International
Ex-president Anez of Bolivia seeks international legal help
AFP
Lawyers for Bolivian ex-president Jeanine Anez, in jail since March, said Friday they were appealing to a regional UN rights body for her.
Attorney Luis Guillen said the appeal to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) was made because Anez’s legal team “exhausted the legal and court bodies (to which they could appeal) in Bolivia.”
Anez, 54, has been charged with “genocide” over protesters’ deaths in 2019; she made an attempt on her life while suffering from “severe depression” due to her prolonged imprisonment, her family has said.
Anez’s family has repeatedly asked the government to transfer her to a hospital for treatment of hypertension and other conditions.
The conservative Anez came to power in November 2019 after then-president Evo Morales resigned and fled the country following weeks of violent protests over his controversial re-election to an unconstitutional fourth term.
The specific accusation against Anez relates to two incidents in November 2019 in which a total 22 people died.
Attorney General Juan Lanchipa has said he presented documents against her in which the incidents were “provisionally classified as genocide, serious and minor injury and injury followed by death.”
After Morales resigned, Anez, as the most senior parliamentarian left, was sworn in as interim president, but her political opponents denounced this as a coup.
Under Anez’s administration, Bolivia held peaceful, transparent elections in October 2020 in which Morales’s leftist protege Luis Arce won a landslide victory.
Arce subsequently vowed to pursue those he accused of staging a coup.
Anez, arrested in March on accusations of leading a coup, also faces charges of terrorism, sedition and conspiracy.
Bolivia’s opposition has decried the lack of separation of powers in the country, saying the courts, electoral body and public prosecutor’s office are all loyal to Arce.
Guillen said the legal team’s appeal was motivated by “threats, harassment and attacks against the life and personal integrity of the ex-president.”
He also denounced “the lack of access to adequate medical treatment… to restore (Anez’s) health.”
International
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Japanese police arrested a man on Thursday after he rammed his car into a group of seven schoolchildren in an apparent deliberate attack in the city of Osaka.
The children, who were on their way home from school, sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital. All seven remained conscious, according to local authorities.
An Osaka police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect is a 28-year-old man from Tokyo. The officer shared statements the man made after his arrest: “I was fed up with everything, so I decided to kill people by driving into several elementary school children,” the suspect reportedly said.
The man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
The injured children, aged between seven and eight, included a seven-year-old girl who suffered a fractured jaw. The six other children—all boys—suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scratches and were undergoing medical evaluation.
Witnesses described the car as “zigzagging” before hitting the children. One witness told Nippon TV that a girl was “covered in blood” and the others appeared to have scratches.
Another witness said the driver, who was wearing a face mask, looked to be in shock when school staff pulled him from the vehicle.
Violent crimes are rare in Japan, though serious incidents do occur from time to time. In 2008, Tomohiro Kato drove a two-ton truck into pedestrians in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, then fatally stabbed several victims. Seven people were killed in that attack.
Internacionales
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
May Day protests in France were marked by a heavy police presence and clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement in several cities.
In Paris, Lyon, and Nantes, thousands took to the streets to demand better wages, fairer working conditions, and to voice their dissatisfaction with President Emmanuel Macron’s government.
While the majority of the demonstrations remained peaceful, isolated confrontations broke out in some areas. Protesters threw objects at the police, prompting the use of tear gas and resulting in several arrests.
Videos showing police crackdowns circulated widely on social media, drawing criticism from labor unions and human rights advocates, who denounced the authorities’ response to the protests.
International
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
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