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. 
 
…

Canada’s parliament passed a nonbinding motion on Monday saying China’s treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region constitutes genocide, putting pressure on Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to follow suit. Canada’s House of Commons voted 266-0 for the motion brought by the opposition Conservative Party. Trudeau and his Cabinet abstained from the vote, although Liberal backbenchers widely backed it. The motion was also amended just before the vote to call on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Olympics from Beijing if the treatment continues. FILE – Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou exits the court registry following the bail hearing at British Columbia Superior Courts in Vancouver, British Columbia, Dec. 11, 2018.Trudeau’s Conservative rivals have been pressuring him to get tougher on China. After Canada arrested Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in 2018 on a U.S. warrant, China detained two Canadians on spying charges, igniting lingering diplomatic tensions between the two countries. China has been widely condemned for setting up complexes in Xinjiang that it describes as “vocational training centers” to stamp out extremism and give people new skills, and which others have called concentration camps. Beijing denies accusations of abuses in Xinjiang. Citing testimony, documents and media reports of human rights abuses against Uighurs, Conservative lawmaker Michael Chong said: “We can no longer ignore this. We must call it for what it is — a genocide.” Trudeau has been reluctant to use the word genocide, suggesting that seeking broad consensus among Western allies on Chinese human rights issues would be the best approach. FILE – Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends a news conference at Rideau Cottage, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Jan. 22, 2021.”Moving forward multilaterally will be the best way to demonstrate the solidarity of Western democracies … that are extremely concerned and dismayed by reports of what’s going on in Xinjiang,” Trudeau said on Friday after speaking to fellow G-7 leaders. Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden will hold a virtual bilateral meeting on Tuesday afternoon, and relations with China are likely to be discussed, a government source said. Former U.S. President Donald Trump, on his last full day in office last month, said China had committed “genocide and crimes against humanity” by repressing Uighur Muslims. The Biden administration is trying to ensure that the genocide declaration is upheld, according to his choice to be ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield. Cong Peiwu, the Chinese ambassador to Ottawa, denied accusations of genocide. “Western countries are in no position to say what the human rights situation in China looks like,” Cong said in an interview before the vote. “There is no so-called genocide in Xinjiang at all.”  
 
…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced plans Monday to begin easing coronavirus lockdown measures, crediting the country’s rapid vaccination program for allowing Britain to begin reopening March 8. “Two weeks from today, students and pupils from all schools and further education settings can safely return to face-to-face teaching. From the 8th of March, people will also be able to meet one person from outside their household for outdoor recreation,” Johnson told lawmakers in Westminster. Since early January, Britain has been subject to one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, with schools and universities closed, social mixing banned, and all nonessential shops and services forced to close. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Goats cross a street during COVID-19 lockdowns, as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues, in Llandudno, Wales, Britain, Feb. 22, 2021.He announced a review of restrictions on international travel in April and suggested the government was looking into providing so-called “vaccine passports.” As the prime minister announced the changes Monday, a raft of scientific data appeared to bolster hopes that coronavirus vaccines will provide the key to bringing the global pandemic under control. A review of early evidence from Scotland’s vaccination program led by Edinburgh University suggested both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines are highly effective in preventing hospitalization through COVID-19. A single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine led to an 85% drop in the risk of being hospitalized by COVID-19 after four weeks. For the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine, there was a 94% decline in the risk of hospital admission.  Even among people over 80 years old, there was an overall 80% fall in hospitalization among those who had received their first dose. Scientists have called the results “spectacular.” “Getting over 80% protection from severe disease is very impressive,” Professor Lawrence Young, an expert in infectious diseases at Britain’s University of Warwick, said in an interview with VOA. “The best that we get usually from the annual flu jab is 60%.” AstraZeneca vaccine The AstraZeneca drug is a key pillar of Britain’s vaccination program and is seen as vital in the global rollout of vaccines, as it can be stored at regular refrigerator temperatures, eliminating the need for cold-chain transport and storage. However, some European states have cast doubt on its effectiveness. France, Germany and South Korea are among the countries recommending against giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to people over 65. FILE – An employee at the Dunkirk Hospital Center sets up signs to guide patients arriving for the COVID-19 vaccine, in Dunkirk, France, Feb. 17, 2021.There is anecdotal evidence that some patients are refusing the AstraZeneca dose. “I think there’s no reason now for other countries in Europe and beyond to be in any way concerned about the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine in the elderly population,” said Young. However, early data suggests the AstraZeneca vaccine may not be as effective against the South Africa variant of the coronavirus in preventing mild to moderate disease. Scientists say it may still prevent severe cases. There was further encouraging data Monday from Israel, which has given a first vaccine dose to half its population. Research suggests the Pfizer vaccine not only prevents illness but also stops transmission of the virus, which is seen as vital in bringing the pandemic under control. 
 
…

Among those seeing an opportunity for change in Venezuela under the new U.S. administration is Leopoldo López, one of the leaders of the Venezuelan opposition who fled the country in 2020. López now lives in Madrid and sat down for an interview with VOA. Alfonso Beato has more on his interview, in this report narrated by Roderick James. 
Camera: Alfonso Beato, Miguel Angel Trejo
 
…

British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says Boeing 777 aircraft with engines like the one that caught fire on a U.S. jet over the weekend will be temporarily banned from Britain.After issues this weekend, Boeing B777s with Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 series engines will be temporarily banned from entering the UK airspace. I will continue to work closely with the @UK_CAA to monitor the situation.— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) February 22, 2021The announcement Monday comes two days after United Airlines Flight 328 suffered the engine failure shortly after leaving Denver International Airport, in Colorado, en route to Honolulu, Hawaii. Large chunks of debris rained onto the neighboring town of Broomfield, Colorado, falling into yards, fields and onto homes. No injuries were reported on the ground or on the flight, which had about 240 people on board. The pilot was able to return safely to Denver.The aircraft was powered by Pratt & Whitney 4000 series engines. United Will Temporarily Stop Flying Some Boeing 777 Planes After Engine FailureThe announcement came after the Federal Aviation Administration said it would require stepped-up inspections of 777 aircraft with Pratt & Whitney PW4000 series engines after the right engine failure on United Flight 328According to the British Civil Aviation Authority, British airlines do not operate aircraft with such engines. Foreign airlines that do operate such aircraft will not be allowed to enter British airspace for the time being.“After the Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 engine incident on a Boeing 777 aircraft, we have suspended this configuration’s use in U.K. airspace,” the CAA said in a statement. “It is not used by any U.K. airlines. It is operated by airlines in the USA, Japan and South Korea where authorities have also stopped its use.”United also announced it is “voluntarily and temporarily” grounding 24 Boeing 777 aircraft. “We will continue to work closely with regulators to determine any additional steps,” the airline said on Twitter.The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said, “The initial examination of the airplane indicated most of the damage was confined to the number 2 engine; the airplane sustained minor damage. The examination and documentation of the airplane is ongoing.” The NTSB also says the cockpit voice and flight data recorders have been taken to its laboratory in Washington for analysis.The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, also called for “stepped-up inspections” of Boeing 777 airplanes equipped with certain Pratt & Whitney engines.
…

Brazil has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and tens of thousands of people are listed as missing – many of them at the hands of drug traffickers and other armed groups.  Families say they often get little help from police, and many are turning to the Internet and social media apps to find their loved ones. For VOA, Edgar Maciel reports from Sao Paulo.Camera: Edgar Maciel
…

Can Europe’s former central banker Mario Draghi, and now Italy’s new prime minister, do whatever it takes to save the country? Last week, the former European Central Bank governor Draghi was sworn in as Italy’s new prime minister as head of a unity government following the collapse of the previous governing coalition last month.Draghi, who has the backing of all of Italy’s main parties, except for a far-right one, managed to guide Europe through a sovereign debt and bond crisis ten years ago by buying up sovereign debit and reassuring the markets with a pledge to do whatever it took to save the embattled euro.But Draghi, who the Italian press nickname “Super Mario,” will need all his famed political savvy and diplomatic skill to accomplish what his predecessors failed to pull off — shake the country out of a dangerous economic malaise, say analysts.He has entered office in a position of strength: he has the support of a broad coalition that should be able to maneuver legislation through Italy’s notoriously fractious parliament with ease. He has high approval ratings in the opinion polls and he has an estimated $242 billion in grants and loans from the European Commission to spend on post-pandemic economic recovery. Divisions over how to spend that money was the immediate cause of the collapse of the previous squabbling government. Italian stocks soared with Draghi’s arrival into power and Italy’s borrowing costs on the open bond market have fallen with investors much happier to lend to a country with “Super Mario” at the helm. And the 73-year-old Draghi made a well-received emotional appeal in his maiden speech as prime minister last week, saying, “Unity is not an option, unity is a duty. But it is a duty guided by what I am sure unites us all: love for Italy.”His cabinet, too, which features a sprinkling of respected technocrats among the politicians, including Daniele Franco from Italy’s central bank as the new finance minister, has also been praised. Matteo Renzi, a former center-left prime minister who triggered the political crisis that led to Draghi’s appointment, says the cabinet is “of a high level.”But Draghi inherits an economy in collapse.  Italy’s Draghi Urges Unity, Sacrifice in Fighting the Virus Draghi vowed an environmentally conscious and digitally reformed government program in a 50-minute speech before the Senate, which came ahead of a mandatory confidence vote later in the dayTroubles predate COVIDWhen the pandemic struck last year Italy still had not recovered from the 2008 global financial crash. In 2019, economic output grew by an anemic 0.3% over the previous year. Unemployment — especially among the young — has remained stubbornly high, the country’s bureaucracy is hidebound and layers of regulations discourage the opening of new businesses, say analysts and economists. Firing is difficult in Italy, deterring employers from taking on new staff, encouraging them to rely instead on short-term contracted workers, who enjoy few, if any, benefits.But before Draghi can grapple with the economic challenges the country faces, his government still has to suppress the coronavirus pandemic and to get a sluggish inoculation campaign moving much faster. It was exactly a year ago that two of Italy’s most productive and wealthiest regions started to lock down and one of Draghi’s first duties this week was to announce the government needed to extend a ban on people traveling between regions until late March because coronavirus cases in Italy are rising again. The surge in cases is in large part due to the rapid transmission of the more infectious British variant, which is likely to become the dominant strain in the country, say epidemiologists. Despite the jump in cases, frustrated Italians ignored official appeals to stay home and went out Sunday to enjoy the emergence of mild weather with crowds milling in streets and parks and gathering at seafronts in several cities. As of Sunday, Italy had registered 95,718 coronavirus deaths from 2.9 million cases. “I’m worried,” Massimo Galli, a specialist at the Sacco de Milan hospital, told Il Messaggero newspaper. “To be honest, all the data is going in the direction of a rise in new cases,” he said.The longer the pandemic lasts, the more economic damage piles up, making Draghi’s job even more daunting. The question, say analysts, is whether Italians will remain patient, not only with pandemic curbs and restrictions but with “Super Mario.” Marco Valli, an economist at Italy’s Unicredit Bank, says politicians know what reforms are needed to boost productivity and economic growth. “The question is, Will Draghi be able to fast-track the badly needed ones?” he asks.Draghi is not the first technocrat asked to dig Italy out of its economic hole — nor is he the first to be feted on arrival. In 2011, the respected economist and former EU commissioner Mario Monti was picked to head a largely technocratic government as yields on Italian government bonds soared and the country’s borrowing costs sky-rocketed, prompting fears Italy would join Greece in economic collapse. Monti managed to steady the country and introduced reforms, cutting public sector costs and slashing pensions. But his government lasted 18 months and many of the reforms he introduced were subsequently reversed. Draghi has promised to overhaul Italy’s byzantine tax system, to help boost female employment and to reform public administration. And much of his focus, he says, will be on structural reform  and making Italy’s economy much greener and more sustainable — that has earned praise in Brussels. But how long political unity lasts is open to questions, say analysts. An ominous sign came last week when a fifth of the lawmakers of Italy’s hybrid anti-establishment Five Star Movement, which is part of the new governing coalition, withheld approving his appointment.
…

Two South African medics are swapping their medical gear for oars as they train for a risky 4,000-kilometer (2,500-mile) journey by rowboat through the Arctic Northwest Passage.  If the 14-member team finishes the trip, across the north of Canada to Alaska, they will make history as all attempts to row the icy waters have failed. Franco Puglisi reports from Johannesburg. Camera: Franco Puglisi 
…

European markets were in a slump Monday as impatience appeared to be growing among investors with the slow introduction of new COVID-19 vaccines and the slow pace of economic stimulus legislation in the United States.Britain’s benchmark FTSE index was down 0.7% at midday. The CAC 40 in France was 0.4% lower, and Germany’s DAX index was down 0.6%.  Markets in Australia and Asia ended mostly lower earlier Monday. Australia’s S&P/ASX index dropped 0.1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell just over one percent, while Shanghai’s Composite index plunged 1.4%. South Korea’s KOSPI lost 0.9%, and Mumbai’s Sensex sank 2.2%.  Asian Markets Mixed Amid Uncertainty Over Direction of Global Economy  Gold, oil trading higher, US markets trading lower in futures markets   Japan’s benchmark Nikkei and Taiwan’s TSEC index both closed up 0.4%.In commodities trading, gold wa selling at $1,792.40, up 0.8%. U.S. crude oil was selling at $59.86 per barrel, up just over one percent, and Brent crude was selling at $63.38, up 0.7%.   All three U.S. indices were trending negatively in futures trading ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street.  
…

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has denounced the military coup in Myanmar and demanded an immediate return to democratic rule.  Guterres condemned Myanmar’s repressive actions in his opening address to the 46th session of the UN Human rights Council. Guterres departed from his lengthy speech on COVID-19 related violations to blast Myanmar’s military for its takeover of the country’s democratically elected government.  “We see the undermining of democracy, the use of brutal force, arbitrary arrests, repression in all its manifestations,” Guterres said. “Restrictions of civic space.  Attacks on civil society.  Serious violations against minorities with no accountability, including what has rightly been called ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya population.  The list goes on.”EU to Impose Sanctions on Myanmar   US Secretary of State to join foreign ministers meeting in Brussels via videoconference   Guterres said coups have no place in our modern world.  He praised the Human Rights Council for its recent and timely focus on this critical situation. The council held an emergency session on the Myanmar crisis on February 12 and demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all detained people, including the country’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.Over the coming month, the council will examine the human rights records of Myanmar and many other countries accused of gross violations of human rights.   The council will focus on ways in which COVID-19 has accelerated inequalities, setback progress on poverty reduction and deepened discrimination and racism.Guterres said the pandemic has triggered a vicious circle of violations.  He said unscrupulous leaders are using COVID-19 as a pretext to entrench their power and criminalize fundamental freedoms.  He said the virus has spurred resurgent neo-Nazism and white supremacist movements, as well as racially and ethnically motivated terrorism.”The danger of these hate-driven movements is growing by the day.  Let us call them what they are,” Guterres said. “White supremacy and neo-Nazi movements are more than domestic terror threats.  They are becoming a transnational threat.  These and other groups have exploited the pandemic to boost their ranks through social polarization and political and cultural manipulation.”   UN Chief Guterres warned these extremist movements represented the number one internal security threat in several countries.  He said global coordinated action was needed to defeat this grave and growing danger.He noted similar global coordinated action was needed to defeat the pandemic, which has killed millions of people and ruined many more lives.
…

Leaders as far away as Canada and Western Europe are sending navy ships to the contested South China Sea this year as pushback against Beijing, which they feel has gone too far and begun alarming their citizens, analysts in the region say. French Defense Minister Florence Parly said in early February that France had dispatched an attack submarine to the sea this month. A British defense official said last month the U.K.’s flagship aircraft carrier strike group was ready to enter the waterway. A Royal Canadian Navy warship sailed near the sea in January with a passage through the Taiwan Strait on its way to join exercises nearby with Australian, Japanese and U.S. navies.The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) transits the Taiwan Strait, Nov. 12, 2019, in this photo made available by U.S. Navy.These Western countries claim no sovereignty over the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea, which lies more than a continent away from their own territorial waters. But they want to support the United States in resisting unilateral expansion by China, which has sparred with former European colonies and alarmed people in Western countries, scholars say. “I think there’s pretty much unanimity in terms of the French, the Dutch, the U.K. and other countries that what we’re seeing from China is an attempt to revise the order so that power, not a rules-based approach to the region, is the way the region will be governed or managed going forward,” said Stephen Nagy, senior associate professor of politics and international studies at International Christian University in Tokyo.  Western countries would resent that management of the sea if it goes against their former colonies or current economic interests in Asia such as access to the sea’s busy cargo shipping lanes, analysts add.  The U.K., for example, is bound by its 1971 Five Power Defense Arrangements to help defend former protectorate Malaysia. Malaysia disputes part of the Chinese claim to about 90% of the South China Sea. The sea stretches from Hong Kong south to the island of Borneo.   British Prime Minister Boris Johnson eventually wants his country to take a stronger role in Asia due to economic and trade links in the region, University of New South Wales Emeritus Professor Carl Thayer said in an e-mailed briefing on Monday. Former French colony Vietnam contests China’s maritime claim including the sea’s Paracel Islands. China controls the Paracel chain today. France still maintains “cultural” and “economic” ties with its former Southeast Asian colonies, Nagy said.FILE – A Vietnamese sinking boat (L) which was rammed and then sunk by Chinese vessels near disputed Paracels Islands, is seen near a Marine Guard ship (R) at Ly Son island of Vietnam’s central Quang Ngai province.A Chinese survey vessel entered into standoffs in April 2020 with Malaysia and Vietnam. All three countries drill aggressively for oil and value the sea’s 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves estimated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.   French armed forces Minister Florence Parly tweeted on February 9 that the submarine made its voyage to “enrich our knowledge of this area and affirm that international law is the only rule that is valid, regardless of the sea where we sail.”  It further showed “striking proof of the capacity of our French Navy to deploy far away and for a long time in connection with our Australian, American and Japanese strategic partners,” she said.   Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan dispute parts of the sea too. Asian governments prize the waterway for its fisheries and undersea fossil fuel reserves. China has taken a lead in the dispute over the past decade by landfilling some of the tiny islets for military infrastructure. Western countries with no claims in the sea have passed ships through as far back as the 1970s as the sovereignty dispute first came into focus. China cites historic usage records to back its activity in the sea despite a 2016 world arbitration court ruling that negated a legal basis for its claims.   Canada, Australia and Western European countries send ships as well to show support for the United States, which has dispatched destroyers to the sea twice this month following regular sailings in 2020, experts believe.  In France’s case, “they just might have notified the U.S. side, and that would be equal to using the submarine passage to indicate indirect support for the United States,” said Huang Kwei-bo, vice dean of the international affairs college at National Chengchi University in Taipei.  Citizens of countries far from Asia would support their missions in the Asian sea because they began paying more attention last year to China as the source of COVID-19, Nagy said. They’re noticing Chinese pressure on India and Taiwan as well as the militarily weaker South China Sea claimants, he said.   Western leaders hope to “create leverage” against China, said Alan Chong, associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.    “One way of reading leverage is to ensure that Beijing takes European values and principles of sustaining free and open transit through international waters seriously,” Chong said.   
…

Conservationists in Cyprus are urging authorities to expand a hunting ban throughout a coastal salt lake network amid concerns that migrating flamingos could potentially swallow lethal quantities of lead shotgun pellets.Martin Hellicar, director of Birdlife Cyprus, said flamingos are at risk of ingesting the tiny pellets lying on the lakebed as they feed. Like other birds, flamingos swallow small pebbles to aid digestion, but can’t distinguish between pebbles and the lead pellets.”Last year, we had tens of losses of flamingos,” Hellicar said.  Cyprus is a key stop on the migration path for many types of birds flying from Africa to Europe. The Larnaca Salt Lake, a wetlands network of four lakes, typically welcomes as many as 15,000 flamingos from colder climates to the southern coast of the island nation in the eastern Mediterranean. They stay through the winter and leave in March. Other waterfowl frequenting the lake include ducks, waders and seagulls.Hunting is banned around most of the salt lake, but hunters are still allowed to shoot ducks in the network’s southern tip.The government’s Game and Fauna Service says in the first two months of last year, 96 flamingos were found dead in the Larnaca Salt Lake wetlands as a result of lead poisoning. Cyprus Veterinary Services official Panayiotis Constantinou, who has conducted autopsies on flamingos, said lead from the pellets poisoned the birds.  The high number of deaths is mainly attributed to heavy winter rain two years ago that stirred up the lake sediment and dislodged embedded lead shot.  A sport shooting range near the lake’s northern tip closed nearly 18 years ago and authorities organized a cleanup of lead pellets in the lakebed there.But Hellicar says the cleanup was apparently incomplete. A European Union-funded study is under way to identify where significant amounts of lead pellets remain so they can be removed. Preliminary results of the study showed very high lead levels in the wetland’s southern tip and continued duck hunting there could compound the problem, Hellicar said.  “The problem is pronounced,” he said. “The danger is real for the flamingos and other birds that use the area.”  Cyprus Hunting Federation official Alexandros Loizides disagrees, saying that hunting in a 200-meter northern swath is not a problem because of the limited number of hunters. He said he’s unaware of any flamingo deaths in the area and faults pesticide and fertilizer runoff from nearby farms for creating any pollution problems hurting wildlife.  “I think the effect of hunting there is very small on the specific part of the lake,” Loizides said. “It’d be a shame for hunters to lose the only area where hunting is permitted near wetlands.”  A ban on the use of lead pellets near wetlands has been in force in Cyprus for several years. A similar, EU-wide ban took effect last month, but conservationists believe the laws are not being enforced enough.Pantelis Hadjiyerou, head of the Game and Fauna Service, said it’s less important to ban hunting in the area than to persuade hunters to stop using shells with lead pellets.  “It should be drummed into people that the use of lead pellets is prohibited near wetlands and that only steel pellets are permitted,” Hadjiyerou told The Associated Press.
…

Britain’s departure from the European Union, following months of negotiations, has affected trade in many industries; but fishing has been hit particularly hard by the break known as “Brexit.” VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports that some in the business fear for their futures due to an EU ban on the export of live shellfish from Britain.
…

Leftist economist Andres Arauz will face conservative Guillermo Lasso in the upcoming second round of Ecuador’s presidential election, officials said Sunday, in a vote marred by fraud allegations and taking place amid a worsening economic crisis.Thirty-six-year-old Arauz won the first round with 32.72 percent of the vote — not enough to win outright.His opponent in the second round will be ex-banker Lasso, who took 19.74 percent to beat left-wing indigenous leader Yaku Perez’ 19.39 percent, according to the final results of the February 7 poll.The runoff will take place on April 11, after the first round results were approved by four out of the five members of the National Electoral Council (CNE) at a meeting that lasted into the early hours of Sunday morning.Perez, a 51-year-old environmental lawyer, had formally submitted a request for a recount in 17 of the country’s 24 provinces, which was suspended on Wednesday.He has alleged there was fraud to keep him out of the run-off after he was narrowly displaced by Lasso from second to third place in the middle of the count.Perez could still mount a legal challenge against the official results.”Today democracy has triumphed, we are going with courage and optimism to this second round,” Lasso said in a statement following the announcement.Incumbent President Lenin Moreno, whose term in office ends on May 24, did not seek reelection.Ideological battleArauz is the protégé of Rafael Correa, a leftist two-time former president currently living in Belgium to evade a conviction for corruption and who remains an influential force in the country.Esteban Nichols, a political scientist at Quito’s Simon Bolivar Andean University, told AFP that Arauz had retained his mentor’s electoral base.”He himself is not the one generating the votes,” he said. “People voted for Correa.”The first round result, he added, sets the scene not just for a battle between left and right, but for a “fight between Correism and anti-Correism.”To win, Lasso will have to “seek alliances with antagonists” — such as supporters of Perez.Running in his third presidential race, free market advocate Lasso has promised to create a million jobs in a year.He would likely stick to the austerity policies adopted by Moreno, who had to rein in spending in exchange for International Monetary Fund loans to bolster the oil-producing country’s faltering dollar-based economy.Ecuador has been mired in debt since the profits of an oil boom during Correa’s presidency dried up under Moreno as the global price of crude crashed.National debt rose from 26 percent of GDP to 44 percent during Moreno’s term.The coronavirus pandemic has increased the pressure on the economy, with some $6.4 billion in losses attributed directly to the health crisis, according to government data. 
 
…