In the spotlight: a new director for the national police in Haiti
Former Haitian National Police Chief Léon Charles speaks at a press conference following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 11, 2021 . © REUTERS / RICARDO ARDUENGO
Text by: Christophe Paget Follow
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Frantz Elbé replaces Léon Charles at the head of the Haitian National Police. The resignation of Léon Charles was "
demanded by several layers of society
", recalls
Rezo Nodwès
, noting that it occurs "
less than 72
hours after the kidnapping of more than ten American citizens by the armed gangs 400 Mawozo
". The press is not kind to those who are leaving: "
Léon Charles is
leaving by the back door
", headlines
Le Nouvelliste
. “
It leaves a capital in the grip of insecurity. More than a thousand people and around fifty police officers have been killed in recent months,
”the newspaper said, while
AlterPresse
relays the UNICEF statement that "
the number of children and women abducted for ransom payment in the first eight months of 2021 has already exceeded last year's total
."
In fact, Léon Charles "
has been strongly criticized for his inability to fight against acts of crime and banditry
", underlines
AlterPresse
. And his resignation comes a few days after "
the humiliation of the government on October 17 at the Red Bridge
", when, with the Prime Minister and members of the government, Léon Charles had to "
take flight under the bullets of the bandits
" . And then it was "
under the administration of Léon Charles that President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated at home,
" recalls
Le Nouvelliste
. The director of police, "
booed, copiously insulted
" and "
even treated as an assassin
At the funeral.
"
The man had developed the faculty of being impervious to criticism
", estimates the newspaper, but "
it became obvious that he no longer had the confidence of the troops nor the adequate means to worry the gangs
".
Frantz Elbé expected for "
the hunt for armed gangs
"
AlterPresse underlines that "
the efforts of Frantz Elbé to restore security when he was in the South-East, in 2012, were hailed at the time
".
The newspapers focus mainly on what awaits him: "
the hunt for armed gangs,
" insists
Le National
.
He "
must quickly get down to the task of restoring a climate of security in the country
".
The problem, sighs
Le Nouvelliste
, is that “
we arrive as director of the PNH without a plan and without a doctrine
.
[…] It is a position that we inherit after the failure of a previous director during a crisis at its height.
[…] The country awaits, in the absence of miracles, clear signals and results, however small they may be.
"
In Nicaragua, arrest of the president and vice-president of COSEP, the employers' union
Michael Healy and Alvaro Vargas were arrested, according to police, "
for alleged money laundering and for attacking national sovereignty
,"
Confidencial
reports
. The house of Michael Healy, the president of Cosep, "
was searched, as was the case for other detainees and suspects
", notes the newspaper, among others "
journalists, social leaders, trade unions, companies, and even student leaders
”.
La Prensa
speaks of "
a level of repression that exceeds even that of Latin American governments
as violent and restrictive as Venezuela
".
Trinchera de la Noticia
notes that the detention of the two men, "
critics of the government of the Sandinista Ortega,
comes the day after the request of the Organization of American States demanding the" immediate "release of the presidential candidates
" of November 7 "
and of the political prisoners
".
"
It's a strategy
," said a political analyst in
La Prensa
.
Every time there is international action, internally we lock up more.
"
In the United States, the state of Alabama executed this Thursday Willie B. Smith
The Supreme Court had just refused to examine the case of this African-American convicted thirty years ago for the murder of a white woman. However, underlines the site
Alabama.com
, "
the State did not question the fact that Smith suffered from a severe intellectual disability
", and the Supreme Court had in 2002 prohibited the execution of this type of people, complements the
Montgomery Advertiser
. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Willie B. Smith is at least the 28th person with intellectual disability to be executed since the 2002 ban. His lawyers say he couldn't even choose one. type of execution among those offered to him, because he did not understand the form.
Accident on the set of a film in the United States
: one dead and one seriously injured
Actor Alec Baldwin shot the set of the western
Rust
"
with a pistol used as a prop
,
killing the director of photography and injuring the director,
" reports
USA Today
.
The Hill
continues: "
According to the sheriff's office, the investigation is trying to understand what type of projectile was fired and how
." A spokesperson for Alec Baldwin speaks of an "
accident with a blank loaded pistol
". The
Washington Post
recalls the "
prolific career
" of the actor, known in recent years for his role in the series
30 Rock
and his imitation of Donald Trump on
Saturday Night Live
.
The newspaper also returns to the deaths which occurred in similar circumstances during filming: the actor Brandon Lee, son of Bruce Lee, killed by a pistol loaded by mistake with live ammunition.
Or Jon-Erik Hexum, pretending to play Russian roulette with a pistol for the shot loaded blank, but killed by the detonation when the shot is fired.
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