Americas press review
Headlines: Preventive detention of former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo extended to 36 months
According to judge Juan Checkley Soria, quoted by “Peru 21”, the total prison sentence that Pedro Castillo risks could reach 32 years.
© REUTERS/Angela Ponce
Text by: Christophe Paget Follow
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The Peruvian president was so far in preventive detention for 18 months.
But "
the judiciary considers that the prosecutor's request is justified
", writes
Diario Correo
: "
36 months in preventive prison for the ex-president accused of being the leader of a criminal organization, of influence peddling and collusion during his presidency
".
According to judge Juan Checkley Soria, quoted by
Peru 21
, the total prison sentence that Pedro Castillo risks could reach 32 years.
El Comercio
recalls that the ex-president has already been imprisoned in Barbadillo prison since December, “
for alleged rebellion and conspiracy to perpetrate a coup
”.
His lawyer announced that Pedro Castillo, whom he presented as a "
victim of political prosecution
", would appeal.
Brian Nichols in Haiti
Brian Nichols, the US Under Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, was in Port-au-Prince.
He met in particular with Prime Minister Henry, the members of the High Council for the Transition, the diplomatic corps, representatives of the private sector, writes
Le Nouvelliste
, who is sorry: the diplomat "
is not announcing any concrete support from the USA to help bring peace in Haiti
”.
As for Canada,
the newspaper
writes , the Chief of the Defense Staff says he is "
concerned that his country's armed forces, already strained by support for Ukraine and NATO, do not have the capacity to lead a possible security mission in Haiti
".
However, according to
Le National
, “
the implosion is imminent
”, given the “
chaotic
” security situation.
The newspaper
also devotes an article to the “
right to education in Haiti and to the future of mortgaged children
”, with “
students and teachers fatally hit in the middle of the classroom by stray bullets
”.
“
The USA and Canada must move from promises to concrete actions
,” Frantz Duval wrote in
Le Nouvelliste
, noting that “
US President Joe Biden will visit Canada on March 23 and 24.
Let's hope that an update will be made on the situation in Haiti and that there will be real progress
”.
The Gulf Cartel delivers “five of its members”
In Mexico, the Gulf cartel handed over five men to the authorities on Thursday, accusing them of being the authors of the kidnapping of four Americans and the assassination of two of them.
"
Five suspected members of the Gulf Cartel were abandoned, handcuffed, in the center of Matamoros
," wrote
Excelsior
, a few meters from where the four Americans had been abducted,
La Jornada
clarified .
The five men had been beaten, the newspaper wrote, but were alive.
Excelsior
publishes a photo showing them lying on the ground next to a pick-up truck, four of them shirtless, their t-shirts hiding their faces.
Not far from them, a letter, signed by the Scorpions group of the Gulf Cartel, claiming that it was these five men who carried out the kidnappings and murders, "on their own initiative", "without orders from
the
cartel
"
, who, writes
La Razon
, begs forgiveness for this "
error
".
In
Excelsior
, the state's attorney's office explains that no one has yet been handed over to them, and that if so, "
an investigation will be launched to determine if these men have any responsibility in this matter.
" .
La Razon
's analysis
: “
The Gulf Cartel plays tricks on the Mexican authorities (…) by kidnapping the four Americans in broad daylight, killing two and then, despite tighter security, handing over the alleged perpetrators
.
»
An indictment in sight for Donald Trump?
In the United States, Donald Trump is invited to testify before a grand jury in New York next week as part of the investigation into bribes allegedly paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
For the
New York Times
, which reports the information with the
Washington Post
, it is "
the strongest sign so far that prosecutors are about to indict the ex-president
".
The newspaper notes that this would then be a first for a former American president, who "
could upset the presidential election of 2024
".
"
Everyone will tell him not to go
" to testify, said an adviser to Donald Trump interviewed by the
Washington Post
: "
We will see what he will do
".
Joe Biden unveils his budget
A budget which, according to the
New York Times
, aims to “
return to a centrism that has long defined it
”, since it speaks of “
reducing the deficit by almost three trillion dollars over ten years
”.
Mainly, details the
Washington Post
, by increasing taxes for the rich, and making sure that the government pays less for the drugs it buys through programs.
According to the newspaper, this plan shows above all that getting closer to what is needed over the next ten years will require “ heroic
” political efforts
.
Just look at the headline of the conservative
Wall Street Journal
: "
All the President's tax hikes
"... But the
Washington Post
is not to be outdone, believing that the budget presented by Joe Biden "
will not solve the debt problem of the United States
”.
Over-the-counter morning after pill in Honduras
In Honduras, the left-wing president Xiomara Castro authorizes the delivery, without a medical prescription, of the "morning after pill".
A pill that will be sold over the counter in pharmacies in a country that otherwise strictly prohibits all abortions – even in the event of malformation of the fetus, following rape or incest, or in the event of danger to the life of the mother .
The decree was signed Wednesday evening by the president and the Minister of Health.
Xiomara Castro then shared the news on her Twitter account on Wednesday evening, as Women's Rights Day was in full swing, writes
Confidencial
.
The President clarified that according to the World Health Organization, the morning after pill
is part of the reproductive rights of women, and repeated that the pill was not abortifacient, contrary to what the Church asserts, politicians and associations "
who have rejected the text
", writes
La Prensa
.
However, recalls
Hondudiario
, the Minister of Health had recently recalled that the pill is not abortive: "
It prevents the spermatozoon from entering the ovum, there is therefore no conception of a human being
", this confirmed by the Honduran Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics in
Confidencial
.
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