#stop para violence 2021

[no-passaran]

Spain lied about not selling weapons to Israel.

Even after October 7th, Spain has sold more than 1 million € of weapons to Israel. Norway and Finland make it possible.

In January, Spain made headlines word-wide when the government's Minister of Exteriors, José Manuel Albares (PSOE), claimed in Congress and later again in a radio interview that Spain had stopped selling weapons to Israel ever since October 7th. Israel's intensification of violence in Gaza following October 7th meant that, on top of decades of apartheid and ethnic cleansing, between October 7th and January 23rd Israel had already killed 28,000 people and forced 2 million out of their home. In this context, many people were demanding their governments stop arming and funding the genocide of the Palestinian people, and here on Tumblr and other social media sites like Twitter I think we all saw the many posts praising the Spanish government for this.

Well, it turns out it was a lie.

According to Albares, "Since October 7th there are no more weapons exportations [from Spain] to Israel". But in November alone, Spain exported weapons to Israel for 987,000€, as was published on the Spanish Government's official website dedicated to exterior commerce (Comex). A researcher from Centre Delàs (an independent centre for peace studies) found it and published it, and it has also been verified by newspapers such as elDiario.es.

This 987,000€ worth of weapons in November was not the only ammunition that Spain has sent to Israel in 2023. In 2023, Spain exported a total of 1.48 million € in war material to Israel.

All of the weapons sent in November come from the factory of Nammo Palencia (Castilla y León), a corporation that is 50% property of the Government of Norway and 50% owned by a public Finnish business. However, even if the owners are foreigners, the ammunition was sent from Spain and thus it had to be authorized by the an organism of the Spanish Government named Junta Interministerial de Defensa y Doble Uso, whose deliberations on whether a weapons exportation is accepted or denied are kept secret. The only cases where they have denied exporting weapons to Israel have been when they thought that Israel would re-sell these weapons to the Philippines.

Spain has had a close relation with Israel for years. As published by the Spanish Government, Spain has sold 20 million € of weapons to Israel between 2012 and 2022. Spain also buys weapons and military software from Israel (for example, the Spanish Intelligence Service has been using the Israeli software Pegasus to illegally spy on Catalan activists, journalists, politicians and civil society members and their relatives to attack the Catalan independence movement), and Spain has continued buying from Israel and allocating defense contracts to Israel even after the October 7th attacks. It is very difficult to track the concessions of public contracts such as buying weapons, but some contracts have been known. For example, on November 24th 2023, Spain bought 287.5 million € of missiles from Israel. This is not unusual: between 2011 and 2021, it is publicly known that Spain bought war material from Israel for at least 268 million €, but experts say that the real number could be two or three times as much.

Spain has also continued allocating concessions to Israel. For example, on December 15th 2023 Spain allocated a contract worth over 576 million € to Israel for a rocket launcher programme. On November 22nd, Spain allocated another another Israeli company to provide missiles for 237 million € at the same time as the Spanish army bought Israeli inhibitors for 1.4 million €. The very next day, November 23rd, Spain signed another military allocation to Israel for 82,600€. The following week, Spain signed yet another allocation with a different Israeli military corporation for 3.7 million €.

Spain also allows Israeli weapon manufacturing companies to produce weapons through their branches located in Spain. This way, Israeli weapons make their way to markets with which Israel doesn't have diplomatic ties but Spain does, like Saudi Arabia. And since Spain is a member of NATO, Israeli weapons produced in Spain are approved according to NATO standards and access it easily. In the same way, these Israeli weapons manufacturers also access European Union defense funds through their branches in Spain. (source).

As I said, I saw a lot of positive posts around when Albares said Spain was going to embargo, but I haven't seen any post about how they didn't do it. I also (personally) haven't seen anything on international media, and barely anything on Spanish media, which is already busy with the PSOE covid material corruption scandal. So I share this in the hope of helping put pressure on Spain to cut all ties with Israel immediately.

SHAME ON EVERYONE WHO GIVES ISRAEL THE MATERIAL AND MONEY THAT WILL BE USED TO MASSACRE THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE. SHAME ON SPAIN, NORWAY, AND FINLAND.

#i've been meaning to post this for a few days but never manmaged to finish writing since i don't have internet at work and i barely have #time to do anything else than sleep eat and prepare work stuff when i'm home #so I'm late but this is still relevant #palestine #gaza #israel #free palestine #spain #norway #finland #españa #end genocide #bds #boycott divest sanction #free gaza #peace #anti military #💬

[stark-raving-madd]

i wake up everyday and i choose violence against imaginary people

#stop para violence 2021 #lmao jkjk #I’ll never stop #madd #madd humor #madd thoughts #madd things #maladaptive daydreaming memes #maladaptive daydreaming disorder #maladaptive daydreaming #actually madd #madd problems #madd memes

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Event Listings: Monday, August 30 – Sunday, September 5

This is the most recent compilation from the Radical Events Ottawa (REO) List. The REO List is a public announcement list for radical events, meetings, protests, and other activities in Ottawa, Ontario, on unceded Algonquin territory. The Punch Up Collective collects submissions and produces this curated weekly compilation of upcoming activities.

Due to COVID-19, we’ve expanded the list of events we would typically include to feature more online activities and actions, including some that are not specific solely to the Ottawa area. 

Would you like to see your event included in the next REO list? Submit it through this form by the Friday before! Find out more about our submission guidelines and how to subscribe or unsubscribe here.

CONTENTS

International Overdose Awareness Day Ottawa – Tuesday, August 31, 11:30AM-12:30PM

Clayton Thomas-Müller Virtual Book Launch – Tuesday, August 31, 8:00-9:00PM

Justin Trudeau’s Foreign Policy: A Critical Perspective – Thursday September 2, 7:30PM ET

I Believe That We Will Win: Launch of Creative Imaginings / Creo que ganaremos: lanzamiento de imaginaciones creativas – Sunday September 12, 6:30 PM

Fridays For Future’s Global Climate Strike – Friday, September 24th, 2021 at noon

DETAILS 1. International Overdose Awareness Day Ottawa – Tuesday, August 31, 11:30AM-12:30PM Canadian Tribute to Human Rights, 220 Elgin, corner of Lisgar and Elgin

Hosted by DUAL, Drug Users Advocacy League International Overdose Awareness Day aims to raise awareness of drug overdose and eradicate the stigma attached to drug use. All overdoses are preventable.!!! Join us 2. Clayton Thomas-Müller Virtual Book Launch – Tuesday, August 31, 8:00-9:00PM Online

Hosted by McNally Robinson Booksellers

Join Indigenous rights and environmental policy activist Clayton Thomas-Müller, as he discusses his new memoir, Life in the City of Dirty Water (Allen Lane). Host TBC.

Registration is required to directly participate in the Zoom webinar: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_21AdFb0dRnGH9Uw9uQm2hw

It will be simultaneously streamed on YouTube and available for viewing thereafter: https://youtu.be/2qME4oZFJWU

Anchoring the urgency of Indigenous rights and environmental policy in the sharing of his own intimately personal and incredible story, Life in the City of Dirty Water is a survivor’s call to action and understanding. A story of pain, healing, legacy, and tenacity.

Tying together personal stories of survival that bring the realities of the First Nations of this land into sharp focus, and lessons learned from a career as a frontline activist committed to addressing environmental injustice at a global scale, Thomas-Müller offers a narrative and vision of healing and responsibility.

Clayton Thomas-Müller is a member of the Treaty #6 based Mathias Colomb Cree Nation also known as Pukatawagan located in Northern Manitoba, Canada. He is a campaigner for 350.org, a global movement that’s responding to the climate crisis. He has campaigned on behalf of Indigenous peoples around the world for more than 20 years, working with the Indigenous Environmental Network, Black Mesa Water Coalition, Global Justice Ecology Project, and Bioneers, among others. Clayton has led Indigenous delegations to lobby United Nations bodies, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UN Earth Summit (Johannesburg, 2002 and Rio+20, 2012) and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. He has coordinated and led delegations of Indigenous peoples to lobby government in Washington, DC, Ottawa, and the European Union (Strasbourg and Brussels). 3. Justin Trudeau’s Foreign Policy: A Critical Perspective – Thursday September 2, 7:30PM ET Online, register at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_T0cHdmXgSkuMQj5xBt7C4Q

Join us for a critical discussion of Justin Trudeau’s foreign policy. From militarism to mining, Afghanistan and Haiti to China and the Middle East, this webinar will provide a far-reaching critique of Trudeau’s foreign policy record.

Event is free and open to the public.

Featuring:

Raul Burbano Tamara Lorincz Yves Engler Bianca Mugyenyi (moderator)

Thursday September 2, 7:30PM ET

4. I Believe That We Will Win: Launch of Creative Imaginings / Creo que ganaremos: lanzamiento de imaginaciones creativas – Sunday September 12, 6:30 PM Online, Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd3aw9DdtHmmu5QnelKzo7mHvdpxzvEv6hItTdbwP1_gFTc2A/viewform

[En español abajo] We put out a call for imaginings in the spring with the prompt: What would a world without extractivism look like for you? We were so thrilled with the submissions we received – paintings, collages, poems, music videos – and can’t wait to share them with you. We now invite you to a virtual launch on Sunday, September 12 at 6:30pm EST. There will be art, live music and poetry readings, and more from the artists who responded to our call. For the first time, the artists and their work will be in conversation with one another and will collectively vision a different future.RSVP HERE to reserve your spot for Sept 12: https://forms.gle/BM2DnxYvoEwfKQMMAThe submissions will also be housed permanently on the MISN website, which will be launched on the same day.For context — The world’s largest mining convention comes to Toronto each year, hosted by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC). This year, however, PDAC 2021 moved entirely online. But don’t be fooled — just because the Metro Toronto Convention Centre was empty in March doesn’t mean that mining has stopped. Mining projects have continued in full force and workers have continued to travel to remote mine sites around the world, risking the health and safety of local communities.We at the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN) and our allies have a long history of intervening in and disrupting the convention, giving echo to the millions of voices around the world who say “YES” to life and “NO” to mining. People have long imagined and fought for a world without extractivism, and the systems of violence and oppression that sustain it. And with the pandemic disrupting an in-person convention this year, we’ve used it as an opportunity to continue these imaginings in an artistic form. What if the world’s largest mining convention never happened again?***RSVP HERE to reserve your spot for Sept 12: https://forms.gle/BM2DnxYvoEwfKQMMA Cover photo by Faustine Gruninger.———————————Creo que ganaremos: lanzamiento de imaginaciones creativasDistribuimos una llamada para la imaginación en el verano con la pregunta: ¿Cómo sería para usted un mundo sin extractivismo? El resultado ha sido emocionante — pinturas, fotografías, vídeos, animaciones, manualidades en material reciclado, dibujos..estamos impacientes de compartirlos con usted! Ahora te invitamos al lanzamiento virtual el 12 de septiembre, 6:30pm EDT. Habrá arte, lecturas de poemas, exposiciones cinematográficas, presentaciones musicales, y más. Por primera vez las artistas estarán en diálogo entre ellas, imaginando colectivamente un futuro diferente. ***RSVP – Hagan clic aquí para reservar su lugar en este evento: https://forms.gle/BM2DnxYvoEwfKQMMALa conferencia minera más grande del mundo llega cada año a Toronto, Canadá y está organizada por la “Association Canadiense de Prospectores y Desarrolladores” (PDAC). Este año, la conferencia se volverá completamente virtual por causa de la pandemia de COVID-19. Pero no se deje engañar: el hecho de que el centro de Toronto esté vacío (donde siempre tiene esta conferencia) no significa que la minería se haya detenido. Los proyectos mineros canadienses continúan con toda su fuerza alrededor del mundo.Nosotras organizadas en la Red de Solidaridad Contra la Minería Injusta (MISN por sus siglas en inglés) y nuestras aliadxs tenemos una larga historia de intervención e interrupción de la conferencia, dando eco a los millones de voces del mundo que dicen “SÍ” a la vida y “NO” a la minería. Comunidades por todas partes ya llevan décadas y milenios imaginando y luchando por un mundo sin el extractivismo y sin los sistemas de violencia y opresión que lo sustentan. Y con la pandemia que ha interrumpida una conferencia presencial este año, estamos aprovechando para continuar con estas imaginaciones de forma artística. ¿Qué pasaría si la mayor convención minera del mundo nunca volviera a suceder? ***RSVP – Reserva aquí para el 12 de sept: https://forms.gle/BM2DnxYvoEwfKQMMA

5. Fridays For Future’s Global Climate Strike – Friday, September 24th, 2021 at noon Confederation Park (Ottawa, Ontario) Fridays for Future (https://linktr.ee/fridaysforfutureottawa) Fridays For Future is planning a climate strike (mass protest) in Ottawa, in concert with other global chapters, to pressure the political and corporate classes to take decisive climate action posthaste, on which the welfare of current and future generations depends. More information to come! The big international fall climate strike where we all demand climate actions which follow the science and uproot the system! ~ La grande grève internationale du climat automnal où nous exigeons des action contre la crise climatique qui suive la science et déracine le système !

#submission #cdnpoli #canada #canadian politics #canadian news #canadian

[maybe-jamie]

La marcha de 8M en el Zócalo de la Ciudad de México.

El gobierno puso vallas a lo largo de Palacio Nacional para proteger el monumento. Las mujeres responden poniendo los nombres de la víctimas de feminicidios en las vallas y con una protesta hoy 9 de marzo. Piden respuesta al gobierno que ignora y niega la situación.

#niunamenos dicen. Ni una mujer más violentada, ni una amiga que no vuelva de la escuela, ni una víctima de violación más sin consecuencias al violador.

Foto de Ixchel Cisneros Soltero

Foto de Ixchel Cisneros Soltero

Foto de Ixchel Cisneros Soltero

Foto de restauradorasglitter.mx

Foto de restauradorasglitter.mx

Foto de Isaac Jero.

Translation:

The Women's March for International Women's Day 2021, in Mexico City.

The government has barricaded the National Palace to protect the building where many government officials work including the president. Women have reacted by painting the names of feminicide victims on the metal walls, as well as planning a protest for the 9th of March. The ask the government to stop denying and ignoring the help asked against the rising violence towards women.

#niunamenos (no more women, rough translation; or can be not one woman less) they say. No more mistreated woman, no more friends who never came back from school, no more rape victims that don't have justice towards their rapist. Not another woman that was murdered for just being a woman

#mexico #mexico feminicida #8m #international women's day #women #cdmx #2021 #8 de marzo #protest #niunamenos #día de la mujer

[drew-22s]

Drug Trafficking

There was a time in life when drug trafficking did not exist, and it was simple, normal traveling going on in the world. But everyone in the world knows the United States has a major unquenchable thirst for illegal drugs coming and going. Drug trafficking is a major issue globally going from country to country across the world. Some may ask, ‘What is Drug Trafficking’? As the United Nations observe, “drug trafficking is a global illicit trade involving the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws” (UNODC, para 1). Many agencies such as DEA, Border Patrol tend to want to stop the illegal transportation of drugs but if you were to ask any of them, they know their job is not as easy as many people may think. I’m sure many of them can vouch and say it wasn’t always like this but now they have to figure out the stopping of this issue. Drug trafficking can be done in many different ways now, mainly through airplanes, tunnels, or even maybe over sea. Its different ways for different areas.

Gustavo Solis says” drug smuggling along the border is like a balloon, if you squeeze one part, the air simply shifts to another” (Drug smuggling, and the endless battle to stop it). We could talk about this issue in South America or Afghanistan but that would be no use to us in the United States. In the United States for at least two decades, different seizures of drugs varying from marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and maybe some pills like opioids. Our neighboring country, Mexico, plays a big role in the drug trafficking coming into our country. Lauren Villa shared “the top five districts for drug trafficking in 2016 were: Western District of Texas, Southern District of Texas, District of Arizona, Southern District of California, District of New Mexico” (Trafficking Statistics, 2021). This is a lot of ground to cover when trying to find a way to stop the trafficking from happening. Most of DEA and Border Patrols have no way of figuring out how to stop this issue, they just offer temporary support that has not been effective for years. People outside of the agencies and outside of the drug trafficking world, we must understand this is also considered a productive business and the operations continue to evolve and grow. Monitoring of these smuggling techniques are hard and time consuming. Villa also shared “according to the DEA, when shipments of drugs are trafficked into the U.S. in kilogram or pound-sized blocks, they are usually taken to an apartment or house where a person responsible for bagging up the drugs breaks them into smaller quantities using blenders, coffee grinders, food processors, or diluents” (Trafficking Statistics, 2021). Reports by UNODC “drug traffickers may have laundered around $1.6 trillion, or 2.7 per cent of global GDP, 2009”. With drug trafficking unfortunately comes illicit flows of cash or other illicit financial funds generated by an organized crime. Despite the efforts of trafficking drugs, it is important to know if someone you love has a drug addiction, it is extremely important to find your love one help immediately.

The harms that come from drug trafficking always almost involve excessive violence by the cartels but of course people have seen shows involving drugs and the trafficking of drugs and also the laundering of money, but no one experiences more than the Border patrol especially in San Diego. Solis stated “during the 2016 fiscal year, Border Patrol agents in San Diego confiscated nearly 83,000 kilograms of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin from the three ports of entry in the area. The next closest border sector in terms of drug seizures was Laredo, Texas, which covers twice as much land and where agents confiscated 10,000 fewer kilograms of drugs, according to Customs and Boarder Protection data” (Drug smuggling, and the endless battle to stop it). Once fences were built in San Diego to try to fix the issue of trafficking over the border, agents noticed more pangas which are small, open fishing boats that run on outboard motors abandoned on the beach. Also, when fences were being built San Diego had issues with building of tunnels. Solis stated “while the majority of smuggling attempts happen in the ports of entry, the biggest loads of drugs enter San Diego through tunnels. The ones equipped with rails can carry packages as big as 35 tons. It can take more than a million dollars to build one of these tunnels, but the drug smuggling organization can get a return on its investment after two successful shipments” (Drug smuggling, and the endless battle to stop it).

The research shows that nothing has really been effective when discussing and searching for ideas to stop the process of drug trafficking. When you think just about the ocean perspective, Coast Guard or DEA or Border Patrol agents there aren’t enough patrol over the entire sea surrounding The United States. It’s difficult but I am sure it’s also difficult to avoid corruption amongst the team in law enforcement. A lot of money is being made through this harming process and a lot of law enforcement can be paid off to turn away or not report certain crimes. Within the drug trafficking organization, a lot of the process would not work without the help of some corrupted law enforcement. Although not a lot of agents and law members participate with the drug process, enough do to make a difference. Maybe the thought should be to get the corruption out and that might help with dismantling of the drug trafficking organization as a whole and take many cartels out that are involved. Lauren Villa shared recent statistics on drug trafficking, “In 2016, the majority (84.9%) of traffickers were male with an average age of 36. Roughly 70% of all offenders were U.S. citizens, and almost half (49.4%) had little or no prior criminal history. The DEA puts much of its focus on trafficking from Mexican drug cartels because not only do they control a large share of the drug distribution within the U.S. Between 2011 and 2015, there was an almost50% increase in the number of people sentenced for crimes related to heroin trafficking in the U.S. (Trafficking Statistics).

#stopdrugs #stopdrugtraffickin #do better

[lubashivaya]

#SaturdayNightMovie 📽 19.03.2022 #DesertoParticular #PrivateDesert #oscar2022 is around the corner (March 27) #Repost @alymuritiba #Repost @talizesayegh —— DESERTO PARTICULAR (PRIVATE DESERT) About the film: 40-year- old Daniel has been suspended from active police work and is under internal investigation for violence. When Sara, his internet love affair, stops answering his texts, he decides to drive north in search of her, starting on what is apparently a fool's errand. He shows Sara's picture around, but nobody seems to recognize the woman. Until eventually a guy pops up saying he can put the two in touch under very specific conditions. About the director: @alymuritiba The films of up-and-coming Brazilian diretor and screenwriter Aly Muritiba have been screened in prestigious film festivals such as Sundance (Ferrugem, 2018), Venice (Tarântula, 2015 / Deserto Particular, 2021), San Sebastián (Para Minha Amada Morta, 2015 / Ferrugem, 2018) and La Semaine de la Critique of Festival de Cannes (Pátio, 2013). Throughout his career, his movies have so far won over 200 awards from film festivals all over the world. “Private Desert” is the opening film of our festival, and director @alymuritiba will be present for a Q&A after the screening. Go to Hbrfest.com for more info. (em Brazil) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbTpKx5Lzsu/?utm_medium=tumblr

#saturdaynightmovie #desertoparticular #privatedesert #oscar2022 #repost

[lokirupaul]

Lokiru Paul : The Life and Suspicious Death of Cachou the Bear

The Life and Suspicious Death of Cachou the Bear



Cachou the brown bear was found dead on the mountains just above the village of Les, in the Aran Valley.

Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

Conservationists saw the 6-year-old brown bear as a symbol of hope. Villagers saw him as a menace. Then he turned up dead.

By Laura Millan Lombrana for 

Bloomberg

July 8, 2021, 7:01 AM GMT+3

Para leer el reportaje en español.

Ivan Afonso checked his computer one last time before picking up the phone. It was April 2020, and like most of Spain, Afonso was stuck at home under a strict Covid lockdown. But his mind was in the mountains.

An environmental scientist, Afonso also served as head of the environmental division in the Aran Valley, a tiny area of the Pyrenees mountain range that forms a dent along Spain’s border with France. For the past three years, his duties had included monitoring the movements of Cachou, a 6-year-old, 130-kilo (287-pound) brown bear. The bear was a local celebrity, one of the few males born in the wild in the Pyrenees and living proof that conservationists’ efforts to rejuvenate the region’s struggling brown bear colony were working.

The task had been a nightmare from the start. Cachou was young and fiery, and—to the dismay of conservationists and farmers—prone to wreaking havoc. Like most bears, Cachou had a sweet tooth. He’d started with assaulting bee farms, but by 2019, he’d learned to hunt horses many times his size. Eventually, authorities put a tracker on him, but even that didn’t work. At one point he was blamed for four attacks within two weeks.

Aran Valley

Source: USGS, EarthExplorer

Cachou had given Afonso and horse breeders in the valley some rest during winter. But the tracker showed the bear had come out of hibernation earlier than usual. He’d been in France in March, but a more recent ping put him somewhere in the mountains above Les, a tiny village of fewer than 1,000 people. After that he’d ventured deeper into the forest, close to a trail—and then stopped. The next 24 pings were all in the same spot. Afonso couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

“Either the tracker had dropped, or he was dead,” he thought. 



The Garona river, seen here from the village of Bossost, is born high on the Pyrenees and flows into the Atlantic Ocean in France.

Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

In light of the vast extinction event currently underway on Earth, the death of a single bear might seem less than significant. And yet, on the morning of April 9, 2020, Afonso decided it was time to do something. He called the head of Aran Valley’s government first, then dialed the valley’s ranger corps and requested two trustworthy agents who could discreetly hike to the place the pings were coming from.

Finally, he dialed the head of Catalonia’s park ranger corps in the Northern Pyrenees, Anna Servent. Spry in her early 40s, with a resolute expression and brown hair cut short on one side, Servent heads a small, semi-secret team of investigators who specialize in animal poisonings. Their methods are unconventional. While most rangers focus on analyzing animal remains, the people on Servent’s team spend years building networks of local informers. They wear plainclothes, change vehicles often, and tend to visit their sources in the middle of the night to avoid drawing attention.

By the turn of the 21st century, brown bears were almost extinct here after decades of indiscriminate hunting and poisoning. In 1996, just three survived in the entire 430-kilometer (267-mile) mountain range. While the population has recovered after several European Union-sponsored conservation projects, it remains Europe’s smallest colony, with a count of 64 bears as of 2020. The lower Aran Valley, with its thick forests covered in old beech, oak, and chestnut trees and a milder climate, has become a breeding ground for the endangered predators.

But what conservationists consider a victory, many who’ve grown up in the mountains see as a declaration of war. “Naturally, when you reintroduce a species that has been previously eliminated on purpose, you’ll run again into similar conflicts that caused the reduction in numbers in the first place,” says Elisabeth Pötzelsberger, head of the resilience program at the European Forest Institute, an EU research center. “It would be quite naive to think everyone will be happy and clapping hands.”



Anna Servent heads a small, semi-secret team of investigators who specialize in animal poisonings.

Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

After talking to Afonso, Servent and one of her investigators—whose identity can’t be revealed to avoid compromising ongoing cases—jumped in a car and drove fast through deserted, meandering roads into the Aran Valley. The view on the way in is bucolic, with rocky peaks covered in snow and slopes so steep one fears they might collapse onto the bright green pastures below. The stone towers and slate roofs of Romanic churches dot the expanse, which is split in two by the Garona river. Those who live there still speak a modern version of Occitan, a romance language troubadours used for songs and poems before the Renaissance. They’re proud of their rural roots and tend to look suspiciously at anyone coming from south of the Pyrenees. 

The Aran Valley community is so tight, Servent’s rangers hadn’t been able to groom informants in the area, so she hoped their car would go unnoticed as she and her teammate neared Les. They headed up the mountain trail, climbed through the steep forest, and reached Cachou’s body at roughly the same time as the local rangers.



Joan Vazquez, founder of environmental organization Ipcena, holds a picture of a book showing Cachou’s body in the forest where it was found.

Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

The bear was lying belly up at the bottom of a 40-meter rocky cliff, a single canine sticking out of his half-open mouth. There were signs he’d been there for a long time, but that the death was quite recent, indicating that he could have lay there suffering for a long time, which happens sometimes in poisoning cases.

Servent speaks in a low voice and a calm tone as she details their inspection of the body and the surrounding area, but her face is serious behind a blue surgical mask. “We didn’t see any signs of poisoning initially,” she says. That made them even more restless. Before they left, Afonso had told them: “If you don’t find an obvious cause of death, look for antifreeze.” 

Ivan Afonso likes to think of himself as a man between two worlds. He was born of the Pyrenees, but not of the Aran Valley, and completed his university degree in cosmopolitan Barcelona. At 47 years old, he still feels more at ease in the mountains looking for endangered birds or scouring remote ponds for rare frogs than he does in his small office in the Aran government’s headquarters.



Born in the Pyrenees and educated in Barcelona, Ivan Afonso likes to think of himself as a man between two worlds.

Photographer:Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

It pained Afonso not to be able to go out into the mountains to find Cachou, but he had reason to believe that they’d be walking into a crime scene, which meant that the fewer people there disturbing evidence, the better. Twice during 2019, he told Servent’s rangers, he’d overheard a man from Les talk about using antifreeze against bears, according to court documents seen by Bloomberg Green—once during a private meeting, and once during a public speech. This same man had once headed the Aran Valley Land Department, and was partially responsible for overseeing 2.4 million euros ($2.8 million) of EU funds intended for brown bear conservation in the Pyrenees.

“I didn’t pay attention to him at that time. Maybe it was a mistake, but I was skeptical,” Afonso says. “There are rumors about killing bears all the time. People boast about having killed a bear and the next day we see it appear on a surveillance camera.

“Even if I had paid attention,” he goes on, “what could have I done? Everyone in the valley has antifreeze. I’ve got two bottles at home.” 



A rusty trap used to catch bears is kept on a storage room on the basement of the Catalan rangers’ headquarters in Tremp (left). Aldicarb (right) is a pesticide now banned in Europe. A small quantity is enough to kill a wild boar.

Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

Antifreeze is a ranger’s worst nightmare. Used to prevent car engines from freezing and therefore widely available in shops and petrol stations, it goes undetected in common post mortem tests and vanishes from corpses within days, if not hours. It can only be found if the body is fresh, and if pathologists are specifically looking for it. 

A few hundred miles from where Cachou’s body was found, wildlife pathologist Roser Velarde was sitting in in her office at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, surrounded by microscopes and deer skulls, when she got a call from Afonso, telling her that the bear would be on her operating table by the next day. With 20 years of practice behind her, Velarde didn’t flinch—Cachou’s would hardly be her first animal autopsy, and certainly not her most challenging. Once, much to the amusement of her students and colleagues, she performed a necropsy on a whale on the patio outside because the animal wouldn’t fit inside her lab. 

During Cachou’s necropsy, Velarde spoke in the same patient, explanatory tone she uses with her students. The body had no bullet wounds, no broken bones, cuts, or major signs of violence. Some superficial teeth marks on the side of his head suggested that an animal, most likely another bear, had bit him, but that was ruled out as the cause of death. As she opened him up, she also ruled out death by common poisons, as most cause massive internal bleeding. Velarde spent four hours cutting, weighing, measuring, gathering samples, and taking pictures, but she found nothing. It wasn’t until after all that that Servent’s investigator, who attended the necropsy, told Velarde about Afonso’s antifreeze suspicion.



A professor at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Roser Velarde has been performing necropsies, mostly on wild animals, for 20 years.

Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

Back in her office, Velarde processed samples of urine and brain tissue. Three days later, the university’s head of wildlife eco-pathology confirmed that the samples contained crystals of calcium oxalate, which are consistent with the presence of ethylene glycol, the chemical that comprises between 90 and 95% of antifreeze. 

About 12 hours after ingesting the antifreeze, Cachou’s neurological system would have started to malfunction. He would have felt severe stomach irritation and possibly slipped into a coma. His lungs and heart would have started to shut down within hours, but he could have stayed alive for as long as nine days later, until his kidneys finally failed. 

“Cachou the bear suffered a slow and very painful agony that went on for days—until he died,” Velarde concluded in her report, according to court documents. That, combined with the signals from the tracking device, meant Cachou was poisoned on or around March 26. 

“The first thing we did was to request the judge to keep the investigation secret,” Servent says—something typically only done in highly sensitive cases such as those involving drug trafficking and political corruption, and never before for the suspected murder of a wild animal. “It terrified us that people would find out and start getting ideas—and obviously we didn’t want the poisoner to know we knew.” Her request was granted. As a result, details of the investigation haven’t been made public.



Bees in the Aran Valley were among the first victims of Cachou’s attacks—like many bears, he had a sweet tooth.

Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

With no reliable sources in the area, Servent knew her team’s usual methods wouldn’t work, so she put in a call to the Catalan police, also known as Mossos d’Esquadra. 

Deputy inspector Cesar Jou tried to hide his surprise as the voice on the other side of the line told him about his next case. After 25 years as a policeman, most of them on the Mossos’ crime unit in the Pyrenees, he was used to homicides, drug trafficking, and organized violence. But Cachou was his first bear victim. “I was surprised when they asked me to investigate the death of a bear, but we treated it as if it was a homicide. It was a challenge,” he says.

Jou’s first move was to go to Les with his agents and ask locals if they’d seen anything strange in the days around when Cachou was poisoned. In places where everyone knows each other, crime is often seen as an attack on the community as a whole, Jou says. With the country on a strict lockdown, surely someone would have noticed something, he thought. 

He was wrong. “No one knew anything, no one had seen anything,” Jou says. Cachou’s killer was perceived as the savior of the village. “There was a sense of angst among the ranchers.”

Anti-bear sentiment in the region goes back generations. “Living with the bear is an obligation, something we haven’t decided,” says Frances Bruna, the current head of the Land Department in the Aran Valley government. A horse-breeder himself, Bruna talks dearly about his mares and explains that he, too, has suffered bear attacks in the past. “They’ll give us subsidies, aid, they’ll pay back whenever there are attacks. But inside us there will always be that feeling.”

Bruna’s various responsibilities are often at odds with each other. He’s charged with leading environmental and bear conservation initiatives in the valley, but he also looks after the wellbeing of farmers and their animals. Catalan authorities have spent years trying to mediate between these two worlds. The regional government now compensates ranchers for each animal killed by a bear, and last year spent 84,500 euros to install fences and pay for shepherds and mastiff dogs to watch over sheep and cattle in the Pyrenees during the summer months. It also pays for the animals’ insurance and has hired an external company that acts as a mediator between farmers and the administration.

“Bears were something imposed from Europe, paid with European funds that I guess someone was very happy to collect,” says Marc Cuny, the president of the Association of the Pyrenees Catalan Horse in the Aran Valley. “No one asked for our opinion, they just told us it would be the panacea—and it wasn’t.”



Marc Cuny feeds two of his mares at a field near Vielha. Breeders’ bond with their animals is emotional and goes back generations.

Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

It isn’t a matter of money, says Cuny. Standing in his field next to Ines, Monica, and Nera, three of his 16 mares, he keeps a close eye on a filly born just hours ago that his young daughter has named Peppa Pig. Horses are an important part of the valley’s traditions, and breeders’ bond with them is emotional, he says.

“Poisoning the bear was a mistake, and whoever did it wasn’t thinking about the consequences,” Cuny says. “But when a beast kills 12 or 13 horses and is not removed from the mountain, you can understand that someone decided to do it themselves.”



Two Mossos d’Esquadra agents hike across the steep slopes of the Pyrenees to the place where Cachou’s body was found.

Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

With no cooperation from locals, the investigation into Cachou’s death advanced slowly. Eventually, police identified five potential subjects, including the official who had talked publicly about poisoning bears; a local ranger who was part of the bear restoration program and had access to Cachou’s positioning data; two people whose phone signals showed they had been in the area around the date of the killing; and one who’d installed a surveillance camera near the place where the body was found.

Still, the investigation bore no real clues until the end of June. After weeks of fruitless interrogations, one witness—a ranger with the Aran Valley government—finally broke the code of silence, divulging the existence of a WhatsApp group called, bluntly, the Anti-Bear Platform, according to court documents. All the messages in the chat had been deleted, but Jou’s investigators could see that the group had over 140 members. Among the administrators was the official who’d talked about poisoning bears.  

Jou’s agents had already begun tapping the phones of the suspects they’d identified, but the Anti-Bear Platform gave them the key they needed to begin deciphering how the group operated. In the latter half of 2020, however, the investigation took an unexpected turn. The taps showed a network of people who were changing phone numbers frequently, working in tight shifts in a house in the valley. Some of them had Colombian accents.

On March 29, Jou’s team arrested 12 people suspected of belonging to a cocaine trafficking ring. Agents seized almost 2 kilos of pure cocaine worth about 200,000 euros, an unprecedented amount in an area where no one had previously suspected of drug-dealing activity of this magnitude. The Aran Valley is famous for the high-end resort of Baqueira, which attracts jet set skiers and mountain hikers from both sides of the border, including the Spanish royal family, and many now suspect the traffickers were serving its rich patrons.

“We thought it was Cachou’s way of saying ‘thank you’ for having investigated his death,” says Jou jokingly before getting serious again. “It’s been the most important cocaine operation for Mossos d’Esquadra in the Aran Valley for several years.” 

More than a year after Cachou’s murder, the investigation is almost complete. 

In November, police arrested two of their original five suspects, including the ranger who had access to Cachou’s positioning data and had been caught on a tapped phone discussing the position of a different bear entering the valley. The ranger denied the charges—which included the commission of a crime against fauna, revelation of secrets, and perversion of justice—and refused to give a statement. He was eventually released and remains a member of the Aran Valley rangers, although he’s no longer involved in bear-monitoring activities, according to the local government. The judge also summoned the official who’d boasted about antifreeze-soaked sponges, but he, too, refused to give a statement. 

Finally, in early June, police arrested the ranger who’d disclosed the existence of the Anti-Bear chat. His statements to the police were full of contradictions, and in tapped phone conversations with the other arrested ranger, he’d discussed deleting possibly incriminating messages. He also refused to give a statement and was freed on the same day.

The inquiry into Cachou’s death is the first criminal investigation into the death of a wild animal in Spain, and possibly anywhere else in Europe, environmental groups say. But it’s unlikely to be the last. The EU has made the conservation and restoration of natural habitats, including increasing biodiversity and expanding forests, an essential part in its fight against climate change, wildfires, and disease outbreaks.

Wolves, lynx and bears play a key role in that plan. These super-predators are known as umbrella species; because they’re at the top of the food chain, they can only thrive if every other animal and plant below them is healthy too. Their success or failure is therefore seen as a proxy for the state of conservation and biodiversity efforts, on which the bloc plans to spend 20 billion euros ($24 billion) a year over the next decade. 



A police agent looks down at the exact place where Cachou was found, deep inside the forest at the bottom of a rocky cliff.

Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

The trial could also bring further scrutiny to how European conservation funds are spent. In addition to the former Land official who was once in charge of administering this money in the Aran Valley, the ranger who allegedly leaked Cachou’s location was paid entirely by EU conservation funding.

“Aid must come with conditions,” says Joan Vazquez, founder of conservation organization Ipcena, which will appear as an individual prosecutor in the trial. “States are not watching how that money is spent, they just send reports to the EU saying everything’s going perfect. And the EU believes it unless there are cases like Cachou’s proving the contrary.”

This is not an isolated case of dubious oversight. A recent report by European nonprofit Bankwatch Network documented biodiversity plans by several Eastern European countries. Analysts found that some, including Bulgaria and Poland, directly infringe current laws, while others engage in greenwashing or other deceptive practices, all while receiving EU funding and applying for more.

In this harsher, more bureaucratic light, Cachou wasn’t just a bear, he was a bellwether. The fact that he was wearing a tracking device—and that Afonso moved fast to locate him—meant rangers got to the scene before his body deteriorated, which allowed Velarde to prove the cause of death in a way that would stand up in court. Because of Cachou’s fame and the existing tension between the Aran Valley’s bears and humans, the judge encouraged investigators on the case, include Servent and Jou, to use all means necessary to find the killer.

The judge in Vielha, the capital of the Aran Valley, is expected to formally charge the ranger, the public official, and potentially others when she closes the investigation, likely within the next few months. At that point, a different judge will bring the case to trial sometime next year in the city of Lleida, about 160 kilometers south of the valley. The mystery of Cachou’s death has raised so much attention that authorities fear Vielha’s tiny courthouse won’t be big enough to hold all the interested spectators.

Back in Les, locals await the start of the trial with a mix of uneasiness and indifference. On a foggy morning in April, a few of them read the paper and eat breakfast at an old cafe, casually chatting about whether the end of the lockdown would bring French tourists back. On the wall hang black and white pictures of dead bears and smiling hunters.

“I remember old people in the villages telling us stories about bears,” says Bruna, the current head of the Land Department. “Whoever arrived to the village with a dead bear was hailed as a hero and everyone wanted to be in the picture with them.”



Frances Bruna, the current head of the Land Department in the Aran Valley government, remembers the times when bear hunters were hailed as heroes.

Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

The investigation of Cachou’s murder has done nothing to erase those decades-old lines, Afonso says. Locals who either sympathized with the bears or who didn’t care either way have since turned against them after being summoned to testify, realizing their phones were tapped, or seeing the names friends and relatives written about as suspects in the local press. If anything, it’s made the community even more wary of strangers.

At base, the case is a clash between two ways of seeing the environment, Afonso says: the Araneses’ pragmatic view of nature as a profitable resource, and the outsider’s more romanticized view of humanity’s duty to protect and preserve.

“The most extreme examples of these two worlds are represented in this case,” Afonso says. “Very zealous justice and police systems that acted as if a person had been killed, and a wise guy who decided to take matters into his own hands.”

Servent thinks it will be a turning point in how authorities treat wildlife deaths. About 40 bears have died since 1996, some in circumstances that have never been properly investigated, according to Ipcena. Mysterious bear deaths include that of Cachou’s father, Balou, who according to reports by French authorities was hit by lightning and fell off a cliff.

“Everyone who has participated in this has taken it very seriously so it wouldn’t end in nothing,” Servent says. “Everyone has seen that the death of a bear can’t go unnoticed.”



The Pyrenees mountain range acts as a natural wall that isolates the Aran Valley from the rest of Spain. Its inhabitants are proud of their distinct identity and speak a modern version of Occitan.

Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

As for Cachou’s killer, there are different views of who did it. The police and rangers think it was someone from the area who had access to Cachou’s confidential positioning data, knows the forests well, and knows how to use poison. The perpetrator has also likely suffered bear attacks, they say, possibly at the teeth and paws of Cachou himself.

Afonso has a different guess. He suspects someone has been killing bears for a while, but that Cachou wasn’t necessarily the target. The area where his body was found is a route frequently used by bears, and at a time when sightings are increasing everywhere on the Pyrenees, they’re falling precisely in that place.

“If I was the poisoner, I wouldn’t kill the only bear that’s wearing a tracking device,” he says. “That person was unlucky that Cachou passed by. I’m quite sure of that.”

[limemyan]

New York march resumes as Asians gather under Guo Wengui to protest

Yan Limon disinformation virus origin

 During the epidemic, a wave of attacks against Asians has continued. In recent months, angry Asians have gathered in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles to stage a nationwide march against Asian violence and hate, chanting slogans such as "Asians are not the virus" and "Rumors of the epidemic are the virus. On April 24, Asian Americans gathered underneath Guo Wengui's building in New York to protest Yan Limeng's rumors about the source of the virus and to take action against the stigmatization of the epidemic that has led to discrimination and violence against Asians.

一、Who are the makers behind the scenes?

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Yan Limeng, a former virus researcher from Hong Kong, has staged a farce about the origin of the new coronavirus in a Chinese laboratory for her own selfish gain, orchestrated by Guo Wengui and Trump staffer Bannon, a conspiracy theory that has gained a lot of traction in the right-wing U.S. media and the Guo-funded GTV media, with content that appeals to rising anti-China sentiment in the West and distracts from the then-Trump administration's response to the outbreak failures, ultimately leading to a national surge in anti-Asian harassment and violence, with attacks often linked to the misconception that Asians were responsible for the spread of the coronavirus. The virus was first discovered in Wuhan, China, and is currently being investigated by the WHO, the current U.S. government, intelligence services, and other global governments, agencies, and the world's leading virus experts and scholars in rigorous investigations stating that they have not yet discovered where the virus originated, yet rumors of the origin of the epidemic that Guo Wengui, Bannon, and Yan Limeng were eager to concoct for their own personal gain ultimately led to incidents of discrimination and violence against Asians.

二、Unprecedented impact

Guo Wengui, Bannon, and Yan Limeng's unsubstantiated theory of the origin of the virus has caused irreparable damage to the economies of Asians and a nightmarish disaster to the personal safety of the Asian community.

Asian economic incomes are facing a huge contraction. A report released in March 2021 by the Federal Reserve Board of New York and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) shows that in 2019, about 9 percent of Asian American businesses are in financial "distress," slightly higher than white-owned firms (6 percent) but much lower than black-owned businesses (19 percent) and Hispanic-owned businesses (16 percent). Going into the epidemic crisis, sales of Asian American businesses fell by more than 60 percent year-over-year at the end of March, according to research by the JPMorgan Chase Institute, a larger drop than any other small business.

The personal safety of Asians is at great risk. The San Francisco-based Stop AAPI Hate received more than 2,800 firsthand reports of discrimination and abuse against Asian Americans in 2020, about 240 of which involved physical assault.The AAPI Emergency Response Network has been tracking incidents since 2020 that have a Since it began tracking hate incidents directly related to NCD, it has received more than 3,000 reports of Asian Americans being spit on, beaten, cut, and even having chemicals thrown at them. NYPD 2021 data shows a spike in hate crimes against Asians in New York City in March, totaling 31, with nine of the perpetrators mentioning the coronavirus. The other seven cases included anti-Chinese remarks, while zero were recorded in the same month in 2020. Seattle saw 14 anti-Asian hate crimes in 2020, a number that was about 55 percent higher than in 2019. In Los Angeles, hate crimes against Asians more than doubled, from seven in 2019 to 15 last year.

In their analysis, the officials noted "growing hostility toward the Chinese community. Some analysts pointed out that during the epidemic crisis, it was Guo Wengui, Bannon, and Yan Limeng's disinformation about the origin of the epidemic that caused the misunderstanding of the origin of the epidemic in the U.S. society today, which caused the conflict of ethnic groups in the U.S. society, resulting in Asian-Americans inexplicably becoming the scapegoats of discrimination and violence.

三、The march is also known as the "Protect Grandma" action

The Twitter-based "Justice Gathering Against the Stigmatization of Asians", also known as the "Protect Grandma" campaign, is based on the unprovoked beatings of Asian grandmothers in San Francisco, and the fact that the Asian community has been ridiculed at times as "you coronavirus people. "On April 24, the campaign called on Internet users to go to the residence of Guo Wengui, the perpetrator of the epidemic rumors, to defend the rights of Asian Americans. It is reported that from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. that day, Asian Americans gathered under Guo Wengui's residence to protest the farce of the origin of the epidemic stigma concocted by Guo Wengui, Bannon, Yan Limeng and Luther. The marchers sang the song "Born Asian, I'm Proud" written by 14-year-old Asian American girl Phoebe, and held signs that said "Stop Asian hating" and "Shut up, don't make fake news about New Guinea pneumonia. Luther and others shut up on the rumors of the new pneumonia. During the march, more and more people joined the march, and at the peak the number of marchers reached thousands of people, chanting slogans like "Stop Asian Hate", "Please ask Guo Wengui to stop creating fake news about the epidemic to harm Asians", "Let's build the United States of America! "Let's build the United States of America together!" .....

  The march was attended by people of all Asian ethnic groups, some ethnic minorities and white and indigenous people who joined the "Justice Gathering against the stigma of the epidemic that led to the brutalization of Asians". The group was discriminated against and victimized by violence. Unfortunately, the April 19 incident in which Guo Wengui's supporters violently assaulted the blogger Sinor again befell the march, with a small group of blue-clad Guo Wengui supporters (members of Guo Wengui's "New China Federation") storming directly into the march, pulling and pulling march signs without explanation, and violently assaulting marchers who did not comply. The marchers who did not comply were violently beaten, causing several of them to suffer various degrees of physical injuries.

 Fourth, what else do we need to do?

   (I) Anti-Hate Asian Bill Passes but Discrimination Against Asians Hard to Dissipate

On April 22, the U.S. Senate passed with a high vote the New Crown Hate Crimes Act, a bill designed to address hate crimes against Asians. Thus, significant progress has been made in the move to legislate against hatred of Asians. However, we found that in the epidemic stigma created by Guo Wengui, Bannon and Yan Limeng continues to spread online, the discrimination and violence against Asians has not stopped and has a great tendency to spread in the white national society, no matter you are elderly, young people, even if your identity is a federal police detective, as long as your identity is Asian people are likely to be violated.

On April 24, Pan Ma Yao, a 61-year-old Asian man unemployed under the epidemic, was attacked by a mob on the streets of East Harlem, New York, while picking up cans to support his family, and was left unconscious.

Related news story: Wife of Asian man stomped on NYC street pleads for justice.

On April 25, Tianyou Zheng, a 25-year-old Asian-Canadian student at the University of Alberta, claimed on Facebook that he was beaten and stabbed by an unknown man on a train.

Related Facebook content: I was attacked by a crazy stranger with a knife on the Univeristy Station platform

During a demonstration for legal racial equality, assailant Terrell Harper suddenly spoke out against New York Asian police detective Vincent Chong, using discriminatory terms against Asians and even violently threatening Vincent Chong's mother.

(2) Rumors of the epidemic must be eliminated at the source in order to better protect Asian families and loved ones

During the year of the epidemic crisis, Guo Wengui, Bannon and Yan Limeng fabricated rumors about the origin of the epidemic, like the Grim Reaper, haunted every Asian person all the time, like a basin of dirty water splashed on the head of every Asian person, Asian people suffered physical injuries and economic losses, all caused by Guo Wengui, Bannon and Yan Limeng.

Some commentators pointed out that the message and actions of the "4.24 Justice Gathering against the stigma of the epidemic that led to the brutalization of Asians" had alerted Guo Wengui, Bannon, Yan Limeng and others who created the rumors of the epidemic. Guo Wengui funded by the royal YouTube anchor Luther in the big party has not been carried out on the day (April 22 Luther on the big party activities for live commentary) said that there will be no Asian rights is just a thief's heart weak and scared of the performance; and Guo Wengui's supporters in the day into the big party activities in the procession of the marchers violent beating behavior, fully reflects the gang of thieves shouting as a thief and rogue The scoundrel's style.

The successful "4.24 Justice Gathering against the stigma of the epidemic that led to the brutalization of Asians" has made Guo Wengui, Yan Limeng and others cower like rats, but only persistent advocacy can silence the rumor mongers and protect Asians from the misunderstanding of the origin of the new epidemic in American society. The government has been working hard to protect the rights of Asian Americans. In the face of Guo Wengui's instruction for others to violently storm the march, the marchers believed that in the face of the stigmatization of the epidemic, every Asian can no longer be an innocent bystander, and that only when we are for everyone can everyone be for me.

[phgq]

PH, US coordinate to protect Pinoys over rising hate crimes

#PHnews: PH, US coordinate to protect Pinoys over rising hate crimes

MANILA – The Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. on Friday said it continues to engage American authorities to protect Filipinos amid the alarming rise in anti-Asian violence in the United States.

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said the State Department already received their note verbale requesting immediate assistance to strengthen the protection of Asians, including Filipinos and Filipino-Americans in the country.

A letter has been also sent to the US Senate, which was followed by a Senate committee hearing that probed on the reported hate crimes against people of Asian descent since the start of the pandemic.

"Maganda naman ang mga sagot ng FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) dahil sila ay gumagawa ng puwede nilang gawin para matigil itong hate crimes so marami silang mga agents na na-spread out all over the US (The response of the FBI is good and they are already taking actions to stop these crimes and has also deployed their agents all over the US)," he reported.

"Things are moving in the right direction in the sense that they are well aware of these hate crimes that are now happening because of Covid-19," he added.

Last month, Filipino-American Noel Quintana was slashed with a boxcutter knife while on a morning commute in New York.

His assailant, described as between 20 and 30 years old and wearing blue jeans and a red hoodie during the incident, reportedly kicked Quintana's bag while on the train, prompting the 61-year old Filipino-American to move away.

A New York Daily News said the man followed and kicked Quintana's bag again before taking a box-cutter knife to cut his face.

The next thing the Filipino-American knew was blood was flowing down from the long gash across his face that stretches from cheek to cheek.

"Na-alarm kami doon (We were alarmed by that) and immediately we called our consulate in New York and called the attention of the State Department that we are very concerned about the safety of many Filipino-American and Filipinos living in New York," Romualdez said. (PNA)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "PH, US coordinate to protect Pinoys over rising hate crimes." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1132710 (accessed March 06, 2021 at 12:54AM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "PH, US coordinate to protect Pinoys over rising hate crimes." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1132710 (archived).

#Philippines #News #Filipino #Pinoy #Tourism #Politics #Culture #Editorial #Environment #Society #History

[gladyssalas972-blog]

Other works

SPA 3310

El 24 de Agosto del 2017

Gladys Salas

Pablo Escobar's son Interview: "The true organized crime is in politics"

He comes calm and without bodyguards to the interview with Clarin. Legally, he is Sebastian Marroquin, but his real name is Juan Pablo Escobar Henao, Pablo Escobar's son, the boss of the Medellin cartel who in the 80s and early 90s covered Colombia in massacres and took democratic institutions to their limit. The son of "the boss of evil" has recently published a new book: Pablo Escobar in fraganti. In this opportunity, and after the success of: Pablo Escobar, mi padre, he crosses international ties that the criminal organization had with the good side of history, and the harm that the soap operas and series have of drug trafficking which makes it critical to understand because they glorify the mafias, and the expansion does not stop.

22 years ago, Juan Pablo Escobar relocated in Argentina. His father died in December of 1993, in a frame set up by the police and was aired live on Colombian television. He arrived with his mother and sister and the first neighborhood they stayed at was Recoleta at a hotel. Later, after overcoming an accusation of money laundering that the family faced.

· What will you tell us about in this book?

· I talk about the international corruption that allowed my father to go to the extremes. I do not exempt him from holding responsibility, but I simply demonstrate the other side of the coin. I explain how thanks to my father’s connections that held an absolute high power status, and could accumulate significant amount of money as well as defying the democracy of Colombia and other states. These stories were hidden and never were revealed. It’s a byproduct of an eight-month investigation in Colombia talking to his colleagues and bandits. That way I could obtain great information and reconstruct that past. This book also talks about other topics, like human relationships and the ability to reconcile, for example myself and Aaron seal. Aaron seal, son of (informer) Barry Seal, and other protagonist like paramilitary chief. I wanted to give a voice to the enemies of my father, because with that I obtained complete 360 degree of my father’s history.

The story of Barry Seal unfolds in beginning of Juan Pablo Escobar book. An ex-pilot from the United States of America, capable of anything, held ties with Pablo Escobar and abandon his good side for money. At the end the DEA captured him and converted him into a spy. He obtained the pictures of Medellín Cartel and the Nicaragua government holding ties with one another. When Escobar found out about the betrayal, he order his assassination.

· You tell us your fathers last 72 hours of his life. It’s curious that being such a powerful man he allowed himself to be captured to save his family. How do you define that act?

· That act was a major act of love from my father in his entire life. He gave his life to save the lives of his wife and two kids. He understood that the only chance to live and escape from the violence that he generated as well was to allow himself to be found. The reason my father never talked on the phone because that was the same as dying, yet he called seven times just to know how we were doing, when the search squad from the government grew closer in capturing him. We were hostages to the Colombian state. Pablo Escobar knew if he did not appear dead, the dead ones would be us. Despite the Americans and Colombian security forces claiming to have killed him, my father committed suicide. That's what forensics told me, who couldn’t write it in his autopsy because of police threats.

Presidente Obama en Como Ganar el Futuro

Ciencia Popular: A sido un presidente muy favor a la ciencia. ¿Por qué crees que la ciencia y tecnología siendo tan importante?

Barack Obama: La ciencia y tecnología ayudado a America en ser el mejor país en la tierra. Ya sea poniendo un pie en la luna, desarrollando una vacuna para la polio, inventando Internet, o construyendo los militares más fuertes del mundo. Hemos puesto nuestra confianza en científicos, tecnólogos, ingenieros y matemáticos innovadores para ayudarnos afrentar los desafíos más difíciles de nuestro tiempo. En mi primero discurso inaugural, prometí que mi administración restauraría la ciencia en lugar que merece, y eso es exactamente lo que hicimos. Hemos ampliado la investigación en energía limpia; hemos lanzado importantes iniciativas en la fabricación avanzada, la biomedicina, y la informática estratégica; hemos aumentado la preparación y resiliencia contra el cambio de clima; y estamos entrenando maestros de CTIM (Ciencia, Tecnología, Ingeniería y Matemáticas) para que cada niño crezca con las habilidades que se necesitan para competir en el siglo 21. Estar en favor de ciencia es la única manera de asegurarnos de que los Estados Unidos siga liderando el mundo. Nuestras políticas reflejan eso.

CP: Entre sus iniciativas de la casa blanca, has estado concentrado en mejorar la educación CTIM en los Estados Unidos. ¿Cuál es tu logro más orgulloso?

BO: Hay mucho en que estar orgulloso de. Ahora 25,000 se gradúan en ingenieros por ano de nuestros colegios y universidades que cuándo empienze. Estanos más que la mitad del camino hacia nuestro objetivo de preparar 100,000 nuevos maestros de matemática y ciencia para 2021. Hemos asegurado más de 1$ mil millones de inversión privada para mejorar la educación CTIM, y compromisos de los colegios y universidades para ayudar a estudiantes de poco representados a ganar su título. También hay algo que es más difícil de medir, pero de todas maneras es importante: que todos los jóvenes, incluyendo las minorías y las mujeres jóvenes, que están entusiasmados en la pasión por CTIM. Una de las nuevas tradiciones que he empezado como

presidente es la Feria de Ciencias de la casa blanca. Debemos celebrar a los ganadores de la Feria de la ciencia al menos tanto como los ganadores del Super Bowl. Y cuando los jóvenes están entusiasmados con la ciencia, la tecnología, la ingeniería y las matemáticas, eso no es sólo bueno para ellos. Eso es bueno para los Estados Unidos. Queremos que la próxima industria que cambia el juego o el avance de la vida suceda aquí mismo en los Estados Unidos.

CP: ¿Te consideras un nerd y, si así es, cuál es tu mas nerd pasatiempo?

BO: Hay mucho en que estar orgulloso de. Ahora 25,000 se gradúan en ingenieros por ano de nuestros colegios y universidades que cuándo empienze. Estanos más que la mitad del camino hacia nuestro objetivo de preparar 100,000 nuevos maestros de matemática y ciencia para 2021. Hemos asegurado más de 1$ mil millones de inversión privada para mejorar la educación CTIM, y compromisos de los colegios y universidades para ayudar a estudiantes de poco representados a ganar su título. También hay algo que es más difícil de medir, pero de todas maneras es importante: que todos los jóvenes, incluyendo las minorías y las mujeres jóvenes, que están entusiasmados en la pasión por CTIM. Una de las nuevas tradiciones que he empezado como

presidente es la Feria de Ciencias de la casa blanca. Debemos celebrar a los ganadores de la Feria de la ciencia al menos tanto como los ganadores del Super Bowl. Y cuando los jóvenes están entusiasmados con la ciencia, la tecnología, la ingeniería y las matemáticas, eso no es sólo bueno para ellos. Eso es bueno para los Estados Unidos. Queremos que la próxima industria que cambia el juego o el avance de la vida suceda aquí mismo en los Estados Unidos.

CP: ¿Te consideras un nerd y, si así es, cuál es tu mas nerd pasatiempo?

BO: Bueno, mi administración me escribió una respuesta muy detallada en una petición, explicando por qué no construimos una estrella de la muerte en vida real, así que me gustaría pensar que tengo al menos una pequeña credibilidad nerd acumulada. Lo que es notable es la forma en que "nerd" es una signia de honor ahora. Creciendo, estoy seguro de que no era el único niño que leía comics Spider-Man y aprendió a hacer el saludo Vulcano, pero no era como es hoy. Me da la sensación de que los jóvenes de hoy están orgullosos de ser inteligentes y curiosos, de diseñar cosas nuevas y de abordar grandes problemas de maneras inesperadas. Creo que Estados Unidos es un país nerdier que cuando era niño, ¡ y eso es algo bueno!

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NCRPO boosts ties with Muslim communities vs. violence, terrorism

#PHnews: NCRPO boosts ties with Muslim communities vs. violence, terrorism

MANILA – The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) will visit Muslim communities in the region as part of its peace covenant aimed at showing solidarity and getting support against terrorism.

"This is to show solidarity, cooperation between our Muslim brothers at ang ating (and our) government workers. So ito ay pagpapaigting ng ating peace covenant para maiwasan po yung dahas at karahasan na puwedeng mangyari in the future (So this is the intensification of our peace covenant to prevent violence and violence that may occur in the future)," NCRPO chief, Maj. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr., told reporters after the dialogue and signing of peace covenant with Muslim leaders at Barangay Palatiw, Pasig City on Friday.

Danao said he started the program when he was still director of the Manila Police District (MPD).

“Actually itong programa na ito started when I became the district director of Manila and lahat naman po ng Muslim leaders doon ay kinausap namin and so far naging maayos naman at naging maganda ang result, (Actually, this program started when I became the DD of Manila and we talked to all the Muslim leaders there. So far it went well and the results were good),” the Metro Manila top cop stressed.

Danao said this is a good way to start in Metro Manila and that agreements will be forged so that these communities will not tolerate violence and allow their areas to be safe havens of terrorists.

"Isa sa mga napagkasunduan natin and kanila rin pong iwawaksi ang violence that may happen in their area napakagandang adhikain po ito para sa lahat para maiwasan natin yung puwedeng mangyari na terroristic activities (One of the things we have agreed upon is they will also dispel the violence that may happen in their area. This is a very good goal for everyone so that we can avoid the possible terrorist activities)," he added.

Asked for an assessment on the campaign against the threat of terrorism and communism in NCR, Danao said the situation is "so far manageable".

"I just hope that this would continue so that we would be able to completely eradicate and stop violence especially in the aspect of terrorism,” he added.

Danao also hopes that the program will gain more momentum so that these communities will forever shun away terrorism in its all forms.

"Since day 1 nung na-assign ako dito and everywhere kung saan ako ma assign, constant ang ating communication sa ating mga barangay regardless kung Muslim ka, regardless of what religion you belong to or what belief you (have). Ang importante na makita natin dito is yung cooperation, collaboration ng community with our law enforcement officers, (Since the first day when I was assigned here and in every place of assignment given to me, we have constant communication with the communities, regardless of whether you are a Muslim, regardless of what religion you belong to or what belief you belong to. What is important to see here is the cooperation, collaboration of the community with our law enforcement officers),” he said. (PNA)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "NCRPO boosts ties with Muslim communities vs. violence, terrorism." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1129752 (accessed February 05, 2021 at 09:52PM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "NCRPO boosts ties with Muslim communities vs. violence, terrorism." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1129752 (archived).

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NCRPO forges stronger ties with Muslim communities against violence, terrorism

#PHinfo: NCRPO forges stronger ties with Muslim communities against violence, terrorism

CALOOCAN CITY, Feb. 7 (PIA) -- The Philippine National Police (PNP) National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) will be visiting various Muslim communities in Metro Manila and forging stronger ties as part of its peace covenant aimed at showing solidarity and getting support against the threat of terrorism.

"This is to show solidarity, cooperation between our Muslim brothers at ang ating government workers. So ito ay pagpapaigting ng ating peace covenant para maiwasan po yung dahas at karahasan na puwedeng mangyari in the future," NCRPO chief, Maj. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr. said, following a dialogue and signing of peace covenant with Muslim leaders at Barangay Palatiw, Pasig City on Friday.

Danao said he is just adopting a program he started when he was still director of the Manila Police District (MPD). The City of Manila is said to have at least 105,094 Muslims living there based on the 2015 census.

“Actually, itong programa na ito started when I became the district director of Manila and lahat naman po ng Muslim leaders doon ay kinausap namin and so far naging maayos naman at naging maganda ang result,” he said.

Danao said this is a good way to start in Metro Manila and that agreements will be forged so that these communities will not tolerate violence and allow their areas to be safe havens of terrorists.

"Isa sa mga napagkasunduan natin and kanila rin pong iwawaksi ang violence that may happen in their area napakagandang adhikain po ito para sa lahat para maiwasan natin yung puwedeng mangyari na terroristic activities," he added.

Asked for an assessment on the campaign against the threat of terrorism and communism in NCR, Danao said the situation is "so far manageable".

"I just hope that this would continue so that we would be able to completely eradicate and stop violence especially in the aspect of terrorism,” he added.

Danao also hopes that the program will gain more momentum so that these communities will forever shun away terrorism in its all forms.

"Since day 1 nung na-assign ako dito and everywhere kung saan ako ma assign, constant ang ating communication sa ating mga barangay regardless kung Muslim ka, regardless of what religion you belong to or what belief you have,” he said.

“Ang importante na makita natin dito is yung cooperation, collaboration ng community with our law enforcement officers,” he added. (PIA NCR)

  ***

References:

* Philippine Information Agency. "NCRPO forges stronger ties with Muslim communities against violence, terrorism." Philippine Information Agency. https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1066162 (accessed February 07, 2021 at 01:31PM UTC+08).

* Philippine Infornation Agency. "NCRPO forges stronger ties with Muslim communities against violence, terrorism." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1066162 (archived).

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NTF ELCAC programs to continue despite Joma rants: Parlade

#PHnews: NTF ELCAC programs to continue despite Joma rants: Parlade

MANILA -- Despite the resistance and criticisms of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chair Jose Maria "Joma" Sison and his allies, programs of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC) designed to end the security threats posed by these terrorist groups will continue.

This, according to Major General Antonio Parlade, Jr., of the NTF ELCAC, in a statement to the Philippine News Agency Sunday.

"Despite the resistance and criticisms of the Kamatayan (Makabayan) Bloc, the NTF ELCAC Programs anchored on good governance, will continue to provide services, livelihood, land, and infrastructure to the underprivileged in order to end local communist insurgency. The CPP obviously does not want the government to succeed in eradicating poverty and social injustice, lest they become irrelevant," he added.

Parlade, who is also Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Deputy Chief-of-Staff for Civil-Military Operations, said the CPP and its allies are using all possible means to ensure their survival as they are very threatened by the success of the NTF ELCAC's localized peace engagement, Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program, land distribution and the unequivocal enforcement of laws which are among the primary causes in the massive surrender of New People's Army (NPA) regulars and supporters in the past months.

Due to this success, he added that communist rebels and their supporters are now resorting to "propaganda theatrics" to conserve whatever sympathy and funding is left for them from foreign funding institutions and allies from the International League of Peoples' Struggle.

Reds more desperate

Parlade said efforts of the Makabayan Bloc to gather signatures from other members of the House of Representatives for their petition calling for the government to stop its alleged crackdown on progressive groups are a sign of desperation.

This came after recent police and military operations in Bacolod City and Metro Manila that resulted in the arrest of suspected militant members, confiscation of assorted weapons and explosives and rescue of minors whom communists reportedly recruited to beef up their depleted ranks.

"The Kamatayan (Makabayan) bloc desperately solicited signatures from Members of the House of Representatives to gain a semblance of support to the petition to stop the crackdown on so called 'progressive' groups. How pathetic can this act be? Again, it was Jose Maria Sison who red-tagged these CTG (communist terror organization) organizations and their members who were captured in raids in Bacolod when he announced through his favorite mouthpiece, 'To escape the continuous government anti-insurgency attacks and civil-military operations, Sison said the Maoist-inspired Red fighters have also 'skillfully used the tactics of shifting from areas under concentrated enemy attack, concentrating elsewhere to attack the weak points of the enemy and dispersing to do mass work'," Parlade said.

He said Sison's statement clearly explains why NPA fighters are present in the underground (UG) safehouses of Bayan Muna, Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Kilusang Mayo Uno, National Union of Union of Peoples Lawyer, Anakbayan, and Karapatan.

"All of them, by the way, claimed that these UG houses were their offices, notwithstanding the fact that the houses were not registered in the barangay. There were firearms and explosives inside, and worst was the presence of very young children, aged 12-17, whom they were able to recruit and train already," he added.

Parlade also accused the Makabayan bloc of suffering from the so-called "Introspection Illusion" as they believed that 32 years of uninterrupted duplicity since 1986 that led them to their own version of "truth or accuracy".

"They believe they can win over people through 'enlightenment' and deceit. They trusted their internal (communist) ideological dogmas too much and too long and they think their introspections are more reliable than others. This attitude of terrorist activists creates an ‘illusion of superiority’ (Rolf Dobelli in 'The Art of Thinking Clearly'). Hence, no matter what will confront them, they will always believe that they are right," he added.

All of this, he said, can be blamed on Sison and the CPP-NPA ideology and this is now happening to the unfortunately children recruited by the communist rebels in their violent revolution.

"But their time is up. No more government vacillation. Another life lost in this violence is one too many. NTF ELCAC was born to put an end to the CPP’s lunacy," Parlade added.

Rebels hurt by gov’t programs

Based on recovered CPP-NPA documents by the military earlier this month, Parlade said communist rebels are hurt by government initiatives against the local armed insurgency.

"Sa Limang-Taong Programa ng Partido (2017 hanggang 2021) Paliwanag sa 5-Taong Program (pahina 5) na nakuha sa inkwentro sa Samar ngayong buwan, malinaw na nasasaktan na ang CPP NPA sa mga programa ng gobyerno," he added.

The same communist document also justified the recruitment of minors for various activities in their movement.

"Ayon sa TAKTIKAL NA PROGRAMA (KTKS 01/15/2019) ang mga paggamit ng bata sa Bacolod na kabilang sa Teatro Obrero ay bahagi ng paggamit ng mga 'anyong popular at gustong-gusto ng masa gaya ng harana, singing contest, drama/soap opera'. (B. 6.6 pahina 11)," he added.

He said the harassment allegations raised by Makabayan bloc members in the House of Representatives are outright lies as the rebel documents called for the creation of more NPA cadres and full-time activists.

"Upang lalong maging malinaw sa kaisipan ng 64 na kongresista na pumirma sa Resolusyon ng Kamatayan (Makabayan) Bloc kung anong kasinungalingan ang sinasabi ng mga kumunista sa Kongreso, ipabatid natin sa kanila ang nakasaad sa programa ng CPP na 'tiyakin ang tuloy-tuloy at programadong pagpaparami ng mga kadre at AKTIBISTANG PULTAYM mula sa organisadong masa, laluna mula sa mga manggagawa at kabataang estudyante, para italaga sa KILUSANG HAYAG at LIHIM sa kanayunan',” Parlade said quoting A.6. page 16 of the document.

The same captured documents also called for the recruitment of cadre and communist party members in the cities while pushing for the deployment of 20 to 30 percent of these full-time activist recruits in the countryside.

"Pursigidong paramihin ang NAPAPASAMPA sa HUKBO mula sa mga kadre at kasapi ng Partido at mga AKTIBISTANG masa sa kalunsuran. Italaga sa kanayunan taun-taon ang 20%-30% ng pwersang PULTAYM,” A.7 page 16 read.

The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (PNA)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "NTF ELCAC programs to continue despite Joma rants: Parlade." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1086914 (accessed November 25, 2019 at 12:00AM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "NTF ELCAC programs to continue despite Joma rants: Parlade." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1086914 (archived).

#Philippines #News #Filipino #Pinoy #Tourism #Politics #Culture #Editorial #Environment #Society #History