In the headlines: fires in the United States, in Colorado
Wildfires break out near Broomfield, Colo. On Thursday, December 30, 2021, as high winds sweep through the western inter-mountain range.
© AP / David Zalubowski
Text by: Christophe Paget Follow
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The
Denver Post
publishes photos of fire trucks drowned in smoke, hills topped with ridges of fire, and this incongruous snapshot: a small cluster of houses covered in bright white, blue-green Christmas decorations, behind which the night sky has been made orange by the flames of the approaching fire. 30,000 people were evacuated from towns in Boulder County, at least 500 homes were destroyed ... These are power lines blown by the wind that would have started the fires, fires which according to Joe Pelle, the county sheriff quoted by the
Denver Post will
continue to burn as long as the wind blows: “
It's not the kind of fire you can face directly.
"
The press has gathered the testimonies of the refugees, who fill the evacuation centers: still in the
Denver Post
, Patrick Kilbride, 72, says that he watched the house he had lived in for 30 years burned down.
He lost everything "
except the clothes he has on his back and his car
".
Robert Gutierrez, 20, told the
Washington Post
that he was shopping with his family in the town of Superior when employees evacuated the store.
He then drove towards his house, five kilometers away, before realizing, thanks to the honking of a truck driver, that he was in fact heading straight for the fire.
►
To read also: In Colorado, hundreds of houses destroyed by flames
Climate change
"
Colorado had its three biggest fires in the summer of 2020
," said
Governor Jared Polis in the
New York Times
, " but these fires burned forests and land, while the fires this Thursday destroyed suburban homes and shopping centers
'.
More broadly, the newspaper analyzes, "
forest fires in the American West are larger, faster, and reach mountain slopes that were once too wet and cold for such intense fires
."
The main reason, according to recent studies mentioned by the newspaper: "
the heat and drought associated with climate change
".
New Year and Independence Day in Haiti
The country is preparing for the New Year and Independence Day, also on January 1.
Rezo Nodwès
recalls that "
General Jean-Jacques Dessalines fixed on
January
1 ,
1804 the solemn declaration of the Independence of Haiti
", and that Gonaïves was "
the place chosen for the celebration of this solemnity
". Gonaïves precisely: "
violent protest movements
" were "
started on Tuesday by groups of citizens who oppose the arrival of the de facto Prime Minister, Ariel Henry
", reports
AlterPresse
.
“
Barricades of flaming tires, sporadic gunfire.
[…]
Lava cosmetics, the company of the principal mayor of Gonaïves, Donald Diogène, was the victim of an attempted fire
”, underlines
Le Nouvelliste
, and“
armed individuals from the district of Raboteau forced the shutdown of the construction of the stand which was to accommodate the Prime Minister
”.
The newspaper
Rezo Nodwès
does not mince words: "
The de facto Prime Minister appointed by the Whites against whom Dessalines was fighting, keen to come and harangue the population of Gonaïves with phony referendum words and rigged elections, offers a concert of bullets while 'in Martissant, his government turns out to be non-existent.
Martissant, this district of Port-au-Prince, ravaged by insecurity.
In an editorial,
Le National
estimates that "
for 2022, the Haitian people simply aspire to a little peace, to the marginalization of violence and to the common will to finally build this geographical and historical place so far so poorly inhabited
" .
A New Year's Eve under Covid-19 for Quebec
New Year's Eve is looking bad in Quebec, due to Covid-19: "
The dreaded Christmas Eve finally falls on New Year's Day,
" laments
Le Devoir
. From today "
22 hours, a new curfew will come into force and it will not be possible to walk in the streets until five o'clock
" in the morning, reports
the newspaper
. The Prime Minister "
Legault gives" a big blow "
", headlines
La Presse
. Because the number of people hospitalized has doubled in one week, 16,000 cases have been identified, and according to François Legault "
the situation" is the worst "of the 22 months of the pandemic
".
In addition to the curfew, were announced “
the postponement of the return to class until January 17, the closure of dining rooms and the ban on private gatherings
”. In short, the mood is gloomy, just read the titles of the articles in
Le Devoir
: "
Another blow to the morale of Quebecers
", "
Restaurateurs in survival mode, depressed employees
", "
A curfew with uncertain effects
" ...
In its editorial, the newspaper speaks of the "
haste
" of the government in taking these measures "
colored by despair
", and wonders if it is not going "
too far
", among other things with the curfew: "
Measure loathsome which may irritate more than last year at this date, because the majority of people are vaccinated, and because once again, the greater number have to pay for a minority of recalcitrant.
"And the columnist concludes:"
The elastic band of our "extraordinary social cohesion" is very stretched.
"
Violence in Michoacan, western Mexico
Michoacan is living "
a very dark time
", to use the title of
Proceso
magazine
: "
Massive displacement of populations, shootings, houses burned down, kidnappings
" ... "
The increasingly important presence of the National Guard, the navy and the army, was not used much
, believes
Proceso
,
organized crime continues its misdeeds freely.
The year that has ended has been particularly difficult for the populations of the landlocked regions of Tierra Caliente and Sierra Costa, which suffer from fighting between two cartels, the Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartel trying to wrest control of the territory from the Carteles Unidos .
Between January and November, more than 2,500 people were murdered, a record for 25 years.
Michoacan governor Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla says that since his arrival three months ago, the number of murders has dropped, a claim belied by the facts, according to the magazine.
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