Lithuania has rejected orders issued Wednesday from a Moscow court calling for the arrest of Leonid Volkov, an exiled ally of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny. The court orders, sent via Interpol, charge Volkov with encouraging minors to participate in unauthorized rallies, which potentially carries jail term of up to three years in Russia.“Using international tools for politically motivated prosecution is a wrong practice,” said Lithuanian interior minister Agne Bilotaite, referring to Interpol, the government-funded international police network that coordinates cross-border police operations across 194 member states.Putin, Kremlin Critic Navalny Set Battle Plans for Next Phase in Struggle for MasteryRussian opposition leaders expect Kremlin crackdown to intensify but are preparing for a long-haul stand-off with Putin The Volkov warrant “raises serious doubts about Russia‘s membership in these organizations,” Bilotaite added.The Russian court, which said Volkov will be held in Russia for two months if and when he is extradited, said the warrant was issued under the Commonwealth of Independent States, an organization of former Soviet republics to which Lithuania does not belong.The arrest warrant comes after the rise of demonstrations demanding the release of Russian opposition leader Navalny, who has been jailed since January 17.In a separate development on Wednesday, Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, who was recently detained for taking part in unsanctioned rallies in support of her jailed husband, left Russia for Germany according to a source quoted by Interfax.Volkov, a strategist who manages Navalny’s regional headquarters, fled Russia in 2019 when authorities opened a criminal probe of suspected money laundering by Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation. Navalny’s group has repeatedly called that criminal probe, among the latest of many, politically motivated.From his base in Lithuania, Volkov has been organizing protests demanding the release of Navalny, with the most recent one being planned for this Sunday.
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European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen Wednesday acknowledged Europe was late approving and rolling out COVID-19 vaccines, saying they were overconfident vaccines could be delivered on time.
Speaking to the European Parliament, Von der Leyen, however, defended the decision to have the commission – the European Union’s executive branch – oversee vaccine orders and for all 27 EU members to roll out vaccines at the same time, saying had the bloc’s biggest states acted unilaterally, “it would have been the end of our community.”
She also defended not cutting corners on safety when it came to approval of vaccines and waiting for an additional three or four weeks for approval from the EU drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency. But Von der Leyen also said there were lessons to be learned from the process.
Von der Leyen said while they were focused primarily on the quick development of a vaccine, the EU underestimated the difficulties in producing high volumes quickly. She said, “In some ways, science overtook industry.”
She said they now fully understand the difficulties of mass production and have invested billions in improving capacity. She urged member states to plan their rollouts accordingly.
The European Commission chief also expressed regret about an initial plan to restrict exports to British-ruled Northern Ireland, which would have set up a hard border between it and EU member Republic of Ireland, reigniting tensions in that region.
She said, “Mistakes were made in the process leading up to the decision and I deeply regret that. But in the end, we got it right. And I can reassure you that my commission will do its utmost to protect the peace of Northern Ireland.
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Jamaica begins a new two-week curfew Wednesday to slow the sudden spike in COVID-19 infections. Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced the curfew will last from 8:00 pm to 5:00 am each day. The prime minister also acknowledged during an address to lawmakers Tuesday that while curfews are known to be effective, the restricting of activities and movement is also costly to the economy.  Under the latest restrictions, the public gathering limit will be reduced from 15 people to 10 people through February 24. The prime minister announced the restrictions after first telling Parliament that just over 1,900 people contracted COVID-19 in Jamaica in the past week.  Holness also said hospitalizations are up across the island.  So far, Jamaica has confirmed 17,298 infections and 358 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University COVID Resource Center. 
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Election officials in Ecuador will be reviewing thousands of primary ballots over concerns of irregularities before determining which candidate will face top vote getter Andrés Arauz in an upcoming runoff election. Arauz, an ally of former President Rafael Correa, secured a spot in the April 11 run off after receiving just over 32 percent of the vote in Sunday’s primary election. Ecuador’s National Election Council said 3,770 ballots have to be reexamined before it determines if Indigenous environmental activist Yaku Pérez’ less than one percent lead over banker Guillermo Lasso holds up.  All three candidates expressed confidence in the review process following a meeting Tuesday with electoral observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) and Ecuador National Electoral Council (CNE) authorities. It is unclear how long it will take before the CNE validates the returns. 
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The United Nations Refugee Agency has held initial talks with U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration about Central American asylum claimants being processed in their own countries, but it is too early to estimate how many people could benefit from the policy, agency head Filippo Grandi said on Tuesday.The Biden administration has already said it plans to restore a program which allows certain children in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador to apply for refugee status in the United States from home.”This is a complex situation,” Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told Reuters in an interview as he wrapped up a visit to Colombia. “It’s very early days to come to conclusions or make comments because the work is in progress.”Investment in migrants’ home countries will be key to strengthening economies and security and diminishing incentives to leave, he said.”We need to also … work very much with Mexico to strengthen its own capacity to deal with the movement (of migrants),” Grandi said.Thousands of Central Americans have attempted to travel north in recent months following back-to-back hurricanes in November, which displaced more than 500,000 people, according to data from the International Organization for Migration.Biden’s government has suspended 2019 agreements with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, which sought to force asylum-seekers to first seek refuge in those countries if they passed through them, before applying in the United States.Grandi’s Colombia visit was crowned by a Monday announcement that the country will allow Venezuelan migrants to seek temporary protective status for a 10-year period.The new rules allow Venezuelans already in the country and those who arrive during the first two years of the scheme to apply for the status.The U.N. will up its efforts to help Colombia prepare for potential increases of Venezuelan immigrants, Grandi said.”We are certainly stepping up our operation,” Grandi said. “It’s a variety of interventions that we’re doing, but we’re also helping the government at the legal and institutional level to strengthen this preparation.”Colombia’s migration agency estimated on Tuesday that as many as 2.5 million Venezuelans could benefit from temporary protection, including some 770,000 it projects may arrive over the next two years.Of the more than 1.7 million Venezuelan immigrants currently in Colombia, over 50% lack legal status. Colombia has been the top destination for people fleeing economic and social collapse in neighboring Venezuela.
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The European Parliament has seen stormy sessions before but rarely as ugly as Tuesday’s when lawmakers scolded the bloc’s top officials for everything from their handling of the coronavirus pandemic to what they dubbed a disastrous trip last week to Moscow by Europe’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell. Several national governments had urged Borrell, a former Spanish foreign minister, to call off his trip to the Russian capital, arguing it was ill-timed in the wake of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny’s jailing and amid the Kremlin’s paramilitary-style crackdown on street protests. Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny stands inside a defendant dock before a court hearing in Moscow, Feb. 5, 2021.Furious European lawmakers are demanding Borrell resign for the visit, widely seen as having handed the Kremlin a propaganda victory. His critics accuse him of failing to stand up to Russian bullying. Eighty-one members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have signed a letter drafted by Estonian lawmaker Riho Terras calling for Borrell to go.“Borrell’s misjudgment in proactively deciding to visit Moscow, and his failure to stand for the interests and values of the European Union during his visit, have caused severe damage to the reputation of the EU,” the letter reads. “We believe that the president of the European Commission should take action, if Mr. Borrell does not resign,” the lawmakers added.The criticisms were echoed Tuesday in the European Parliament’s chamber, even though Borrell hardened his language about the Kremlin when addressing lawmakers, telling them he would propose to EU foreign ministers next week a list of Russian names to be sanctioned over the jailing of Navalny. “I will put forward concrete proposals,” he told lawmakers, adding that he had “no illusions before the visit.”Borrell said “the Russian government is going down a worrisome authoritarian route,”  and that the country “seeks to divide us.”However, Borrell’s critics were not mollified.“We have never looked so weak and clueless about how to deal with Russia,” Belgian lawmaker Hilde Vautmans told Borrell.European delegation member Sophie in ‘t Veld arrives before a meeting at the Europe House on Dec. 3, 2019 in Valletta.Dutch parliamentarian Sophie in ‘t Veld said Borrell has a “credibility problem.”Borrell’s trip saw Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dub the EU an “unreliable partner” during a joint press conference in the Russian capital, leaving the EU’s top diplomat silent and half-smiling. European governments fumed when it emerged that Borrell only learned through Twitter during a meeting with Lavrov that the Kremlin had expelled three European diplomats for allegedly participating in demonstrations in support of Navalny.Some former and current European diplomats say Borrell probably should have abandoned the meeting upon learning about the expulsions. FILE – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks at the end of an EU summit video conference at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, Jan. 21, 2021.Ursula von der Leyen has defended Borrell. Commission spokesperson on foreign policy Peter Stano said Borrell has her full backing. Stano said Borrell’s decision to remain silent during Lavrov’s verbal lashing of the EU was understandable. He said Borrell was “a diplomat” for whom “the press conference is not a platform for discussions or confrontations.” Stano argued that Borrell had been “very vocal in the negotiations with Mr. Lavrov.”But von der Leyen is not in a strong political position to protect Borrell, analysts say, and the Moscow trip is adding to alarm about her judgment, which increasingly is being called into question by European lawmakers and national governments. The criticism of von der Leyen has focused on the bloc’s coronavirus inoculation rollout, which has been marred by logistical mistakes and hidebound bureaucracy, leaving the EU desperately short of vaccine doses. The troubled rollout has lagged behind inoculation programs in Britain and the United States, with only two doses being administered so far for every 100 Europeans, compared to seven in the U.S. and 11 in Britain. Von der Leyen and her commissioners had pushed for vaccine procurement and disbursement to be handled by the EU, arguing it would advertise the bloc’s strength and solidarity while reducing the risk of vaccine rivalry among the 27 member states. But that is not the way it has turned out, and the European Commission president is now conceding that individual member states could have vaccinated their populations more quickly had they acted alone rather than having the EU oversee vaccine purchase and distribution.On Monday, von der Leyen inadvertently added fuel to the fire by acknowledging that a country like Britain acting on its own can out-maneuver like a “speedboat” the slower-moving EU “tanker.”EU lawmakers launched an onslaught on von der Leyen for the vaccine handling, dismissing her admission of errors as not enough.“When are they going to accept that they made mistakes?” asked Croatian MEP Ivan Sincic, who said EU commissioners had been “acting blindly.”The verbal lashing has left some observers questioning whether von der Leyen will complete her full five-year term as EC president. She has rejected calls from some quarters to resign, telling reporters last week that the time to “make a final assessment” of her performance will be at the end of her term in 2024.EU officials have cautioned that public expectations are in some ways too high, and people need to be more patient, though they acknowledge people are yearning for an end to lockdowns and a resumption of their normal lives. French President Emmanuel Macron looks on during a press conference with the Belgium’s Prime Minister after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on Dec. 1, 2020.German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have both defended von der Leyen.“What would people say if countries like France and Germany were competing with each other on vaccines?” Macron asked last week.Merkel on Friday said it would have been “a mess, and counterproductive” for member states to procure and compete for vaccines.  Other national leaders are not convinced. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been especially tough, saying recently he was “not happy with the pace” and that it was a mistake for EU member states to cast their lot together in the hunt for vaccine supplies. “There were manufacturers whose products were available sooner in Canada, the U.K,” he told Hungarian radio.He added, “We’re unable to move faster with inoculating people not because Hungarian health care is incapable of carrying out mass vaccinations rapidly, but because we have a shortage of vaccine supplies.”Hungary has broken ranks with the EU and ordered doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. Several other countries, including the Czech Republic, Italy and Spain, are also questioning whether it was wise to entrust Brussels with cutting the deals to provide vaccines for the 450 million people living in the bloc. They, too, are now considering making their own purchases.
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Across global cities big and small, the coronavirus pandemic has forced a shutdown of cultural life. But that’s changing in the Russian capital, where a mass vaccination program is in full swing. Charles Maynes reports from Moscow.Camera:  Ricardo Marquina Montanana  Produced by: Bronwyn Benito  
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Experts are warning of a looming humanitarian crisis in Venezuela if President Joe Biden’s new U.S. administration does not lift restrictions that are preventing the South American country from swapping its plentiful crude oil reserves for refined diesel fuel from abroad.With Venezuela’s refinery sector in disarray after years of mismanagement, the country has become increasingly dependent on imported diesel fuel to generate electricity and transport essential goods including food, medicine and humanitarian supplies.That international lifeline has been cut off by new U.S. sanctions introduced by the administration of former President Donald Trump last August. No diesel shipments have arrived in Venezuela since October 2020 and existing supplies are expected to run out in March.It is not yet clear how the new White House team plans to deal with the crisis. Press secretary Jean Psaki recently said the administration wants to promote a peaceful and democratic transition in Venezuela through free and fair elections. She also said Washington will “prosecute individual” Venezuelans implicated in corruption and human rights violations.Why is diesel important?The gas shortage in Venezuela, caused by the collapse of the oil industry and years of U.S. sanctions, has forced the country to import diesel and gas both through bartering with companies like Repsol in Spain, Reliance in India and Eni in Italy, also importing diesel from Rosneft, the Russian oil company that was banned by the United States.An oil tanker is seen at Jose refinery cargo terminal in Venezuela in this undated file photo.Diesel, therefore, gained relevance as the engine for essential activities for society. “It is a very important fuel for various activities that have humanitarian relevance, in particular food transportation, electricity generation and public transportation,” Francisco Rodríguez, a Venezuelan economist, explained to Voice of America.Currently, the country has enough supply of diesel to meet the minimum demand until the end of March, said Luis Vicente León, director of Datanalisis, a consulting firm in Venezuela.When was diesel trade banned and why?Since October 2020, the government of former U.S. President Trump has prohibited oil companies from sending diesel to Venezuela in exchange for crude. The year before in January 2019, the U.S. imposed sanctions to PDVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company; however, diesel trade was exempt.Repsol, Reliance and Eni participated in this exchange with PDVSA. According to Consecomercio, a private sector organization in Venezuela, not a single ship loaded with imported fuel has arrived in the country since October 24 of last year.FILE – Closed gas pumps stand at a PDVSA gas station in Caracas, Venezuela, Sept. 8, 2020.The former envoy of the U.S. Department of State, Elliott Abrams, justified the measure as a tool of pressure on President Nicolas Maduro, arguing that the Venezuelan government was sending crude and diesel to Cuba.In the last three months, Venezuela sent Cuba an average of 4,000 barrels a day of diesel, according to Reuters data. Experts agree, however, the amount that is sent to the island is small, compared to what is consumed and needed.”Shipments to Cuba are tiny compared to the diesel deficit that would be generated by breaking the agreement,” León said. The gap between the amount of diesel consumed and that demanded in the country is between 16,000 and 20,000 barrels a day, the expert said.National diesel consumption in Venezuela is estimated at 100,000 barrels a day, according to figures published last November by the Unitary Federation of Petroleum Workers of Venezuela. Iván Freites, secretary of that union, affirmed then that PDVSA’s refineries were only producing 25 percent of what was required, that is, about 25,000 barrels a day.A ‘humanitarian’ measureExperts say that lifting the oil-diesel exchange ban will give Venezuela essential access to fuel and that without it, the humanitarian crisis in the country could worsen.Miguel Pizarro, the envoy to the United Nations of Juan Guaidó, one of the opposition leaders recognized by dozens of countries, including the United States, as interim president of Venezuela, told Voice of America that the humanitarian emergency is not caused by sanctions, but he does recognize that they can have a negative impact by being in effect a long period of time.Guaido says he also thinks that sanctions over a long period of time will have an impact.”This sanction [on the exchange of oil for diesel], applied for a long time, could affect the distribution of humanitarian assistance in the country and the capacity to provide services,” wrote the opposition politician to VOA.   Before the U.S. government made the decision to implement sanctions, a group of 115 organizations and individuals wrote to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, asking him not to do so.A ‘national scale’ problemOne of the most affected sectors in Venezuela is the state of Zulia, with a high population and affluent commercial zones. Sanctions and prohibitions against PDVSA have not allowed merchant and dealers to exchange oil for diesel.Vehicles line up near a gas station to fill their tanks in Caracas, Venezuela, Sept. 8, 2020.Erasmo Aliam, a labor union member in the transportation sector, highlights that the transfer of passengers, food, medicine and various cargo has been affected by the shortage of diesel.“Every day the situation with gasoline gets worse. In Caracas and the central region of the country, the issue is a little easier. Here we have more lines, people wait four or five days in lines to pour gasoline. General transportation runs on diesel,” he told VOA.Aliam, president of the “Central Unica de Transporte de Zulia,” confirms that many drivers invested in adapting the engines of their vehicles to use diesel, due to the constant lack of gas.Venezuelan traders also acknowledge that they feel the impact of the lack of diesel. Felipe Capozzolo, president of the National Council for Commerce and Services, said on Wednesday that there has been no “continuous flow” of liquid hydrocarbon since the end of October of last year. In a virtual press conference, he specified that there are Venezuelan states that “have the leading role in calamities,” such as Zulia or Barinas, but he warned that the problem already reaches national dimensions.He expressed hope that this period will be a “lesson learned” for the sectors involved to “generate all our diesel without depending on anyone.” 
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German prosecutors announced Tuesday they have charged a 100-year-old man with being an accessory to 3,518 murders committed while he was allegedly a guard at the Sachsenhausen World War II concentration camp outside of Berlin. Neuruppin prosecutor Cryll Klement told the Associated Press that the man, whose name is being withheld under Germany’s privacy laws, is alleged to have worked at the Sachsenhausen camp between 1942 and 1945 as an enlisted member of the Nazi Party’s paramilitary wing. Klement, who led the investigation, said that despite his advanced age, the suspect is considered fit enough to stand trial, though accommodations may have to be made to limit how many hours per day the court is in session. FILE – Visitors walk past the gate, inscribed with the words “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work makes you free), of the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp, now a memorial, in Oranienburg, Feb. 7, 2020.The prosecutor said the Neuruppin office was given the case in 2019 by the special federal prosecutors’ office in Ludwigsburg charged with investigating Nazi-era war crimes. The charges come less than two weeks after prosecutors in the northern town of Itzehoe filed similar charges against a 95-year-old woman who worked during the war as the secretary to the SS commandant of the Stutthof concentration camp. Chief Nazi hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Efraim Zuroff, told the AP the two new cases serve as “vital reminders to the dangers of anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia.” He said the advanced ages of these defendants “is no excuse to ignore them and allow them to live in the peace and tranquility they denied their victims.” The Sachsenhausen concentration camp was established near Berlin in 1936 and was one of the first such camps established by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. The camp was notorious for early experiments in the killing of inmates by gas in what became a trial run for the murder of millions in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. 
 
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While China was preparing to implement a new National Security Law in Hong Kong in the summer of 2020, Jennifer was planning to relocate her family to Britain.  Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers are expected to move to the United Kingdom in the coming years, where they are eligible to apply for British citizenship. Many of the thousands of newly arrived are now organizing initiatives to support others planning their move to Britain.  
 
Like many others, Jennifer participated in the 2019 pro-democracy and anti-government demonstrations. But the law passed last summer has Jennifer and others worried their civil liberties could be undermined.  
 
The National Security Law would prevent and punish what it calls acts of “secession, subversion or terrorism activities” that threaten national security. The law would also allow Chinese national security organizations to set up agencies in Hong Kong. Critics say it effectively curtails protests and freedom of speech; China says it is needed to restore order and stability.  
 
Jennifer, who requested that her real name not be used, spent months online preparing to move her family:  
    
“When I came, I was quite well-prepared because I could have everything for me settled by myself, through a lot of hard work in Hong Kong. So, I did a lot of online research and approaching different organization and departments in the U.K. to arrange my place to live and arrange school for my child and arrange my account and all that. Most of the families, they come here for the children’s future,” Jennifer said.FILE – A British National Overseas passport (BNO), right, and a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China passport are pictured in Hong Kong, Jan. 29, 2021.Despite never having lived in Britain before, she holds a British National Overseas passport. Her family is eligible to apply for a new visa that offers a path to British residency and citizenship. The British government estimates nearly 3 million people are eligible along with about 2.3 million dependents. Applications opened January 31. So far 7,000 people with a BNO passport have arrived from Hong Kong since July 2020.Hong Kong is a former British colony over which China regained control in 1997.  
 
Jennifer now shares her knowledge about the moving process with other Hong Kongers through volunteer organizations. In recent months, several organizations were established in Britain to provide support to people arriving from Hong Kong and to those planning their move.  
 
Simon Cheng is the co-founder and chairman of one such support group, Hongkongers in Britain. The volunteer-run organization hopes to fill information gaps and smooth the process for the 300,000 Hong Kongers believed to resettle in Britain over the next few years.  
 
Cheng says that while there are a lot of questions about the practicality of relocating, such as finding employment and schools, there are deeper concerns regarding China’s ability to retaliate – even in Britain.  
    
“About one month ago, we did the policy study to identify their needs and their concerns. The security would be the area of the concern. And they were a little bit worried that if they come here when they’ve been harassed, the Chinese authority would be very upset about it. We’re not sure yet about the future and potential retaliation,” Cheng said.FILE – Simon Cheng, founder of Hongkongers in Britain, attends an event protesting shrinking political freedoms in Hong Kong, in Leicester Square, central London, Dec. 12, 2020.There are dozens of YouTube channels, Facebook groups and other online platforms where relocated Hong Kongers are sharing information about the visa application and the resettling process.  
 
Neil Jameson of UK Welcomes Refugees, an umbrella group helping people enter British society, says providing the right support and information to BNO holders will test British institutions:  
    
“The problem would be landlords, the National Health Service, the police, and then they will suddenly see these papers they haven’t seen before, which is BNO passports. The vast number of people who will be coming, will be coming legitimately, do need to be welcomed, do need ideally to have a trusted group to go to in the places they choose to settle,” Jameson said.
    
Britain announced the updated British National Overseas passports visa program after the ongoing crackdown on pro-democracy activists by Chinese authorities in Hong Kong. The Chinese government announced it would stop recognizing the BNO as a valid travel document from the moment the BNO application program opened to Hong Kong residents.
 
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Haitian President Jovenel Moise has retired three Supreme Court justices, two days after announcing a foiled coup attempt.  The retired justices are Yvickel Dabrezil, who was arrested by the national police in an operation to thwart an alleged coup attempt in the early morning hours of Sunday, Justices Wendelle Coq Thelot and Joseph Mecene Jean Louis. 
 
Jean Louis, the most senior member of the Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation), issued a video Monday that was posted on social media, in which he declared he has accepted the nomination by the opposition and civil society members to “serve his country as provisional president of the transition”.   
 The presidential decree announced in Haiti’s government newsletter announcing the retirement of three Supreme Court Justices, Feb. 8, 2021.Haiti’s opposition has insisted for months that President Moise’s term expires on February 7, 2021 according to the constitution and that a transitional government should replace him. Their plan calls for a Supreme Court justice to serve as provisional president – in accordance with the constitution – until elections can be held to choose a new president.Moise says his term will expire in February 2022, a date accepted by the U.S., United Nations and Organization of American States.  They have urged Moise to organize elections “as soon as technically feasible, followed by 2021 presidential elections.”  
 
Haiti should have held presidential and legislative elections in 2020 to choose Moise’s successor but was unable to do so due to the coronavirus pandemic and insecurity.  Moise has been ruling by decree since January of 2020 when the terms of 2/3 of the parliament expired.The three judges retired by Moise are in the line of succession. The country’s constitution stipulates that a member of the high court should serve as provisional president if a president is unable to perform his duties.   Journalists gather outside the Supreme Court of Haiti (Cours de cassation)on, Feb. 8, 2021 in the almost empty streets of Port-au-Prince.Is the decree legal? 
 
There are questions regarding the legality of Moise’s decree. Jean Wilner Morin, president of the National Association of Haitian Magistrates, ANAMAH, says it is a violation of the constitution.  “Article 177 of the constitution says you cannot retire a judge against his will, you cannot transfer him. For a judge to be retired he must be 60 years old or incapacitated and unable to perform his duties,” Morin said in an interview with a Haitian radio station Tuesday. “You must have worked for at least 25 years in the (judiciary) institution and must make a request to retire.  So we see these judges Yvickel Dabrezil who is 55, Joseph Mecene Jean Louis is 72 – (were targeted because) they are people who are in the line of succession and could replace Jovenel Moise.” Judge Morin said ANAMAH considers Justice Dabrezil’s arrest a “kidnapping” and described the conditions of his detention as “deplorable.”  Morin, who visited the justice in jail on Monday said Dabrezil was kicked by an arresting officer. He suffers from hypertension and diabetes and was denied food or water for over 12 hours. The cell where he is being held is surrounded by police officers, and he was denied permission to bathe. He sleeps in a chair, Morin said.    Morin said ANAMAH is working to get the justice released.  “His family and the association of judges – we met yesterday and took measures we don’t want to talk about publicly yet – that will allow for his release,” Morin said.  FILE – State Department spokesperson Ned Price speaks during a press briefing at the State Department in Washington, Feb. 2, 2021.US urges Moise to avoid ruling by decree    Both the Biden and Trump administrations have warned Moise repeatedly against ruling by decree. On Monday, a State Department spokesperson reiterated its position. “The United States continues to maintain that the Haitian government should exercise restraint in issuing decrees, only using that power to schedule legislative elections and for matters of immediate threats to life, health, and safety until parliament is restored and can resume its constitutional responsibilities,” a spokesperson said, in response to VOA’s question.   The State Department and the United Nations told VOA Monday they are closely following the events in Haiti and await results of the Haitian police investigation on the arrests made on Sunday.  “The United States is following the situation in Haiti with concern and calls on all political actors to address their differences through peaceful means.  We understand the Haitian National Police is investigating 23 individuals who were arrested over the weekend.  The situation remains murky and we await the results of the police investigation,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA.    
 This anti-government protester, in Port-au-Prince Feb. 8, 2021, told VOA he supports the opposition’s decision to name a Supreme Court justice as provisional president. (Photo: Matiado Vilme / VOA)On the streets of Port-au-Prince, not far from the national palace, an anti-government protester told VOA people support the opposition’s decision to choose a provisional president among the Supreme Court justices. 
 
“We the people embrace this idea because it’s not a decision that was made by a monarchy. You can tell they put the constitution first and chose a judge from the Supreme Court as the constitution mandates,” he said. “If there’s a vacancy at the national palace, a supreme court judge should be the replacement.”  On Tuesday, the Caribbean nation remains tense after police exchanged gunfire with protesters demanding President Moise resign. Two journalists were seriously injured and hospitalized.   Matiado Vilme in Port-au-Prince, Cindy Saine at the State Department and Margaret Besheer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
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A metal monolith that mysteriously appeared on a field in southeast Turkey has now disappeared, Turkish media reported Tuesday, four days after it was discovered.
The three-meter-high (about 10-foot-high) metal slab bearing an ancient Turkic script, was found Friday by a farmer in Sanliurfa province. It was discovered near the UNESCO World Heritage site of Gobekli Tepe, which is home to megalithic structures dating to the 10th millennium B.C., thousands of years before Stonehenge.
The shiny structure, however, was reported gone Tuesday morning, days after authorities said they were investigating its appearance by looking through closed circuit television footage and searching for vehicles that may have transported it to the site.
It wasn’t immediately clear if it had been taken down by the authorities. Officials at the Sanliurfa governor’s office weren’t immediately available for comment.
The state-run Anadolu Agency quoted the field’s owner as saying he was baffled by both its appearance and disappearance.
“We don’t know if it was placed on my field for marketing purposes or as an advertisement,” Anadolu quoted Fuat Demirdil as saying. “We saw that the metal block was no longer at its place. Residents cannot solve the mystery of the metal block either.”
The agency also quoted local resident Hasan Yildiz as saying the block was still at the field Monday evening, but had disappeared by the morning.
The monolith bore an inscription that read: “Look at the sky, you will see the moon” in the ancient Turkic Gokturk alphabet, according to reports.
Other mysterious monoliths have similarly appeared and some have disappeared in numerous countries in recent months.
Gobekli Tepe was the setting of the Turkish Netflix mystery series, “The Gift.”
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Tensions are running high in Haiti Tuesday, a day after police clashed with anti-government protesters demanding that embattled President Jovenel Moise resign. Opposition groups angered that Moise’s term expired on Sunday named their own leader of the impoverished country after officials claimed they had averted an attempt to kill the president and overthrow the government in a coup. A demonstrator picks up a tear gas canister during protests against Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 8, 2021.Moise contends his term will expire on February 7 of next year, citing he was sworn into office for a five-year term in 2017. Just over 20 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in that election. Moise’s efforts to remain in office have been hampered by the fragile makeup of the political infrastructure. Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that some institutions that could help end the stalemate over the length of the presidential term lack the necessary authorization, including the Constitutional Council, which it says only exists on paper.  
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Peru begins its fight against a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday, with President Francisco Sagasti rolling up his sleeve first, to show people the vaccine is safe.   Peru is beginning its first round of immunization just two days after receiving 300,000 doses of vaccine from China’s Sinopharm laboratory.  A spokeswoman for Peru’s health ministry said authorities are hoping the vaccine will restore hope in tackling the crisis. Health Minister Pilar Mazzetti is delaying her vaccination, opting for front line health care workers to get immunized first.  Peru, which has one of the highest coronavirus tallies in Latin America, has confirmed more than 1,186,000 infections and 42,308 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University Covid Resource Center. 
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Ecuadorean presidential candidate Andrés Arauz is heading for a runoff vote in national elections after leading among a field of 16 candidates but not winning enough votes for an outright victory. Arauz, an ally of former populist president Rafael Correa, received at least 32 percent of the vote, based on two exit polls from Sunday’s vote, far less than the 50 percent needed to avoid a second round of voting.Ecuador’s presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso attends a news conference in Guayaquil, Feb. 8, 2021.Battling for a second-place finish is Yaku Pérez, an attorney and human rights activist propelled by support among his indigenous community, and Guillermo Lasso, a banker seeking the South American country’s top office for a third time.  
 
Both candidates received nearly 20 percent of the vote. 
 
The second round of voting, which is expected to determine who becomes Ecuador’s new president, is set for April 11. 
 
Aside from choosing a successor to President Lenin Moreno, voters will also be selecting 137 members to Congress. 
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Dan Whitman, a former U.S. Foreign Service officer and State Department employee, says he had no involvement in the foiled Haiti coup plot on Sunday.  “I don’t know who is spreading this narrative, or why. I’ve never met or heard of any of the individuals mentioned — and don’t know why my name would be used in this regard,” Whitman told VOA in a phone interview Monday.    The American, currently a professor at American University’s School of International Service, is depicted in a video distributed by Haiti’s Intelligence Service to members of the Haitian press on Sunday. A photo of Whitman is captioned as a “former member of the State Department” who, the video alleges, masterminded the plot to overthrow President Jovenel Moise with the help of national police officers.  Whitman worked at the State Department from 1985 to 2009 and has written a book on Haiti, “A Haiti Chronicle: The Undoing of a Latent Democracy,” published in 2004. The professor is fluent in French and spoke a few words of Creole to VOA during the interview.  Asked why he had been included in the Haitian video, Whitman told VOA, “I haven’t seen the video, I’ve heard about it.”    As for whether he was in Haiti on Sunday (February 7), or recently, he said, “I left that country 20 years ago and I’ve never been back.”Dan Whitman worked at the U.S. State Department from 1985 to 2009. He is now a professor at American University’s School of International Studies. (Credit – courtesy)Whitman told VOA it upsets him that his name has been linked to the foiled coup attempt.  VOA asked the State Department for comment on the video implicating a former employee.  “It is our well-established practice to conduct diplomatic relations through our embassies, not private individuals,” a spokesperson said. “And we have a very capable embassy and ambassador in Port-Au-Prince. As you know, we do not discuss cases involving private U.S. citizens absent their written consent.”  Haitian President Jovenel Moise announced during a Facebook Live event at noon Sunday that law enforcement officials had foiled a coup attempt and made more than 20 arrests. Moise stood on the tarmac of the Toussaint Louverture International Airport, alongside his wife, first lady Martine Moise, in front of a private plane that he boarded immediately afterward to visit the southern coastal town of Jacmel to kick off Carnival festivities. He said Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe would hold a press conference Sunday afternoon to provide further details.  Jouthe told the press he saw and heard proof in the form of audio recordings produced by the Intelligence Service, signed documents and the text of a speech for the inauguration of the new president.  VOA listened to the recordings — a video that shows a photo of who is speaking over the audio of their conversation in French and Creole — Monday. Here’s what was heard:  The plot  The alleged coup plot is laid out in a produced video featuring mobile phone footage of Supreme Court Justice Hiviquel Dabrezil shortly after his arrest and then segues to a series of audio recordings of conversations between the alleged coup plotters.  In one exchange, Dimitri Herard, a commander of the USGPN (L’Unité de Sécurité Générale du Palais National), a specialized unit of the national police force tasked with protecting the national palace, is talking to National Police Force Inspector General Marie Antoinette Gauthier about plans. Gauthier is captioned in the video as “lead putschiste.” Dimitri Herard: “Hello, commander?”  Marie Antoinette Gauthier: “Yes, hello. Dimitri? I’m listening.” DH: “Yes, commander.” MAG: “Listen, I received orders from the State Department.” DH: “OK…”  MAG: “…to plan certain things.”    DH: “Clearly. They contacted me as well so that’s why I was waiting for your call. I’m listening commander.” MAG: “Yes, listen. They told me that Friday or Saturday — you understand?”   DH: “Uh-huh.”  Whitman is never mentioned by name. But the Intelligence Service video narrator alleges “the group plotted with a former member of the Department of State — Dan Whitman — who they say was working with them to pull off this coup d’etat.”  In another exchange, Herard and Gauthier discuss the “extraction” of President Moise.    DH (in French): “I don’t know if it’s the same people who contacted you — OK? But they also mentioned an inauguration on Monday, the 8th, etc., but. …” MAG: “I’m coming over.” DH: “OK, the reason why I’m asking the question is I wanted to know what about the president? What is happening with him?” MAG: “Listen, listen the president — on the morning of the 7th, if he is still in power — are you listening?” DH: “Yes, I hear you clearly, commander.” MAG: “On the 7th, I’ll have to take control of him. Do you understand?” DH: “OK.”  MAG: “I’ll let him know we have a warrant for his arrest, and we have to detain him and take him to — are you familiar with the Petit Bois complex?”  DH: “The complex that is near the American Embassy?”  MAG: “Yes.”  The video alleges that the 23 arrests on Sunday gave authorities a clear picture about the plot and the prominent politicians, businessmen and law enforcement officials who agreed to participate in it.    “We found that this coup was masterminded by Jean Henry Ceant (former prime minister),” the narrator says, “Reginald Boulos (millionaire businessman who is also an opposition politician), who would finance it; Jean Marie Vorbe — in fact the complex where they masterminded the plot belongs to Jean Marie Vorbe. Youri Chevry (Port-au-Prince mayor) and Nenel Cassy (former senator of Lavalas party) were responsible for arming and financing. Fantom 509 (rogue police officers), they were going to organize the coup and a member of the Supreme Court — Justice Mario Beauvoir and many other members of the opposition, many of whom have been arrested and other warrants are outstanding for the arrest of all the coup plotters.”  US reaction Commenting on Sunday’s events, a State Department spokesperson told VOA, “The United States is following the situation in Haiti with concern and calls on all political actors to address their differences though peaceful means. We understand the Haitian National Police is investigating 23 individuals who were arrested over the weekend. The situation remains murky, and we await the results of the police investigation.”    In response to VOA’s question about what message the United States would like to send Haitians who insist Moise’s term is expired, the spokesperson responded, “While the Haitian constitution does not clearly address today’s situation, President Jovenel Moise was elected in November 2016, following the annulment of the initial presidential polls in October of the previous year. He was sworn into office on February 7, 2017, for a five-year term, which is, therefore, scheduled to end on February 7, 2022.”  Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York tweeted Saturday that he co-led a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Congresswoman Yvette Clarke “to condemn President Moise’s undemocratic actions in Haiti, urging a Haitian-led democratic transition of power. The letter was signed by five other House representatives: Albio Sires, Andy Levin, Alcee Hastings, Ilhan Omar and Darren Soto.Today I co-led a letter to @SecBlinken with @RepYvetteClarke to condemn President Moïse’s undemocratic actions in Haiti, urging for a Haitian-led democratic transition of power. The full text of the letter: https://t.co/CDGgmpM45Lpic.twitter.com/pkuriOY5TS— Rep. Gregory Meeks (@RepGregoryMeeks) February 6, 2021Early Sunday, Congressman Levin tweeted condemnation of President Moise.  “I am deeply saddened but unsurprised that Moise has escalated his anti-democratic campaign with a mass arrest of opposition officials and others on what should be his final day in office,” Levin tweeted.I am deeply saddened but unsurprised that Moïse has escalated his anti-democratic campaign with a mass arrest of opposition officials and others on what should be his final day in office.— Rep. Andy Levin (@RepAndyLevin) February 7, 2021The State Department told VOA it was aware of the lawmakers’ comments but decline to provide any details on communications.  “We do not comment on specific communications with Congress,” the spokesperson said. “The department is briefing members on the situation in Haiti. The secretary appreciates insight and communication from Congress on foreign policy.”  The United Nations also commented on Sunday’s events in Haiti, echoing the Biden administration’s stance.  “On Haiti, I will tell you that we are obviously, both the secretary-general and the team on the ground, are following the situation with worry and concern. It is very important that all stakeholders address their differences though peaceful means,” spokesperson Stephane Durjarric told VOA.  “We have also seen the reports and are very much aware that the Haitian National Police is investigating 23 individuals arrested over the weekend for allegedly plotting a coup. We are waiting and are interested in seeing the results of what that investigation is,” Dujarric said.  Port-au Prince was calm Monday, according to VOA Creole reporters, who said most businesses and the Supreme Court were closed.  Jean Samuel Pierre in Port-au-Prince, Cindy Saine at the State contributed to this report.
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Public opinion is mixed on how well Western governments have handled the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center, which also questioned people on their attitudes regarding compulsory vaccinations.Seventy-seven percent of Germans thought their government did a good job in handling the outbreak, while 58% of Americans say the U.S. government is doing a bad job.More than 4,000 adults were questioned in the United States, Britain, France and Germany.The survey was conducted in November and December 2020, before U.S. President Joe Biden took office in mid-January and just as vaccination programs were beginning to roll out in the United States and Britain.The European Union has been far slower in getting its vaccination programs under way, leading to some criticism of the bloc’s vaccine approval and procurement policy among EU citizens.An elderly visitor receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Cent Quatre cultural center in Paris, France, Feb. 1, 2021.France and other EU states have argued the process must not be rushed, fearing a loss of public trust. France has one of the highest levels of so-called “vaccine skepticism” in the world.A recent newspaper poll suggested that just over 40% of the adult population intend to get the coronavirus vaccine. French President Emmanuel Macron recently rejected calls for mandatory vaccines.The Pew survey questioned respondents on their attitudes to compulsory vaccinations.“In three of the countries where we asked that question, most people do not find that an acceptable idea,” report co-author Kat Devlin told VOA. “So, for instance, 75% in France do not like the idea of a government-mandated vaccine. The U.K. was the one country where we found more acceptance of the idea of a government-mandated vaccine — 62% find that an acceptable proposition.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 9 MB480p | 13 MB540p | 17 MB720p | 32 MB1080p | 71 MBOriginal | 224 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioThe vaccination program is accelerating in Britain, with over 12 million people having now received their first dose. Britain has also suffered the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe.Analysts say local elections scheduled for May will offer another measure of public approval for the British government’s handling of the pandemic. 
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Colombia will give temporary protective legal status to Venezuelan migrants, President Ivan Duque said Monday in a joint announcement with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. The status will allow the migrants to work legally in Colombia. Colombia has been the top destination for people fleeing economic and social collapse in neighboring Venezuela. About 966,000 of the 1.73 million Venezuelan migrants living in Colombia do not currently have legal status. FILE – Colombia’s President Ivan Duque addresses the nation in a televised speech, in Bogota, Colombia, Nov. 22, 2019.”We need to take action,” Duque said at a press announcement. “This process marks a milestone in Colombia’s migration policies.” The U.N.’s Grandi called the announcement historic and said it was the most important humanitarian gesture in the region for decades. The migrant influx has overburdened Colombia’s fragile public health and education systems, especially in border areas. The new status, which will last 10 years, will free those who are already legalized from regularly having to reapply for permissions, Duque said. In addition, migrants with irregular status who entered Colombia before January 31 are eligible, along with migrants who legally enter Colombia during the first two years of the new measures. Anyone who does not register under the new temporary status will eventually be subject to deportation, Duque added. Duque reiterated a call for the international community to increase funding for the crisis, asking for help to vaccinate migrants against COVID-19. The Venezuelan population in Colombia fell more than 2% last year, as tens of thousands returned home in desperation during more than five months of coronavirus lockdown that shuttered many parts of the economy. But Colombian authorities predict many are likely to return as the economy recovers, bringing with them one or two additional migrants. Colombia said last month it will keep its land and river borders closed until March 1 in a bid to curb spread of coronavirus. International and domestic air travel is open. 
 
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The future of Turkey’s second-largest opposition party is hanging in the balance, with mass arrests and growing calls for its closure. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses the pro-Kurdish HDP of militant links, but the party says it’s a victim of increasing government authoritarianism. The HDP claims it’s facing an unprecedented legal crackdown with 16,000 members detained and dozens of deputies ousted from parliament and jailed under Turkey’s anti-terror legislation. Erdogan routinely refers to the HDP as the “pro-PKK party.” The PKK is a Kurdish insurgent group waging a decades-long war for minority rights in Turkey and is designated as a terrorist group by the United States and European Union. The progressive left pro-Kurdish HDP, which denies PKK links, secured six million votes in the 2018 election and 67 parliamentary deputies, making it Turkey’s second-largest party. FILE – Turkish police officers in riot gear block supporters of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) as they try to gather for a rally in Istanbul, June 17, 2020.The HDP local elected representatives are facing the brunt of the legal crackdown. Sixty out of the 65 mayors have been jailed or replaced by trustees appointed by the Interior Ministry under anti-terror legislation. “When you can’t see ahead clearly, this affects your work in a negative way,” said Adalet Fidan, HDP mayor for Silopi in Turkey’s predominant Kurdish southeast, “because you are continuously thinking that at any moment there can be a trustee appointed to take over.”But the HDP’s existence is now in question. “Opposing the closure of the HDP means undermining justice and the fight against terrorism,” said Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, and Erdogan’s parliamentary coalition partner. FILE – Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli delivers a speech in Istanbul, Turkey, May 18, 2018.Bahceli, a hardline Turkish nationalist, is widely seen as the driving force behind the crackdown against the HDP. Erdogan has in the past voiced reluctance in supporting calls to ban the pro-Kurdish party.  But last month’s launching of a far-reaching prosecution against key members of the HDP is being interpreted by some observers as preparing the ground for the party’s closure. Turkey’s chief prosecutor’s office indicted 108 people for initiating fatal protests in 2014. The unrest was sparked by Ankara’s failure to offer support to Kurdish fighters besieged by the so-called Islamic State group, in the Syrian town of Kobane, on Turkey’s border. FILE – Turkish Kurds and others rally in support of Kurdish fighters who have gone to defend the Syrian town of Kobane against Islamic State extremists, in the central Turkish city of Ankara, Nov. 1, 2014.Prominent and former senior members of the HDP face life imprisonment without parole. “What we see in the indictment is a lot of tweets and politicians’ speeches which are then used to suggest and hold politicians responsible for the murder of 37 people during violent protests in 2014,” said Emma Sinclair Webb, senior Turkey researcher for the New York-based Human Rights Watch.  “Bottom line, through tweets, they committed murder, which is extraordinary,” she added. Sinclair Webb also voiced concern about HDP politicians being indicted with leading PKK members. “It shows the government sees the HDP party as no different from an armed organization, the PKK, and that is completely unacceptable as a way at looking at a democratic party which is playing by the rules of democratic elections.”  Strained relations with EUThe indictment threatens to exacerbate already strained Ankara-European Union relations. Among the accused is former HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas, who has been held in pre-trial detention since November 2016 on anti-terror charges. FILE – Supporters of Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) hold masks of their jailed former leader Selahattin Demirtas during a rally in Ankara, Turkey, June 19, 2018.The European Court of Human Rights in December ruled for Demirtas’s immediate release, saying his imprisonment was for an “ulterior political purpose.”  “The Turkish prosecutorial authorities with this latest indictment are flouting the ECHR decisions which calls for the immediate release of Selahattin Demirtas from jail,” said Sinclair Webb. While Turkey is beholden to comply with European Court decisions, Erdogan in December dismissed the Demirtas ruling as “politically motivated” and “hypocritical.” But the escalating HDP crackdown comes at an inopportune time for Erdogan, as he is seeking to improve ties with the EU, promising a new chapter in relations.  Later this month, Erdogan is scheduled to announce a raft of democratic and legal reforms. Analysts warn Brussels views Erdogan with deep skepticism. “The Turkish president’s reputation is at stake; this is the problem,” warned Huseyin Bagci, head of the Ankara-based Foreign Policy Institute. “The Europeans expect from Turkey no more words, but deeds; Turkey should act.” Electoral predictionWith Erdogan’s ruling AKP slipping in opinion polls, observers say he is becoming increasingly reliant on the support of his nationalist MHP coalition partner, which is pressing for a tougher stance against the HDP. Electoral calculations have added importance with growing speculation that the 2023 vote could be called as early as the end of the year. Analysts point out that if the HDP were to be closed down, Erdogan could secure an electoral advantage, given the vote in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast is traditionally split between the HDP and the AKP.  Fidan acknowledges she could well be living on borrowed time as HDP mayor for Silopi. “Most of the people I campaigned with during the local elections, who became mayors, some were even lawyers themselves, were taken from their post for nonsense reasons,” said Fidan. “And I fear the same thing can happen here as well, but all you can do is keep working.” 
 
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The Netherlands says it is freezing international adoptions after a government commission discovered children had been stolen or bought from their parents.  
 
In cases going back to the 1960s, the commission found abuses such as “the falsification of documents, the abuse of poverty among the birth mothers and the abandonment of children for payment or through coercion.”
 
The commission was formed as adopted adults found their documents had been either lost or fake or that their adoption was illegal.
 
The commission reviewed cases from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Brazil, and Colombia between 1967 and 1998. However, it found that the abuse had been going on before and after this time period.  
 
Rights minister Sander Dekker said he “understood that this will be painful for some people but let us not forget … we are protecting children and their biological parents.”
 
Dekker said the job falls on the next administration to decide whether or not to renew an international adoption process without abuses. 
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A rescue ship with 422 migrants picked up off the coast of Libya, received permission from the Italian authorities to dock in the Sicilian port of Augusta late Sunday.  
 
Eight of the passengers tested positive for COVID-19 in health checks conducted onboard by the crew of Ocean Viking which patrols the Mediterranean Sea.  
 
The French-based SOS Mediterranee group, which operates the vessel said passengers included pregnant women, babies, children, and unaccompanied minors.
 
The Ocean Viking has picked up a total of 798 people since January 11, when it returned to sea after Italy had blocked it for five months.
 
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), about 95,000 migrants and asylum-seekers crossed the Mediterranean in 2020 in search for a better life in Europe. More than 1,200 did not survive the perilous journey. 
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Two gay men seized near Moscow and sent back to their native Chechnya, a region accused of brutal persecution against homosexuality, face “mortal danger,” a rights group said Saturday. The LGBT Network rights group helped the two Chechen men, Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isayev, flee Muslim-majority Chechnya for Nizhny Novgorod east of Moscow in June last year after they were reportedly tortured by Chechen special police. The two men were detained for unknown reasons in Nizhny Novgorod on Thursday and have been sent back to the North Caucasus region, the group said in a statement. LGBT Network spokesman Tim Bestsvet said the men were detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) domestic intelligence agency and had arrived at a police station in Chechen town of Gudermes on Saturday. “They are tired and frightened,” he told AFP Saturday. “All this time they were being pressured to refuse a lawyer,” Bestsvet said, adding that a lawyer with the LGBT Network was in Gudermes trying to get access to the men. “There have been cases when relatives brought back to Chechnya people that we had evacuated and then these people would die or, we can say, were probably murdered,” Bestsvet said, adding that Magamadov and Isayev faced “mortal danger.” The interior ministry’s Chechnya branch and the FSB were not immediately available for comment Saturday. While Magamadov is older than 18, Bestsvet said that because Isayev is 17 he can only refuse legal representation via his parents.  He added that Isayev’s father was brought to the police station Saturday and was facing pressure to refuse to let his son have an attorney. Magamadov and Isayev were arrested and tortured by Chechen special police in April 2020, Bestsvet said, officially for running an opposition Telegram channel, but “initially because of their sexual orientation.” The two men later recorded a video apology in which they said “they weren’t men,” before the LGBT Network helped them flee, Bestsvet said. They were also forced under torture to learn passages of the Quran as well as Russian and Chechen anthems, he added. Russia’s volatile republic of Chechnya has been under fire over alleged gay persecution since 2017, when gay men said they were tortured by law enforcement agencies. In 2019, the LGBT Network reported a second wave of persecution against gay people in the majority Muslim region, including two killings.  Chechen officials regularly dismiss the reports and strongman chief Ramzan Kadyrov claims the region’s population is exclusively heterosexual. Kadyrov, 36, who has ruled Chechnya with an iron grip since 2007 and oversaw vast redevelopment and Islamization in the war-torn region, is loathed by rights campaigners who accuse him of ordering kidnappings and extrajudicial killings. 
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A young leftist backed by a convicted-but-popular former president led the field of 16 candidates in early returns from Ecuador’s presidential election Sunday, which was held under strict coronavirus sanitary measures. Andrés Arauz, who is supported by former President Rafael Correa — a major force in the troubled Andean nation despite a corruption conviction — appeared likely to go on to an April 11 runoff, though it wasn’t clear hours after polls closed who else might advance. An early quick count showed conservative former banker Guillermo Lasso and indigenous rights and environmental activist Yaku Pérez vying for second place. In the early count, Arauz had more than 30% of the votes, and Lasso and Pérez each were around 20%. To win outright, a candidate needed 50% of the vote, or to have at least 40% with a 10-point lead over the closest opponent. Voters were required to wear masks, bring their own bottle of hand sanitizer and pencil, keep a 1.5-meter distance from others and avoid all personal contact in the polling places. The only time voters could lower their masks was during the identification process.  Long lines formed at polling places, especially in big cities, where some voters had to wait hours to cast their ballots. “I don’t care who wins the elections. We are used to thinking that the messiah is coming to solve our lives and no candidate has solved anything for me,” said one voter, Ramiro Loza. “During the quarantine, my income was reduced by 80%, and the politicians did not feed me.” The winning candidate will have to work to pull the oil-producing nation out of a deepening economic crisis that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. The South American country of 17 million people recorded more than 257,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 15,000 deaths related to COVID-19 as of Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University in the United States. Arauz, a former culture minister who attended the University of Michigan, has proposed making the wealthy pay more taxes and strengthening consumer protection mechanisms, public banking and local credit and savings organizations. Arauz, 36, said he would not comply with agreements with the International Monetary Fund. Arauz could not cast his vote in the capital, Quito, because he was registered to do so in Mexico, where he lived until shortly before his nomination, and he did not change his electoral address. Lasso, 65, was making a third run for the presidency after a long career in business, banking and government. He favors free-market policies and Ecuador’s rapprochement with international organizations. He promised to create more jobs and attract international banks. He also wants to boost the oil, mining and energy sectors through the participation of private entities to replace state financing. Hovering over the election was the future of Correa, a leftist who is only 57. He governed from 2007 to 2017 as an ally of Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, both now deceased.  He remains popular among millions of Ecuadorians after overseeing a period of economic growth driven by an oil boom and loans from China that allowed him to expand social programs, build roads, schools and other projects. But he increasingly cracked down on opponents, the press and businesses during his latter stage in office and feuded with Indigenous groups over development projects. His appeal also has been tarnished by a corruption conviction he says was a product of political vengeance. Correa was sentenced in absentia in April to eight years in prison for his role in a scheme to extract millions of dollars from businessmen in exchange for infrastructure projects — money allegedly used for political purposes. That conviction barred him from running as Arauz’s vice presidential candidate. An earlier attempt by Ecuadorian prosecutors to extradite him from Belgium in an unrelated kidnapping case was rejected by Interpol on human rights grounds. 
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“I am not a dictator,” Haitian President Jovenel Moise said during a national address Sunday, hours after announcing that the police had foiled a coup attempt and made more than 20 arrests.  Haitians woke Sunday to gunfire in areas near the national palace, and a high police presence was seen by VOA Creole reporters on the scene.  At midday, the president surprised the nation by going live on Facebook from the international airport in Port-au-Prince to announce a foiled coup attempt and the arrests.  The prime minister would give more details, the president said, before heading to the southern coastal town of Jacmel to inaugurate Carnival festivities. He was accompanied by his wife, first lady Martine Moise.  
 
Moise has said he will serve another year because he was sworn in in 2017 for a five-year term. But the nation’s opposition party says the president’s term should have ended Sunday, February 7, the date set by the constitution when elected presidents are sworn into office. Moise failed to hold elections in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic and a climate of insecurity. The Biden administration on Friday expressed support for Moise’s position that his term would end February 7, 2022, while urging him to respect the rule of law, refrain from issuing more decrees and organize elections as soon as possible. It’s a position also supported by the United Nations and Organization of American States Secretary General Luis Almagro.Police officers detain demonstrators during a protest to demand the resignation of Haitian President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 7, 2021.On Saturday, some U.S. lawmakers wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemning Moise’s actions. 
 
The State Department and U.S. Embassy in Haiti did not comment on Sunday’s events. 
Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe described the police operation during an afternoon press conference at his official residence as “operation catastrophe” during which police targeted a location called Habitation Petit Bois in the Tabarre neighborhood of the capital. The prime minister said police made 23 arrests and seized U.S. and Haitian currency, weapons and munition.  “Among the 23 arrested, unfortunately there was a Supreme Court judge and an inspector general for the national police force. We deplore this,” he said.  
 
The Supreme Court judge has been identified as Hiviquel Dabrezil and the Police Nationale d’Haiti Inspector General was identified as Marie Louise Gauthier. Agronomist Louis Buteau was also detained.  
 
Prime Minister Joseph described the alleged attempted coup:  “Those people had contacted the official in charge of security for the national palace who were to arrest the president and take him to Habitation Petit Bois and also facilitate the swearing in of a new provisional president who would oversee the transition.”  The prime minister added that he saw and heard proof in the form of audio recordings, signed documents and the text of a speech for the inauguration of the new president.  
 
The opposition’s transition plan called for a judge of the Supreme Court to replace Moise after his term expired on February 7.  Asked by VOA Creole on Saturday who they had chosen among the judges, Andre Michel, a lawyer who represents the coalition of the Democratic and Popular opposition groups, declined to specify who it would be. He told VOA if he gave the name, the person would not live to see Sunday. 
 
As the prime minister was speaking, Michel held a simultaneous press conference elsewhere in town to denounce the arrests and insist that President Jovenel Moise is now a de-facto leader because his term expired at midnight on Saturday.A police officer fires his weapon to disperse demonstrators during a protest to demand the resignation of Haitian President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 7, 2021.“The CSPJ (Superior Council of the Judiciary Branch), who in principle has the last word in any political or legal conflict — this judicial branch of government — says Jovenel Moise’s constitutional term of office has expired,” Michel said, adding that this position is supported by members of the U.S. Congress.  
 
Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks tweeted Saturday that he co-led a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Congresswoman Yvette Clarke “to condemn President Moise’s undemocratic actions in Haiti, urging for a Haitian-led democratic transition of power.  The letter was signed by five other House representatives: Albio Sires, Andy Levin, Alcee Hastings, Ilhan Omar and Darren Soto.Today I co-led a letter to @SecBlinken with @RepYvetteClarke to condemn President Moïse’s undemocratic actions in Haiti, urging for a Haitian-led democratic transition of power. The full text of the letter: https://t.co/CDGgmpM45Lpic.twitter.com/pkuriOY5TS— Rep. Gregory Meeks (@RepGregoryMeeks) February 6, 2021Early Sunday, Congressman Levin tweeted condemnation of President Moise.  
 
“I am deeply saddened but unsurprised that Moise has escalated his anti-democratic campaign with a mass arrest of opposition officials and others on what should be his final day in office,” Levin tweeted.I am deeply saddened but unsurprised that Moïse has escalated his anti-democratic campaign with a mass arrest of opposition officials and others on what should be his final day in office.— Rep. Andy Levin (@RepAndyLevin) February 7, 2021The congressman also questioned Moise’s “claims of conspiracy against his life” saying “Moise is demonstrating what my colleagues and I have said: there is zero chance of real elections, real democracy or real accountability while he remains in power.”With no evidence to support his claims of a conspiracy against his life, Moïse is demonstrating what my colleagues and I have said: there is zero chance of real elections, real democracy or real accountability while he remains in power. https://t.co/3AzphfSPaN— Rep. Andy Levin (@RepAndyLevin) February 7, 2021Moise has faced intense pressure internally and internationally over the past months for ruling by decree and failing to curb the rampant kidnappings and gang violence that have terrorized the nation.  
 
However, he was jubilant Sunday, as he listed his infrastructure accomplishments that he said has brought electricity, irrigation and roads to towns nationwide.  He implored the opposition to stop fighting him and work with him to make the lives of the people better because he has only 364 days left in office.  
 
“The battle I’m waging is not for myself, it’s for you,” Moise said. “I’m not here to lie to you today, I’m here to tell you the truth. … My brothers and sisters in the opposition don’t let pride, revenge, selfishness keep you from working with me.” 
 
VOA Creole spoke to people in Haiti about the president’s speech and the events of the day.  
 
“Today we’ve reached a decisive moment. This is a moment to prove our sovereignty. This is a day to show that we are a symbol of democracy. And that is why we are in the streets today,” said a protester who said he belongs to a grassroots group called Slave Revolt. “We are living events we’ve never seen before and that has pushed us into civil disobedience.”  
 
Another protester said he’d like to remind Jovenel Moise that his term is expired.  
 
“We’re in the streets to remind the president that although he is reticent to respect the constitution — let’s remember it is the same constitution he was sworn to uphold when he was inaugurated. Now he’s letting the country tumble into a free fall,” he said.  
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