SAN SALVADOR, Oct 10 (Reuters) – The death toll from storm Julia rose to at least 25 on Monday, officials said, with most victims in El Salvador and Guatemala, as the weakening storm dumped heavy rain on a swath of Central America and southern Mexico.
Salvadoran authorities reported the deaths of 10 people, including five soldiers, and said more than 1,000 people were evacuated.
In Guatemala, eight were killed between Sunday and Monday, according to officials, while seven were injured and hundreds more affected by the storm.
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Authorities in both El Salvador and Guatemala also canceled classes on Monday.
In Honduras, five victims have been confirmed including a woman who died Sunday after she was swept away by flood waters, and a four-year-old boy in a boat that capsized near the Nicaragua border on Saturday night, officials said.
Panama’s emergency services confirmed later on Monday two deaths as a result of heavy rains, with around 300 people evacuated from communities near the country’s border with Costa Rica.
Julia made landfall Sunday on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast before crossing into the Pacific Ocean.
By Monday afternoon, Julia had dissipated and what was left of the storm was moving northwest at 15 miles per hour (24 km/h) over Guatemala near the border with Mexico, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC).
The Miami-based NHC estimated Julia’s maximum sustained winds at about 30 mph (45 km/h).
The NHC warned of life-threatening surf and rip conditions along the coasts of El Salvador and Guatemala, while heavy rain could still cause flash flooding.
It predicted an additional one to four inches of rain in El Salvador and southern Guatemala, and three to six inches on Mexico’s Tehuantepec isthmus.
The storm system is expected to weaken further Monday, the NHC said.
Honduran authorities added that 9,200 people sought refuge in shelters.
In Nicaragua, Julia left a million people without power and heavy rains and floods forced the evacuations of more than 13,000 families.
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Reporting by Nelson Renteria in San Salvador; Additional reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa, Eli Moreno in Panama City; Enrique Garcia in Guatemala City and Brendan O’Boyle in Mexico City; Editing by Richard Chang and Kim Coghill
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LOS ANGELES, June 10 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and fellow leaders from the Western Hemisphere on Friday rolled out a new set of measures to confront the regional migration crisis, seeking to salvage an Americas summit roiled by division.
Biden’s aides had touted the migration declaration as a centerpiece of the U.S.-hosted Summit of the Americas, and 20 countries joined him for a ceremonial unveiling of the plan – though several others stayed away.
Capping the summit’s final day, the White House promoted a series of migrant programs agreed by countries across the hemisphere and Spain, attending as an observer, which pledged a more cooperative approach. But analysts were skeptical that the pledges are meaningful enough to make a significant difference.
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Those measures include the United States and Canada committing to take more guest laborers, providing pathways for people from poorer countries to work in richer ones, and other countries agreeing to greater protections for migrants. Mexico also will accept more Central American workers, according to a White House statement.
“We’re transforming our approach to manage migration in the Americas,” Biden said. “Each of us is signing up to commitments that recognizes the challenges we all share.”
The flags of 20 countries, several fewer than the number attending the summit, festooned the stage where Biden led the rollout. But that number was only achieved after days of U.S. pressure.
It was another sign of tensions that have marred the summit, undermining Biden’s efforts to reassert U.S. leadership and counter China’s growing economic footprint in the region.
That message was clouded by a boycott by several leaders, including Mexico’s president, to protest Washington’s exclusion of leftist U.S. antagonists Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. The line-up was thinned to 21 visiting heads of state and government.
The administration, facing a record flow of illegal migrants at its southern border, pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for Venezuelan migrants, renewed processing of family-based visas for Cubans and Haitians and eased the hiring of Central American workers. read more
The announcements were part of the unveiling of U.S.-led pact dubbed the “Los Angeles Declaration” and aimed at spreading responsibility across the region to contain the migration problem.
The plan culminates a summit designed to re-establish U.S. influence among its southern neighbors after years of relative neglect under former President Donald Trump. Biden proposed an economic partnership to help the region’s pandemic recovery – though it appears to be a work in progress.
But at the summit’s opening on Thursday, leaders from Argentina and tiny Belize rebuked Biden over the guest list, underscoring the challenge the global superpower faces in restoring its status among poorer neighbors.
On Friday, Chile, Bolivia, the Bahamas, St. Lucia, Barbados and Antigua and Barbuda joined the criticism, though Biden was not present.
“No one should exclude another country,” Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, sitting in for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said from the podium.
U.S. President Joe Biden, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, Colombia’s President Ivan Duque and other heads of delegation pose for a family photo during the Ninth Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 10, 2022. REUTERS/Mike Blake
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The sessions this week regularly rang out to U.S. composer’s John Philip Sousa’s “The Liberty Bell” march, popularized by the classic British comedy show “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.”
‘THERE’S NOTHING HERE’
U.S. officials scrambled until the last minute to persuade skeptical governments to back the plan.
The leaders vowed in the declaration “to strengthen national, regional and hemispheric efforts to create the conditions for safe, orderly, humane and regular migration.”
Standing together with fellow leaders, Biden insisted “unlawful migration is not acceptable,” and expressed hope that other countries would join the plan.
Eric Olson, director of policy at the Seattle International Foundation, called the declaration a “useful framework” but said it would likely have limited near-term effects because it is non-binding.
Some initiatives listed by the White House were announced previously. Biden’s aides have cast the immigration plan in part to help ease U.S. labor shortages.
Jorge Castaneda, a former Mexican foreign minister, said pledges from the Americas should allow Washington to argue it had secured major commitments, a domestic “political plus” for Biden. But he added: “On substance, there’s nothing here.”
Mexico, whose border with the United States is the main point of migration – backed the declaration, despite Lopez Obrador’s no-show.
The absence from the summit of leaders of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – the Northern Triangle from which many migrants come – has raised doubts how effective the pledges will be. U.S. officials insisted the turnout did not prevent Washington from getting results.
The declaration encompasses commitments by an array of countries, including Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, Belize and Ecuador. There was no mention, however, of pledges by Brazil, Latin America’s most populous nation.
The announcement did not include any U.S. pledges for additional work visas for Mexicans. That would form part Lopez Obrador’s visit with Biden next month, an official said.
Spain pledged to “double the number of labor pathways” for Hondurans, the White House said. Madrid’s temporary work program enrolls 250 Hondurans, suggesting only a small increase is envisioned.
Curbing irregular migration is a priority for Biden. Republicans, seeking to regain control of Congress in November elections, have pilloried the Democratic president for reversing Republican Trump’s restrictive immigration policies.
But migration has had to compete with Biden’s other major challenges, including high inflation, mass shootings and the war in Ukraine.
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Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Daina Beth Solomon, Dave Graham, Matt Spetalnick, Trevor Hunnicutt, Lisanda Paraguassu and Ted Hesson; writing by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Alistair Bell and Grant McCool
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LOS ANGELES, June 8 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday a proposed new U.S. economic partnership with Latin America aimed at countering China’s growing clout as he kicked off a regional summit marred by discord and snubs over the guest list.
Hosting the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, Biden sought to assure the assembled leaders about his administration’s commitment to the region despite nagging concerns that Washington, at times, is still trying to dictate to its poorer southern neighbors.
The line-up of visiting heads of state and government in attendance was thinned down to 21 after Biden excluded Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, prompting Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and several other leaders to stay away in protest.
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“We have to invest in making sure our trade is sustainable and responsible in creating supply chains that are more resilient, more secure and more sustainable,” Biden told a gala opening ceremony.
Biden is seeking to present Latin American countries with an alternative to China that calls for increased U.S. economic engagement, including more investment and building on existing trade deals.
However, his “Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity,” which still appears to be a work in progress, stops short of offering tariff relief and, according to a senior administration official, will initially focus on “like-minded partners” that already have U.S. trade accords. Negotiations are expected to begin in early fall, the official added.
Biden outlined his plan as he launched the summit, which was conceived as a platform to showcase U.S. leadership in reviving Latin American economies and tackling record levels of irregular migration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
But his agenda has been undermined by the partial boycott by leaders upset at Washington’s decision to cut out its main leftist antagonists in the region.
As a result, Biden found himself welcoming a larger-than-normal contingent of foreign ministers sitting in for their national leaders as the arriving dignitaries walked one-by-one up a red carpet flanked by a military honor guard.
U.S. officials hope the summit and a parallel gathering of business executives can pave the way for greater cooperation as governments grappling with higher inflation work to bring supply chains stretched by the COVID-19 pandemic closer to home.
Biden also used his speech to preview a summit declaration on migration to be rolled out on Friday, calling it “a ground-breaking, integrated new approach” with shared responsibility across the hemisphere. But he provided few specifics.
Even as Biden deals with priorities such as mass shootings, high inflation and the Ukraine war, the U.S. official said the president is seeking to press the administration’s competitive goals against China with the launch of the new partnership for the region.
The U.S. plan also proposes to revitalize the Inter-American Development Bank and create clean energy jobs
Still, the administration appeared to be moving cautiously, mindful that an initiative that promotes jobs abroad could face U.S. protectionist pushback.
CHINA’S CHALLENGE
The challenge from China is clearly a major consideration.
China has widened the gap on the United States in trade terms in large parts of Latin America since Biden came into office in January 2021, data show.
An exclusive Reuters analysis of U.N. trade data from 2015-2021 shows that outside of Mexico, the top U.S. trade partner, China has overtaken the United States in Latin America and increased its advantage last year. read more
“The best antidote to China’s inroads in the region is to ensure that we are forwarding our own affirmative vision for the region economically,” the administration official said.
Biden’s aides have framed the summit as an opportunity for the United States to reassert its leadership in Latin America after years of comparative neglect under his predecessor Donald Trump.
But diplomatic tensions broke into the open this week when Washington opted not to invite the three countries it says violate human rights and democratic values.
Rebuffed in his demand that all countries must be invited, Lopez Obrador said he would stay away, deflecting attention from the U.S. administration’s goals and toward regional divisions.
Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters the choice by some leaders not to attend reflected their own “idiosyncratic decisions” and that substantive work would still be accomplished.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the United States lacked “moral authority” to lecture on democracy and thanked Lopez Obrador for his “solidarity.”
The leaders of Guatemala and Honduras, two of the countries that send most migrants to the United States, also stayed home, raising questions about the significance of the coming joint migration declaration.
Still, leaders from more than 20 countries, including Canada, Brazil and Argentina, are attending the summit, hosted by the United States for the first time since its inaugural session in 1994.
Biden will use a meeting on Thursday with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to talk about climate change and will also discuss the topic of “open, transparent and democratic elections” in Brazil. read more
Bolsonaro, a populist admirer of Trump who has had chilly relations with Biden, has raised doubts about Brazil’s voting system, without providing evidence, ahead of October elections that opinion polls show him losing to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
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Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Daina Beth Solomon, Matt Spetalnick, Dave Graham, Humeyra Pamuk; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Steve Holland and Dave Sherwood; writing by Matt Spetalnick and Dave Graham; Editing by Grant McCool and Richard Pullin
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TEGUCIGALPA, Nov 28 (Reuters) – Hondurans voting in what electoral officials said were “massive” numbers on Sunday boosted opposition hopes of ending a dozen years of National Party rule and possibly paving the way for leftist Xiomara Castro to win the presidency.
If she wins, opposition standard-bearer Castro would become the first female president in Honduras and mark the left’s return to power for the first time since her husband, former President Manuel Zelaya, was deposed in a 2009 coup. read more
As polls closed, the electoral council said more than 2.7 million voters had already cast ballots, a figure the council described as a “massive turnout” but with more votes yet to be counted.
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Council president Kelvin Aguirre said it had already surpassed total turnout four years ago.
He added that voters still in line could vote, in a contest marked by efforts from the conservative ruling party to shake off numerous corruption scandals while attacking Castro as a dangerous radical.
Long lines could be seen at many polling places across the capital. Nationwide, some 5.2 million Hondurans are eligible to vote.
For months, Castro has sought to unify the opposition to outgoing President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who has denied accusations of having ties to powerful gangs, despite an open investigation in the United States allegedly linking him to drug trafficking.
After tying up with the 2017 runner-up, a popular TV host, most polls have reinforced her front-runner status.
“We can’t stay home. This is our moment. This is the moment to kick out the dictatorship,” said Castro, mobbed by reporters just after voting in the town of Catacamas earlier in the day.
“It’s now or never.”
The candidate said she trusted that voters would report any problems they see and that international observers would also help to ensure a fair vote. read more
‘THIS IS HONDURAS’
The election is the latest political flashpoint in Central America, a major source of U.S.-bound migrants fleeing chronic unemployment and gangland violence. Honduras is among the world’s most violent countries, although homicide rates recently have dipped.
Central America is also key transit point for drug trafficking, and where concerns have grown over increasingly authoritarian governments.
The vote also has prompted diplomatic jostling between Beijing and Washington after Castro said she would open diplomatic relations with China, de-emphasizing ties with U.S.-backed Taiwan.
Castro’s main rival among 13 presidential hopefuls on the ballot is the National Party’s Nasry Asfura, a wealthy businessman and two-term mayor of the capital Tegucigalpa, who has tried to distance himself from the unpopular incumbent. read more
After casting his ballot, a measured Asfura said he would respect voters’ verdict.
“Whatever the Honduran people want in the end, I will respect that,” he said.
Some voters consulted by Reuters expressed dissatisfaction with their choices, but many others had clear favorites.
“I’m against all the corruption, poverty and drug-trafficking,” said Jose Gonzalez, 27, a mechanic who said he would vote for Castro.
Hernandez’s disputed 2017 re-election, and its ugly aftermath, looms large. Widespread reports of irregularities provoked deadly protests claiming the lives of over two dozen people, but he ultimately rode out the claims of fraud and calls for a re-vote.
Alexa Sanchez, a 22-year-old medical student, lounged on a bench just after voting while listening to music on her headphones and said she reluctantly voted for Castro.
“Honestly, it’s not like there were such good options,” she said, adding she was highly skeptical of clean vote.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “This is Honduras.”
HARD CAMPAIGN
Numerous national and international election observers monitored Sunday’s voting, including the European Union’s 68-member mission.
Zeljana Zovko, the EU’s chief observer, told a scrum of reporters around midday that her team mostly saw calm voting with high turnout, although most polling stations they visited opened late.
“The campaign has been very hard,” said Julieta Castellanos, a sociologist and former dean of Honduras’ National Autonomous University, noting that Castro has “generated big expectations.”
Castellanos said post-election violence is possible if the race is especially close, if a large number of complaints are lodged and give rise to suspicions of wide-scale fraud, or if candidates declare themselves victorious prematurely.
On Sunday afternoon, National Party leader Fernando Anduray made such a declaration, assuring an Asfura win while voting continued.
In addition to the presidential race, voters are also deciding the composition of the country’s 128-member Congress, plus officials for some 300 local governments.
In Tegucigalpa’s working-class Kennedy neighborhood, 56-year-old accountant Jose, who declined to give his surname, said he would stick with the ruling party.
“I have hope Tito Asfura can change everything,” he said, using the mayor’s nickname.
“Look, here the corruption is in all the governments.”
Preliminary results are expected around 9 p.m.
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Reporting by David Alire Garcia and Gustavo Palencia; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Daniel Flynn, Lisa Shumaker, David Gregorio and Daniel Wallis
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Nov 1 (Reuters) – Facebook (FB.O) said on Monday that last month it removed a troll farm with more than 1,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts which it was said was run by the Nicaraguan government and the country’s ruling party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front.
The social media company said the troll farm – a coordinated effort to manipulate public discourse using fake accounts – was intended to amplify pro-government and anti-opposition content. It said it had been active on its platforms since 2018 and was primarily operated by staff of TELCOR, Nicaragua’s telecoms watchdog, working from the postal service headquarters in capital Managua.
The Supreme Court, which has been an Ortega ally, and the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute also ran smaller clusters of fake accounts, Facebook said.
The Supreme Court and the office of Nicaragua’s Vice President Rosario Murillo, the spokeswoman for President Daniel Ortega and his government, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment about the report.
“This was one of the most cross-government troll operations we’ve disrupted to date, with multiple state entities participating in this activity at once,” Facebook’s investigators said in their report.
Facebook said it had this year taken down other government-linked networks from Ethiopia, Uganda, Sudan, Thailand and Azerbaijan for breaking its rules against so-called coordinated inauthentic behavior, calling this “an especially troubling trend.”
The company, which last week announced it would start trading as Meta Platforms Inc on Dec. 1, has been under scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators over potential harms linked to its platform, particularly after former employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked internal documents.
Nicaragua will hold its presidential election on Sunday, which Washington has denounced as a sham organized by an increasingly authoritarian Ortega.
Facebook said the operation ran a network of blogs, websites and social media assets across TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Telegram.
A spokesperson for Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google, which owns YouTube, said the company had terminated 82 YouTube channels and three blogs as part of its ongoing investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to Nicaragua.
“These channels had fewer than 1,500 subscribers in total and primarily uploaded spammy content in Spanish about gaming and sports. A small subset uploaded content supportive of President Ortega and the Sandinista party and criticizing the U.S. This campaign was consistent with similar findings reported by Facebook,” they said.
The other companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Facebook said the activity began in April 2018, as student-led protests against the government broke out. It said the network created fake accounts to discredit the protesters, including through posing as students and through attempting coordinated reporting of critics’ accounts. From late 2019, Facebook said it increasingly focused on posting and amplifying pro-government content.
Facebook said it removed 937 Facebook accounts, 140 pages, 24 groups and 363 Instagram accounts as part of the Nicaraguan network.
Reporting by Elizabeth Culliford in New York; Additional reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez in Mexico City and Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien
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