BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS

Former colony resists direct British rule

by Staff reporter
01 May 2022 

The British Virgin Islands' acting premier says "draconian measures" would undermine the "historical constitutional progress"

The acting premier of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) has expressed deep concerns over London's plans to assume direct governance of the Caribbean territory, following the arrest of its leader in a US drug sting operation and a highly-critical report into alleged systemic corruption.

On Friday, shortly before the premier of the BVI, Andrew Fahie, appeared before a US judge on charges of cocaine smuggling and money laundering, a commission of inquiry led by Judge Sir Gary Hickinbottom hurriedly published its final report, urging the UK to dissolve the islands' elected government, suspend their constitution, and impose direct rule for at least two years.

"What this would mean in real terms is that there would no longer be elected representatives who represent the people of the districts and the territory in the house of assembly where laws are made for our society," Natalio Wheatley, who assumed the post of acting premier after Fahie's arrest, said.

UK seeks direct control of ex-colony

London dispatched a Foreign Office minister, Amanda Milling, to meet the territory's governor, James Rankin, and other senior figures and discuss the terms of direct rule, ahead of a formal decision expected next week.

The acting premier acknowledged "very serious matters highlighted in the report, which spanned successive Administrations," and did not question the British Crown representative's authority and responsibility to maintain order – but said the proposed reforms "can be achieved without the partial or full suspension of the constitution," under already existing emergency powers.

"I urge you the public to read the report with an objective eye in terms of strengthening our systems of Government under a democratic framework of governance, as opposed to draconian measures that would set back the historical constitutional progress we have made as a people.

Hickinbottom's commission was established in 2021, amid claims of corruption and wasteful government spending, as well as rumors that the island's leadership was engaging in drug trafficking. According to The Guardian, the British government was aware of the US undercover investigation, and decided to "rush out" the 1,000-page Hickinbottom report after Fahie was arrested.

Named by Christopher Columbus, the Virgin Islands are divided between the UK, the US, and the US territory of Puerto Rico. Around 35,000 BVI residents have been British citizens since 2002. While they enjoy limited self-governance under a 2007 constitution, the state is officially designated as one of the British Overseas Territories, known as crown colonies prior to 1983.

French court to probe deadly Yemenia Airways crash


The Yemeni national airline, whose representatives will not be in the dock due to the country's still-raging civil war, faces a maximum fine of 225,000 euros 

(AFP/Ibrahim YOUSSOUF) 

Anne LEC'HVIEN
Sun, May 8, 2022

A French court will open hearings Monday in the case of the 2009 crash of a Yemenia Airways flight that killed 152 people but miraculously left a 12-year-old girl alive.

The Yemeni national airline, whose representatives will not be in the dock due to the country's still-raging civil war, faces a maximum fine of 225,000 euros ($240,000) for involuntary homicide and injuries in a trial expected to last four weeks.

On June 29, 2009, flight Yemenia 626 was on approach to Moroni, the capital of the Comoros islands between Mozambique and Madagascar. Part of the archipelago is controlled by France as the overseas department of Mayotte.

Among the 142 passengers and 11 crew were 66 French citizens who had transferred at the airport in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Rather than landing safely, just before 11:00 pm the Airbus A310 plunged into the Indian Ocean with its engines running at full throttle, killing everyone on board except Bahia Bakari, then just 12 years old.

In interviews and a book of her own, Bakari remembers "turbulence" during the approach, before feeling what seemed to be an electric shock and then blacking out -- only to find herself in the sea.

She survived by clinging to debris for 11 hours until she was found by a fishing boat the following day.

Although the black boxes were found weeks after the crash, France accused the Comoros government of dragging its feet in the investigation, while victims' families accused Yemen of lobbying to hinder a trial of the national carrier.

"Thirteen years is a very long time, it's psychologically and morally exhausting, even physically," said Said Assoumani, president of a victims' association.

"But after 13 years of waiting and impatience, the criminal trial has finally come."

Investigators and experts found there was nothing wrong with the aircraft, blaming instead "inappropriate actions by the crew during the approach to Moroni airport, leading to them losing control".

But Yemenia Airways has been attacked by prosecutors for pilot training "riddled with gaps" and continuing to fly to Moroni at night despite its non-functioning landing lights.

"Yemenia remains deeply marked by this catastrophe... nevertheless it maintains its innocence," the company's lawyer Leon-Lef Forster said.

Around 560 people have joined the suit as plaintiffs, many of them from the region around Marseille in southern France, home to many of the victims.

Survivor Bakari is expected to testify on May 23.

jp-alv/tgb/gw

Jetliner aborts landing in Mexico to avoid another plane


Two planes from budget Mexican carrier Volaris nearly collided on a Mexico City runway Saturday night 

AFP/PEDRO PARDO

Sun, May 8, 2022

A jetliner attempting to land in Mexico City aborted its approach at the last second to avoid hitting a plane taxiing on the runway, an airline official said Sunday.

Video circulating on social media showed the near-miss involving two Airbus jets belonging to low-cost Mexican carrier Volaris Saturday night at Benito Juarez Airport, the busiest in Latin America.

The airline did not disclose the flight numbers, exact model of aircraft or how many passengers were aboard.

"Thanks to the training of our pilots ... no passenger or crew member was at risk during the incident reported the night of May 7," Volaris CEO Enrique Beltranea wrote on Twitter.

Mexican news organizations said Victor Hernandez Sandoval, a senior communications ministry official who redesigned air traffic patterns over the sprawling city so it could operate two airports, had tendered his resignation.

The video shows one plane about to land when it suddenly pulls up to avoid hitting the jetliner taxiing on the ground.

Because of saturation at the current facility, the previous government began construction of a second airport in Texcoco, a suburb of the city.

But President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador scrapped that plan after taking office in favor of turning an existing military base into an airport. It is now operating on a limited basis, with a few flights on mainly domestic routes.

Aviation experts have questioned the idea of operating two airports in a city surrounded by mountains and located 2,200 meters above sea level.

The International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations last week said crews would face problems if the city's air space pattern were changed to handle two full-sized airports.

Among other things, planes would spend a long time in holding patterns and land with little fuel, the federation said.

In May of 2021, the United States downgraded its air safety rating for Mexico City, citing what it called inadequate oversight.

sem/atm/dw/cwl

Video: Plane aborts landing in Mexico to avoid colliding with another plane ready for take-off on runway

Videos showed incident between two Volaris planes on Saturday

Published: May 09, 2022 

AFP

Image Credit: Twitter

Mexico City: A jetliner attempting to land in Mexico City aborted its approach at the last second to avoid hitting a plane taxiing on the runway, an airline official said on Sunday.

Video circulating on social media showed the near-miss involving two Airbus jets belonging to low-cost Mexican carrier Volaris on Saturday night at Benito Juarez Airport, the busiest in Latin America.

The airline did not disclose the flight numbers, exact model of aircraft or how many passengers were aboard.

"Thanks to the training of our pilots ... no passenger or crew member was at risk during the incident reported the night of May 7," Volaris CEO Enrique Beltranea wrote on Twitter.

Mexican news organizations said Victor Hernandez Sandoval, a senior communications ministry official who redesigned air traffic patterns over the sprawling city so it could operate two airports, had tendered his resignation.

The video shows one plane about to land when it suddenly pulls up to avoid hitting the jetliner taxiing on the ground.

Because of saturation at the current facility, the previous government began construction of a second airport in Texcoco, a suburb of the city.

But President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador scrapped that plan after taking office in favor of turning an existing military base into an airport. It is now operating on a limited basis, with a few flights on mainly domestic routes.

Aviation experts have questioned the idea of operating two airports in a city surrounded by mountains and located 2,200 metres above sea level.

The International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations last week said crews would face problems if the city's air space pattern were changed to handle two full-sized airports.

Among other things, planes would spend a long time in holding patterns and land with little fuel, the federation said.

In May of 2021, the United States downgraded its air safety rating for Mexico City, citing what it called inadequate oversight.

Mexico's transport authority promises safety after allegations of risky incidents


The control tower is pictured from an area of the new Felipe Angeles international airport, in Zumpango


Fri, May 6, 2022 

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's transport ministry pledged on Friday to insure safety for planes crossing the country's skies, responding to a recent report of risky incidents issued by a pilots association as the capital's new airport gears up.

A safety bulletin issued by the IFALPA international pilots association on Wednesday reported "several incidents" involving aircraft arriving in Mexico with low fuel, ground proximity warning system alerts in which one crew almost collided unintentionally with terrain, as well as what it described as flights arriving with excessive delays.

The association pointed to the March opening of the capital's Felipe Angeles commercial airport, build on land once belonging to an adjacent air force base, as a possible factor.

"It would appear that with the opening of this newly converted airport, air traffic control has apparently received little training and support," the bulletin said.

In its statement, the transport ministry defended its oversight performance and pointed to what it described as proper handling of its only reported safety incident from last June. It added that it would immediately convene officials to further evaluate the bulletin's assessment.

Mexico was downgraded to a Category 2 rating in 2021 by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), due to lacking the "necessary requirements to oversee the country's air carriers in accordance with minimum international safety standards."

 [L2N2NC22K]

(Reporting by Carolina Pulice; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Michael Perry)

Yazidis* displaced anew by north Iraq violence
 

Thousands of Yazidis were again forced to flee their homes this month, after fierce clashes between the army and local fighters in their Sinjar heartland 
 

The Yazidis are a monotheistic, esoteric community who were massacred by the Islamic State group when the extremists swept across Iraq in 2014 
 

Some 960 Yazidi families have settled in a displacement camp in the neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan region, while others have sought shelter with relatives, according to the UN

 

Some 960 Yazidi families have settled in a displacement camp in the neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan region, while others have sought shelter with relatives, according to the UN 

The Yazidi heartland of Sinjar has also been a target of Turkish strikes on rear bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Ankara considers a terrorist organisation

 (AFP/SAFIN HAMED)

Shvan Harki
Sun, May 8, 2022, 9:24 PM·3 min read

Iraqi policeman Jundi Khodr Kalo was among thousands of Yazidis again forced to flee their homes this month, after fierce clashes between the army and local fighters in their Sinjar heartland.

"Last time we were displaced because we were afraid of the Islamic State" jihadist group, said Kalo, 37, from the non-Arab, Kurdish-speaking minority.

The Yazidis are a monotheistic, esoteric community who were massacred by IS when the extremists swept across Iraq in 2014.

Two days of fighting broke out on May 1 in northern Iraq's Sinjar region between the army and Yazidi fighters affiliated with Turkey's banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

A local official said the violence forced more than 1,700 families, or over 10,200 people, to flee.

Some 960 families have settled in a displacement camp in the neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan region, while others have sought shelter with relatives, according to the United Nations.

Kalo, his wife and their five children took refuge in the crowded Chamisku camp, home to more than 22,000 people, near the city of Zakho.

- 'Not an ideal solution' -

Like many Yazidis, the Kalo family suffered long years of displacement after IS overran swathes of their country.

"We lived in a camp for six years," he said, only returned to their home village two years ago.

Going back "was not easy... but we managed to get by".

"But lately, the situation got worse," he told AFP.

Sinjar is the site of sporadic skirmishes between Iraqi security forces and the Sinjar Resistance Units -- local fighters allied with the PKK separatists.

"Every day we would hear the sound of shooting and explosions. We were afraid for our families," Kalo said.

But life in Chamisku, like in other camps, is tough, too.

Residents take shelter in tarpaulin tents, where foam mattresses line the ground.

AFP journalists saw dozens of people queueing for handouts of rice, tea, sugar, flour and milk.

"The situation in these camps is crowded," said Firas al-Khateeb, a spokesman for the United Nations' refugee agency (UNHCR).

He cited "a risk of limited access to basic services due to a reduction of humanitarian funding".

Living in displacement camps "for long periods of time is not an ideal situation", he added.

"But any return (home) must be voluntary, maintain human dignity", and be to a "peaceful environment", Khateeb said.

- 'Need security, stability' -

Iraqi authorities say calm has returned to Sinjar following the fighting, which killed an Iraqi soldier.

Each side has blamed the other for starting the clashes in the region, the scene of simmering tensions and multiple actors.

The army is seeking to apply an agreement between Baghdad and Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region for the withdrawal of Yazidi and PKK combatants.

The deal is seen as crucial for the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which has been looking to restore its former influence in Sinjar.

It is also key to facilitating the return of Yazidis displaced years ago by IS.

But the Yazidi fighters, who are affiliated with the Hashed al-Shaabi -- a pro-Iran former paramilitary organisation -- accuse the army of trying to take control of their stronghold.

Iraqi security forces said military reinforcements were dispatched to Sinjar to "impose state authority".

"We will not allow the presence of armed groups," the forces said in a statement Thursday.

The Sinjar region has also been a target of Turkish air strikes on rear bases of the PKK, which Ankara considers a terrorist organisation. WHICH THEY ARE NOT

In such a complex and dangerous atmosphere, Yazidi civilians say they feel like collateral damage.

"We need security and stability, otherwise we will not go back to Sinjar," said labourer Zaeem Hassan Hamad.

The 65-year-old took refuge in Chamisku with more than a dozen family members, including his grandchildren.

IS forced him to flee once before, and he said he did not want to keep repeating that traumatic experience.

"We cannot go home and be displaced again," he said.

"If the Hashed, the PKK and the army remain in the region, the people will be afraid," he added.

"No one will ever go back."

str/tgg/hkb/lg

* SEE

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for YAZIDI 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for YEZEDI 

 LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for YEZIDI 

Protest by other means: Lebanon activists run in election
 

Lawyer Verena El Amil is one of a growing number of independent candidates

 running in a parliamentary vote in crisis-hit Lebanon 

(AFP/Joseph EID)

 

Lebanese expats voted abroad in countries around the world, including the United Arab Emirates, 

ahead of the start of polling in the country

 (AFP/Karim SAHIB)

Activist, writer and director Lucien Bourjeily emerged as one of the key figures 

of the 2019 protest movement and is running for a seat in the legislature for the second time

(AFP/Joseph EID)

Hashem Osseiran
Sun, May 8, 2022

As a law student in late 2019, Verena El Amil joined mass street protests against Lebanon's political elite. Now she wants to fight them at the ballot box.

At age 25, she is one of a growing number of independent candidates running in a May 15 parliamentary vote in the crisis-torn country.

"We are going to fight," the young lawyer, dressed in a black leather jacket and combat boots, said at a coffee shop outside Beirut.

"The slogans we screamed during the protests are the ones we want to carry into campaigns and into parliament."

The vote will be the first major electoral test since a youth-led protest movement from October 2019 vented its rage at Lebanon's graft-tainted political class.

The revolutionary fervour has been sapped since by cascading crises, from a financial collapse and the pandemic to the 2020 Beirut port blast that killed more than 200 people.

While most of her fellow graduates have fled abroad, Amil honed her political skills in student activism and spent all her savings on the campaign.

"Running for parliamentary elections for me is a continuation," said Amil, one of the youngest candidates to stand.

"After the 2019 protests, we all grappled with defeat and the reality of a massive emigration wave.

"But in spite of this, we still need to try, and I am running for the elections to show that we are still trying."

- 'Election as protest' -

The number of independent candidates running against established parties has more than doubled since the last vote in 2018.

Beirut-based think tank the Policy Initiative said opposition and independent candidates make up 284 of the 718 hopefuls -- up from 124 four years ago.

They are running in 48 different electoral lists across Lebanon, including in peripheral regions where traditional leaders have seldom faced a challenge.

Also in the race this time is Lucien Bourjeily, an activist, writer and director who emerged as one of the key figures of the 2019 protest movement.

Running for a seat for the second time, Bourjeily said he sensed more engagement from the public this time around.

But the opposition is mainly gunning for accountability, not a major win, he said, urging voters to document any signs of electoral fraud.

"The way we documented people getting beaten and losing their eyes and getting killed on the street, we should document how votes will be stolen," he said.

"People should treat election day as a protest."

- 'Haphazard, disorganised' -

Even in a clean election, opposition candidates would face an uphill challenge, lacking the funds and campaign machines of the traditional parties.

Lebanon's electoral law is designed to benefit established players, and the opposition is far from united.

"You have competing opposition lists in most districts, and this is unacceptable," said Carmen Geha, a professor of public administration at the American University of Beirut.

"We needed hope, and hope would have come from a national campaign."

Voter turnout may be low, in part because high fuel prices deter travel to ancestral towns and villages where constituents are required to cast their vote.

An Oxfam report last month said only 54 percent of over 4,600 people surveyed said they intended to vote, a trend it blamed largely on widespread "disappointment and hopelessness".

Most of those planning to abstain cited a lack of promising candidates, while nearly half of those who plan to vote said they would choose an independent candidate, the British-based charity said.

Veteran activist Maher Abou Chakra, who ran briefly for the election before pulling out, criticised the opposition for lacking a coherent strategy to rock the establishment.

"Lebanon's political regime is hundreds of years old... and it is deeply entrenched," he said.

"You can't challenge it in a haphazard and disorganised way."

ho/fz

Court to rule on former French PM Fillon's fake job row


Former French prime minister Francois Fillon was convicted by a lower court in 2020 and sentenced to five years in jail, three of them suspended 

AFP/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN


Anne LEC'HVIEN
Sun, May 8, 2022

Former French prime minister Francois Fillon will learn Monday whether an appeals court has upheld his conviction for setting his wife up with lucrative fake jobs.

Revelations about the probe torpedoed conservative Fillon's 2017 presidential campaign, leaving the way clear for centrist Emmanuel Macron -- re-elected to a second term last month.

The 68-year-old was convicted by a lower court in 2020 and sentenced to five years in jail, three of them suspended.

At the November appeals hearing, prosecutors said there was clear evidence that Fillon and his stand-in as MP for the Sarthe department, Marc Joulaud, employed Fillon's wife Penelope in an "intangible" or "tenuous" role as a parliamentary assistant between 1998 and 2013.


On top of jail time and fines, the Fillons and Joulaud were ordered in 2020 to repay more than one million euros ($1,055,000) to France's National Assembly lower house.

The court also barred Fillon from holding public office for 10 years, while Penelope -- a serving local councillor -- received a two-year ban.

Penelope also had a job as "literary consultant" at the Revue des Deux Mondes magazine owned by Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere, described by the prosecution as an "indulgence" for his friend Fillon.

Ladreit de Lacharriere himself pleaded guilty in a 2018 trial in which he acknowledged the job was partially fake.

Prosecutors have called for Fillon to face still harsher punishment in the appeals hearing, including five years' jail and a fine of 375,000 euros for the charges of abuse of public funds, collusion and concealing abuse of company assets.

They also want a two-year suspended sentence for Penelope Fillon and a fine of 100,000 euros.

Before the appeals court, the Fillons stuck to their defence that Penelope's "on-the-ground" work in Sarthe was "immaterial" but very "real".

Their lawyers attacked the "media frenzy" around "Penelopegate", as the scandal was dubbed when it emerged.

Neither is expected to attend the court on Monday.

Since withdrawing from politics, Fillon had held jobs on the boards of Russian petrochemicals giant Sibur and hydrocarbons firm Zarubezhneft.

His has quit both posts since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

abb-alv/tgb

Canadian offices going to the dogs as work-from-home ending
 

Michel COMTE
Sun, May 8, 2022
Daisy moseys over to greet visitors, her tail wagging. She's listed as chief morale officer on Tungsten Collaborative's website, and is among the many pets joining their owners returning to Canadian offices after working from home through the pandemic.

The 12-year-old Lab sniffs for treats. Before long, a Basset Hound named Delilah waddles over, offering up her belly for a rub, along with other four-legged colleagues Eevee the Greyhound and German Shepherd puppy Hudson, who lets out a bark.

Daisy's proficiencies include "stress management" and "client engagement," according to her biography, which notes that many of the industrial design studio's "greatest innovations can be traced back to a long walk" with her.

"We encourage people if they have pets to bring them (to work)," Tungsten president Bill Dicke, 47, said in an interview with AFP.

"You develop this relationship being at home with your pet on a day-to-day basis and all of a sudden you go back to work, so now they have to be crated for the day or roam the house alone, it's not fair to them," he opined.

"The tolerance for pets (at work) during the pandemic has increased," he added.

These dogs sleep under desks or in the boardroom throughout the day, chase balls down a hallway or chew squeaky toys. There's a row of water bowls in the office kitchen, if they get thirsty.

The Ottawa company is listed by the Humane Society as dog-friendly, and it's actually helped drum up business, Dicke said, as well as increased staff productivity.

Workers are forced to take regular breaks for dog walks instead of "eating lunch at their desk," for example, and are not fretting about their pet being left alone at home, he explained.

According to a recent Leger survey for PetSafe, 51 percent of Canadians support bringing dogs to the office.

Younger workers were the most supportive, with 18 percent of those aged 18 to 24 years saying they would change jobs if their employer refused to allow them to bring their pet to work.

With an estimated 200,000 Canadians adopting a dog or cat since the start of the pandemic in 2020, bringing the nationwide total to 3.25 million, it could force employers now pressing staff to return to the office to consider this option.

- 'Going to w-o-r-k' -

Johan Van Hulle, 29, joined Tungsten last year. Its dog policy, he said, "was a key part of the decision" to take the job, after working from home with Eevee.

"Allowing dogs is a good indicator" of a company's culture, he said, and the kind of "not too corporate" workplace that appeals to him.

Across town at construction joint venture Chandos Bird, people designing a nuclear research laboratory are visibly smitten by 10-year-old Samson.

His owner Trevor Watt didn't want to leave the Yorkshire Terrier alone after moving into a new house and starting work in a new office in January.

It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement until Samson got used to his new surroundings, but he endeared himself with colleagues and staff in neighboring offices, who take turns walking him.

"He loves going to work," Watt said. "When I say I'm going to w-o-r-k, he's ready to jump in the car."

Watt likes it, too. "I don't have to worry about him."

"Dogs in new environments get very anxious, when left alone," he explained. "I think a lot of new owners know that now that they've had their puppies through Covid."

If Samson needs to go out, he just puts a paw on Watt's leg. He has toys and a bed at the office, and wanders from desk to desk.

Petting him is a great way to "decompress after a tough meeting," commented Watt's boss Byron Williams.

Dogs in the workplace, however, can also create challenges, he said, such as "if somebody is scared of dogs" or allergic to dander.

One of Watt's coworkers is terrified of dogs. It was agreed with her that Samson would be leashed the days she comes to the office.

At other offices, workers surveyed by AFP lamented carpet stains, disruptive barking and pet hair or drool on clothes -- not a great look for impressing clients.

Downtown, many stores and cafes have water bowls for dogs, and several shopkeepers such as Emma Inns of the Adorit fashion boutique bring their dogs to work.

"If they're home alone, they get into trouble," she said of Rosie, Oscar and Camilla.

As store mascots, however, they're great for business.

"Everyone knows their names," Inns said. "Some people come just to see them, but then buy something."

amc/to

Adorit owner Emma Inns says her three dogs, including Oscar, bring in customers to her boutique (AFP/Dave Chan)

Fear reigns in Brazil favela a year after bloody raid




One year after 28 people were killed in the bloodiest police raid in Rio de Janeiro history, the tension is still palpable in the Jacarezinho slum, where Brazilian authorities have deployed a massive law enforcement operation 

(AFP/ANDRE BORGES)

Louis GENOT
Sun, May 8, 2022

One year after 28 people were killed in the bloodiest police raid in Rio de Janeiro history, the tension is still palpable in the Jacarezinho slum, where authorities have deployed a massive law enforcement operation.

Brazil marked the first anniversary Friday of the early-morning raid against alleged drug traffickers that turned the impoverished favela into a battlefield, with explosions and heavy gunfire that left streets strewn with bodies.

Residents of Jacarezinho, a slum of brick and tin-roof houses on Rio's north side that is home to 80,000 people, have accused the police of killing innocent victims in cold blood.

Seeking to calm an explosive situation, the state government in January launched a program called "Cidade Integrada" (Integrated City), aiming to "reclaim the territory" dominated by drug traffickers and to set up social projects to improve life in the favela.

But many residents say the heavy police presence only makes them more afraid.

"Everyone's scared. Having the police here all the time doesn't make us feel safer -- on the contrary," said "Vera," a 31-year-old shopkeeper who was afraid to provide her real name.

Two armored police vehicles were posted near her shop.

Heavily armed officers regularly patrol the slum's tangled maze of narrow streets, and passersby typically avoid making eye contact.

"Since 'Integrated City' started, shootouts are an almost daily occurrence, with no warning," said Pedro Paulo da Silva of local community organization LabJaca.

"Police see (the favelas) as enemy territory," he said. "Everyone is a potential target."

- 'Anxiety attacks' -

The tension erupted into the open the night of April 25, when police shot and killed an 18-year-old man, the father of a four-month-old baby.

His mother called the killing a "summary execution."

Residents poured into the streets in protest, lighting fires to block entrances to the favela.

Police say they have opened an internal investigation.

Many residents say just seeing officers on patrol brings back dark memories of May 6, 2021 and the terrifying raid that left one policeman and 27 alleged suspects dead.

Scores of protesters on Friday marked the anniversary, marching to the favela's memorial to the dead, a small blue wall with plaques bearing their names.

"Police are murderers!" they chanted as two heavily armed officers watched.

"There's a feeling of sadness, but above all of injustice. A lot of others have died since. And it's not going to stop," said 19-year-old Taciana Barbosa, who had two childhood friends killed in the raid.

Despite international calls for an independent inquiry, including from the United Nations, just two officers have been indicted and two more were placed under investigation for the Jacarezinho killings.

"As long as no one is brought to justice, people's contact with law enforcement agents will still be very affected by that trauma," said Guilherme Pimentel, the ombudsman for the Rio public defender's office.

There have been glaring reports of abuses by police stationed in the favela, including invading residents' homes and stealing from them.

"I came home one day and found my door open. They turned the whole place upside down. They must have had dogs, because I found poop on the floor. They come looking to steal our valuables. I didn't have any," said 39-year-old resident Thiago Baia, who heads a local cultural association.

"I've been afraid ever since. I get anxiety attacks when I try to sleep."

- ID cards and Zumba -

The state government says it has inaugurated several social projects as part of Integrated City, including a job training program for mothers that has 1,400 participants.

The authorities have also started gymnastics and Zumba classes, and opened a public registrar's office that has allowed many residents to obtain "their first-ever ID cards," according to Governor Claudio Castro.

Not everyone is convinced.

"The job-training courses have started, but we haven't seen any of the rest," said Da Silva.

"It's the same problem every time they launch a new program: they never actually talk with the people who live here."

lg/jhb/bbk

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M 
U.N. agency head resigns amid investments probe

May 8 (UPI) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday accepted the resignation of the head of a U.N. agency under investigation for potentially losing millions of dollars in bad investments.

Grete Faremo, the executive director of the U.N. Office for Project Services, submitted her resignation Sunday after The New York Times published an article detailing how the little-known agency may lose up to $25 million meant for aid to developing countries.

"It has been my great privilege to lead UNOPS," Faremo said in a statement. "I continue to be proud of UNOPS' achievements and unprecedented growth over these last eight years."

The office of Guterres said the U.N. head had accepted Faremo's resignation, effective immediately, and appointed Denmark's Jens Mandel to active executive director of UNOPs starting Monday.

"The secretary-general is grateful for Ms. Faremo's commitment and dedicated service to the organization," the statement said.

The U.N. watchdog Office of Internal Oversight Services has been investigating possible misconduct at UNOPS concerning its Sustainable Infrastructure Investments and Innovation initiative that is designed to help address the two issues of financing and innovation in connection to achieving the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals.

In December, Faremo had placed Vitaly Vanshelboim, the chief executive of S3I and her deputy, on administrative leave amid the U.N. watchdog's investigation.

The Times reported that UNOPS had given tens of millions of dollars to a British man whose businesses have defaulted on more than $22 million in loans.

In a statement from mid-April, UNOPS said it "accepts there are challenges with" its initiative and that "funds are at risk" but none to date have been lost.

"UNOPS will pursue all available legal remedies to protect its operations and assets, including the recovery of outstanding payments owed to UNOPS," it said. "UNOPS is committed to a rigorous and comprehensive process to address any possible misconduct and maladministration claims and will hold all persons responsible to account."

Faremo, who had announced in March that she was to retire in September, said Sunday that while they still don't know all the facts about what occurred, "they occurred on my watch and I acknowledge my responsibility and have decided to step down."

"I hope my decision will allow UNOPS to focus on its vital work uplifting the lives of vulnerable people around the world," she said.

Chris Lu, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for Management Reform, called on the U.N. to immediately release the complete investigation report into the possible wrongdoing.

"At a minimum, we believe that UNOPS leadership missed clear warning signals, failed to provide necessary oversight and took unacceptable risks with funds," he said on Twitter.

"There needs to be a comprehensive review of UNOPS' business model, governance structure and personnel," Lu added in a second comment. "The new UNOPS leader also needs to demonstrate a strong commitment to reform."