CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot alongside city leaders on Thursday announced that prepaid gas and CTA cards would be made available to qualifying Chicagoans amid rising gas prices.
In a Thursday press conference, Lightfoot announced the Chicago Moves program which will dedicate about $12.5 million to help Chicago residents with transportation options as they continue to deal with inflation. If the program is passed by City Council, about 150,000 Chicago households will receive assistance.
Up to 50,000 prepaid gas cards of $150 will be distributed to eligible residents via a lottery system. Applications are limited to one per household. Beginning in May, cards will be distributed in five monthly waves of 10,000 residents.
To be eligible for these, applicants must be residents of the city, at least 18 years old, have a current and valid city sticker with correct mailing information for their vehicle, and have a household income at or below 140% of the Area Median Income for Chicago.
In addition to the prepaid gas cards, the city will also distribute or add value to 100,000 cards for use on CTA in the amount of $50 each.
In order for the program to go into effect, it must first get City Council approval. If it passes, applications for the cards will open on April 27.
Chicago businessman Willie Wilson blasted Lightfoot’s plan, calling on city leaders to suspend the state’s gas tax while criticizing the plan’s lottery system.
Tropical Storm Laura is forecast to track through the Caribbean and south of Florida, where it could strengthen into a hurricane, according to the latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center. Florida is now outside of the storm’s forecast cone except the far west Keys. Tropical Storm Marco is forecast to move into the Gulf of Mexico toward the coasts of Texas or Louisiana. By early next week. As of Saturday morning, Marco was not forecast to strengthen into a hurricane.
SAN FRANCISCO — A divided U.S. appeals court late Friday refused to immediately allow the Trump administration to enforce a ban on asylum for any immigrants who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
The ban is inconsistent with an existing U.S. law and an attempted end-run around Congress, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 2-1 decision.
“Just as we may not, as we are often reminded, ‘legislate from the bench,’ neither may the Executive legislate from the Oval Office,” 9th Circuit Judge Jay Bybee, a nominee of Republican President George W. Bush, wrote for the majority.
BREAKING: The Ninth Circuit denied the Trump administration’s request to reinstate its asylum ban in our lawsuit.
The decision to keep the ban blocked is consistent with the laws made by Congress and will save lives.
A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, Steven Stafford, did not have comment. But he referred to an earlier statement that called the asylum system broken and said the department looked forward to “continuing to defend the Executive Branch’s legitimate and well-reasoned exercise of its authority to address the crisis at our southern border.”
At issue is President Donald Trump’s Nov. 9 proclamation that barred anyone who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border between official ports of entry from seeking asylum. Trump issued the proclamation in response to caravans of migrants approaching the border.
A lower court judge temporarily blocked the ban and later refused to immediately reinstate it. The administration appealed to the 9th Circuit for an immediate stay of Judge Jon Tigar’s Nov. 19 temporary restraining order.
In a dissenting opinion Friday, 9th Circuit Judge Edward Leavy said the administration “adopted legal methods to cope with the current problems rampant at the southern border.” Nothing in the law the majority cited prevented a rule categorically barring eligibility for asylum on the basis of how a person entered the country, Leavy, a nominee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, said.
In his Nov, 19 ruling, Tigar sided with legal groups who argued that federal law is clear that immigrants in the U.S. can request asylum regardless of whether they entered legally.
The president “may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden,” the judge said in his order.
The ruling led to an unusual public dispute between Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts after Trump dismissed Tigar — an appointee of Trump’s predecessor — as an “Obama judge.”
Roberts responded with a statement that the federal judiciary doesn’t have “Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.”
People look on at a celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 2016 at Seattle’s City Hall. Seattle began observing Indigenous Peoples’ Day two years earlier to promote the well-being and growth of Seattle’s Indigenous community.
Elaine Thompson/AP
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Elaine Thompson/AP
People look on at a celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 2016 at Seattle’s City Hall. Seattle began observing Indigenous Peoples’ Day two years earlier to promote the well-being and growth of Seattle’s Indigenous community.
Elaine Thompson/AP
On Monday in the nation’s capital, there is no Columbus Day. The D.C. Council voted to replace it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day in a temporary move that it hopes to make permanent. Several other places across the United States have also made the switch in a growing movement to end the celebration of the Italian explorer in favor of honoring Indigenous communities and their resiliency in the face of violence by European explorers like Christopher Columbus.
Baley Champagne is responsible for that change in her home state of Louisiana. The tribal citizen of the United Houma Nation petitioned the governor, John Bel Edwards, to change the day. He did, along with several other states this year.
“It’s become a trend,” Champagne said. “It’s about celebrating people instead of thinking about somebody who actually caused genocide on a population or tried to cause the genocide of an entire population. By bringing Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we’re bringing awareness that we’re not going to allow someone like that to be glorified into a hero, because of the hurt that he caused to Indigenous people of America.”
And so in Houma, La., people from across the state will gather to honor and celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day for the first time.
She wants it to be “a celebration and to bring acknowledgment to the Native population,” Champagne said. “You know, because we have many friends of all different races in this area and Houma is named after the Houma people, the Houma Choctaw. So to bring this, I think it’s long overdue. It’s a big celebration. And we’re just so excited to have this finally.”
There’s no comprehensive list of places that have switched, but at least 10 states now celebrate some version of Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the second Monday in October, like Hawaii’s Discoverers’ Day or South Dakota’s Native Americans’ Day. Many college campuses have dumped Columbus Day for Indigenous Peoples’ Day as have more than 100 cities, towns and counties across the country.
For Native Americans, Columbus Day has long been hurtful. It conjures the violent history of 500 years of colonial oppression at the hands of European explorers and those who settled here — a history whose ramifications and wounds still run deep today.
“Today we understand that while [Columbus] was an explorer and is credited with being one of the first Europeans to arrive in the Americas, we now know a great deal about the history and the way that he and his people behaved when they came to this continent,” said Shannon Speed, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and director of the UCLA American Indian Studies Center. “Which included pillaging, raping and generally setting in motion a genocide of the people who were already here. That’s not something we want to celebrate. That’s not something anyone wants to celebrate.”
The shift isn’t happening without some pushback. For many Italian Americans, Columbus Day is their day to celebrate Italian heritage and the contributions of Italian Americans to the United States. It was adopted at a time when Italians were vilified and faced religious and ethnic discrimination. The first commemoration came in 1892, a year after a mass lynching of 11 Italian Americans by a mob in New Orleans. Italian Americans latched onto the day as a way to mainstream and humanize themselves in the face of rampant discrimination. It became a national holiday in 1934 to honor a man who, ironically, never set foot in the United States. Columbus anchored in the Bahamas.
For many Italian Americans, Columbus Day isn’t just about the man but about what the day represents: a people searching for safety and acceptance in their new home.
For many Italian Americans, Columbus Day is about celebrating Italian heritage and the contributions of Italian Americans to the United States. Above, the Christopher Columbus statue at Manhattan’s Columbus Circle in New York.
In 2017, after someone vandalized the Christopher Columbus statue in New York City’s Central Park, the then-president and chief operating officer of the National Italian American Foundation, John M. Viola, wrote in a New York Times editorial, “The ‘tearing down of history’ does not change that history. In the wake of the cultural conflict that has ripped us apart over these months, I wonder if we as a country can’t find better ways to utilize our history to eradicate racism instead of inciting it. Can’t the monuments and holidays born of our past be reimagined to represent new values for our future?”
He went on to write, “We believe Christopher Columbus represents the values of discovery and risk that are at the heart of the American dream, and that it is our job as the community most closely associated with his legacy to be at the forefront of a sensitive and engaging path forward, toward a solution that considers all sides.”
Speed says she recognizes the importance of celebrating the history and contributions of Italian Americans, but there has to be another way to honor them.
“There are a lot of Italian Americans who very much support the shift to Indigenous Peoples’ Day because they don’t want to feel themselves associated with a man who is known to have committed terrible crimes against humanity,” she said. “Italian Americans were greatly discriminated against in this country, and it’s incredibly important to have a day to celebrate that heritage. It just shouldn’t be around the figure of Columbus.”
Celebrating Columbus, she said, not only whitewashes a violent history but also discounts the further trauma that honoring him inflicts on Indigenous people.
Rally participants listen to an address by Frank Bear Killer of the Oglala Lakota tribe outside the state Capitol in Lincoln, Neb., in 2016 to mark Lincoln’s first Indigenous Peoples’ Day. At least 10 states now celebrate some version of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
“Indigenous children are going to school and being forced to hear about and celebrate the person who set in motion the genocide of their people,” Speed said. “That’s incredibly painful. It creates an ongoing harm. And so we can’t have a national holiday that creates an ongoing harm for a significant portion of our citizens.”
For Native Americans, that pain is the first thing they feel when they hear “Columbus Day,” Speed said. But when a group of Berkeley, Calif., residents asked the city to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 1992, then-Mayor Loni Hancock said it was the first time she’d really understood the negative impact of this holiday on Indigenous people.
“We had to think about what is this holiday about and who discovered America and how really profoundly disrespectful it was to say that a European explorer who never actually set foot on the continent did that,” Hancock said. “Discounting the Indigenous people who had lived here for centuries with very sophisticated cultures and pretty much in harmony with the earth.”
Indigenous peoples first proposed the day during a 1977 United Nations conference on discrimination against them. But it wasn’t until 1989 that South Dakota became the first state to switch Columbus Day to Native Americans’ Day, celebrating it for the first time in 1990. And then Berkeley became the first U.S. city to switch to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The Pew Research Center says Columbus Day is the most inconsistently observed national holiday in the United States.
“Certainly the hundreds and thousands of Italian immigrants who came over in steerage class on the boats at the turn of the 19th century endured a lot of hardships to get here,” Hancock said. “But the discovery of America is something where you want to get your history right. And I think that to fully understand and take responsibility for who we are as a people in this land made it very important to be clear about who was here first and reflect on what happened in our history after that, in terms of the displacement and oftentimes genocide of those people. How that might have reflected a general discounting of the history and the humanity of nonwhite people of many kinds in this country and to take responsibility for our history.”
National Desk intern Megan Manata contributed to this report.
“I think the most ironic piece about his budget is that the governor wants to take $1.2 billion in American Rescue Plan money and use that for the gas tax break,” state Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando) told reporters after the budget announcement. “As the governor continually attacks President Biden, the reality is we could not balance this budget, or give out tax breaks without President Joe Biden.”
DeSantis defended using Biden’s funds by claiming Florida was stiffed in the America Rescue Plan because more money went to states with higher unemployment. That generally meant that states that enforced economic shutdowns during the height of the pandemic received more funds, unlike Florida which locked down only briefly.
“We got the short end of the stick compared to these other states, that’s just the reality,” DeSantis said during a press conference announcing his budget. “They treated Florida worse … as a result of the fact that we had kids in schools and people employed … And, so, you had much better results in terms of money you were getting if you pursued those other policies.”
Other budget requests
Beyond the fuel tax holiday, DeSantis also wants to use federal cash to fund $500 million to spend on Resilient Florida, an environmental grant fund lawmakers created last year. DeSantis is also seeking nearly $440 million to pay for $1,000 retention bonuses for teachers, first responders and law enforcement and $100 million for the Job Growth Grant Fund, a pot of economic development funding the governor has control over. DeSantis highlighted most of these proposals at press conferences in recent weeks.
The governor is also seeking $8.8 million in federal funds to create a program in his administration that would “assist the state’s efforts to protect against the harms resulting from illegal immigration.” DeSantis has consistently criticized the Biden administration over its immigration policies.
The budget must get approval from the GOP-dominated Florida Legislature.
DeSantis also highlighted that he wants to sock away a record $15 billion in various state reserve funds, including $10 billion in general revenue, which is the most flexible pot of funding. DeSantis said the massive reserve fund and the fuel tax cuts are tied to Biden’s “inflationary policies,” a frequent subject of DeSantis’ ire.
“If your income goes up 4 percent and the cost of everything goes up 5 percent, then you’ve actually lost ground,” DeSantis said. “So we are responding to that with what we are going to do with this gas tax holiday.”
Democrats say the massive reserves would be better used to boost affordable housing, expand Medicaid, or to help fill widespread teacher shortages.
“Leaving that in reserves during a time Floridians are struggling … is not a responsible budget,” said state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando). “I don’t think we have ever had $15 billion in state reserves, which is larger than many other state budgets.”
Law enforcement cash
DeSantis also wants $100 million to create the Florida State Guard, a 200-troop state-level volunteer force under his direct control. DeSantis has said the force would be used to help in emergency situations like hurricanes but faced strong push back from Democrats concerned the governor could misuse the proposed guards.
“This is horrifying,” Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat running against DeSantis in 2022, said on MSNBC after the proposal was announced earlier this month. “He’s not only forming his own army, but it’s an army that’s not accountable to anybody. Not to the people of our state. Not to the Constitution.”
DeSantis is also seeking to boost pay for new cops by 20 percent and pay for veteran police by 25 percent, while also giving $5,000 signing bonuses to every police recruit in Florida that is new to law enforcement. Lawmakers haven’t approved the plan but DeSantis has already taken credit for convincing dozens of police officers to move to Florida from New York — a Democratically-run state that Florida Republicans frequently criticize. Some of the officers who DeSantis touted during a September press conference came to Florida with significant prior disciplinary records, reported Fresh Take Florida.
DeSantis has signaled that a focus on supporting law enforcement will be a key part of his proposed budget as well as a political cudgel to whack Democrats as the midterms get going. During his budget press conference on Thursday, he brought up legislation he pushed for last year that, among many other things, made it more difficult for local governments to cut police budgets — a direct shot at the so-called defund the police movement touted by some progressive Democrats.
“We are not defunding police, I think all of them [Democrats] voted against our anti-riot bill that had a provision that said we are not going to allow local governments to defund law enforcement,” DeSantis said Thursday. “That was a very critical test of where you stand on that, and they stood on the side of defunding.”
Andrew Atterbury and Arek Sarkissian contributed to this report.
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Florida Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy urged President Biden to adjust his plan for distributing vaccines nationwide after finding “obvious flaws” that could prove detrimental to states with higher rates of seniors.
“We share the same goal, which is to manufacture and distribute enough vaccine doses to vaccinate every American as swiftly as possible,” Murphy said in a letter to the president Thursday.
But the Florida Democrat took issue with the plan laid out by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to distribute vaccines to states based on the number of residents they have that are 18-years of age and older.
“This single-factor formula has the benefit of simplicity, but it also has obvious flaws,” she said. “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Americans age 65 and older account for 81 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the United States.”
Murphy pointed out that one in five residents in Florida are at least the age of 65, which means nearly 21 percent of the state’s population are considered at high risk of the deadly coronavirus and should be prioritized.
The congresswoman has asked the administration to take into consideration states and territories like Maine and Puerto Rico, which share high populations of senior citizens, when distributing vaccines, as the CDC has recommended that people 75 of age and up be prioritized in receiving vaccinations.
The Florida Democrat noted that the crux of the problem is that as the state tries to divert enough vaccines to teachers while schools reopen, along with front line workers, it still has the burden of one of the country’s largest senior populations.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis touted Florida’s response to vaccinating seniors, telling reporters Thursday, “We are number one for shots for seniors.”
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‘Fox News Sunday’ anchor Chris Wallace on President Biden using a script for first press conference.
President Joe Biden traveled on Friday to Louisiana where he appeared to bring along a “cheat sheet” which featured names and photographs of local officials with certain talking points, according to a report detailing his visit.
Biden, who toured and spoke in the state following widespread destruction from Hurricane Ida, visited damaged areas in Reserve and LaPlace. Biden could be seen carrying the notes in his back pocket as he was met on the tarmac in New Orleans by Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and John Kennedy, R-La, according to the New York Post.
On the notes that were photographed in Biden’s back pocket, the names of Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng and New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell could be seen.
“Can Joe Biden do anything without a cheat sheet? He couldn’t give a speech on Afghanistan after 5 PM,” said Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe. “It’s abundantly clear he’s not operating on full cylinders. He should be in retirement, not leading a country. It’s time we start talking about it more. Everyone sees it.”
Kayleigh McEnany, who served as former President Trump’s press secretary, told Fox News that Trump never relied on a “cheat sheet.”
“President Trump certainly never carried a ‘cheat sheet’ with him,” McEnany said. “As any good staff would, we often provided him with a pocket card before he left the plane, but he usually just left it on Air Force 1 and definitely never relied on it to remember the names of those he was meeting on the tarmac.”
This is not the first time Biden has been seen carrying a “cheat sheet.” In March, during his first formal press conference, Biden continuously referenced notes he had brought with him that were printed on cards.
Photos taken at the event showed Biden holding a card labeled “infrastructure,” with key statistics and talking points. One bullet point noted that “China spends 3 times more on infrastructure than U.S.”
In another photo, Biden was seen consulting a sheet that appeared to show the pictures and news outlets of journalists who attended his news conference. Some of the pictured reporters had a circled number next to their images.
“Given his track record of hiding in his basement during the presidential election, it’s not surprising that President Biden depends on cheat sheets,” Fox News contributor Deneen Borelli said about the controversy. “Biden is lost and fumbles badly without notes and the teleprompter. It’s fundamentally dangerous the U.S. has such a weak and incompetent president. The world is watching including our adversaries.
Borelli added, “Then-candidate Biden wasn’t challenged by the media and when interviewed was given softball questions. Now America knows why his handlers want him to have limited media access because he’s incapable of sensible communication.”
The use of note cards is not unprecedented at presidential news conferences. In November 2019, former President Donald Trump held a notebook with handwritten prompts during a news conference on testimony delivered at his first impeachment hearing.
Fox News’ Thomas Barabbi and David Aaro contributed to this article.
Appearing in a Manhattan courtroom, Weisselberg, 75, acknowledged his part in the scenario outlined by prosecutors — and agreed to testify, if called, at a pending trial for the company. As part of his plea agreement, Weisselberg, Trump’s close and trusted associate for decades, would spend five months in jail, followed by five years of probation.
The increases, the governor said, cross age and racial or ethnic groups and appear throughout the state.
In Los Angeles County, which has struggled for months with higher case numbers, officials stopped short of ordering additional closures, but urged residents to behave more cautiously.
State leaders, including Mr. Newsom, have told residents not to gather with people from outside their households, and to resist visiting relatives over the holidays.
Much of the recent rise in cases, state officials say, appears to have grown from at-home parties or family gatherings.
But in what is likely to be remembered as one of the governor’s more damaging — not to mention embarrassing — episodes of the pandemic, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Mr. Newsom attended an outdoor dinner for one of his political advisers at the French Laundry, the famed Napa Valley destination, with guests from several households.
The gathering did not technically violate the state’s rules, because there is no formal limit on the number of households at each outdoor restaurant table, but as critics noted, the governor’s attendance undermined the spirit of restrictions.
Mr. Newsom apologized on Monday, saying that he should have turned around and left when he realized there were more guests at the party than he expected.
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“La investigación”, aseguran los expertos, “arroja nuevas visiones tanto sobre lo sucedido en la agresión directa sufrida por los normalistas como en su posible destino posterior”.
A casi un año de la desaparición de los 43 estudiantes mexicanos, una investigación independiente divulgada este domingo pone en entredicho elementos centrales de la versión que el gobierno ha mantenido sobre lo ocurrido ese funesto 26 de septiembre de 2014.
La administración del presidente Enrique Peña Nieto ha sostenido una versión sobre el destino de los 43 estudiantes de la Escuela Normal de Ayotzinapa desaparecidos en Iguala, Guerrero:
Fueron asesinados y sus cuerpos incinerados en un basurero del municipio de Cocula, vecino al sitio donde desaparecieron, pero esto que la Procuraduría (fiscalía) General de la República (PGR) catalogó de “verdad histórica” del caso empieza a tambalearse.
Lea: Así reaccionó el gobierno al informe sobre los estudiantes de Ayotzinapa
En un informe de 550 páginas, el Grupo Interdisciplinario de Expertos Independientes (GIEI), designado por la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH) a petición del gobierno mexicano para analizar el caso, asegura que no hay evidencias de que un fuego de esa magnitud haya ocurrido ni que los estudiantes hayan sido incinerados en un basurero.
“Ese evento tal y como ha sido descrito no pasó”, aseguró en conferencia de prensa el experto español Carlos Beristáin.
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Los padres de los estudiantes han rechazado la versión del gobierno de que los normalistas fueron incinerados.
En su primer informe tras seis meses de trabajo en México, los expertos señalan además que no se hizo todo lo posible para localizar a los estudiantes.
En las conclusiones advierten que hubo hechos no investigados, evidencias destruidas y que se cometieron errores.
Los investigadores no señalan responsables, pero hacen hincapié en elementos que pueden ayudar a determinar el destino de los jóvenes y hacen hincapié en que la pesquisa debe retomarse con nuevas líneas de trabajo.
“La investigación”, aseguran los expertos, “arroja nuevas visiones tanto sobre lo sucedido en la agresión directa sufrida por los normalistas como en su posible destino posterior”.
Sin embargo, el GIEI “lamenta no poder ofrecer (…) un diagnóstico definitivo de lo sucedido” y espera que el informe “sea una oportunidad de retomar el rumbo de la investigación”.
Los investigadores aseguran que las circunstancias del caso y sus hallazgos muestran los “déficits” en la indagación y las tareas pendientes, y subrayan que el destino de los normalistas “es aún incierto”.
Errores y omisiones
El “Informe Ayotzinapa. Investigación y primeras conclusiones de las desapariciones y homicidios de los normalistas de Ayotzinapa” se apoya en datos de la investigación oficial (revisaron los 115 tomos del expediente judicial del caso, cada uno de entre 1.000 y 2.000 páginas).
Pero los expertos también solicitaron peritajes independientes, tanto médicos como forenses y de las distintas escenas de crimen.
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El Grupo Interdisciplinario de Expertos Independientes está integrado por cinco personas:
Carlos Beristáin, experto español en atención integral a víctimas de violaciones de derechos humanos.
Ángela Buitrago, colombiana, abogada, exfiscal ante la Corte Suprema de Justicia y experta en desapariciones, corrupción y asesinatos políticos.
Francisco Cox Vial, abogado chileno que trabajó en apoyo de la extradición de Augusto Pinochet a España.
Claudia Paz y Paz, abogada guatemalteca, especializada en derecho penal, jueza durante 18 años, responsable del primer juicio al exmandatario Efraín Ríos Montt.
Alejandro Valencia Villa, experto colombiano en derechos humanos, consultor de la Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos.
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Desde marzo de este año entrevistaron a sobrevivientes del ataque, supuestos agresores y autoridades.
Los estudiantes desaparecieron después que se los llevaron agentes de las policías de Iguala y Cocula, en el estado de Guerrero, en el sur del país.
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Los estudiantes desaparecieron después que se los llevaron elementos de las policías de Iguala y Cocula, en el estado de Guerrero, en el sur del país.
La fiscalía mexicana responsabilizó del crimen a la banda de narcotráfico conocida como Guerreros Unidos, una escisión del cartel de los hermanos Beltrán Leyva.
Desde octubre del año pasado han sido detenidas más de 100 personas, entre ellas el exalcalde de Iguala, José Luis Abarca. La lista incluye a su esposa, María de los Ángeles Pineda, a quien la fiscalía acusa de ser una de las principales líderes de la banda de narcotráfico.
Pero el GIEI señala que la investigación se fragmentó desde el inicio —llegaron a haber 52 fiscales trabajando por separado—, lo cual dificultó la pesquisa.
BBC Mundo presenta los principales puntos del informe de los expertos:
La dudosa cremación en el basurero
La PGR señala que los estudiantes fueron detenidos por policías de Iguala y Cocula, y posteriormente entregados a sicarios de Guerreros Unidos.
Ellos los habrían llevado al basurero de Cocula, donde según declararon ante la PGR asesinaron a los jóvenes y luego improvisaron una pira para quemar los cuerpos.
Durante al menos 12 horas alimentaron la hoguera con llantas, madera, basura, diésel y otros combustibles. Luego machacaron los huesos hasta convertirlos en ceniza, y después juntaron los restos en bolsas de plástico que arrojaron a un río.
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El Grupo Interdisciplinario de Expertos Independientes está integrado por Carlos Beristáin, Ángela Buitrago, Francisco Cox Vial, Claudia Paz y Paz y Alejandro Valencia Villa.
Esta es la versión oficial.
Pero el grupo de investigadores solicitó un peritaje independiente al experto peruano José Torero, de la Universidad de Queensland (Australia) y miembro de la Academia Australiana de Tecnología e Ingeniería.
Entre sus conclusiones se establece:
“No existe ninguna evidencia que apoye la hipótesis generada en base a testimonios, de que 43 cuerpos fueron cremados en el basurero municipal de Cocula”.
En ese lugar sólo hubo “fuegos de pequeñas dimensiones” pero que no se puede saber la fecha en que ocurrieron.
De acuerdo con el experto, en los alrededores del basurero no había combustibles suficientes para cremar cuerpos, “inclusive uno”.
Según el experto, los peritajes de la PGR no se basaron en la evidencia material, y sus conclusiones son erróneas.
Según el estudio de Torero, para incinerar 43 cuerpos se deberían haberse usado 30 toneladas de madera y el fuego tuvo que haber ardido por 60 horas, y no las alrededor de 12 que había dicho el gobierno en base a la confesión de los inculpados.
Además, la llama tendría que haber alcanzado siete metros y el humo, 300, lo que habría llamado la atención de la gente de localidades cercanas.
Por todo esto, “el GIEI se ha formado la convicción de que los 43 estudiantes no fueron incinerados en el basurero municipal de Cocula”.
La cremación de los estudiantes es uno de los ejes principales de la investigación de la PGR.
El misterio del quinto autobús
El GIEI reconoce que desde el inicio de su investigación tuvo dudas sobre el número de autobuses utilizados por los estudiantes de Ayotzinapa.
En el expediente oficial se establece que fueron cuatro unidades, pero el testimonio de las víctimas mencionó siempre a cinco.
Image copyright Getty Images
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La desaparición de los 43 estudiantes en septiembre del año pasado escandalizó a México y generó manifestaciones en distintas partes del mundo.
En la averiguación de los expertos se determinó que sí existió ese autobús, que los estudiantes tomaron sin permiso en las afueras de Iguala.
El chofer los llevó a la central de autobuses de Iguala. Luego bajó de la unidad y los dejó encerrados. Los jóvenes pidieron ayuda a sus compañeros quienes fueron al sitio a rescatarlos.
Esa fue la razón por la que viajaron a Iguala, pues originalmente ellos no querían ir a la ciudad.
El autobús pertenece a la empresa Costa Line. Al inicio de la investigación fue incluido en el expediente, pero luego no se volvió a mencionar su existencia.
¿Por qué es importante?
El GIEI obtuvo información de que en Iguala opera una red de tráfico de heroína hacia Estados Unidos, que mueve sus cargamentos en autobuses comerciales.
Los estudiantes tomaron tres unidades de la central camionera la noche del 26 de septiembre y las agresiones en su contra al parecer tenían la intención de impedir que las unidades abandonaran la ciudad.
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Familiares de los estudiantes desaparecidos asistieron a la conferencia de prensa este domingo.
“El negocio que se mueve en la ciudad de Iguala podría explicar la reacción extremadamente violenta y el carácter masivo del ataque”, establece el informe.
Otros datos señalan, por ejemplo, que ese autobús en particular no fue atacado, como sí ocurrió con las otras unidades que tenían los estudiantes.
Y cuando el GIEI solicitó a la empresa transportista revisar esa unidad, la compañía presentó un autobús distinto. Las autoridades no realizaron investigaciones sobre ese autobús en particular.
Tampoco averiguaron si existe relación entre las compañías de transporte que operan en Iguala, con las relacionadas en Estados Unidos con el trasiego de heroína.
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Casi 200 víctimas
A nivel oficial se ha hablado de cinco muertos, 43 desaparecidos y 22 heridos en los ataques. Sin embargo, los investigadores aseguran que son 180 las “víctimas directas de diferentes violaciones a los derechos humanos” en los diferentes ataques de la noche del 26 de septiembre. La gran mayoría de ellos eran jóvenes y muchos menores de edad.
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Los expertos de la CIDH no establecen responsabilidades, pero creen que la decisión de los normalistas de tomar autobuses en Iguala explica la violencia extrema contra ellos.
“Podría haberse cruzado con dicha existencia de drogas ilícitas (o dinero) en uno de los autobuses, específicamente en ese autobús, Estrella Roja”.
El quinto autobús, dicen, “podría ser un elemento clave para explicar los hechos”.
El rol de militares y policías federales
Desde la tarde del 26 de septiembre, cuando los estudiantes salieron de su escuela, sus movimientos fueron monitoreados por policías federales y militares y fueron una presencia constante.
Testimonios recabados por los investigadores refieren que hubo agentes de inteligencia del Ejército en al menos dos de los escenarios donde los estudiantes que luego desaparecieron fueron detenidos por policías municipales.
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Los expertos designados por la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos han pedido seis meses más para continuar con la investigación.
También existen testimonios de que uno de los autobuses de donde se llevaron a parte de estos jóvenes fue detenido por policías federales.
Además, un grupo de soldados interrogó a estudiantes que llevaron a un compañero herido a una clínica particular.
Los expertos de la CIDH solicitaron hablar con integrantes del 27 Batallón de Infantería de la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional.
Es el grupo militar asignado a Iguala y sus alrededores. El gobierno mexicano no permitió los interrogatorios.
Hasta ahora, el papel de policías federales y militares en las escenas de los ataques y desapariciones no ha sido investigado por completo.
“El nivel de intervención de diferentes policías y escenarios (…) da cuenta de la coordinación y mando existente para llevar a cabo dicha acción. La necesidad operativa de coordinación entre fuerzas de dos cuerpos policiales municipales diferentes (…) que intervinieron esa noche señalan la necesidad de un nivel de coordinación central que dio las órdenes“, se asegura en el informe.
“No hubo un uso adecuado, necesario, racional, ni proporcionado de la fuerza”, dicen los investigadores, “todo ello supone que la acción de los perpetradores estuvo motivada por lo que se consideró una acción llevada a cabo por los normalistas contra intereses de alto nivel“.
C4, el centro de mando que se quedó callado
El informe señala que entre la noche del 26 de septiembre y las primeras horas del día siguiente los estudiantes sufrieron nueve ataques distintos.
En algunos casos se realizaron al mismo tiempo, e incluso se detectó que varios perpetradores se movieron de un lugar de agresión a otro.
Esto significa que los ataques fueron coordinados y que alguien se encargó de organizarlos.
En Guerrero, como en otros estados del país, existe un área que concentra las comunicaciones de policías estatales, municipales y del gobierno federal.
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El informe de los expertos cuestiona elementos centrales de la investigación del gobierno del presidente Enrique Peña Nieto.
Se llama C4. En el caso de Iguala los expertos de la CIDH establecen que se mantuvo en operación continua el 26 de septiembre.
Pero extrañamente interrumpió su funcionamiento “a ciertas horas”, especialmente las que siguieron a la detención de los estudiantes que luego desaparecieron.
También se destaca un informe de la unidad de protección civil de Chilpancingo (capital del estado).
El documento dice que “no tiene acceso a información a partir del C-4 en ciertos momentos porque la comunicación está intervenida por Sedena” (Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional).
Un dato adicional es que el excalde José Luis Abarca se comunicó más de diez veces con su secretario de Seguridad Pública, Felipe Torres.
Los teléfonos donde se realizaron o recibieron las llamadas coinciden con los sitios y la hora en que se detuvo a los estudiantes desaparecidos.
Abarca dijo inicialmente que la noche de los ataques “estaba dormido” en su casa.
La hipótesis del tráfico de drogas a EE.UU.
Hasta ahora la versión oficial indicaba que los estudiantes iban a entorpecer un acto del alcalde de Iguala y su esposa y que fueron confundidos con miembros de Los Rojos, un grupo criminal rival de Guerreros Unidos.
Las “explicaciones posibles”, dicen, como “confusión con un grupo del narco o la delincuencia organizada es inconsistente con el grado de conocimiento de las autoridades de los hechos”.
Los investigadores aseguran que la hipótesis “más consistente” de la violencia desatada contra los estudiantes es que:
“La acción de tomar autobuses por parte de los normalistas, a pesar de que tenía otros objetivos, como era obtener transporte para que los normalistas provenientes de diferentes escuelas normales pudieran participar en la marcha del 2 de octubre, podría haberse cruzado con dicha existencia de drogas ilícitas (o dinero) en uno de los autobuses”.
En la ciudad se ubica una de las entradas principales por carretera a la región montañosa de Guerrero.
El informe señala que, de acuerdo con la información pública, Iguala “es un lugar de comercio y transporte de estupefacientes, especialmente heroína, hacia Estados Unidos y concretamente Chicago”.
“Esta línea de investigación no se ha explorado hasta ahora”, aseguran los expertos.
Pero es también un lugar hostil a los estudiantes, un elemento que deriva en indiferencia de los habitantes a los problemas ajenos, especialmente los estudiantes.
“Es probable que entre los factores que explican la agresión se encuentren también los estereotipos sobre los ‘ayotzinapos’ como de forma despectiva que se ha señalado en muchas ocasiones”, indica el documento.
“A juicio de GIEI éste sería un factor facilitador de la agresión, dado que el desprecio por el otro promueve la violencia”.
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Los expertos aseguran que los ataques fueron coordinados y que alguien se encargó de organizarlos.
Pero hay otros elementos.
Algunos de los ataques contra estudiantes ocurrieron frente a los asistentes a un concierto masivo en la plaza central de Iguala. Es un elemento que llamó la atención de los expertos.
Por un lado, las agresiones frente a testigos pueden ser una muestra de la impunidad que mantienen los presuntos perpetradores en la región.
Pero también una señal de que su objetivo real era “de alto nivel”, y eso justificaba cualquier tipo de violencia, “aunque fuera indiscriminada y con urgencia de realizar las acciones”.
Los expertos destacan que tuvieron dificultades para hablar con testigos, incluso meses después del ataque a estudiantes. Y advierten: “Hay un enorme nivel de miedo en Iguala”.
Paris riots being called the worst in a decade; Trace Gallagher reports.
French Yellow Vest protesters hit the streets to demonstrate against President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday for the 18th straight weekend and clashed with riot police, prompting the use of tear gas and a water cannon to disperse the agitators.
At least 20 people were arrested by midmorning in Paris. Authorities, fearing a possible uptick in protester numbers and mayhem, deployed additional forces and closed a number of streets in the capital.
The Yellow Vests, meanwhile, hoped that the latest protest will reignite the movement that is losing popularity every week. Yet as the number of protesters dwindled, violence increased.
Protesters threw smoke bombs and other objects at officers along the Champs-Elysees and hit the windows of a police van, echoing the instances of rioting last year, at the peak of the protests. The police then unleashed the water cannon on protesters clustered between two stores, while a burning vehicle was spotted in the neighborhood nearby.
The Yellow Vest movement has rocked France since November 2018, when hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets demanding President Emmanuel Macron’s resignation.
Late last year, in an effort to quell protests, Macron called for three months of national debate on economic reforms.
He addressed the country in December, promising to speed up tax relief and urging companies to give bonuses to workers. Macron also reiterated his promise to raise the minimum wage and said the government would scrap a planned tax hike on pensioners.
The movement began to gradually lose steam. Earlier this month, only around 40,000 people protested across the whole of France, with about 4,000 in Paris, compared with hundreds of thousands last year.
This weekend’s protest marked the end of Macron’s “Great National Debate,” which was organized to address the protesters’ needs.
But even as Macron made a number of concessions to the protest group, many remain skeptical of his presidency and continue to believe that he favors the rich and businesses at the expense of the rest of the public.
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