VIDEO: Chilean bishops hold extraordinary assembly in Valparaiso to discuss the sexual abuse scandal that has hit the institution, prompting the resignation of at least five bishops

VIDEO: Chilean bishops hold extraordinary assembly in Valparaiso to discuss the sexual abuse scandal that has hit the institution, prompting the resignation of at least five bishops pic.twitter.com/G5YP5QCVh1

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 31, 2018

Related Article: 

Pope accepts resignation of archbishop convicted of abuse cover-up

Last month Pope Francis accepted the resignation of five Chilean bishops amid

accusations of abuse and related cover-ups

Peru's Supreme Court president resigns over corruption scandal

Yahoo – AFP, 19 July 2018

The president of Peru's Judiciary and Supreme Court, Duberli Rodriguez (C) speaking
during a meeting with a committee of jurists, has resigned over a growing scandal
linked to the sale of sentences and influence peddling

Peru's Supreme Court president Duberli Rodriguez offered his resignation on Thursday after the publication of a series of audio recordings sparked a growing scandal over the sale of sentences and influence peddling.

"Given the institutional crisis that the judicial branch is going through, I present my irrevocable resignation from the post," said Rodriguez in a short letter published on the Supreme Court's Twitter account.

Rodriguez said the reasons for his resignation would be explained during a Supreme Court extraordinary session on Thursday afternoon.

He had been under pressure from Supreme Court colleagues demanding he resign so someone else -- completely untouched by the scandal -- could be tasked with reorganizing the judicial system.

Peru's judicial branch had announced a 90-day emergency on Wednesday, signed by Rodriguez and published in the El Peruano newspaper.

"In response to the judicial problems it is imperative that urgent and immediate measures are adopted to restore the normal, efficient and transparent development of jurisdictional activities," the judicial authority's resolution stated.

The National Council of the Magistracy's (CNM) president Orlando Velasquez also resigned on Thursday after just three days in the job, saying he did so for "dignity."

The CNM is the body that nominates judges and prosecutors.

The news comes less than a week after Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra dismissed Justice Minister Salvador Heresi over the embarrassing revelations.

"For the health of the justice system reform, I've asked minister Heresi to resign," Vizcarra had said on Twitter. "The period Peru is going through requires firm action."

Vizcarra appointed a committee of six jurists headed by ex-chancellor Allan Wagner to deliver a judicial reform proposal.

He has called an extraordinary session in parliament for Friday to discuss the possibility of a blanket resignation of CNM magistrates.

The diffusion of inflammatory audio recordings began 10 days ago on investigative journalism website IDL-Reporteros and the Panorama program on television station Canal 5, after which the public prosecutor's office opened an investigation into suspected influence peddling.

A number of judges and judicial officials implicated in the scandal have been suspended.

Heresi was sacked after a conversation between him and Supreme Court judge Cesar Hinostroza, another implicated in the affair, was played on television.

In the recording, Heresi asks Hinostroza to come to his office to talk to him about a legal initiative.

The president of Peru's Judiciary and Supreme Court, Duberli Rodriguez (C) speaking during a meeting with a committee of jurists, has resigned over a growing scandal linked to the sale of sentences and influence peddling.

'We apologize': former Colombia FARC rebels seek forgiveness at tribunal

Yahoo – AFP, Rodrigo ALMONACID, Marcela RODRIGUEZ, July 14, 2018

The Special Jurisdiction for Peace is examining kidnappings and disappearances
that took place between 1993 and 2012 (AFP Photo/Raul ARBOLEDA)

Bogota (AFP) - Former rebel FARC commanders in Colombia have appeared at a historic tribunal where for the first time they were made to answer for kidnappings and forced disappearances under the terms of a peace deal.

"We apologize to all of them, we will do the impossible so they can know the truth of what happened, we will assume our responsibilities," said Rodrigo "Timochenko" Londono, the leader of what was until recently the most powerful guerrilla group in South America.

He was speaking at a tribunal that opened on Friday under a truth and reconciliation system agreed with the government to recognize the hundreds of thousands of victims of more than a half century of confrontation.

At the end of his appearance, the former guerrilla leader reaffirmed to the press commitments to contribute "as far as possible" towards reparations for those affected and to never again exercise violence.

During their long and failed struggle for power, the FARC resorted to abductions for economic and political purposes.

Thousands of hostages, including military, police and politicians such as Franco-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, were kept for years deep in the jungle before being rescued or released, with many others perishing in captivity.

The prosecution has documented 8,163 victims of kidnapping involving the rebels.

The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (known by its Spanish acronym JEP) is examining the period between 1993 and 2012.

The peace agreement signed in 2016 by FARC rebels and the government has 

divided Colombian society (AFP Photo/Raul ARBOLEDA)

Thirty-one FARC commanders were summoned to the first hearing, but only Timochenko and two others appeared in person.

The rest sent lawyers, while one -- Jesus Santrich, currently detained in Bogota and awaiting extradition to the United States on drug trafficking charges -- participated by video conference.

The ex-rebels pledged to confess their crimes and make reparations to the victims as part of the 2016 agreement that disarmed 7,000 FARC fighters and led to the group becoming a political party last year.

Fulfilling the terms will result in five to eight-year-punishments in a non-prison setting that has yet to be defined.

If they fail to live up to their obligations they are liable to receive between 15 to 20 years in prison.

Outgoing president Juan Manuel Santos celebrated the start of the trials.

"This is a very important signal, because what it means is that everything that had been said about this being a peace without accounting was untrue," he told reporters.

The peace agreement, signed in 2016, has divided Colombian society.

Half vehemently defends the agreement, while the other says the concessions it offered the rebels are too great.

President-elect Ivan Duque, who will assume power on August 7, won elections promising to modify the deal to prevent former FARC leaders from becoming lawmakers.

The pact guarantees FARC ten seats in Congress.

Outside the building where the tribunal took place, around twenty people who were prevented from entering gathered in silence and exhibited photographs of those "kidnapped or disappeared" at the hands of the rebels.

"We need to know the truth most of all. They must only get reduced sentences if they tell us what really happened to the people they kidnapped," said Olga Rojas, the widow of Sergeant Jose Vicente Rojas, who disappeared in 1992.

Prominent Chilean priest arrested over sex abuse allegations

Yahoo – AFP, July 13, 2018

Prosecutor Emiliano Arias, pictured in Santiago, confirmed the investigation
included a possible cover-up of abuse (AFP Photo/CLAUDIO REYES)

Santiago (AFP) - Prominent Chilean Catholic priest Oscar Munoz, who held senior positions in the archdiocese of Santiago, was detained Thursday over allegations that he sexually abused seven children -- the latest pedophilia scandal to grip the country's church.

The alleged abuse by Munoz, 56, took place from 2002 in the capital Santiago and the southern city of Rancagua, prosecutor Emiliano Arias said.

Munoz was vice-chancellor and then chancellor in the archdiocese of Santiago from 2011, before he was removed two months ago after admitting in January, days before Pope Francis' visit to Chile, that he had abused a minor.

He was initially investigated by the Chilean church, which then referred the case to the Vatican. The abuse was uncovered by Chilean prosecutors when the church's case file was seized during a June operation.

Arias confirmed the investigation included a possible cover-up involving senior members of the clergy, among them the two most recent archbishops of Santiago, Francisco Javier Errazuriz and Ricardo Ezzati.

Ezzati said the archdiocese is available to cooperate "in everything that is required."

Chilean police also set up an email address appealing for any other allegations related to the case.

The Chilean church has been hit by pedophilia scandals implicating dozens of priests. Pope Francis has accepted the resignations of five bishops, four of whom were accused of turning a blind eye to abuse or covering it up.

Brazil fighting fake news in the classroom

Yahoo – AFP, Paula RAMON, July 13, 2018

Students attend a lesson on "Fake News: access, security and veracity of
information" in Sao Paulo, Brazil (AFP Photo/Miguel SCHINCARIOL)

Sao Paulo (AFP) - Brazil has taken a stand against the explosion of "fake news" stories swamping the internet by making media analysis studies compulsory for schoolchildren.

Around the world, debates proliferate about the problem of unfettered information flooding social media, uploaded by people with no consideration for journalist ethics, impartiality or even the truth.

Of particular concern is the effect such misinformation can have on those most impressionable.

"The aim is to teach students to identify fake news, and now it's part of the national curriculum because the country has decided it's necessary," said Leandro Beguoci, editorial director at Brazilian education specialists Nova Escola.

"The proliferation of social media networks have created an urgent situation in this respect," Beguoci said.

Media analysis studies became compulsory in December 2017, but have been offered alongside traditional subjects like mathematics and history for years in some Brazilian schools.

Kayo Rodrigues, 14, said the Brazilian press is not perfect, but plays a vital role in combating fake news "because not everyone has the internet or the tools to check facts."

She enrolled in the "Young Press" program launched six years ago in the Casa Blanca public school in Sao Paulo.

At Casa Blanca, teachers Lucilene Varandas and Hildenor Gomes do Santos ensure their students, aged eight to 14, know not to take everything they watch or read at face value.

'Think about clicks'

"When I receive a piece of information, I look for it on the internet and ask myself if it's true," said Helena Vital, 11, whose parents are teachers. She said the program has taught her to view the media from a different perspective.

"Now I know that things aren't so bad, the whole country isn't going to collapse," added Vital, who said that consuming news without questioning it "leaves people sad" and that "there are many negative things that aren't true."

The children do not have the tools to systematically check everything, but "they look at the articles, who wrote them, who could be interested in them and where they're published, which are all ways of questioning the information," said Varandas, who is looking to create partnerships with fact-checking agencies to expand the children's education.

The measures seem to be working despite the children's young age.

"All it takes is one click to share false news; this project teaches me to think about my clicks," said Rodrigues, daughter of a shopkeeper and a manicurist.

The students enrolled in "Young Press" have also been analyzing local media stories about the project, and even found inaccuracies.

AFP was told its own coverage would be equally scrutinized.

With a population of almost 208 million people, Brazil has a massive social media presence: 120 million WhatsApp users, more than 100 million people on Facebook and another 50 million signed up to Instagram.

"In the past, kids were taught by their parents, but now that happens through a variety of means, something which alters the role of the school," said Beguoci, a trained journalist.

"What's so interesting in Brazil is that media and technological literacy are considered as important as classical literacy."

'Digital age natives'

Beguoci denies that information analysis is an additional burden on the education system, saying it rather offers "a context that can improve education."

"We're talking about things that are part of the student's world," he said.

For Veronica Martins Cannata, who coordinates technology and communication studies at the private Dante Alighieri school, children have their own responsibility when it comes to fake news.

"Technology has facilitated communication, but the time has come to question its content," she said.

"As natives of the digital age, children and teenagers must take the responsibility to analyze that content before reproducing it."

Dante Alighieri has been analyzing media content for 11 years and has also brought the fight against fake news into the classroom.

Children are born "with ingenuity," but at school they acquire "a critical eye and no longer consume information in the same way," said Martins Cannata.

Such media analysis studies will not necessarily create a new generation of wannabe reporters, though.

Vital, for one, is suspicious about the press that "is sometimes flawed in its credibility."

Asked if she would like to one day become a journalist, Vital said: "I prefer swimming!"

Brazil appeals court orders ex-president Lula's release

Yahoo – AFP, July 8, 2018

Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva left office with sky-high ratings
following an economic boom and widely praised social programs to reduce
poverty (AFP Photo/Nelson ALMEIDA)

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - A Brazilian appeals court on Sunday delivered a surprise ruling ordering the release of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 72, who has been jailed since April for corruption and could now be released within hours.

Leftist firebrand Lula -- who was convicted of accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe from Brazilian construction company OAS -- has been battling to overturn his 12-year sentence in the hopes of making another presidential bid in elections in October.

Judge Rogerio Favreto ruled in favor of several deputies of Lula's Workers' Party who on Friday had submitted a habeas corpus application on the former president's behalf.

On the heels of the ruling, top anti-corruption Judge Sergio Moro -- who originally sentenced Lula -- said the judge did not have the power to secure the leftist's release, declaring the decision "monocratic."

"Lula free now!" read the popular politician's Twitter account, praising "the end of the illegal imprisonment of Lula."

But even if released, Lula -- who ruled Brazil from 2003 to 2011, leaving office with sky-high ratings -- could see his candidacy invalidated by the South American country's electoral court.

Despite his jailing, Lula has consistently led presidential polls.

He insists he is innocent and has branded the accusations of accepting the apartment as a conspiracy aimed at thwarting his electoral bid.

Trump-AMLO: clash of populists, or chance for a fresh start?

Yahoo – AFP, Alina DIESTE, July 3, 2018

Lopez Obrador won more than 53 percent of the votes in Sunday's poll, a major
upset to the establishment that raises a question mark over Mexico's relations with
its powerful northern neighbor, its main trading partner (AFP Photo/PEDRO PARDO)

Washington (AFP) - Like Donald Trump before him, Mexico's new leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador swept to victory with a promise to shake up corrupt elites and put his country's interests first.

So are the neighbors headed for a clash of the populists, or a new start in relations?

The politician known as "AMLO" won more than 53 percent of the votes in Sunday's poll, a major upset to the establishment that raises a question mark over Mexico's relations with its powerful northern neighbor, its main trading partner.

Despite Trump's hard line on migrants, his threats to build a wall on the border and shake up trade, and in spite of AMLO promising to "put Trump in his place," both leaders appeared determined to get off to a good start in a phone conversation held immediately after the Mexican's landslide.

Trump's National Security Advisor, the hawkish John Bolton, said the US president will "look forward" to what he predicted would be a productive meeting with AMLO.

"Having the two leaders get together may produce some surprising results," Bolton said.

Beyond the optimistic rhetoric, analysts suggest there are number of potential points of conflict ahead, even if AMLO moderates his approach upon taking office.

More Lula than Chavez

AMLO, the 64-year-old former mayor of Mexico City, won the presidency on his third attempt with a promise of "radical change," but his administration is expected to dial things down now he is finally in power.

Former Brazilian president (2003-2011) Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is more likely to be

 the model for Mexican president-elect Andres manuel Lopez Obrador than the late 

Venezuelan Socialist leader Hugo Chavez, analysts said (AFP Photo/Nelson ALMEIDA)

"AMLO will govern more like fellow leftist Lula da Silva in Brazil than (the late Hugo) Chavez in Venezuela," said analyst Mark Rosenberg of the GeoQuant consultants.

Jason Marczak, Latin America director at the Atlantic Council, was more emphatic: "AMLO is not Chavez."

"Will AMLO seek to implement social reforms in a pragmatic way like Lula did?" he asked.

"Yes, in that respect I think he will follow that path. AMLO, like Lula, is also seen by his followers like a savior with superhuman status.

"But the economic context in which AMLO arrives to power is very different from the one Lula inherited."

Lopez Obrador won largely because Mexicans are fed up with corruption, impunity and violence, and not because of the US leader's angry outbursts at everything south of the Rio Grande, added Marczak.

"Washington can and should seize upon this moment to recalibrate relations with Mexico, to not just maintain, but deepen the cooperation that benefits both our countries."

Kindred spirit?

Despite sharp differences in their backgrounds, the Mexican leftist has much in common with the showy 72-year old New York real estate magnate.

"Both men are nationalists who see themselves as redeemers who have to take on a 'corrupt' and inefficient establishment and have an agenda of putting their country first," said Juan Carlos Hidalgo of the Cato Institute, who argued Trump could see AMLO as a "kindred spirit."

A man holds a sign during a protest against US President Donald Trump outside 

the US Embassy in Mexico City in March 2018 as the seventh round of NAFTA

 (North American Free Trade Agreement) talks took place in the city (AFP Photo/

ALFREDO ESTRELLA)

But, he warned, it could also go the other way. "They are populists, and populists need enemies to survive politically," he said, and AMLO could find that external enemy in Trump.

Michael Shifter, head of the Inter-American Dialogue center, argued the most sensitive and volatile issues are likely to be NAFTA, security cooperation and immigration.

The North American Free Trade Agreement, signed in 1994 and regulating commerce between the United States, Canada and Mexico, has been a particular target for Trump's ire since he launched his campaign in 2015.

Trump ordered fresh negotiations to open last August to re-examine the complex trade deal, but Rosenberg said that protectionist urges on both sides will be complicate efforts to renew the pact.

Hidalgo said it was "likely that AMLO's campaign promises to seek self-sufficiency in food production will be the biggest stumbling block in the renegotiation."

"We can predict AMLO bringing the same brash approach to trade talks as his American counterpart," said Marczak. "As a result, trade talks are expected to become more difficult as the NAFTA partners seek to find a new compromise."