Category Archives: Americas

Chile protest leader reveals he lied about having cancer

Posted on by

Efforts to rewrite constitution rocked after key figure Rodrigo Rojas Vade says on Instagram that he does not have leukaemia

Chile’s efforts to rewrite its Pinochet-era constitution have been rocked by the revelation that one of its most prominent members has been lying about his very public battle with cancer.

Rodrigo Rojas Vade, 37, admitted that he does not in fact have leukaemia – a major factor in his rise to prominence and eventual political career – after an investigation by La Tercera newspaper revealed inconsistencies in his story.

Continue reading...

Bolsonaro supporters clash with police before major rally in Brasília

Posted on by

Violence erupts as rightwing activists attempt to break through blockade and force their way to congress

Pre-dawn skirmishes have erupted between police and supporters of Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, as rightwing activists tried to force their way towards congress before major pro-government rallies that have put Latin America’s biggest democracy on edge.

Footage published by the Brasilia-based news website Metrópoles showed military police using pepper spray to repel a crowd of cheering Bolsonaristas in the early hours of Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Thousands gather for pro-Bolsonaro rallies as critics fear for democracy

Posted on by

Followers arrive in Brasília and São Paulo in hope of staging show of support for beleaguered Brazilian president

Thousands of diehard Jair Bolsonaro followers have converged on Brazil’s political and economic capitals hoping to stage a colossal show of support for their beleaguered president amid mounting fears over the future of Brazilian democracy and of possible skirmishes with the government’s opponents.

The rightwing nationalist, who recently warned Brazil could face a political “rupture”, is expected to address packed independence day rallies in Brasília and São Paulo on Tuesday in what observers say is an increasingly weak politician’s attempt to project strength.

Continue reading...

Islander review – change and contradictions on Robinson Crusoe island

Posted on by

Stéphane Goël’s documentary merges the past and present of this small island off the coast of Chile

In an age of overconsumption and technological saturation, many yearn for an abstract “simpler” time in the past. Opening on a vessel bobbing on the ocean waves, Stéphane Goël’s Islander takes us on a journey that transcends both the past and the present, effectively dissecting and uncovering many contradictions and preoccupations dormant under this utopian ideal.

At the centre of the documentary is Robinson Crusoe island, west of Chile, and one of the inspirations for Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel. Booming over the magnificent landscape of volcanic mountains is Mathieu Amalric’s evocative narration, as he takes on the role of Swiss aristocrat Alfred von Rodt who bought the island in 1877. Juxtaposed with these ghostly recollections are intimate interviews with Von Rodt’s descendants who are still living there. Also carefully observed are the inhabitants’ daily routines; at one point, a young boy is taught how to shoot a rabbit.

Continue reading...

‘Cultural genocide’: mapping the shameful history of Canada’s residential schools

Posted on by

Recent discoveries of mass graves have shed new light on the country’s troubled colonial legacy

In May, Canadians were shocked at the discovery of the remains of 215 children at the site of a former school in British Columbia. The bodies belonged to Indigenous children, some believed to be as young as three years old, who went through Canada’s state-sponsored “residential school” system. The schools, scattered across the country, were aimed at eradicating the culture and languages of the country’s Indigenous populations.

The findings have brought the world’s renewed attention to this shameful chapter of Canadian history, left deep wounds in hundreds of communities and sparked fresh demands for justice aimed at the Canadian government and the churches that ran the schools for decades.

Continue reading...

Brazil: warning Bolsonaro may be planning military coup amid rallies

Posted on by

Former world leaders and public figures say nationwide marches are modelled on US Capitol insurrection

The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, and his allies could be preparing to mount a military coup in Brazil, according to an influential group of former presidents, prime ministers and leading public figures on the left.

An open letter claims rallies that Bolsonaro followers are staging on Tuesday represent a danger to democracy and amount to an insurrection modelled on Donald Trump supporters’ attack on the US Capitol on 6 January.

Continue reading...

Fears of violence on Brazil’s streets as millions rally to back Bolsonaro

Posted on by

His rural voters see the embattled president as a ‘messenger from God’. And this week they will march in the cities to support him

Jair Bolsonaro supporters aren’t hard to find in Sinop, an agricultural boomtown in the Brazilian Amazon where nearly 80% of voters backed the country’s ultra-conservative leader in the 2018 election.

“He’s a president of the people,” said Marcos Watanabe, the head of the city’s conservative association, sporting a T-shirt stamped with Bolsonaro’s name.

Continue reading...

Cuba review: American history of island neighbor is telling and timely

Posted on by

As Ada Ferrer writes, ‘Cuba – its sugar, its slavery, its slave trade – is part of the history of American capitalism’

In July, the eruption of unexpected protests in Cuba, sparked by food shortages and growing frustration with the government, unsurprisingly met with a corresponding flood of commentary from its opinionated neighbour.

Related: Forget the Alamo review: dark truths of the US south and its ‘secular Mecca’

Continue reading...

Canadian jailed in China accused of taking military photos

Posted on by

Reports in state media give rare details of allegations against Michael Spavor and his compatriot Michael Kovrig

Chinese state media have accused the jailed Canadian Michael Spavor of supplying photographs of military equipment to Michael Kovrig in repeated acts of espionage, offering rare details of the allegations against the two men.

The two men were arrested in December 2018, just days after Canadian officials arrested the Chinese executive Meng Wanzhou. Last month Spavor, who lived in China and arranged tours to North Korea, was sentenced to 11 years in prison and deportation from China. Kovrig, a former diplomat turned analyst for the International Crisis Group, was also tried in secret in March. Kovrig is yet to have his verdict or sentence announced.

Continue reading...

Huawei can prosper despite US sanctions, says board member

Posted on by

Catherine Chen says Chinese telecoms firm will use technical expertise to reach new markets less dependent on the US

Huawei has been forced to adopt the mentality of a startup partly because of US government sanctions, Catherine Chen, a board member for the Chinese telecommunications company, has said.

Helping to run probably the most scrutinised company in the world, she said Huawei would survive and eventually break free of the attempted US shackles by using its technical expertise to forge a path into new markets less dependent on the US, such as energy conservation, artificial intelligence and electric cars.

Continue reading...

Armed robbers take hostages in deadly bank raids in Brazil city

Posted on by

At least three people dead and trail of explosive booby traps left across Araçatuba in São Paulo state

Bank robbers armed with explosives and high-powered rifles have plunged a Brazilian city into terror early Monday, taking civilians hostage and even putting some on their cars while making their escape.

Video shared on social media showed a booming shootout and men dressed in black marching hostages down a street in Araçatuba, 320 miles from São Paulo and home to almost 200,000 people.

Continue reading...

Scepticism grows in El Salvador over pioneering Bitcoin gamble

Posted on by

Country will be first to adopt cryptocurrency as legal tender next month – but economists are sounding warnings over risks

Litha María de Los Angeles slaps two cheese-filled pupusas – the El Salvadoran cornmeal flatbread – on the griddle. With a camera click on the QR code, she receives her payment: four hundred-thousandths of a Bitcoin. Then, as the rain pelts the corrugated iron roof and a gust of wind lifts the blue plastic table cloths, the power cuts out.

A tumultuous few weeks awaits El Salvador as it prepares to become the first country to adopt Bitcoin, the world’s most popular decentralised digital currency, as legal tender on 7 September. With that deadline looming, a host of challenges – technological, financial and criminal – threaten to sink the plan of the president, Nayib Bukele, to ride the Central American economy out of its current choppy waters on the back of a cryptocurrency wave.

Continue reading...

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry obituary

Posted on by
Reggae producer who had a profound effect on Bob Marley’s sound and helped propel him on to the world stage

Lee “Scratch” Perry, who has died aged 85, was one of Jamaica’s finest and most unpredictable record producers, as well as a much recorded singer. But perhaps his greatest global legacy was the profound effect he had on the king of reggae, Bob Marley.

As a singer in the Wailers with Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston, Marley had experienced a modest degree of success in Jamaica before he came into Perry’s charismatic orbit in 1970. Hooking up with Perry changed the way Marley saw things, pulling him away from the measured harmonies of a trio towards something more heartfelt.

Continue reading...

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, visionary master of reggae, dies aged 85

Posted on by

Producer and performer who worked with Bob Marley and pioneered both dub and roots reggae styles dies in hospital in Jamaica

• Obituary: one of Jamaica’s finest and most unpredictable musicians

Lee “Scratch” Perry, whose pioneering work with roots reggae and dub opened up profound new depths in Jamaican music, has died aged 85.

Jamaican media reported the news that he died in hospital in Lucea, northern Jamaica. No cause of death has yet been given. Andrew Holness, the country’s prime minister, sent “deep condolences” to Perry’s family.

Continue reading...

Forget the Alamo review: dark truths of the US south and its ‘secular Mecca’

Posted on by

Three Texas authors expose the myth that the 1836 battle at a San Antonio mission was about freedom. It was about slavery

As the ancient American struggle over how much truth to tell about the traditional oppression of minorities bubbles over, with arguments over everything from the teaching of Critical Race Theory to the mention of anything gay in the presence of anyone under 18, this engaging new book about the history of the Alamo arrives at the perfect moment.

Related: Our Own Worst Enemy review: a caustic diagnosis of America after Trump

Continue reading...

‘They don’t come for us’: Haitians face agonising wait for help after quake

Posted on by

People in need of water, food and shelter are fending for themselves as aid response complicated by heavy rain, gangs and distrust of international agencies

On the morning a catastrophic earthquake struck southern Haiti, Jackson Mason, a barber, was picking up water and other shopping from Cavaillon’s bustling market.

“The earth below me started to shake – people were thrown into the air, others yelled, praying to Jesus to save them,” Mason, 35, says. “Everything flew in the air, even the wallets in people’s hands.”

Continue reading...

Haiti’s earthquake has compounded years of corruption and political crisis | Jonathan M Katz

Posted on by

The 2010 earthquake response was riddled with failure. Haitians cannot afford another catastrophe

The latest statistics from Haiti’s August 14 earthquake are stark: at least 2,207 people have been confirmed dead and more than 12,000 injured. More than 130,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. Aftershocks continue, and new landslides in the wake of the follow-on Tropical Storm Grace mean those numbers are expected to rise in the coming weeks.

But the most dispiriting number is 11. That is the number of years that passed between Haiti’s last major earthquake and this one – years in which corruption has hollowed out the state, armed gangs have expanded their territorial control, and political turmoil has intensified, culminating in the assassination of the president, Jovenel Moïse, in July.

Continue reading...

Haiti earthquake 10 days on: survivors still ‘hungry and thirsty’ – video report

Posted on by

The death toll is still rising 10 days after a catastrophic earthquake struck southern Haiti on the morning of 14 August. More than 2,200 deaths have been recorded so far, while at least 30,000 families have had to abandon their homes. Many were sleeping on the streets when Tropical Storm Grace struck two days later, bringing high winds and pelting rain. But despite the hardship, many Haitians are wary of the massive international aid response that is under way

Continue reading...

Oxygen firms accused of intimidating Mexican hospitals during pandemic

Posted on by

Hospitals received letters threatening large fines after they installed their own onsite O2 plants in response to shortages

In March 2020, Benjamin Espinoza Zavala saw an entire floor of his small hospital in Guanajuato, central Mexico, converted into Covid-19 wards. The hospital’s need for oxygen soared.

Deliveries from CryoInfra, part of the Grupo Infra group, occasionally slowed to once every couple of days, and he had to buy in extra to cover the sudden gaps in supply. Prices increased.

Continue reading...