Galapagos bans fireworks to protect unique wildlife

Yahoo – AFP, December 28, 2018

A Galapagos marine iguana, pictured in January 2018, sunbathes next to tourists
at Tortuga Bay beach on Santa Cruz Island (AFP Photo/Pablo COZZAGLIO)

Quito (AFP) - Fireworks have been banned on the Galapagos Islands to protect the archipelago's unique fauna, the local government said on Friday.

The local council said in a statement that it had agreed "unanimously a resolution that prohibits the importation, sale, distribution and use of fireworks or pyrotechnics in the Galapagos province."

Those fireworks that produce light but no noise have been excluded from the ban.

The islands are home to thousands of residents as well as being a tourist destination, and the measure comes just days before New Year celebrations in which many people traditionally set off fireworks.

"Ecosystems as sensitive as the Galapagos Islands are affected (by fireworks), principally its fauna that is unique," said the council.

It also wants to avoid any potential deterioration in air quality or pollution of water sources.

Animals have suffered from elevated heart rates, nervous stress and anxiety, which have "notably" changed their behavior and affected the survival of species inhabiting this World Heritage Site that belongs to Ecuador.

"This is a gift to conservation for Ecuador and the world," Lorena Tapia, president of the local council, said on her Twitter account.

A campaign to limit the use of fireworks on the Galapagos Islands was launched in 2017.

Single-use plastics have also been banned on the archipelago, about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) off the coast of Ecuador.

Known for its endemic species, the volcanic Galapagos Islands played a crucial role in British naturalist Charles Darwin's studies before he came up with his theory of evolution.

Painful memories for family of Guatemalan girl who died in US custody

Yahoo – AFP, Henry MORALES ARANA, December 16, 2018

Claudia Maquin, the mother of Jakelin Caal -- the seven year-old Guatemalan girl
who died in US Border Patrol custody -- speaks to reporters with the late girl's three
siblings (AFP Photo/JOHAN ORDONEZ)

Raxruha (Guatemala) (AFP) - Outside a humble thatched-roof home deep in the lush Guatemalan countryside, the mother of a seven-year-old girl who died after being detained by US border agents tries to remember happier days with her daughter.

The 27-year-old woman mournfully points to a nearby tree that young Jakelin Caal enjoyed climbing.

"I feel pain and sadness over the death of my daughter," said Claudia Maquin, speaking in her native Maya Q'eqchi' language through an interpreter.

Jakelin's death in American custody on December 8 -- which followed her detention after illegally crossing from Mexico with her father -- has reignited a debate in the United States on immigration policy and mistreatment of migrants.

It has also shocked residents of this indigenous farming village of unpaved roads that has neither electricity nor running water, and where crushing poverty is the norm.

The child's death came as President Donald Trump struggles to deter a tide of migrants fleeing poverty and violence in Central America.

Nearly 60 percent of Guatemala's 17 million people live under the poverty line, according to government and World Bank figures.

That rate is higher in indigenous communities like the remote village where young Jakelin lived in the municipality of Raxruha, some 145 kilometers (90 miles) north of the capital Guatemala City.

Claudia Maquin stands outside the home where her late seven-year-old daughter 

Jakelin Caal grew up deep in rural Guatemala (AFP Photo/JOHAN ORDONEZ)

Left 'out of necessity'

Jakelin's father Nery Caal, 29, left the village to travel to the United States with her on November 30.

"He left out of necessity," Maquin told AFP, with her father-in-law Domingo Caal acting as an interpreter.

"When he left he said that he'd be looking for work there," she said.

Jakelin traveled north with her father because "the girl was very close" to him, said Domingo Caal, 61.

He said the girl was "jumping with joy" as she began the trip.

Before leaving "she told her mother and grandmother that when she grew up she would work and bring money to them," he said.

The US Department of Homeland Security confirmed the death of the girl, saying she died of dehydration and exhaustion in an El Paso, Texas hospital less than 24 hours after being detained as part of a group of 163 illegal border crossers in a remote New Mexico border area.

The DHS confirmation came only after it was reported by The Washington Post.

A relative shows a picture of the late Jakelin Caal on a phone (AFP Photo/

JOHAN ORDONEZ)

Guatemala's foreign ministry said the child came down with fever and was shaking and vomiting after she was in US Border Patrol custody, where she received aid from paramedics before being hospitalized.

Father wants answers

The girl's father, who is seeking asylum in the United States, issued a statement Saturday in his family's name "seeking an objective and thorough investigation" into his daughter's death.

The statement was read to reporters by Ruben Garcia, the head of Annunciation House, the refugee shelter where he is staying in El Paso, Texas.

Jakelin, who was just five days past her seventh birthday, had not been crossing the desert for days and "had not suffered from a lack of food or water prior to approaching the border," the statement read.

The statement also said that it was "unacceptable" that US agents had the father, who mainly speaks Q'eqchi', sign documents in English.

Immigrant rights activists, several waving signs and clutching pictures of the young girl, rallied to protest Jakelin's death in downtown El Paso as Border Patrol agents warily looked on from a distance.

A woman draws water from a well in the indigenous village of San Antonio Seacortez,
home of the Guatemalan girl who died in the custody of US border agents (AFP Photo/
JOHAN ORDONEZ)

"We want to know what happened during those hours in which she was detained and then taken to hospital," said one of the protesters, Fernando Garcia, head of the Human Rights Border Network advocacy group.

The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general announced an internal investigation into the girl's death.

'What can we do?'

The Guatemalan government has offered to bring back the girl's remains, and said that her father would be released by special permission from US immigration authorities.

The late girl's uncle Jose Caal told AFP that it could take some three weeks to complete the process to repatriate the girl's body for a funeral.

"It's very painful, very painful, but what can we do?" asked Domingo Caal.

"What happened, happened, but it's painful," he said.

Argentina jails ex-Ford directors for 'dirty war' collaboration

Yahoo – AFP, 11 December 2018

Former Ford executive Pedro Muller, pictured in court in Buenos Aires, was jailed
for 10 years for collaborating in the military dictatorship's "dirty war"

An Argentine court on Tuesday handed jail sentences to two former directors of automaker Ford for participating in the military dictatorship's "dirty war" against leftist opponents.

After a year-long trial, the court sentenced Hector Sibilla, the former security chief at Ford's Buenos Aires plant, to 12 years in prison, and manufacturing manager Pedro Muller to 10 years.

They had been on trial since last December, accused of complicity in the persecution of union leaders at the plant during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship.

The court said both men "were necessary participants in the illegal deprivation of liberty, aggravated by the use of violence and threats" with the aim of political persecution.

It found that Sibilla was also present during a torture session.

Prosecutors had requested the maximum penalty of 25 years in jail for both men.

"It's a vindication of the Argentine labor movement, which was a principal target of the dictatorship, with the complicity of the companies," said Tomas Ojea, a lawyer for the victims, after the sentence was read.

"The next step will be against the company itself," he added. "We are going to evaluate the steps to be taken to hold the company to account. It has to explain its actions."

The court heard testimony from dozens of people including Pedro Troiani and Carlos Propato, who were trade union leaders at Ford in Argentina when they were detained in the factory and tortured by the military junta.

The court found Ford's former executive Hector Sibilla was also present during 

a torture session

They were held prisoner for two years and letters were sent to their families claiming they had been fired for failing to show up for work.

Sibilla and Muller are currently out under a former of conditional release that bars them from leaving the country, but the judge said they would have to serve out their sentences in prison once all appeals have been exhausted.

Survivors and relatives burst into applause and cheers when the verdict was given.

The court also sentenced a former general, Santiago Riveros -- head of the secret Campo de Mayo detention center where the men were held -- to 15 years in prison.

He has previously been convicted of crimes against humanity.

Before the sentence was read, only Muller, the manufacturing manager, availed himself of the opportunity to address the court.

"I have a clear conscience because nobody can accuse me over my conduct," he said.

Legal first in Argentina

The case marked the first time executives of a multinational company had been put on trial for crimes committed during the dictatorship.

The company itself was not implicated, but prosecutors sought to demonstrate there was complicity with the dictatorship responsible for the deaths and disappearances of some 30,000 people, according to human rights organizations.

Cases have also been taken against other international automakers, including Mercedes Benz, Renault and Fiat, but only the Ford case has so far gone to trial.

When the military took over in a 1976 coup, some 5,000 workers were employed at Ford's Buenos Aires plant, as well as 2,500 administrative staff.

Twenty four of the 100 trade union delegates at the plant were taken captive in retaliation for union activism.

Several were tortured at the plant, on the northern periphery of Buenos Aires, before they were transferred to secret detention centers.

Former Ford executive Pedro Muller, pictured in court in Buenos Aires, was jailed for 10 years for collaborating in the military dictatorship's "dirty war"

The court found Ford's former executive Hector Sibilla was also present during a torture session

China's Xi in Panama on mission to bolster clout in Latin America

Yahoo – AFP, December 4, 2018

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and his Panamanian counterpart Juan Carlos
Varela (R) signed a score of infrastructure, tourism and development cooperation
agreements (AFP Photo/Luis ACOSTA)

China's President Xi Jinping and his Panamanian counterpart Juan Carlos Varela signed a string of cooperation agreements Monday as Beijing aims to extend its political and economic influence in Latin America.

Xi arrived in the Central American country late Sunday, fresh from striking a 90-day truce deal in the trade war with US President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Argentina.

Xi and Varela signed a score of infrastructure, tourism and development cooperation agreements as Panama became the first Latin American country to partner with Beijing's giant multi-billion dollar global investment initiative known as "Belt and Road."

Xi's visit comes after Panama broke ties with Taiwan last year and switched its allegiance to Beijing. Since Panama's move, two other Central American countries -- the Dominican Republic and El Salvador -- have made the switch.

"Our bilateral relations have had a strong start after only a year and a half," Xi said.

Varela said Xi's visit -- and the investment it brought -- meant Panama would become "the gateway of China to Latin America."

The two countries are also negotiating a free trade agreement.

Xi also met with business leaders and visited the Panama Canal's new Cocoli Locks. China is the canal's second biggest user after the United States.

In a column written for local newspaper Estrella de Panama, Xi said he had "high expectations" for the visit, the first ever by a Chinese leader to the country.

"We must be cooperative partners of mutual benefit and shared profits," wrote Xi.

Beijing hopes Panama can be a logistics hub for the expansion of trade in

Latin America and the Caribbean (AFP Photo/Luis Acosta)

Logistics hub

Beijing hopes Panama can be a logistics hub for the expansion of trade in Latin America and the Caribbean -- an idea the local business community has fully embraced.

"Panama usually generates a lot of interest because of its strategic location in the region and because of the canal," Severo Sousa, president of the National Business Council (Conep), told AFP.

These factors -- along with Panama's political stability, growing economy and deep financial network -- are "very attractive" to China, Sousa added.

"What the Chinese want is very clear, they want to take advantage of the geographical position for their expansion and development in the region," said economist Francisco Bustamante.

"A strong Chinese presence in Panama reaffirms to the world China's rise in the global hierarchy at the expense of the United States," said Carlos Guevara Mann, professor of international relations at Florida State University in Panama.

"Being caught in the rivalry between China and the United States would be extremely problematic for Panama," because "it could lead to reprisals by Washington," warned Mann.

During a visit to the Central American country last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Varela about China's growing influence in the region.

Tug of war over Taiwan

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since the end of a civil war on the mainland in 1949, but Beijing sees the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification.

Beijing and Taipei have been engaged for years in a diplomatic tug-of-war in developing countries, with aid and economic support often used as bargaining chips to gain diplomatic recognition.

Washington, which has accused the Chinese of trying to use aid to drive a wedge between Taipei and its Western Hemisphere partners, recalled its envoy to Panama City in September this year.

Varela, who visited China last year, promptly asked the US to respect his country's sovereignty.

VIDEO: China's President Xi Jinping and his Panamanian counterpart Juan Carlos Varela sign a string of cooperation agreements as Beijing aims to extend its political and economic influence in Latin America pic.twitter.com/tBsUUmxyo0

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 4, 2018