World

The United States officially designated Guatemalan Attorney General Consuelo Porras for “significant corruption” Monday, just hours after she was reappointed for a second four-year term.

US Attorney General Antony Blinken called out Porras’ “pattern of obstruction” in corruption investigations in a statement announcing the designation. 

“During her tenure, Porras repeatedly obstructed and undermined anticorruption investigations in Guatemala to protect her political allies and gain undue political favor,” Blinken said.

Her husband, Gilberto de Jesus Porres de Paz, was also included in the designation, Blinken said. 

Her tenure as Guatemalan attorney general was renewed earlier Monday, with President Alejandro Giammattei saying Porras was “a professional who meets all the constitutional requirements.”

Porras had already been added to a list of corrupt and undemocratic actors last year, with the United States saying it had “lost confidence” in Porras after she sacked the country’s top anti-corruption prosecutor.

Critics say his replacement is a defender of corruption and persecutor of the opposition.

Porras has had at least six anti-corruption prosecutors arrested on charges ranging from obstruction of justice to abuse of authority.

Earlier this month, another resigned following “pressure and threats.”

The prosecutors were fired amid ongoing investigations of politicians charged with graft and claimed their treatment was “revenge” from those in power.

But Giammattei said Porras received the unanimous support of a commission tasked with vetting candidates for the position of attorney general.

Porras, in turn, vowed to do her work without being influenced by “bias or ideology” and with a focus on “the fight against corruption.”

She complained of “constant attacks” from “people seeking biased justice.”

The United States said Monday it is easing restrictions imposed during former president Donald Trump’s administration on travel to Cuba and on the sending of family remittances between the United States and the communist island.

“The Cuban people are confronting an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and our policy will continue to focus on empowering the Cuban people to help them create a future free from repression and economic suffering,” the State Department said.

The loosening of the embargo on Cuba will see increased visa processing, including at the Havana consulate, but with most visas still handled at the US embassy in Guyana.

The statement said it will “facilitate educational connections” between the two countries, as well as support for professional research including “support for expanded internet access and remittance process companies.”

To boost the flow of remittances, the US government will lift the current limit of $1,000 per quarter for each sender, and also allow non-family remittances to “support independent Cuban entrepreneurs.”

It said it would increase the number of flights permitted between the US and the Caribbean island, and serving cities other than the capital Havana. It will also allow certain group visits, which are currently forbidden.

Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, tweeted that the move was “a small step in the right direction,” but emphasized that it does “not modify the embargo” in place since 1962. 

“Neither the objectives nor the main instruments of the United States’ policy against Cuba, which is a failure, are changing,” he wrote.

US Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a member of President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party, denounced the lifting of some restrictions, saying that the Cuban regime “continues its ruthless persecution of countless Cubans from all walks of life” following unprecedented street protests last year.

The easing of travel “risks sending the wrong message to the wrong people, at the wrong time and for all the wrong reasons,” he said in a statement. “Those who still believe that increasing travel will breed democracy in Cuba are simply in a state of denial. For decades, the world has been traveling to Cuba and nothing has changed.”

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban heritage, also slammed the announcement, saying on Twitter that the Cuban regime “threatened Biden with mass migration and have sympathizers inside the administration.”

He said “the result is today we see the first steps back to the failed Obama policy on Cuba,” referring to former president Barack Obama’s thaw in relations with Havana, including a visit there in 2016.

Biden is seeking to tread a fine line between helping ordinary Cubans and encouraging democratic developments while not allowing the Communist regime to benefit from any easing of restrictions.

A senior administration official said Monday it was a “coincidence” that the announcement came just after Mexico said it would boycott the next Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles following Cuba’s complaints of being excluded from the meeting.

“The measures today are practical steps that we are taking to address the humanitarian situation and to respond to the needs of the Cuban people,” the official said.

The thaw comes in the wake of a series of mysterious illnesses suffered by US personnel and family members in Cuba in what has come to be known as “Havana Syndrome.”

US officials say they have yet to determine exactly what happened in the incidents but a senior official told reporters that there is an “appropriate security posture.”

North Korean military medics ramped up the distribution of medicines to fight a growing coronavirus outbreak, state media said on Tuesday, with the number of reported cases of “fever” nearing 1.5 million.

Leader Kim Jong Un has ordered nationwide lockdowns to try and slow the spread of the disease through the unvaccinated population, and deployed the military after what he has called a botched response to the outbreak.

Hundreds of personnel in camouflage uniforms from the Korean People’s Army medical units were seen rallying in the capital Pyongyang in photos released by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The military “urgently deployed its powerful forces to all pharmacies in Pyongyang City and began to supply medicines under the 24-hour service system”, KCNA said.

One KCNA photo showed soldiers walking next to a long line of green trucks. 

Kim had strongly criticised healthcare officials for their failure to keep pharmacies open.

North Korea’s leader has put himself front and centre of the country’s Covid response since its first case was announced last week, saying the outbreak is causing “great upheaval”.

Authorities had reported more than 1.48 million cases of “fever” as of Monday evening, KCNA said, with the death toll at 56.

“At least 663,910 are under medical treatment,” the agency said.

Authorities have stepped up media awareness campaigns and pharmaceutical factories have increased the production of medicines, KCNA reported.

– No response to South Korea –

North Korea has one of the world’s worst healthcare systems, with poorly-equipped hospitals, few intensive care units, and no Covid treatment drugs or mass testing ability, experts say.

“Most North Koreans are chronically malnourished and unvaccinated, there are barely any medicines left in the country, and the health infrastructure is incapable to deal with this pandemic,” Lina Yoon, senior Korea researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

She urged the international community to offer medicines, vaccines and infrastructure to North Korea.

Pyongyang has so far not responded to an offer of help from Seoul, according to South Korea’s unification ministry.

South Korea’s new president Yoon Suk-yeol has taken a hawkish stance on his country’s nuclear-armed neighbour, but told lawmakers Monday that he would “not hold back” on aid — if Pyongyang accepts.

Despite the Covid crisis, new satellite imagery has indicated North Korea has resumed construction at a long-dormant nuclear reactor.

The United States and South Korea have warned that Kim is preparing to conduct another nuclear test — the country’s seventh.

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was due on Tuesday to appeal a nine-year prison sentence he was handed in March on charges that he and his allies say are politically motivated.

His hearing comes as Russian authorities seek to silence remaining government critics and Moscow pushes on with its military campaign in neighbouring Ukraine, with thousands killed and some 10 million displaced.

A vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Navalny in late March had his jail time extended to nine years after he was found guilty of embezzlement and contempt of court. 

He is already serving two-and-a-half years in a prison some 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Moscow for violating parole on old fraud charges.

On Tuesday, he will appeal the extension of his jail term, joining the hearing at a Moscow court via video link from his prison colony.

If his new sentence comes into force, the 45-year-old opposition politician will be transferred to a strict-regime penal colony, which will place him in much harsher conditions.

The new sentence will replace the old one — that he was handed in February last year — meaning Navalny will remain behind bars for another eight years. 

– Declared ‘extremist’ –

As part of the new charges, investigators accused Navalny of stealing for personal use several million dollars’ worth of donations that were given to his political organisations.

Navalny rose to prominence as an anti-corruption blogger and, before his imprisonment, mobilised anti-government protests across Russia.

In 2018, he campaigned as a presidential candidate but was eventually barred from running in the election that saw Putin secure a fourth term in power. 

In his absence, Navalny’s team continues publishing investigations into the wealth of Russia’s elites that have garnered millions of views on YouTube. 

In 2020, Navalny narrowly survived a poisoning attack with Novichok, a Soviet-designed military-grade nerve agent. Despite accusations from Navalny, the Kremlin denied any involvement.

He was arrested on his return from rehabilitation in Germany last year, sparking widespread condemnation abroad, as well as sanctions from Western capitals.

After his arrest, Navalny’s political organisations across the country were declared “extremist” and shut down, while key aides have fled Russia.

Navalny’s key allies have since fled the country, several of them are wanted by Russian authorities on criminal charges.

Russia has recently ramped up pressure on independent media and non-governmental organisations, declaring many “foreign agents”, while others have stopped operating for fear of prosecution. 

In an effort to further control the information available to its domestic audience, authorities have blocked access to the popular social networks Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and taken legal action against tech giant Meta, accusing it of spreading “calls to kill” Russians. 

Hundreds of lanterns were released into the sky by Indonesian Buddhists celebrating Vesak day at the temple of Borobudur for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic hit the country.

More than a thousand Buddhists from across the archipelago gathered at the largest Buddhist temple in the world, situated in Magelang, Central Java, to commemorate the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha Siddharta Gautama. 

Celebrations on Monday night included prayers and meditation, collecting holy water and the release of flying lanterns symbolising the letting go of negativity. 

“This is the first time we were able to hold the celebration since the pandemic started, since we are still in the middle of the pandemic, we limited the number of participants to only 1,200 people,” Eric Fernardo, the spokesman for the event, told AFP on Monday. 

Only those who received an invitation and a double dose of a Covid-19 vaccine were allowed to enter the sprawling complex of Borobudur to join the ceremonies.

Before the pandemic, the event was usually attended by more than 20,000 people from across the Muslim-majority country and other places. 

“After two years of not being able to celebrate Vesak Day here, now we finally can, even though not exactly like before the pandemic as there still are restrictions, but I’m so happy”, Christina, a 20-year-old Buddhist who goes by one name, told AFP.

“We can still feel the enthusiasm and excitement, even though the number of attendees are limited,” added the student from Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.

Despite the restrictions and stringent health protocols, monks and worshippers reverently followed the three-day procession and ceremonies, including the ritual to collect holy water from the pristine springs at Jumprit in nearby Temanggung district. 

The procession and the countdown to Vesak, just before midnight on Monday, were also livestreamed for those who did not have an invitation to attend the event.

Indonesian Buddhists account for less than one percent of the country’s more than 270 million people.

Built in the ninth century, the Borobudur Temple was abandoned when the Hindu kingdoms of Java island declined and a majority of Javanese began to convert to Islam.

Buried under volcanic ash and hidden in the jungle, the temple’s existence was largely forgotten until the 19th century. It has undergone a major restoration and is today a UNESCO world heritage site.