Amazon's indigenous people 'never so threatened': pope

Yahoo – AFP, January 19, 2018

Pope Francis shakes hands with an indigenous woman during a meeting with
 Amazon basin community members from Peru, Brazil and Bolivia, in the Peruvian
city of Puerto Maldonado (AFP Photo/Vincenzo PINTO)

Puerto Maldonado (Peru) (AFP) - Pope Francis sounded a stark warning about the future of the Amazon and its peoples during a visit to the region on Friday, saying they had "never been so threatened."

In a speech to thousands of tribe members on the edge of the rainforest in Peru, he said the Amazon and its peoples bore "deep wounds."

Francis lamented "the pressure being exerted by great business interests that want to lay hands on its petroleum, gas, lumber, gold and forms of agro-industrial monocultivation."

Bare-chested tribesmen, their bodies painted and their heads crowned with colourful feathers, danced and sung for the pope when he arrived in the Peruvian city of Puerto Maldonado.

Thousands of indigenous people had traveled to meet the pontiff from throughout the Amazon basin region of Peru, Brazil and Bolivia.

Members of one of the tribes presented the pope with a bow and arrow in a symbolic gesture aimed at urging him to defend land rights they say they have been stripped of.

"The native Amazonian peoples have probably never been so threatened on their own lands as they are at present," said the pope, who appeared visibly moved by the reception.

"Amazonia is being disputed on various fronts," he said.

"The problems strangle her peoples and provoke the migration of the young due to the lack of local alternatives.

"We have to break with the historical paradigm that views Amazonia as an inexhaustible source of supplies for other countries without concern for its inhabitants."

Pope denounces violence in visit to restive region of Chile

Yahoo – AFP, Catherine MARCIANO, January 17, 2018

Pope Francis celebrates an open-air mass at Maquehue airport in Temuco,
the heartland of the country's indigenous peoples (AFP Photo/Vincenzo PINTO)

Temuco (Chile) (AFP) - Pope Francis denounced the use of violence in the struggle for indigenous rights Wednesday, celebrating mass in a restive region of Chile hours after assailants firebombed churches and other targets.

The Argentine-born pontiff was shining the spotlight on the simmering conflict between the state and the Mapuche people, who centuries ago controlled vast areas of Chile but have since been marginalized.

"You cannot assert yourself by destroying others, because this only leads to more violence and division," the pope said, speaking before thousands of faithful at an airfield in Temuco, the capital of the southern Araucania region.

"Violence begets violence, destruction increases fragmentation and separation. Violence eventually makes a most just cause into a lie," the pope warned.

"That is why we say 'no to destructive violence' in either of its two forms."

Unidentified assailants hurled incendiary devices at three Catholic churches and an evangelical Christian church in pre-dawn attacks Wednesday in the Araucania region.

Five other churches had previously been hit by arsonists in Chile's capital Santiago.

A forestry company helicopter also was torched during the night, and a policeman was shot and wounded by a group of hooded assailants, authorities said.

The aim was to "cause disorder or disturbance of the public order" during the pope's visit to Temuco, said Chilean police chief Bruno Villalobos.

This handout photograph shows a burnt helicopter belonging to a forestry company, 

set afire by unknown attackers ahead of Pope Francis's visit to the indigenous 

Mapuche homeland of Araucania in Chile (AFP Photo/MANUEL ARANEDA/ATON CHILE)

Simmering conflict

At the pope's first stop in Santiago, protests over the church's handling of clergy abuse dominated the visit, his first to Chile as the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

In Temuco, however, the papal spotlight turned to the Mapuche, who today account for seven percent of Chile's population, but hold only five percent of their ancestral lands.

Francis was scheduled to meet after the mass with a group of indigenous people whose identities have not yet been revealed by organizers, before returning to Santiago, where he will meet with youths at the Maipu shrine and visit a Catholic university.

Thousands waited from the early hours of Wednesday at the Maquehue airfield to hear the pope, who dedicated the mass to the victims of human rights abuses during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Pope Francis said he chose to celebrate mass at the airfield because of its history as a detention center during the military regime.

"This celebration we offer for all who suffered and died and for those who each day carry on their backs the weight of so many injustices," he said.

On Thursday, he will visit the northern coastal city of Iquique, an immigration hotspot, before proceeding to Peru.

Pope Francis waves from the popemobile as he arrives at Maquehue airport in

Temuco to celebrate an open-air mass (AFP Photo/Vincenzo PINTO)

Sexual abuse

On Tuesday in Santiago, the pope conferred alone with a small group of victims of sexual abuse by priests in Chile, after he publicly asked for forgiveness and riot police broke up a protest near the first public mass of his South American visit.

During the "strictly private" meeting at the Vatican embassy in the capital, the victims "spoke of their suffering to Pope Francis, who listened to them and prayed and cried with them," the Vatican said.

Earlier, the 81-year-old pontiff said: "I cannot begin to express the pain and shame that I feel over the irreparable harm caused to children by some ministers of the church," vowing to commit to ensure the abuses would never happen again.

Francis made those comments during a visit to President Michelle Bachelet's official Moneda Palace residence, drawing applause from pilgrims watching on giant screens in a park where he later celebrated an open-air mass for some 400,000 people.

Riot police arrested several demonstrators protesting against Pope Francis's
visit to Chile (AFP Photo/Eitan ABRAMOVICH)

'Pedophile accomplices'

But the pope did not receive a universal welcome, with scuffles breaking out between riot police and demonstrators near O'Higgins Park.

Police used armored vehicles to fire water cannons at the demonstrators, bundling some of them into vans. More than 50 people were arrested, authorities said.

His visit was preceded by the release of a report outlining the depth of sexual abuse in the local church, and his appointment of a bishop who many Chileans accuse of covering up the country's most prominent sex abuse scandal.

The US-based NGO Bishop Accountability said that almost 80 Roman Catholic clergy members had been accused of sexually abusing children in Chile since 2000.

For some victims, the pope's request for forgiveness did not go far enough.

"We need concrete actions that the pope has not taken with the Chilean church," said Juan Carlos Claret, spokesman for a lay association in the southern city of Osorno.

Claret's group is demanding Francis remove Osorno bishop Juan Barros, whom he appointed in 2015, despite Barros's ties to a disgraced pedophile priest Fernando Karadima.

#UPDATE Pope denounces use of violence in struggle for indigenous rights, celebrating mass in restive region of Chile hours after assailants firebombed churches and other targets https://t.co/CpZ2Yfn29Z #Temuco #Mapuche pic.twitter.com/BqQsmscs4v

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 17, 2018

Ecuador grants citizenship to WikiLeaks founder Assange: foreign minister

Yahoo – AFP, January 11, 2018

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has refused to leave the embassy, claiming he
fears being extradited to the United States (AFP Photo/Justin TALLIS)

Quito (AFP) - Ecuador has granted citizenship to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been sheltering at its London embassy for five years to avoid arrest, Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa announced Thursday.

Espinosa told a press conference in Quito that Assange, a 46-year-old Australian, became an Ecuadoran citizen on December 12.

As a result, she said Ecuador had asked London to recognize Assange as a diplomat -- which would give him safe passage out of the embassy without fear of arrest -- but Britain had refused.

"The Ecuadoran government is empowered to grant nationality to the protected person and thus facilitate... his inclusion in the host state," Espinosa told reporters.

She said the request to Britain to accept diplomatic status for Assange was made on December 20, and denied a day later.

The foreign minister said Quito would not insist further on the issue because of the "good relations we have with the United Kingdom".

The British foreign ministry said in a statement that Ecuador had "recently requested diplomatic status for Mr Assange here in the UK. The UK did not grant that request, nor are we in talks with Ecuador on this matter."

Ecuador's attempt to obtain diplomatic status for Assange comes as part of the country's broader efforts to resolve the case of their long-term lodger, who moved into the embassy in 2012 to avoid arrest over a Swedish probe into rape allegations.

Sweden dropped their investigation over the 2010 allegations last year, but British police have said they are still seeking to arrest him for failing to surrender to a court after violating bail terms.

"Ecuador knows that the way to resolve this issue is for Julian Assange to leave the embassy to face justice," Britain's foreign ministry said on Thursday.

Assange has refused to step outside the embassy and claimed he fears being extradited to the United States, over WikiLeaks' publication of leaked secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010.

Espinosa had said on Tuesday her government was looking at the possibility of a "third country or a personality" stepping in to resolve the stand-off.

"No solution will be achieved without international cooperation and the cooperation of the United Kingdom, which has also shown interest in seeking a way out," she said.

Key dates in the life of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pic.twitter.com/ozYbU6suuI

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 11, 2018

More than 250,000 people flock to Mexico City's giant plaza for a slice of an enormous brioche-style king cake -- known as the "Rosca de Reyes"

More than 250,000 people flock to Mexico City's giant plaza for a slice of an enormous brioche-style king cake -- known as the "Rosca de Reyes" pic.twitter.com/LNREJVCyFN

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 6, 2018

Four Venezuelan generals placed on US sanctions blacklist

Yahoo – AFP, January 5, 2018

Venezuelan riot police disperse demonstrators during a protest against the
shortage of food in Caracas on December 28 (AFP Photo/FEDERICO PARRA)

Washington (AFP) - The US Treasury placed four serving or retired Venezuelan generals on its sanctions blacklist, raising pressure on the embattled government of President Nicolas Maduro.

The Treasury alleged that the four were either involved in repressing protesters or tied up in major corruption schemes.

Washington has already targeted Maduro himself for sanctions, and is a long-standing opponent of what it sees as his increasingly authoritarian regime.

The sanctions designations "highlight that corruption and repression continue to flourish under the Maduro regime, both by those in current government positions and former officials who continue to benefit from a corrupt system," the Treasury said.

"President Maduro and his inner circle continue to put their own interests above those of the Venezuelan people," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

"This action underscores the United States' resolve to hold Maduro and others engaged in corruption in Venezuela accountable," he added.

"We call on concerned parties and international partners around the world to join us as we stand with the Venezuelan people to further isolate this oppressive regime."

Under the US Treasury order, Aragua state governor, retired general and state oil firm board member Rodolfo Clemente Marco Torres is designated for his alleged role in food smuggling.

Francisco Jose Rangel Gomez, another retired general and a former governor of Bolivar state, is accused of pressuring Venezuelan courts to release suspected members of armed pro-government gangs.

General Fabio Enrique Zavarse Pabon, commander of the defense zone that includes Caracas, is accused of using National Guard troops to violently repress demonstrations.

And Major General Jose Izquierdo Torres is accused of using his rank and position to corruptly enrich himself.

The Treasury blacklists freezes any assets the four might have in US jurisdictions, and bans Americans and US businesses from doing business with them.

US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the sanctions would only be removed if one day the officials change their behavior and respect the rule of law.

"Members of the Venezuelan armed forces who put their own interests above those of their fellow citizens cannot expect immunity from our sanctions and international accountability," she added.

Ecuador's jailed VP stripped of office

Yahoo – AFP, Santiago PIEDRA SILVA, January 3, 2018

In prison for taking kickbacks, Ecuadoran Vice President Jorge Glas has
been stripped of his office (AFP Photo/Rodrigo BUENDIA)

Quito (AFP) - Ecuadoran President Lenin Moreno confirmed on Wednesday that Jorge Glas, his vice president jailed for six years for graft, has been stripped of his office.

Glas, 48, automatically lost his title on Wednesday because he was absent from his post for more than the three months permitted under Ecuador's constitution -- because of his incarceration and pre-trial detention.

He is the highest-ranking Latin American politician to be convicted and imprisoned in a regional scandal involving a Brazilian construction group, Odebrecht, which gave bribes to secure public works contracts.

He was given a six-year sentence on December 13 by Ecuador's Supreme Court after being found guilty of receiving $13.5 million in Odebrecht kickbacks. He says he is innocent and will appeal.

But, taking into account his detention since October 2 pending his trial, he has not been able to carry out his duties.

That meant that at midnight Tuesday (0500 GMT Wednesday), Glas had failed to execute his functions as vice president for the three months allowed under the constitution. So he automatically lost his post.

"In line with what the constitution stipulates, the vice presidential functions of Jorge Glas have ended," Moreno told reporters at his palace in the capital, Quito.

He added that, by law, he now had two weeks to present a list of potential replacements for Congress to choose Glas's successor.

Two potential successors

The legislature voted December 17 to open proceedings to fire Glas. But that required rulings from the Constitutional Court and a congressional panel before going to a vote before the entire Congress.

In the end, the constitution's provisions were deemed to have gone into effect before the legislative process had run its course.

Glas has insisted he did not breach the three-month absence rule, arguing that part of his period in custody was vacation time. But that stance was dismissed by the government and Congress.

"Under the law, the three months of absence means that a temporary deficiency (of vice-presidential functions) becomes a definitive one, without the need for any congressional declaration," a constitutional expert, Rafael Oyarte, told AFP.

Two people were seen as best-placed to succeed Glas: current acting vice president Maria Vicuna, and Industries Minister Eva Garcia.

Ecuador's ruling party is split between Moreno and previous president Rafael Correa. Glas was an ally of Correa, who retired to Belgium but returned to his country in late November to battle Moreno for control of the party.

Odebrecht, which was investigated by the US Justice Department, agreed to pay a $3.5 billion fine after admitting to giving $788 million in bribes across 12 countries to secure contracts.

The scandal has ensnared politicians in several countries, including Mexico, Peru, Panama and Venezuela.

Ecuadoran prosecutors said Odebrecht spent $47.3 million in bribes in their country to get public contracts.