For Brazil's Criminals, Coffee Beans Are the Target
Brazil, the world's largest producer and exporter of coffee, has long grappled with bean thefts by petty criminals and organized gangs alike. But with prices for the commodity sharply elevated compared with past years, farmers and industry groups are warning that the harvest season that runs from late May through September could go down as the worst heist year in recent memory.
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Fox News
3 hours ago
- Fox News
Rubio rips Venezuela's Maduro as 'narco-terrorist' leader threatening US one year after disputed election
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is hammering Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro on Sunday as the South American country holds municipal elections to fill hundreds of mayoral positions and thousands of council seats. The municipal contests are happening one day before the one-year anniversary of Venezuela's presidential election, which was widely condemned by the United States and other international observers as illegitimate. The Trump administration, meanwhile, has been escalating pressure against Maduro in recent days, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday accused the foreign head of state of being the leader of an entity aiding terrorism against the U.S. "One year since dictator Nicolás Maduro defied the will of the Venezuelan people by baselessly declaring himself the winner, the United States remains firm in its unwavering support to Venezuela's restoration of democratic order and justice," Rubio said in a statement on Sunday. "Maduro is not the President of Venezuela and his regime is not the legitimate government." "Maduro is the leader of the designated narco-terrorist organization Cartel de Los Soles, and he is responsible for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe," Rubio continued. "Maduro, currently indicted by our nation, has corrupted Venezuela's institutions to assist the cartel's criminal narco-trafficking scheme into the United States." The Justice Department charged Maduro and 14 other former and current Venezuelan officials with narco-terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking and other criminal charges in March 2020. At the start of this year, 10 days before President Donald Trump returned to office, the State Department increased its reward for information leading to Maduro's capture from $15 million to up to $25 million. "For years, Maduro and his cronies have manipulated Venezuela's electoral system to maintain their illegitimate grip on power," Rubio added on Sunday. "By scheduling the municipal elections on the eve of the anniversary of the stolen July 28 presidential election, the regime once again aims to deploy the military and police to suppress the will of the Venezuelan people." "The United States will continue working with our partners to hold accountable the corrupt, criminal and illegitimate Maduro regime. Those who steal elections and use force to grasp power undermine America's national security interests," Rubio said. Maduro became the Venezuelan president in 2013, but the U.S. has not recognized his presidency since 2019. The U.S. and other countries have refused to recognize Maduro as the winner of the July 2024 Venezuelan election, citing widespread fraud. The Treasury Department on Friday sanctioned the Cartel de los Soles, also known as Cartel of the Suns, as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist." The U.S. alleges that Cartel de los Soles is headed by Maduro and other Venezuelan high-ranking individuals in his regime "who corrupted the institutions of government in Venezuela, including parts of the military, intelligence apparatus, legislature, and the judiciary, to assist the cartel's endeavors of trafficking narcotics into the United States." The U.S. claims the Venezuela-based group provides material support to Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel. The Trump administration classified Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel as foreign terrorist organizations in February. According to the Treasury Department, the name Cartel de los Soles is derived from the sun insignias often portrayed on the uniforms of Venezuelan military officials. The cartel "supports Tren de Aragua in carrying out its objective of using the flood of illegal narcotics as a weapon against the United States," according to the Treasury Department. Bessent said on Friday that the new action "exposes the illegitimate Maduro regime's facilitation of narco-terrorism through terrorist groups like Cartel de los Soles." "The Treasury Department will continue to execute on President Trump's pledge to put America First by cracking down on violent organizations including Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel, and their facilitators, like Cartel de los Soles," he added.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
As Haiti turns to lethal drones to fight gangs, Canada is among those who are uneasy
Haiti's battle against criminal gangs has leaned into the lethal use of drones this year, with senior officials defending the tactic that some outside parties, including Canada's government, have voiced qualms about. The embattled Caribbean nation has been struggling to expel the powerful armed gangs that senior United Nations officials say have taken "near-total control" of the capital, Port-au-Prince. The gangs' reach extends beyond the capital, though, with violence surging in Haiti's central region, where three police officers and two civilians were slain this week. The Haitian National Police (HNP) is one player in the effort to oust these gangs, and the country is also receiving some support on this front from a UN-backed mission led by Kenyan police. But the state has also looked to drones to both conduct surveillance on gangs and to strike them. These strikes, led by a government-created task force and supported by private contractors, have drawn media attention for months — including when a prominent gang leader, Jimmy "Barbecue" Chérizier, said he'd survived a strike involving explosive drones. "The population has had it up to here, and the government cannot just sit and watch," Fritz Alphonse Jean, chair of Haiti's transitional presidential council, told the Financial Times earlier this month, arguing the strikes are needed to defeat the gangs. Yet some observers believe the use of drones to hit back against the gangs falls short of a legal standard for the use of such weapons, even if Haiti faces sustained pressure from those adversaries. "The intentional use of lethal force by law enforcement is legal under international human rights law only when it is strictly unavoidable to protect life [when] facing an imminent threat, and as a last resort when other less lethal alternatives — such as capture or non-lethal incapacitation — have been exhausted," William O'Neill, the UN's designated expert on human rights in Haiti, recently told the Economist. Canada has donated drones for non-lethal use That raises questions for Canada, which has provided drones to Haiti — though not of a type designed for lethal use, according to the federal government. "Canada has donated surveillance drones to the Haitian National Police with the intent to help reduce the danger faced by uniformed officers as they conduct patrols," Global Affairs Canada told CBC News in a statement. "None of the drone models that have been provided by Canada were designed or intended for lethal use or load transport." That said, Canada "is concerned by reports of extrajudicial executions, which are a violation of international human rights law, and continues to call on Haiti to respect all domestic and international laws in its efforts to restore security in the country, including in its use of drones." Global Affairs Canada did not clarify if Ottawa definitively knows of cases in which Canadian-provided drones have been used for lethal purposes in Haiti. But it said Haiti had agreed that the equipment provided would not be used "to commit or facilitate any violation of international humanitarian law or international human rights law." Diego Da Rin, a Haiti analyst with the International Crisis Group, a global think-tank, said the HNP needs these tools for surveillance, particularly because gangs are using them for the same purpose. "Several gangs have been using drones to collect intelligence to conduct operations," he said in a telephone interview, noting these gangs are not known to be using strike drones. The Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains, a local human rights group, said in June that it believed the state's drone strikes had killed at least 300 gang members and wounded another 400. CBC News asked the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) whether it has concerns about the lethal use of drones by Haitian forces against gangs within the country. "Regarding the lethal use of force by law enforcement in operations, it should be conducted in respect of human rights and adhere to the principles of necessity, proportionality, and precaution," spokesperson Mathias Gillmann said in an email. Gillmann said a communication channel had been established with the HNP's General Inspectorate "through which documented cases of human rights violations potentially involving police officers are referred for further investigation and the adoption of appropriate administrative and legal measures." Prolonged instability Haiti has faced years of instability following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. The country has not had a president since. Ariel Henry, who served as acting prime minister and led Haiti's government after Moïse's assassination, stepped down from his role after gang-driven turmoil erupted while he was outside the country. WATCH | Canada's ambassador to Haiti on surging gang violence: A transitional council took power after Henry's departure. The council appointed Alix Didier Fils-Aimé as prime minister last November. The challenges the government faces in quelling the gangs were on display on Wednesday, as a police union demanded officials do more to protect officers on the ground. "The government does not give the police any importance. If they took this seriously, they would have made the means and support available to the police and the military to end the insecurity," the SPNH-17 union said, in the wake of the killing of the three officers in central Haiti. "Too many police officers have fallen." The transitional presidential council said the government was mobilizing all necessary resources to investigate the killings and honour the memory of those slain.
Associated Press
a day ago
- Associated Press
A strong bomb explosion targets a Greek prison guard's home and wounds two
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A bomb explosion targeted the home of the president of the Greek association of prison guards early Saturday morning in the country's north. The guard, named Konstantinos Varsamis on the association's website, was left unharmed after about 3 kilograms (about 6.6 pounds) of explosives went off at 2:10 a.m. local time, police said. The explosives were placed outside his apartment building's front door in Sykies, a suburb in the northern city of Thessaloniki, where he lives on the first floor, according to authorities. The blast damaged three apartment buildings, shattering their windows and collapsing a shared wall, according to an Associated Press reporter on site. 'I woke up because of the very loud bang of the explosion,' Tzetno Kelo, 52, who lives in an adjacent apartment building, said. 'Shattered glass from a window fell on my bed and I was covered in blood.' He was treated at a hospital before being discharged Police said a witness saw a man walking in the densely built street shortly before the explosion. Varsamis has worked for many years at Diavata prison, west of Thessaloniki, known for housing many criminal gang members as well as convicted terrorists. Two police officers said they are focusing their efforts on criminal gangs rather than terror groups. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not supposed to comment on an ongoing investigation. The police have already deposed Varsamis, they said. The police's Organized Crime Unit is leading the investigation.
