World

Chile on Tuesday inaugurated Latin America’s first-ever thermosolar energy plant, a vast complex dubbed Cerro Dominador in the Atacama desert that gives a boost to the country’s quest for carbon-neutrality by 2050.

In an area exceeding 700 hectares, 10,600 mirrors surround a 250-meter-high tower topped with a receiver onto which the Sun’s rays are reflected.

Molten salts in the receiver absorb the heat and are then used to generate electricity — up to 110 megawatts — by means of a steam turbine.

Combined with an adjacent photovoltaic plant, the Cerro Dominador complex is capable of producing 210 megawatts of renewable energy.

A feature of the project is that the salts can store energy for up to 17.5 hours, allowing the system to continue operating without direct sunlight, and for 24 hours per day, its operators say.

“It will allow us to save more than 600,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year. That is equivalent to what 300,000 cars emit in a year,” Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said at the inauguration event.

Carbon dioxide is the most abundant of human-created greenhouse gases blamed for climate change and planet warming.

It is generated by burning carbon-based fossil fuels used in transportation and power generation, construction, deforestation, agriculture and other practices, and persists in the atmosphere and oceans for thousands of years after it is emitted. 

In line with the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which seeks to hold global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, Chile pledged to make its economy carbon neutral by 2050, meaning it emits no more than it can offset through other means.

Construction of the Cerro Dominador project started in 2014 in the middle of the Atacama desert, some 3,000 meters above sea level in Chile’s warm, dry and sunny north.

Pinera said Chile would inaugurate more clean energy projects in 2021 than in all its previous history to meet the “urgent challenge” of climate change.

This will include electrifying public transport, replacing carbon-based energy with green alternatives and expanding forests which absorb CO2.

The United States on Tuesday eased its warnings against travel to a number of major nations including Olympics host Japan, raising hopes that widespread vaccinations will bring a return to normal travel. 

Close US allies and neighbors including Canada, Mexico, France and Germany also received upgrades, with the State Department asking Americans to reconsider travel but ending its blanket advice not to go at all.

South Korea received a clean bill of health, with the State Department saying Americans can exercise normal precautions when visiting — the standard US travel advice for developed nations before the pandemic.

A State Department official said it revised its travel guidance after new recommendations a day earlier by the Centers for Disease Control, which called on Americans to be fully vaccinated before traveling but for non-vaccinated people to avoid trips.

“As conditions evolve, we regularly update our advice to US travelers,” the official said.

Such travel advice has been closely watched for clues on when the United States will end restrictions imposed more than a year ago by former president Donald Trump that banned most visitors from the European Union and Britain.

Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor, said Monday that any easing of travel restrictions for Europeans to the United States would be transparent and “guided by science and evidence.”

“We have heard very clearly the desire of our friends in Europe and in the UK to be able to reopen travel across the Atlantic Ocean, and we want to see that happen,” Sullivan told reporters.

“But we have to follow the science and we have to follow the guidance of our public health professionals.  So we are actively engaging with them to determine the timeframe.”

– Rising vaccinations –

The State Department made headlines last month by warning against all travel to Japan, which in July will hold the Olympics that were already put off by a year due to Covid.

The Summer Games have stirred public opposition within Japan, which is barring foreign fans from coming.

Other countries for which US travel advice was eased include South Africa, which has battled a Covid variant, as well as Greece and Spain, which have been at the forefront of reopening to tourists.

Spain on Monday opened up to tourists from around the world if they are vaccinated, while Greece also permits the entry of unvaccinated visitors if they prove they are Covid negative.

Biden has set a goal of administering at least one shot of Covid-19 vaccine by July 4 to 70 percent of US adults — a goal within reach despite a slowdown after initial enthusiasm.

Complicating any efforts to ease international travel, the United States does not centralize its vaccination records and has significant segments of the population deeply suspicious of “vaccine passports.”

Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for the internal market, said Monday that the bloc as a whole wanted to open up to vaccinated Americans but insisted on “reciprocity.”

European nations in the meantime have put forward a hodgepodge of rules as they strike a balance between public health and reviving tourism economies that were devastated last year.

France, the world’s top tourist destination, has removed restrictions on EU residents as well as travelers from a number of other nations including Australia, Israel, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, while requiring negative Covid tests by visitors from North America, Britain and most of Asia and Africa.

The United States in May already eased its warning on travel to Britain, which was early and aggressive in vaccinating its population.

US Vice President Kamala Harris said she held “candid” and productive talks with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on migration Tuesday, hailing a new era in relations.

The two leaders witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between their countries on cooperation in aid and development in Central America, including youth empowerment programs.

“The United States and Mexico have a longstanding relationship,” Harris said at the start of the meeting.

“I strongly believe that we are embarking on a new era,” she added.

She told reporters afterward that the talks were “direct and candid,” describing the meeting as “very productive” on issues including security, migration and drug-smuggling.

“We made clear that the United States considers Mexico to be a partner on these issues,” she said.

Lopez Obrador tweeted that the talks were “important, beneficial for our peoples and very pleasant.”

Harris, on her first trip abroad as President Joe Biden’s deputy, has said she wants to give Central Americans “a sense of hope” that their lives will improve in their countries.

Detentions of undocumented migrants, including unaccompanied minors, along the US-Mexico border hit a 15-year high in April, with nearly 180,000 people intercepted, according to the US authorities.

“There’s not going to be a quick fix,” Harris said in an interview with NBC News broadcast on Tuesday.

“We’re not going to see an immediate return. But we’re going to see progress,” she said.

Asked why she had not visited the US-Mexican border personally since taking office, Harris said her focus was on dealing with the reasons behind the migrant flows.

“It is my firm belief that if we care about what’s happening at the border, we better care about the root causes and address them. And so that’s what I’m doing,” she said.

– ‘Options, alternatives’ –

Biden’s special envoy Ricardo Zuniga told reporters that the memorandum of understanding between the two countries would have a “real focus on youth and reforestation.”

Lopez Obrador has proposed expanding one of his domestic welfare programs in Central America, named Sembrando Vida, which provides economic grants to registered agricultural producers.

“Nobody leaves their towns, abandons their families and leaves their customs for pleasure,” he told reporters ahead of the talks with Harris. 

“Things are not solved with coercive measures. You have to give options, alternatives.”

Harris’s visit is part of the Biden administration’s promise of a more humane immigration policy — in contrast to the hardline approach taken by his predecessor Donald Trump.

Biden is allowing unaccompanied children to stay and be united with relatives living inside the United States, while urging undocumented migrants not to come.

“The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our borders… If you come to our border, you will be turned back,” Harris said in Guatemala on Monday.

The Republican opposition has accused Biden of creating a “crisis” on the country’s southern border by failing to rein in migration.

One issue that may come up in the talks in Mexico is calls to end “Title 42,” a Trump-era coronavirus policy allowing the immediate deportation of undocumented migrants — even those who arrive seeking asylum. 

Trump sparked anger during his 2016 election campaign when he branded Mexican migrants “rapists” and drug dealers, and vowed to build a wall across the southern US border as part of his hardline immigration stance.

Biden’s administration is expected to seek a “positive, constructive relationship” with Lopez Obrador, said Duncan Wood, a Mexico expert at the Wilson Center think tank.

“Down the road, if we get to a point where the migration situation is less of a crisis, then we may see more pressure from Washington on Mexico City on a whole range of issues,” he said in a panel discussion.

But “we’re not going to see any repetition of the past four years of the Trump administration with aggressive public statements and threats,” he added.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that Germany was cooperating to mitigate effects of major pipeline from Russia after a US decision to waive sanctions drew wide criticism.

President Joe Biden’s administration last month decided not to enforce sanctions against the builder of Nord Stream 2, which will supply energy-hungry Germany, drawing praise from Moscow ahead of his summit with President Vladimir Putin on June 16.

Blinken, criticized over the move during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, said that construction of the pipeline had already progressed too far to stop it.

“The worst possible outcome from our perspective would be physical construction of the pipeline completed, the relationship with Germany poisoned and no incentive for Germany to come to the table to make good on working to mitigate the serious negative consequences,” Blinken said.

“The Germans have now come to the table. We are actively engaged with them,” Blinken said.

Ukraine has been especially alarmed by Nord Stream 2 which allows Russia to avoid its territory, depriving the country — which is battling an insurgency by pro-Moscow separatists — both of fees and leverage.

Blinken said one option discussed with European partners is to guarantee that Ukraine keep receiving transit fees for “many years into the future.”

He said Germany was also looking with the United States at actions that can be automatically triggered if Russia steps up pressure on Ukraine over gas.

“We’re looking to our allies and partners to commit upfront to taking action,” he said, so that “we don’t have to scramble if Russia does something bad.”

He also hinted at US action at other aspects of the pipeline even after the waiver on punishment against Swiss-based but Russian-controlled Nord Stream 2 AG.

“Even when the pipeline is physically complete, for it to go into operation it still requires insurance, it still requires various permits, and we’re looking very carefully at all of that.”

Poland and Baltic states have also fiercely opposed the pipeline, which has drawn bipartisan opposition in Washington.

Senator Bob Menedez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and usually an ally of Biden, questioned the decision not to enforce sanctions, saying it sent a bad signal to Putin.

Biden “himself has said he’s a murderer. He’s KGB and he only understands strength. I would have thought that one of the most significant ways to show strength is to ensure that the pipeline is killed,” Menendez said.

French President Emmanuel Macron was slapped in the face while greeting a crowd in southeast France on Tuesday, in a shock incident he shrugged off as “isolated” but which drew widespread condemnation in a tense political climate.

Video footage on social media shows Macron approach a barrier to meet and shake hands with voters, where a man in a green T-shirt takes hold of his forearm before slapping him.

At the same time, someone can be heard shouting an old French royalist battle cry, and “Down with Macronism”.

Macron’s bodyguards quickly intervened and two people were detained after the incident in the village of Tain l’Hermitage, local officials said.

“At around 1:15 pm (1115 GMT) the president got into his car after visiting a high school, but got back out because onlookers were calling to him,” the prefecture for the Drome region said.

“He went to meet them and that’s when the incident took place.”

Two 28-year-old men living in the region are being questioned, said local prosecutor Alex Perrin. But “at this stage of questioning, their motives remain unknown”.

The incident took place in a tense and increasingly polarised political climate in France, weeks ahead of regional elections and less than a year before presidential polls.

In an interview with the Dauphine Libere newspaper, Macron insisted he was unafraid and would continue to meet people in this way.

“I am doing fine. We must put this incident, which I think is an isolated event, into perspective,” he said.

He added: “Let’s not let isolated events, ultra-violent individuals… take hold of the public debate: they do not merit it.”

– Election tour –

The assault sparked outrage across the political spectrum and overshadowed what Macron has billed as a listening tour to “take the country’s pulse”.

“Politics can never be violence, verbal aggression, much less physical aggression,” Prime Minister Jean Castex told parliament, adding that “through the president, it is democracy that has been targeted”. 

Macron continued meeting the public, alongside his wife Brigitte.

“I always seek out contact, within shouting distance, as I say. I want it,” he said afterwards.

He described the slapping as “stupidity — and when stupidity combines with violence, it is unacceptable.”

In the video someone can be heard shouting “Montjoie Saint Denis!”, a medieval battle cry associated with fringe right-wingers who want France to return to being a monarchy. The phrase also features in the 1993 hit French comedy “Les Visiteurs”.

One of the men arrested appears to practise medieval combat, according to an Instagram account in his name.

Macron, who remains a highly divisive figure, is widely expected to seek a second term in next year’s presidential elections. Polls show him with a narrow lead over far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

His nationwide tour includes around a dozen stops over the next two months, with the former investment banker keen to meet voters in person after more than a year of Covid-19 crisis management.

But previous meet-and-greets have seen the reformer verbally abused. 

A 2018 tour to mark the centenary of the end of World War I saw furious citizens booing and heckling him.

It took place just as “yellow vest” protests were gaining momentum, denouncing the government’s policies as well as Macron’s personal leadership style, which was criticised as aloof and arrogant.

Macron and his wife Brigitte were also verbally abused by protesters while out on a walk in Paris last July. 

– Condemnation –

Shortly before the slapping incident, Macron was asked to comment on recent remarks from far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon suggesting that next year’s election would be manipulated. 

“Democratic life needs calm and respect, from everyone, politicians as well as citizens,” Macron said.  

In a rare moment of national unity, even his fiercest critics and political rivals came to his defence on Tuesday. 

Melenchon said he stood “in solidarity with the president”, while Le Pen called the slap “unacceptable and profoundly reprehensible in a democracy”.

The slap is nevertheless likely to spur debate in France about the political climate, just two weeks from the first round of regional elections and 10 months from the presidential contest next April.

“It’s tense everywhere,” ruling party MP Patrick Vignal commented. “This campaign stinks and it’s because of the personalities. No one is going to come out a winner.”

jri-jmt-adp-sjw/jj/kjl

After weeks of political wrangling the Israeli parliament is set to vote Sunday on whether to install a “change” coalition and end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s record 12 consecutive years in power.

Announcing the date for the confidence vote, speaker Yariv Levin, a Netanyahu ally, said on Tuesday “a special session of parliament” would debate and vote on the fragile eight-party alliance, after the country’s fourth inconclusive election in two years back in March.

Later in the day, the prime minister’s office announced that a march by Jewish nationalists through Jerusalem would go ahead in a week’s time, potentially re-escalating tensions with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group which went to war with the Jewish state for 11 days last month.  

Israeli right-wing groups had the day before cancelled plans for the controversial march, originally due to take place this Thursday, citing Israeli police restrictions, and as Hamas warned that the route could spark new violence.

Divisive incumbent Netanyahu has dominated Israeli politics for more than a decade, pushing it firmly to the right.

If Sunday’s crunch parliamentary vote hands a majority to the coalition, which is united only by hostility to Netanyahu’s rule, it would spell the end of an era.

Since the nascent coalition was announced last week, Netanyahu has lived up to his reputation as a ruthless political operator, piling pressure on right-wingers within its ranks to reject this “dangerous left-wing government”. 

The anti-Netanyahu bloc includes three right-wing, two centrist and two left-wing parties, along with an Arab Islamic conservative party.

On paper it commands a wafer-thin majority, but Netanyahu has urged his supporters to shame right-wing lawmakers into walking away from the prospective alliance.

– Hamas warning –

The Israeli political drama is playing out as tensions with the Palestinians smoulder, with police cracking down on demonstrations over the threatened eviction of Palestinian families from homes in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem to make way for Jewish settlers.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Tuesday that cabinet had approved a decision to hold the so-called March of the Flags next Tuesday, adding that it would go ahead in a format to “be agreed by police and organisers”.

The decision had been agreed by both the prime minister and his defence minister Benny Gantz, before it was put to the cabinet, the premier’s office said.

The event had previously been due to proceed through flashpoint areas of east Jerusalem that have seen repeated clashes recently between Israeli police and Palestinians.

A top Hamas official, Khalil al-Hayya, had warned Israel Monday “against letting the march approach east Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound”.

“We hope the message is clear so that Thursday doesn’t become (a new) May 10,” he said, in reference to the start of the 11-day war which Hamas launched in response to tensions at the mosque compound, Islam’s third-holiest site, which is also revered by Jews.

Netanyahu had convened a late-night meeting Monday with senior government officials to discuss alternatives that could allow the march to proceed — a move that saw his opponents accuse him and his allies of working to ratchet up tensions as his grip on power grows increasingly shaky.

Labor MP Gilad Kariv, a supporter of the coalition, called the move “another chapter in the outgoing government’s attempt to leave a scorched earth”.

– ‘Let go’ –

If the new government is confirmed, Netanyahu’s right-wing opponent Naftali Bennett would serve as premier for two years, after which the “change” coalition’s centrist architect, Yair Lapid, would take over.

“The unity government is on the way and ready to work on behalf of all the people of Israel,” Lapid, a former television presenter, said in a statement following the announcement of the vote.

Netanyahu, who faces corruption charges that could result in jail time, has refused to go without a messy fight.

Bitter recriminations within the Israeli right and far right prompted Israeli security services to issue a rare warning against incitement online, which Netanyahu’s opponents say was a warning to the prime minister.

Alarm has grown over angry rallies by supporters of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, including protests outside the homes of right-wing lawmakers accused of “betrayal” for joining the coalition. Security has been stepped up for some of the MPs.

The 71-year-old prime minister has rejected allegations of incitement, saying “there is a very thin line between political criticism and inciting violence”.

Bennett, who served as Netanyahu’s aide before turning against him, has urged his former boss to “let go”.

Should 11th-hour defections torpedo the fledgling coalition, Israel would likely have to return to the polls for a fifth election in just over two years.

Golf champion Angel “Pato” Cabrera, one of the most successful Latin Americans to play the sport, was extradited Tuesday from Brazil to his native Argentina to face domestic violence accusations brought by several women.

Cabrera, who won the 2007 US Open and 2009 Masters, was arrested in Rio de Janeiro in January at Argentina’s request, accused of violence against his partner, an ex-partner and his ex-wife.

Cabrera, 51, and another Argentine, 42, who faces femicide charges, were handed over to Argentine authorities at a border bridge in the city of Foz do Iguacu, Brazilian federal police said.

The statement did not identify them, but a source close to the investigation told AFP one of the men was Cabrera.

A Brazilian court authorized Cabrera’s extradition in May. He has denied wrongdoing.

The United States on Tuesday eased its warning against travel to a number of major nations including Olympics host Japan, Canada and Mexico after reassessing Covid concerns.

The State Department issued an advisory asking Americans to reconsider travel due to the risk of Covid-19, upgrading a blanket warning earlier not to go.

Other countries for which US travel advice was eased include close allies such as France and Germany as well as Greece, which has been welcoming vaccinated US tourists, and South Africa, which has battled a Covid variant.

Such travel advice has been closely watched for clues on when the United States will ease restrictions in place for more than a year on travel from European nations.

The State Department said it revised its travel guidance after new recommendations a day earlier by the Centers for Disease Control, which called on Americans to be fully vaccinated before traveling but non-vaccinated people to avoid trips.

“As conditions evolve, we regularly update our advice to US travelers,” a State Department official said.

Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor, said Monday that any easing of travel restrictions for Europeans to the United States would be transparent and “guided by science and evidence.”

“We have heard very clearly the desire of our friends in Europe and in the UK, to be able to reopen travel across the Atlantic Ocean, and we want to see that happen,” Sullivan told reporters.

“But we have to follow the science and we have to follow the guidance of our public health professionals.  So we are actively engaging with them to determine the timeframe.”

The State Department made headlines last month by warning against all travel to Japan, which in July will hold the Olympics that were already put off by a year due to Covid.

The Summer Games have stirred public opposition within Japan, which is barring foreign fans from coming.

One drug trafficker texted another that he had a “job” and a proven way to get it done: two kilograms of cocaine from Bogota using the French embassy’s protected diplomatic pouch.

The pair were straightforward, because they were using the newest, safest mode of communicating: a special-purpose, highly encrypted, messaging-only cellphone called ANOM that operated on a closed network.

“They have already got a few packages in,” Baris Tukel told buyer Shane Geoffrey May, according to US court documents. 

As proof, Turkel texted pictures of the pouch bound and stamped “Valise Diplomatique Francaise” and another shot of tightly wrapped drug packs.

“They can do it weekly,” he wrote.

Little did they know that ANOM was produced and distributed by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, and every one of their messages — and those of thousands of other criminals around the world — were being copied directly to an FBI server.

– 27 million messages –

Others had the same sense of security. They bickered over prices, and explained smuggling strategies. 

Using ANOM, “Ironman” texted “Real G” on how they could get volumes of cocaine into Hong Kong, where they had no one in customs to shepherd it through.

The answer? “Real G” sent “Ironman” a photograph of drug packages layered in between bananas in a shipping crate. First, he said, they would have to send some legitimate banana shipments to ease the way.

Their messages were some of 27 million that the FBI and law enforcement partners in Australia and elsewhere scooped up and decrypted, exposing global criminal networks to an unparallelled extent.

The US Justice Department said “Operation Trojan” Shield reaped a “staggering” amount of intelligence that has led to 800 arrests.

It turned one of the biggest challenges for law enforcement today, widely available, unbreakable encryption apps on cellphones, to law enforcement’s advantage.

Officials on three continents announced Tuesday that they had  seized 38 tons of cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine and precursor chemicals; 250 firearms and currencies worth $48 million in the operation.

Some 50 clandestine drug labs were shut down and more than 100 potential murders disrupted.

Law enforcement officials themselves seemed in awe at the result of “Trojan Shield”.

FBI Special Agent Suzanne Turner said they were stunned at how openly traffickers exchanged information on the ANOM devices.

“They believed it was secure communications,” she told reporters in Washington.

 – FBI had master decryption key – 

The massive coup came about in 2018, when the FBI shut down a precursor encrypted service called Phantom Secure and arrested its head Vincent Ramos and four others for supporting drug trafficking.

That appears to have led the FBI to a builder of the phones who was working on the next generation. The tech wizard already had one drug conviction and faced new charges.

So they agreed to produce ANOM for the FBI, who paid him or her $170,000 to do so — adding to the encryption system a digital master key that only the FBI could use.

ANOM would also copy all messages from a user to an FBI-controlled server located in a third country as they were transmitted.

But how to get the bad guys to buy the phones, at $2,000 apiece?

The builder already had a network of trusted distributors in place from previous products, and pitched ANOM to them with the pitchline, “Enforce your right to privacy.”

The phone hit the market in October 2018, with distributors first selling about 50 in Australia for a Trojan Shield beta test, the FBI working with the Australia Federal Police.

By 2019 ANOM devices were found around the world, used the most in Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Australia and Serbia, mainly by drug traffickers and money launderers.

The FBI said more than 300 distinct transnational criminal organizations were using ANOM.

– Shutting down rivals –

It had its competitors. The FBI discovered that some gangs compartmentalized operations by different communications technology.

In one, ANOM was used for the logistics of the drug shipments, while Ciphr or Sky were used to deal with the money involved.

But ANOM gained in popularity as law enforcement went after other devices, like in 2020 when European authorities brought down up EncroChat, a four-year-old encrypted handset.

After US  authorities closed down another rival, Sky Global, in March this year, active ANOM users soared from 3,000 to 9,000, the FBI said.

Why was ANOM shut down now? Turner said Tuesday that many legal cases were ripening and that “it was time to get these criminals off the street.”

But a March blog post by an unknown writer claiming that ANOM was transferring data to unknown servers may have also threatened to expose the network.

A few dozen women sit in a pavilion in front of rows of gravestones listening intently to the judgment: Ratko Mladic will spend the rest of his life in prison.

For some of those gathered at the memorial centre near Srebrenica, the finality of the judge’s ruling on the former Bosnian Serb military chief is enough.

“Thank God,” said Nedziba Salihovic, 67, whose son, husband and brother were killed in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre along with more than 8,000 other Muslim men and boys.

During the reading of the verdict, she held a picture of her son in her hands. At the end, she was the only one who raised her arms and showed emotion.

“I am grateful to the court in The Hague. I trusted the court,” she said.

“He has to be in prison for the rest of his life, just as I have to be alone for the rest of my life, waiting to be reunited with my son, my husband, my brother and many other loved ones in heaven.”

Like the others at the memorial, she had watched in silence, only breaking at the end. There was little outward emotion, but nobody doubted the magnitude of the moment.

“It can’t bring back those who were killed in the family, but it means justice, and that’s important for those I share this space with,” said Almasa Salihovic, whose brother Abdulah was killed in the massacre at the age of 18.

She said she got peace of mind from the judgment, which rejected Mladic’s attempts to overturn his genocide conviction for the massacre.

– ‘No room for denial’ –

Beyond the immediate relief many felt at the verdict, some have a sense that there is still work to do.

“Ratko Mladic did not kill nearly 10,000 people on his own, he did not organise the expulsion of 30,000 people in three days. He did not do anything alone,” said Emir Suljagic, director of the memorial centre.

Suljagic had been a translator in the UN base in Srebrenica in 1995. He was able to get out in the convoy with Dutch soldiers as they left.

“Justice is also to arrest and bring to justice those who worked for Ratko Mladic,” he added.

Another survivor, Nedzad Avdic, also felt the wider significance. 

“With this verdict, evil has been called evil, and I hope that Serb politicians will finally accept these facts,” he said.

“I believe that this verdict will no longer leave any room for anyone to deny the genocide in Srebrenica and what was committed here.”

The widows and mothers, united in grief, are also united by hope on this point — that the court’s confirmation of genocide will reduce the denial still rife among Serbs.

“I hope that this verdict will one day influence those who deny the genocide and what was done there,” said Almasa Salihovic.

– Genocide ‘myth’ –

But many Serbs regard Mladic as a hero who fought valiantly to protect his people. They believe he is innocent, and deny any genocide ever took place.

“They are trying to create a myth about the Srebrenica genocide, which never happened,” said Milorad Dodik, leader of the Bosnian Serbs in Republika Srpska — the divided country’s Serbian entity, which today includes Srebrenica.

“I think that this verdict propelled general Mladic straight into a legend because Serbs know that without his command and spirit our people would have suffered much more.”

All around Republika Srpska similar views can be heard, something that relatives of the victims feel is a continuation of the genocide.

But the mothers point out that there is plenty of evidence, if they cared to look.

“They say it didn’t happen. But these gravestones prove it did,” said Munevera Kabeljic, who visited the graves of her husband and her two young sons before listening to the verdict.

“They didn’t come by themselves to lie here. They were killed.”