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Security is essential to be able to respond to the crisis in Haiti, warns PAHO

Security is indispensable to address the “complex” health and humanitarian situation in Haiti, plunged for years into a crisis that has been aggravated in more recent times by armed violence, warned the Pan American Health Organization (PAHo).

“Nothing can happen if there is insecurity,” the representative of PAHO in Haiti, the Colombian Óscar Barreneche, said categorically in a telephone interview with EFE.

The severity of the crisis affects vital sectors such as health and education and, although the most affected city is Port-au-Prince, other demarcations do not escape this situation either, said Barreneche, a doctor by profession.

Faced with this panorama, Barreneche called on the international community “not to forget the promised support” to the depressed country, which is preparing to soon receive the deployment of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS), which will lead Kenya and which has the approval of the United Nations.

“Without the return of security, it is difficult to guarantee services” in Haiti, he said.

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For decades, this country, the poorest in America, has been going from crisis to crisis, including the one resulting from the powerful earthquake of 2010 that caused about 300,000 deaths, the outbreak of cholera that arose that same year and that ended the lives of thousands of people and the successive hurricanes that have only aggravated the situation.

Many times Haiti “has had to respond simultaneously to several crises at the same time,” which “puts pressure on the health system,” as is currently the case, when armed violence is added to the already deteriorated situation, which prevents professionals from providing an adequate service, this specialist said.

This “definitely affects the performance of the country,” which has the highest rate in maternal mortality in the region, according to Barreneche.

Haiti has “serious problems” of access to hospital care, medicines or vaccines due to the critical situation of insecurity, which also has consequences on health personnel, according to the PAHO representative, who, however, stressed that both the Government and humanitarian organizations “continue to work” to try to alleviate the crisis.

A good number of Haitian doctors have decided to go abroad, especially to the United States and Canada, fleeing the precarious situation.

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In some areas it is estimated that between 15% and 20% of health personnel have emigrated, a percentage that can reach up to 30% in other departments of the Caribbean country, said Barreneche, who described the situation as “a hemorrhage of human resources” of health, although, in his opinion, it is something “understandable” given the current panorama.

This represents “a huge problem,” to which is added that only 18% of Haitian hospitals are operating at 100% of their capacity, which causes the saturation of services.

42% is not working or is closed and 37% is operating in a reduced way, explained the representative of PAHO, an organization that collaborates in centers such as La Paix University Hospital and Eliazar Germain Hospital, both in Port-au-Prince, in supplies or programs with pregnant women.

PAHO also cooperates with Haiti on issues such as cholera, the situation of internally displaced persons and in vaccination campaigns for preventable diseases, “fundamental to guarantee a minimum of health and well-being,” he said.

At the same time, this agency is working with the authorities in the implementation of measures in the face of possible emergency situations related to the hurricane season, which began on June 1.

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In fact, Barreneche said, this week there has been a meeting “with all the humanitarian partners of the country” to “try to give the necessary support” to this issue, since this year’s is expected to be one of the most active and intense cyclonic seasons in decades.

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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.

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International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

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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International

Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?

This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.

The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.

While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.

Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.

Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.

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