International
Brazilian Amazon deforestation falls, but up 60 % under Bolsonaro
| By AFP |
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon destroyed an area bigger than Qatar in the 12 months through July, according to official figures released Wednesday, which showed a decline from the year before — but a sharp increase overall under outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro.
In the latest grim news on the world’s biggest rainforest, satellite monitoring showed 11 568 square kilometers (4 466 square miles) of forest cover was destroyed in the Brazilian Amazon from August 2021 to July 2022, according to national space agency INPE’s annual deforestation tracking program, PRODES.
The figure was a decrease of 11.3 percent from the year before, when INPE detected 13,038 square kilometers of deforestation — a 15-year high.
But it closed out four years of what environmentalists call disastrous management of the Amazon under the far-right Bolsonaro, whose successor, veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has vowed to work toward zero deforestation when he takes office on January 1.
Under agribusiness ally Bolsonaro, average annual deforestation rose by 59.5 percent from the previous four years, and by 75.5 percent from the previous decade, according to INPE figures.
“The Bolsonaro government was a forest-destroying machine… The only good news is that it’s about to end,” said Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a coalition of environmental groups.
“The devastation remains out of control. Jair Bolsonaro will hand his successor a filthy legacy of surging deforestation and an Amazon in flames,” he said in a statement, urging ex-president Lula (2003-2010) — who has faced criticism over his own environmental record — to show “zero tolerance” for environmental crimes.
Experts say the vast majority of the clear-cutting and fires erasing the Amazon is aimed at turning rainforest into farmland — especially for cattle ranches in Brazil, the world’s top beef exporter.
Activists accuse Bolsonaro of gutting Brazil’s environmental protection programs and encouraging the destruction with his pro-agribusiness and pro-mining policies.
“The Amazon is getting closer and closer to a tipping point,” Mariana Napolitano, science director at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Brazil office, said in a statement.
“Significantly reducing deforestation… is imperative for humankind in the face of the twin climate and nature crises the world is facing.”
International
María Corina Machado: “Venezuela is closer than ever to regaining freedom”
Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado declared on Friday that Venezuela is facing “the most decisive moment in its contemporary history” and that the country is “closer than ever to regaining freedom and democracy.”
Her remarks were delivered via video message during the 81st General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Machado emphasized that the situation in Venezuela remains “extremely serious” due to censorship and repression imposed by Nicolás Maduro’s regime, particularly in a global context where “society is built on information.”
She warned that authoritarian governments manipulate public opinion through “psychological warfare” and disinformation, while shutting down media outlets and persecuting journalists.
“The only way to topple these regimes is through the constant, relentless, and unrestricted preaching of the truth. It is absolutely true that the truth will set us free,” she stated.
International
Millions to join “No Kings” march in U.S. amid Trump’s growing authoritarian backlash
Millions of Americans are set to take to the streets this Saturday in more than 2,500 cities across the United States for the second edition of the “No Kings” march, a massive protest organized by progressive groups and activists against what they describe as the authoritarian direction of President Donald Trump’s second administration.
The demonstration, expected to be the largest since Trump’s return to power, comes amid a federal government shutdown, further heightening political tensions in Washington.
From the White House, press secretary Abigail Jackson dismissed the event with a brief “Who cares?”, while senior Republican leaders labeled the march as an act of “hate against America.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson accused Democrats of blocking negotiations to reopen the government and claimed they were “unable to stand up to their raging base.” He also linked the protests to “supporters of Hamas and the Antifa terrorist group.”
President Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News, blamed Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer for the legislative deadlock.
“He’s got nothing else left to do. Everyone’s hitting him hard,” Trump said.
The organizers — a coalition of Democratic leaders and more than 200 civil society and labor groups — argue that the Republican refusal to reopen the government is a clear symptom of the authoritarianism they seek to denounce.
The main rally will take place in Washington, D.C., which has been under heightened National Guard surveillance for weeks, officially to control rising crime. However, organizers contend the deployment is aimed at intimidating and silencing dissent.
Protesters have been urged to wear yellow, a reference to the 2019 pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
“With this color, we align ourselves with a historical context and remind the world that power must come from the people, not from crowns,” organizers stated on their website.
In addition to the capital, large marches are scheduled in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, and Honolulu, as well as abroad in London, Paris, Frankfurt, and several Spanish cities — Madrid (Puerta del Sol), Barcelona (Plaça Sant Jaume), Seville (Plaza Nueva), and Málaga (Plaza de la Marina).
During the first edition, held in June, the movement gathered around five million people, a figure organizers expect to surpass this weekend.
International
Petro expresses concern over fatal shooting during mass protests in Lima
Colombian President Gustavo Petro voiced his “concern” on Thursday over recent events in Peru, following the death of a protester reportedly shot during a massive demonstration in Lima against the government and Congress.
“I must express my concern over the events in Peru. A young artist has been killed in citizens’ protests,” Petro wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The Colombian leader also noted that in Peru, “a popularly elected president remains imprisoned without conviction,” referring to Pedro Castillo, who led the country from July 2021 to December 2022 until he was removed by Congress following a failed attempted coup.
“This is a blatant violation of the American Convention on Human Rights,” Petro stated, adding, “I hope Peru seeks social and political dialogue to legitimize its public institutions.”
On Wednesday, Peru experienced widespread protests in several cities, with the largest demonstration in Lima in recent years, driven by citizens’ concerns over corruption and public insecurity.
During the capital’s mobilization, the Ombudsman’s Office confirmed the death of Eduardo Ruiz, 32, and reported clashes that left over 100 injured, including 78 police officers and 24 protesters, as well as ten arrests.
The Attorney General’s Office, investigating Ruiz’s death “in the context of serious human rights violations,” confirmed that the protester was shot.
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