International
The trial of the perpetrators of the murder of Brazilian councilor Marielle Franco begins
The trial against former policemen Ronnie Lessa and Élcio Queiroz, accused of the murder of Brazilian councilor and human rights activist Marielle Franco, began this Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro with the testimony of Fernanda González Chaves, the only survivor of the attack.
Franco was shot dead on March 14, 2018 along with Anderson Gomes, the driver of the vehicle in which she was traveling, after participating in a political act in downtown Rio de Janeiro.
Testimony of the only survivor
During her testimony, the then advisor to Marielle Franco, narrated how the events occurred from her point of view.
For security reasons, González Chaves had to leave for Madrid with his family after the attack and could not even be at the funeral of the one who, in addition to his boss, was his friend.
“There was no way to have a normal life after that episode,” he said in the audience.
The defendants answer for the crimes of three-time qualified double homicide, attempted homicide and receipt of the stolen vehicle used in the crime and face penalties of up to 84 years in prison for each, as requested by the Prosecutor’s Office.
The hearing, which began at 11:00 local time (14:00 GMT), two hours later than scheduled, is scheduled to end on Thursday and takes place in the fourth room of a Rio court, with seven juries who were elected from a group of 21 and who will decide the fate of Lessa and Queiroz, prisoners since 2019.
Marielle Franco defender of human rights.
Woman, black, lesbian and born in a favela, Franco stood out for being an energetic defender of the human rights of the most needy and for fighting the mafia groups that dominate the imprived communities of Rio.
The attack against the councilor of the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL), who was 38 years old at the time, had a clear political connotation that only began to be elucidated at the beginning of 2023, when the investigations passed to the Supreme Court in Brasilia after five years practically paralyzed in Rio de Janeiro.
Family and friends call for justice
The start of the trial was preceded by a demonstration in which family, friends and supporters of the activist participated to demand justice for Marielle Franco but also for “black, poor and favela” citizens, victims of crimes who remain unpunished.
Dozens of people met in front of the court where the hearing is held, loaded with posters, pamphlets and brooches, with phrases “I want justice for Marielle and Anderson” and “What Marielle did for us, we will do for Marielle.”
The event organized by the Marielle Franco Institute, founded by the activist’s family, seeks to demand a “forceful and serious response” to the case, after more than six years of waiting.
International
UN: forced sterilizations in Peru in the 90s would constitute a crime against humanity
The policy of forced sterilizations in Peru during the government of Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), of which more than 300,000 women were victims, was a form of violence directed “particularly against indigenous, rural and disadvantaged women” that could be considered a crime against humanity, a UN committee of experts ruled on Wednesday.
“Generalized or systematic forced sterilization could constitute a crime against humanity according to the Rome statute,” said the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which expressed its concern about the law enacted by Peru that prevents the prosecution of this type of serious crimes if they were committed before 2002.
The conclusion of the group of 23 experts (22 women and one man) was adopted after reviewing a complaint filed by five victims forcibly sterilized between 1996 and 1997, as part of the birth policies developed by the Peruvian Government, of which 25,000 men were also victims.
Sterilizations in Peru without the consent of the victims
“The victims described a consistent pattern of coercion, pressure or deception to undergo sterilizations in clinics without adequate infrastructure or trained personnel,” said committee member Leticia Bonifaz.
He added that the procedures were carried out without the consent of the victims, some of them unable to fully understand the nature of the operations.
The committee stressed that Peru did not comply with its obligation to properly investigate these violations or to adequately compensate the victims, so it made an urgent appeal to the State to accelerate or expand its investigations, providing financial compensation and psychological support.
Testimonies of those affected
The committee’s decision collected testimonies such as that of a victim from the department of Huánuco, in the north center of the country, who was arrested in the street by medical practitioners in 1996, subsequently sedated and when she woke up she was told that she was “cured” because she could no longer have children.
Immediately after the intervention she had to walk home for two hours, without any postoperative care, and her husband abandoned her when she discovered that the sterilization, the document pointed out, putting this case as an example of the serious consequences on physical and mental health that those campaigns had.
The case was presented in 2020 to the United Nations committee, in charge of ensuring compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, ratified by Peru in 2001.
Violent campaign against women
Although there were also male victims of sterilizations, the committee interpreted that this campaign was especially violent with women, due to the different nature of the interventions and the associated surgical risks.
“They were part of a systematic and widespread attack against rural women of peasant or indigenous origin, and the policy resulted in the annulment and replacement of their reproductive autonomy,” Bonifaz denounced.
International
Chaos in Buenos Aires due to the strike of air transport, trains, subway and taxis
The city of Buenos Aires woke up this Wednesday with long lines at bus stops, the only means of transport that operates in the Argentine capital because of a 24-hour strike that affects planes, trains, capital metro (Subte) and taxis.
“I have coordinated with a neighbor to go to work in his car,” Erika, a woman who lives in a suburb of the capital and goes every day to work in the center of the capital, which means, in her case, traveling more than 20 kilometers.
Those who have been able to organize themselves with relatives are arriving at their jobs, but those who depend on public rail transport and live on the peripheries are going through difficulties to reach their destination.
For that reason, many workers have not gone to their posts, as confirmed to EFE by several affected people.
“People who live far away and don’t have a car are staying at home, they are not going to work. Without trains you can’t access the capital,” said a citizen of Buenos Aires.
Transport sectors on strike demand better wages
In the city of Buenos Aires only urban (collective) buses operate, that’s why the lines since dawn are being the dominant note in this day of strike, to which tomorrow the bus drivers will join if they do not reach an agreement with the authorities before.
The strikers demand living wages, labor improvements and, above all, protest against the cuts of the government of Javier Milei.
The co-owner of the General Workers’ Central (CGT) and general secretary of the Truckers’ Union, Pablo Moyano, said on Tuesday that this strike “will be the beginning of something much more important,” in statements to the AM750 station.
Who is on strike?
The railway unions, which represent train and subway workers, are on strike, so there are no passenger or cargo and goods services on this route.
In the air sector, the Association of Airline Pilots of Argentina (APLA) and the Argentine Association of Airliners (AAA), which groups cabin crew, have joined the strike.
This action has affected about 30,000 passengers. Consequently, Aeroparque, the airport located in the Argentine capital, is deserted due to an almost total absence of activity.
Many flights have been diverted to Ezeiza International Airport – especially from the low-cost companies Flybondi and JetSmart – where private companies have ramp services and can thus bring down travelers, the TN television network reported.
Aerolíneas Argentinas (state-owned company) informed its customers that they are waiting to verify flight schedule changes and has offered to reschedule their trips without penalty.
The Truckers’ Union has also joined the strike, so the transport of goods has been paralyzed.
Maritime transport was added to the strike and that affects both passengers and cargo.
Also the taxi drivers of the capital, although in the latter case some vehicles of this guild are seen circulating through the streets of Buenos Aires.
The response of the Government of Milei
“Trade unionists don’t let you work” is the message of Javier Milei’s Government that appears this Wednesday at Retiro station, where trains, subways and buses converge, one of the neuralgic points of transport in Buenos Aires.
This message, but expanded with attacks on trade unionists that he identifies with their surnames, was published on Tuesday in the My Argentina application, aimed at facilitating administrative procedures for citizens and that the Government has used to harangue against the strike.
Also on Tuesday, the presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, said at his usual press conference that those who go on strike are “privileged who seek to harm those who want to work.”
International
Harris distances himself from Biden for having called Trump’s followers “trash”
The Democratic candidate for the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris, dismated herself this Wednesday from the controversy unleashed by US President Joe Biden by calling the supporters of the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, “trash” for the racist joke about Puerto Ricans.
“I totally disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” the vice president told the press from the Andrews air base, on the outskirts of the capital.
Although Harris pointed out that Biden has already “clarified his comments,” the Democratic candidate repudiated any speech that divides society and reiterated the message of national unity she expressed on Tuesday night in a massive electoral rally in front of the White House.
“In the work I do I try to represent all people, whether they support me or not, and as president of the United States I will be the president of all Americans, whether they voted for me or not,” she said.
Controversy after controversy
Biden made the controversial comment on Tuesday night during an interview with CNN in which he defended Puerto Rico after a comedian described it as a “floating island of garbage” during Trump’s big electoral rally at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“Well, let me tell you something. (…) The only garbage I see floating around are his followers. His demonization is excessive and anti-American. It is totally contrary to everything we have done,” said the president, who in July resigned from running for re-election and passed the baton to Harris.
Biden’s words provoked rejection by both Trump and Republican Party politicians.
“He really doesn’t know what he said. It’s something terrible, terrible, but he really doesn’t know,” Trump replied at a rally in Allentown, a Latin-majority town in Pennsylvania.
Biden assures that he was not referring to Trump’s followers
The president rectified his comments on social networks, claiming that he was referring to the “hateful rhetoric” of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe in New York.
“I said it was garbage, the only word I find to describe it,” the president wrote. “The comments at that rally do not really reflect what we are as a country,” he added.
Likewise, the White House modified the transcript of the interview to point out that the president actually called Hinchcliffe’s words “trash” and not Trump’s followers.
UN: forced sterilizations in Peru in the 90s would constitute a crime against humanity
Chaos in Buenos Aires due to the strike of air transport, trains, subway and taxis
Harris distances himself from Biden for having called Trump’s followers “trash”
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