Coronavirus deaths, cases surge in Brazil as other nations stabilize
By Allen Cone
Photo by Joedson Alves/EPA-EFE

Federal public officials protest against the president of Brazil,

 Jair Bolsonaro, in front of the Palacio Planalto headquarters,

 in Brasilia, Brazil, on Friday.

The sign reads "Go Bolsonaro! Stay civil service!."

May 17 (UPI) -- Deaths and cases in Brazil are skyrocketing as other nations, including epicenters at one time, have stabilized.

The death toll has ballooned in the South American nation to 15,662 to rise to sixth place in the world, according to worldometers.info tracking. Two weeks ago the death count was 7,025 and one week later it had exploded to 11,123. Cases stand at 127,837, second in the world, compared with 51,131 two weeks ago.

On Saturday, Brazil reported 816 more deaths -- second only to the United States with 1,218. And cases have been climbing exponentially, including 14,919 Saturday and a record 15,3053 on Friday. The total number of cases are 233,511 -- fifth in the world.

Brazil's Federal Council of Nursing said at least 116 nurses and medical technicians have died from confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases in recent weeks. Ventilators and intensive care units are in short supply.

In all, 312,902 people have died from the disease globally and the cases have passed 4.7 million.

Around the world, while nations' leaders had attempted to curb the spread of the disease, including lockdowns, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has played down the situation, telling people to work and encouraged people to go into public gatherings.

Bolsonaro issued an executive order last week classifying gyms and beauty salons as essential businesses. He wants them open, saying "health is life."

"Brazil's could have been one of the best responses to this pandemic," Marcia Castro, a professor at Harvard University who is from Brazil and specializes in global health, told The New York Times. "But right now everything is completely disorganized and no one is working toward joint solutions. This has a cost, and the cost is human lives."

Brazil handled HIV infections in the 1990s and the Zika outbreak in 2014 prior to Bolsonaro becoming president in January 2019.

"Now there's been a rupture in the nation with its scientific community," Tania Lago, a professor of medicine at Santa Casa University in Sao Paulo, who worked in the ministry of health in the 1990s, told The New York Times. "What saddens me is that we are and will continue to lose lives that could be saved."

Although deaths and cases have been spiking in Brazil with 209.5 million people, the nation's deaths per million are 74, lower than the 272 in the United States. The world total is 40.3 per million.

As the pandemic has spiraled out of control in Brazil, European nations have been controlling the pandemic.

Sandwiched between the United States and Brazil with the most deaths are four European nations.

Yet their combined deaths totals 821 after only five more than Brazil's Saturday count: Britain with 468, Italy with 153, France with 96 and Spain with 104. And the numbers were even less on Sunday for nation's reporting: Britain with 170, Italy with 145 and Spain with 87.

Spain's figure is the lowest figure since March 16 after a high of 961 on April 2.

The total number of deaths in Spain now stands at 27,650.

Despite the low number, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday he will seek to extend its coronavirus state of emergency for the last time until late June.

In the past week, France has posted two days of double-digit increases, down significantly from the high of 14,38 on April 15.

Health officials in the nation have uncovered evidence the virus had hit before the first cases were declared on Jan. 24.

Researchers in northeastern France announced in a release last week that it had identified two X-rays, from Nov. 16 and Nov. 18, showing symptoms consistent with the novel coronavirus, NBC News reported. That's even before the disease was officially identified in China.

Italy at one time was the epicenter, moving to No. 1 in deaths, but now is third behind Britain -- at 31,908 -- from a high of 919 new deaths on March 27. Before Sunday, the previous low was 97 on March 9.

Factories in Maranello and Modena are no longer closed as Ferrari has resumed production of its cars.

And Britain's daily death count has had ups on downs. Sunday's new deaths were about half as many as the Saturday figure. On Friday, there were 384 compared with 210 on Monday. The high was 1,172 on April 21.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain may not be free of the coronavirus "for some time to come."

Two other European nations are in the top 10. On Sunday, No. 7 Belgium reported 47 more deaths and Germany initially one. Netherlands fell out of the top 10, dropping behind Canada, and added only 10 more deaths Sunday.
Sweden, which has been attempting "herd immunity," reported 5 more deaths Sunday after 28 more deaths Saturday for 3,679 in 15th place as well as 466 cases. Neighboring Norway reported zero deaths at 232 and 7 cases.

Cases, however, been climbing in Russia. The nation reported 9,709 new cases for a total of 281,752 on Sunday, second in the world behind the United States. However, Russia is only at 2,631 deaths, including 94 more Sunday, for 18th.

In Europe, 162,332 have died from the virus so far Sunday.

In Asia, just 245 deaths were reported Sunday for a total of 24,547. That includes 4,633 in China where an additional death hasn't been reported since April 27. The handful of cases over the past few weeks include six reported Sunday. China has continually dropped in the world in total, now in 13th places.

Wuhan's hospitals finally returned to normal over the weekend after the last patients in the city were discharged. However, the city plans to test all 14 million residents after confirming its first cluster last week since the end of the lockdown on April 8.

Korea also didn't report a death Sunday to stand at 262 with 13 more cases for a total of 11,050.

A patient infected with the virus visited multiple clubs in Itaewon earlier this month. The nation instituted extensive quarantines of more than 1,000 who attended the clubs. The number of cases linked to the clubs was 162.

High school seniors will return to classrooms starting Wednesday, a week later than earlier scheduled, and other students will go back to school by June 8.

India, which surpassed China's cases on Friday, reported a record 4,864 ones Saturday and then 1,591 on Sunday to stand 92,329. Its death count is 4,633 with an additional 40.

India's lockdown will continue until at least May 31, the Ministry of Home Affairs said Sunday.

Iran reported 1,806 cases but only 51 deaths Sunday for ninth place in deaths with 6,988.

In North America, all but of around 11,000 deaths are linked to the United States. But cases and deaths have been spiking in its border nations.
Canada has risen to 10th place and Mexico is in 12th place.

On Saturday, Canada reported 117 more deaths for 5,679. Mexico gained 290 deaths, the fourth-most in the world, for a total of 4,767.

In Mexico, testing is not a priority, conducting only 89 tests per 100,000 people, according to health ministry data.

"I don't think testing is a must," Dr. Hugo Lopez-Gatell, Mexico's top epidemiologist, told CNN when asked if the country could re-open safely without more tests. "This doesn't mean we're resistant to testing, we will use testing but in a carefully planned manner."

British Columbia has among the lowest death rates in North America -- 3 per 100,000 people -- as the province became one of the first in the world to develop a test.

Two other continent have reported relatively fewer deaths.

In Oceania, 199 fatalities have been reported -- 98 in Australia and 21 in New Zealand. One death was last reported in Australia on May 13. In New Zealand, it was one on May 6.

Victoria plans to reopen restaurants and pubs beginning June 1 but patrons will need to provide some brief personal details to enter venues for tracing purposes.

In Africa, there have been 2,726 deaths, including 612 in Egypt and 542 in Algeria.

SUNDAY MAY 17

International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia - A Time for Showing Support, Friendship and Love



NEWS PROVIDED BY
Aile parlementaire du Parti libéral du Québec

May 15, 2020,
/CNW Telbec/ - On the occasion of the 18thedition of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, the MNA representing Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne and Leader of the Official Opposition, Ms. Dominique Anglade, and the MNA representing Westmount—Saint-Louis and Official Opposition Critic for LGBTQ2 Community Rights, Ms. Jennifer Maccarone, want to underscore the importance of this day and show their support to the LGBTQ2 community.

MONTREAL, May 15, 2020 The MNA representing Westmount—Saint-Louis believes that this day is a symbolic moment for Quebec society to celebrate love and respect, and to show its solidarity with LGBTQ2 communities. Ms. Maccarone also recalls that in spite of the work that still needs to be done, Quebec is nonetheless one of the most advanced societies in the world when it comes to LGBTQ2 rights, and that is something we should be proud of.

She also wanted to draw attention to and participate in the "Family Support is Essential" campaign organized by Fondation Émergence. She reminded that the support of loved ones is such a fundamental part of humans' development and fulfillment. That is particularly true for LGBTQ2 people, for whom self-affirmation is so important.

She invites Quebecers to contact LGBTQ2 people in their circles to show them their support, friendship and love.

"On May 17th, 2020, let's recall the importance and the richness of the diversity that guides our society, but above all let's reiterate the fact that Quebec has always been an ally of the LGBTQ2 community. On my behalf and on behalf of the entire Quebec Liberal Party, we will continue on as we have always done and actively campaign so that together we can build a world that reflects us, an inclusive world where everyone can express themselves and live their identities to the fullest."

Dominique Anglade, Leader of the Official Opposition and MNA representing Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne.


"Support and love from those around us are crucial, and there are still too many families ripped apart by prejudice pertaining to the sexual orientation or gender identity of one of their own. I call on you every day, but today in particular, to tell LGBTQ2 people you know that you love them exactly as they are!"


Jennifer Maccarone, MNA representing Westmount—Saint-Louis and Official Opposition Critic for LGBTQ2 Community Rights


For a long time, the Quebec Liberal Party has been an ally to sexually and gender diverse communities. Recall that in June 2016, it adopted the Act to Strengthen the Fight Against Transphobia and to Improve the Situation of Transgender Minors in Particular, that it amended the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms to include explicit protection against discrimination based on gender identity or expression. It also published 2017-2022 Government Action Plan against Homophobia and Transphobia.


SOURCE Aile parlementaire du Parti libéral du Québec

COVID-19 LOCKDOWN PROTEST MEMES

SERIES: IRONY

'Llamas are the real unicorns': why they could be our secret weapon against coronavirus

Researchers hope llama antibodies could help protect humans who have not been infected

Matthew Cantor in Oakland

Sun 17 May 2020


International researchers owe their findings to a llama named Winter, a four-year-old resident of Belgium. Photograph: VIB-UGent Center for Medical Bio/AFP via Getty Images


The solution to the coronavirus may have been staring us in the face this whole time, lazily chewing on a carrot. All we need, it seems, is llamas.

A study published last week in the journal Cell found that antibodies in llamas’ blood could offer a defense against the coronavirus. In addition to larger antibodies like ours, llamas have small ones that can sneak into spaces on viral proteins that are too tiny for human antibodies, helping them to fend off the threat. The hope is that the llama antibodies could help protect humans who have not been infected.


International researchers owe their findings to a llama named Winter, a four-year-old resident of Belgium. Her antibodies had already proven themselves able to fight Sars and Mers, leading researchers to speculate that they could work against the virus behind Covid-19 – and indeed, in cell cultures at least, they were effective against it. Researchers are now working towards clinical trials. “If it works, llama Winter deserves a statue,” Dr Xavier Saelens, a Ghent University virologist and study author, told the New York Times.

To any llama aficionado, this news should come as no surprise. The animals have developed a reputation for healing. Llama antibodies have been a fixture in the fight against disease for years, with researchers investigating their potency against HIV and other viruses.

And their soothing powers go beyond the microscopic. Llamas have become exam-season fixtures at a number of top US colleges. George Caldwell, who raises llamas in Sonora, California, brings his trusted associates to the University of California, Berkeley, UC Davis, Stanford, and other northern California universities and high schools, where their tranquility is contagious, helping students overcome end-of-term anxiety. “When you’re around a llama, you become very calm and at peace,” one Berkeley senior said at a campus event last year.


George Caldwell with Ana Claire Mancia, a Berkeley senior, last year, and a mutual friend. Photograph: Matthew Cantor/The Guardian

At that event, I joined the ranks of the converted, having had the good fortune to receive a “llama greeting”, which involves warm llama breath hitting one’s face. It was the most pleasant nostril-based salutation I have ever received – all my anxieties seemed to dissipate in the llama-generated air. (This was long before the pandemic, which has largely ruined the appeal of being breathed on.)

Humans and llamas are natural allies, said Caldwell, though too few realize it. “People see the llamas, they all light up,” he said. “Llamas just have that ability – it’s programmed right into us.” Their hair can be used to make clothing, their manure benefits crops, and as Winter’s antibodies reaffirm, “even their blood can help us”. And they are known as pack animals, a skill currently serving them well in Wales, where these hairy essential workers are delivering groceries.

“Everything about these guys – you’d think that they’d be the most valued creature in the world,” Caldwell said. His goal is to spread the word about their gifts: “Llamas are the real unicorns.”

Now they are doing their part inside and outside the laboratory. Caldwell has discussed collecting antibodies with his vet, but it is not an easy process, he says, especially for an older person: some llamas are less than eager to become blood donors, and they can be “ruffians” when the situation calls for it.

They are offering their services elsewhere, however. The pandemic has halted campus visits for now, so Caldwell has moved some operations online. This month he offered a live-streamed tour of his llamas’ residence, hosted by UC Davis.

The creatures’ enclosure was a picture of peace, where Quinoa, Joolz, McSlick and friends sat munching and gazing out at the world, blissfully unaware of the global pandemic, or perhaps simply confident that better times lie ahead.

With Winter on our side, they could be right.

'The magic of llamas': furry friends help stressed university students relax

Students at UC Berkeley have an unusual way to take the edge off before final exams. The Guardian was granted exclusive access to a petting session

Matthew Cantor in Berkeley @CantorMatthew 

THE GUARDIAN

Annam Quraishi with Quinoa the llama at Berkeley, 3 May 2019. She had been preparing for this moment for weeks, she said. Photograph: Hezekiah Burton

Final exams are approaching at one of America’s elite universities, and the atmosphere might be tense – if it weren’t for eight hairy campus visitors.

On Friday, students flocked to UC Berkeley’s Memorial Glade for Llamapalooza, a human-llama social occasion on a sunny campus lawn. The eight animals were scattered throughout the crowd, munching grass while the adoring masses petted, fed and photographed them under the supervision of trained student volunteers.

The semesterly event is intended to help Berkeley students relax before the tests. For many, it works.

Grace Park, a junior, had an exam that very day – but her interactions with the animals left her feeling “significantly less stressed”, she said. “It’s very wholesome,” added Mazel Mihardja, also a junior.


Why llamas are the new unicorns (just don’t mention the spitting)

Ana Claire Mancia, a business major who graduates this year, launched Llamapalooza a year and a half ago. The Guardian was granted exclusive access to her final event as a student, as she sought to avoid the heavy press presence of previous semesters.

“When you’re around a llama, you become very calm and at peace,” she said. Any reputation the animals have for spitting was undeserved, she noted: such behavior is reserved for inter-llama disputes. When it comes to humans, “you would have to really agitate it and be super in its face and irritate it for a llama to spit at you”.

'The magic of llamas': furry friends help stressed university students relax

Ana Claire Mancia, a business major who graduates this year, launched Llamapalooza a year and a half ago. The Guardian was granted exclusive access to her final event as a student, as she sought to avoid the heavy press presence of previous semesters.

“When you’re around a llama, you become very calm and at peace,” she said. Any reputation the animals have for spitting was undeserved, she noted: such behavior is reserved for inter-llama disputes. When it comes to humans, “you would have to really agitate it and be super in its face and irritate it for a llama to spit at you”.

Indeed, despite being surrounded by throngs of overexcited humans, the llamas themselves remained remarkably calm. Their drooping eyelashes created an impression of utter contentment as they helped themselves to large quantities of campus vegetation. A student volunteer said Lorenzo the llama, known to friends as Zoe, was feeling a little overwhelmed, but it was difficult for this reporter to tell.


Many students took pre-exam solace in the llamas’ fur, lauded as “quite fuzzy” and “surprisingly soft”. “I want to pet them forever,” said Phoebe Kay, a junior from Australia.

But interactions weren’t limited to petting. Mancia taught the Guardian what is known as a “llama greeting”. The trick is to approach the animal nose-to-nose and “breathe the same air”, she said.

Having heard that llamas could be temperamental, the Guardian was initially nervous about engaging closely with the animals. But such fears were unfounded: while this reporter was debating how close to get, a llama named Munay performed the greeting uninvited, blowing hot llama air from his nostrils. It was as soothing as advertised.
Lorenzo (Zoe) the llama at Berkeley. Photograph: Matthew Cantor/The Guardian

That success inspired the Guardian to go further and feed the elder statesman of the bunch, a 14-year-old male called Quinoa for his speckled head. The process was daunting: the feeder provides the carrot directly from their own mouth. But Quinoa nonchalantly plucked it from the Guardian’s teeth and it disappeared in an instant.

This easy rapport is why George Caldwell, who raises the llamas and brings them to campus, believes they are so well-suited to such visits. Thanks to a long history living among humans in South America, “these guys developed social skills that are just amazing”, Caldwell says. “That’s the way they can put up with all these people coming around them and touching them and everything, because they realize their intentions are just social, family: good intentions.”

Caldwell’s dream, he said, would be to facilitate more human-llama hangouts. It would be mutually beneficial: not only would it relieve stress, it would ensure that humans don’t abandon the animals. “The llamas, if they’re gonna be around in the 21st, 22nd century, they need to get jobs.”

George Caldwell with kids and Munay the llama. Photograph: Matthew Cantor/The Guardian

Caldwell had been bringing the animals to Berkeley to destress the students for several years before Mancia launched Llamapalooza, but the event was somewhat under the radar.

Llamapalooza changed that. Now, the event typically gets 5,000 RSVPs on Facebook, Mancia says, with one to two thousand students actually showing up.

The llamas’ success has inspired many local universities to follow Berkeley’s lead. Quinoa and the gang have made inroads at UC San Francisco, UC Davis and Stanford. This week, they offered comfort at a high school where a student had recently passed away.

“These llamas allow you to love them … And once you get a big dose of love, that changes whatever mood you’re in,” Caldwell said. “That’s the magic of the llamas.”

'The magic of llamas': furry friends help stressed university students relaxStudents at UC Berkeley have an unusual way to take the edge off before final exams. The Guardian was granted exclusive access to a petting session

Matthew Cantor in Berkeley @CantorMatthew 

THE GUARDIAN

Annam Quraishi with Quinoa the llama at Berkeley, 3 May 2019. She had been preparing for this moment for weeks, she said. Photograph: Hezekiah Burton

Final exams are approaching at one of America’s elite universities, and the atmosphere might be tense – if it weren’t for eight hairy campus visitors.

On Friday, students flocked to UC Berkeley’s Memorial Glade for Llamapalooza, a human-llama social occasion on a sunny campus lawn. The eight animals were scattered throughout the crowd, munching grass while the adoring masses petted, fed and photographed them under the supervision of trained student volunteers.

The semesterly event is intended to help Berkeley students relax before the tests. For many, it works.

Grace Park, a junior, had an exam that very day – but her interactions with the animals left her feeling “significantly less stressed”, she said. “It’s very wholesome,” added Mazel Mihardja, also a junior.


Why llamas are the new unicorns (just don’t mention the spitting)

Ana Claire Mancia, a business major who graduates this year, launched Llamapalooza a year and a half ago. The Guardian was granted exclusive access to her final event as a student, as she sought to avoid the heavy press presence of previous semesters.

“When you’re around a llama, you become very calm and at peace,” she said. Any reputation the animals have for spitting was undeserved, she noted: such behavior is reserved for inter-llama disputes. When it comes to humans, “you would have to really agitate it and be super in its face and irritate it for a llama to spit at you”.

'The magic of llamas': furry friends help stressed university students relax

Ana Claire Mancia, a business major who graduates this year, launched Llamapalooza a year and a half ago. The Guardian was granted exclusive access to her final event as a student, as she sought to avoid the heavy press presence of previous semesters.

“When you’re around a llama, you become very calm and at peace,” she said. Any reputation the animals have for spitting was undeserved, she noted: such behavior is reserved for inter-llama disputes. When it comes to humans, “you would have to really agitate it and be super in its face and irritate it for a llama to spit at you”.

Indeed, despite being surrounded by throngs of overexcited humans, the llamas themselves remained remarkably calm. Their drooping eyelashes created an impression of utter contentment as they helped themselves to large quantities of campus vegetation. A student volunteer said Lorenzo the llama, known to friends as Zoe, was feeling a little overwhelmed, but it was difficult for this reporter to tell.

Many students took pre-exam solace in the llamas’ fur, lauded as “quite fuzzy” and “surprisingly soft”. “I want to pet them forever,” said Phoebe Kay, a junior from Australia.

But interactions weren’t limited to petting. Mancia taught the Guardian what is known as a “llama greeting”. The trick is to approach the animal nose-to-nose and “breathe the same air”, she said.

Having heard that llamas could be temperamental, the Guardian was initially nervous about engaging closely with the animals. But such fears were unfounded: while this reporter was debating how close to get, a llama named Munay performed the greeting uninvited, blowing hot llama air from his nostrils. It was as soothing as advertised.
Lorenzo (Zoe) the llama at Berkeley. Photograph: Matthew Cantor/The Guardian

That success inspired the Guardian to go further and feed the elder statesman of the bunch, a 14-year-old male called Quinoa for his speckled head. The process was daunting: the feeder provides the carrot directly from their own mouth. But Quinoa nonchalantly plucked it from the Guardian’s teeth and it disappeared in an instant.

This easy rapport is why George Caldwell, who raises the llamas and brings them to campus, believes they are so well-suited to such visits. Thanks to a long history living among humans in South America, “these guys developed social skills that are just amazing”, Caldwell says. “That’s the way they can put up with all these people coming around them and touching them and everything, because they realize their intentions are just social, family: good intentions.”

Caldwell’s dream, he said, would be to facilitate more human-llama hangouts. It would be mutually beneficial: not only would it relieve stress, it would ensure that humans don’t abandon the animals. “The llamas, if they’re gonna be around in the 21st, 22nd century, they need to get jobs.”

George Caldwell with kids and Munay the llama. Photograph: Matthew Cantor/The Guardian

Caldwell had been bringing the animals to Berkeley to destress the students for several years before Mancia launched Llamapalooza, but the event was somewhat under the radar.

Llamapalooza changed that. Now, the event typically gets 5,000 RSVPs on Facebook, Mancia says, with one to two thousand students actually showing up.

The llamas’ success has inspired many local universities to follow Berkeley’s lead. Quinoa and the gang have made inroads at UC San Francisco, UC Davis and Stanford. This week, they offered comfort at a high school where a student had recently passed away.

“These llamas allow you to love them … And once you get a big dose of love, that changes whatever mood you’re in,” Caldwell said. “That’s the magic of the llamas.

Why llamas are the new unicorns (just don’t mention the spitting)

From jumpers and cushions to shower curtains and weddings, the South American camelid is this season’s must-have animal adornment

Fay Schopen

Sun 5 Nov 2017 Last modified on Mon 2 Jul 2018 

 

A llama wedding in Oregon (the one on the left is an alpaca); and some llama-themed products. Photograph: Guardian Design Team


November can be a chilly, soul-sapping time. Not only is it dark at 5pm, but, most importantly, you have no idea what the next whimsical animal trend is. What on earth are you going to festoon your cushions with?

Fret no more – it’s llamas. Yes, it’s (finally) time to say goodbye to ubiquitous unicorns – one-horned, prancing, glittery, rainbow-covered idiots – and wave hello to your new friends. The South American domesticated camelids are ideal for the fashion crowd and social media obsessives alike. Not as relentlessly pink as flamingos, or as fishy as mermaids, they’re cuter than pugs, thanks to their shaggy coats, funny ears and expressive “smiles”. Even better, their exotic origins mean they pair perfectly with on-trend cacti, mountain ranges and bright hues.

In short, they are perfectly placed to be plastered across clothing, soft furnishings, homeware and absolutely everything, until your eyes bleed and llamas dance in your dreams. Llama shower curtain anyone? Go on. Llama doormat? It’s a must-have.

Even the word “llama” is on point – rhyming with the slogan-friendly drama, pyjama, and Obama. Alternatively, if you’re George at Asda, you could simply festoon jumpers with “Fa La La La Llama”, which may sound like word salad, but is, according to the supermarket chain, “a great way to upgrade traditional Christmas knitwear”.

Llamas may be about to hit the big time, but they have been bubbling under for a while. Fans of BBC Radio 4 soap The Archers will know that Ambridge culture vulture Lynda Snell has two llamas, Constanza and Salieri. Instagram account Llama With No Drama (@llamawithnodrama) has 100,000 followers (spoiler alert – not a real llama), and llamas are a wedding trend (although at this point, what isn’t?). Llama therapy is also a thing, and honestly, it sounds like the best therapy ever. If you live in Portland, Oregon or Vancouver, you could combine the two and hire a pair of therapy llamas dressed as a bride and groom for your wedding. That’s if you don’t mind being pushed to the floor and trampled as your guests rush to marvel at a llama in a veil. So go on, get stuck in. Buy a llama pencil case. Just don’t mention the spitting.

Gedhun Choekyi Niyima: Tibetan Buddhism's 'reincarnated' leader who disappeared aged six

By Michael BristowBBC News

• 17 May 2020Share this withthis with MessengShare this with TwitteShare this with Ema

Image copyrightEPA

There is only one photograph in circulation of the Tibetan Gedhun Choekyi Niyima, one of the world's most famous "disappeared" persons.

It is little more than a snapshot, taken when he was just six years old. It shows a boy with rosy cheeks and an impassive look on his face.

That boy is now 31, and 17 May marks exactly 25 years since he and his family were disappeared by China, three days after he was identified as the reincarnated Panchen Lama, the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism.

Since he was taken, there has been no independent news on his fate.

Tibetans outside China are using the anniversary to call for his release. But only Chinese officials know where he is and, having said little for a quarter of a century, there is little expectation that they will offer new information now.

"Our mood is gloomy," admitted Sonam Tsering Frasi, the Tibetan government-in-exile's representative in London.

For those who want the Panchen Lama freed, it is an understandable position. The case shows the power wielded by China's leaders, who can make someone vanish completely with few consequences for either themselves or their country.

Media captionWhat might the Panchen Lama look like today?

The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has been trying to find out what has happened to Gedhun Choekyi Niyima since 1995, but it has discovered very little.

A few weeks before the 25th anniversary of his disappearance, it gave the BBC this statement about its efforts.

"The Government of China has responded several times, but the information provided was considered insufficient to clarify the case and it remains outstanding."

In 2013, the working group asked the Chinese government to allow it to visit the country.

In its annual report last year - six years after that request - it said it was still waiting for an answer.

"The working group hopes that a positive reply will be received soon," the report noted, perhaps a little optimistically.

Although Beijing is saying little, there are reasons why China might have wanted this particular six-year-old boy to disappear.

In Tibetan Buddhism, the Panchen Lama is outranked only by the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 and became an alternative source of power for Tibetans who resented Beijing's control of the Himalayan region.

Image captionChina chose its own Panchen Lama after the boy disappeared

It has been suggested, reasonably, that China did not want the Panchen Lama gaining the same authority and becoming a similar obstacle to its governance of Tibet.

After Gedhun Choekyi Niyima vanished, China chose its own Panchen Lama. Many believe it will also choose its own Dalai Lama when the current one dies.

China's changing narrative

Down the years, the Chinese government has provided some information about the missing Panchen Lama, even if it was just to deny anything was wrong.

Immediately after his disappearance, it told the UN working group that "there has never been a case of disappearance and kidnapping of the family of the reincarnated child".

It said the claim was a fabrication dreamt up by the "Dalai Lama group".

The following year, 1996, the story changed. China said a few "unscrupulous souls" had tried to smuggle the boy abroad and so his parents had asked for protection, which it was supplying.

Image copyrightBBC/BRISTOW

Image captionThe Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse in Tibet, the home monastery of the Panchen Lamas

Despite the security, Beijing said the boy and his family were living normal lives and did not want anyone to bother them, something it has repeated often since then.

Occasionally, the Chinese government offered a glimpse that not all was well.

In 1998, it told the working group that the Panchen Lama's mother was serving a prison sentence, although it is not clear what for or how long she was incarcerated.

At times there have been other sources of news.

In 2000, Robin Cook, then the British foreign secretary, said China had shown UK officials two photographs of a boy it said was the missing Panchen Lama.

One showed a child playing table tennis; in the other the boy was writing Chinese characters on a blackboard. The British were allowed to see the pictures, but not keep them.

In another encounter, Tibetan officials told me, on a reporting trip to Tibet in 2007, that the missing Panchen Lama would like to live in peace and does not want to be disturbed.

The last firm news, according to the Tibetan government-in-exile, based in Dharamsala in India, came two years ago when China told the UN that the Panchen Lama was living an ordinary life and had a job.

The Chinese government declined to update that information for this article.

'They took him and his family'

Professor Jeremy Sarkin, who served on the UN working group from 2008-20014, said China had clearly disappeared the Panchen Lama in contravention of UN human rights rules.

"The words the Chinese use do not refute reality. They took him and his family," he said. "We should be allowed to check he is safe."

The fact that China shies away from openly admitting what it has done is not unusual, said the professor, now at the Nova University of Lisbon. "No state wants to acknowledge they disappear people."

But Mr Sarkin said there was little anyone could do about the disappearance - and little pressure to try.

Robert Barnett, who has long followed Tibetan affairs, said China's repressive policies in Tibet had the support of most of its citizens.

"China hasn't succeeded in winning Tibetans over, but that doesn't matter if 1.4 billion Chinese people believe you are right," said the expert, now at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

But he said Chinese leaders would never be able to relax and enjoy their power in Tibet.

"It's a fragile construction. They will spend the entire time living in fear that the whole system might collapse."

That might be so, but it is testament to just how securely China controls Tibet that the Tibetan government-in-exile has rarely been able to use its own sources to get news of Gedhun Choekyi Niyima.

Two years ago, the Dalai Lama said he had "reliable information" that he was still alive, but there has been nothing since.

Sonam Tsering Frasi, the Tibetan government-in-exile's representative in London, said they could do little more than hold on to that one photograph of the six-year-old boy.

Mr Frasi said it is hung up by Tibetans in monasteries and homes outside China; the focus of prayers and reverence, and of the hope that one day they will get to see the man he grew up to be.

US presses China on Panchen Lama 25 years after disappearance

AFP/File / LLUIS GENE

Protesters hold pictures of the missing Panchen Lama recognized by the Dalai Lama in a 2013 demonstration outside the Chinese consulate in Barcelona

The United States on Thursday renewed calls on China to free the Tibetan identified 25 years earlier as the Panchen Lama and warned Beijing not to see the episode as a model for handling the Dalai Lama's succession.

On May 14, 1995, the exiled Dalai Lama, a Nobel laureate with a wide global following, recognized six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second most senior figure in Tibetan Buddhism's largest school.

The boy was taken into custody three days later and has not been seen since, with human rights groups calling him the world's youngest political prisoner.

"We continue to press the Chinese authorities to release the Panchen Lama, to let him free, but (also) to let the world know where he is," said Sam Brownback, the State Department's ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.

"This takes on, I think, an increased interest and focus and importance as the Chinese Communist Party continues to assert their right to appoint the next Dalai Lama," he told reporters.

"They don't have the right to appoint the next Dalai Lama any more than they (have) the right to appoint the next pope."

China's officially atheist government has made clear it could seek to name a successor to the 84-year-old Dalai Lama, evidently hoping that the global movement for Tibetan autonomy will wither away without the charismatic monk.

The 14th Dalai Lama, who has cut back on a hectic travel schedule but is not known to have serious health issues, has mused about breaking tradition to scuttle Beijing's plans.

He has spoken of appointing his own successor -- perhaps a girl -- while he is still alive or declaring the institution finished with him.

China appointed its own Panchen Lama, who has made a number of tightly scripted public appearances, even though many Tibetans do not recognize him.

In a rare statement on the Dalai Lama-appointed Panchen Lama, a pro-Beijing official in Tibet said in 2015 that the young man was healthy, enjoying an education and "does not want to be disturbed."

15MAY2020