AMERICAS PRESS REVIEW

In the spotlight: the funeral of African-American Tire Nichols

Family and friends of Tire Nichols light candles during a vigil for him, Monday, Jan. 30, 2023, at the Regency Community Skate Park in Natomas, where Tire skateboarded when he lived in Sacramento, Calif.

Nichols, who moved to Tennessee in 2020, was fatally beaten by Memphis police earlier this month.

© Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP

Text by: Stefanie Schüler Follow

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The funeral of African-American Tire Nichols is being held this Wednesday, February 1, 2023 in the city of Memphis.

His beating by five police officers, also African-Americans, shocked the United States.

“ 

The video filmed by the body camera of one of the police officers is so violent that one is tempted to look away

 ,” admits the

Houston Chronicle

.

While body cameras were hailed as a crucial measure for police accountability, Nichols' death is a stark reminder of their limitations

 ," the columnist continues.

“ 

Just watching the video of the violent death of Tire Nichols will not make our streets safer or our police officers better at their jobs.

We can only hope it sparks conversations within families, in classrooms, in town halls, in state capitols, and finally in the halls of Congress.

 »

And for its part, the

Philadelphia Inquirer

concludes: “

Until public and political pressure imposes systemic change, the killings by American police officers will continue.

 »

Four suspects in the assassination of the Haitian president transferred from Haiti to Florida 

At 2:00 p.m. this afternoon, three American-Haitians and a Colombian will appear for the first time before the judge of the federal court in Miami.

They are James Solages, Joseph Vincent, Christian Emmanuel Sanon and German Rivera Garcia.

All four were detained in the main prison in Haiti, the national penitentiary, before being extradited on Tuesday, January 31, in Florida.

These men are accused by the American authorities of " 

conspiracy in connection with the assassination of Jovenel Moïse

 ", reports the

Miami Herald

.

There are now seven people behind bars in the United States in connection with the assassination of the Haitian president.

Haiti buries its police officers who died in the fight against armed gangs 

The funerals of the three officers killed on January 20 in Pétion-Ville took place yesterday.

And "

the

PNH is preparing to pay probably a last tribute, even without the corpses, to the police officers killed last week in Liancourt  ", reports

Le Nouvelliste

.

Faced with the influence of the gangs, writes 

Le National

for its part , " 

the population has followed with a certain compassion the demonstrations of police officers all over the country who affirm loud and clear "that they no longer want to go to the butcher's shop ".

We understand them.

But we can't help but wonder who will now defend our lives and our property if they give up.

 »

"

The

police, unable to protect us and protect themselves, symbolizes the state of our institutions  ," said

Le Nouvelliste

.

Jamaica offers aid to Haiti 

This is reported by several Jamaican newspapers on Tuesday, including the

Jamaica Observer

.

Jamaica says it is deeply concerned about the gravity of the Haitian crisis.

Jamaica reiterates its readiness to support an international effort in response to the deteriorating emergency situation in Haiti.

Both our army and our police have been alerted to this possibility of support and have begun to prepare for such an eventuality 

,” Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said Tuesday, January 31, in Parliament.

The Jamaican government is also ready to welcome our Haitian brothers and neighbors here in Kingston for constructive negotiations between Haitian political leaders and members of civil society, if that were their wish

 ," said the head of the Jamaican government. 

Monday, January 30, in an interview with the

Miami Herald

, the vice-president of El Salvador, Félix Ulloa, had also offered his country's help to Haiti: El Salvador, itself in the midst of an anti-gang war, could send experts to Port-au-Prince to draw up a plan to combat insecurity. 

In El Salvador, President Bukele inaugurates a new mega-prison 

It is with a grandiose staging and broadcast live on television and radio channels that Nayib Bukele inaugurated Tuesday, January 31 " 

the terrorism containment center

 " - such is its official name - " 

key piece in the fight against armed gangs

 ”.

According to the vocabulary used by the Salvadoran government, this is " 

the largest prison in Latin America

 ", capable of locking up " 

40,000

suspected

gangsters 

", reports the daily 

El Salvador

.

This detention center was built in the open countryside, near Tecoluca, southeast of the capital, San Salvador.

And it will be watched day and night by 250 police and 600 soldiers.

According to the newspaper

Diario de Hoy

, it is not clear when the first transfers of prisoners to this new prison will take place.

The state of exception, much criticized by human rights defenders, allows the Salvadoran government to detain suspects without a legal order.

Nayib Bukele's government arrested more than 60

000

suspected bandits since the beginning of his war against armed gangs.

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