$100 million donation from Jeff Bezos is Obama Foundation's largest


Rep. John Lewis, D-S.C., waits to lead members of the Congressional Black Caucus into Statuary Hall for the memorial service for Rep. Elija Cummings in 2019. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Jeff Bezos donated $100 million to the Obama Foundation in honor of civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis, the foundation's largest gift to date.

Bezos asked that the Obama Presidential Center -- which broke ground and expects at least a million visitors per year -- be named the John Lewis Plaza.

The foundation said that it's seeking to give opportunities to donors to name public spaces within the center. The center will include a presidential library, museum, athletic center and more.

"Dedicated public spaces at the center will honor civil rights icons, social justice heroes, and changemakers in public service, business, and entertainment," the foundation said.

The donation will help fund programs like the Girls Opportunity Alliance, My Brother's Keeper, the Global Leaders Program, and the Hometown Fund which supports Chicago's South Side.

Last week, Bezos announced $96.2 million in donations to a group working to end family homelessness and $2 billion in the climate crisis. He stepped down as the chief executive of Amazon in July and set out on philanthropic and business ventures.

Lewis died last year at age 80. He was a civil rights leader who worked to desegregate the Deep South and served in the House of Representatives for more than three decades.

CRIMINAL STATE CAPITALI$M
A $391 Million Fine Has China’s Board Members Quitting En Masse

Bloomberg News
Sun, November 21, 2021



(Bloomberg) -- China’s independent directors are quitting once coveted seats on the boards of listed companies, spooked by fines levied on five directors of Kangmei Pharmaceutical Co. that totaled hundreds of millions of dollars.

Independent directors of at least 20 companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges have resigned after a Guangzhou court ruled on Nov. 12 that some Kangmei executives and their external accountants were responsible for fabricating its financial statements. They were required to jointly compensate investors for a combined 2.5 billion yuan ($391 million) of losses.

Kangmei’s five independent directors are each liable for between 5% and 10% of the amount, equivalent to 123 million yuan to 246 million yuan, according to an exchange filing. They collected less than 200,000 yuan in annual director fees from the firm.

It’s rare for independent directors to be ordered to compensate investors in a civil litigation in China. The mass departures highlight a growing wariness among corporate executives as Chinese regulators crack down on the nation’s private sector, targeting industries from technology to education and more.

The securities regulator said it supported the court’s decision in one of China’s biggest fraud cases, which also saw Kangmei’s former chairman sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment. The watchdog had earlier vowed “zero tolerance” for market misconduct at its mid-year meeting.

Kangmei in 2019 disclosed that it had overstated its cash positions by $4.3 billion using false documents and transaction records -- an amount one lawyer said was unprecedented in China. The firm admitted to “serious” deficiencies in its corporate governance and internal controls.

Most firms cited personal reasons in recent filings for the resignation of their independent directors. In some cases, that left companies short of the mandatory requirement of having at least 1/3 of board members as independent directors.

In a previous clampdown in 2016, China targeted academics who sit on the boards of listed firms. That followed a 2013 ban on top government officials holding paid corporate positions as part of the nation’s anti-corruption drive. Four of the five independent directors from Kangmei teach at domestic universities, local media reported.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

Dior sparks local controversy over photo of Asian woman at Shanghai exhibition

Carl Samson
Fri, November 19, 2021

Dior has drawn criticism in China over a photo in its exhibition that purportedly caters to Western aesthetics vilifying Asian women.

Driving the news: The image, shot by Chinese photographer Chen Man, appeared in the French brand’s “LADY DIOR” exhibit in Shanghai. It shows an Asian woman wearing a traditional dress and holding a Dior bag to complete her look.

The photo, which was also posted on Dior’s Weibo page, soon became the subject of a hit piece from the state-owned Beijing Daily. The news outlet asked, “Is this the Asian woman in Dior’s eyes?” and slammed it for featuring “spooky eyes, gloomy face and Qing Dynasty armor.”

“The photographer is playing up to the brands, or the aesthetic tastes of the western world,” Bloomberg translated the publication as saying. “For years, Asian women have always appeared with small eyes and freckles from the Western perspective, but the Chinese way to appreciate art and beauty can’t be distorted by that.”


Controversial photo of Asian woman on Dior's Weibo
Image via Weibo

Some users pointed out that the image is reminiscent of Chen’s 2012 series called “Whatever the Weather,” which was shot for British magazine i-D. The series featured 12 women from different Chinese ethnic groups wearing modern spins on traditional clothing.

State-run Global Times took a more neutral approach on the issue. While reporting similar criticisms, the outlet acknowledged that some praised Chen’s work for departing from China’s own beauty standards, which include having large eyes and fair skin.


Photographer Chen Man
Image via Weibo

The big picture: The controversy has shed light on the need for international brands to exercise better cultural sensitivity in China, which has now become the world’s richest country. Dior has since removed the photo in question from its exhibition and Weibo account and so far escaped calls for a boycott.

This is not the first time Dior caused controversy in China. In 2019, the brand gave a presentation at a university that excluded Taiwan in a map of China. The ensuing backlash forced the company to issue an apology. “Dior always respects and upholds the one China principle, strictly safeguards China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and treasures the feelings of the Chinese people,” it said at the time, according to Reuters.

Still, Dior is only one of multiple luxury brands that have upset China over political and cultural insensitivities. In 2018, Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana released a series of ads that depicted Chinese people as lacking refinement in eating foreign food. Amid the scandal, co-founder Stefano Gabbana was also accused of calling China “the country of sh*t.” Fashion watchdog Diet Prada, which broke the controversy on Instagram, has been sued by the brand for defamation.

Featured Image via Weibo

Snakes are very useful. 'Leave the poor reptile alone.' | Commentary


Riley Davis
Sun, November 21, 2021

Among my friends and family, I’m known as the weird snake lover.

Because of that, every few weeks or so I’ll get a text with a grainy photo of a snake in a yard or by a local creek and some version of the message “let live or kill??” Nine times out of 10 it’s a harmless species of snake. But every single time, venomous or no, I’ll tell my friends to leave the poor reptile alone.

This isn’t borne out of my love for snakes, per se, even though I am definitely a fan (and because the most snake bites occur when humans try to move them). It’s because we understand so very little about a species that’s been feared and maligned for years. And as research continues and technologies evolve, one thing is becoming clear—snakes are potentially very useful in drug development, particularly venomous snakes.


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That realization has never been truer than this year. Just recently the University of Arizona published a study identifying a key molecular mechanism responsible for COVID-19 mortality: an enzyme related to the toxins found in rattlesnake venom. Now, researchers are exploring whether there are ways to engineer the enzyme to treat long-haul COVID.

The eastern indigo snake is a large nonvenomous snake native to the eastern United States.

Research on snakes has historically been slow and fragmented, and for understandable reasons. Snake encounters used to be fairly rare, especially in developed countries, and many venomous species are elusive. But as climate change shifts environments and human settlements grow, snake encounters have been on the rise in some parts of the world.

The good news is that as technological advances continue and databases grow in the genomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics fields, our understanding of how venoms can lead to new medicines has started to flourish, and not just as treatments for COVID. One of the first blood pressure drugs approved for clinical use came from studying the venom of a pit viper. The blood glucose drug Byetta was created using the saliva of the Gila monster, a venomous lizard found in North America. The antiplatelet drug Aggrastat was derived from a molecule found in the saw-scaled viper.

Invasive pythons sliver north in Everglades: May mean snake 'population is expanding'

And we might even have a universal antivenom in as little as five years. That’s according to researchers at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s Centre for Snakebite Research and Interventions who are studying how to use camels to produce more stable antivenom that doesn’t require cold chain storage. This is huge news, especially for people in rural parts of the world, because antivenom is currently prohibitively expensive and hard to transport.

All of this is to say that while I love snakes, this isn’t a love letter to them, or a reprimand to anyone I see on Facebook asking if they should kill the snake in their yard. It’s a call to pause and consider the future the next time you stumble across a snake—or other creepy crawly species—and decide you should unalive it. If at all possible, don’t. The vast majority of snake species are harmless. And even if you do encounter the venomous kind (or, as I like to call them, a spicy nope rope), your best bet is to live and let live. Because there’s a future not too far from now where that scaly creature could very well save someone’s life.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Commentary: Medical research, like on COVID-19, benefits from snakes

FORTEAN PHENOMENA

Florida history: What’s behind the mystery of Coral Castle?

Eliot Kleinberg
Sun, November 21, 2021

In June 2019, we visited the assault on South Florida by Category 5 Hurricane Andrew. Homes were leveled, down to the slab. Cars were turned upside down. Sailboats were flung into trees.

Down in southern Miami-Dade County, one place was unscathed – thus increasing the mystery of Coral Castle. Here’s more from a 1994 feature.

The storm did collapse the roof of the attraction’s gift shop. But not the rest of Edward Leedskalnin’s baffling legacy.

Coral Castle: A fanciful myth?

If winds estimated to have gusted at up to 200 mph could not budge the 1,100 tons of Florida coral – in pieces ranging in size from 6 tons to 30 tons – how did a 5-foot, 100-pound man lift and position them? Decades after his feat, no one has yet come up with answers.

Leedskalnin did not say; the Latvian immigrant worked in obscurity and died the same way in 1951. The attraction was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

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His works exalt various scientific laws, Florida, the family, and a lost love.

Leedskalnin carved and sculpted using only handmade pulleys and levers salvaged from car and railroad junkyards. He claimed he employed the long-lost secrets of the Pyramids.

Coral Castle is a sculpture garden near Homestead. From 1923 to 1951, Edward Leedskalnin single-handedly carved more than 1,100 tons of coral rock.

The works of Edward Leedskalnin

Among his creations:

• A 9-ton gate that swings opens with the touch of a finger.

• A table in the shape of Florida; the geographically correct, 8-inch indentation representing Lake Okeechobee is kept filled with water.

• A 20-ton, 20-foot-tall telescope with a circular cutout that constantly points to the North Star.

• A sundial that tells time and indicates equinox and solstice days.

• The “throne room,”' a collection of several chairs. In one, called the “mad rocker,” two people sit facing each other and rock. Another, called the “mother-in-law” chair, is identified as the most uncomfortable one.

• The “world’s largest valentine” – a 2½-ton heart-shaped table with benches said to honor the fiancee who jilted him back in Latvia around 1915. Deciding the 27-year-old Leedskalnin was too old for her, the 16-year-old girl had broken up with him the night they were to marry.

Heartbroken, he roamed through Canada, Washington state and California before ending up in Florida City, in what then was the frontier of sparsely populated South Florida. He opened his attraction to the public in 1920 as “Ed's Place.” It’s mentioned in the classic 1939 WPA Guide to Florida, which we covered in a February 2020 column.

In 1939, opting for greater visibility along U.S. 1 and fortune that was never to materialize, Leedskalnin moved his entire inventory to its present location. Borrowing a mule and a wagon, Leedskalnin hauled the colossal carvings 10 miles and set them in place.

Again, no one knows how he did it.

Florida Time is a weekly column about Florida history by Eliot Kleinberg, a former staff writer for three decades at The Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, and the author of 10 books about Florida (www.ekfla.com).

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Coral Castle: A mysterious attraction built as a monument to lost love

Vaccinations urged against shingles, a viral infection that's on the rise


Kevin McClintock, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
Fri, November 19, 2021

Nov. 19—There's a life-altering infection out there that's plaguing people 65 and older, but it's not the novel coronavirus.

It's shingles, which is recognizable by a painful rash and blisters that scab and pus. While it looks like a skin rash to the naked eye, it's actually an infection to the nerve tissue buried beneath the skin, initiated by the same virus that causes the scourge of most children — chickenpox.

"(It's) not a fun thing," said Neosho resident Karol Meyers, who suffered through a round of shingles recently. "(I'm) hoping I don't ever get it again."

Shingles should never be taken lightly or brushed aside, said Dr. Henry Petry, geriatrician with Freeman Center for Geriatric Medicine.

"Almost all of the people who get it have had chickenpox in their lifetime," he said. "The older you are, the more likely you are to get it. Recent (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) studies state that 1 out of 3 people probably the age of ... 65 or above are probably going to get it."

When shingles first breaks out, "it is very painful," Petry said. The rash — mostly centered on the chest or abdomen, but it can also appear on the head or face a few days following the onset of pain — "can blister, and it's usually linear, meaning it goes from the back (of the body or head) to the front."

During that time, people will feel varying degrees of pain, which can flare up anywhere on the body where there are nerves. When shingles "gets back (in the nerves) it's like an infection in that area, and it kind of inactivates it and makes it do funny things it's not supposed to do," he said.

When treated, an episode can last between seven and 10 days. If untreated, "there's the possibility of developing a type of neuropathy," which is damage or dysfunction of one or more nerves that result in sporadic pain, numbness, tingling and muscle weakness for years on end, Petry said.

"I've had a couple of (patients) who had it, but they didn't get (shingles) around the chest but down their leg, and they developed permanent foot drop from the changes to the sciatic nerve," he said. Petry also said that should the rash appear on the face and blisters form in the eye, it can cause blindness.

These long-term complications of pain and dysfunction "can be very devastating to the quality of life of that person if it's not treated," he said. "The older you are, the more likely you'll have a problem with it."

While it's impossible for two people who previously had chickenpox to pass shingles to one another, it is possible for someone with shingles to pass it to someone who has never previously had chickenpox, he said.

To that end, CDC officials have noticed a slight increase in shingles cases over the past 24 months, most likely due to stresses brought on by COVID-19.

"Stress is a big immune system depressant," Petry said. "Any time that you have a change in your immune system ... that suppresses it, it's down; I don't mean depressed, but you're down" physically. Major stresses, and some back-to-back-to-back stressors lasting for years, "can make your immune system more susceptible to everything, even to the common cold."

There are ways to lessen the risks from shingles. There are three different types of antiviral drugs that work effectively to rid the body of the infection; steroids also help to reduce some of the post-shingles neuropathy symptoms.

But the best and safest way to protect oneself from shingles is to get immunized against it. CDC officials recommend that healthy adults 50 and older get the two-dose vaccine Shingrix. The vaccine, which two years ago replaced a single-dose vaccine, is more than 90% effective at preventing shingles.

Vaccination against shingles "is the one thing that we really, really recommend as you get older ... in order to prevent the spread of it so it can't be a life-altering infection," Petry said.

Kevin McClintock is features editor for The Joplin Globe.

Patience pays off: Female bowhunter from Nashville arrows 15-point buck in Wayne County


Art Holden
Sun, November 21, 2021

Steph Genet, 29, of Nashville, shows off the 15-point buck she killed with a compound bow Oct. 31. She was hunting in Wayne County on her grandmother's farm.

Waiting for the chance to shoot an Ohio whitetail deer is nothing new for Holmes County hunter Steph Genet. She has enjoyed the process and knowledge she has garnered spending countless hours in the woods. Her patience finally paid off on the last day of October, when she shot a 15-point buck on her grandmother's property in Wayne County.

"It took me four years to shoot my first deer," said Genet, a 29-year-old who works for the Millersburg Police Department. "I was very particular. I wanted to make sure I could make a good shot, and, I was learning as I went."

Genet said it took years to learn the habits and deer movement on her grandma's farm, putting in countless hours of scouting. She got into deer hunting seriously in 2014, and shot her first deer, a big 10-pointer, in 2018 with a shotgun. Since then, she's killed two does with a shotgun, and her second buck with a crossbow. Her latest deer kill was with a Hoyt Klash compound bow set at 55 pounds and shooting a Montec G5 fixed-blade broadhead.

And while she has yet to put a tape to her big buck, she said its mass is as impressive as its forked tines, which give it "characteristic."

"I had a good deer on my trail camera last year, but to say this was the same deer might be a stretch," said Genet. "But, I did have this deer on my camera for a few weeks before Oct. 31."

'I turned around and saw this buck chasing three does'

On that now unforgettable Halloween hunt, Genet got in the woods at 1 p.m., and immediately had deer all around her.

"But, there was nothing close enough to actually shoot," she said. "Just before 5 p.m., a button buck was chilling in front of me and it kept looking behind me. I turned around and saw this buck chasing three does."

Wondering if she would ever get a chance to draw on the bruiser, the scenario soon turned in Genet's favor.

"The does left, and I think the buck smelled the scent lick I had hung up," explained Genet. "I think he thought the button buck was a doe, and he came my way. He came in broadside at 20 yards, it couldn't have been any more perfect."

Genet let her arrow fly, and the buck took off running.

"The arrow was still in him, and I waited an hour to get out of the woods," said Genet. "I called my parents to come help me look for it. They know that if I call them and I can't speak, they know it's something big."

But, in the dark, the three couldn't find the deer

"I think we pushed it, so I made the decision to come back at daylight," said Genet.

Genet had help again on the morning track, as she recruited her best friend, Brooke Yoder, who also brought along her 1 1/2-year-old Drahthaar dog, a cross between a German Shorthair Pointer and a Griffon. A bird dog by breed, Yoder is cross-training her Drahthaar to also track deer.

It took just nine minutes for the dog to find the buck, locating it 500 yards away from where it was shot. But, there's a little more to the story.

"I'm thankful for Brooke showing up, because she had her first child just a week earlier," said Genet. "She called her mom to stay with the baby, she brought her dog and trampled down through the woods."

Just another chapter in the story of Genet's memorable late October hunt, one born out of the love of the outdoors.

"I've logged hours sitting in the woods hunting," said Genet, who also squirrel, turkey, rabbit and dove hunts, and last year also learned to process her own deer. "When I'm hunting in the woods, that's where I'm most relaxed, it's a time to unwind.

"I'm very thankful for the opportunity to take a deer, especially a big buck like this. My patience paid off."

Outdoor correspondent Art Holden can be reached at letsplabal@yahoo.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Straight shooter from Nashville grabs 15-point buck with bow

USA
More changes on the COVID vaccine mandate for 11,000 Hanford workers


Annette Cary
Sun., November 21, 2021

Nearly 11,000 workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation have been given more time to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or receive an exemption.

There also appears to be a move by at least some employers at the site to allow accommodations that will allow more of those with approved religious or medical exemptions to continue working.

However, the deadline extension does not cover about 300 Hanford site workers who are employed directly by DOE. They face a Monday, Nov. 22, deadline to prove they are vaccinated.

The majority of Hanford workers are employed by DOE contractors and their subcontractors.

They had been given a vaccine mandate deadline of Dec. 8, but that has been extended to allow them until Jan. 18 to be fully vaccinated.

Because they are not considered fully vaccinated until two weeks after their final required dose of the vaccine, they have until Jan. 4 to receive the single dose required of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine or the second dose required of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.

The vaccine mandate for federal contractor employees has been contentious at Hanford, with almost 300 Hanford workers filing a lawsuit in federal court asking that the vaccine mandate be immediately overturned.

A Richland rally in opposition to the mandate drew hundreds on Nov. 3.

The mandate was extended after the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force changed the deadline and Hanford officials discussed the change with union leadership.

Workers may apply for a religious or medical exemption. But plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit say that while exemptions have been granted, accommodations have not been made in many cases to allow people who are not vaccinated to continue working.

The lawsuit claims that so many Hanford workers could lose their jobs due to the mandate that the nuclear reservation could not be kept safe and secure.

Scott Sax, president of Central Plateau Cleanup Co., said in a memo to workers late last week that leaders there would re-evaluate exemption requests.

They will to determining if a combination of masking, social distancing and weekly testing could be considered a suitable accommodation based on job classifications and workers’ day-to-day tasks.

The Safer Federal Workforce Task Force has identified COVID-19 testing as a potential alternative to vaccination, he said in the memo.

“These are difficult decisions being made in very challenging times,” he said. “Each of us is entitled to our respective viewpoint and choice.”

Amy Schatz, manager of workforce resources at Washington River Protection Solutions, sent a similar message to that contractor’s employees.

“My hope is that each of you recognizes that we are making our best effort to choose a path that will protect our employees and bring us into compliance with our federally mandated contract requirements,” she told employees.

Most Hanford workers are being told they need to submit their vaccination status in the next few weeks.

Some contractors are contacting employees who have not yet submitted information and one is sending out a questionnaire for them to answer.

The 580-square-mile nuclear reservation next to the Tri-Cities in Eastern Washington.

It was used from World War II through the Cold War to produce about two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program.

A COVID-19 vaccine requirement for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, DOE’s other large Tri-Cities facility, took effect last week as ordered by DOE contractor Battelle for 5,300 employees.

Some 94% of staff were fully or partially vaccinated by the deadline.

PNNL has lost 31 employees, or less than 1 % of its workforce, to retirement, resignation or termination because of the requirement to be vaccinated or have an exemption approved.

1-Complaint

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Original Document (PDF) »

Contributed by Cameron Probert (Tri-City Herald)

On the scrap heap: Syria's 'horrific' child labour

Syria's decade-long conflict forced 15-year-old Mohammad Makhzoum out of the classroom and into a scrapyard, where the orphan works 12 hours a day to support his younger siblings.


© Bakr ALKASEM

Syrian boys transport coal in the town of al-Bab; conditions children work in are described as 'horrific' by the UN

Mohammad, who has been working since he was nine, leaves home everyday at dawn for a basic foundry where he helps melt metal amid thick and toxic black fumes.


© Bakr ALKASEM

Mohammad Makhzoum, 15, was orphaned during Syria's civil war and now works at a scrapyard, supporting his younger siblings

He said he wanted to make sure his sister and two brothers avoid a fate that has beset so many of Syria's children.

"I am their mother and father," he said, his face covered in soot, speaking from the run-down scrapyard in the northern city of al-Bab.

"I work so that they can continue their studies, because... they shouldn't be denied an education like I was."

An estimated 2.5 million children in Syria are out of school, with another 1.6 million at risk of dropping out, according to the UN's children agency UNICEF.

It estimates that nine in ten children in Syria live in poverty and more than 5,700 children -– some as young as seven -– have been recruited to fight.

- Worsening situation -

There is no official data in Syria on child labour rates. But they are believed to have steadily increased throughout the course of the conflict, with the coronavirus pandemic and an economic crisis fuelling further spikes over the past year.


© Bakr ALKASEM

Twelve-year-old Amer al-Shayban works at a makeshift oil refinery, seen here holding his baby sister in the Syrian town of al-Bab

"It is evident that child labour has increased in Syria...because of Covid-19 and the worsening economic crisis," UNICEF spokesperson Juliette Touma said.

"Children in Syria, when they are involved in labour, are exposed to conditions that are absolutely horrific," she said.


© Bakr ALKASEM

Few of Syria's children currently stand a chance of getting a decent life

Mohammad, who originally hails from the town of Maarat al-Numan in Idlib district, dropped out of school at the age of nine to support his family after his father was killed by artillery shells fired by government forces.


© Bakr ALKASEM

Nadim al-Nako, aged 12, has given up hope of ever returning to school, after he dropped out two years ago

Two years ago, his mother was killed during a battle between rebels and regime forces in the same area.

He fled with his siblings to al-Bab, where they live in a small bullet-riddled flat, furnished with nothing but thin foam mattresses.

His weekly income of five dollars barely covers their food needs, but Mohammad still manages to source enough for his siblings' school supplies.

"I work for their sake... I like to see them comfortable," he said. "I want to see them become doctors or teachers, without having to suffer like I had to."

But few of Syria's children currently stand a chance of getting a decent life.

- 'War destroyed our dreams' -

At a makeshift oil refinery in al-Bab, 12-year-old Amer al-Shayban knelt in the freezing mud as he packed handfuls of charcoal in a plastic bag.

Then he dragged the heavy bag -- nearly half his size -- to feed a furnace that emits toxic fumes.

"I am forced to work... it's not in my hands," Amer said, explaining that he is the main breadwinner for his family.

"I work summers and winters in the refinery to support my parents... my chest hurts regularly because of the smoke and fumes."

When Amer finishes his shift, he washes off soot from his hands and walks to a nearby displacement camp, where he lives with his parents and five younger siblings.

His father suffers from diabetes and clogged arteries, leaving the family mostly reliant on Amer's monthly income of five dollars.

"I dream of carrying a pen and a notebook and going to school," he said. "That is better than the furnaces, the diesel and this smell."

Nadim al-Nako, aged 12, has given up hope of ever returning to school, after he dropped out two years ago.

Nadim works with a blowtorch most of the day -- without any safety googles -- in his father's workshop to make pots and pans.

His salary goes entirely to household expenses, he said.

"War destroyed our dreams," he said. "I don't care anymore about school or anything of the like, the only thing I care about is this profession."

str/rh/ho/jmm/pjm

AFP

Five years after peace pact, violence haunts Colombia

Soldiers still patrol Marquetalia, birthplace of the now-defunct FARC guerilla group

 (AFP/Raul ARBOLEDA)More

Hector Velasco
Mon, November 22, 2021, 

In 2016, the world hailed the peace accords that saw Latin America's most fearsome guerrilla group lay down arms to end a devastating, near six-decade conflict in Colombia.

But five years on, the peace remains fragile and violence endemic.

The accords dramatically slowed the national homicide rate.

Some 3,000 people per year were killed on average over more than five decades as a direct result of the conflict, according to Hernando Gomez Buendia of the Razon Publica news site.

In 2017, this number dropped to 78.

Overall, Colombia's homicide rate before 2012, when peace talks began, was about 12,000 per year -- those directly linked to the conflict and not, Juan Carlos Garzon of the Ideas for Peace Foundation told AFP.

From 2013 to 2016, it dropped to about 9,000 per year.

But the rate is on the rise again as Colombia experiences its most violent period in years.

"The bad news is that between January and September 2021, we are again at the level of 10,500 homicides," said Garzon.

Despite the dissolution of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), thousands of dissidents battle rivals for control of drug fields, illegal gold mines and lucrative smuggling routes.

According to the Indepaz peace research institute, there are 90 armed groups with some 10,000 members active in Colombia.

They include more than 5,000 FARC dissidents who rejected peace, some 2,500 members of the National Liberation Army or ELN -- the country's last active guerrilla group, and another 2,500 rightwing paramilitary fighters.

Last month, the UN warned that the deteriorating security situation represented a "considerable challenge" to the country's 2016 peace accords.

"The disarmament of FARC has produced a power void... that has benefited other armed actors," said Garzon.

- Narco wars -

The accords signed on November 24, 2016 promised to bring peace to a country traumatized by years of violence.

But things got off to a rocky start: Just days before the signing, 50.21 percent of Colombians rejected the deal in a referendum -- a setback that required last-minute adjustments to the document and deeply divided the country.

The justice promised in the more than 300-page peace deal for hundreds of thousands of victims of the conflict is yet to come.

A special tribunal set up to try the worst atrocities has charged former FARC commanders with the kidnapping of at least 21,000 people and the recruitment of 18,000 minors.

Senior military officials have been charged with killing some 6,400 civilians presented as guerillas.

No verdicts have yet been passed.

The tribunal has the authority to offer alternatives to jail time to people who confess their crimes and make reparations to victims -- a system some fear will let criminals get off scot-free.

"The peace process has served the culprits, but it has not served the victims of the FARC," police general Luis Mendieta, held hostage by the rebels for 12 years, told AFP.

"We are cooperating... but it was a war of more than 50 years and solving it in one, two or three years will not be possible," said ex-guerilla-turned senator Sandra Ramirez.

- Return to criminal life -

Former combatants of the FARC, which has since transformed itself into a minority political party, have also paid a heavy price: some 293 have been killed since the signing of the accords, either by rival groups or their dissident former brothers in arms.

Others, like FARC commander Ivan Marquez who helped negotiate the deal, took up arms again.

The deal also has not brought an end to Colombia's vast and violent narcotrafficking problem, with many of those who signed the pact having "returned to criminal life" as "coca grew exponentially," according to President Ivan Duque in a recent interview with AFP.

The document encouraged the voluntary substitution of illicit crops -- mainly coca used in cocaine-making -- with legal ones, but farmers complain that they have not received any help.

Colombia remains the world's biggest producer and exporter of cocaine.

In the cities, too, violence is rife amid high levels of unemployment and poverty, with a recent wave of often deadly robberies that prompted the government in September to deploy some 1,500 soldiers to assist police in crime prevention.

In May, violence also marred anti-government protests that were brutally put down by the police and soldiers.

More than 60 people were killed in weeks of clashes and a clampdown condemned by the UN, United States, European Union and international rights groups.

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