First humanitarian aid reaches Gaza from temporary pier built by US

Our Foreign Staff
Fri, May 17, 2024

The Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver humanitarian aid, on the Gaza coast - US Central Command

The first trucks carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza began moving ashore on Friday via the temporary pier built by the United States.

The trucks drove off the pier at about 9am local time, the US military’s Central Command said on Friday.

No US troops went ashore in Gaza, it added.

“This is an ongoing, multinational effort to deliver additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza via a maritime corridor that is entirely humanitarian in nature, and will involve aid commodities donated by a number of countries and humanitarian organisations,” it said.

This is a developing story and will be updated

What to know about how much the aid from a US pier project will help Gaza

ELLEN KNICKMEYER
Updated Thu, May 16, 2024


A ship is seen off the coast of Gaza near a U.S.-built floating pier that will be used to facilitate aid deliveries, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, Thursday, May 16, 2024.

 (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S.-built pier is in place to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea, but no one will know if the new route will work until a steady stream of deliveries begins reaching starving Palestinians.

The trucks that will roll off the pier project installed Thursday will face intensified fighting, Hamas threats to target any foreign forces and uncertainty about whether the Israeli military will ensure that aid convoys have access and safety from attack by Israeli forces.

Even if the sea route performs as hoped, U.S, U.N. and aid officials caution, it will bring in a fraction of the aid that's needed to the embattled enclave.

Here's a look at what's ahead for aid arriving by sea:

WILL THE SEA ROUTE END THE CRISIS IN GAZA?

No, not even if everything with the sea route works perfectly, American and international officials say.

U.S. military officials hope to start with about 90 truckloads of aid a day through the sea route, growing quickly to about 150 trucks a day.

Samantha Power, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and other aid officials have consistently said Gaza needs deliveries of more than 500 truckloads a day — the prewar average — to help a population struggling without adequate food or clean water during seven months of war between Israel and Hamas.

Israel has hindered deliveries of food, fuel and other supplies through land crossings since Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel launched the conflict in October. The restrictions on border crossings and fighting have brought on a growing humanitarian catastrophe for civilians.

International experts say all 2.3 million of Gaza's people are experiencing acute levels of food insecurity, 1.1 million of them at “catastrophic” levels. Power and U.N. World Food Program Director Cindy McCain say north Gaza is in famine.

At that stage, saving the lives of children and others most affected requires steady treatment in clinical settings, making a cease-fire critical, USAID officials say.

At full operation, international officials have said, aid from the sea route is expected to reach a half-million people. That's just over one-fifth of the population.

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FOR THE SEA ROUTE NOW?

The U.S. plan is for the U.N. to take charge of the aid once it's brought in. The U.N. World Food Program will then turn it over to aid groups for delivery.

U.N. officials have expressed concern about preserving their neutrality despite the involvement in the sea route by the Israeli military — one of the combatants in the conflict — and say they are negotiating that.

There are still questions on how aid groups will safely operate in Gaza to distribute food to those who need it most, said Sonali Korde, assistant to the administrator for USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, which is helping with logistics.

U.S. and international organizations including the U.S. government's USAID and the Oxfam, Save the Children and International Rescue Committee nonprofits say Israeli officials haven't meaningfully improved protections of aid workers since the military's April 1 attack that killed seven aid workers with the World Central Kitchen organization.

Talks with the Israeli military “need to get to a place where humanitarian aid workers feel safe and secure and able to operate safely. And I don’t think we’re there yet," Korde told reporters Thursday.

Meanwhile, fighting is surging in Gaza. It isn’t threatening the new shoreline aid distribution area, Pentagon officials say, but they have made it clear that security conditions could prompt a shutdown of the maritime route, even just temporarily.

The U.S. and Israel have developed a security plan for humanitarian groups coming to a “marshaling yard” next to the pier to pick up the aid, said U.S. Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of the U.S. military’s Central Command. USAID Response Director Dan Dieckhaus said aid groups would follow their own security procedures in distributing the supplies.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have moved into the border crossing in the southern city of Rafah as part of their offensive, preventing aid from moving through, including fuel.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said that without fuel, delivery of all aid in Gaza can't happen.

WHAT'S NEEDED?

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, the U.N. and aid groups have pressed Israel to allow more aid through land crossings, saying that's the only way to ease the suffering of Gaza's civilians. They've also urged Israel's military to actively coordinate with aid groups to stop Israeli attacks on humanitarian workers.

“Getting aid to people in need into and across Gaza cannot and should not depend on a floating dock far from where needs are most acute,” U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters Thursday.

“To stave off the horrors of famine, we must use the fastest and most obvious route to reach the people of Gaza — and for that, we need access by land now,” Haq said.

U.S. officials agree that the pier is only a partial solution at best, and say they are pressing Israel for more.

WHAT DOES ISRAEL SAY?

Israel says it places no limits on the entry of humanitarian aid and blames the U.N. for delays in distributing goods entering Gaza. The U.N. says ongoing fighting, Israeli fire and chaotic security conditions have hindered delivery.

Under pressure from the U.S., Israel has in recent weeks opened a pair of crossings to deliver aid into hard-hit northern Gaza. It said a series of Hamas attacks on the main crossing, Kerem Shalom, have disrupted the flow of goods.

___

Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Tara Copp in Washington and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed.

US establishes Gaza pier to try to boost aid to hungry enclave

Reuters
Updated Thu, May 16, 2024 

Temporary floating pier anchored by the U.S. to boost aid deliveries to Gaza


(Reuters) - The United States anchored a temporary floating pier to a beach in Gaza on Thursday to boost aid deliveries. U.S. President Joe Biden announced the plan for the pier in March as aid officials implored Israel to improve access for relief supplies into Gaza over land routes.

By opening a route to deliver aid by sea, the U.S. hopes to combat the humanitarian crisis that has put hundreds of thousands of people at risk of famine. Below is a timeline of events leading to the arrival of the pier off Gaza.

March 7 - Biden says in his State of the Union speech the U.S. military will build a temporary port on Gaza's Mediterranean coast to receive humanitarian aid by sea. The announcement came as he seeks to cool anger among many in his Democratic Party over his support for Israel in its offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7, given the steep toll on civilians.

March 8 - The Pentagon says Biden's plan could take up to 60 days to become a reality and involve more than 1,000 American troops. Officials say a floating pier would be installed in place off Gaza and attached to land by a temporary causeway. Aid will be shipped to it from Cyprus where Israeli officials will inspect it, as they currently do at the land borders, to stop anything going into Gaza that they deem to have a possible military use.

April 3 - The U.S. State Department says an attack that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers on April 1 would not affect U.S. efforts to build the pier.

April 25 - A United Nations team in Gaza visiting the site for the pier and the staging area for maritime aid operations had to seek shelter in a bunker "for some time" after the area came under fire, a U.N. spokesperson says.

April 25 - The Pentagon says U.S. troops have begun construction of the pier off the coast of Gaza, as international officials warn of the risk of famine in northern Gaza. Concerns about the risk to American troops getting caught up in the Israel-Hamas war were underscored as news emerged of a mortar attack near the area where the pier will eventually touch ground. No U.S. forces were present, however, and Biden has ordered U.S. forces to not step foot on the Gaza shore.

April 29 - A U.S. defense official says cost estimate to build the pier has risen to $320 million, illustrating the massive scale of a construction effort.

May 1 - The Pentagon says the U.S. military has so far constructed over 50% of the pier, which has several different components. "The floating pier has been completely constructed and setup. The causeway is in progress," a spokesperson said.

May 2 - White House says the pier should be open within a matter of days, despite poor weather hampering preparations.

May 3 - The U.S. military said it was temporarily pausing the offshore construction of the pier because of weather conditions and instead would continue building it at the Israeli port of Ashdod.

May 9 - The U.S. flagged vessel Sagamore carrying aid to be unloaded at the pier sets sail from the port of Larnaca, Cyprus in the morning.

May 15 - A British shipment of nearly 100 tonnes of aid has left Cyprus bound for the temporary pier, the British Foreign Office says.

May 15 - The U.S. military starts moving the pier towards the Gaza coast, a U.S. official says.

May 16 - The pier is anchored to a beach in Gaza.

(This story has been refiled to correct 'Work Central Kitchen' to 'World Central Kitchen', in paragraph 5)

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Don Durfee, William Maclean)

US military anchors pier to Gaza; aid expected within days

Brad Dress
Thu, May 16, 2024 


The U.S. military has finally anchored its new pier to the coast of Gaza, and officials are expected to soon begin delivery of crucial humanitarian aid to the besieged region.

The pier was completed earlier this month, but its anchoring was delayed by bad weather.

Officials are expected to begin delivering around 500 tons of humanitarian aid in the coming days, offering much-needed relief for Palestinian civilians who lack access to basic necessities including food and water as Israel carries on a war against militant group Hamas in Gaza.

In a press call, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, said the pier was successfully anchored to a beach in Gaza in the early morning hours on Thursday.

Cooper said there are “hundreds of tons of humanitarian assistance” immediately ready for distribution in the coming days.

“We’ve got thousands of tons in the pipeline,” he added.

Sonali Korde, assistant to the administrator at the United States Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, said the pier would help address a “gap” in humanitarian assistance for the people of Gaza.

“We’re at a point in time when we can’t spare any effort,” she said.

Aid distribution will begin at the island nation of Cyprus, where barges will bring in tons of assistance to a floating dock miles off the coast of Gaza. The aid will then be ferried to the pier on ships before being unloaded off the shore for distribution.

Around 1,000 U.S. troops are taking part in the humanitarian aid mission, but Washington has been firm there will be no boots on the ground. Instead, they will work closely with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the United Nations and humanitarian aid groups to get the aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Some Republicans have raised concerns about how the U.S. military can stay out of harm’s way, especially after the area near the port on the shore was attacked last month.

But Cooper said the U.S. military has worked closely with the IDF to come up with a security plan, and that Israel has been a supportive partner in the process.

“We worked very closely with the IDF to develop a series of protocols,” he said, saying they had a “high level of confidence” in the mission.

US military pier starts moving towards Gaza

Reuters
Wed, May 15, 2024 




US military pier starts moving towards Gaza
Construction of JLOTS Pier in Mediterranean

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military has started moving a pier towards the Gaza coast, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, one of the last steps before the launch of a maritime port promised by President Joe Biden to speed the flow of humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

The U.S. military opted to pre-assemble the maritime pier at Israeli port of Ashdod earlier this month due to weather conditions at the Gaza site where it will now be installed.

Officials hope the pier can be anchored to the coast of Gaza and aid can start flowing in the coming days.

"Earlier today, components of the temporary pier ... along with military vessels involved in its construction, began moving from the Port of Ashdod towards Gaza, where it will be anchored to the beach to assist in the delivery of international humanitarian aid," a U.S. official said.

A British shipment of nearly 100 tonnes of aid has left Cyprus bound for a new temporary pier in Gaza, the British Foreign Office said on Wednesday.

The U.S. military effort comes more than six months after Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250 others, according to Israeli tallies.

In response, Israel has launched a relentless assault on Gaza, killing more than 35,000 Palestinians, local health authorities say, in a bombardment that has reduced much of the enclave to a wasteland and triggered U.N. warnings of looming famine.

Over time, the civilian toll from the Israeli offensive has triggered global protests and strained relations with Washington, Israel's biggest backer.

Israel has sought to demonstrate it is not blocking aid to Gaza. Although U.S. officials and aid groups say some progress has been made, they warn it is insufficient.

Dan Dieckhaus, the response director at the U.S. Agency for International Development, told reporters earlier on Wednesday Israel still has more work to do to address concerns about the killing of aid workers in Gaza.

"Overall we are still not satisfied. And we won't be satisfied as long as we continue to see aid worker deaths and injuries," Dieckhaus said.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart, Editing by William Maclean)

Python hunters must humanely kill snakes: How Florida has cracked down in contests through the years

Abigail Hasebroock, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Thu, May 16, 2024 




FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A hunter shooting a gun to kill a python? Forbidden.

What about freezing the snake to kill it? Prohibited.

A python run over by a car? Not allowed.

These types of killings have happened before, though rarely. So how is someone supposed to properly kill a snake in the Python Challenge, the state-led contest that sends hunters scouring the Everglades for them each year? Details about the deaths of nearly 1,000 hunted snakes come to light in records that document the state’s enforcement efforts.

The state records, reviewed by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, illustrate the many times snakes were properly captured and killed. And they also document the fraction of snakes that weren’t. The records, which date from 2013 to 2023, also show the agencies behind the tournament have kept adjusting the rules to stamp out fraud and keep any unethical snake slashing to a minimum.

There is vigilance to ensure snakes don’t suffer. And more rules could be on tap for the next upcoming challenge.

“We take the issue of humane treatment of all animals very, very seriously,” said Mike Kirkland, a senior invasive animal biologist with the South Florida Water Management District, which operates a python contractor program and assists with the state’s Python Challenge.

Here’s a closer look at the efforts.
A popular competition

The contest draws people from around the world to South Florida to kill Burmese pythons for sport. The state says the competition garners crucial awareness about the harm invasive pythons are causing to the Everglades. Last year, more than 1,000 hunters participated in the event.

Financial awards are in store for contest winners, including for the novice, professional and military competitors who catch the longest snakes.

A key concern always is if the snakes are humanely euthanized, which involves “pithing,” or the manual destruction of a python’s brain to limit any pain or suffering. Reptiles differ from mammals in how they express pain or suffering, in that reptiles do not respond to it much at all, at least not in obvious ways.

“A mammal might cry out, you know, if you have a dog or cat, it hurts its paw, it might limp or it might whimper,” Kirkland said. “Just like if I have a cold, I’ll complain to my wife all day long that I don’t feel well. But reptiles seem to be a little bit more stoic, and they don’t express themselves the same way.”

For a snake to be humanely euthanized, two critical steps must be taken.

The first is to render the reptile unconscious either through a shot to the head with a weapon such as a captive bolt or air gun.

The second step is where the pithing part comes in. A tool such as a screwdriver, pick or spike is jammed into the snake’s head to smash its brain, hardly an easy process.

Pythons “are very resilient animals,” Kirkland said. “Any connected brain tissue to the spinal column could mean that the animal is still conscious. So that’s why pithing as a secondary euthanasia method is required.”
Minding the rules

Hosting the contest has led to a team-up of many entities: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and South Florida Water Management District get assistance from the University of Florida. UF was first contracted and paid by SFWMD in 2013 to “provide science support,” said Frank Mazzotti, a UF wildlife ecology professor.

That’s because UF has “the staff and facilities and experience necessary to be the objective third-party experts for these events,” Kirkland added.

UF handles the necropsy examinations — how the python died — which “eliminates any concerns of a bias for any of the challenge participants,” Kirkland said. UF also determines metrics, such as the length of each snake captured, and from that information, contest winners are selected.

Prize determinations are conducted by the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida with the FWC and SFWMD, based on the data collected by UF, which informs of any potential issues, an FWC spokesperson wrote in an email.

Records from the FWC and UF — obtained by the Sun Sentinel in response to a public-records request — show that a system, often color coded, is employed to flag captured pythons for a range of actions that go against the rules, such as turning in snakes that haven’t been killed properly, snakes captured and killed outside of the contest boundaries, or snakes that are not pythons at all but rather native to the Everglades, such as a salt marsh snake. Some of these actions resulted in consequences, such as competitors being eliminated from the challenge, or pythons not counting toward the total contest sum.

Snakes may be flagged with various colors “based on the reason for potential elimination of the snakes or the contestant,” the records from 2021 state.

No one color-coded flagging system is the identical, though. Each year’s contest has seen a different iteration.

In 2021, three marks were given to three snakes that were killed by a firearm, which is prohibited.

In 2020, a hunter was eliminated from the challenge for freezing snakes, which is considered an inhumane method of euthanasia.

Pythons also cannot be hit by a car as a way to kill them, and in 2023, two marks were given to snakes that had been hit by a car — a “roadkill snake,” as the records note — and they were not included in the total python count.

“There’s been an evolution of the color schemes,” Mazzotti said. “There’s been an evolution of concerns over participant behavior. We’ve tried to get better every year.”
Documenting concerns

The state records highlight the scrutiny that dead snakes receive.

In one snake’s case in the 2023 contest, the level of its brain destruction was uncertain. Similar observations, some generating more gruesome imagery than others, were jotted down for other pythons, resulting in a range of marks, explaining why a competitor’s catch was flagged. “Skull destroyed beyond what would be expected. … Seemed a bit over the top,” one entry notes.

In 2023, of the 209 total pythons counted as being removed during the challenge, there were 40 snakes flagged, with 24 of the 40 receiving a mark for insufficient pithing.

In 2022, of the official 231 snakes removed for the challenge, about 40 of the nearly 100 that were flagged noted pithing issues.

And in 2021, of the 223 pythons counting toward the challenge, at least 40 of the more than 50 flagged snakes received notes about pithing issues or arriving to the check station still alive. Often, the observations about those pythons state they either were not pithed at all or if they were, the brain was not fully destroyed.

In 2020, a color-coded flagging system appears to exist, but it differs from the ones that succeed it. Marks were given for factors such as missing coordinates of a captured python and euthanasia by freezing.

Because the challenge did not become consecutive until 2020, the only two other challenges before then were in 2016 and 2013, when it does not appear to have color-coded systems to the same capacities as more recent years, but detailed notes about each submission and disqualifiers are still evident. And just because a snake was flagged did not mean it did not contribute to the challenge’s total python count; in most cases, it still counted toward the python tally.

The challenges’ rules, flagging systems and overall guidance have progressed throughout the years, Mazzotti said.

“There’s been a constant evolution, and as problems were recognized, we took steps to correct them,” he said.
Lessons learned

UF drafted summary reports at the conclusion of the competitions that offer a rundown on what happened and recommendations for the future.

For example, in the 2023 report, UF recommended “a detailed video demonstrating proper euthanasia techniques be made available to participants to provide a visual demonstration of humane euthanasia techniques, with particular focus on proper brain pithing.”

In 2021, UF recommended participants’ “vehicles be checked by the check station operator before entering and when exiting the approved search area to prevent snakes captured outside of the challenge time frame and hunt areas from being submitted.”

With the announcement of 2024’s challenge likely around the corner — last year’s was announced on May 24 — Mazzotti said UF and the other participating agencies will talk about the lessons learned from last year, if there are any new concerns and if regulations need to be more specific.

The goal is not to go on a disqualification spree. The challenge has been created with the intent of encouraging people to participate, Mazzotti said.

“We’re very flexible and very adaptive,” he said.

But disqualifications do still happen, especially if euthanasia standards are not met.

“It might have been in the past that individual snakes were disqualified but other entries were allowed by the same participant,” Kirkland said. “But if that was the case, it’s no longer the case. If one participant has a disqualified python because it didn’t meet the euthanasia standards as determined by the UF examiners, then that participant is disqualified from the entire event now.”

“Any disqualifications, though rare, just go to show how seriously we take the humane treatment of these invasive animals while simultaneously protecting our native wildlife.”
Serpent fraud?

Other marks throughout the years include incomplete data about where a snake was caught and when, turning in snakes still alive or turning in snakes that were captured and killed outside of the challenge.

“Say a month before the competition, you catch a 14-footer and you go, ‘Oh maybe I can win with this,’ ” Mazzotti said. “So you put it in the freezer.”

But for those potentially caught committing serpent fraud, the consequences could be grim. If a python contractor were to falsify information during the challenge, they could be kicked out of the challenge.

It’s unclear exactly how many python hunters or their catches have been eliminated. None of those behind the contest gave definitive figures on that aspect of enforcement.

If the hunters happen to be a part of the FWC or SFWMD’s python-elimination programs — which are efforts that run continually — they could be removed from those programs, too. SFWMD only has 50 contractor spots, and the agency gets 100 new applications every week, Kirkland said.

“If you’re going to try to cheat, per se, in any way, shape or form, that would be a very big risk to give up your privileges for one of the most coveted positions in the state,” Kirkland said.
‘I love pythons’

For those considering competing in the python challenges or a career in python hunting, SFWMD python elimination specialist Donna Kalil believes they should be free from common misconceptions about the activity.

People shouldn’t enter into this realm for money, if they think they’ll be slinging snakes every night or if they tend to be impatient. Poor vision might not be a great asset, either, she said.

Kalil, who has competed in all six python challenges and, as of last Wednesday, caught 863 pythons throughout her entire career as a hunter, said she lives a nearly nocturnal life hunting pythons four nights a week because she’s an environmentalist.

“If you don’t love being out there, you have no reason to be out looking for pythons because if you’re not finding them, you’re not going to enjoy your time,” she said.

Like many other python hunters and scientists, killing the animal is Kalil’s least favorite part.

“I love pythons. They’re beautiful,” she said. “Unfortunately they don’t belong there, through no fault of their own, but they don’t belong, and they’re causing so much havoc to our native species. … It’s one python to several 100 animals that it’s going to take out.”

“It’s not an easy thing to do,” she said.

Kenyan lawyers move to block police deployment to Haiti

Reuters
Updated Fri, May 17, 2024

NAIROBI (Reuters) -Kenyan lawyers have moved to block the country's planned deployment of police to Haiti, a court filing showed, days before officers are expected to arrive in the Caribbean nation to tackle spiralling violence there.

The High Court on Friday ordered the lawsuit be served to top government officials and that the case be heard on June 12, it said in a statement.

Responding to Haiti's appeal for assistance, Kenya offered last July to send 1,000 officers to Haiti to help tackle a worsening security crisis where escalating gang control has plunged millions into a humanitarian crisis.

However, Kenya's High Court ruled in January that the police officers could not be deployed to Haiti in the absence of a "reciprocal arrangement" with the host government.

Kenyan President William Ruto then signed a security deal with Haiti's then-prime minister Ariel Henry in March which Nairobi hoped would satisfy the court's objections and allow the deployment to go ahead.

Lawyers Ekuru Aukot and Miruru Waweru, who lead an opposition party in Kenya called Thirdway Alliance, said in their application to the High Court on Thursday that respondents including Ruto and the police had blatantly disobeyed the court order in signing the reciprocal instrument with Haiti.

They said the government would be in contempt of court if it pressed ahead with the deployment.

"The applicants are reliably informed that the impugned deployment may be done any time from now," the lawyers said in their application.

Ruto's spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the application.

Kenya's government said in March it was pausing the deployment following Henry's resignation. But Ruto said later that the swearing-in of a transition council in Haiti on April 25 had addressed concerns about a power vacuum there and that Kenya was now discussing how to proceed with its deployment.

Last week, the U.S. military's Southern Command said civilian contractors had arrived in Haiti to build living quarters for the Kenyan-led force.

Jamaica, the Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Bangladesh have also pledged personnel to the force.

Foreign governments have been reluctant to take part in the mission. Many Haitians have also been wary of international interventions after previous U.N. missions left behind a devastating cholera epidemic and sex abuse scandals.

(Reporting by Humphrey Malalo; writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Hereward Holland, Clarence Fernandez and Gareth Jones)

‘The gangs are in charge’: Haiti’s outgunned police fight a desperate rear defence

Etienne Côté-Paluck in Port-au-Prince and Tom Phillips
Thu, May 16, 2024 

Haitian police patrol the capital, Port-au-Prince. The police union says 17 officers have been killed and ‘many’ wounded in the first four months of 2024.Photograph: Mentor David Lorens/EPA


Nine hours and countless bullets after gunmen began bombarding Stanley’s police station in Port-au-Prince, the twentysomething officer started fearing he would not make it out alive.

“If you don’t hear from me, it’s because I’m dead,” he wrote on a family WhatsApp group by way of goodbye.

The officer’s sister shivered as she read her sibling’s parting text and – when he didn’t answer her messages – rang one of his closest friends desperate for news. “I’m going out of my mind,” she sobbed.

Contrary to his prediction, Stanley* did survive the recent assault on his fortress-like base but was left badly shaken. “What scared me the most was the idea of a needless death – that I might die and it would change nothing,” the police officer said as heavily armed gangs continued to sow terror in Haiti’s capital despite the creation of a transitional government that is supposed to lead the country out of its latest crisis.

Other members of Haiti’s embattled national police force have not been so lucky in the face of a coordinated gang insurrection that began in late February and has plunged Port-au-Prince into anarchy and forced the prime minister to resign.

Lionel Lazarre, the spokesperson for Haiti’s police union Synapoha, said 17 officers had been killed and “many” wounded – mostly by gunshots – in the first four months of this year.

In the worst attack, five officers were killed when armed criminals stormed a police station in the city’s north on 29 February. Videos of the mutilated victims spread on social media, the newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported. In one, it wrote, “the corpse of a policeman is seen lying on a wheelbarrow, his uniform soaked in blood”. Another shows an officer being beheaded. In a brazen show of defiance, criminals later returned to the station to demolish it with a Chinese front-end loader.

“It’s clear the [previous] government failed in its security mission. Everyone says the police are overwhelmed by the recent events,” said Lazarre. “There are neighbourhoods we used to go into easily but no longer can.”

Related: Guns and weapons trafficked from US fueling Haiti gang violence

William O’Neill, the UN’s top expert on human rights in Haiti, voiced amazement that Haiti’s outgunned and under-resourced police force had avoided being completely overpowered by criminals boasting a military-grade arsenal, largely smuggled in from the US. “It’s a minor miracle they’re still hanging on. I don’t know how they do it,” said O’Neill, who believes Haiti needs a 5,000-strong international security force to help the police restore order.

A UN-backed “multinational security support mission”, reportedly led by 1,000 Kenyan troops, is expected to be deployed to Haiti in the coming weeks to bolster the fight against the gangs although questions remain over how the force will be funded.

Part of the answer to how Haitian police are clinging on lies in the mettle of officers such as Stanley who are on the frontline of a lopsided struggle against gangs that run about 80% of the capital. For their troubles such officers generally receive no more than $100 (£79) a week.

That measly salary earns them a front row seat to a security collapse that has seen more than 2,500 people killed or injured this year alone and forced the airport and seaport to close.

Last weekend, another 4,500 people were forced to flee their homes in the capital, according to the UN migration agency, taking the number of people displaced by the chaos to about 100,000.

“The gangs are in charge,” admitted one former senior security official who believed things were so dire combat drones should be imported to eliminate gang leaders from above, “like in Afghanistan”.

A spokesperson for another police union, SPNH-17, this week called for the head of Haiti’s national police, Frantz Elbé, to resign over the “critical and catastrophic” situation after another attack on a police station, accusing top police officials of being complicit with the gangs.

Peter, another Port-au-Prince cop in his mid-20s, recalled being ambushed during a recent patrol by fighters with assault rifles. “It seemed like bullets were coming from everywhere at the same time,” said the police officer, who fled his vehicle with three colleagues and took shelter beside walls and street lamps.

The officers managed to repel the assailants after a long shootout but one was injured and taken to hospital. After the gun battle, Peter returned to his bullet-riddled vehicle and continued patrolling but he spent the next fortnight off work, rattled by the near-death experience.

“I realised it could have been me who was injured or even killed,” he said. “Thank God it wasn’t me that day … I still haven’t told my mother.”

Lazarre admitted Haiti’s national police force was woefully ill-equipped for its battle against outlaws who flaunt their increasingly sophisticated arsenal in slick social media videos resembling those posted by Mexican cartels.

“If the police had more weapons they could respond better to the criminals,” said Lazarre. “The police is about to celebrate its 29th anniversary but they don’t even have one or two helicopters to fight the current battle.”

Peter said a lack of basic equipment meant some colleagues bought their own bulletproof vests or armour plates, shipping them to Haiti with the logistics company DHL. In the last three years, more than 3,000 officers have left their jobs as the security situation unravelled after the 2021 murder of President Jovenel Moïse. Many have abandoned the country altogether.

Haiti’s police have faced criticism for disappearing from the streets of Port-au-Prince since the rebellion began and abandoning citizens to their own fate. But the union spokesperson said officers were doing their best to fight back, “even though times are tough”.

Lazarre called for more “offensive action” to regain the initiative from armed groups. “When you’re in a football team, you can’t just defend. You have to attack too … You can’t play a 90-minute game just defending. Eventually, you’ll let in a goal.”

Stanley and Peter said they were determined to fight on and were proud to be part of Haiti’s police force, despite the dangers. “We are the armed arm of the citizens. We are their shield,” said Stanley.

But in a city now almost entirely controlled by criminals, the shadow of death was never far away, said Peter, who is his household’s sole breadwinner. “And when a policeman dies in service what’s left for the family?” he asked.

*Names have been changed to protect their identities


Haiti's crisis rises to the forefront of elections in neighboring Dominican Republic

MARTÍN ADAMES ALCÁNTARA and MEGAN JANETSKY
Thu, May 16, 2024

VERON, Dominican Republic (AP) — As soaring violence and political turmoil grip neighboring Haiti, the Dominican Republic will hold elections Sunday that have been defined by calls for more crackdowns on migrants and finishing a border wall dividing the countries.

Politics in the two Caribbean nations sharing the island of Hispaniola have long been intertwined. Haiti’s spiral into chaos in recent years has coincided with a harsh crackdown by its Dominican neighbor.

President Luis Abinader, a clear frontrunner race as he seeks reelection in the presidential race, has begun to build a Trump-like border wall along Haiti’s border and carried out mass deportations of 175,000 Haitians just last year. Dominicans also will be choosing members of Congress.

“We will continue to deport everyone who is illegal from any country,” Abinader said in a debate in late April. “A society that doesn’t do that is chaos and anarchy.”

Abinader, who has also pledged to strengthen the nation’s economy, said he would finish construction of the border wall with Haiti. His closest competitors – former President Leonel Fernández and Santiago Mayor Abel Martínez – have echoed his calls to ramp up the actions against migration.

The crackdown has marked an intensification of longtime policies by the Dominican government that human rights groups have alleged are discriminatory and put vulnerable people at risk.

Fernández, of the People’s Force party, said Dominicans were “afraid to go out into the streets" despite Abinader's policies. He also said he would continue crackdowns while respecting human rights.

Dominican voters seem to be rewarding Abinader for the crackdown, with the incumbent favored to get more than the 50% support needed to win in the first round of voting. If no candidate reaches the 50% mark a runoff between the top vote-getters would be held.

Ana Pagán, a 34-year-old supervisor at a communications company in the country's capital of Santo Domingo, said she approved of the border wall being built and the measures taken by the government.

“No foreigner who wants to stay here in the Dominican Republic should do so illegally, and that's what (the government) has said," she said.

However, Pagán said the wall doesn't solve all of the country's issues, and she referred to what have been the other key electoral issues for Dominicans: crime and endemic corruption. Pagán said many of the country's security problems come from corrupt officials allowing smuggling and other crimes.

While Dominican voters want continued a government crackdown on migrants, many of the hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the Dominican Republic live in fear.

Haiti, long stricken by tragedy, has been in a downward spiral since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Gangs have warred for power, injecting terror and turmoil into the lives of many in the Caribbean nation.

In recent weeks – following the prime minister's resignation – a transition council tasked with choosing Haiti's new leaders has offered a small dose of hope of easing some of the country's many woes.

The ongoing violence has forced many to flee their homes and seek refuge in places like the Dominican Republic and the United States. The Dominican government's policies have stirred concerns among both newly arrived migrants and Haitians that have long called the Dominican Republic home.

Yani Rimpel, a 35-year-old Haitian businesswoman in the eastern city of Veron, has lived in the country for 20 years. She told the AP she’s never seen such uncertainty among Haitian communities, something she attributes to Abinader’s migratory policy.

Two weeks ago, she said immigration agents broke into her house at dawn with heavily armed soldiers in tow. She said they searched the house and stole cash she saved up to buy and sell merchandise, leaving her without any means to support herself.

“If (Abinader) stays in power, I can’t live here. I’m going to have to move back to my house in Haiti. Because here I have no value. I’m not safe. I don’t have a way to live here if he continues” as president, she said.

——

Megan Janetsky reported from Mexico City.

Dominican Republic Election
Friends and family fuss over a quinceañera in preparation for her photo session at Colon square in the Zona Colonial neighborhood of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Dominicans head to the polls on Sunday, May 19th to elect a new president and members of their Congress. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Justice Dept makes arrests in North Korean identity theft scheme involving thousands of IT workers

ERIC TUCKER
Thu, May 16, 2024 

 The Justice Department has announced three arrests in a complex stolen identity scheme that officials say generates enormous proceeds for the North Korean government, including for its weapons program. 


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Thursday announced the arrest of three people in a complex stolen identity scheme that officials say generates enormous proceeds for the North Korean government, including for its weapons program.

The scheme involves thousands of North Korean information technology workers who prosecutors say are dispatched by the government to live abroad and who rely on the stolen identities of Americas to obtain remote employment at U.S.-based Fortune 500 companies, jobs that give them access to sensitive corporate data and lucrative paychecks.

Officials say the fraud is a way for heavily sanctioned North Korea, which is cut off from the U.S. financial system, to take advantage of a high-tech labor shortage in the U.S. and the proliferation of remote telework.

“More and more often, compliance programs at American companies and organizations are on the front lines of protecting our national security,” Marshall Miller, the Justice Department's principal associate deputy attorney general, said in an interview. "Corporate compliance and national security are now intertwined like never before.”

The Justice Department says the conspiracy has affected more than 300 companies — including a high-end retail chain and “premier Silicon Valley technology company” — and generated more than $6.8 million in revenue for the workers, who are based outside of the U.S., including in China and Russia.

The three people arrested include an Arizona woman, Cristina Marie Chapman, who prosecutors say facilitated the scheme by helping the workers obtain and validate stolen identities, receiving laptops from U.S. companies who thought they were sending the devices to legitimate employees and helping the workers connect remotely to the company.

The other two defendants include a Ukrainian man, Oleksandr Didenko, who prosecutors say created fake accounts at job search platforms and was arrested in Poland last week, and a Vietnamese national, Minh Phuong Vong, who was arrested Thursday in Maryland on charges of fraudulently obtaining a job at a U.S. company that was actually performed by remote workers who posed as him and were based overseas.

It was not immediately clear if any of the three had lawyers.

Separately, the State Department said it was offering a reward for information about certain North Korean IT workers.

The FBI, which conducted the investigations, issued a public service announcement that warned companies about the scheme, encouraging them to implement identity verification standards through the hiring process and to educate human resources staff and hiring managers about the threat.

A massive remote-work scam fooled 300 US companies into hiring North Koreans, prosecutors say

Joshua Zitser
Fri, May 17, 2024 




An Arizona woman is accused of aiding North Koreans in securing US remote-work jobs.


They gained employment at Fortune 500 companies, including a TV network and a Silicon Valley firm.


Prosecutors say the scheme involved 300+ companies and led to $7 million being sent to North Korea.

An Arizona woman has been accused of aiding North Koreans in securing remote-work jobs in the US and funneling their wages back to North Korea, which is subject to US sanctions, according to federal prosecutors.

The US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia announced in a press release on Thursday that Christina Marie Chapman, 49, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with nine counts, including conspiracy to defraud the US.

According to prosecutors, the scheme began sometime in 2020 and used the stolen identities of about 60 US citizens.

They said it impacted more than 300 companies and generated more than $6.8 million in revenue, which was sent back to North Korea.

In the charging document, prosecutors allege that Chapman facilitated overseas IT workers posing as Americans using the stolen or borrowed identities of US citizens.

Chapman was first approached in March 2020 by an unknown individual asking her if she wanted to be the "US face" of their company, according to a recently unsealed indictment against Chapman and three North Korean citizens.

According to prosecutors, the scheme saw overseas workers apply for remote jobs at well-known US companies, including Fortune 500 companies.

These included a major television network, a leading Silicon Valley tech company, an aerospace manufacturer, and an American carmaker, the indictment said.

According to the indictment, the workers used IP addresses to make it appear that they were operating from Chapman's house and within the US.

Prosecutors said that Chapman received and forged payroll checks and that the wages of the foreign workers were paid into her bank account.

They added that much of the income, though to be at least $6.8 million, was falsely reported to the IRS and Social Security Administration under the names of US citizens whose identities were stolen or borrowed.

In exchange, prosecutors said in the indictment that Chapman charged the workers monthly fees for her services.

An attorney for Chapman was not listed in court documents.

In a separate criminal complaint, unsealed on Thursday, a Ukrainian man, Oleksandr Didenko, was also accused of operating "laptop farms."

In the press release, Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, said that these charges should serve as a "wake-up call" for American companies employing remote IT workers.

In 2016, the US passed the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act, which aimed to improve the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea.

It cut North Korea from the US financial system, which led to various schemes to try to circumvent it.

The assistant director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, Kevin Vorndran, said in the press release that although the allegations may seem like "typical white-collar" crime, they represent a broader trend.

He described it as a "new high-tech campaign to evade US sanctions, victimize US businesses, and steal US identities."

3 North Koreans infiltrated US companies in 'staggering' alleged telework fraud: DOJ

ALEXANDER MALLIN
Thu, May 16, 2024

The Justice Department on Thursday unsealed an indictment charging three North Korean workers and a United States citizen with allegedly engaging in "staggering fraud" through a complex scheme where they secured illicit work with a number of U.S. companies and government agencies.

The indictment against the North Korean IT workers -- using the aliases Jiho Han, Chunji Jin and Haoran Xu -- alleges the group used fraudulent identities belonging to 60 real Americans to secure telework positions between October 2020 and 2023 that ultimately generated nearly $7 million in profits for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Prosecutors further allege the group was assisted by U.S. national Christina Chapman in their efforts to obtain remote work positions, who they accuse of stationing laptops belonging to U.S. companies at various residences that the North Koreans were then able to access. She also allegedly received paychecks for the group and forged signatures of the intended beneficiaries in order to transfer the funds into her bank, later transferring the funds to the North Koreans while charging them monthly fees for her services, the indictment alleges.

"The conspiracy perpetrated a staggering fraud on a multitude of industries, at the expense of generally unknowing U.S. companies and persons," the indictment read. "It impacted more than 300 U.S. companies, compromised the identities of U.S. persons, caused false information to be conveyed to DHS [Department Of Homeland Security] on more than 100 occasions, created false tax liabilities for more than 35 U.S. persons, and resulted in at least $6.8 million of revenue for the overseas IT workers."

Included among the companies allegedly defrauded in the scheme are a "top-5 national television network and media company, a premier Silicon Valley technology company, an aerospace and defense manufacturer, an iconic American car manufacturer, a high-end retail chain, and one of the most recognizable media and entertainment companies in the world, all of which were Fortune 500 companies," according to the indictment.

The workers also allegedly attempted to gain employment and access to information at two unnamed U.S. government agencies on three different occasions, according to the indictment, though those attempts were identified and thwarted.

The three North Koreans are still at large, according to the DOJ. Chapman was arrested Wednesday in Arizona, according to a release from the Justice Department. She did not immediately have an attorney listed for her.

The State Department announced in a statement Thursday it is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information on the IT workers and the full-scale disruption of their scheme.

3 North Koreans, 1 American accused by DOJ of ‘staggering fraud’ involving Fortune 500 companies

Nick Robertson
Thu, May 16, 2024 

A trio of North Koreans and an American are accused of a “staggering” fraud scheme in a Justice Department indictment unsealed Thursday that accused them of operating a complex operation securing work with multiple major American corporations and government agencies.

The North Korean tech workers, known under the aliases Jiho Han, Chunji Jin and Haoran Xu, are accused of using the stolen identities of 60 Americans to get remote work jobs across the country, with the hope of funneling cash and information back to North Korea.

Taking advantage of remote work, the North Koreans would juggle multiple jobs at a time, with the employers believing their new hire was an American. The work, between October 2020 and last year, garnered about $7 million for the North Korean government.

“The conspiracy perpetrated a staggering fraud on a multitude of industries, at the expense of generally unknowing U.S. companies and persons,” the indictment read. “It impacted more than 300 U.S. companies, compromised the identities of U.S. persons, caused false information to be conveyed to DHS [Department of Homeland Security] on more than 100 occasions, created false tax liabilities for more than 35 U.S. persons, and resulted in at least $6.8 million of revenue for the overseas IT workers.”

The group was allegedly aided by American citizen Christina Chapman, who the Justice Department said worked as an intermediary between the workers and the companies and forged checks to transfer their salaries to North Korea.

The companies that fell victim to the scheme were not specifically named, but included a “top five” television network, a Silicon Valley tech firm, an aerospace manufacturer, an “iconic” American car company, a high-end retail chain and “one of the most recognizable media and entertainment companies in the world, all of which were Fortune 500 companies,” according to the indictment.

The three North Koreans also attempted to use the stolen identities to work for and access information at two unnamed federal agencies, though those attempts were unsuccessful, the indictment said.

The State Department announced a $5 million bounty on Thursday for information leading to the arrest of the North Koreans. Chapman was arrested Wednesday in Arizona.

Chapman was charged with nine felonies, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S.


Arizona woman indicted for role in alleged North Korea scheme: DOJ

Kenneth Wong
Thu, May 16, 2024 

(U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Gustavo Castillo/Released)

PHOENIX - Officials with the U.S. Justice Department say they are prosecuting five people, including a woman from Arizona, for their alleged role in a North Korean scheme "to place overseas information technology (IT) workers—posing as U.S. citizens and residents—in remote positions at U.S. companies."

"As alleged in the court documents, DPRK has dispatched thousands of skilled IT workers around the world, who used stolen or borrowed U.S. persons’ identities to pose as domestic workers, infiltrate domestic companies’ networks, and raise revenue for North Korea," a statement released on May 16 reads. DPRK stands for North Korea's official name: Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Watch FOX 10 Phoenix Live

The Arizonan who is being prosecuted has been identified as 49-year-old Christina Marie Chapman of Litchfield Park. She was arrested on Wednesday. Four other people were also indicted, including 27-year-old Oleksandr Didenko of Kyiv, Ukraine, and three John Does who were identified by their aliases: Jiho Han, Haoran Xu, and Chunji Jin. The three were named as Chapman's co-conspirators.

"Chapman and her co-conspirators’ scheme defrauded U.S. companies across myriad industries, including multiple well-known Fortune 500 companies, U.S. banks, and other financial service providers. The identities of more than 60 U.S. persons were compromised and used by IT workers related to Chapman’s cell," the statement reads. "Chapman also allegedly conspired with the John Doe defendants to commit money laundering by conducting financial transactions under aliases to receive money generated by the scheme and transfer those funds outside of the United States, in an attempt to hide that these were proceeds of the IT workers’ fraud."

Chapman, authorities say, is accused of committing multiple offenses, including various fraud and identity theft-related offenses. If convicted, she faces up to 97.5 years in prison.

Texas Democrat accuses Abbott of ‘alliance with white nationalists’ over pardon

Miranda Nazzaro
Thu, May 16, 2024

Texas Democrat accuses Abbott of ‘alliance with white nationalists’ over pardon

Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro (Texas) on Thursday accused Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) of having an “alliance with white nationalists” after he pardoned an Army sergeant who was previously convicted for shooting and killing a Black Lives Matter (BLM) protester in 2020.

“Before Daniel Perry murdered a veteran in 2020, he told a friend he ‘might go to Dallas to shoot looters.’ A year before, he wrote, ‘to [sic] bad we can’t get paid for hunting Muslims,'” Castro wrote in a statement Thursday. “Governor Abbott’s alliance with white nationalists is putting dangerous people on our streets.”

The remarks came shortly after Abbott announced Thursday he issued a pardon for Daniel Perry, who was found guilty in April of last year in the death of Garrett Foster during a July 2020 protest in Austin, Texas.

Perry, who is white and worked as an Uber driver at the time of the incident, had dropped a passenger off in downtown Austin and tried to move his car through a crowd of demonstrators when he said Foster, who was legally armed with an AK-47, aimed his rifle at him.

Perry, who was also legally carrying a gun, fired at Foster, claiming he feared for his life.

He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, angering conservatives who argued he acted out of self-defense. Abbott subsequently asked the state’s parole board to review Perry’s case.

The board, appointed by Abbott, handed down a unanimous recommendation to pardon Perry, prompting the governor’s Thursday proclamation.

Perry will be granted a full pardon and “restoration of full civil rights of citizenship” as part of Abbott’s proclamation.

Prosecutors argued Foster did not raise a gun, pointing to eyewitness accounts that dispute Perry’s claims. Documents released last year showed Perry also shared racist content in private messages, including one where he likened BLM protesters to monkeys.

“I am a racist because I do not agree with people acting like animals at the zoo,” he wrote. “I was on the side” of the protesters, he said, until they “started with the looting and the violence.”

Other messages included white supremacist memes and Perry discussing the prospect of traveling to Dallas to shoot “looters.”

Castro has served Texas’s 20th Congressional District since 2013, representing about half of San Antonio, located about 80 miles outside of Austin.

The Hill reached out to Abbott’s office for comment.

Murderer who called BLM protestors "monkeys" pardoned by Abbott

Griffin Eckstein

NEW REPUBLIC
Thu, May 16, 2024 

Greg Abbott James Manning/PA Images via Getty Images


Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday pardoned convicted killer Daniel Perry, who shot a protestor during a Black Lives Matter demonstration.

Perry, who in 2020 murdered 28-year-old Black Lives Matter protester and Air Force veteran Garrett Foster, was released shortly following the order, which came after a parole board recommendation and significant far-right support for the convicted killer.

Perry killed Foster — who walked up to Perry’s car with a permitted firearm to warn him, as he allegedly attempted to drive his car into a crowd of protestors — after sending scores of racist text messages, including one noting that he “might have to kill a few” demonstrators, and another calling Black Lives Matter demonstrators “monkeys.”

Yet, Abbott instructed his state’s parole board to justify a commutation of Perry’s sentence over a year ago, as Texas law requires a recommendation from the body. Per the three-member parole board appointed by the Texas governor, the 25-year sentence and a ban on gun ownership were overturned unanimously.

“Texas has one of the strongest 'Stand Your Ground' laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,” Abbott said in a statement announcing the release of Perry. “I thank the Board for its thorough investigation, and I approve their pardon recommendation."

Perry’s self-defense argument, which failed to convince jurors after eyewitness testimony that Foster didn’t draw a weapon before being killed, and evidence that Foster had the safety on and no ammunition in the gun was presented by prosecutors, was the crux of the parole board's findings.

Perry isn’t the first extremist to walk free after killing demonstrators. In 2021, Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty of homicide after killing two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin, claiming self defense. Rittenhouse, 17 at the time of the killings, rode the national attention from the killings into a de-facto position as a defender of right-wing violence, calling for Perry’s pardon.

Opinion
Greg Abbott’s Pardon of Daniel Perry Includes a Dark Detail

Talia Jane

NEW REPUBLIC
Thu, May 16, 2024 


On Thursday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott approved a full pardon for Daniel Perry, an Uber driver who shot and killed anti–police brutality protester Garrett Foster in 2020. Perry was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a Texas state district court judge in May 2023.

But that’s not all that came with the pardon. In a disturbing move, Abbott also restored Perry’s firearm rights.

“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,” Abbott said in a statement announcing the pardon.

Abbott, a far-right governor who has openly feuded with the federal government about migrants and LGBTQ+ rights—and sent swarms of state troopers to violently clear college Gaza solidarity encampments—has sought to pardon Perry since he was convicted.

Stand Your Ground laws were popularized and brought into law by conservative legislators following the vigilante murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012. The laws serve to negate “duty to retreat,” which are contrasting sets of laws prohibiting the use of deadly force in situations where a person could reasonably flee to safety.

In 2020, at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests that year, Perry encountered a protest while driving for Uber in Austin, Texas. According to Austin police, Perry stopped his car, honking at the protesters, before driving his car into the march. Perry then shot Garrett Foster, who was legally open-carrying an AK-47 while pushing his fiancée’s wheelchair. Perry’s attorneys argued Foster raised his rifle at Perry and he acted in self-defense, but witness testimony and video from the march disputed these claims. After his murder conviction, messages and posts by Perry self-identifying as “a racist” and wanting to “go to Dallas to shoot looters” were released to the public.

Abbott pushed to secure a pardon for Perry immediately after he was sentenced, directing the parole board to review the case the day after the 2023 verdict. Abbott’s pardon was announced almost immediately after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended it, The Texas Tribune reported Thursday.

Former US Army sergeant released from prison after Gov. Abbott pardons him for 2020 fatal Black Lives Matter protest shooting

Emma Tucker, Ed Lavandera and Ashley Killough, CNN
Fri, May 17, 2024 


Daniel Perry, a former US Army sergeant who was convicted of murdering a protester at a Black Lives Matter rally in 2020, was released from prison Thursday after he was pardoned by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Abbott’s decision comes after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted unanimously Thursday to recommend a full pardon and the restoration of firearm rights for Perry, who was sentenced last year to 25 years in prison. Shortly after he was pardoned, Perry was released from Texas Department of Criminal Justice custody, a spokesperson for the agency told CNN.

Abbott asked the board to conduct an investigation in April 2023, and in a statement on Thursday, the board said its “investigative efforts encompassed a meticulous review of pertinent documents, from police reports to court records, witness statements, and interviews with individuals linked to the case.”


Perry faced between five and 99 years in prison for fatally shooting 28-year-old Air Force veteran Garrett Foster at an Austin, Texas, racial justice rally two months after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Shortly after Perry’s conviction in April 2023, Abbott said he wanted to pardon Perry and issued an unusual request for the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to expedite a review of the case before a sentence was handed down.

“Among the voluminous files reviewed by the Board, they considered information provided by the Travis County District Attorney, the full investigative report on Daniel Perry, plus a review of all the testimony provided at trial,” Abbott said in a statement.

“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney. I thank the Board for its thorough investigation, and I approve their pardon recommendation,” Abbott said.

The governor can only pardon Perry if the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends it, according to Texas law.

Foster’s mother, Sheila Foster, said she learned of the pardon from a social media post by the governor and couldn’t believe it.

“Everything that has happened is wrong on so many levels, and I don’t understand why,” Sheila Foster told CNN’s Laura Coates Thursday. “It is so crystal clear to me that this man needs to be in prison for the rest of his life – not a mere 25 years. Why he wouldn’t even have to serve a year? I don’t understand.”

Doug O’Connell, an attorney for Perry, said in a statement his client is “thrilled” to be free and thanked Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole.

“I spoke with Daniel this afternoon. He is thrilled and elated to be free. Daniel is also optimistic for his future,” O’Connell said in a statement obtained by CNN. “He wishes that this tragic event never happened and wishes he never had to defend himself against Mr. Foster’s unlawful actions. At the same time, Daniel recognizes that the Foster family is grieving. We are anxious to see Daniel reunited with his family and loved ones.”

Prosecutors said Perry, who was stationed at Fort Hood, initiated the fatal encounter when he ran a red light and drove his vehicle into a crowd gathered at the protest. Foster was openly carrying an assault-style rifle – legal in Texas – and approached Perry’s car and motioned for him to lower his window, at which point Perry fatally shot him with a handgun, prosecutors said.

“Today, a convicted murderer will walk the streets of Texas. Texas Republicans have once again proven that they cannot keep the public safe, they are not the party of ‘tough on crime,’ and they are not the party of ‘law and order,’” Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement responding to the pardon.

He added: “Make no mistake: Daniel Perry is a murderer who was on a mission to commit violence against Texans, and today our justice system was hijacked for political gain.”

In a statement on Thursday, Foster’s former fiancée, Whitney Mitchell, said she is “heartbroken by this lawlessness,” adding Abbott has shown that “only certain lives matter.”

“He has made us all less safe. Daniel Perry texted his friends about plans to murder a protestor he disagreed with,” she said. “After a lengthy trial, with an abundance of evidence, 12 impartial Texans determined he that he carried out that plan, and murdered the love of my life.”

“With this pardon, the Governor has desecrated the life of a murdered Texan, impugned that jury’s just verdict, and declared that citizens can be killed with impunity as long as they hold political views that are different from those in power,” Mitchell said.

During Perry’s sentencing hearing last May, the prosecution asked that he be sentenced to at least 25 years in prison. They highlighted a stream of racist and inflammatory social media posts Perry wrote prior to the shooting and the defense’s own analysis of his mental disorders and mindset.

“This man is a loaded gun ready to go off on any perceived threat that he thinks he has to address in his black and white world and his us versus them mentality,” a prosecutor said.

Perry’s defense team asked for a sentence of 10 years, citing his lack of criminal history, his psychological issues, including complex post-traumatic stress disorder, and praise from several of his military colleagues.

They argued his actions were justified as self-defense. Perry told police during an interview that he believed Foster was going to aim the firearm at him, according to CNN affiliate KEYE.

Foster’s mother was “in shock” after learning of Abbott’s pardon, according to Quentin Brogdon, the family’s former attorney who spoke with the mother on Thursday.

“To say that she is devastated is an understatement,” Brogdon told CNN in a phone interview.

The family had pursued a civil case against Perry but dropped the case after he was convicted last year, satisfied with the jury “holding him accountable,” Brogdon said, adding the family will be considering any possible legal avenues but the prospects are “grim.”

“It’s hard to believe that the issuance of this pardon does not have some kind of political motivation,” Brogdon said, citing Abbott’s involvement in the case after conservative commentators criticized Perry’s conviction last year.
Perry diagnosed with complex PTSD and autism

For the defense, Greg Hupp, a forensic psychologist who examined Perry twice in 2023, testified during his sentencing he diagnosed him with complex post-traumatic stress disorder and autism spectrum disorder.

Combined with his military experience, Perry had an “us versus them” mentality in which his mindset was, “I protect myself. I am ready for any imminent attack and anything out there can be a potential threat,” Hupp said.

On cross-examination, the prosecution noted that military records did not indicate either of these psychological issues.

During Perry’s sentencing, Mitchell testified through tears how her life had changed since his death.

Mitchell is a quadruple amputee and said Foster had been her sole caretaker for the past 11 years, helping her get ready for the day, eat and work as a costume designer. They had bought a house in Austin together, and she said it’s difficult to stay there without him.

“It’s hard every day that I’m there. It’s hard to sleep in my bed because he’s not there,” she said. “He was my main caregiver for 11 years and I’ve had friends who have been taking care of me and have to learn how to do all that stuff that Garrett was doing for me for a decade, and it’s hard because I had to get comfortable being vulnerable.”
Perry made comments on social media about killing protesters, documents show

Documents related to the case that were unsealed by a Travis County judge following Perry’s conviction show he had a yearslong history of making racist comments in messages and social media posts.

In a Facebook message from May 2020, just weeks before the shooting, Perry told a friend he “might have to kill a few people” who were rioting outside his apartment. The documents also contain a May 2020 text sent by Perry that said, “I might go to Dallas to shoot looters.” Some messages included “white power” memes.

Perry wrote in a 2019 message that it was “to bad we can’t get paid for hunting Muslims in Europe.”

In a June 1, 2020, social media comment, Perry compared the Black Lives Matter movement to “a zoo full of monkeys that are freaking out flinging their sh*t,” the documents show.

Clint Broden, Perry’s attorney, criticized the release of the documents in a statement to CNN, calling it a political decision by prosecutors.

CNN’s Eric Levenson, Lucy Kafanov, Joe Sutton and Nouran Salahieh contributed to this report.

Three-quarters of Texans think ‘extreme conservative agenda’ has captured state, poll finds

Saul Elbein
Thu, May 16, 2024 

Three-quarters of Texans think ‘extreme conservative agenda’ has captured state, poll finds

Conservative Republicans’ attacks on gun control, abortion and climate-friendly investing practices are deeply unpopular — and costing Texas billions of dollars, according to a new poll.

The findings by progressive advocacy group Unlocking America’s Future (UAF) included a survey that found that nearly three-quarters of Texans said they believe their state has lost focus on pressing problems in favor of “an extreme conservative agenda.”

The survey shows that “Texans do not support leaders who ignore real issues to push an extreme agenda, and we’re seeing that trend nationally,” Kyle Herrig, a spokesperson for UAF, told The Hill.


An accompanying report argues that a conservative crackdown on policies such as climate-friendly investing is throwing the brakes on the state’s booming economy.

“Every time lawmakers pass an extreme right-wing law, they send the message to businesses and investors that Texas is closed for business. Take your millions elsewhere,” its authors wrote.

“Whatever your outlook on what once led to the ‘Texas Miracle’ – today, it is under threat.”

The idea of the Texas Miracle was born after the 2008 recession, when the financial crisis that left mass layoffs and deserted housing tracts across the Sun Belt broke against the energy boom and “the de facto industrial policy” of then-Gov. Rick Perry (R), as one journalist told The Texas Tribune.

That policy, for example, laid the groundwork for Texas’s nation-leading renewables industry, which was established under Republican rule.

Over the past three years, however, Republican leaders including Perry’s successor, Gov. Greg Abbott, or Attorney General Ken Paxton, have told a different story of Texas’s economic success: that it relies on the unchecked ability of the fossil fuel and firearms industries to access capital.

“As Attorney General, my job is to uphold state law and ensure that Texas remains a friendly state for companies to do business—including those that produce the energy we depend on and the firearms that secure our safety and freedom,” Paxton wrote last year.

Since 2021, Abbott, Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) have gone to war against financial firms they accuse of boycotting fossil fuels or firearms.

As part of this strategy, the state has barred state and local governments from doing business with 14 major banks that have policies around ultimately divesting from coal, oil or gas — the burning of which is the principal contributor to heating the planet.

These include UBS Group, Danske Bank and Societe Generale — companies that have been selling off their fossil fuel assets over the past several years, although they still hold billions.

The UAF poll suggests these findings are broadly unpopular; more than three-quarters of respondents said the Texas government shouldn’t be doing business with companies with bad environmental or workplace safety measures.

The report by the progressive group also echoed findings by the Texas Association of Business that state policies targeting banks with a policy of avoiding investment in guns or oil had cost local governments $700 million per year and more than 3,000 statewide jobs.

Those fees could cost the state another $22 billion by midcentury, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Meanwhile, a report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that lack of abortion access had driven more than 93,000 women out of the state labor force — costing $23 billion per year.

Finally, there is the heavy financial cost to the state of gun violence — about $53 billion per year, according to advocacy group EveryStat.

Of the voters surveyed by UAF, wide majorities disapprove of GOP-proposed abortion bans, book bans and rollbacks of permits for handguns.

Over his career, Abbott has taken in nearly $53 million from the energy industry, followed by $13 million for Patrick and $5 million for Paxton — making energy the largest donor for all three, according to data from the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

About 77 percent of Texans surveyed — and 62 percent of Republicans — said Republicans in the state Legislature “were working for their wealthy campaign donors.”

And 66 percent of all voters — and 45 percent of Republicans — said they were “too friendly to the fossil fuel industry.”

The new survey of 1,114 likely voters, conducted April 7-12, has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

The Hill has reached out to Abbott, Paxton and Patrick for comment on the group’s findings.

As conservatives put religion in schools, Satanists want in, too

Tyler Kingkade
Updated Fri, May 17, 2024 

When conservative lawmakers in Florida and Texas won the fight to allow religious chaplains in public schools, they swung open the door to ministers from other faiths — including the Satanic Temple.

The demonic-sounding group, which describes itself as “nontheistic,” is using this debate and others like it to make a point about the growing encroachment of religion on public life.

It would prefer no chaplains in schools, it says, but would settle for equal representation, intentionally goading conservatives, some of whom are explicit about wanting Christianity, rather than just religion, in public education.


“If they pass these bills, they’re going to have to contend with ministers of Satan acting as chaplains within their school districts,” said Lucien Greaves, a co-founder of the Satanic Temple, who uses a pseudonym to protect him against threats. “We think the public should know in advance that that’s what the outcome of these bills can be.”The Satanic Temple, founded in 2013 and recognized as a religion by the IRS, is known for trolling the religious right by taking advantage of Christian campaigns. When Arkansas installed a statue of the Ten Commandments outside the State Capitol, the Temple unveiled its own statue of Baphomet, a goat-headed figure, there, too. It offered the Hellions Academy as an alternative to Christian studies during school hours and named a telehealth abortion clinic after Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s mom.

Image: A statue of Baphomet surrounded by children. Baphomet sits on a throne adorned with a pentagram. (Hannah Grabenstein / AP file)

The Temple believes in reason, empathy and the pursuit of knowledge, its website FAQ helpfully explains. And it doesn’t worship Satan. “Satan is a symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority,” it states. But it’s not just a joke, supporters say. And opponents seem to agree.

One man was charged in January with a hate crime for vandalizing the temple’s altar at the Iowa State Capitol. Another was arrested and accused of throwing a pipe bomb at the group’s headquarters in Salem, Massachusetts, leaving a note that urged the group to “REPENT” and “TURN FROM SIN.” And a third was arrested this month and accused of plotting to blow up the headquarters.

“It definitely started with a kind of humorous or satirical element to it, but this is a movement with hundreds of people that’s been going for 10 years now — they’re quite serious about it,” said Joseph Laycock, a religious studies professor at Texas State University who wrote a book-length study about the group. “They’re willing to put up with death threats. They’re willing to wear bulletproof vests because Neo-Nazis have threatened to kill them if they give a public speech. People don’t normally take those kinds of risks for a joke.”

Interest in joining the Satanic Temple shot up in recent years, Greaves said, and the number of congregations more than doubled since 2021. That coincides with a decrease in the number of self-identified Christians in the U.S. and a growing movement among right-wing activists to insert conservative Christian doctrines into public policy and schools.

“The real fear of Christian nationalism is driving people into the arms of groups like the Satanic Temple,” Laycock said. “And then the fact that there are now Satanists taking to the streets of America is causing the Christian nationalists to double down, too, and making them even more determined to cling to power for as long as they can.”

The laws in Florida and Texas require school boards to vote on whether to appoint chaplains in their districts. Similar bills have been proposed in 13 other states this year. The proposals, which vary slightly, would have chaplains of various denominations serve in similar capacities as school counselors, in some cases with on-campus offices or salaries paid for by the districts.

“They are able to help the child work through their issues, work through their feelings, and also encourage them to work with their parents, in accordance with their family’s underlying religious foundations,” said Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative advocacy group that testified in favor of the Texas bill.

Proponents of chaplains in schools have gone on the offensive, vowing that the Satanic Temple won’t infiltrate their schools. “There will be no Satanists in Oklahoma Schools. Period,” Ryan Walters, the state’s right-wing superintendent of public instruction, recently tweeted. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared at a bill signing for the new law last month that the Temple wouldn’t qualify to provide chaplains. “That is not a religion,” he said.

But legal experts warn that conservatives disregard the Satanic Temple at their own peril, because the group’s strategy of stepping into spaces intended for other religions is often effective. In 2016, the Temple began running After School Satan Clubs, seeking to start them in schools that already had Christian-based groups on campus. A federal court sided with the Temple in a legal challenge last year, and there are currently seven clubs nationwide, where children make arts and crafts, learn about animals and do science experiments.

“The Constitution is unambiguous about this,” Greaves said. “You just cannot take a religious identity and cut it out from a public accommodation. It’s against the law, the school districts will lose, they’ll have to pay the attorneys fees, and frankly, they shouldn’t be pulling their budget into this culture war grandstanding B.S.”

Lucien Greaves outside a courthouse. (Josh Reynolds for The Washington Post / Getty Images file)

One of the Temple’s first actions was to perform a “pink mass” in which gay couples made out over the grave of the mother of Fred Phelps, founder of the homophobic Westboro Baptist Church, and declared her a lesbian. The Temple has protested corporal punishment of children and sued states to argue that abortion restrictions violate their religious rights.“It is a poignant way of pushing the idea of what these governments really care about,” said Jay Wexler, a Boston University law professor who studies church-and-state issues. “Do they really care about opening up their spaces for religious pluralism, or do they actually care about just promoting one view of God and Christianity in the public space?”

People often ask why the Satanic Temple, with its lofty principles, uses such divisive names.

“If we were to name it the ‘fluffy bunnies and rainbows science club,’ or anything else, and people were to find out it is run by the Satanic Temple, we feel that that would actually cause more harm than good,” said June Everett, a Satanic Temple minister and the campaign director of the After School Satan Club. “Also, we are proud to be Satanists. So anyone that has a problem with the name or what we’re trying to do is free to just not send their kids.”

Rocky Malloy, a born-again Christian and founder of the National School Chaplain Association, said his group organized a phone bank and letter writing campaign to lobby for the Texas chaplains bill, according to video of his remarks at a fundraiser in November. Malloy called it an effort to “bring the boldness of Christ Jesus to public education” and a “legal way to bring God and prayer in school.” Malloy didn’t respond to an interview request.

The National School Chaplain Association offers certification provided by Oral Roberts University, a Christian school in Oklahoma that suspends students for being gay.

“Who is against it? Alphabet people,” Malloy said, referring to members of the LGBTQ community. “It messes up their whole agenda,” he said at the fundraiser after having declared that school counselors are “confirming gender confusion.”

The Satanic Temple isn’t the only religious group opposed to chaplains in schools. In Florida, the Florida Council of Churches, Pastors for Florida Children and the National Council of Jewish Women opposed the bill. Over 100 Texas pastors signed an open letter asking school districts not to hire chaplains, and most school boards appeared to follow their advice. Only one district had hired a chaplain by last month, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

Greaves said the Temple is waiting to learn the details of how the chaplain programs will be implemented. But the Temple plans to start with placing its first ministers in Florida and Oklahoma.

Everett, the minister, is optimistic that they’ll be welcomed into some districts. “A lot more people are now aware of the Satanic Temple and what we’re doing,” she said. “Basically fighting fire with fire.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com