International

Chile court freezes multi-million dollar lithium deal

AFP

A Chilean appeals court on Friday suspended a million-dollar state lithium tender issued two days earlier that had generated controversy for coming just two months before the end of conservative President Sebastian Pinera’s term.

“Bearing in mind that the contested act is in full execution, it is agreed not to innovate, paralyzing the bidding and award process for the lithium, while this appeal is resolved,” said the court in Copiapo in the north of the country, according to documents seen by AFP.

China’s BYD Chile SpA and Chile’s Servicios y Operaciones Mineras del Norte S.A. were awarded the right to extract 80,000 tons of lithium each over 20 years, the minerals ministry said Wednesday.

Leftist president-elect Gabriel Boric’s team had asked the government to postpone the tenders and set up a “roundtable” to discuss various conditions to apply to the contracts.

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Mining minister Juan Carlos Jobet had said Wednesday the government would work with the successful companies to ensure that “a portion of the payments they must make be used to support local communities and to invest in research and development.”

And on Friday, the mining ministry said the tender has not been the subject of a “definitive cancellation” and that the process had been “open, informed, transparent and has complied with all current legislation.”

The court accepted an appeal for protection filed by the governor of Copiapo, Miguel Vargas, together with a group of Aymara and Diaguita Indigenous communities that inhabit a salt flat in the Atacama desert.

Although the government tender does not stipulate the place of extraction of the lithium, the salt flats of northern Chile are where the main deposits of the mineral are to be found.

According to the mining ministry, the tender process seeks to restore Chile’s position in the world lithium market. Until 2016, the country was the world’s largest producer with 37 percent of the market, but today it ranks second behind Australia, with 32 percent.

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If the country fails to increase its production, by 2030 its share would fall to 17 percent, according to official statistics.

International

Guatemala considers sending high-risk gang members to military prisons

Amid the escalating crisis in Guatemala’s prison system, the government is considering transferring high-risk gang members to military-run detention facilities, a move that analysts say could help address overcrowding and the lack of control in civilian prisons.

The debate has gained urgency following the killing of ten police officers by gang members, reportedly in retaliation after the government refused to meet demands made by Aldo Dupie Ochoa, alias “El Lobo,” leader of the Barrio 18 gang, which authorities identified as responsible for the attack.

Guatemala’s Minister of Defense, Henry David Sáenz, told local media that the possibility of relocating high-danger inmates to military brigades has not been formally discussed. However, he noted that the practice is not new to the Armed Forces and said it is something that “was already being done.”

One example is the detention center located within the Mariscal Zavala Military Brigade, in Zone 17 of Guatemala City, where several inmates are held under military supervision. The facility also houses high-profile detainees, including former official Eduardo Masaya, who faces corruption charges.

In 2015, a ministerial agreement authorized the establishment of the Zone Seventeen Detention Center within the brigade, with a maximum capacity of 114 inmates in Area A and 21 in Area B. The agreement specified that the facility would be used exclusively for civilians or military personnel considered at risk of assassination.

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Additionally, since 2010, a prison has operated within the Matamoros Barracks in Zone 1 of Guatemala City, holding dangerous or high-profile inmates. However, media outlets have described these military detention centers as “VIP prisons,” particularly for former government officials such as ex-president Otto Pérez Molina.

International

Rights group says over 5,000 killed in Iran protests, mostly civilians

A U.S.-based human rights group said on Friday it has confirmed that more than 5,000 people were killed during the recent protests in Iran, most of them civilians allegedly shot by security forces.

Non-governmental organizations monitoring the toll from the crackdown on what have been described as the largest demonstrations in Iran in years said their work has been hampered by an internet shutdown imposed by authorities since January 8. They warned that the actual death toll is likely significantly higher.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), based in the United States, reported on Friday that it had verified the deaths of 5,002 people, including 4,714 protesters, 42 minors, 207 members of the security forces, and 39 bystanders.

The group added, however, that it is still investigating an additional 9,787 possible deaths, underscoring the difficulty of independently confirming information amid ongoing restrictions and repression.

International

Japan reopens Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Plant despite public concerns

La centrale nucléaire japonaise de Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, la plus grande au monde, a repris ses activités mercredi pour la première fois depuis la catastrophe de Fukushima en 2011, malgré les inquiétudes persistantes d’une partie de la population.

La remise en service a eu lieu à 19h02 heure locale (10h02 GMT), a indiqué à l’AFP Tatsuya Matoba, porte-parole de la compagnie Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco).

Le gouverneur de la préfecture de Niigata, où se situe la centrale, avait donné son feu vert à la reprise le mois dernier, en dépit d’une opinion publique divisée. Selon une enquête menée en septembre par la préfecture elle-même, 60 % des habitants se déclaraient opposés au redémarrage, contre 37 % favorables.

Mardi, plusieurs dizaines de manifestants ont bravé le froid et la neige pour protester près de l’entrée du site, sur les rives de la mer du Japon.

« L’électricité de Tokyo est produite à Kashiwazaki. Pourquoi seuls les habitants d’ici devraient-ils être exposés au danger ? Cela n’a aucun sens », a déclaré à l’AFP Yumiko Abe, une riveraine de 73 ans.

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La centrale de Kashiwazaki-Kariwa avait été mise à l’arrêt lorsque le Japon a fermé l’ensemble de ses réacteurs nucléaires à la suite du triple désastre de mars 2011 — un séisme, un tsunami et un accident nucléaire — survenu à Fukushima.