 
Russian officials have said that amending the “foreign agents law” to include mass media in 2017 was a “symmetrical response” to the U.S. requirement that Russia’s state-funded channel RT register under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
 
U.S. officials have said the action is not symmetrical, arguing that the U.S. and Russian laws differ and that Russia uses its “foreign agent” legislation to silence dissent and discourage the free exchange of ideas.
 
The Russian state media monitor Roskomnadzor last year adopted rules requiring listed media to mark all written materials with a lengthy notice in large text, all radio materials with an audio statement, and all video materials with a 15-second text declaration.
 
The agency has prepared hundreds of complaints against RFE/RL’s news websites. When they go through the court system, the fines levied could reach nearly $1 million.
 
RFE/RL has called the fines “a state-sponsored campaign of coercion and intimidation,” while the U.S. State Department has described them as “intolerable.” Human Rights Watch has described the foreign agent legislation as “restrictive” and intended “to demonize independent groups.”
 
Since early in Putin’s presidency, the Kremlin has steadily tightened the screws on independent media. The country is ranked 149th out of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index produced by Reporters Without Borders.
 
 
…

A federal judge late Tuesday indefinitely banned President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a 100-day moratorium on most deportations.  U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton issued a preliminary injunction sought by Texas, which argued the moratorium violated federal law and risked imposing additional costs on the state.Biden proposed the 100-day pause on deportations during his campaign as part of a larger review of immigration enforcement and an attempt to reverse the priorities of former President Donald Trump. Biden has proposed a sweeping immigration bill that would allow the legalization of an estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally. He also has instituted other guidelines on whom immigration and border agents should target for enforcement.  Tipton, a Trump appointee, initially ruled on January 26 the moratorium violated federal law on administrative procedure and the U.S. failed to show why a deportation pause was justified. A temporary restraining order issued by the judge was set to expire Tuesday.  Tipton’s ruling did not require deportations to resume at their previous pace. Even without a moratorium, immigration agencies have wide latitude in enforcing removals and processing cases.  But in the days that followed his ruling, authorities deported 15 people to Jamaica and hundreds of others to Central America. The Biden administration also has continued expelling immigrants under a separate process begun by Trump officials, who invoked public-health law due to the coronavirus pandemic.  The legal fight over the deportation ban is an early sign of Republican opposition to Biden’s immigration priorities, just as Democrats and pro-immigrant legal groups fought Trump’s proposals. Almost four years before Tipton’s order, Trump signed a ban on travel from seven countries with predominantly Muslim populations that caused chaos at airports. Legal groups successfully sued to stop implementation of the ban.It was not immediately clear if the Biden administration will appeal Tipton’s latest ruling. The Justice Department did not seek a stay of Tipton’s earlier temporary restraining order. 
…

Police stormed the party offices of Georgian opposition leader Nika Melia and detained him Tuesday, deepening a political crisis that prompted the prime minister to resign last week.
 
Melia’s supporters had barricaded themselves in the offices, using furniture to block the doors. Scores of police surged into the building during the early morning raid, including using firefighting ladders to gain access via the roof.  
 
Seventeen people were hurt in the scuffles between police and activists, the Interfax news agency reported. Some activists were coughing and suffered eye irritation after police sprayed gas towards them from hand-held canisters.
 
Melia, the United National Movement (UNM) party’s chairman in the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million people, has been accused of inciting violence at street protests in June 2019, a charge he dismisses as politically motivated.
 
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was “deeply troubled” by Melia’s arrest, urging the Georgian government to avoid actions that could further escalate tensions. A State Department spokesman added that recent developments in the country were in contravention of its Euro-Atlantic aspirations.
 
A new prime minister, Irakli Garibashvili, was chosen by parliament late on Monday to replace Giorgi Gakharia, who resigned last week after a court ordered the detention of Melia, a move Gakharia said would cause political turmoil.
 
In a video posted on Facebook late on Tuesday, the new prime minister called for “all the political forces to which our country is dear to start a true dialogue.” 
Hundreds protest
 
Hundreds of people massed outside parliament to protest Melia’s detention and pitched two tents in the capital, Tbilisi. One protester held up a sign calling for a snap election, the government’s resignation and freedom for “political prisoners.” A UNM party member called for a large-scale protest march on Friday, the Rustavi 2 media outlet reported.
 
The Interior Ministry said it had no option but to use coercive measures at Melia’s party offices as activists had ignored numerous warnings not to obstruct their work.
 
“Polarizing rhetoric, force and aggression are not the solution to Georgia’s political differences,” Blinken said in a statement. “We call on all sides to avoid actions that could further escalate tensions and to engage in good faith negotiations to resolve the current political crisis,” he said.
 
The U.S. Embassy earlier expressed regret that its call for restraint and dialogue had been ignored.
 
Britain’s ambassador, Mark Clayton, urged restraint from all sides. The European Union’s ambassador called for efforts to find common ground.
 
“The logic of escalation is getting the upper hand. The political crisis is deepening,” the EU diplomat, Carl Hartzell, wrote on Twitter.
 
Zygimantas Pavilionis, a special envoy from the Lithuanian parliament who returned on Monday from a mediating mission to Georgia, said the authorities had been seeking support from Western diplomats for a crackdown.
 
“They were asking for green light from me, from the EU ambassador, from the American ambassador. I said, no way,” he said. “Now democracy is dying there.”
 
Last week, a court ordered Melia to be detained for allegedly failing to post bail. Gakharia abruptly resigned on Thursday, citing disagreement with his own team over the arrest order. The Interior Ministry initially held off on detaining Melia because of Gakharia’s resignation.
 
The new prime minister, Garibashvili, served as prime minister from 2013 to 2015. His candidacy was put forward by the ruling Georgian Dream party.
…

A German court has convicted a former member of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s secret police of accessory to crimes against humanity for facilitating the torture of prisoners.
 
The court in Koblenz sentenced Eyad Al-Gharib to 4 1/2 years in prison.
 
Prosecutors accused him of being part of a unit that arrested protesters and delivered them to a detention center where they were tortured.
 
The conviction marked the first time a court outside of Syria ruled in a case alleging members of Assad’s government committed crimes against humanity.   
 
The court is also holding a trial for a second person who is accused of directly committing crimes against humanity.  That trial is expected to last until late this year.
 
Prosecutors are invoking the principle of universal jurisdiction to bring charges of crimes against humanity in a German court.
…

A federal judge has ordered the wife of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to remain temporarily jailed after she was arrested and accused of helping her husband run his multibillion-dollar cartel and plotting his audacious escape from a Mexican prison in 2015. Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, appeared by video conference for an initial court appearance before a federal magistrate judge in Washington, D.C. The judge’s order came after Coronel’s attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, said he would consent to her temporary detention after her arrest at Dulles International Airport in Virginia. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather explained the charges to Coronel, who spoke to the judge through a Spanish interpreter. She said prosecutors had provided sufficient reason to keep Coronel behind bars for now and noted that her attorney had consented to the temporary detention. Prosecutor Anthony Nardozzi said the U.S. government believed that Coronel should remain jailed, arguing that she “worked closely with the command-and-control structure” of the Sinaloa cartel, particularly with her husband. Nardozzi said she conspired to distribute large quantities of drugs, knowing that they would be illegally smuggled into the U.S.  Nardozzi said Coronel had access to criminal associates, including other members of the cartel, and “financial means to generate a serious risk of flight.” If convicted, she could face more than 10 years in prison. Her arrest was the latest twist in the bloody, multinational saga involving Guzman, the longtime head of the Sinaloa drug cartel. Guzman, whose two dramatic prison escapes in Mexico fed into a legend that he and his family were all but untouchable, was extradited to the United States in 2017 and is serving life in prison.This photo shows the shower area where authorities claim drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman slipped into a tunnel to escape from his prison cell at the Altiplano maximum security prison, in Almoloya, west of Mexico City, July 15, 2015.And now his wife, with whom he has two young daughters, has been charged with helping him run his criminal empire. In a single-count criminal complaint, Coronel was charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana in the U.S. The Justice Department also accused her of helping her husband escape from a Mexican prison in 2015 and participating in the planning of a second prison escape before Guzman was extradited to the U.S.  As Mexico’s most powerful drug lord, Guzman ran a cartel responsible for smuggling mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the United States during his 25-year reign, prosecutors said in recent court papers. They also said his “army of sicarios,” or “hit men,” was under orders to kidnap, torture and kill anyone who got in his way. His prison breaks became the stuff of legend and raised serious questions about whether Mexico’s justice system was capable of holding him accountable. In one case, he escaped through an entry under the shower in his cell to a milelong (1.6-kilometer-long) lighted tunnel with a motorcycle on rails. The planning for the escape was extensive, prosecutors say, with his wife playing a key role.  Court papers charge that Coronel worked with Guzman’s sons and a witness, who is now cooperating with the U.S. government, to organize the construction of the underground tunnel that Guzman used to escape from the Altiplano prison to prevent his extradition to the U.S. The plot included purchasing a piece of land near the prison, firearms and an armored truck and smuggling him a GPS watch so they could “pinpoint his exact whereabouts so as to construct the tunnel with an entry point accessible to him,” the court papers say. Guzman was sentenced to life behind bars in 2019.  Coronel, who was a beauty queen in her teens, regularly attended Guzman’s trial, even when testimony implicated her in his prison breaks. The two, separated in age by more than 30 years, have been together since at least 2007, and their twin daughters were born in 2011.  Her father, Ines Coronel Barreras, was arrested in 2013 with one of his sons and several other men in a warehouse with hundreds of pounds of marijuana across the border from Douglas, Arizona. Months earlier, the U.S. Treasury had announced financial sanctions against her father for his alleged drug trafficking.  After Guzman was rearrested following his escape, Coronel lobbied the Mexican government to improve her husband’s prison conditions. And after he was convicted in 2019, she moved to launch a clothing line in his name. Mike Vigil, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s former chief of international operations, said Coronel “has been involved in the drug trade since she was a little girl. She knows the inner workings of the Sinaloa cartel.” He said she could be willing to cooperate. “She has a huge motivation, and that is her twins,” Vigil said. 
…

Officials in Ecuador say order has been restored at prisons in three cities, where authorities said at least 75 inmates died in riots between rival gangs. President Lenín Moreno declared the national prison system in a state of emergency and ordered stepped-up security measures.    Officials say authorities, with the assistance of an additional 800 police officers, gained control of the fighting within the detention centers at Guayaquil, Cuenca and Latacunga. The president also ordered the Ministry of Defense to exercise strict gun, ammunition and explosives control in the surrounding areas of correctional facilities..  Edmundo Moncayo, the General Director of the National Service of Attention to People Deprived of Liberty (SNAI), said the inmate fights were set off when police carried out a search for weapons. Moncayo said some prison staff were injured in the riots but none died.   Moncayo also said the vast majority of the country’s prison population lives in the centers where the violence occurred. Among Ecuador’s roughly 38,000 inmates, confrontations among criminal groups often resulted in riots. In December, riots at several facilities left 11 people dead. 
…

The number of people going hungry in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua has nearly quadrupled in the last two years, the United Nations said on Tuesday, as Central America has been battered by an economic crisis. New data released by the U.N.’s World Food Program showed nearly 8 million people across the four countries are experiencing hunger this year, up from 2.2 million in 2018. “The COVID-19-induced economic crisis had already put food on the market shelves out of reach for the most vulnerable people when the twin hurricanes Eta and Iota battered them further,” Miguel Barreto, WFP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, said in a statement.   He was referring to two hurricanes that hit Central America in November. “We’re eating the little food that people give to us,” said Marina Rosado, 70, who along with her son and grandchildren live along a boulevard in the Honduran city of Lima that was inundated by flooding last year. The storms that destroyed their home were the latest blow pushing the family further into hunger, Rosado said, after pandemic-related restrictions limited their ability to collect bottles and cans in the streets to sell to recycling companies.   The WFP also noted that 15% of those surveyed by the organization in January 2021 said that they were making concrete plans to migrate — nearly double the percentage in 2018. 
…

The United States and Canada have agreed to “double down” on efforts “to achieve net zero emissions by 2050,” President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday, following his first bilateral meeting with a foreign leader since taking office last month.Due to coronavirus pandemic precautions, his discussion with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was virtual — with Biden in the White House in Washington, D.C., and the Canadian leader in Ottawa. Usually, Canada is a quick first stop abroad for any newly elected U.S. president, but COVID-19 turned the bilateral meeting into one with considerable social distancing.A screen shows US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (virtual) speak to the media after holding a virtual bilateral meeting in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 23, 2021.The two leaders, however, appeared mostly in sync even if they were 700 kilometers apart.Trudeau, whose image and voice were piped into the Oval Office, said that “U.S. leadership has been sorely missed over the past years,” specifically on addressing climate change — a criticism of former President Donald Trump’s four years in power when the United States pursued an “America First” agenda, neglecting alliances and multilateral relationships.“As we’re preparing the joint rollout and communique from this one, it’s nice when the Americans aren’t pulling out all references to climate change and, instead, adding them in,” Trudeau said.Biden told the Canadian leader during their virtual meeting that “the United States has no closer friend than Canada. That’s why you were my first call as president, my first bilateral meeting. … We’re all best served when the United States and Canada work together and lead together in close coordination on a whole range of issues.”Trump and Trudeau had a contentious relationship. When the prime minister complained to the president about tariffs slapped on Canadian steel and aluminum, ostensibly on grounds of U.S. national security, Trump called Trudeau “very dishonest and weak.” Trump even raised the War of 1812, asking Trudeau: “Didn’t you guys burn down the White House?” (They didn’t; Canada was still a British colony in 1814 when troops that had come from across the Atlantic burned it.)Despite the vastly improved relationship for the North American neighbors, there are unresolved disagreements.FILE – A depot used to store pipes for Transcanada Corp’s planned Keystone XL oil pipeline is seen in Gascoyne, North Dakota, Jan. 25, 2017.In a move that “disappointed” Trudeau, Biden recently blocked the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline project to pump oil from Canada to the United States. He also signed a “Buy American” executive order that hurt Canada by redirecting more government purchasing to domestic manufacturers.White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said earlier Tuesday that no changes were anticipated in Biden’s position on the Keystone issue during the meeting.Neither leader made direct reference to the controversial pipeline during their public remarks on Tuesday.“Canadian energy workers power homes on both sides of the border,” said Trudeau after Biden delivered remarks. “It goes to show that we’re all better off for this partnership.”Trudeau also wants Canada to be allowed to buy COVID-19 vaccines for its struggling vaccination program from a Pfizer manufacturing facility in the U.S. state of Michigan.Trudeau first raised the issue during a phone conversation last month, Biden’s first with a foreign leader as president.Psaki on Tuesday called any such permission premature as “our focus right now is getting shots in arms at home.”Trudeau said he and Biden, in Tuesday’s discussions, had “discussed collaboration to beat COVID-19 — from keeping key supplies moving and supporting science and research to joint efforts through international institutions.”Trudeau also thanked Biden for his support to apply pressure on Beijing for the release of two Canadians — former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor.FILE – Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou leaves her home to appear for a hearing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Sept. 30, 2019.The two men have been in detention in China since 2018 after Canada arrested on fraud charges Meng Wanzhou, a Chinese executive with Huawei Technologies. Meng is also the daughter of the telecommunications company’s founder.Washington has pursued Meng’s extradition and the case remains pending in Canadian courts.“Human beings are not bartering chips,” Biden declared. “You know, we’re going to work together until we get their safe return.”
…

Three men suspected of having supplied the bomb which killed Maltese anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 were arrested on Tuesday, police said. Their arrest came as a man accused of carrying out the killing agreed to a plea deal, accepting his responsibility for the assassination in return for a reduced, 15-year jail term instead of possible life behind bars. A legal source said Vince Muscat had provided police with vital information about the case, which has shone a spotlight on corruption in the European Union’s smallest country. Muscat and two other men were arrested in December 2017 and accused of having planned and executed the murder. Muscat’s alleged accomplices continue to plea not-guilty. The three men seized on Tuesday were named as Jamie Vella and brothers Adrian and Robert Agius. They and their lawyers were not immediately available for comment. A legal source said the three men were suspected of having provided the bomb and the SMS code needed to trigger it. Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb in October 2017. Police say the device was detonated remotely by Muscat and his friends as they watched her drive away from her house. FILE – Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech, who was arrested in connection with an investigation into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, leaves the Courts of Justice in Valletta, Malta, Nov. 29, 2019.Multimillionaire businessman Yorgen Fenech, who had high-level political connections, is suspected of having masterminded the crime and has been accused of being an accomplice to murder. He has denied wrongdoing. The self-confessed middleman in the plot, Melvin Theuma, turned state evidence in 2019 in return for a pardon. Muscat’s request for a similar deal was denied last month. Instead, he accepted the plea deal, offering information about the Caruana Galizia case and about the unresolved 2015 murder of a local lawyer, which was not believed to be connected. Muscat is not related to Joseph Muscat, the former prime minister who was in office when Caruana Galizia was killed and resigned in December 2019 to “shoulder political responsibility.” Fenech was close friends with the former premier’s chief of staff Keith Schembri, who has denied any wrongdoing and any knowledge of the murder or its perpetrators.  
 
…

The European Union has imposed sanctions on four Russian officials following the jailing of opposition leader Alexey Navalny. As Henry Ridgwell reports, supporters of Navalny want the EU to go much further — and sanction close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.Camera: Henry Ridgwell 
…

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called on the United Nations on Tuesday to guarantee equitable access to coronavirus vaccines.  Speaking at a news conference alongside Argentine President Alberto Fernández, Lopez Obrador called the current state of vaccine distribution “totally unfair.” “The U.N. has to intervene because it’s … an ornament,” he said. “Where is the universal fraternity?” Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez attend a news conference at the National Palace, in Mexico City, Mexico, Feb. 23, 2021.Fernández, who is on a three-day state visit to Mexico, is hoping to develop a hemispheric strategy with Lopez Obrador to address the issue. “It is fundamental that there is transparency and solidarity in the vaccine rollout,” said Fernandez, who had previously discussed the topic with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “I agree with what (López Obrador) did at the U.N. — we have to look for a way to have quick access to the doses and that doesn’t leave the poorest countries behind.” On February 15, Lopez Obrador urged the U.N. to call an “urgent meeting” to address vaccine hoarding by the countries responsible for vaccine production. He also pushed for the implementation of mechanisms to guarantee equitable access to vaccines and medications during the pandemic such as COVAX, a vaccine-sharing program co-led by the World Health Organization. A few days later, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard asked the U.N. Security Council to “avoid hoarding vaccines and accelerate the first stages of COVAX deliveries, to give priority to countries with fewer resources.”  A health care worker administers a dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, marketed by the Serum Institute of India (SII) as COVISHIELD, to a woman at a vaccination center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Feb. 22, 2021.”It is urgent to act, to reverse the injustice that is being committed, because the security of all humanity depends on it,” Ebrard told the council. As of last week, three-quarters of the world’s first doses had been administered in only 10 countries. Those countries, however, account for 60% of global GDP, Ebrard added. Mexico has administered at least 1.7 million vaccine doses, inoculating around 0.7% of its population, according to the Reuters COVID-19 Tracker. The country currently ranks third in the world in coronavirus deaths, with at least 180,000 Mexicans having died of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. 
 
…

The United Nations Security Council has expressed serious concern about Haiti’s worsening political instability and called for elections to be held this year.
Security Council members met by videoconference Monday to discuss a Demonstrators take part in a protest against Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Feb. 14, 2021.Helen La Lime, Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General in Haiti and head of BINUH, painted a mostly bleak picture while briefing members.
“As the country prepares to enter a tense pre-electoral period, the polarization that has defined most of President [Jovenel] Moïse’s term in office has become even more acute, as signs of a shrinking civic space abound and an already alarming humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate,” La Lime said.
Describing the human rights situation as “dire,” La Lime cited Moise’s November 26 decree on public security as particularly problematic for civil liberties.
“The overly broad definition of terrorism articulated in a 26 November decree on public security — to include lesser offenses such as vandalism and obstructing roads, along with an increase in both the threats directed at, and attacks on journalists, lawyers, judges and human rights defenders — all risk chilling the public debate and curtailing such inalienable rights as those of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and peaceful assembly,” La Lime said.
The BINUH chief also criticized Moise’s decree sidelining three Supreme Court justices after announcing an alleged coup attempt — a move that unified the previously divided opposition groups and angered Haiti’s allies in the international community.Haitian Président Jovenel Moïse speaks to VOA Creole about his decision to retire three Supreme Court Justices, Feb. 9, 2021.Haiti’s response
In an unusual move, President Moise personally addressed the Security Council to defend his policies. It is normally the Foreign Minister who speaks at such meetings.
The president listed his achievements in the energy sector, infrastructure and modernizing Haiti’s police force. He cited progress toward reforming the constitution and organizing a referendum and general elections later this year. He also expressed his commitment to addressing gang violence, kidnappings, human rights abuses and press freedom. But at times, his claims were at odds with BINUH’s report.
“To reinforce the rule of law and consolidate the security agencies in the absence of a functioning parliament, I had to adopt certain decrees that were necessary to combat organized crime, rampant insecurity and kidnapping,“ Moise said in French, pushing back on criticism about ruling by decree.
“I am the fifth president since 1987 to use this tool to respond to the needs of the people. I will continue to do so in a limited fashion until a new parliament is elected and the 59th president of the Republic is sworn in on February 7, 2022,” Moise added.
In response to calls for more inclusivity and encouraging more women and youth to participate in the electoral process, Moise blamed the “radical opposition” and “corrupt oligarchs” for the current state of affairs.
“The fear of elections and the popular vote explains these coup d’etat attempts to install a transitional government bypassing the will of the people,” Moise said. “The results of the previous six elections organized by Haiti show that the majority of these political actors will never pass the 1% bar. The biggest challenge we have is how to build a democracy with actors who are incapable of constructing a coalition to become an alternative [choice]. I won these presidential elections as an opposition candidate who solicited the popular vote.”FILE – Jeffrey DeLaurentis, charge d’affaires to the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, speaks in Atlanta, Jan. 18, 2016.U.S. adopts tough stance
But Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the Acting Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, was unsympathetic.
“Let me begin with something we all know: legislative elections were due in Haiti in October 2019. Both before and after that date, members of this Council repeatedly called on Haiti’s political stakeholders to come together, to set aside their differences, and to find a way forward to address Haiti’s most pressing challenges,” DeLaurentis said. “They chose not to do so; however, ultimate responsibility for creating an atmosphere conducive to free and fair elections, and then conducting those elections, must rest on the government.”
The ambassador also repeated that ruling by decree must end.
“Let me conclude by reiterating the need to bring the current period of rule by decree to a swift conclusion. It is only through the presence of a stable, democratic, and fully representative government that issues such as violence, corruption, and civil and human rights abuses can be meaningfully addressed,” DeLaurentis said.
Moise told the council a constitutional referendum would be held in June — a departure from the April 25 date previously cited in the Provisional Electoral Council’s calendar. He added that legislative and presidential elections would follow in September.France slams Moise on Human Rights
Nathalie Broadhurst, France’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, slammed Moise on human rights and lack of progress investigating gang violence.
“In the terms of security and respect for human rights, the authorities must do more,” she said. “I ask this question straightforwardly: how is it possible today that Jimmy Cherizier [notorious Haitian gang leader] is still walking free? Those responsible for the La Saline and Bel Air massacres must be brought to justice. I also note that the investigation into the assassination of Monferrier Dorval [constitutional law professor and head of the Port-au-Prince bar association] is not making progress. The fight against impunity must be the priority of the authorities.”China questions continuing U.N. assistance
Describing 2021 as a “watershed moment” for Haiti, China’s Ambassador Geng Shuang questioned if the United Nations should continue its work after investing more than $8 billion over the past 30 years.
“I would like to stress here again that there is no solution to the Haitian problem from the outside,” Shuang said. “We should learn the lessons, comprehensively assess the situation in light of what is happening, ponder seriously on the future presence of the U.N. in Haiti, and avoid endless and fruitless investment.”Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. 
…

Less than a week after a key summit gathering of France and its five regional military partners in the Sahel conflict, fresh casualties in Niger offered a reality check to the high-level discourse on achievements.  Killed in a landmine explosion Sunday were seven election officials — as Nigeriens voted for their next president — adding to a mounting toll that has seen thousands die and more than two million displaced during an eight-year Islamist insurgency in the Sahel.  Today, Paris and its Sahel partners appear at an impasse, with myriad initiatives to eradicate the tenacious and spreading jihadist presence, but no single comprehensive strategy.  Mali and Burkina Faso are exploring options of dialoguing with some jihadi groups, a move France categorically ruled out. Paris is calling for a beefed-up European Union presence to compensate its eventual troop drawdown, but the bigger EU countries have yet to commit.   Meanwhile, both French and Sahel forces face mounting public anger for civilian casualties and a military-heavy approach.”If nothing is done differently, the situation is going to continue to deteriorate,” said Ornella Moderan, Sahel program head for the Institute for Security Studies policy center, who calls for a sea-change in tactics beyond “just chasing the bad guys.”  The stakes are particularly high for French President Emmanuel Macron, who faces reelection next year. For the first time since Paris dispatched troops to Mali in 2013, a recent IFOP poll shows a slim majority of French now want the country’s 5,100-strong military operation to end.  FILE – Servicemen stand by the coffins of three French soldiers who were killed in Mali serving in the country’s Barkhane force, during a tribute ceremony at Thierville-sur-Meuse, France, Jan. 5, 2021.Many in Paris see little payback from fighting happening thousands of miles away. The optics instead are on the returning flag-wrapped coffins. Some 50 French soldiers have died in a mission that has shifted from initially quelling a Tuareg rebellion in Mali’s north, to fighting a broader jihadist insurgency in central Sahel under Operation Barkhane. Wait and see?Indeed, many expected Macron would announce a drawdown of French forces during last week’s G-5 Sahel summit in N’Djamena. Instead, speaking via video link from France, he announced they would stay put for now, to help “decapitate” al-Qaida-linked insurgents.  “We have succeeded in gaining some real successes in the three-border zone,” Macron said, referring to a hotspot region straddling Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. He also noted last year’s killings of key Islamist figures, including al-Qaida’s North African chief Abdelmalek Droukdel. FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he delivers a speech after a meeting via video-conference with leaders of West African G-5 Sahel nations, in Paris, France, Feb. 16, 2021.”I think they’re going to have to wait and see what happens in the next six months,” said Andrew Lebovich, Africa analyst for the European Council on Foreign Relations policy center, assessing France’s near-term strategy. “If the security situation doesn’t get any better, it’s going to be hard to draw down forces. But if there do seem to be improvements, it’s likely they’ll at least pull some forces out.” To be sure, the French strategy includes more than “wait and see.” Macron has called for greater input from G-5 members — Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania and Mali. Chad, for one, recently announced an additional 1,200 troops.  Macron also wants a heavier European presence under the nearly year-old Takuba Task Force, which now gathers more than half-a-dozen, mostly smaller EU members. But the initiative has seen a slow start, and Macron’s ambitions for a 2,000-person force seem unlikely in the near term. Germany for one, recently announced it would not send more soldiers to the region. The EU is also revising its broader Sahel strategy, now more than a decade old and outdated, analysts say.  FILE – A map of French army locations in Sahel is seen as French President Emmanuel Macron delivers his speech after a meeting via video-conference with leaders of West African G-5 Sahel nations, in Paris, France, Feb. 16, 2021.”It seems to me the plan is to show they’ve been able to Europeanize and internationalize this deployment to an extent, so it’s not seen anymore as just a French operation,” said Lebovich of the European Council.  Another uncertainty is whether the new Biden administration will invest more in the region. In videotaped remarks to the G-5 summit, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was committed to being a “strong partner,” but he offered no details.  People-centered strategyA number of analysts and activists are calling for a people-centered shift in Sahel strategy, focusing on good governance, delivering basic services and protecting local communities.  The protracted unrest has left enormous humanitarian scars, deepening poverty, hunger and malnutrition. Rights groups accused African counterinsurgency forces of killing hundreds of civilians, while anti-French sentiment has grown.  A French airstrike in central Mali in January has been particularly controversial. Barkhane and Malian officials said it targeted jihadists; local villagers claimed it killed people attending a wedding party.  Operation Barkhane’s presence also has nourished protests in capitals like Bamako and Ouagadougou.   FILE – A man holds a banner against the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and Operation Barkhane, in Bamako, Mali, Aug. 21, 2020.”To have a force that mobilizes so many troops, so much money, so much diplomatic and political energy, and doesn’t intervene on protection issues,” said analyst Moderan, “it makes people wonder why are they there? Whose priorities are they responding to?” Paris appears to be responding to such concerns, at least semantically. French officials have been talking with civil society groups in the region. Speaking at the summit, Macron emphasized development projects and good governance, “once military victory is obtained.”  But critics say this reaching out should be happening sooner, rather than later. The International Crisis Group has called for greater focus on improving governance and supporting local peacemaking efforts, including with some jihadist groups.  The governments of Mali and Burkina Faso appear to be heading in that direction. Bamako this week announced a new platform to begin talks with Islamist militants. Prime Minister Moctar Ouan is calling dialogue “an additional means” of ending the yearslong turmoil.   Earlier this month, too, the Burkinabe government said it was open to talks with militants. A local effort has been under way in the northern town of Djibo.  Not everyone is sold, though.  “One doesn’t discuss with terrorists, one fights,” Macron told Jeune Afrique in an interview last year, although some observers suggest the French position may be softening.  Lebovich, of the European Council, is also skeptical about the success of local peace talks — but believes engaging in the process may at least bring clarity.  “I think there’s an assumption that people are just going to peel these fighters away and integrate them,” he said. “And there isn’t a good plan for that.”
 
…

U.S. President Joe Biden meets virtually Tuesday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, marking Biden’s first bilateral meeting with a foreign leader since taking office last month.The two leaders are set to discuss China, climate change and other issues, according to a Biden administration official who spoke to reporters anonymously, as they try to reset relations that soured during Donald Trump’s four years as U.S. president.The official told reporters that Biden is eager to discuss security threats presented by climate change, the coronavirus, as well as threats posed by China, Iran, North Korea and Russia.In a move that “disappointed” Trudeau, Biden recently blocked the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline project to pump oil from Canada to the United States by signing a “Buy American” executive order aimed at spending more U.S. funding to bolster domestic manufacturers.White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said “no changes are anticipated” in Biden’s position on the pipeline issue during the meeting.Trudeau plans to show that Canada is realigned with the U.S. on COVID-19, foreign policy, climate change and other issues, according to a Canadian government source who also spoke anonymously before the meeting.It is unclear if Trudeau would again propose that Canada be allowed to buy COVID vaccines from a Pfizer manufacturing facility in the U.S. Midwestern state of Michigan for its struggling vaccination program.Trudeau first raised the issue during a phone conversation last month, Biden’s first with a foreign leader as president. A senior Biden administration official said, however, that Biden is focused on vaccinating people first in the U.S.Canada has frequently been the first stop abroad for a newly elected U.S. president, but COVID-19 has turned the bilateral meeting into a virtual affair.Officials said Biden and Trudeau will deliver remarks to the media before and after their meeting.The Biden administration also said a shared document summarizing collaborations between the two countries on a wide range of issues would likely be disclosed after the meeting. 
…

The wife of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was arrested in the United States and accused of helping her husband run his multibillion-dollar cartel and plot his audacious escape from a Mexican prison in 2015.
Emma Coronel Aispuro, a 31-year-old former beauty queen, was arrested Monday at Dulles International Airport in Virginia and is expected to appear in federal court in Washington, by video, Tuesday afternoon. She is a dual citizen of the United States and Mexico.
Her arrest is the latest twist in the bloody, multinational saga involving Guzman, the longtime head of the Sinaloa drug cartel. Guzman, whose two dramatic prison escapes in Mexico fed into a legend that he and his family were all but untouchable, was extradited to the United States in 2017 and is serving life in prison.  
And now his wife, with whom he has two young daughters, has been charged with helping him run his criminal empire. In a single-count criminal complaint, Coronel was charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana in the U.S. The Justice Department also accused her of helping her husband escape from a Mexican prison in 2015 and participating in the planning of a second prison escape before Guzman was extradited to the U.S.
 
Coronel was moved to the Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia late Monday night and is expected to appear by video conference for her initial court appearance on Tuesday. Her attorney Jeffrey Lichtman declined to comment Monday night.
As Mexico’s most powerful drug lord, Guzman ran a cartel responsible for smuggling mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the United States during his 25-year reign, prosecutors said in recent court papers. They also said his “army of sicarios,” or “hit men,” was under orders to kidnap, torture and kill anyone who got in his way.
His prison breaks became the stuff of legend and raised serious questions about whether Mexico’s justice system was capable of holding him accountable. In one case, he escaped through an entry under the shower in his cell to a milelong (1.6-kilometer-long) lighted tunnel with a motorcycle on rails. The planning for the escape was extensive, prosecutors say, with his wife playing a key role.
 
Court papers charge that Coronel worked with Guzman’s sons and a witness, who is now
cooperating with the U.S. government, to organize the construction of the underground tunnel that Guzman used to escape from the Altiplano prison to prevent his extradition to the U.S. The plot included purchasing a piece of land near the prison, firearms and an armored truck and smuggling him a GPS watch so they could “pinpoint his exact whereabouts so as to construct the tunnel with an entry point accessible to him,” the court papers say.
Guzman was sentenced to life behind bars in 2019.  
Coronel, who was a beauty queen in her teens, regularly attended Guzman’s trial, even when testimony implicated her in his prison breaks. The two, separated in age by more than 30 years, have been together since at least 2007, and their twin daughters were born in 2011.  
Her father, Ines Coronel Barreras, was arrested in 2013 with one of his sons and several other men in a warehouse with hundreds of pounds of marijuana across the border from Douglas, Arizona. Months earlier, the U.S. Treasury had announced financial sanctions against her father for his alleged drug trafficking.  
After Guzman was rearrested following his escape, Coronel lobbied the Mexican government to improve her husband’s prison conditions. And after he was convicted in 2019, she moved to launch a clothing line in his name.
Mike Vigil, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s former chief of international operations, said Coronel “has been involved in the drug trade since she was a little girl. She knows the inner workings of the Sinaloa cartel.”
He said she could be willing to cooperate.
“She has a huge motivation, and that is her twins,” Vigil said.
…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday he is very optimistic that all COVID-19 restrictions in England could end June 21.
 
Johnson made the comment as he toured a south London school to talk about his hope to open all schools by March 8, part of the “road map” to lifting restrictions and ending the lockdown he outlined Monday.  
 
Johnson told reporters nothing is guaranteed, and his government will continue to follow the guidance at each stage.
 
But he said because “science has given us this way of creating a whole shield around our population, we can really look at that June 21 date with some optimism.
 
Under the plan Johnson unveiled Monday, some businesses stay shuttered until the summer. Johnson said caution was necessary to ensure there was no reversal on a “one-way road to freedom.”  
 
Johnson said they are also carefully reviewing the idea of vaccine “certificates,” where those who have been fully vaccinated could be given documentation that would allow them to enter entertainment venues, nightclubs or events.  
 
He said senior minister Michael Gove would lead a review to thrash out the “scientific, moral, philosophical, ethical” question of vaccine certificates. He said there are complex “ethical issues about what the role is for government in mandating people to have such a thing,” as it could discriminate against people who, for whatever reason, are unable to get vaccinated.
 
Britain, in two months, has already managed to provide an initial vaccine dose to more than a quarter of the population, the fastest rollout of any big country, making it a worldwide test case for governments hoping to return to normal.
…

Mexico received its first batch of Russia’s COVID-19 Sputnik V vaccine, with 200 thousand doses arriving late Monday night.  Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón expressed gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin after accepting the shipment at Mexico International Airport, alongside the Russian ambassador to Mexico, Viktor Koronelli, who praised the partnership between the two countries.Arrival of the first batch of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine, in Mexico City, Feb. 23, 2021.Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador struck a deal with the Russian leader a few weeks ago to purchase 24 million doses of the Sputnik vaccine to immunize 12 million people.  Mexico joins other Latin American countries, including Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela, in approving the use of the Russian vaccine. Mexico is also expecting deliveries of vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca. Authorities are hoping the vaccine can help slow the spread of COVID-19, which has tallied more than 2,043,000 infections and 180,536 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University Covid Resource Center. 
…

Georgian police raided the main opposition party’s headquarters Tuesday and arrested opposition leader Nika Melia. Authorities accuse Melia, head of the United National Movement party, of organizing “mass violence” during anti-government protests in 2019. Melia says the charges are politically motivated. The U.S. Embassy in Georgia expressed concern about Melia’s detention, saying in a statement Tuesday that Georgia “has moved backward on its path toward becoming a stronger democracy.” “We regret that the call of the United States and other international partners for restraint and dialogue was ignored,” the embassy said. “We are dismayed by the polarizing rhetoric from Georgia’s leadership at a time of crisis. Force and aggression are not the solution to resolving Georgia’s political differences.” The country has seen rounds of protests since parliamentary elections in October that the opposition says were rigged, an allegation the ruling Georgian Dream party denies. Last week, Prime Minister Giorgia Gakharia resigned and said his decision was linked to a disagreement about whether to detain Melia. 
…

Brazil’s northwestern state of Acre is under a state of emergency after flooding caused by heavy rains prompted mass evacuations, impacting more than 120,000 people.   The Acre River in the state capital, Rio Branco, has been well above flood stage in recent days, with many streets underwater.  Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro visited the region Sunday and is expected to survey the capital of Acre on Wednesday, where thousands of residents were forced to leave their homes because of the flooding. Governor Gladson Cameli said the flooding in Acre is among the latest crisis facing the the impoverished state bordering Peru, where mostly Haitian migrants are being denied entry into the country from Peru because of COVID-19 restrictions.  Brazil has the highest COVID-19 tally in Latin America, with more than 1,168,000 infections and  246,504 deaths.  The flooding may also worsen the surge in dengue cases in the country.  
…

The wife of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the imprisoned former leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, was arrested Monday over her alleged involvement in international drug trafficking, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, a regular attendee at her husband’s trial two years ago, was arrested at Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia and is expected to appear in a federal court in Washington on Tuesday. A lawyer for Coronel could not immediately be identified. It was unclear why Coronel, a dual U.S.-Mexico citizen, was in the Washington area. Her arrest came two years after a celebrated trial in Brooklyn, New York, where Guzman, now 63, was convicted of trafficking tons of drugs into the United States as Sinaloa’s leader, where prosecutors said he amassed power through killings and wars with rival cartels. FILE – In this photo provided U.S. law enforcement, authorities escort Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, center, from a plane to a waiting caravan of SUVs at Long Island MacArthur Airport, in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Jan. 19, 2017.He was sentenced in July 2019 to life in prison plus 30 years, which the sentencing judge said reflected his “overwhelmingly evil” actions. He was sent to ADX Florence in Colorado, the nation’s most secure “Supermax” prison. Coronel was charged in a one-count complaint with conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines for unlawful importation into the United States. Prosecutors said Coronel also conspired to aid her husband in his July 2015 escape from the Altiplano prison in Mexico when he dug a mile-long tunnel from his cell and began plotting a second escape following his capture by Mexican authorities in January 2016. FILE – This photo shows the shower area where authorities claim drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman slipped into a tunnel to escape from his prison cell at the Altiplano maximum security prison, in Almoloya, west of Mexico City, July 15, 2015.U.S. and Mexican efforts to fight drug trafficking had become strained when the Justice Department brought drug charges in October against former Mexican Defense Minister Salvador Cienfuegos. The Justice Department unexpectedly dropped that case the following month and let Cienfuegos return to Mexico, in a bid to restore trust in the countries’ security ties. Cienfuegos was exonerated two months later when Mexico dropped its own case. Tomas Guevara, an investigator in security issues at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, said Coronel’s arrest might be part of a “pressure strategy” to prompt cooperation from Guzman. A Mexican official familiar with Coronel’s case who asked not to be identified said her arrest appeared to be solely a U.S. initiative and that Coronel was not wanted in Mexico. 
 
…