Americas press review
On the front page: what concrete action from the international community for Haiti?
A protester in Port-au-Prince, Friday, September 16, 2022. AP - Odelyn Joseph
Text by: Marie Normand Follow
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Le Nouvelliste
reports “
several gunshot wounds during a clash between the police and demonstrators in Hinche
”.
While "
the main road linking Hinche to several other towns in the upper central plateau
" is still cut.
The press also returns of course on this
escape of the prisoners of the only prison for women of the country
.
“
The best-armed institution in the Republic no longer had the means to communicate with its troops on the ground
,” comments the editor-in-chief of Le
Nouvelliste
in amazement .
The blockages of the last few days have "
flattened its internal communication network
".
And the editorialist to detail: “
the largest storage center for petroleum products in the country has been inaccessible for days.
Dozens of schools have been looted.
An important customs post attacked.
Vandalized bank branches.
The most important NGOs are looted.
Provincial towns are cut off from the rest of the country
”.
For
Le Nouvelliste
, "
the government in place, its opponents and its allies in the international community hide behind their little finger when it comes to finding solutions
".
The Haitian daily adds: “
The question is no longer: is there a pilot in the cockpit of the Haiti plane or a control tower to save us from catastrophe, but who are these rich and powerful zombies who are eating our future away from us?
Who are these political actors of a new kind that even the USA or Canada avoid denouncing openly?
»
Biden on Haiti before the UN: "
a spit in the wind
"
The United States and Canada are co-hosting a donor event this Friday in New York to raise funds for the Haitian National Police.
For the editorialist of the
Miami Herald
, Joe Biden "
did not measure up
" during his address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.
He did mention the chaotic situation in Haiti: "an
unexpected and welcome initiative
", comments the newspaper.
But "
Biden's public acknowledgment of Haiti's woes is a spit in the wind
."
The
Miami Herald
calls for real and immediate action.
"The plan of the United States and Canada to strengthen the Haitian National Police (...) does not go far enough
" for a crisis that today goes beyond the borders of Haiti.
It affects the Dominican Republic, but also Miami, "
where members of the diaspora are afraid to go to their country of origin for fear of being taken hostage by a gang or killed in the street
".
“
The US government has the power to make a difference
,” the newspaper insists, “
or at least give Haitians some respite to regroup
,” by sending troops into the field, fighting corruption with arrests and sanctions, or by imposing discussions among Haitians.
What the country "
can no longer do is stand idly by and watch Haitians suffer while their country burns
.”
Ecuador: no more feminicides
This is the headline cry of the Ecuadorian press this Friday.
El Comercio
displays in a large photo of Maria Belen Bernal, the 34 -year -old lawyer found dead after having disappeared in a police school in Quito, where she came to visit her husband.
The latter, on the run, is the main suspect.
“
An investigation is underway into the responsibility of at least 12 other police officers
,” notes
La Hora
.
The case deeply shocked the country.
President Guillermo Lasso mentioned it before the UN this week.
"
An international commission will arrive Monday from Colombia to accompany the investigation
," says
El Universal
.
During the funeral vigil, his relatives and several feminist organizations asked for "
justice and the end of impunity
", writes
El Comercio
.
La Hora
recalls that a woman is “
murdered every 28 hours because she is a woman
”.
The case also adds to “
cases of gender-based violence involving police officers, which in many cases benefit from legal loopholes
”.
For example, "
a criminal conviction does not necessarily constitute a reason for dismissal, as long as a final judgment has not been rendered
".
Cuba: for or against Sunday's referendum?
Cubans vote Sunday in a referendum on a new Family Code.
In particular, it would authorize homosexual marriage and surrogacy, and also "
other less discussed issues which (...) could lead to significant improvements
", recognizes the opposition media
14ymedio
: "
the end of the marriage of children, care for the elderly
”, or “
the fight against violence within the family
”.
The official press is of course the voice of the "
yes
" to the referendum.
"
The Code is simply what we are
", headlines the official
Granma newspaper
, which provides an exhaustive account of the meeting between civil society actors and the First Secretary of the Communist Party, Miguel Diaz-Canel.
The President of the Republic received them and invited Cubans to "
vote with their hearts
", headlines
CubaDebate
.
So should we vote?
And if so, should we vote for or against?
asks
14ymedio
who presents different points of view.
In the “
no
” camp, some wonder why the government submits these rules to a referendum, when everything else is imposed.
Others refer to “
pinkwashing
”, “
after decades of repression and forced labor as state policy against the LGBTQI+ community”.
In any case, "
the government faces the first election it could lose but, as some analysts point out, even then it has guaranteed itself '
life insurance '
”.
Suffice it to say that reactionary, conservative and counter-revolutionary ideas have won.
Even if that means admitting that his summoning power has diminished
.”
An earthquake in Mexico, a tsunami in the Nevada desert
Finally, the
Los Angeles Times
publishes an impressive video.
The earthquake of 7.6 on the Richter scale which struck Mexico on Monday caused a tsunami more than 2400 km from its epicenter!
This
"desert tsunami
" occurred in a cave in Death Valley, a desert region of Nevada.
"
About five minutes after the earthquake
", says the Californian newspaper,
"the generally calm water at the bottom of this cave in the national park (...) began to agitate against the limestone rock
", before forming waves more than a meter high.
These waves lasted about thirty minutes before calming down.
Nothing unusual though: earthquakes along the Pacific "
Ring of Fire
" that reach or exceed magnitude 7 are usually recorded here.
The last waves were in 2019.
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