Americas press review

In the spotlight: Colombia's biggest drug trafficker extradited to the United States

"Otoniel", leader of the Gulf Clan, surrounded by Colombian law enforcement, on May 4, 2022 at Bogota's military airport.

PA

Text by: Marie Normand Follow

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Colombian President Ivan Duque triumphantly announced it on

Twitter

.

The biggest drug trafficker in Colombia, "Otoniel", leader of the Gulf Clan, was extradited on Wednesday to the United States where he is claimed by a court in New York.

“ 

Many wonder on social media if his crimes in Colombia will go unpunished

 ,” notes

Semana

.

The weekly details Otoniel's impressive criminal record, which " 

includes armed attacks, forced population displacements, massacres, rapes

 " of minors in particular.

The newspaper maintains that " 

once he has served his sentence for drug trafficking in the United States and is deported, he will have to answer in Colombia

 " for his crimes.

The families of the victims doubt it.

They " 

continue to demand the truth

 ", explains

El Espectador

.

Until the end, they tried " 

to prevent the drug baron's extradition with a single objective: to get him to tell everything he knows about the war

 ", to " 

shed light on past events , but also contribute to deconstructing the current conflict in the territories, making the transition to peace possible and ensuring that all this does not happen again

 ”.

Controversy around an interview with Lula

In Brazil, Lula gets the cover of

Time

.

The presidential candidate, main opponent of the current far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, gives a long interview to the American weekly.

He officially launches his campaign on Saturday and promises to " 

bring Brazil back to the good old days of its presidency from 2003 to 2010

 ".

Lula says he wants to put an end to the " 

dismantling

 " of " 

all the policies he has created in favor of the most deprived

 ".

He also claims to have no intention of ending oil exploration - like another left-wing candidate, Gustavo Petro in Colombia.

But it is his remarks on the Russian-Ukrainian crisis that are controversial.

In the interview, Lula refers Russia and the European Union back to back.

“ 

Putin

, he said,

is not the only culprit.

The Europeans (...) did not need to encourage confrontation

 ”.

He then makes fun of the Ukrainian president and even dares to compare him… to the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The Brazilian Report

regrets that these remarks seem to place Lula and Jair Bolsonaro in the same basket.

These polemical declarations “ 

come on top of a series of errors made in recent times

 ”, thinks

Correio Braziliense

, who suggests that the former president talks too much.

By equating invader and invaded, Lula provoked negative reactions, including among the allies of the Workers' Party

 ”.

Haiti:

resurgence of cases of scabies in the West

It is an epidemiologist who is sounding the alarm, in

Ayibopost

.

He identified more than 1,000 cases of scabies in several localities of the commune of Kenscoff, in the department of the West.

The Casec, the Board of Directors of the Communal Section, maintains that “ 

almost all the houses have at least one case

 ”.

People show " 

signs of itching and patches of pimples on the skin

 ," says

Ayibopost

.

The independent media recalls that this disease does not kill, but that “ 

certain lesions can affect the skin to the point of causing other forms of disease

 ”.

However, scabies “ 

can be easily managed

 ”.

People who have this type of itching, skin lesions or scratching at night are advised to go to a health center.

AMLO begins tour in Central America

Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Mexican president, will arrive in the middle of the afternoon this Thursday in Guatemala, the first stage of a tour of Central America.

La Hora

regrets that his address to the press, in the company of Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, is not open to the press.

In any case, this is an unprecedented trip to the South for a head of state who has only left Mexico three times since the start of his mandate in 2018. The Mexican president wants to play the card of regional cooperation to, among other things, dissuade illegal immigrants from crossing his country to reach the United States.

Obviously, Guatemala is on the same wavelength.

For the Guatemalan Migration Institute, which responds to the Mexican newspaper

Milenio

, “ 

the government is seeking to strengthen agreements for '

safe and orderly migration'”

through temporary work permits

 ”.

He wants to make sure his citizens “ 

can go to work and come back

 ”.

Guatemala is indeed very dependent on

remesas

, these remittances from the diaspora, which officially represent " 

17% of its gross domestic product

 ", writes

Milenio

.

AMLO is accompanied by its Minister of Defence.

Maybe the sign, hopes

La Silla Rota

, that Mexico again intends to play the role of big brother to these Central American countries.

A role abandoned during the 1980s in favor of the United States.

The Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, almost did not attend, says

Imagen de Veracruz

.

It turned out to be a contact case of Antony Blinken, his American counterpart, infected like many journalists following the White House correspondents' dinner on Saturday.

Comedian Trevor Noah, the host of the evening, called the dinner on Saturday " 

the nation's most distinguished event in the spread of disease

 ".

The remark therefore appears today “ 

prophetic

 ”, laughs the

New York Times

.

After abortion, are other rights at risk in the United States?

The American press does not stop commenting on the likely questioning of the Supreme Court's judgment which guarantees the right to abortion.

Some Democrats are worried about a broader erosion of Americans' rights and are saying so loud and clear, 6 months from the midterm elections.

Like Gavin Newsom, the governor of California: he spoke on Wednesday in front of a Planned Parenthood building in Los Angeles.

Don't think for a second that it's going to stop there

 ," he said.

The Democrat says he worries about birth control and even interracial marriages.

Gavin Newsom wants to amend the state constitution to enshrine the right to abortion;

a referendum is to be held in November.

In this video shared by several American

media

today, he calls on the tenors of the Democratic Party to wake up to the drama which, according to him, is being played out in the Supreme Court.

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