California panel to vote on increasing storage at site of worst US methane leak despite risks

 Crews from SoCalGas and outside experts work on a relief well to be connected to a leaking well at the Aliso Canyon facility above the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles, on Dec. 9. 2015. California officials are expected to vote Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, on a proposal to increase storage capacity at the site of the nation’s largest-known methane leak. (Dean Musgrove/Los Angeles Daily News via AP, Pool, File)Read More

 A gas gathering plant sits on a hilltop at the Southern California Gas Company’s Aliso Canyon storage facility near the Porter Ranch neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 12, 2017. California officials are expected to vote Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, on a proposal to increase storage capacity at the site of the nation’s largest-known methane leak. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

 People chant slogans during a protest outside the Aliso Canyon storage facility, in the Porter Ranch section of Los Angeles on May 15, 2016. California officials are expected to vote Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, on a proposal to increase storage capacity at the site of the nation’s largest-known methane leak.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

BY ROBERT JABLON AND JULIE WATSON
Updated 10:04 PM MDT, August 30, 202

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California officials are expected to vote Thursday on a proposal to increase storage capacity at the site of the nation’s largest known methane leak that sickened thousands of families and forced them from their Los Angeles homes in 2015.

The proposal for the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility has sparked protests from residents, environmentalists and politicians, but utilities and state regulators say its necessary to guard against fuel price spikes this winter.

“This is an unnecessary danger to people,” said Issam Najm, an environmental engineer and resident of Los Angeles’ Porter Ranch suburb, where thousands of residents were sickened by the leak.

Each day the facility remains open, it is emitting cancer-causing chemicals including benzene, said Najm, citing reports by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the regulatory agency monitoring air pollution in the area.

He and other opponents, including Democratic lawmakers, say the state should be expediting its long-term plan endorsed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to shut down the facility, not increase its capacity. The facility is slated for closure by 2027.

The 2015 gas leak, which took four months to control, released more than 120,000 metric tons of methane and other gases into the atmosphere over the communities in the San Fernando Valley.

Thousands of residents were forced to move out of their homes to escape a sulfurous stench and maladies including headaches, nausea and nose bleeds. SoCalGas and its parent company, Sempra Energy, agreed to pay up to $1.8 billion in settlements to more than 35,000 victims of the leak in 2021.

“Given the history of disaster and risks from continued operations at Aliso Canyon, I continue to support closing the facility on an expedited timeline,” U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein wrote in a letter to the commission’s president earlier this month. “This proposed decision to increase capacity, however, appears to go in the opposition direction.”

The California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates and oversees gas, electric and other utilities, will vote on the expansion proposal Thursday. Commission staff say the expansion is necessary to avoid gas shortages over the winter and curtail rising prices, and that it won’t affect the facility’s progress toward closure.

An administrative law judge for the commission proposed allowing SoCalGas to increase its storage to 68.6 billion cubic feet of gas underground at the vast Aliso Canyon field on the northern edge of Los Angeles County. The facility has a maximum capacity of 86 billion cubic feet.

The field, which stores gas in old wells, was at 50% capacity for years following the leak. But the commission started increasing its storage in 2020, saying it needed to ensure supplies of natural gas for the upcoming winter months “in a safe and reliable manner.” The volume is currently at 41.16 billion cubic feet.

Southern California Gas and San Diego Gas & Electric Co., in arguing for boosting storage, said it was better to buy gas in the summer when it is generally cheaper and store it for winter use.

The commission’s Administrative Law Judge Zhen Zhang noted that California and the West saw sharp spikes in the price of wholesale natural gas last winter that affected customers’ energy bills.

“On balance, as a matter of policy, it is prudent to take the conservative approach by protecting natural gas and electricity customers from reliability and economic impacts during the upcoming 2023-2024 winter,” the judge wrote.

In a letter signed by dozens of environmental organizations opposing the increase, activists said no shortages were reported in the two years after the blowout when Aliso Canyon was offline.

Democratic state lawmakers who represent the region said in a joint statement that the risks are too great.

“SoCalGas says more use of this dangerous gas field will keep prices down, but there are still too many unanswered questions to proceed,” said a statement from U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, state Sen. Henry Stern and state Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo.

Earlier this month, the company reached another settlement with the California Public Utility Commission, agreeing to pay more than $70 million to the Aliso Canyon Recovery Account to address the impacts from the leak on air quality and public health.
___

Watson reported from San Diego.

AFL-CIO’s ‘State of the Unions’ set to be new Labor Day tradition

by Karen Juanita Carrillo

AMSTERDAM NEWS

August 31, 2023

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond speaks at inaugural ‘State of the Unions’ event. 

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) kicked off what it’s designating as a new Labor Day tradition by holding a “State of the Unions” event in Washington, D.C., this week.

“Every year, we’re going to come together and talk about where working people stand in this country,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler promised those attending the inaugural event.

“For a long time, working people in this country have felt powerless; they’ve been powerless. But here is the truth that we’re going to talk about today: Working people are reclaiming our power. Working people are taking on the companies that have exploited us for a long time now. The State of the Unions is on the rise. We are on the rise with every strike, every picket line, every win we deliver for workers all over this country.”

The State of the Unions event touted the strength of union membership and is promoting labor union organizing with the idea that #ItsBetterInAUnion. Shuler pointed to a new poll conducted by the political research firm GBAO that found support for unions is at an all-time high. Democrats, Independents, and Republicans all look favorably upon unions, according to poll results. In fact, among those surveyed, GBAO found “the want and need for unions is greatest among those” who are under 30.

“Across every metric tested, voters under 30 show wide support for labor unions with near universal approval (88%) and support for strikes (90%). Yet this group is also more likely to say it’s hard to join a union and should be easier.”

The poll also found that, “[u]nions are seen as more needed than before, and most believe having more workers in unions would be a boon for society. Compared to the past, twice as many voters say labor unions are more needed (57%) today than less needed (30%). Voters also believe more workers in unions would benefit society at large, with a majority (51%) saying society would be better off compared to just a third (34%) saying it would not be better off.”


The day before the AFL-CIO’s inaugural State of the Unions event, the Biden-Harris White House issued its own analytical report about union power. The Treasury Department and the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, which is chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris, argue in their “Labor Unions and the Middle Class” report that strong union membership buttresses the economy.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen explained in a press call that “[u]nions raise the wages of their members by around 10 to 15%. We also observe that union workers have greater access to critical fringe benefits, such as retirement benefits, medical benefits, and life insurance. Unions also impact personnel practices, bringing about better workplace grievance systems and improved workplace safety…

“Importantly,” she added, “our research also finds that unions fuel equality. Today’s unions benefit all demographic groups. Unions reduce race and gender wage gaps by encouraging explicit anti-discrimination measures and egalitarian wage practices. Working parents, including mothers, benefit from more scheduling predictability, which is more likely in unionized workplaces. And Black men, who have the highest union membership rates of any demographic groups, have also been particularly hit by the trends experienced by the middle class as a whole. They therefore may be particularly poised to benefit from unionization.”

The revived labor movement is a welcome sign for members of the AFL-CIO, which is a compilation of 56 affiliated unions.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond pointed to the way unions have historically been able to change the lives of its members across the United States. He deemed Labor Day “a day that’s rooted in resistance.”

“It’s a day when we’re forced to remember that it was the labor movement that marched and sacrificed to end child labor,” Redmond said. “We challenged inhumane working conditions. It was the labor movement that created safety standards. Think about it: We transformed grim, dangerous jobs into good, family-sustaining careers. Industry by industry, unions helped build the middle class and we should never forget that––we should never forget that!”


“The idea of a union may sound complicated, but in reality, unions are just a group of people coming together,” said Shuler said. “They are about each of us becoming the most powerful version of ourselves that we possibly can. And there is nothing better than finding that power alongside the people we work with and being a part of something bigger than ourselves. That’s all a union is. It’s that simple.”

PENNSYLVANIA

Top locomotive manufacturer, union reach tentative agreement

Wabtec employees have been striking for 2 months

Associated Press
Published August 30, 2023


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The country’s largest locomotive manufacturer and its striking union workers have reached a tentative agreement that could end a two-month strike that saw about 1,400 people walk off the job at its Pennsylvania plant.

Pittsburgh-based Wabtec announced the agreement with Local 506 of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America on Wednesday. The company said it calls for wage increases, improves the grievance process and provides other benefits, but it did not disclose specific details.

LARGEST US RAILROAD UNION WANTS REGULATORS TO ENSURE CONDUCTORS ARE PROPERLY TRAINED FOLLOWING 2 RECENT DEATHS

The tentative agreement also maintains a two-tier wage system at the Erie plant that allows the company to pay new hires less money and gradually raises their pay to match those of so-called legacy employees, according to the Wabtec statement.

A CSX freight train runs through Homestead, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022.

 (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

The deal includes successive hourly wage increases of at least 3% upon ratification and in each of the coming three years and a $1,500 lump sum ratification bonus.

A message seeking comment was left Wednesday afternoon for Scott Slawson, president of Local 506. The company said a vote on ratification was expected Thursday.

UMICH GRAD SCHOOL STRIKE ENDS AFTER NEW CONTRACT APPROVED JUST DAYS BEFORE SEMESTER STARTS

Wabtec acquired the plant and the rest of General Electric Transportation in February 2019. A facility in Fort Worth, Texas, is the company’s primary locomotive manufacturing plant in the U.S. Wabtec is short for Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp

Strikes and labor unrest have occurred in numerous spots around the United States this summer, in industries ranging from Hollywood actors and writers to delivery drivers and city employees and airline pilots. More and more, employees are feeling overworked and underpaid as companies seek to appease customer expectations for speed and convenience made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wages that unions contend have fallen behind, in part because of inflation, have been central in negotiations, for example between the Teamsters union and UPS and between the United Auto Workers and U.S. automakers.

Female Afghan Journalists Describe Life Under Taliban Misogyny

August 30, 2023
Akmal Dawi

TV anchor Khatereh Ahmadi bows her head while wearing a face covering as she reads the news on TOLO NEWS, in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 22, 2022, after Taliban rulers required all female TV news anchors in the country to cover their faces while on-air.

In 2016, a young girl, whom we will call Zarghona to protect her identity, embarked on a remarkable journey in central-south Afghanistan. At just 14 years old, she joined a local radio station in Ghazni province, eager to make her voice heard. Initially entrusted with a daily entertainment program for young people, Zarghona's charisma and talent soon led her to more challenging assignments.

"I presented a culinary program, as well as a cultural awareness program," she said, her voice tinged with nostalgia.

By 2021, Zarghona's career was soaring, and she had dreams of pursuing higher education in journalism in Kabul and working for the national media in the capital city.

Before the year's end, though, everything changed dramatically.

As the Taliban swept into power in August of that year, one of their first acts was to indefinitely suspend secondary education for girls, extinguishing the hopes of countless young women like Zarghona. The new Islamist regime also terminated the employment of almost all female public servants, with few exceptions, in the education and health sectors.

A classroom that previously was used for girls sits empty in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 22, 2022.

The national broadcasting agency, Radio and Television Afghanistan, saw all of its female journalists dismissed, and private TV channel anchors were compelled to wear face masks.

Under the Taliban's gender-based discriminatory regime, female journalists are barred from interviewing male government officials, forbidden from participating in press conferences without a male chaperone, and restricted from traveling for reporting purposes.

These rules, unapologetically designed to push women out of journalism, paint a grim picture for Zarghona and many other young women who desperately want to work as journalists.



SEE ALSO:
Women in Afghanistan Facing Numerous Taliban Restrictions in 2022

Despite this bleak reality, for about two years, Zarghona has waited anxiously for an announcement from the Taliban that schools and universities would reopen for girls, and women would be allowed to return to work.

Others hold no such hope.

"I see the future even darker. The restrictions [against women] are increasing day after day, and the Taliban do not care how we suffer," said Madina Bamyani (not her real name), a journalist in the central Bamyan province.

The three journalists who spoke with VOA for this article still reside in Afghanistan, but they all asked to remain anonymous, fearing reprisals from the Taliban.

Targeted persecution

Earlier this year, Bamyani received a job offer from a U.S.-based Afghan media outlet to produce video reports about alleged Taliban atrocities in Bamyan and nearby provinces.

The private media sector — once a thriving industry thanks to the international support it received — has been crushed as Taliban restrictions force hundreds of journalists and media professionals to seek asylum in countries around the world.

SEE ALSO:
Fading Afghan Media Give Space to Disinformation

Outside their homeland, some Afghan journalists have managed to secure funding and launch digital news and analysis outlets aimed at Afghan audiences. But working for those outlets is perilous in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

"After I produced a report about the ban on women's beauty salons, the Taliban investigated and discovered my identity," Bamyani said. Fearing detention, she fled to Kabul after her employers warned her they would not be able to help if the Taliban found out about her work for them.

SEE ALSO:
Afghan Women Protest Taliban Ban on Beauty Salons

The United States has played a significant role in supporting Afghan media development over the past two decades, spending more than $220 million on media support programs, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

In September 2022, a year after the Taliban seized power, the U.S. Agency for International Development allocated $20 million for projects supporting Afghan media, including $5 million in grants and a nearly $12 million award that aims to deliver news and educational content for Afghans until mid-2026.

"The United States remains committed to supporting the fundamental right of freedom of expression, including for journalists and human rights defenders, and supports their ability to operate freely without fear of violence against them," said a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department.

Taliban officials accuse media organizations from abroad that produce content for Afghans of spreading lies and propaganda, and they have targeted reporters and producers working for such outlets.

Parwiz Shamal, an Afghan journalist and founder of Chalawsaf, an Afghan media observer organization, said the Taliban have detained several reporters on charges that they worked for media entities that are not permitted to operate in Afghanistan.

"Nobody is there to defend those reporters because the Taliban consider these outlets illegal, and like in any other country, work for a disallowed organization bears legal responsibilities," Shamal said.

Information blackout

When the Taliban announced the closure of beauty salons for women in July, there was no public debate or critical media coverage about it.

"We are forced to comply with their misogynistic orders knowing well that those orders are against us," said Yagana Niekhandish, a female journalist in Herat province.

"If I refuse to comply, the Taliban's intelligence agency will throw me in jail overnight," she said.

Afghan beauticians close their beauty salon in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 24, 2023.

The Taliban's intelligence agency has been accused of detaining, and in some cases torturing, about 50 journalists during the past two years, free press groups have reported.

In rural areas, the suppression of women's voices is even more severe, with local Taliban and religious leaders banning women from radio broadcasts, effectively silencing them from public conversations.

Human rights groups say the Taliban's anti-women policies are aimed at erasing women from all public spheres, but Taliban officials maintain they are committed to women's rights — as long as they are within the confines of Islamic Sharia and local traditions.

As Afghan women vanish from public life, access to credible information about their living conditions, from health to income to education, becomes increasingly unavailable.

The Taliban have dissolved the two state institutions — the Ministry of Women's Affairs and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission — that monitored and reported on women's issues and proposed policies to empower them.

"I guess everybody knows what's happening in Afghanistan, it is an official femicide," Zarghona said.

"What pains me more is that I'm not able to report it to the world."

 

U.S. backed Kurdish-led forces in eastern Syria battle Arab tribal unrest

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

August 30, 2023
Summary

• Arrest of Arab commander exposes anger with Kurdish rule
• Many Arab tribes says SDF favours Kurdish areas
• Kurds say they seek to redress old injustices

AMMAN, Aug 30 (Reuters) - U.S. backed Syrian Democratic Forces led by Kurdish forces poured reinforcements in Syria's eastern Deir al Zor province on Wednesday to quell widespread unrest by rebellious Arab tribal clans who rose up in arms after the detention of an Arab renegade commander.

Witnesses and local sources said at least 40 fighters from both sides and another 15 civilians have been killed in battles raging since Sunday in a string of towns in a strategic oil belt in the heart of Arab tribal territory, east of the Euphrates River controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Fighting erupted last Sunday after the SDF arrested Ahmad Al Khubail, alias Abu Khawla, who headed its Deir al Zor Council. He also was leading Arab commander with the SDF, a U.S. formed alliance of militias whose backbone is the Kurdish YPG militia.

In its first comment on the situation, the SDF issued a statement saying Abu Khawla was arrested and dismissed from his post for complicity in multiple crimes from drug trafficking to failing to handle the Islamic State threat in the province

Residents said the SDF has pushed new reinforcements as it shelled several towns and villages where armed Arab clans burnt tyres, ambushed vehicles and shelled SDF positions.

Tribal fighters took over several checkpoints and attacked patrols In several towns, including Shuhail near the al Omar oil field close to where U.S. troops are stationed.

Tribal figures and residents said mounting unrest triggered by the arrest of the Abu Khawla exposed deep anger at the Kurdish-led militia that controls a predominately Arab population in the oil-rich province.

Arab residents with poor living conditions complain the Kurdish-led administration does not give them their share of the oil wealth.

The Syrian YPG Kurdish leadership, whom the Pentagon equips with weapons, have long denied discriminating against Arabs and says it seeks to redress injustice against Kurds that denied them their culture before Syria's conflict began in 2011.

The YPG has been the main U.S. partner in Syria in ousting Islamic State from Deir al-Zor and beating the Syrian army and its Russian backers to lay hands on some of Syria’s biggest oil fields.

Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by David Gregorio

BRICS Countries Expand Partnership for Sustainable Development Goals

The leaders recognize the importance of implementing the SDGs in an integrated and holistic manner and highlight the SDG Summit in September 2023 and the Summit of the Future in 2024 as “significant opportunities for renewing international commitment” to the 2030 Agenda.

BRICS Chair Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, highlighted consensus on the first phase of the BRICS expansion process and said “further phases will follow”.

The BRICS bloc of developing countries, comprising Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China, and South Africa, decided to expand their alliance to include Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In a summit declaration, the BRICS leaders commit to strengthening cooperation to promote peace, a more representative international order, a reinvigorated and reformed multilateral system, sustainable development, and inclusive growth.

The 15th BRICS Summit convened in Sandton, South Africa, from 22-24 August 2023 under the theme, ‘BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism.’ At its conclusion, the leaders adopted an outcome document titled, ‘Johannesburg II Declaration.’

Reiterating their commitment to inclusive multilateralism, the leaders call for greater representation of emerging markets and developing countries in international organizations and multilateral fora and express support for a comprehensive reform of the UN.

The leaders further commit to fostering an environment of peace and development and promoting partnership for mutually accelerated growth. They highlight the essential role of multilateral cooperation in limiting the risks stemming from geopolitical and geoeconomic fragmentation and pledge to intensify efforts on trade, poverty and hunger reduction, sustainable development, climate change, education, and health, among other areas of mutual interest.

On partnership for sustainable development, the leaders recognize the importance of implementing the SDGs in an integrated and holistic manner and highlight the SDG Summit in September 2023 and the Summit of the Future in 2024 as “significant opportunities for renewing international commitment” to the 2030 Agenda.

Announcing the outcomes of the Summit, BRICS Chair Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, described the alliance as “an equal partnership of countries that have differing views but have a shared vision for a better world.” He highlighted consensus on the first phase of the BRICS expansion process and said “further phases will follow.”

Addressing participants, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for “a strengthened and reformed multilateral architecture based on the UN Charter and international law,” to avoid fragmentation in an increasingly multipolar world. He identified a redesigned global financial architecture and stepped-up climate action as priorities for action.

As the 2024 chair of the bloc, the Russian Federation will host the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan. From 1 January 2024, BRICS will have eleven full members.

 

‘Atrocious Crime’ Of Enforced Disappearances

Thursday, 31 August 2023, 5:27 am
Press Release: UN News

UN Secretary-General António Guterres marked Wednesday’s International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance by condemning the “atrocious crime” and urging all Member States to hold those who perpetrate it accountable.

Enforced disappearance has regularly been used as a tool for instilling fear and exert control over a population. The feeling of insecurity it generates is not limited to close relatives of the disappeared, but also their communities and society as a whole.

In a post on social media platform X, The UN chief said enforced disappearance was “a serious human rights violation that has frequently been used to spread terror…I call on countries to help put an end to this atrocious crime”.

News that may never come

According to the UN human rights office (OHCHR), enforced disappearance can be defined as the arrest, detention, or abduction of an individual by the State or group acting with the authorization of the State, followed by concealment of the whereabouts of the disappeared person.

It is a crime under International Human Rights Law. Victims are frequently subjected to torture and live in perpetual fear for their lives. Their families, ignorant of the fate of their loved ones, are left wondering and waiting for news that may never come.

According to the UN, hundreds of thousands of people have vanished during conflicts or periods of repression in at least 85 countries around the world.

‘Every day is a fight’

“For the families & friends of the disappeared, every day is a fight to know the fate & whereabouts of their loved ones. Truth & justice are essential,” said High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, in a tweet on Wednesday.

“I call on States to guarantee protection, accountability, transparency & redress for all victims of enforced disappearances,” he continued.

Global problem

Enforced disappearance, once largely the product of military dictatorships, has become a global problem and is not restricted to a specific region of the world. It has been used frequently as a means of political repression.

At the same time as the UN General Assembly sanctioned the international day in December 2010, the same resolution adopted the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and declared 30 August the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, beginning in 2011.

Practical support

OHCHR officials and a large group of UN-appointed regional human rights experts urged States to provide effective access to justice for victims who have suffered harm as the direct result of enforced disappearance, in a statement delivered on Tuesday.

They warned that ensuring adequate access to justice and proper accountability for perpetrators at all levels was critical.

“Access to justice must not be merely theoretical but guaranteed in practice through concrete measures that promote and fully value the genuine and meaningful participation of victims and their representatives throughout the process,” the experts said.

In the context of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, OHCHR officials and the group of UN-appointed human rights experts jointly called on all member states to make pledges to promote justice for all victims of enforced disappearances without delay, and to ratify international and regional instruments on enforced disappearances.

UN-appointed regional human rights experts are part of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, work on a voluntary and unpaid basis, are not UN staff, and work independently from any government or organisation.

 

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Mexican mothers protest lack of government action to find their missing children

“If we don’t search for our children, nobody will do it,” a woman whose sons disappeared a decade ago said at an International Day of the Disappeared march.

A woman hangs a portrait of a missing person on a makeshift line along Reforma Avenue during a march demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, on Wednesday. 

Eduardo Verdugo / AP


Aug. 30, 2023,

 Source: The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY — Mothers of some of 111,000 people who have disappeared in Mexico over decades of violence on Wednesday marked the International Day of the Disappeared with protests and demands that the government do more to locate their loved ones.

Most of those missing are believed to have been abducted by drug cartels or kidnappers, and their bodies buried in shallow graves or burned.

Some marching down Mexico City’s main boulevard were also protesting an apparent government effort to minimize the problem.

About 200 protesters — almost all women — chanted: “Where are they? Where are our children?”

Edith Pérez Rodríguez, one of the marchers, wore a T-shirt with photos of her two sons, Alexis and José Arturo Domínguez Pérez. They vanished without a trace a decade ago in the northern state of San Luis Potosi.

Lack of funding and manpower have left police and prosecutors unable to conduct even the most basic searches — leaving it to volunteer groups made up of mothers, who often walk through suspected body dumping grounds with shovels, plunging long steel rods into the earth to detect the odor of cadavers.

Relatives of disappeared people, friends and activists take part in a demonstration in the framework of the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico onWednesday.

Guillermo Arias / AFP - Getty Images

“If we don’t search for our children, nobody will do it,” said Pérez Rodríguez.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has claimed the number of missing has been inflated and that many may have returned home and not bothered to notify authorities. He has launched a massive door-to-door effort by military and unqualified civilian personnel asking residents whether their missing relatives have returned, and checking their names against vaccination rolls.

Activists say that money and effort could be better spent looking for the missing, or at least their remains.

“What are they going to do,” said Pérez Rodríguez, noting that each agent has to handle about 250 missing persons cases, leaving them no time to really investigate.

“That is why we are here,” she said, “to tell the president these numbers are not inflated. This is the reality,” she said, pointing to dozens of other protesting mothers.

Similar marches were held in several other cities in Mexico.

Relatives of disappeared people, friends and activists take part in a demonstration in the framework of the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico on Wednesday. 

Guillermo Arias / AFP - Getty Images

Irma Guerrero has been looking for her son, David, who disappeared in San Luis Potosi on Jan. 13, 2022. Since then, she said she has received “nothing, not from anyone” in the way of help.

Asked about the resignation of Mexico’s top search official, Karla Quintana, last week, Guerrero said she did not care. “None of the officials have helped us.”

“Only the bad guys know, and they don’t help us,” Guerrero said.

Quintana, who did not explain the motives for her resignation, reportedly objected to sending unqualified personnel around to interview victims’ families. Such questioning of already-traumatized families could be damaging, activists say.

Few doubt there may be people listed as missing who have returned home. But many also believe that a similarly large number of missing people in Mexico’s most violent regions may never have been reported by their relatives, either because of fear of reprisals or distrust of authorities.

That distrust is widespread.

Jessica Martinez Cervantes is still looking for her brother Esteban, who also went missing in San Luis Potosi in July 2020.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing,” she said when asked what help she has received from the government.

Rights Experts ‘Outraged’ Over Attacks On Women Activists in Mexico

Thursday, 31 August 2023, 
Press Release: UN News

A group of UN independent human rights experts on Wednesday urged the Government of Mexico to investigate and prosecute those who attack and kill women activists searching for their missing relatives.

“We are outraged that those searching for forcibly disappeared family members and loved ones continue to be targeted and face violence in Mexico,” they said in a statement, issued in the wake of two recent incidents.

Brutal killing

Human rights defender Teresa Magueyal was shot dead while riding her bicycle in Celaya, Guanajuato state, on 2 May. Her son, José Luis Apaseo Magueyal, 34, disappeared three years ago.

Ms. Magueyal was part of a group formed by families of people who have disappeared and was the sixth volunteer to be killed since 2021, according to media reports.

Two months earlier, Araceli Rodríguez Nava, who is in a tireless search for her disappeared son, was attacked in Chilpancingo, capital of Guerrero state. The incident took place on 4 March.

Both women were beneficiaries of the federal protection mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists, the UN experts said. Although their cases remain under investigation, information about its effectiveness has been scarce.

Ensure freedom and safety

The UN experts urged the Mexican authorities to ensure human rights defenders working on enforced disappearances can operate freely and safely.

They said enforced disappearances and attacks targeting these activists are linked to the presence of organised crime groups, extortion, human trafficking, kidnapping networks, corruption and collusion with authorities.

Furthermore, operating in a constant environment of fear, threat and insecurity has an intimidating effect on relatives of the victims, civil society, human rights defenders, and organisations.

Investigate and prosecute

They added that many of the rights defenders are women and older persons, increasing their risk of being targeted.

“It is extremely worrying that impunity for crimes against human rights defenders and activists continues despite complaints being filed. Prevention measures and protection for victims and targets of the attacks are either not provided, or not effective,” they said.

“The Government of Mexico needs to promptly investigate, prosecute, and impose appropriate sanctions on any person responsible for the alleged violations”.

Adopt all measures

As their statement was issued on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the UN expert surged the Mexican Government “to adopt all necessary measures to prevent irreparable damage to the life and personal integrity of those searching for the forcibly disappeared, their family members, civil society movements, organisations and public servants.”

They noted that a presidential campaign called De Frente a la Libertad is underway in Mexico that is giving greater visibility to the risks faced by journalists and human rights activists in the country.

They said it was time for authorities to take effective measures to protect human rights defenders searching for truth and justice.

About UN rights experts

The statement was issued by Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, and Claudia Mahler, Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons.

It was endorsed by a UN Working Group and Committee whose mandates cover enforced or involuntary disappearances.

The experts were appointed by the UN Human Rights Council and work on a voluntary basis.

They are not UN staff and do not receive payment for their work.

 

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Guatemala: Hurdles Facing President-elect Bernardo Arevalo

President-elect Bernardo Arevalo gives a press conference in Guatemala City, Monday, Aug. 28, 2023. The Central American country’s top electoral tribunal declared Arevalo the winner of the presidential election just hours after another part of the government suspended his Seed Movement party. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

The Electoral Magistrates issued no pronouncement on a parallel entity’s near-simultaneous suspension of the Semilla party’s legal status. The Party has announced plans to appeal.

By Gabriel Labrador and Roman Gressier* (Confidencial)

HAVANA TIMES – On August 28, Guatemala’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) certified the electoral triumph of the Movimiento Semilla [“Seed Movement”] Party in the August 20 run-off election for president. Bernardo Arevalo was officially proclaimed President of Guatemala, and his running mate Karin Herrera, Vice President. The pair will assume power on January 14, 2024.

Ironically, the Tribunal’s conclusive declaration of the results occurred just hours after a branch of the same legal entity ruled to provisionally suspend the legal status of the Semilla Party, in response to a controversial order emitted by a criminal court judge a month and a half ago.

Semilla’s suspension throws a new cloud over the possibilities for a peaceful transition to the new administration, and how solid a government Arevalo can form. In addition to winning the presidency with 60.9% of the votes – 874,000 votes more than the Unidad Nacional de Esperanza (National Unity of Hope”] Party of the outgoing president – Semilla won 23 Congressional seats. However, the party has been under siege from an Attorney General and Judicial branch accused of general corruption.

The Electoral Magistrates had announced a press conference for 1 pm on August 28, but in the end it wasn’t held until 5 pm. They assured that the provisional suspension of Semilla took them by surprise. “I didn’t see the exact time, but almost at the same moment we all saw the posts circulating on our phones,” Irma Palencia, the TSE president, told the press. “We, too, wondered if it was true or not.”

According to Palencia, the Citizens’ Registry, a lower-level branch of the TSE, didn’t advise them that it was ordering the provisional suspension of Semilla, and of the legal non-profit status of the Committee for the Formation of the Semilla Party. Between 2017 and 2018, the latter group gathered the 23,000 signatures necessary to register a party with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

In their press conference, the Magistrates repeatedly declined to comment on the suspension or its legal implications, in order not to advance any information, in view of the probability that the Semilla Party would be filing an appeal to Registry’s decision. In this case, the final decision would have to be made in the TSE plenary. “I do want to familiarize myself with this case, so I thank you for your understanding in that sense – that you comprehend why we cannot issue an opinion,” Palencia insisted.

At the press conference, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal announced the final results of the presidential elections and confirmed the victory of Bernardo Arevalo and Karin Herrera as President and Vice President of Guatemala.

 Photo: EFE / Confidencial

Hours later, in their first public appearance after the official ratification of his victory, Arevalo and announced that at the earliest possible hour on the 29th they would file their appeal to have the party suspension annulled. The Organization of American States published a statement on the 28th calling the ruling against Semilla an“abusive interpretation of the law” (…) “without any foundation or duly proven reason.” According to the OAS, the Citizens’ Registry of Guatemala is violating the rights of the voters.

Juan Gerardo Guerrero, lawyer for the Semilla party, put it in these terms: “In the area of what we’re seeing here, that is outside the legal framework, they are willing to take any kind of action that is completely outside the Political Parties’ Electoral Law, as long as it prevents us from taking possession.”

The resolution provisionally suspending Semilla was issued by the Citizen’s Registrar, Ramiro Muñoz, and is codified as Resolution SRC-R-3207-2023. The ruling referred to an order issued by Judge Fredy Orellana three weeks after the first round of presidential elections.

The Registrar’s ruling stated: “Based on what has been previously expressed, the cited laws, and in compliance with the orders of Judge ‘A’ of Guatemala Department’s Seventh Pluripersonal Trial Court for Criminal or Drug Activity and Crimes Against the Environment, Be it Resolved: To provisionally suspend the legal registration of the Committee for the Constitution of the Political Party Movimiento Semilla, and the political party Movimiento Semilla itself.”

The July 12 court order the Registrar was referring to was issued by Judge Orellana at the request of the Guatemalan District Attorney’s Special Prosecutor against Impunity. The request for Semilla’s provisional suspension was based on the argument that the party was being investigated for the possible fabrication of signatures during its registration process.

The TSE had initially refused to carry out this lower court order, alleging that the law prevented them from outlawing a political party while an electoral process was underway. The order was apparently supposed to remain suspended until October 31, the official closing date for the 2023 elections. The Guatemalan Court of Constitutionality granted Semilla a provisional appeal, under this same argument. Later, the Guatemalan Supreme Court definitively confirmed that appeal. “Now, what we have is the definitive protection [of the Supreme Court],” insisted Andrea Reyes, one of the Semilla party’s attorneys, now elected to a seat in the Guatemala Congress. “Up until this moment, the protection hasn’t been questioned by either side. That appeal order confirms our protection until October 31st.”

Nonetheless, the Registrar’s document states: “Given that, as of the current date, the run-off election has been held, and the corresponding scrutiny of the votes has been established, it’s time to attend to the order issued by Judge “A” of Guatemala Department’s Seventh Pluripersonal Trial Court for Criminal or Drug Activity and Crimes Against the Environment.”

According to journalists present at the August 28 press conference where the TSE announced the official election results, the Registrar did not respond to multiple requests for interviews in the course of that afternoon. The official had been on vacation and during his absence, the Special Prosecutor against Impunity issued an arrest warrant against his temporary replacement, Eleonora Castillo for having refused to carry out the orders of Judge Orellana. Castillo, however, has not been detained.

According to Edgar Ortiz, Constitutional lawyer, two aspects of the Registrar’s resolution is “illegal.” First, because it ignores the legal date for culminating the electoral process. Secondly, because the electoral law has Constitutional stature and that means a lower-ranking penal judge cannot interfere in electoral matters.

*Original article from Salvadoran news site “El Faro”.

Mexico's Aguascalientes becomes 12th state to decriminalize abortion

Reuters

August 30, 2023

A banner reading: "Abortion Out of the Penal Code" hangs from a building during International Women's Day, at the Zocalo Square in Mexico City, Mexico March 8, 2023. REUTERS/Quetzalli Nicte-Ha/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights


MEXICO CITY, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Mexico's Supreme Court on Wednesday decriminalized abortion in the central state of Aguascalientes, making it the twelfth Mexican state to revoke criminal penalties for the procedure, according to the women's rights groups that filed the lawsuit.

Though Mexico's Supreme Court unanimously ruled penalizing abortion unconstitutional in 2021, most of the Latin American country's 32 states have yet to amend their local legislation.

Rights group GIRE said it had filed the suit in early 2022 alongside four other rights groups as part of a nationwide strategy to eradicate the criminalization of abortion in Mexico.

"The court concluded that the crime of self-induced and consensual abortion will cease to be applicable in the entire state," GIRE said in a statement, adding that Aguascalientes now had an obligation to provide abortion services.

Religious group ConParticipacion called the ruling "unfortunate" in a post on X, formerly Twitter, saying it showed "pre-natal violence and discrimination."

"The Supreme Court voted in favor of autonomy and the right to choose for women and people with wombs," Fondo Maria, a Mexico City-based abortion rights group, said in another post.

Many women and rights groups posted green hearts on social media, representing the so-called Green Wave, the social movement for reproductive rights that has swept Latin America since the start of this century.

The movement has been fueled by landmark cases, such as that of an 11-year-old girl in Argentina who was forced to give birth in 2019 after being raped, despite begging for an abortion.

Earlier this month, an 11-year-old rape victim in Peru was initially turned away from a hospital as she approached 18 weeks pregnant, sparking furor from rights groups and causing the United Nations to call on the state to intervene.


Some Latin American and Caribbean countries permit abortion in cases of rape or when the mother's life is at risk, but lengthy legal procedures can put the option out of reach.