Mexico: Over 95,000 registered as disappeared, impunity 'almost absolute'

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Written by northsouth

Category: Americas

Published: 06 December 2021

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MEXICO CITY - As of last Friday, more than 95,000 people have been officially registered as disappeared in Mexico. That includes a worrying increase in the number of women and children, a trend that has worsened during the pandemic, with migrants particularly at risk. 

Those are some of the key findings shared by the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, at the end of a visit between 15 and 26 November, noting that more than 100 disappearances allegedly took place just during the course of their fact-finding mission.

In a statement, the Committee urged Mexican authorities to quickly locate those who have gone missing, identify the deceased and take prompt action to investigate all cases.

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The delegation went to 13 Mexican states and held 48 meetings with more than 80 different authorities. Members also met hundreds of victims, and dozens of victims' collectives and civil society organisations, from almost every part of the country.

They witnessed exhumations and search expeditions in the states of Morelos, Coahuila and the state of Mexico, visited the Human Identification Centre in Coahuila, and went to several federal, state and migrant detention centres.

This was their first visit to the country, granted under article 33 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons against Enforced Disappearance.

For the Committee, Mexico's acceptance of the visit is a clear expression of the State's openness to international scrutiny and support.

“We acknowledge that some legal and institutional progress has been made in recent years, but enforced disappearances are still widespread and impunity is almost absolute”, the experts said in a statement.

With more than 52,000 unidentified bodies of deceased people, the Committee argues that “the fight against impunity cannot wait.”

Organised crime ‘collusion’

During the visit, they received “worrying information”, both from authorities and victims, about varying patterns in the way enforced disappearances are investigated in different regions.

They also point to “scenarios of collusion between State agents and organised crime”, with some enforced disappearances “committed directly by State agents.”

The Committee also notes with concern that several of the recommendations made in 2015 and 2018, are still pending implementation. 

“In this sense, we stress that disappearances are not only a phenomenon of the past, but still persist”, they say.

Impunity and inaction

During these two weeks, the Committee heard victims describe a society overwhelmed by the phenomenon of disappearances, as well as systemic impunity, and their powerlessness in the face of the inaction by some authorities.

“They pointed out that day by day, in their search for answers and justice, they suffer [from] indifference and lack of progress. They have vehemently expressed to us their pain and that disappeared persons are not numbers, but human beings”, the Committee recalled.

The experts believe that the root causes of the problem have not been addressed and that the adopted security approach is “not only insufficient, but also inadequate.”

The Committee is made up of 10 independent experts, appointed by the States Parties to the Convention. Four members took part in the visit.

A final report will be discussed and adopted by the plenary of the Committee during its 22nd session, which will take place in Geneva between 28 March and 8 April 2022.

Biden, Xi try to tamp down tension in long virtual meeting

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Written by northsouth

Category: Americas

Published: 16 November 2021

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By AAMER MADHANI and COLLEEN LONG

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping’s more than three-hour virtual talk concluded with the leaders of the superpowers agreeing they need to tread carefully as their nations find themselves in an increasingly fraught competition.

Facing domestic pressures at home, both Biden and Xi seemed determined to lower the temperature in what for both sides is their most significant — and frequently turbulent — relationship on the global stage.

“As I’ve said before, it seems to me our responsibility as leaders of China and the United States is to ensure that the competition between our countries does not veer into conflict, whether intended or unintended,” Biden told Xi at the start of their virtual meeting Monday. “Just simple, straightforward competition.”

The White House set low expectations for the meeting, and no major announcements or even a joint statement were delivered. Still, White House officials said the two leaders had a substantive exchange.

Xi greeted the U.S. president as his “old friend” and echoed Biden’s cordial tone in his own opening remarks, saying, “China and the United States need to increase communication and cooperation.”

The relationship has had no shortage of tension since Biden strode into the White House in January and quickly criticized Beijing for human rights abuses against Uyghurs in northwest China, suppression of democratic protests in Hong Kong, military aggression against the self-ruled island of Taiwan and more. Xi’s deputies, meanwhile, have lashed out against the Biden White House for interfering in what they see as internal Chinese matters.

The White House in a statement said that Biden again raised concerns about China’s human rights practices, and made clear that he sought to “protect American workers and industries from the PRC’s unfair trade and economic practices.” The two also spoke about key regional challenges, including North Korea, Afghanistan and Iran.

As the U.S.-China tensions have mounted, both leaders also have found themselves under the weight of increased challenges in their own backyards.

Biden, who has watched his poll numbers diminish amid concerns about the lingering coronavirus pandemic, inflation and supply chain problems, was looking to find a measure of equilibrium on the most consequential foreign policy matter he faces.

Xi, meanwhile, is facing a COVID-19 resurgence, rampant energy shortages, and a looming housing crisis that Biden officials worry could cause tremors in the global market.

“Right now, both China and the United States are at critical stages of development, and humanity lives in a global village, and we face multiple challenges together,” Xi said.

The U.S. president was joined in the Roosevelt Room for the video call by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and a handful of aides. Xi, for his part, was accompanied in the East Hall of the Great Hall of the People by communist party director Ding Xuexiang and a number of advisers.

The high-level diplomacy had a touch of pandemic Zoom meeting informality as the two leaders waved to each other once they saw one another on the screen, with Xi telling Biden, “It’s the first time for us to meet virtually, although it’s not as good as a face-to-face meeting.”

Biden would have preferred to meet Xi in person, but the Chinese leader has not left his country since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The White House floated the idea of a virtual meeting as the next best thing to allow for the two leaders to have a candid conversation about a wide range of strains in the relationship.

Xi told Biden that while it was nice to see him that a virtual meeting wasn’t “as good as a face-to-face meeting.”

Chinese officials said in advance that Taiwan would be their top issue for the talks. Tensions have heightened as the Chinese military has dispatched an increasing number of fighter jets near the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory. Chinese military forces held exercises last week near Taiwan in response to a visit by a U.S. congressional delegation to the island.

“The Taiwan issue concerns China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as China’s core interest,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Monday. “It is the most important and sensitive issue in China-U.S. relations.”

The White House said Biden reiterated the U.S. will abide by the longstanding U.S. “One China” policy, which recognizes Beijing but allows informal relations and defense ties with Taipei. But Biden also made clear the U.S. “strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” the White House said.

With Beijing set to host the Winter Olympics in February and Xi expected to be approved by Communist Party leaders to serve as party leader next year and then a third term as president in 2023 — unprecedented in recent Chinese history — the Chinese leader may be looking to stabilize the relationship in the near term.

“China and the United States should respect each other, coexist in peace, and pursue win-win cooperation,” Xi said.

Despite his domestic problems, White House officials made the case that Biden was coming into the meeting from a position of strength.

Earlier Monday, Biden signed into law a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, legislation to upgrade the nation’s crumbling infrastructure that the Democrat argued is crucial for the U.S. as it seeks to retain a competitive edge over China.

“Because of this law, next year will be the first year in 20 years American infrastructure investment will grow faster than China’s,” Biden declared at his signing ceremony. “We will will once again have the best roads, bridges, ports and airports over the next decade.”

Both leaders gave nods to their history with the other. Biden noted that the two have spent an “awful ... lot of time” speaking to each other over the years, and have never walked away “wondering what the other man is thinking.” During their talk, both leaders recalled things that the others had said in past conversations as they sought to counter and drive home arguments, according to a senior Biden administration official who briefed reporters after the meeting on the condition of anonymity.

But the public warmth — Xi referred to Biden as his “old friend” when the then-vice president visited China in 2013, while Biden spoke of their “friendship” — has cooled now that both men are heads of state. Biden bristled in June when asked by a reporter if he would press his old friend to cooperate with a World Health Organization investigation into the coronavirus origins.

Xi, however, seemed interested in publicly reviving the warmth of the earlier days of their relationship, saying, “I am very happy to see my old friend.”

During the early going of the Biden administration, the two sides have frequently traded recriminations and the presidents’ top advisers have engaged in unproductive exchanges. But there have been moments of progress.

Last week, the U.S. and China pledged at U.N. climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, to increase their cooperation and speed up action to rein in climate-damaging emissions.

Republicans have accused the Biden administration of failing to hold Beijing accountable on human rights for the sake of pursuing its climate agenda.

“As he turns a blind eye to human rights atrocities to pursue his political agenda, Biden has allowed China to threaten American security and our allies’ sovereignty, while undermining the advancement of freedom across the globe,” the Republican National Committee said in a statement shortly before the start of the leaders’ meeting.

The White House has said it views cooperation on climate change as something in China’s interest, something the two nations should cooperate on despite differences on other aspects of the relationship.

“None of this is a favor to either of our countries — what we do for one another — but it’s just responsible world leadership,” Biden told Xi. “You’re a major world leader, and so is the United States.”

Ecuador prison gun battle leaves 68 dead

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Written by northsouth

Category: Americas

Published: 14 November 2021

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Guayaquil, ECUADOR - A prolonged gun battle between rival gangs inside Ecuador’s
largest prison has left at least 68 inmates dead.

It is the latest violence to hit the Littoral Penitentiary, which only a few weeks ago was the scene of the country’s worst prison massacre.

The fighting lasted for almost eight hours in the jail in the coastal city of Guayaquil, with authorities blaming prison gangs linked to international drug cartels.

Videos circulating on social media showed bodies, some burned, lying on the ground inside the prison.

Governor Pablo Arosemena of Guayas province, where Guayaquil is located, said inmates “tried to dynamite a wall to get into pavilion 2 to carry out a massacre. They also burned mattresses to try to to drown (their rivals) in smoke.

“We are fighting against drug trafficking. It is very hard.”

Police commander Tanya Varela said authorities using drones saw that inmates in three pavilions were armed with guns and explosives and were trying to enter pavilion 2, which was without its leader, who had been released earlier this week.

She said police officers entered to try to protect the pavilion and get the inmates in the other areas to return to their cells.

“These events are due to the dispute among criminal gangs over territory; there are now pavilions without leaders,” she said.

Authorities said that besides the 58 dead, 12 inmates were injured and officials seized bombs and guns.

The prison violence comes amid a national state of emergency decreed by Ecuador’s president Guillermo Lasso in October that empowers security forces to fight drug trafficking and other crimes.

Ecuador’s penitentiaries are seeing a wave of brutal violence.

In late September, another battle among gang members in Littoral prison killed at least 118 people in what authorities described as the South American country’s worst ever prison massacre.

Officials said at least five of the dead were beheaded.

In February, 79 inmates were killed in simultaneous riots in various prisons. So far this year, more than 300 prisoners have died in clashes in jails across the country.

Outside the Littoral prison on Saturday, relatives of inmates gathered for news of their loved ones.

Francisca Chancay, 55, whose brother has been in the prison for eight months, said: “Enough of this. When will they stop the killing? This is a prison not a slaughterhouse, they are human beings.”

Some were calling for Ecuador’s security forces to take control of the prisons.

Ecuador has 40,000 inmates in its prison system, of which about 8,500 are in Litoral. According to prison services’ data, the Litoral prison was designed to hold only 5,000 people.

Mr Arosemena said authorities in Ecuador will deal with the prison overcrowding by granting pardons, relocating inmates and transferring some foreign inmates back to their homelands.

“There will be more than 1,000 pardons, but this is part of a process,” he said.

The Guayas governor also said Ecuador will receive international aid from countries like Colombia, the United States, Israel and Spain to deal with the crisis in its prisons. The aid will be in resources and logistics.

One major problem is the presence of so many guns and explosives in the hands of inmates. “For example, installing a freight scanner in the Guayaquil Penitentiary to avoid the entry of arms costs four million dollars,” said Mr Arosemena.