RiyadMedia

Water shortage protests in drought-plagued southwestern Iran appear to have spread to more cities and resulted in what authorities say is a third fatality as the unrest extended into a seventh day.

Videos posted to social media appeared to show street protests on Wednesday in several parts of Khuzestan province, including the capital, Ahvaz, and the cities of Behbahan, Dezful, Izeh, Masjed Soleyman, Ramshir and Susangerd.

In one clip said to be from Izeh, security forces appeared to fire tear gas at protesters. In another clip said to be from Masjed Soleyman, demonstrators chanted, ”Police, support us,” a reference to local concerns about security forces cracking down harshly on earlier rallies.

Other social media videos appeared to show Iranians in the city of  Yazdenshahr, in neighboring Isfahan province, rallying in support of the Khuzestan protesters. The Isfahan rally would be the first such protest in the province since the daily protests began in Khuzestan last Thursday and evolved into the widest and most sustained disturbances Iran has seen in months.

VOA could not independently verify the videos said to be from Khuzestan and Isfahan. Iran has barred VOA from reporting inside the country.

In another development, Iranian state-approved news site ILNA  quoted the top official of Izeh city in Khuzestan, Hassan Nabouti, as reporting the death of one person in local protests against water shortages on Tuesday.

Nabouti said the person was wounded in the protests, taken to a hospital by a private car and was pronounced dead. Nabouti said an investigation was under way to identify the attacker and added that 14 security personnel were hurt in the protests. 

Another Iranian state news agency, Fars, identified the fatality as a young man named Hadi Bahmani.

Social media users posted video on Thursday purporting to show Bahmani’s burial on the outskirts of Izeh. They said he was a 17-year-old construction worker.

Iranian state media previously reported the killings of two men by gunfire during demonstrations last Friday.

Social media videos that appeared to be from Tuesday’s protests in Izeh but that could not be verified by VOA showed protesters chanting ”Death to Khamenei” and ”Reza Shah, bless your soul.” Gunshots were also heard in those videos.

“Death to Khamenei” has been a common refrain of Iranian anti-government protesters angered by the authoritarian rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in recent years. 

“Reza Shah, bless your soul” also has been uttered in previous waves of Iranian street protests as a sign of affection toward the founder of the nation’s former monarchy, Reza Shah. Khamenei’s predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, ousted Reza Shah’s son from power in Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Digital communication with the Iranian protest regions remained difficult. London-based internet monitoring group NetBlocks said there had been a “significant regional disruption to mobile internet service in Iran” since the water shortage protests began one week ago.

“Cellular data analysis metrics corroborate widespread user reports of cellular network disruptions, consistent with a regional internet shutdown intended to control protests,” Netblocks said in an online statement. 

Iranian state-approved news agency ISNA  said President Hassan Rouhani told Khuzestan’s provincial governor in a Thursday phone call that authorities must listen to and respect the rights of protesters who have suffered from drought and extreme heat. ISNA said Rouhani also had ordered First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri to visit Khuzestan on Friday to investigate the situation there.

In a Wednesday press briefing, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington was closely following  the Khuzestan protests, ”including reports that security forces have fired on protesters.” 

“We support the rights of Iranians to peacefully assemble and to express themselves. Iranians, just like any other people, should enjoy those rights without fear of violence, without fear of arbitrary detention by security forces,” Price said.

Iran’s water shortages are partly the result of weather-related factors, including a sharp drop in rainfall, which has been more than 40% below last year’s levels in recent months, and high summer temperatures.

Experts say decades of Iranian government mismanagement also have fueled the drought. They blame authorities’ poorly considered placement and construction of hydroelectric dams and the diversion of water from Khuzestan’s rivers and wetlands to industrial sites in neighboring regions, practices that have dried up sources of drinking and agricultural water for the province’s residents.

This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service . Click here  and here  to read the original Persian versions of this story.
…

U.S. President Joe Biden assailed the Cuban government Thursday for its crackdown on freedom protesters on the island nation and imposed sanctions on the head of the Cuban military and the internal security division that led the attacks on demonstrators.“I unequivocally condemn the mass detentions and sham trials that are unjustly sentencing to prison those who dared to speak out in an effort to intimidate and threaten the Cuban people into silence,” Biden said in announcing the sanctions.”The Cuban people have the same right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly as all people,” Biden said. “The United States stands with the brave Cubans who have taken to the streets to oppose 62 years of repression under a communist regime.”Biden’s rebuke of Cuba’s actions is an about-face for him. He had promised to try to ease relations with the country that is a mere 145 kilometers from the U.S. coastal state of Florida after former President Donald Trump had taken a tough stance against Cuba.The sanctions targeted Alvaro Lopez Miera, the Cuban minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and the Cuban Ministry of the Interior’s Special National Brigade, also known as the Black Berets.The sanctions, imposed under the U.S. Global Magnitsky Act, freeze any of the Cubans’ assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit travel to the U.S. As a practical effect, the action serves to publicly name and shame Cuban officials for the crackdown.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined Biden in condemning the Cuban government’s response to the protests that started July 11. Hundreds of dissidents have been arrested in the most significant demonstrations in Cuba in decades. Many of the protesters remain out of touch with family members.“The actions of the Cuban security forces,” Blinken said, “lay bare the regime’s fear of its own people and unwillingness to meet their basic needs and aspirations.”He said Lopez Miera and the Special National Brigade “have been involved in suppressing the protests, including through physical violation and intimidation.”Biden said Thursday’s sanctions and condemnation of the government of President Miguel Diaz-Canel were “just the beginning – the United States will continue to sanction individuals responsible for oppression of the Cuban people.”“As we hold the Cuban regime accountable,” Biden said, “our support for the Cuban people is unwavering, and we are making sure Cuban Americans are a vital partner in our efforts to provide relief to suffering people on the island.”The U.S. leader said his administration is “working with civil society organizations and the private sector to provide internet access to the Cuban people that circumvents the regime’s censorship efforts.”In addition, Biden said the U.S. is reviewing its cash remittance policy to prevent theft of the money by Cuban officials. Expatriates have reported sending money to relatives in Cuba only to find that the government has pilfered it.Biden said the U.S. is committed to increasing the size of its embassy staff in Havana to provide consular services to Cubans after all but 10 U.S. diplomats there were withdrawn in 2017 and 2018. Numerous envoys in Havana had complained of sonic attacks that left them physically impaired.“Advancing human dignity and freedom is a top priority for my administration, and we will work closely with our partners throughout the region, including the Organization of American States, to pressure the regime to immediately release wrongfully detained political prisoners, restore internet access, and allow the Cuban people to enjoy their fundamental rights,” Biden said.
…

When thousands of Cubans took to the streets to protest this month, their calls for freedom and an end of “the dictatorship” were heard across the world, thanks to the rise in social media.In the town of San Antonio de los Baños, 20 kilometers southwest of the capital, Havana, residents gathered on July 11 to protest the shortage of basic products and medicine. Their calls were shared via Facebook Live in broadcasts known on the island as “direct.”The images revealed an unprecedented crowd, replicated in at least 20 towns and cities throughout the island.But by about 4 p.m., the broadcasts suddenly came to an end in several areas, due to internet service restrictions and selective blocking of some networks.FILE – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a news conference at Orlando Regional Medical Center, June 23, 2020, in Orlando, Fla.The partial interruptions led Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to request that President Joe Biden’s administration support efforts to maintain internet service in Cuba with the use of wi-fi balloons, The Associated Press reported.Andrés Cañizález, a Venezuelan journalist and managing director of Medianálisis, a nonprofit that promotes and supports media, believes frustration at Cuba’s socio-economic situation has been “heating up” in recent months, in part because of comments shared via social media by youths and artists.“What we have seen now was unpredictable in Cuba, it was an outbreak, but expressions of rejection of the dictatorship on social media can connect with the Arab Spring,” Cañizález told VOA in an interview, referring to the movement demanding democracy and greater rights across several countries in North Africa and the Middle East in 2011.“Once the first demonstrations are seen on the streets, it has a multiplier effect on a jaded population,” Cañizález added.Cañizález, who previously lived in Cuba, cited the title of a book by the Czech author Václav Havel to describe the impact of social media on the protests.”For me, social media is ‘The power of the powerless.’ They are catalysts. It is the possibility that ordinary people or activists who do not have a cannon, a newspaper or a news channel, can demonstrate, connect, speak with others and express their rejection of what they are living. That’s key,” he said.Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel visits with residents after arriving in Caimanera, Cuba, Nov. 14, 2019.Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has denounced the protests, saying they involved “vulgar” behavior by protesters who attacked police.Cuban authorities have said that some protesters “had legitimate dissatisfactions” but blamed the protests on U.S.-financed “counter-revolutionaries” exploiting economic hardship caused by U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported.Hundreds of protesters and opposition figures have been arrested, rights groups say. At least 47 are journalists, according to the Cuban Institute for the Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP), an organization that supports opposition media on the island. Journalists who spoke with VOA this week say police attempted to intimidate them in custody, or that security guards had been positioned outside their homes. One journalist, Juan Manuel Moreno Borrego with the local news website Amanecer Habanero, was detained briefly Thursday while covering protests, ICLEP says.FILE – Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., takes notes during a Senate Judiciary Hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 14, 2021.Daily unique users of Psiphon increased significantly since the protests, said Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn.“What it does is to allow people that are in a country where the government has cut off the internet, trying to isolate people and keep them from communicating, they can use this technology so that they can still communicate,” Blackburn told VOA, which is also part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media.“As of (July 14) we had over a quarter million Cubans that were using this in their fight for democracy, their fight for freedom, their fight to get food and water and electricity and jobs,” Blackburn added.She pointed to the video footage and interviews coming out of Cuba as an example of the importance of such tools.Journalist Díaz told VOA that restrictions on internet connectivity are a common characteristic of dictatorships, such as Cuba, China, Russia, Belarus and some countries in the Middle East.He said the worst restrictions are in Venezuela, which has “the most blocked web pages, more people imprisoned by online opinions and with the greatest drop in connectivity in the region.”But even with those obstacles, citizens find ways to access information and document events.“People without internet can continue to record what happens. You can record, photograph, write, interview, document,” he said. “And then when the connection comes back, when someone reconnects, the information flows again.”Stopping that process is difficult in countries like Cuba or Venezuela, Díaz said, adding, “Hope is contagious.”Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.This report originated in VOA’s Spanish language service. 
…

…

The United States will not reconsider the type of training it provides to foreign military members despite finding that seven of the 25 individuals arrested in the assassination of Haiti’s president were at one time trained by the U.S.

As VOA first reported, U.S. defense officials last week said that the seven received U.S. military training, both in the U.S. and in Colombia, between 2001 and 2015, when they were part of the Colombian military.

But Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Thursday there was nothing to tie that training to the alleged participation in the plot that killed Haitian President Jovenel Moise earlier this month.

“We know that these seven individuals got nothing certainly related, at all, or that one could extrapolate, as leading to or encouraging of what happened in Haiti,” Kirby told reporters during a press gaggle.

“I know of no plans right now as a result of what happened in Haiti for us to reconsider or to change this very valuable, ethical leadership training that we continue to provide to partners in the Western Hemisphere and to partners around the world,” he added.

While some of the training took place in Colombia, Pentagon officials say some of the Colombian nationals were trained at seminars in Washington. Some also took courses at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), based at Fort Benning in the southern U.S. state of Georgia.

WHINSEC, established in January 2001, replaced the School of the Americas, which came under heavy criticism in the early to mid-1990s after its graduates were implicated in human rights violations, including murders and disappearances, in El Salvador, Colombia, Peru, Honduras and Panama.

In an interview with VOA in April, WHINSEC Commandant Colonel John Dee Suggs said the new school was designed with a focus on human rights and ethics.

“There is a pretty rigorous review of people and their human rights history,” Suggs told VOA. “We will only train people who have the same human rights values that we have, who have the same democratic values that we have.”

“We’re not shooting anybody. We’re not teaching anybody to … go into a house and take these folks down,” he added.

Pentagon officials told VOA this week that the Colombians who trained at WHINSEC took courses in cadet leadership, professional development, counter-drug operations and small unit leader training.

“All WHINSEC courses include human rights and ethics training,” one official added.

Pentagon and State Department officials have previously said they are continuing to review their records to determine whether any other suspects received training from the U.S.

Haitian President Moise was shot and killed in the predawn hours of July 7 at his private residence in a wealthy suburb of Port-au-Prince.

Earlier this week, Haiti sworn in a new prime minister, Ariel Henry, as part of an attempt to stabilize the country following Moise’s death.

Haitian authorities say they are continuing to investigate Moise’s assassination.

Officials have accused Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian doctor with ties to Florida, as being the plot’s mastermind.

Some information from AFP was used in this report.

 
…

Canada may be sending one of their biggest Olympics teams to the Tokyo Games but only a small fraction will attend the opening ceremony, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) said on Thursday.Around 30-40 athletes from the 370-strong team will be at Friday’s event in a largely empty Tokyo Olympic stadium, bar a few hundred officials.”Athletes are only arriving in the village five days before they compete,” the COC said in a news release. “This means that there are less athletes in the village and that most of them are on the verge of competing.”The focus of Team Canada remains on safety, performance, and adhering to the letter and spirit of the Tokyo 2020 playbooks.”Basketball player Miranda Ayim and rugby sevens co-captain Nathan Hirayama will be the flag bearers for Canada’s biggest Olympic team since the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games. 
…

Thousands of residents fled blazes in western Canada on Wednesday with several hundred soldiers scheduled to deploy to fight this year’s virulent and early fires, which are wreaking havoc across portions of western North America.”I have a holiday trailer that is my new home,” said Margo Wagner, head of a district in the western province of British Columbia, who has found herself among the evacuees.The fire marks the second time in four years that her home in the province’s central Canim Lake rural area has been threatened by a blaze.South of the border, a number of communities in the United States are being threatened by wildfires, creating conditions that are so extreme that the blazes have generated their own climate, according to experts.Nearly 80 huge fires are currently ravaging hundreds of thousands of hectares in California, Oregon, Montana and Nevada.The largest among these is still the Bootleg Fire in Oregon, which has burned through a section of land the same size as the city of Los Angeles, in just two weeks.In neighboring California, several towns were evacuated as they faced rising flames from the Dixie Fire, a conflagration that may have been caused by a tree falling on Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) lines.Back in Canada, British Columbia declared a state of emergency on Monday, with more than 5,700 people under an evacuation order and more than 32,000 people under evacuation alert.”We did it in 2017 and we will do it again in 2021. Is it stressful? Is it scary? Absolutely it is,” Wagner said.Other neighboring areas are preparing for the worst since weather conditions — particularly wind and heat — are not expected to give 3,000 firefighters already fighting the blazes a break anytime soon.”I have been living here in Ashcroft for almost 25 years now and I have never seen anything like this before,” said Mayor Barbara Roden, whose municipality in the center of the province has been on high alert since July 14.”The most frightening thing in a lot of ways is that we’re all looking at the calendar and this is only halfway through July,” she said.Climate change amplifies droughts which dry out regions, creating ideal conditions for wildfires.The Canadian armed forces are preparing to deploy 350 additional troops to British Columbia and 120 to Manitoba, a central province also struggling with large fire outbreaks, according to the Canadian Joint Operations Command.In Ontario, some 75 military personnel are helping firefighters.   
…

The United States has extended the closure of land borders it shares with Canada and Mexico to non-essential travel through Aug. 21, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday.DHS extended the closures by 30 days after Canada said on Monday it would allow fully vaccinated visitors from the U.S. for non-essential travel beginning Aug. 9, ending a 16-month travel ban prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.The U.S. and Canada’s easing of travel restrictions comes as the delta variant spreads in parts of the U.S. where vaccination rates are relatively low, raising concern among U.S. health officials.DHS said it “is in constant contact with Canadian and Mexican counterparts to identify the conditions under which restrictions may be eased safely and sustainably.”Businesses in the U.S. and Canada have pushed to have limits lifted on non-essential travel between the two countries that were imposed in March 2020. The U.S. has allowed Canadians to enter the country by air after first receiving a negative COVID-19 test, but Canada has not allowed travelers from the U.S. to do the same.The Biden administration created interagency working groups last month with Canada, Mexico, Britain and the European Union to study how to eventually lift border and travel restrictions.
 
…

The United States has extended the closure of land borders it shares with Canada and Mexico to non-essential travel through Aug. 21, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday.DHS extended the closures by 30 days after Canada said on Monday it would allow fully vaccinated visitors from the U.S. for non-essential travel beginning Aug. 9, ending a 16-month travel ban prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.The U.S. and Canada’s easing of travel restrictions comes as the delta variant spreads in parts of the U.S. where vaccination rates are relatively low, raising concern among U.S. health officials.DHS said it “is in constant contact with Canadian and Mexican counterparts to identify the conditions under which restrictions may be eased safely and sustainably.”Businesses in the U.S. and Canada have pushed to have limits lifted on non-essential travel between the two countries that were imposed in March 2020. The U.S. has allowed Canadians to enter the country by air after first receiving a negative COVID-19 test, but Canada has not allowed travelers from the U.S. to do the same.The Biden administration created interagency working groups last month with Canada, Mexico, Britain and the European Union to study how to eventually lift border and travel restrictions.
…

Tens of thousands of people once again were in the streets across Colombia on Tuesday in anti-government demonstrations. The widespread demonstrations came as the government unveiled a new version of an unpopular tax reform plan that sparked initial protests in April, but observers say they point to long-spanning political turmoil in the South American country.  Violence surrounding strikes earlier this year left at least 34 people dead, and scores went missing in the clashes. This time, it was unclear how many people were injured in clashes between demonstrators and police.  A protester holds up a fist in a crowd during anti-government protests in Bogota, Colombia, July 20, 2021. (Megan Janetsky/VOA)The “Paro Nacional,” or National Strike, that began in late April was an outcry against an unpopular tax reform bill and economic turmoil caused by the pandemic. It soon exploded, though, as backlash to a violent state response to largely peaceful protests.  Those tensions surfaced once more Tuesday on the streets of the capital, Bogotá, and other cities across the country, including Cali and Medellín.  Yellow, blue and red Colombian flags dotted the crowds in Bogotá to commemorate the country’s Independence Day, July 20, as groups of marchers chanted “Dónde están los desaparecidos?” or “Where are the disappeared?” Among them was 19-year-old Michelle Calderón, who carried a bicycle helmet to protect her head, and whose face was covered by a Colombian flag bandana reading “RESISTENCIA,” Spanish for “resistance.”  “They say they don’t have money,” Calderón said. “But they have money to make war. There’s no money for health services — for education, unemployment, but there’s always money for tanks, for guns, for bullets.”  Protesters Michelle Calderón and Diego Parra take part in anti-government protests in Bogota, Colombia, July 20, 2021. (Megan Janetsky/VOA)This new round of marches also ended in violent clashes between police and protesters, although fewer incidents than earlier this year.  Still, by the end of the day Tuesday, clouds of tear gas hovered over where Calderón stood hours earlier, and the sounds of clashes between police and protesters echoed in the streets of the country’s capital. In April and May, the government of right-wing President Ivan Duque made a number of concessions to protesters, including withdrawing the tax reform proposal and promising small reforms to national police, including human rights training for riot police. As Colombians revived their street protests, Duque’s government submitted a new version of the controversial tax reform legislation to Congress cutting a number of unpopular facets, like taxing basic food staples and placing a higher tax burden on companies. Deeper problems  But critics call those concessions minor and say they fail to address Colombia’s deeper problems.   Ariel Ávila, deputy director of the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation research group, said the protests have continued because the underlying problems that fuel discontent in Colombia remain.  “They’ve achieved important things, but the structural problems haven’t gone away,” Ávila said. “But the people are protesting because there’s no food, people are marching because there are no jobs. That hasn’t changed.” Thousands of people take to the streets in anti-government protests, in Bogota, Colombia, July 20, 2021. (Megan Janetsky/VOA)The South American country has been locked in political and social tensions for years. Much of that anger has come from failures by the Duque administration to implement historical peace accords signed in 2016 by the previous government, a political adversary.  As a result, violence by rural armed groups in Colombia came roaring back, fueling the first “Paro Nacional” in 2019, one of the biggest mass-demonstrations the country had seen in years. That discontent only festered in the pandemic as poverty, unemployment, rural violence and political polarization rose across the board, leading to this year’s protests. Protester Jhomman Montiel attends anti-government protests in Bogota, Colombia, July 20, 2021. (Megan Janetsky/VOA)”We’re tired of all the same,” said 31-year-old Jhomman Montiel, who leaned on his bike among a crowd of thousands of people. “We’re tired of having to come out, to demand that we live better, because the only people who live well here are a small few.” Crackdown The security forces’ response to demonstrations has drawn criticism from international rights groups. In early July, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights accused the Duque government of “an excessive and disproportionate use of force” against civilians. In the face of criticisms, the Duque government considers the violence a product of what his administration labels as “terrorist” protesters and armed groups seeking to stir chaos.  Officials began a crackdown before demonstrations had even begun Tuesday. They arrested a number of younger protesters who had previously skirmished with police and announced they would seize protective gear like shields, helmets, goggles and respirators from demonstrators. “We will not allow violent people to once again rob Colombians of their peace,” tweeted Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano Aponte, with a photo of arrested protesters. No permitiremos que los violentos vuelvan a robarles la tranquilidad a los colombianos. En varias ciudades, la A protester stands on painted outlines of bodies representing the Colombians who disappeared during previous protests, in Bogota, July 20, 2021. (Megan Janetsky/VOA)Dickinson told VOA she expects to see the crisis persist until upcoming elections in May 2022, largely because of a lack of a “significant or substantive response” by the Duque administration to protester demands.  She worries that continued protests also could provide armed groups opportunities to latch onto security vacuums and fuel more violence in the country.   “What I think we’re going to see in the next months is a slowly churning crisis, which is dangerous,” she said. Meanwhile Calderón and many other protesters said they planned to continue protesting. “The younger generation, we’re the change,” Calderón said. “And if we don’t do anything, we’re going to continue with more of the same. If we don’t come out to march, who is going to defend us?” 
 
…

…

…

A former senior editor of Hong Kong’s shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily was arrested by national security police on Wednesday morning. 

A police source told AFP that former executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung had been detained.  

In a statement, police said they had arrested a 51-year-old former newspaper editor for “collusion with foreign forces,” a national security crime.  

Lam is the ninth employee of Apple Daily arrested under a sweeping national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong last year after huge and often violent democracy protests. 

Apple Daily, an unapologetic backer of the democracy movement, put out its last edition last month after its top leadership was arrested and its assets frozen under the security law. 

Lam was the editor who oversaw that final edition, ending the paper’s 26-year run. 

Authorities said Apple Daily’s reporting and editorials backed calls for international sanctions against China, a political stance that has been criminalized by the new security law. 

The tabloid’s owner Jimmy Lai, 73, is currently in prison and has been charged with collusion alongside two other executives who have been denied bail. 

They face up to life in prison if convicted.  

Among the others arrested, but currently not charged, are two of the paper’s leading editorial writers, including one who was detained at Hong Kong’s airport as he tried to leave the city. 

The paper’s sudden demise was a stark warning to all media outlets on the reach of a new national security law in a city that once billed itself as a beacon of press freedom in the region. 

Last week the Hong Kong Journalists Association said media freedoms were “in tatters” as China remolds the once outspoken business hub in its own authoritarian image. 
…

Haiti’s new prime minister, Ariel Henry, took office Tuesday in the aftermath of the president’s assassination two weeks ago, pledging to improve the country’s dire security and to organize long-delayed elections. Henry was installed as head of a new government in an attempt to stabilize a country on the brink of chaos since the murder of President Jovenel Moise at his residence in the early hours of July 7. The swearing in of Henry, who was named to the post by Moise days before his death, was seen as a key step toward holding elections as demanded by many Haitians and the international community. After the president was killed by armed commandos, acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph declared a “state of siege” and said he was in charge, launching a power tussle in the violence-wracked impoverished Caribbean nation. “One of my priority tasks will be to reassure the people that we will do everything to restore order and security,” Henry said Tuesday to Haiti’s population of 10 million people. “This is one of the main issues that the president wanted me to tackle, because he understood that it was a necessary step if we were to succeed in his other concern of organizing credible, honest, transparent and inclusive elections.” The inauguration ceremony in Port-au-Prince was preceded by solemn tributes to Moise, including speeches, dancing and music on a stage set with bouquets of white flowers and a giant portrait of the assassinated president.   Haitian authorities, with the help of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, are still investigating the murky motives for Moise’s assassination.  More than 20 people, many of them retired Colombian military personnel, have been arrested in connection with the killing. In the new government, Joseph, who agreed to stand down and cede the role to Henry, returned to his former post as foreign minister.   Moise, 53, had ruled Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, by decree after legislative elections due in 2018 were delayed in the wake of multiple disputes, including about when his own term ended. As well as presidential, legislative and local elections, Haiti had been due to have a constitutional referendum in September after it was twice postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.   In the power struggle after Moise’s killing, the balance tipped toward Henry when ambassadors — including some from the United States, France and the United Nations — informally threw their support behind the 71-year-old neurosurgeon. Haiti has no working parliament and no workable succession process and was already mired deep in a political and security crisis when Moise was killed.   Haitian police have accused a Haitian doctor with ties to Florida, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, of being a mastermind of the plot and having “political objectives.” “All the culprits, perpetrators and sponsors must be identified and brought before Haitian justice,” Henry, who has previously held several ministerial jobs, said in his speech. “And I hope that exemplary and dissuasive sentences will be pronounced. The nation expects no less from its leaders. Never again will we have to relive such a tragedy.” “The solution to the Haitian crisis must come from the Haitians,” he added. “Everything is negotiable, except democracy, elections and the rule of law.”   Henry also thanked international partners for the arrival of the country’s first batch of COVID-19 vaccines, which arrived last week in a nation with scarce health resources.   The United States, which exerts wide influence in Haiti, welcomed the new government, with State Department spokesman Ned Price saying Washington was “encouraged to see Haitian political and civil actors working to form a unity government that can stabilize the country.” Moise will be laid to rest on Friday in the northern city of Cap-Haitien. His widow, Martine Moise, who was seriously wounded in the attack, was treated in a Miami hospital before returning home over the weekend.  
…

Canadian officials announced that fully vaccinated American citizens and permanent residents can enter Canada for what is being called “discretionary travel” beginning August 9. Those wanting to cross the 8,891-kilometer border by land or air into Canada will have to arrive asymptomatic and provide proof of full vaccination as well as a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of arrival. The required documentation must be uploaded to the ArriveCAN app ahead of the trip, and travelers will need to have the paper version physically available. Canada’s easing of entry restrictions will extend to travelers from all other countries starting September 7, with identical requirements.   The U.S.-Canada border has been closed to nonessential travel since March of last year. Canadians, however, have been able to fly into the United States with only a negative COVID-19 test. Laurie Trautman, Director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University in Bellingham. (Photo courtesy of Laurie Trautman)Laurie Trautman, director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University in Bellingham, is not surprised by Ottawa’s decision.  “I think that is a natural next step to allow Americans coming from the United States to Canada who are fully vaccinated for any trip purpose to be exempt,” Trautman said.”So I’m glad to see there’s a date. I’m glad to see there’s a plan.” For Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, the announcement is good for commerce — and people’s outlook on both sides of the border.   Goldy Hyder, President and CEO of the Business Council of Canada“When you think about it, what we have been through as human beings over the last 16-17 months or so is not natural, and what’s natural for people is to interact with each other,” Hyder said.”To celebrate events, to mourn events, to, you know, meet our customers, to take vacations — all of these things are part of being a human being. And those are the things that we sacrificed for the last 16-17 months.” Perrin Beatty, the president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, welcomes the reopening, particularly for the tourism sector and other businesses that rely on cross-border travel with the United States.Perrin Beatty, the President and CEO of The Canadian Chamber of CommerceOne concern he has going forward is potential delays at the border for checking health documents.   “And the government is going to need to look for ways of speeding that up,” Beatty said. “Otherwise, we’ll have massive traffic jams with people trying to cross the border at peak times. And that’s why it’s so important for us to have digital secure vaccination certification.”   Beatty also said the Canadian government should eliminate the requirement to have a negative COVID-19 test.  In making the announcements at a virtual press conference, Canadian Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair said he talked with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about the changes.Blair said the current restrictions that expire on the 21st of July are expected to continue for travelers going by land into the United States. Bill Blair, Canadian Minister of Public Safety (Courtesy: Government of Canada)“They are obviously considering additional measures and data,” Blair said. “But at the present time, they have not indicated a plan to make any changes in their current border restrictions that are in place.” Residents of the French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon will also be allowed into Canada for nonessential travel on Aug. 9. Earlier, the Canadian government shortened the ban on cruise ships docking in the country to Nov. 1, four months earlier than it originally planned. The Canada Border Services Agency staffs 117 legal crossing points along the Canada-U.S. border and 13 international airports.  
…

The White House said Tuesday it is exploring ways the United States can aid the people of Cuba engaged in anti-government protests and also hold the Cuban government accountable for repressing freedom in the island nation. The U.S. is working to identify Cuban officials responsible for attacks on peaceful protesters, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. At the same time, she said the U.S. is looking to increase access to the internet in Cuba, boost humanitarian assistance and devise a workable remittance system for Cuban expatriates to send money to their relatives in Cuba without the government pilfering it. Psaki said the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control “will continue to explore designated Cuban officials responsible for … human rights violations against peaceful protesters.” FILE – Demonstrators gather outside The White House on July 17, 2021 protesting against the Cuban government — demanding assistance from the Biden administration to help free Cuban citizens from oppression.In addition, she said the government is forming “a remittance working group to identify the most effective way to get remittances directly into the hands of the Cuban people.” Psaki said the U.S. has long been concerned about Havana stealing money intended for its citizens. “That’s certainly something that we’re mindful of,” she said. “That will be a point of discussion in these working groups” considering a response to unrest in Cuba. In a statement, Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, praised the Biden administration’s efforts to assist the Cuban people. FILE – Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., speaks during a confirmation hearing on Jan. 27, 2021.”The Cuban people are risking it all by taking to the streets to call for an end to tyranny, and it is more important than ever that the international community listen to their stories, feel the despair and fear with which they live, and stand up with and for them,” Menendez said.  “I commend President Biden’s showing of support for Cubans at this critical moment and his willingness to listen to directly impacted people on and off the island,” he said. The U.S. is also considering expanding U.S. Embassy staff in Havana. The State Department reduced the number of staff at the embassy by more than half in 2017 after more than 40 U.S. diplomats serving in Cuba said they suffered persistent ear pain, headaches, and problems with memory, concentration, balance and sleeping in 2016. The administration of former President Donald Trump said the injuries resulted from what it termed a “sonic attack.” The Biden administration has not announced any intended actions, but it has been conducting an ongoing review of U.S.-Cuba policies. The White House said Monday that several officials met with a group of Cuban American leaders “to listen to their policy recommendations and concerns.” A White House statement stressed that addressing the current situation in Cuba “is a top priority.” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Monday that the administration is concerned about human rights, democracy and civil rights. “That’s precisely what you’re seeing and what we have said in the mechanisms of support over the years that the United States has provided to the Cuban people. And it is precisely what we mean when we say that we will consider additional forms of support, including any humanitarian support for the Cuban people,” Price said. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 
 
…

The United States is examining potential ways to aid the people of Cuba following anti-government protests this month that were the biggest on the island nation in decades. Senior administration officials who spoke to news agencies on the condition of anonymity said the steps under consideration include changes to remittances that would allow people in the United States to send money to their family in Cuba without the Cuban government taking a portion. Other potential actions include ways to make it easier to access the internet, working with international organizations to provide more humanitarian aid, and increasing U.S. Embassy staff in Havana.Demonstrators gather outside The White House on July 17, 2021 protesting against the Cuban government – demanding assistance from the Biden administration to help free Cuban citizens from oppression.The State Department reduced the number of staff at the embassy by more than half in 2017 after more than 40 American diplomats serving in Cuba said they suffered persistent ear pain, headaches, and problems with memory, concentration, balance and sleeping in 2016. The Trump administration said the injuries resulted from what it termed a “sonic attack.” The Biden administration has not publicly announced any intended actions, but it has been conducting an ongoing review of U.S.-Cuba policies. The White House said Monday several officials met with a group of Cuban American leaders “to listen to their policy recommendations and concern.” A White House statement stressed that addressing the current situation in Cuba “is a top priority.” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Monday that the administration is concerned about human rights, democracy and civil rights. “That’s precisely what you’re seeing and what we have said in the mechanisms of support over the years that the United States has provided to the Cuban people, and it is precisely what we mean when we say that we will consider additional forms of support, including any humanitarian support for the Cuban people,” Price said. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters. 
…

Rural teacher-turned-political novice Pedro Castillo on Monday became the winner of Peru’s presidential election after the country’s longest electoral count in 40 years. Castillo, whose supporters included Peru’s poor and rural citizens, defeated right-wing politician Keiko Fujimori by 44,000 votes. Electoral authorities released the final official results more than a month after the runoff election took place in the South American nation. Wielding a pencil the size of a cane, symbol of his Peru Libre party, Castillo popularized the phrase “No more poor in a rich country.” The economy of Peru, the world’s second-largest copper producer, has been crushed by the coronavirus pandemic, increasing the poverty level to almost one-third of the population and eliminating the gains of a decade.  The shortfalls of Peru’s public health services have contributed to the country’s poor pandemic outcomes, leaving it with the highest global per capita death rate. Castillo has promised to use the revenues from the mining sector to improve public services, including education and health, whose inadequacies were highlighted by the pandemic.  “Those who do not have a car should have at least one bicycle,” Castillo, 51, told The Associated Press in mid-April at his adobe house in Anguía, Peru’s third poorest district. Pedro Castillo speaks to his supporters after election authorities declared him president-elect, during celebrations at his party’s campaign headquarters in Lima, Peru, July 19, 2021.Since surprising Peruvians and observers by advancing to the presidential runoff election, Castillo has softened his first proposals on nationalizing multinational mining and natural gas companies. Instead, his campaign has said he is considering raising taxes on profits because of high copper prices, which exceed $10,000 per ton. Historians say he is the first peasant to become president of Peru, where until now, Indigenous people almost always have received the worst of the deficient public services even though the nation boasted of being the economic star of Latin America in the first two decades of the century. “There are no cases of a person unrelated to the professional, military or economic elites who reaches the presidency,” Cecilia Méndez, a Peruvian historian and professor at the University of California-Santa Barbara, told a radio station. Fujimori, a former congresswoman, ran for a third time for president with the support of the business elites. She is the daughter of imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori.  Hundreds of Peruvians from various regions camped out for more than a month in front of the Electoral Tribunal in Lima, Peru’s capital, to await Castillo’s proclamation. Many do not belong to Castillo’s party, but they trust the professor because “he will not be like the other politicians who have not kept their promises and do not defend the poor,” said Maruja Inquilla, an environmental activist who arrived from a town near Titicaca, the mythical lake of the Incas. Castillo’s meteoric rise from unknown to president-elect has divided the Andean nation deeply. Author Mario Vargas Llosa, a holder of a Nobel Prize for literature, has said Castillo “represents the disappearance of democracy and freedom in Peru.” Meanwhile, retired soldiers sent a letter to the commander of the armed forces asking him not to respect Castillo’s victory.  Fujimori said Monday that she will accept Castillo’s victory, after accusing him of electoral fraud without offering any evidence. The accusation delayed his appointment as president-elect as she asked electoral authorities to annul thousands of votes, many in Indigenous and poor communities in the Andes.  “Let’s not put the obstacles to move this country forward,” Castillo asked Fujimori in his first remarks in front of hundreds of followers in Lima. The United States, European Union and 14 electoral missions determined that the voting was fair. The U.S. called the election a “model of democracy” for the region. Steven Levitsky, a political scientist at Harvard University, told a radio station that Castillo is arriving to the presidency “very weak,” and in some sense in a “very similar” position to Salvador Allende when he came to power in Chile in 1970 and to Joao Goulart, who became president of Brazil in 1962.  “He has almost the entire establishment of Lima against him,” said Levitsky, an expert on Latin American politics.  The president-elect has never held office. He worked as an elementary school teacher for the last 25 years in his native San Luis de Puna, a remote village in Cajamarca, a northern region. He campaigned wearing rubber sandals and a wide-brimmed hat, like the peasants in his community, where 40% of children are chronically malnourished. In 2017, he led the largest teacher strike in 30 years in search of better pay and, although he did not achieve substantial improvements, he sat down to talk with Cabinet ministers, legislators and bureaucrats.  Over the past two decades, Peruvians have seen that the previous political experience and university degrees of their five former presidents did not help fight corruption. All former Peruvian presidents who governed since 1985 have been ensnared in corruption allegations, some imprisoned or arrested in their mansions. One died by suicide before police could take him into custody. The South American country cycled through three presidents last November. Castillo recalled that the first turn in his life occurred one night as a child when his teacher persuaded his father to allow him to finish his primary education at a school two hours from home. It happened while both adults chewed coca leaves, an Andean custom to reduce fatigue.  “He suffered a lot in his childhood,” his wife, teacher Lilia Paredes, told AP while doing dishes at home. The couple has two children. He got used to long walks. He would arrive at the classroom with his peasant sandals, with a woolen saddlebag on his shoulder, a notebook and his lunch, which consisted of sweet potatoes or tamales that cooled with the hours. Castillo said his life was marked by the work he did as a child with his eight siblings, but also by the memory of the treatment that his illiterate parents received from the owner of the land where they lived. He cried when he remembered that if the rent was not paid, the landowner kept the best crops. “You kept looking at what you had sown, you clutched your stomach, and I will not forget that, I will not forgive it either,” he said. 
…

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said an Iranian American journalist targeted in what the Justice Department called an Iranian kidnapping plot “has demonstrated tremendous courage.” 

Blinken tweeted Monday that he had a “good conversation” with Masih Alinejad, a VOA Persian TV host and outspoken Iranian government critic. 

“I affirmed that the U.S. will always support the indispensable work of independent journalists around the world,” Blinken posted. “We won’t tolerate efforts to intimidate them or silence their voices.”

Alinejad said she and Blinken spoke for 15 minutes, and that the top U.S. diplomat found that the idea Iran would abduct her from U.S. soil “particularly egregious.” 

“Secretary Blinken said the Biden Administration takes Islamic Republic’s threats very, very seriously and was aware of how the Tehran regime targets dissidents in the U.S and in Europe,” Alinejad tweeted. “He reassured me that the U.S. would hold the regime accountable for this plot.”

Last week, the U.S. Justice Department said a New York federal court unsealed an indictment charging five Iranian nationals with involvement in the alleged plot to kidnap a “Brooklyn journalist, author and human rights activist for mobilizing public opinion in Iran and around the world to bring about changes to the [Iranian] regime’s laws and practices.” The Justice Department press release did not name the target of the scheme. 

Alinejad, who lives in New York City’s Brooklyn borough, later confirmed on her social media accounts that she was the targeted person.   

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh dismissed the U.S. allegation, saying in comments published by Iranian state media it is a “baseless and ridiculous accusation unworthy of a response.” 

Alinejad worked as a journalist in Iran in the 2000s, writing articles exposing government mismanagement and corruption until authorities revoked her press pass and threatened her with arrest. She fled her homeland in 2009, first to Britain, before settling in New York in 2014. 
…

Some members of Haiti’s opposition say they will not support Prime Minister-designate Ariel Henry, whom President Jovenel Moise named to the position a day before he was assassinated. Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph has led the country since the president was killed inside his private residence in the early hours of July 7.  On Saturday, the influential Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph gives a press conference, July 19, 2021.It was not clear when Joseph would step down.  Opposition rejects CORE group, PM designate 
 
Former Senator Serge Jean Louis of the Fron Nasyonal Demokrasi (FND) party rejected outright the CORE group’s statement Monday.  “I am almost sure that no one in the opposition supports this because it’s a road to nowhere. This is just another PHTK government (the party of Moise) – with the same orientation,” he told VOA.    Lawyer Caleb Jean Baptiste, who heads a legal group dedicated to defending prisoners and human rights, also rejected the CORE group statement.    “The CORE group is not Dessalines (Haitian revolutionary war hero), it is not Henry Christophe (Haitian revolutionary hero), it is not Haitian, they are interfering in our country, they are violating the OAS charter, they are violating all the agreements that we have signed and ratified, the CORE group does not have the right to do that,” Jean Baptiste told VOA.  VOA Creole reached out to both Henry and Joseph for comment but did not get a response.   Funeral preparations Meanwhile, in Cape Haitian, preparations for Moise’s funeral on Friday are under way. VOA Creole’s reporter in the northern city saw stands being built to accommodate VIPs who will be attending the official ceremony on Friday.  VOA also visited the cemetery where the president will be laid to rest next to his father, Etienne Moise, who passed away on October 4, 2020. It was the president’s desire to be buried next to his father, his family said.    First lady Martine Moise returned to Haiti on Saturday from Miami, where she was treated for wounds sustained during the attack that resulted in her husband’s death. Dressed in black, protected by an anti-bullet vest and with her arm in a sling. She was greeted at the airport by Joseph, with whom she has been in frequent contact since the assassination.  
…

Ethiopian police have confirmed the arrest of hundreds of ethnic Tigrayans in the capital Addis Ababa in recent weeks. The police said they were supporting the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which authorities banned after the Tigray conflict broke out in November. But rights group Amnesty International says dozens were detained because of their ethnicity.

Addis Ababa Police Commissioner Getu Argaw confirmed on Saturday that authorities had arrested over 300 Tigrayans.

But speaking on the state-run Ethiopian Broadcast Corporation, Getu denied the Tigrayans were arrested because of their ethnicity.

Getu said the arrests were made after thorough investigations found the suspects were supporting the TPLF, which authorities banned as a terrorist group in May over the conflict in Tigray region.

Getu said their arrests targeted only individuals who were supporting the ousted terrorist group. The arrests were not due to their ethnicity, said Getu, adding that suspects from other ethnic groups who were involved in supporting that terrorist group were also arrested. 

Getu said illegal weapons and ammunition were seized from some of the suspects.

He was responding to a call Friday by rights group Amnesty International for Ethiopian authorities to end arbitrary detentions of Tigrayans without due process.

Amnesty said the sweeping arrests appeared to be ethnically motivated.

The rights group said while some of those arrested were released on bail, while hundreds of others were still being detained and their relatives kept in the dark.

Fisseha Tekle is Amnesty International’s human rights researcher for Ethiopia.

Tekle told VOA the families of those arrested do not know where they are being kept, they have not appeared in court, and this should stop. If they are involved in criminal activities they should appear before court, said Tekle, and their family should have the right to visit them, and they should also get an attorney.

The arrests come as the war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region appears to be expanding.

A spokesman for neighboring Afar region on Monday said Tigrayan fighters attacked Afar forces on Saturday and that clashes continued over the weekend.

The TPLF has also vowed to regain territory seized by Amhara forces loyal to the federal government.

The conflict dates back to last November, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed deployed government forces to oust the TPLF from power in Tigray.

Ethiopian authorities announced a unilateral ceasefire in Tigray on June 28 as Tigrayan forces re-took the regional capital, Mekelle, from federal troops.

But with each passing day, it looks less likely the cease-fire is going to hold.

Some  information for this report came from Reuters.
…

Cuban journalists covering the most serious protests against the communist government in decades have been arrested, subjected to police surveillance and intimidated by the authorities.At least 47 journalists have been arrested, according to the Cuban Institute for the Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP), an organization that supports opposition media on the island. When VOA spoke with its executive director, Normando Hernández González, on July 15, he said he had just heard of the arrest of another journalist and wanted to get the news out as soon as possible.Later, Hernandez said the arrest was symptomatic of how the Cuban government is trying to “criminalize our profession.”The protests have resulted in dozens of arrests, one confirmed fatality and three days of disruption to Cuba’s shaky internet service, which was used to organize rallies and disseminate footage in an unprecedented challenge to the ruling Community Party and President Manuel Díaz-Canel.Authorities said the protests were a result of U.S.-financed “counter-revolutionaries” exploiting economic hardship caused by sanctions. Cuban Government Holds Mass Rally in Havana After ProtestsGovernment supporters gather on Havana seafront boulevard before dawn to wave Cuban flags and photos of late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and his brother RaulReporters told VOA that the police have seized computers and telephones, cut access to the internet, or placed them under house arrest.IntimidationOne of those journalists — Camila Acosta — spent five days in custody after being arrested in Havana on July 12 after covering demonstrations in the Cuban capital. The journalist was released Friday and placed under house arrest.  Spanish Daily ‘Highly Concerned’ About Reporter’s Arrest in CubaJournalist covering mass protests in Cuba for Spanish paper arrested on state security chargesPolice told the 28-year-old that for the next six months she can leave her house only for essential journeys, such as shopping or health reasons, while they investigate her case.”They tried to get me to sign a document saying I was guilty of public disorder but I refused. I am guilty of nothing. I was just doing my job as a journalist, reporting on demonstrations,” Acosta told VOA by telephone from her home in Havana.”I used my time inside police cells to interview people, about one hour a day. I suppose I was destined to do this job. I saw lots of people inside who were detained over the protests, some had been beaten, even children.”Acosta, who works for the Spanish daily ABC and CubaNet, a pro-opposition newsletter, claimed police employed psychological tactics against her.”They tried to intimidate me and put psychological pressure on me. They tried to tell me that I am not a real journalist. I said that I studied journalism at Havana University,” she said. ”They tried to tell me that I was not an important person and that my family did not care about me.”Acosta said that police even tried to persuade her that she should give up journalism.”When they said I should give up journalism, I just laughed at them. This is what I do. I am not going to give up reporting,” she said.”I was not scared, but I was worried about my family. I was also worried for many people who have been arrested and just disappeared. It is a worrying situation.”The journalist says her laptop, mobile phone, a tablet and a hard disc were taken by police, but authorities did not cut off the internet at her home.House arrestAlso under house arrest is Alberto Corzo, the 51-year-old director of ICLEP. Police raided his home on July 15 and detained Corzo for 24 hours.”My arrest was pretty traumatic. My 10-year-old son Cesar has been suffering from bullying from people in my town who are close to the regime. So when the police came, he had a nervous attack,” Corzo told VOA from his home in Matanzas province of Cuba.When protests started, Corzo said, he telephoned contacts to find out what was happening in Havana and other cities.”I was just doing my job as a journalist, but they accused me of inciting the protests. My telephone is tapped so they know who I was talking to,” he said.Corzo says he was interrogated twice during his 24 hours in police custody.”They try to intimidate anyone who is involved in independent journalism. Some people do not write just about politics but about social issues, but they are also targeted,” Corzo said.”Despite what has happened — and I am pretty upset about it — I will never give up the profession of journalism.”Police observationOther independent journalists, like Juan Manuel Moreno Borrego from the local news website Amanecer Habanero, have been under police observation since the protests started. ”This past week has been very intense. We are observing a lot of political and social tension in the capital. I know lots of journalists who are under police surveillance,” he told VOA via social media after repeated attempts to contact him by telephone failed.The journalist sent photos showing a police guard lounging outside his house.Moreno said despite the pressure from the Cuban government, most reporters were determined to preserve the “tools of their trade” like computers and telephones. ”Up to now, they have not been able to take these off us because we have a policy to preserve these, using strategies to prevent this from happening,” he said. ”But the internet has been our weak point, as you have discovered, and communication is very difficult. Navigating across social media is practically impossible.”Social media targetedThose who use social media to share news and commentary were among those targeted.Dina Stars, a 25-year-old whose YouTube page includes songs about freedom from what she calls state oppression, and comments on the protests, was arrested live on television on July 13 while being interviewed by the Spanish television channel Cuatro.”They didn’t torture me. I am on the side of truth,” she told her 40,000 subscribers after her release the following day. “They arrested me for promoting the protests.”US fundingCuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told a press conference that media working for the U.S. government, which funds a number of opposition media websites, were driving the protests Reuters reported. The website CubaNet makes no secret of its U.S. government funding. It received $300,000 from USAID in 2020 and has 30 correspondents in Cuba whom the website says offer independent reporting.  The site’s director Hugo Landa said that since the protests, at least four of those have been detained, including Acosta.  “Many of our journalists could not leave their homes because the State Security Police put agents at their doors and forbade them to exit,” he told VOA.Moreno, of Amanecer Habanero, says the situation is still tense, adding, “We are expecting another uprising.” 
 
…

Haiti’s acting prime minister says he is stepping down to make way for a political challenger who has more international backing.Claude Joseph, who has been acting prime minister since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7, told the Washington Post he was going to leave office.Ariel Henry, a 71-year-old neurosurgeon will take his place.”Everyone who knows me knows that I am not interested in this battle, or in any kind of power grab,” Joseph told the Post. “The president was a friend to me. I am just interested in seeing justice for him.”When Joseph would step down was unclear.“Negotiations are still in course,” Haiti Elections Minister Mathias Pierre said, according to the Associated Press. He said Joseph would go back to being minister of foreign affairs.Moise was gunned down when several assassins raided his home in Port-au-Prince.
 
…

Germany’s federal officials are being buffeted by accusations that they failed to heed a string of warnings from scientists ahead of last week’s devastating flash floods — the worst to strike the country since 1962, when a North Sea storm surge left 315 Germans dead.

The latest floods, which impacted Germany’s prosperous Rhineland region, caught many local authorities, residents and businesses by surprise, despite the first alarm about the likelihood of floods being raised on July 10 — three days before a deluge caused the swollen tributaries of the Rhine and Meuse to break their banks.

German authorities on Sunday had confirmed 155 deaths, but they expected the death toll to rise as rescuers continued their search in wrecked buildings for hundreds of missing residents.

Both the German and Belgian governments were warned of the likelihood of flooding, say scientists with the Copernicus Emergency Management Service and the European Flood Awareness System. Belgium has confirmed 27 casualties.

Hannah Cloke, hydrology professor at Britain’s Reading University told AFP: “For so many people to die in floods in Europe in 2021 represents a monumental failure of the system.”

She added: “The sight of people driving or wading through deep flood water fills me with horror, as this is about the most dangerous thing you can do in a flood. Forecasters could see this heavy rain coming and issued alerts early in the week, and yet the warnings were not taken seriously enough and preparations were inadequate. These kinds of high-energy, sudden summer torrents of rain are exactly what we expect in our rapidly heating climate.”

As a huge rescue operation continued Sunday in the worst affected the German regions of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, chancellor Angela Merkel visited stricken areas, pledging to build back better. She held the hand of one grieving local politician and later said: “I’ve come here today to symbolize that we’re standing together in solidarity. We will fix everything one step at a time in this beautiful area. We have to act fast.”

Questions

Nonetheless Germany’s media has begun to question whether the federal government should have acted faster ahead of the storms and are focusing on the possible political repercussions of the flooding, which has left homes and businesses wrecked. Thousands of people have been left without access to electricity or clean drinking water.

The Federal Office for Citizen Protection and Disaster Assistance did issue alerts on its app about coming floods, say officials. But critics say that a very small fraction of the German population has downloaded the app on their smartphones and that a much louder warning should have been sounded to allow local communities to better prepare for the deluge of midweek rain.

The influential tabloid newspaper Bild has accused the agency of a massive failure.

“The tidal waves came in the night — and surprised hundreds of thousands of people,” the paper editorialized. It said: “The force of the water trapped them in their cellars, tore them on the run or even with their houses. More than 100 dead and countless missing people are to be mourned. Forewarnings? Sirens? Loudspeaker announcements?”

The tabloid concluded warnings were “often not available or much too late.”

Other German media outlets have pointed out that hundreds of people sought refuge in their basements, the worst place to seek sanctuary.

Hundreds of towns and villages in the western regions of Germany have been destroyed. And the images of the destruction aired by the country’s broadcasters and posted on social media sites have startled Germans.

The flooding has come just two months before federal elections, which will determine Merkel’s successor. She is stepping down after 16 years in office.

An immediate $354 million aid package is being prepared by the federal government. Officials say the cost of rebuilding will be in the billions. Rebuilding costs in 2013 after floods on the Elbe and Danube amounted to more than $9 billion.

Ruling Christian Democrat lawmakers hope a quick federal response will limit any political damage from the mounting accusations of insufficient preparedness ahead of the flooding — and they will be scrutinizing post-flood opinion polls to see if their ratings are slipping ahead of September’s federal elections.

Caught laughing

Armin Laschet, the Christian Democrats’ electoral candidate to succeed Merkel, has added to the worries of the ruling party. His electoral campaign has not been gaffe-free and on Saturday he was forced to apologize for being seen laughing with aides in the background when accompanying President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on a tour of stricken towns.

Laschet is the state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia.

He tweeted later his regrets, saying, “This was inappropriate and I’m sorry. The fate of those affected is close to our hearts, and we have heard of it in many conversations,” he wrote. Photographs of him joking with aides in the background as Steinmeier delivered a somber statement have been carried in most of Germany’s main newspapers.

Laschet’s apology has failed to placate critics. “This is all apparently a big joke,” tweeted Maximilian Reimers of the far-left Die Linke opposition party. “How could he be a chancellor?” “I’m speechless,” tweeted Lars Klingbeil, secretary general of the center-left Social Democrats, who govern in a coalition with the Christian Democrats.

Laschet, like most of Germany’s mainstream politicians, have linked the floods to climate change, but the Green Party, which has been running strongly in opinion polls, albeit with slippage in recent weeks, has been critical of the Christian Democrats’ climate action plans, saying they don’t go far enough.

This report includes information from AFP.
…