International
Biden says that Floyd’s death at the hands of the police four years ago changed the world
President Joe Biden said on Friday that the death of African-American George Floyd at the hands of the Police four years ago, which raised massive protests in the United States and other countries, changed the world and “shook the conscience of our country.”
“The day before Floyd’s funeral, his little daughter Gianna told me ‘Dad has changed the world,’” Biden recalled according to a statement from the White House. “Four years after the murder of his father, there is no doubt that he has done it.”
On May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis (Minnesota), Floyd was arrested by police officers from that city and one of them, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee for more than nine minutes on the neck of the victim who was handcuffed and asked for help.
The autopsy determined that Floyd’s heart had stopped beating while he was subjected to Chauvin and that his death had been a homicide caused by a cardiopulmonary arrest, although the consumption of fentanyl and a heart disease were factors that contributed to his death.
Floyd’s murder, recorded on video, triggered a huge wave of protests in several cities in the United States against racism and police violence that lasted for months and gave impetus to the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.
“Floyd should be alive today,” Biden said. “His assassination shook the conscience of our nation and reminded us that our country has never fully fulfilled its highest ideal of a system of impartial justice for all.”
“As a result, we witnessed one of the largest civil rights movements in the history of our nation, in which people from all sectors marched together against racism and systemic injustice,” he added.
Biden pointed out that black and Latino communities “too often have endured the onslaught of injustice.”
After Floyd’s death, the city of Minneapolis reached a reconciliation for 27 million dollars with his family. Chauvin was prosecuted and convicted in June 2021, he received a sentence of 22 and a half years in prison.
Three other police officers involved in the incident were convicted of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
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Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction