International
At least 66 people died or disappeared between January and July in the capital of Haiti
At least 66 people died or disappeared in the towns of Gressier and Carrefour, south of the capital of Haiti, between January and July of this year, in attacks perpetrated by armed gangs, according to a report by the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (Rnddh) published this Friday.
Among the victims are four agents of the Haitian National Police (PNH), fifteen women and a minor, according to the report, which also reveals that twelve of the victims were between 60 and 80 years old.
The document emphasizes that armed bandits wear police uniforms, move with their firearms in vehicles and motorcycles equipped with police sirens, and demand that local residents pay them a periodic sum based on the number of people who live in the houses or who perform an income-generating activity.
“Police interventions to regain control of these two towns are very few and so far have not yielded any results,” denounced Rnddh, who maintains that the relatives of these victims and witnesses have described the horror they have experienced in a context marked by a marked deterioration of the situation in this depressed Caribbean country.
Hundreds of homes were looted, set on fire or illegally occupied, while vehicles have been stolen or burned and goods have been destroyed, according to the report on the situation.
At least 12 tolls have been installed at the southern entrance of Port-au-Prince, from Portail de Léogane to Gressier, and armed bandits have established a daily collection system in at least six markets.
Dozens of women and girls raped them in a group. The NGO was able to locate 46 survivors of rape, including three minors.
Some of these victims were raped in their homes and then had to flee after witnessing the murder of a relative.
Others kidnapped them in their homes and taken them to places where they were received naked men, who waited for them to rape them in a group for several hours or days.
“During these rapes, women and girls were also interrogated, severely beaten and insulted” by members of armed gangs, Rnddh’s investigation adds.
Since the end of October 2023, Carrefour and Gressier have been experiencing unprecedented armed violence, characterized by massacres and armed attacks perpetrated by the bandits.
It is also characterized by rapes and collective violations, robberies, looting, house fires, decapitalization of merchants and massive displacement of the population, a situation that has worsened this year.
The Transitional Presidential Council and the Superior Council of Police, chaired by the Prime Minister, Gary Conille, have promised to restore order and security in the area and affirm that security is a priority, however, they absorb a very important part of the agents for their personal safety and that of their families, to the detriment of the community, the report criticizes.
He also affirms that the agents of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MMAS), headed by Kenya and deployed since June, do nothing to help the population suffering from the acts of armed bandits, despite the fact that their mission is to help restore security and peace in the country in general and in the departments of Ouest and Artibonite, especially affected by the phenomenon of armed gangs.
Faced with the inaction of the Government and the MMAS, the armed bandits “gain in confidence and arrogance” and “enlag their territory,” he said.
The Haitian people “continue to be victims of systematic violations of their fundamental rights to life, freedom and security, physical integrity, psychological integrity, private property and freedom of movement,” the NGO denounces.
“And it is not surprising that the hopes placed by this population in the new authorities and in the arrival of the MMAS agents are already beginning to crumble,” he concluded.
International
Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.
“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.
“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.
Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links
A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
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