Journal of Haiti and the Americas
Texas: Melissa Lucio will not be executed on April 27
Audio 7:30 p.m.
In this April 6, 2022 photo, Texas State Representative Jeff Leach, with death row inmate Melissa Lucio, during a visit by seven lawmakers to the Mountain View unit in Gatesville, Texas.
PA
By: Mikaël Ponge Follow |
Mikael Ponge Follow
2 mins
Sentenced to death for the murder of her daughter after a controversial trial, Melissa Lucio saw her execution suspended on Monday April 25, 2022 by a Texas appeals court, two days before the scheduled date.
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Calls for clemency from personalities like Kim Kardashian had multiplied in favor of this mother of 14 children of Hispanic origin, the interest in her case going beyond the American borders.
Another Texas court will now have to consider the requests of its lawyers.
Despite this decision, Melissa Lucio, who has become a symbol of the mobilization against capital punishment, remains for the moment on death row.
"This is a first step towards obtaining a new trial, but it does not mean that a new trial has been granted",
several steps still to be taken, explained his lawyer.
Melissa Lucio's defense claims in particular that new scientific evidence exonerates her, and that false testimony led to her conviction.
According to his supporters, the death of his daughter, Mariah, was an accident, not murder
.
“I thank God for my life,”
said Melissa Lucio, who has maintained her innocence for 15 years, saying she is
“grateful to the court for giving me the chance to live and prove my innocence”
and
“to have more days to be a mother to my children and a grandmother to my grandchildren
.
Haiti: deadly clashes between gangs
Since Sunday April 24, 2022, the inhabitants of several neighborhoods located northeast of Port-au-Prince have been surrounded by two armed groups.
Members of the 400 Mawozo group are trying to regain control of these neighborhoods, which have escaped their control since 2018, and are led by another gang leader called "Maughty Dog".
Bursts of automatic weapons have been heard since Sunday morning (April 24, 2022).
The inhabitants, fearing for their lives, are forced to hide.
According to some witnesses, those who venture out are hit by projectiles.
“From Croix-des-Missions to Canaan 3, activities are at a standstill.
No car traffic.
Barricades are noticed in some arteries.
A real state of siege”
writes the daily Le Nouvelliste.
“No official report has yet been communicated on these clashes,” reports Gotson Pierre, editor-in-chief of
the AlterPresse site
.
In Ecuador, bamboo houses for the poorest
It was 6 years ago, on April 16, 2016. Ecuador was hit by a powerful earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale.
Nearly 700 people died, thousands more were left homeless.
It was at this time that Cristina Latorre began to build, thanks to a family bamboo plantation, shelters for the homeless.
Six years later, the emergency passed, and Cristina and her husband founded the NGO Caemba, which built hundreds of bamboo houses to improve the lives of the poorest people, such as in the tourist town of Atacames where returned Eric Samson.
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On the same subject
United States: the execution of Melissa Lucio, suspended in extremis
Melissa Lucio, sentenced for the death of her daughter Mariah, soon to be executed in Texas
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