Headlines: UN report accuses Venezuelan government of crimes against humanity

Jose Daniel Hernandez, an opposition supporter, holds his daughter outside the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) released after receiving a presidential pardon on August 31, 2020 in Caracas.

REUTERS / Manaure Quintero

Text by: Christophe Paget Follow

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The report of the UN investigators "  

accuses President Maduro of being responsible for crimes against humanity

 ", headlines

El Periodiquito

, which specifies that the team of independent investigators worked on " 

223 cases, including 48 in depth , for a comprehensive 443-page report

 ”which runs from 2014 to present.

El Nacional

specifies that the UN team was unable to visit Venezuela and had to do everything remotely, " 

the regime not having responded to its repeated requests

 ".

The newspaper is more particularly interested in two of the accusations: firstly the fact that the Special Forces " 

covered assassinations by disguising them as clashes.

 ": They had weapons near the bodies, and called it" 

sowing seeds,

 "says

El Nacional

.

And then there is also the “ 

frequent

” use by the state of “ 

sexual violence as a method of torture

 ”.

And

El Nacional

gives the figures: " 

45 incidents, including 89 specific acts of sexual violence

".

Of these 45 incidents,

nine took place during demonstrations, 34 during interrogation or detention of dissidents or opponents

;

two during security operations

.

"Information corroborated by the former director of the secret services, the SEBIN, Christopher Figuera, who considered that this institution had" 

a cultural behavior of torture

 ".

It is besides the SEBIN, with the military counter-espionage, which is particularly targeted by this accusation - but

El Nacional

specifies that absolutely "the 

whole range of the State security forces is concerned

 "

by the UN report.

The reactions

This report is " 

filled with lies

 " affirms in a tweet taken up by the newspaper

2001

the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza, who affirms it: this report was " 

drawn up remotely, without any methodological rigor, for a directed phantom mission against Venezuela and controlled by governments at the behest of Washington

 ”.

El Universal

notes that Jorge Arreaza in fact retweeted a statement from 2019 in which the Maduro government claimed the UN wanted to weaken Venezuela's sovereignty.

The opposition " 

applauds

 " the report notes

El Periodiquito

.

For its leader Juan Guaido, reports

El Nacional

, " 

that's it, we no longer deny what is happening in our country

 ": in fact " 

this report marks a before and an after

 " estimates Gonzalo Himiob, of the organization for the defense of human rights Foro Penal, since, believe four other NGOs in

El Universal

, it

"

opens the door to justice in Venezuela

by ratifying the accusations

 " that these NGOs have been making for years.

As for foreign countries,

Ultimas Noticias

, a newspaper close to power, notes that Cuba, supported by the Maduro government, intervened yesterday during the UN Human Rights Council to denounce " 

the politicization and the choice of 'a sensitive theme for carrying out attacks on countries

 ', advising the High Commission for Human Rights to ' 

focus instead on impartiality and universality

 '.

In Bolivia, the national state of emergency against fires

It's not just California in the United States that is on fire;

this is also the case in Bolivia, where there too the fires have become political:

Los Tiempos

specifies that President Jeanine Anez, by announcing the state of emergency, has especially added that the decree allowing "controlled fires" for the agriculture had been repealed.

This decree, it is his predecessor Evo Morales who had taken it for the departments of Santa Cruz and Beni, knowing, already noted

the Razon

two days ago, that the department of Santa Cruz is precisely “ 

the most affected by the heat and fires

 ”.

According to the president cited by

El Diario

these decrees were in reality " 

attacks against fauna and flora

 ": because " 

while in international organizations Evo Morales showed his care for the mother land, at the national level it did not matter to him

 ", denounced the president .

In

the Razon

, climate activist Pablo Solon speaks of a "

late

 " and " 

electoral

 "

announcement 

from the president: the repeal of the decree should have been done at the start of the year to try to avoid fires, "

at the point where we are today, the repeal will have no effect on the raging fires

," said Pablo Solon.

The Covid in Bolivia

The Bolivian press is looking at the fires but like all the Latin American press it continues to make the front page of its information sites on the Covid.

Some quite varied: on the one hand, the

Correo del Sur

is pleased that Bolivia recorded this Wednesday " 

its lowest figure of deaths linked to Covid since September

 ", 31 dead.

On the other hand, in

La Razon,

the health ministry is alarmed: " 

the population is lowering its guard against Covid-19

 ".

According to the Scientific Committee, " 

the relaxation of restrictions after containment is turning into a relaxation of the population

 ", and the risk of infection is increasing.

The Committee also calls for self-medication to be avoided, denouncing the sale of “Covid kits” produced without supervision or authorization from the Ministry of Health, and already reported as a possible “ 

additional factor

 ” in the increase in mortality linked to Covid -19.

Bolivia now has 129,000 cases of coronavirus, 7,472 people have lost their lives, recalls

Los Tiempos

.

In the United States the storm Sally surprised

Storm Sally, which hit the southeastern part of the country, from northern Florida to Alabama, took everyone by surprise by " 

swallowing the roads and leaving hundreds of thousands of people without electricity.

 "

Washington Post

reports

.

Sally is one of those new storms that get stronger just before they make landfall, when this is the time when they traditionally lose strength,

 " the journal notes, "it's" 

a dangerous effect that scientists attribute to the change. climate

 ”.

And then the

New York Times

explains

, what made Sally more devastating was that the storm was slow: “ 

An inch -

two and a half centimeters

- of precipitation per hour, that's okay if the rain doesn't. lasts only 30 minutes

;

on a half-day, it is something else

 , explains Kimberly Wood, of the State University of Mississippi, quoted by the

New York Times

.

According to the researchers, the links are becoming increasingly evident between these increasingly slower storms and, again, climate change: “ 

The rapid warming in the Arctic has reduced the temperature difference between this region and the tropics, and therefore slows down the winds that push storms

 ”.

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