JULY 5TH, 2019 – JULY 12TH, 2019
TURKS & CAICOS SUN
Page 39
WORLD NEWS
Disappointed Venezuelans lose patience with Guaido as Maduro hangs on Four days before Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido launched a military uprising in a bid to oust President Nicolas Maduro, he told supporters at a rally outside the capital, Caracas: “In the next few days, we’ll decide our destiny.” The 35-year-old, who had risen to national prominence three months before, finished his speech with his usual rallying cry to Venezuelans desperate for the end of 20 years of Socialist rule: “We’re on track!” Yet after the April 30 insurrection swiftly unraveled, with troops remaining in their barracks and key government officials refusing to change sides, many Venezuelans aren’t so sure. Interviews with more than two dozen people across Venezuela - as well as fresh polling data - suggest that many people have grown frustrated by the slow pace of change amid the hardships of daily life. Several said they were losing hope that Guaido could dislodge Maduro. “We’re on track but it’s the wrong track,” said Rafael Narvaez, a taxi driver in the western coastal city of Punto Fijo. Narvaez said he had been full of hope on April 30 when he saw Guaido appear with military officers in a video posted on Twitter saying it was time to rise up against Maduro.
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido talks to the media during a news conference before a meeting with representatives of Venezuela’s private industrial sector in Caracas, Venezuela June 26, 2019 “I thought that finally the moment had come to recover our country,” Narvaez, 43, said. “Now I’m disappointed.” Analysts said the most likely outcome now is for the status quo to continue as Maduro gains confidence that his crackdown on the opposition will go relatively unpunished and Guaido seeks a new strategy to keep a weary public energized. When Guaido, the speaker of the National Assembly, proclaimed a rival presidency in January in a bold challenge to Maduro, he injected new hope into Venezuela’s fragmented
opposition. With most Western nations saying Maduro’s reelection last year was rigged, Guaido cited the constitution to announce an interim presidency until fresh elections could be held. Washington backed him and imposed tough new sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry, with the aim of forcing Maduro and his allies from power. Maduro, who took office in 2013 following the death of his political mentor, Hugo Chavez, has overseen an economic collapse that has left swaths of the once-wealthy country without reliable access to power, water, food
and medicines. More than 4 million Venezuelans have emigrated and the Organization of American States warned this week that figure could double by the end of next year. Guaido has gained control of some Venezuelan assets in the United States, appointed diplomats overseas and unveiled an economic plan to rebuild Venezuela. But his promises of amnesty have failed to sway the armed forces, which remain loyal to Maduro. The opposition’s momentum has slowed since the April 30 uprising. Attendance at Guaido’s public rallies has dropped and the opposition has held no major protests since then. A march called for Friday will be a litmus test for Guaido’s support. Maduro, who retains the loyalty of key allies Russia and China, has branded Guaido a U.S. puppet. With a swift removal of Maduro not in sight, the opposition says it is knuckling down for a more protracted campaign and seeking to build a grassroots organization to press for elections without Maduro. Yon Goicoechea, a member of Guaido’s policy team, acknowledged there was “fatigue” among Venezuelans. “We have to fight against demobilization and despair,” he said. “We Venezuelans have to keep consistent in our support for Guaido and be patient.”
Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez describes ‘horrifying’ conditions at Texas migrant facility Controversy broadsided the embattled U.S. Border Patrol agency Monday, as a high-profile U.S. Congresswoman touring detention facilities called conditions “horrifying” and as current and former agency staffers were alleged to have posted offensive comments about the lawmaker and migrants on a private Facebook page. Migrants held at a border patrol station in Texas were subjected to psychological abuse and told to drink out of toilets, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said after a visit with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to the main border patrol facility in El Paso. The tour, which also included a visit to a Clint, Texas, facility, followed reports from a government watchdog that immigrants were being housed in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. “After I forced myself into a cell with women and began speaking to them, one of them described their treatment at the hands of officers as “psychological warfare,” Ocasio-Cortez, a first-term New York Democrat, wrote on Twitter after leaving the El Paso
border patrol station. “This has been horrifying so far.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which oversees Border Patrol, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on her statements about the visit. The Border Patrol also came under fire on Monday following a report by the non-profit news site ProPublica that offensive content had been posted on a private Facebook group for current and former CBP officers. Posts included jokes about the deaths of migrants and sexually explicit comments referencing Ocasio-Cortez, the news outlet said. “This isn’t about ‘a few bad eggs,’” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in response to the ProPublica report. “This is a violent culture.” CBP condemned the Facebook group and acknowledged that it may include a number of the agency’s employees. Matthew Klein, Assistant Commissioner of CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility, called the
Ocasio-Cortez describes ‘horrifying’ conditions at Texas migrant facility social media activity “disturbing” and said it violated the agency’s code of conduct. Klein said the matter had been referred to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inspector general, which has jurisdiction over the CBP. According to a screen shot published by ProPublica, the Facebook
group had 9,500 members. “These posts are completely inappropriate and contrary to the honor and integrity I see - and expect - from our agents day in and day out,” U.S. Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost said in a statement. “Any employees found to have violated our standards of conduct will be held accountable.”
Pakistani man kills wife, two children, six others in alleged honor killing A man shot his wife, their two children, and six of her family members on Monday and then burned the bodies when he set her family’s home on fire in an alleged honor killing in central Pakistan, police said. Muhammad Ajmal committed the attack as revenge for a suspected affair by his wife Kiran, said Imran Mehmood, a District Police Officer for the city of Multan, where the killings occurred. Ajmal returned to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia, where he worked as a tailor, 25 days ago intending to carry out the killings, he said. Mehmood said Ajmal confessed
to the killings. “This is clearly an honor killing. He saw a picture of his wife with another man and believed she was having an affair,” Mehmood said. “He does not repent his actions.” In addition to killing his wife and their two children, Ajmal also killed his three sisters-in-law, two of their children, and his mother-in-law. Ajmal and his father, who was with him at the time of the murder, are both in custody and have been charged with murder, Mehmood said. Police are searching for his brother, who is also believed to be involved.
The deaths add to the hundreds of women and girls killed in Pakistan each year, according to human rights groups, by family members angered at the perceived damage to their honor, which may involve eloping, fraternizing with men or any infringement of conservative values regarding women. Kiran’s brother Ali Raza told Reuters that Ajmal and his sister were having marital problems and she had recently moved back to Pakistan and was living with her family. “I am left with just my father, my whole family is gone,” he said. Mehmood said Ajmal has not
been assigned an attorney yet and Reuters was unable to contact any of his family members for a comment. Pakistan adopted legislation against honor killings in 2016, introducing tough punishment and closing a legal loophole that allowed killers to walk free if pardoned by family members. Police in Pakistan’s most populous province of Punjab, where honor crimes have been rampant, said recently that the number of such killings had fallen since the law was introduced but rights groups estimate that nearly 1,000 such killings take place annually.