Latest news with #MichelleBachelet
Reuters
7 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Jeannette Jara is a coalition Communist who wants to be Chile's next president
SANTIAGO, July 22 (Reuters) - Saddled with an unpopular incumbent president, Chile's left has made a bold choice to contest a resurgent right in November's election - Jeannette Jara, a member of the Communist Party. Jara, who was chosen by voters last month to be the candidate for the ruling Unity for Chile coalition, told Reuters she plans to win over skeptical voters by championing her track record of pushing through popular legislation on pensions and a reduced workweek under President Gabriel Boric. But Jara still faces an uphill battle, encumbered by Boric's unpopularity and her own party affiliation in a country that remains haunted by the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship that followed the 1973 coup against democratically elected Marxist president Salvador Allende. "I think a lot of stories about the (Communist Party) stem from the Cold War and aren't representative of the current situation," Jara said in an interview. "In Chile we have a profound commitment to democracy and respect for institutional norms." Jara joined the party as a student leader in the 1990s and bounced between government and the private sector. Before serving as Boric's labor minister, Jara worked in several ministries under center-left former president Michelle Bachelet. In the primary vote, the charismatic 51-year-old Jara beat out three other candidates, including the presumptive favorite. She benefited from her popularity with younger voters and vows to build a broad coalition. "We were looking at a situation where there was no competition or representative leadership to build a broad view under a single candidate and I thought I could contribute that," Jara said. Speaking to Reuters outside her small, plant-filled, yellow-brick home in Santiago on Friday, Jara said she is seeking to emphasize her pragmatism and dealmaking, noting her leadership role in legislation that reduced the workweek to 40 hours and reformed pensions. "I didn't do it alone, I did it hand-in-hand with workers and Chilean business owners to come to an agreement," Jara said. "We have experience, we don't have all the answers - nobody is infallible. But we have an ability to govern the country with the reforms it needs." Opinion polls show that Jara is likely to make it to a run-off, but most scenarios have her losing to a right-wing candidate in the second round. Chile's presidential elections are slated for November 16 and will go to a run-off in December if no candidate receives a majority. Jara said her campaign would have three pillars: economic growth, social issues and public safety. She said she wants to focus on matters that impact a majority of Chileans, such as job creation and recurring questions over income inequality, which triggered widespread protests in 2019. "We can't keep having two Chiles in the same country, one for well-off sectors and other for the vast majority," she said. She said she would also seek to address crime. While Chile remains one of the safest countries in Latin America, an influx of organized crime has led to a rising murder rate and hurt economic growth, with a recent spike in high-profile incidents like kidnappings and assassinations. But she blasted hardline proposals like building border walls or placing landmines along the border that have been suggested by some right-wing candidates, who have blamed the rising crime on increasing numbers of migrants. "While some shout louder or have ideas that aren't grounded in reality, I trust citizens' ability to evaluate proposals that could lead to solutions," Jara said, adding that she would seek to increase funding for the police and introduce biometric screening at the border. "None of this is an easy fix," she said. As the world's largest copper producer and one of the largest lithium producers, Chile's economy relies heavily on mining. Boric has sought to boost lithium production with a joint venture between state-run copper giant Codelco and local lithium miner SQM. But the deal has faced opposition from right-wing candidates, Indigenous groups and Jara herself. "I don't agree with an agreement with (SQM) that would extend their lithium concession by 30 years," Jara said, citing a campaign finance scandal in 2015 and SQM's sale to Pinochet's son-in-law during the dictatorship. "If Boric closes the deal during his government I'll respect it. If not, I'll propose a national public company to operate alongside the private sector like Codelco with copper," she said. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened heavy tariffs on copper and Jara said in response that she would focus on strengthening trade with Latin America, China and others. "We recently signed a trade agreement with India that I hope to expand and strengthen," Jara said. Relations with the United States would remain diplomatic and cordial under her government if she were elected, she said, adding: "We have to act prudently to safeguard our national interest." (This story has been corrected to fix Jeannette Jara's first name in the headline and in paragraph 1)
Malay Mail
02-06-2025
- General
- Malay Mail
‘No justification for privilege': Chile shuts down special prison for Pinochet-era criminals
SANTIAGO, June 2 — Chilean President Gabriel Boric announced Sunday that a prison housing inmates convicted of human rights abuses during the 1973-1990 military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet will be converted to a common penitentiary. The Punta Peuco facility north of capital Santiago holds about 100 former military dictatorship personnel who committed crimes against humanity and other rights violations, but live out their days in better conditions than those endured by the rest of Chile's prison population. 'From my point of view, there is no justification for this privilege,' Boric said during his latest report to Congress in the port city of Valparaiso. The leftist president ordered the Ministry of Justice to transform Punta Peuco 'into a common prison that allows segregating people according to the requirements of the gendarmerie' -- the national prison service military. Justice Minister Jaime Gajardo said the decision on who stays and who is transferred elsewhere would be a 'technical decision by the Chilean Gendarmerie.' Human rights groups for years have called for Punta Peuco to be closed and its inmates integrated into other correctional facilities. On her final day in office, in 2018, president Michelle Bachelet ordered the shutdown of Punta Peuco. But her justice minister refused to comply, claiming the decree was legally flawed. Boric on Sunday also announced that the expropriation order for the former Colonia Dignidad, a German-themed settlement in southern Chile where a brutal cult carried out the torture and killing of dissidents under the Pinochet dictatorship, will be carried out in June. Last year he ordered the requisition of 116 hectares of the 4,800-hectare site to make way for a center of remembrance. Some 3,200 people died under the dictatorship and over 38,000 cases of torture were recorded. — AFP
HKFP
29-04-2025
- Politics
- HKFP
China deploys army of fake NGOs at UN to intimidate, silence critics: media investigation
China is deploying a growing army of organisations masquerading as NGOs to monitor and intimidate rights activists at the UN, a new investigation by the ICIJ media consortium said on Monday. Dubbed 'China Targets', the fresh investigation involving 42 media organisations delves into the various tactics Beijing uses to silence critics beyond its borders. One segment of the probe published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) deals with China's increasing offensive at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. In particular, it focuses on the growing presence at the council of pro-China, government-organised non-governmental organisations, referred to as 'Gongos'. Such groups crowd into council sessions to praise China and present glowing accounts of its actions that are largely at odds with UN and expert findings of widespread rights violations and repression. A bombshell report published by former UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet in 2022 for instance cited possible 'crimes against humanity' against China's Uyghur minority in the western Xinjiang region. Other reports have highlighted the separation of Tibetan children from their families and the targeting of democracy activists in Hong Kong. But when legitimate NGOs raise such issues at the council, Gongos often strive to disrupt the session and drown out their testimonies, the ICIJ said. 'Corrosive' An ICIJ analysis of 106 NGOs from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan registered with the UN found that 59 had close links to the government in Beijing or the Chinese Communist Party. During a regular review of China's rights record before the council last year, attended by AFP, more than half of the NGOs granted a speaking slot were pro-government groups. 'It's corrosive. It's dishonest,' Michele Taylor, who served as US ambassador to the Human Rights Council from 2022 until January this year, was quoted as saying in the report. She decried a broader effort by Beijing 'to obfuscate their own human rights violations and reshape the narrative'. Increasingly, the Beijing-controlled groups are also used to monitor and intimidate those planning to testify about alleged abuses, the investigation found. The ICIJ and its partners said they spoke with 15 activists and lawyers focused on rights issues in China who 'described being surveilled or harassed by people suspected to be proxies for the Chinese government'. Such incidents occurred both inside the UN and elsewhere in Geneva. 'We're watching' The report highlighted how a group of Chinese activists and dissidents were so fearful of Beijing's swelling presence at the council that they in March last year refused to set foot inside the UN buildings. 'Instead, they gathered for a secret meeting on the top floor of a nondescript office building nearby' with UN rights chief Volker Turk, the report said. But suddenly, four people claiming to work with the Guangdong Human rights Association showed up asking about the meeting, to which they had not been invited. Staff from the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) who were facilitating the meeting denied it was taking place. The four left, but later, when two Uyghur participants left the office for a smoke, they reported that someone in a black car with tinted windows photographed them before people matching the description of the Guangdong group got into the vehicle and it pulled away. Zumretay Arkin, vice president of the World Uyghur Congress, told ICIJ she believed the Guangdong group was sending a message from Beijing: 'We're watching you… You can't escape us.' 'Deadly reprisal' The activists had reason to be fearful. Over a decade ago, activist Cao Shunli was detained as she attempted to travel to Geneva ahead of a China rights record review at the UN. After being held for several months without charge, she fell gravely ill and died on March 14, 2014. ICIJ said her death 'stood out as a powerful warning shot', determining that the 'deadly reprisal' had discouraged other activists from engaging with the UN. A decade later, Chinese rights defenders are participating in UN activities at record low numbers, the investigation found. At the same time, the number of Chinese NGOs registered with the UN has nearly doubled since 2018, it said.
The Sun
29-04-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
China deploys army of fake NGOs at UN to intimidate critics
GENEVA: China is deploying a growing army of organisations masquerading as NGOs to monitor and intimidate rights activists at the UN, a new investigation by the ICIJ media consortium said on Monday. Dubbed 'China Targets', the fresh investigation involving 42 media organisations delves into the various tactics Beijing uses to silence critics beyond its borders. One segment of the probe published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) deals with China's increasing offensive at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. In particular, it focuses on the growing presence at the council of pro-China, government-organised non-governmental organisations, referred to as 'Gongos'. Such groups crowd into council sessions to praise China and present glowing accounts of its actions that are largely at odds with UN and expert findings of widespread rights violations and repression. A bombshell report published by former UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet in 2022 for instance cited possible 'crimes against humanity' against China's Uyghur minority in the western Xinjiang region. Other reports have highlighted the separation of Tibetan children from their families and the targeting of democracy activists in Hong Kong. But when legitimate NGOs raise such issues at the council, Gongos often strive to disrupt the session and drown out their testimonies, the ICIJ said. 'Corrosive' An ICIJ analysis of 106 NGOs from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan registered with the UN found that 59 had close links to the government in Beijing or the Chinese Communist Party. During a regular review of China's rights record before the council last year, attended by AFP, more than half of the NGOs granted a speaking slot were pro-government groups. 'It's corrosive. It's dishonest,' Michele Taylor, who served as US ambassador to the Human Rights Council from 2022 until January this year, was quoted as saying in the report. She decried a broader effort by Beijing 'to obfuscate their own human rights violations and reshape the narrative'. Increasingly, the Beijing-controlled groups are also used to monitor and intimidate those planning to testify about alleged abuses, the investigation found. The ICIJ and its partners said they spoke with 15 activists and lawyers focused on rights issues in China who 'described being surveilled or harassed by people suspected to be proxies for the Chinese government'. Such incidents occurred both inside the UN and elsewhere in Geneva. 'We're watching' The report highlighted how a group of Chinese activists and dissidents were so fearful of Beijing's swelling presence at the council that they in March last year refused to set foot inside the UN buildings. 'Instead, they gathered for a secret meeting on the top floor of a nondescript office building nearby' with UN rights chief Volker Turk, the report said. But suddenly, four people claiming to work with the Guangdong Human rights Association showed up asking about the meeting, to which they had not been invited. Staff from the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) who were facilitating the meeting denied it was taking place. The four left, but later, when two Uyghur participants left the office for a smoke, they reported that someone in a black car with tinted windows photographed them before people matching the description of the Guangdong group got into the vehicle and it pulled away. Zumretay Arkin, vice president of the World Uyghur Congress, told ICIJ she believed the Guangdong group was sending a message from Beijing: 'We're watching you... You can't escape us.' 'Deadly reprisal' The activists had reason to be fearful. Over a decade ago, activist Cao Shunli was detained as she attempted to travel to Geneva ahead of a China rights record review at the UN. After being held for several months without charge, she fell gravely ill and died on March 14, 2014. ICIJ said her death 'stood out as a powerful warning shot', determining that the 'deadly reprisal' had discouraged other activists from engaging with the UN. A decade later, Chinese rights defenders are participating in UN activities at record low numbers, the investigation found. At the same time, the number of Chinese NGOs registered with the UN has nearly doubled since 2018, it said.
The Sun
29-04-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
China deploys army of fake NGOs at UN to intimidate critics: media probe
GENEVA: China is deploying a growing army of organisations masquerading as NGOs to monitor and intimidate rights activists at the UN, a new investigation by the ICIJ media consortium said on Monday. Dubbed 'China Targets', the fresh investigation involving 42 media organisations delves into the various tactics Beijing uses to silence critics beyond its borders. One segment of the probe published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) deals with China's increasing offensive at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. In particular, it focuses on the growing presence at the council of pro-China, government-organised non-governmental organisations, referred to as 'Gongos'. Such groups crowd into council sessions to praise China and present glowing accounts of its actions that are largely at odds with UN and expert findings of widespread rights violations and repression. A bombshell report published by former UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet in 2022 for instance cited possible 'crimes against humanity' against China's Uyghur minority in the western Xinjiang region. Other reports have highlighted the separation of Tibetan children from their families and the targeting of democracy activists in Hong Kong. But when legitimate NGOs raise such issues at the council, Gongos often strive to disrupt the session and drown out their testimonies, the ICIJ said. 'Corrosive' An ICIJ analysis of 106 NGOs from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan registered with the UN found that 59 had close links to the government in Beijing or the Chinese Communist Party. During a regular review of China's rights record before the council last year, attended by AFP, more than half of the NGOs granted a speaking slot were pro-government groups. 'It's corrosive. It's dishonest,' Michele Taylor, who served as US ambassador to the Human Rights Council from 2022 until January this year, was quoted as saying in the report. She decried a broader effort by Beijing 'to obfuscate their own human rights violations and reshape the narrative'. Increasingly, the Beijing-controlled groups are also used to monitor and intimidate those planning to testify about alleged abuses, the investigation found. The ICIJ and its partners said they spoke with 15 activists and lawyers focused on rights issues in China who 'described being surveilled or harassed by people suspected to be proxies for the Chinese government'. Such incidents occurred both inside the UN and elsewhere in Geneva. 'We're watching' The report highlighted how a group of Chinese activists and dissidents were so fearful of Beijing's swelling presence at the council that they in March last year refused to set foot inside the UN buildings. 'Instead, they gathered for a secret meeting on the top floor of a nondescript office building nearby' with UN rights chief Volker Turk, the report said. But suddenly, four people claiming to work with the Guangdong Human rights Association showed up asking about the meeting, to which they had not been invited. Staff from the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) who were facilitating the meeting denied it was taking place. The four left, but later, when two Uyghur participants left the office for a smoke, they reported that someone in a black car with tinted windows photographed them before people matching the description of the Guangdong group got into the vehicle and it pulled away. Zumretay Arkin, vice president of the World Uyghur Congress, told ICIJ she believed the Guangdong group was sending a message from Beijing: 'We're watching you... You can't escape us.' 'Deadly reprisal' The activists had reason to be fearful. Over a decade ago, activist Cao Shunli was detained as she attempted to travel to Geneva ahead of a China rights record review at the UN. After being held for several months without charge, she fell gravely ill and died on March 14, 2014. ICIJ said her death 'stood out as a powerful warning shot', determining that the 'deadly reprisal' had discouraged other activists from engaging with the UN. A decade later, Chinese rights defenders are participating in UN activities at record low numbers, the investigation found. At the same time, the number of Chinese NGOs registered with the UN has nearly doubled since 2018, it said.
