Latin-America
Gangs unleash new attacks on upscale areas in Haiti's capital, with at least a dozen killed nearby
Gangs attacked two upscale neighborhoods in Haiti’s capital early Monday in a rampage that left at least a dozen people dead in surrounding areas.
Gunmen looted homes in the communities of Laboule and Thomassin before sunrise, forcing residents to flee as some called radio stations pleading for police. The neighborhoods had remained largely peaceful despite a surge in violent gang attacks across Port-au-Prince that began on Feb. 29.
An Associated Press photographer saw the bodies of at least 12 men strewn on the streets of Pétionville, located just below the mountainous communities of Laboule and Thomassin.
Crowds began gathering around the victims. One was lying face up on the street surrounded by a scattered deck of cards and another found face down inside a pick-up truck known as a “tap-tap” that operates as a taxi. A woman at one of the scenes collapsed and had to be held by others after learning that a relative of hers was killed.
“Abuse! This is abuse!” cried out one Haitian man who did not want to be identified as he raised his arms and stood near one of the victims. “People of Haiti! Wake up!” An ambulance arrived shortly afterward and made its way through Pétionville, collecting the victims.
“We woke up this morning to find bodies in the street in our community of Pétionville,” said Douce Titi, who works at the mayor's office. “Ours is not that kind of community. We will start working to remove those bodies before the children start walking by to go to school and the vendors start to arrive.”
It was too late for some, though. A relative of one of the victims hugged a young boy close to his chest, with his head turned away from the scene.
The most recent attacks raised concerns that gang violence would not cease despite Prime Minister Ariel Henry announcing nearly a week ago that he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created, a move that gangs had been demanding.
Gangs have long opposed Henry, saying he was never elected by the people as they blame him for deepening poverty, but critics of gangs accuse them of trying to seize power for themselves or for unidentified Haitian politicians.
Also on Monday, Haiti’s power company announced that four substations in the capital and elsewhere “were destroyed and rendered completely dysfunctional.” As a result, swaths of Port-au-Prince were without power, including the Cite Soleil slum, the Croix-des-Bouquets community and a hospital.
The company said criminals also seized important documents, cables, inverters, batteries and other items.
As gang violence continues unabated, Caribbean leaders have been helping with the creation of a transitional council. It was originally supposed to have seven members with voting powers. But one political party in Haiti rejected the seat they were offered, and another is still squabbling over who should be nominated.
Meanwhile, the deployment of a U.N.-backed Kenyan police force to fight gangs in Haiti has been delayed, with the East African country saying it would wait until the transitional council is established.
In a bid to curb the relentless violence, Haiti's government announced Sunday that it was extending a nighttime curfew through March 20.
Venezuela orders UN human rights office to close, accusing it of anti-government activity
Venezuela’s government on Thursday ordered the local United Nations office on human rights to suspend operations and gave its staff 72 hours to leave, accusing it of assisting coup plotters and terrorist groups.
Foreign Affairs Minister Yván Gil announced the decision at a news conference in Caracas, which came amid heightened concerns that the government is repressing real or perceived opponents in an election year. Nearly a week ago, Venezuela detained a prominent human rights attorney and members of her family, setting off a wave of criticism inside and outside the country.
US eases oil, gas and gold sanctions on Venezuela after electoral roadmap signed
Gil said the local technical advisory office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, authorized in 2019, was supposed “to improve, to optimize,” human rights. Instead, he said, it had become an “international sounding board to maintain a discourse against the Bolivarian government and against the Venezuelan people."
The office had “become the private law firm of coup plotters and terrorist groups that permanently conspire against the country," Gil said, though he did not show any evidence or point to a specific example of that alleged activity.
Mexico's president slams US aid for Ukraine and sanctions on Venezuela and Cuba
Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the U.N. rights office of the high commissioner, based in Geneva, Switzerland, said the agency regretted the decision and is evaluating next steps.
“We continue to engage with the authorities and other stakeholders,” Shamdasani said. “Our guiding principle has been and remains the promotion and protection of the human rights of the people of Venezuela.”
Venezuelan opposition strips Guaidó of 'presidential' role
The agency on Tuesday had expressed “deep concern” over the detention of Rocio San Miguel, a prominent human rights attorney in Venezuela. In a tweet, the office urged “her immediate release” and respect for her right to legal defense.
San Miguel was taken into custody Friday at the airport near Caracas while she and her daughter awaited a flight to Miami. Authorities did not acknowledge her detention until Sunday, and as of Wednesday, her attorney had not been allowed to meet with her.
About an hour before Gil’s announcement, the U.N. agency called for the respect of “due process guarantees, including right to defense” in her case.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab earlier in the week said San Miguel was being held at the Helicoide prison, an infamous institution for political prisoners. She is facing charges of treason, conspiracy and terrorism.
San Miguel’s daughter, ex-husband, two brothers and former partner also were detained following her arrest. Of them, only her former partner, Alejandro Jose Gonzales de Canales Plaza, remains in custody. He is facing charges of revealing state and military secrets and obstruction of justice.
Gil told reporters that President Nicolás Maduro agreed to cooperate with the high commissioner in September 2019 to establish the local technical advisory office in Caracas to “show the world the advances in human rights in Venezuela.”
He said the office had 13 staff members as of Thursday.
Months before Maduro's 2019 decision, the high commissioner at the time, Michelle Bachelet, had published a scathing report detailing widespread human rights abuses at the hands of Venezuelan government security forces.
The U.N. Human Rights Council had also voted to set up an independent fact-finding mission to look into allegations of killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention and torture in Venezuela.
The fact-finding mission has never been allowed to visit the country. But its investigations have documented, among other things, that the government intensified efforts to curtail democratic freedoms ahead of this year's coming presidential election. The mission accused the government of using threats, surveillance and harassment against politicians, labor leaders, journalists, human rights defenders and other real or perceived opponents.
In addition to the U.N., 200 non-governmental organizations in Venezuela, the European Union, and the Canadian and United States governments have expressed concerns over the San Miguel's detention.
San Miguel's detention is part of the Venezuelan government’s policies of “criminalization and persecution of the work of promoting and defending human rights and closing civic space in Venezuela," the Venezuelan organizations said in a statement Monday. Both are based on the idea that social activists and human rights defenders are “internal enemies” who participate in "alleged conspiracies and attempts at ‘assassinations,’” it said.
San Miguel’s detention happened more than three months after the U.S. government rolled back some economic sanctions against Venezuela following Maduro’s commitment to hold an election in the second half of 2024, lift bans preventing adversaries from holding office and release political prisoners. His promises are part of an agreement signed in the Caribbean island of Barbados between his representatives and those of a faction of the opposition.
Since it was signed, Maduro's government has been testing its limits. It has blocked the candidacy of the winner of the opposition's presidential primary and arrested numerous perceived or actual adversaries, including campaign staffers of the blocked candidate. It has also repeatedly accused members of the opposition of having links to various plots to kill Maduro and his inner circle between last May and January without showing any evidence.
The government also only released about 20 political prisoners. The Venezuela-based organization Foro Penal tallied 263 political prisoners in the South American country as of Thursday.
Human Rights Watch on Thursday condemned the government's decision to suspend the activities of the U.N. office, describing its presence in Venezuela as “crucial.”
“Amid a new wave of repression, governments in the region should call for its reestablishment," Juanita Goebertus, Americas director for Human Rights Watch, tweeted.
Forest fires rage on in central Chile, killing at least 112 people over 3 days
Firefighters wrestled Sunday with massive forest fires that broke out in central Chile two days earlier, as officials extended curfews in cities most heavily affected by the blazes and said at least 112 people had been killed.
The fires burned with the highest intensity around the city of Viña del Mar, where a famous botanical garden founded in 1931 was destroyed by the flames Sunday. At least 1,600 people were left without homes.
Several neighborhoods on the eastern edge of Viña del Mar were devoured by flames and smoke, trapping some people in their homes. Officials said 200 people were reported missing in Viña del Mar and the surrounding area. The city of 300,000 people is a popular beach resort and also hosts a well-known music festival during the southern hemisphere's summer.
On Sunday morning, Chilean President Gabriel Boric visited the town of Quilpé, which was also heavily affected by the fires and reported that 64 people had been killed. Late Sunday, Chile's Forensic Medicine Service updated the confirmed death toll to 112 people.
Boric said the death toll could rise as rescue workers search through homes that have collapsed. Some of those arriving in hospitals were also in critical condition.
Rodrigo Mundaca, the governor of the Valparaiso region, where Viña del Mar and other affected cities are located, said Sunday he believed some of the fires could have been intentionally caused, echoing a theory that had also been mentioned Saturday by Boric.
“These fires began in four points that lit up simultaneously,” Mundaca said. “As authorities we will have to work rigorously to find who is responsible.”
The fires around Viña del Mar began in mountainous forested areas that are hard to reach. But they have moved into densely populated neighborhoods on the city's periphery despite efforts by Chilean authorities to slow down the flames.
On Saturday, Boric said that unusually high temperatures, low humidity and high wind speeds were making it difficult to control the wildfires in central Chile, which have already burnt through 8,000 hectares (30 square miles) of forest and urban areas.
Boric flew over some of the areas burned by the fires Sunday and visited a school that has been turned into a shelter for the displaced. He said that a presidential vacation home on the shores of Viña del Mar that is surrounded by large gardens would be temporarily converted into a leisure center for the children of families affected by the fires.
The president declared two days of national mourning.
“All of Chile is suffering” Boric said. “But we will stand up once again.”
Officials asked people in areas affected by the fires to evacuate their homes as quickly as possible, while those farther from the fires were told to stay at home in order to facilitate the transit of fire engines and ambulances.
Curfews were declared in Viña del Mar and the neighboring cities of Quilpé and Villa Alemana as part of an effort to prevent looting.
The fires broke out during a week of record high temperatures in central Chile. Over the past two months, the El Niño weather pattern has caused droughts and high temperatures in western South America that have also increased the risk of forest fires.
At least 46 reported dead in Chile as forest fires move into densely populated central areas
Intense forest fires burning around a densely populated area of central Chile have caused at least 46 deaths, Chile's pesident said Saturday evening, and officials said at least 1,100 homes had been destroyed.
In a nationally televised address, President Gabriel Boric warned that the death toll could worsen as four large fires burn in the region of Valparaiso, where firefighters have struggled to reach the most threatened neighborhoods.
Boric urged Chileans to cooperate with rescue workers.
“If you are told to evacuate don't hesitate to do it,” he said. “The fires are advancing fast and climatic conditions have made them difficult to control. There are high temperatures, strong winds and low humiditiy.”
Interior Minister Carolina Tohá said earlier Saturday that 92 forest fires were burning in the center and south of the country, where temperatures have been unusually high this week.
The deadliest of the fires were in the Valparaíso region, where authorities urged thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
In areas farther away from the fires, meanwhile, residents were told to stay at home so that fire engines, ambulances and other emergency vehicles can get about on the roads with greater ease.
Tohá said two fires near the towns of Quilpué and Villa Alemana had burned through at least 8,000 hectares (19,770 acres) since Friday. One of the fires was threatening the coastal resort town of Viña del Mar, where some neighborhoods had already been hit hard.
In Villa Independencia, a hillside neighborhood on the eastern edge of the town, several blocks of homes and businesses were destroyed. Burned cars with broken windows lined the streets, which were covered in ash.
“I've been here 32 years, and never imagined this would happen,” said Rolando Fernández, one of the residents who lost his home.
He said he first saw the fire burning on a nearby hill Friday afternoon and within 15 minutes the area was engulfed in flames and smoke, forcing everyone to run for their lives.
“I've worked my whole life, and now I'm left with nothing,” Fernández said.
Three shelters were set up in the Valparaíso region, and 19 helicopters and more than 450 firefighters were brought into the area to help battle the blazes, Tohá said.
The fires were burning on mountains that are hard to reach, such as neighborhoods built precariously on the edge of Viña del Mar.
Officials reported power blackouts as a result of the fire, and Tohá said that in the Valparaíso region, four hospitals and three nursing homes for the elderly had to be evacuated. The fire also destroyed two bus terminals, the interior minister said.
The El Niño weather pattern has caused droughts and hotter than usual temperatures along the west of South America this year, increasing the risk of forest fires. In January, more than 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres) of forests were destroyed in Colombia by fires that followed several weeks of dry weather.
A mudslide in Colombia has killed at least 34 people and injured dozens of others
The death toll of a mudslide in western Colombia rose to 34 on Saturday, authorities said.
The mudslide struck a busy municipal road Friday in a mountainous area connecting the cities of Quibdo and Medellin.
The National Disaster Risk Management Unit had said initially in a statement that at least 18 people were killed. The agency also said at least 35 injured people were taken to hospitals.
The new death toll was reported by the Chocó Governor’s Office, where a unified command post was established to coordinate search and rescue operations. In a statement, it said that 17 bodies had been identified and that officials were trying to identify another 17. The Prosecutor’s Office confirmed the death toll.
Earlier, Colombian Vice President Francia Márquez said in a message posted on the social network X that a search continued “for people who remain trapped under the landslide.” She said several children were among the victims, but gave no number.
The risk management unit didn’t specify what could have caused the mudslide, but the Defense Department reported Friday night that it has been raining in the area, making it difficult for rescue operations.
A video posted on X apparently showed the moment of the mudslide, when the side of a mountain slid over the highway, covering some cars. The Associated Press couldn’t verify its authenticity.
President Gustavo Petro tweeted Friday that his government would provide all support needed in what he described as a “horrible tragedy."
Brazil's economy improves during President Lula's first year back, but a political divide remains
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva likes to boast he had a good first year after returning to the job. The economy is improving, Congress passed a long-overdue tax reform bill, rioters who wanted to oust him are now in jail, and his predecessor and foe Jair Bolsonaro is barred from running for office until 2030.
Still, the 78-year-old leader has struggled to boost his support among citizens and lawmakers. Some major setbacks, including a series of votes by Congress to override his vetoes, signaled that Lula's future could be less productive in a Brazil almost evenly split between his supporters and Bolsonaro's.
“Brazil’s political polarization is such that it crystallized the opinions of Lula and Bolsonaro voters beyond the economy,” said political consultant Thomas Traumann, the author of a recent best-selling book on Brazil’s political divisions. “These groups are separated by very different world views, the values that form the identity of each group are more important than food prices or interest rates.”
Lula took office on Jan. 1, 2023, after a narrow victory over Bolsonaro in October 2022. At the beginning of his four-year term, only one fourth of Brazil's Congress sided with him. Business and opposition leaders feared Lula had gone too far to the left.
A riot led by Bolsonaro supporters destroyed government buildings in the capital of Brasilia on Jan. 8 and more turmoil looked certain. Former Finance Minister Paulo Guedes, among other conservatives, forecast Lula's policies would make Brazil's economy soon turn as sour as those in crisis-ridden Argentina and Venezuela.
“Six months to become Argentina. One year and a half to become Venezuela,” Guedes said in an interview.
Fast forward to December.
Brazil’s economy is set to grow 3% this year instead of the 0.6% expected by market economists. Inflation looks controlled at about 4.7% on a yearly basis, slightly above projections but far from the double digits of recent years. The unemployment rate fell to 7.5% in November, one percentage point below the day Bolsonaro left office.
The Sao Paulo stock exchange hit record levels in December, rising above 134,000 points for the first time in its history. Brazil's real currency is also rising against the U.S. dollar. All that brought back the optimistic, keen-to-travel-abroad Lula who had been missing during almost a decade of personal gloom.
“We needed to get our house fixed (in 2023), put things into place," Lula said in a meeting at the presidential palace on Dec. 12. “And now I say get ready. Next year, the Brazilian economy will not let anyone down.”
Yet some polls have shown unchanged support for the president, at between 38% and 40% since January 2023. The numbers didn't pick up even after the announcement of a higher minimum wage in 2024, the buildup of Bolsonaro's legal woes or Brazil's return as a player in foreign affairs under Lula.
About a third of Brazilians consider Lula's presidency about average and another third deeply dislike the way he governs Latin America's powerhouse economy, which rose once again to the top 10 biggest in the world after years of sinking.
Lula's supporters are at home, but Bolsonaro's are still taking to the streets.
Though not as numerous as in the recent past, the few thousand protesters asking Congress to impeach Lula on corruption allegations have shown the resilience of the far-right leader's political base.
Bolsonaro was barred in June 2023 from running for office again until 2030 after Brazil's electoral court ruled that he abused his power and cast unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system.
Engineer Eduardo Carlos Santos, 73, believes Brazil's economy recovered due to the work of Bolsonaro. A devout evangelical, as with many in the former president's base, he says there is a cultural war against conservatives and that leftists should have no place in government.
“Like it or not, Bolsonaro left a better economy and Lula is just reaping the fruits of that,” said Santos, who blames the economic difficulties during the previous presidency on the COVID-19 pandemic and health restrictions. “Lula is a former inmate, sentenced for corruption. He had his time in office, we needed to move the country to another direction. I don't see a bright year coming ahead."
Lula was imprisoned for alleged corruption in 2018, when he led polls to return to the presidency. He was released after the country's Supreme Court ruled the following year that prison sentences could only take place after every appeal has been exhausted — which was not the case with Lula. Later, the same court ruled that the judge in Lula's case, now a pro-Bolsonaro senator, was biased against him.
Lula's difficulties on the streets also appeared in Congress, which voted several times to override his vetoes, especially on environmental legislation. The most recent was in December, when lawmakers reinstated legislation to undo protections of Indigenous peoples’ land rights. The decision set up a new battle between lawmakers and the country’s top court on the matter.
Brazil's Congress also decided to override Lula's veto of a multibillion-dollar bill that exempts multiple sectors of the economy from paying some taxes. The bill was introduced in 2011 and would lose validity at the end of 2023. It will remain in place until 2027, one year after the president's term ends.
Other measures depleted the federal treasury of budget money by enabling lawmakers to approve earmarked resources for themselves, without interference from the executive branch.
Lula's allies have blamed some defeats on Speaker Arthur Lira, once a staunch Bolsonaro supporter who has operated more quietly. Lira, who will remain in his position for another year, can't run for reelection under current congressional rules.
Supporters of the president are also upset with his decision not to appoint another woman to replace Chief Justice Rosa Maria Weber on the Supreme Court. They also complain about the leftist leader's slow approach in providing more resources for welfare programs and inclusion.
That's the case of Daniela Fernandes, 34, who works in a government agency in Sao Paulo.
“I believe we can improve our economy, but I am also hoping that the revenue gets spent with the poor, not in making the rich richer with high interest rates and construction work that only suits some lawmakers,” he said. “I am here because I want our president to tame the military that sided with Bolsonaro all these years, to challenge the far-right on the streets too."
Traumann, the political consultant, said Lula's future will depend on how he moves between antagonistic groups within Brazilian society.
“Dealing with this divided country is surely the biggest challenge for the Lula administration next year,” he said.
Fiery right-wing populist Javier Milei wins Argentina’s presidency and promises ‘drastic’ changes
Populist Javier Milei resoundingly won Argentina’s presidential election Sunday, swinging the country to the right following a fiercely polarized campaign in which he promised a dramatic shake-up to the state to deal with soaring inflation and rising poverty.
With 99.4% of votes tallied in the presidential runoff, Milei had 55.7% and Economy Minister Sergio Massa 44.3%, according to Argentina’s electoral authority. It is the highest percentage that a presidential candidate has received since the South American country’s return to democracy in 1983.
In the streets of Buenos Aires, drivers honked their horns and many took to the streets to celebrate in several neighborhoods. Outside Milei’s party headquarters, a hotel in downtown Buenos Aires, a full-on party kicked off with supporters singing, buying beers from vendors and setting off colored smoke bombs. They waved Argentine flags and the yellow Gadsden flag, emblazoned with the words “Don’t Tread On Me,” which Milei’s movement has adopted.
Inside, the self-described anarcho-capitalist who has been compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump, delivered his victory speech, saying the “reconstruction of Argentina begins today.”
“Argentina’s situation is critical. The changes our country needs are drastic. There is no room for gradualism, no room for lukewarm measures,” Milei told supporters, who chanted “Liberty, liberty!” and “Let them all leave” in a reference to the country’s political class.
Massa of the ruling Peronist party had already conceded defeat, saying Argentines “chose another path.”
“Starting tomorrow ... guaranteeing the political, social and economic functions is the responsibility of the new president. I hope he does,” Massa said.
With a Milei victory, the country will take an abrupt shift rightward and a freshman lawmaker who got his start as a television talking head blasting what he called the “political caste” will assume the presidency.
Inflation has soared above 140% and poverty has worsened while Massa has held his post. Milei has said he would slash the size of the government, dollarize the economy and eliminate the Central Bank as a way to tackle galloping inflation that he blames on successive governments printing money indiscriminately in order to fund public spending. He also espouses several conservative social policies, including an opposition to sex education in schools and abortion, which Argentina’s Congress legalized in 2020.
“This is a triumph that is less due to Milei and his peculiarities and particularities and more to the demand for change,” said Lucas Romero, the head of Synopsis, a local political consulting firm. “What is being expressed at the polls is the weariness, the fatigue, the protest vote of the majority of Argentines.”
Massa’s campaign cautioned Argentines that his libertarian opponent’s plan to eliminate key ministries and otherwise sharply curtail the state would threaten public services, including health and education, and welfare programs many rely on. Massa also drew attention to his opponent’s often aggressive rhetoric and openly questioned his mental acuity; ahead of the first round, Milei sometimes carried a revving chainsaw at rallies.
“There were lot of voters that weren’t convinced to vote Milei, who would vote null or blank. But come the day of the vote, they voted for Milei because they’re all pissed off,” Andrei Roman, CEO of Brazil-based pollster Atlas Intel, said by phone. “Everyone talked about the fear of Milei winning. I think this was a fear of Massa winning and economy continuing the way it is, inflation and all that.”
Milei accused Massa and his allies of running a “campaign of fear” and he walked back some of his most controversial proposals, such as loosening gun control. In his final campaign ad, Milei looks at the camera and assures voters he has no plans to privatize education or health care.
Milei’s screeds resonated widely with Argentines angered by their struggle to make ends meet, particularly young men.
“Incredibly happy, ecstatic, it’s a global historical phenomenon!” Luca Rodríguez, a 20-year-old law student, said outside Milei’s headquarters after spraying a bottle of champagne into the air onto those around him, who squealed with glee. “I want to break free from this ridiculous elite that takes away all our rights, all the tax money that pressures us and doesn’t let us live in peace.”
Two Milei supporters in the raucous crowd were 32-year-old identical twins, both dressed in matching grey tank tops with Argentine flags draped over their shoulders.
“We want a change, we want everything to improve,” Amilcar Rollo said beside his brother, Gabriel. “It’s the hope for something new from someone who hasn’t been there and has different ideas. Otherwise, it’s just the same as always.”
Most pre-election polls, which have been notoriously wrong at every step of this year’s campaign, showed a statistical tie between the two candidates or Milei slightly ahead.
Underscoring the bitter division this campaign has brought to the fore, Milei received both jeers and cheers on Friday night at the legendary Colón Theater in Buenos Aires.
The acrimony was also evident Sunday when Milei’s running mate, Victoria Villaruel, went to vote and was met by protesters angry at her claims that the number of victims from Argentina’s bloody 1976-1983 military dictatorship is far below what human rights organizations have long claimed, among other controversial positions.
The vote took place amid Milei’s allegations of possible electoral fraud, reminiscent of those from Trump and former far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Without providing evidence, Milei claimed that the first round of the presidential election was plagued by irregularities that affected the result. Experts say such irregularities cannot swing an election, and that his assertions were partly aimed at firing up his base and motivating his supporters to become monitors of voting stations. Many have expressed concerns they undermine democratic norms.
Both Bolsonaro and Trump congratulated Milei on social media.
“The whole world was watching! I am very proud of you,” Trump wrote on his platform, Truth Social. “You will turn your Country around and truly Make Argentina Great Again!”
And posting on X, formerly Twitter, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also commended Milei.
“We look forward to continuing bilateral cooperation based on shared values and interests,” Blinken wrote.
Caribbean island of Dominica creates world’s first marine protected area for endangered sperm whale
The tiny Caribbean island of Dominica is creating the world's first marine protected area for one of earth's largest animals: the endangered sperm whale.
Nearly 300 square miles (800 square kilometers) of royal blue waters on the western side of the island nation that serve as key nursing and feeding grounds will be designated as a reserve, the government announced Monday.
"We want to ensure these majestic and highly intelligent animals are safe from harm and continue keeping our waters and our climate healthy," Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said in a statement.
Scientists say the reserve not only will protect the animals, but it will also help fight climate change.
Baleen whale, dolphin carcass wash ashore on Kuakata beach
Sperm whales defecate near the surface because they shut down non-vital functions when they dive to depths of up to 10,000 feet (3,000 meters). As a result, nutrient-rich poop remains along the ocean surface and creates plankton blooms, which capture carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and drag it to the ocean floor when they die. And sperm whales in Dominica are believed to defecate more than whales elsewhere, said Shane Gero, a whale biologist and founder of the Dominica Sperm Whale Project, a research program focused on sperm whales in the eastern Caribbean.
It's unclear why sperm whales seem to defecate more in Dominica. Gero said it could be they're eating twice as much, or maybe there's something particular about the type of squid they're eating.
"In some respects, sperm whales are fighting climate change on our behalf," Gero said in an interview.
Less than 500 sperm whales are estimated to live in the waters surrounding Dominica, part of a population that moves along the Lesser Antilles chain, swimming as far south as St. Vincent and north into Guadeloupe. Unlike sperm whales elsewhere in the world, the ones around the eastern Caribbean don't travel very far, Gero said.
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He noted that sperm whales are a matrilineal society, with young males leaving and switching oceans at some point in their lives. As a result, protecting the species is key, especially if few female calves are born, he said.
"One calf being entangled can mean the end of a family," he said.
Sperm whales can produce a single calf every five to seven years.
In waters around Dominica and elsewhere, sperm whales have been hit by ships, entangled in fishing gear and affected by agricultural runoff, limiting their survival. In the pre-whaling days, an estimated 2 million sperm whales roamed the Earth's deep waters before they were hunted for oil used to burn lamps and lubricate machinery. Now, some 800,000 are left, Gero said.
Stranded whale out of French river, to be moved to saltwater
The government of Dominica said the reserve will allow sustainable artisanal fishing and delineate an international shipping lane to avoid more deaths of sperm whales, which have the largest brain in the world and can grow up to 50 feet (15 meters).
Once the reserve is created, the prime minister said his administration will appoint an officer and observers to ensure the area is respected and that whale tourism regulations are enforced. Visitors can still swim with sperm whales and see them from a boat, but in limited numbers.
The move was praised by scientists and conservationists including Enric Sala, an explorer-in-residence at National Geographic.
"The government of Dominica has realized that the sperm whales, which were probably here before humans, are also citizens of Dominica," he said. "These whales will spend most of the year offshore the island. So, they are taking care of some of their citizens in a way that few nations have ever done before."
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An estimated 35 families of sperm whales spend most of their time in waters surrounding Dominica. Gero said some are likely more than 60 years old, and they communicate via clicking sounds in a vocalization known as codas.
"That's kind of like asking, 'I'm from Dominica, are you?'" Gero said. "It's a symbolic marker."
Gero and his team of researchers also have named individual whales. One is dubbed "Snow" because one scientist was reading a Margaret Atwood book with a character named "Snowman." Another sperm whale was nicknamed "Fruit Salad" because a researcher happened to be snacking on that at the time. That whale's calf was named "Soursop," in keeping with the theme.
More than 100 dolphins found dead in Brazilian Amazon as water temperatures soar
More than 100 dolphins have died in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest in the past week as the region grapples with a severe drought, and many more could die soon if water temperatures remain high, experts say.
The Mamiraua Institute, a research group of Brazil’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, said two more dead dolphins were found Monday in the region around Tefe Lake, which is key for mammals and fish in the area. Video provided by the institute showed vultures picking at the dolphin carcasses beached on the lakeside. Thousands of fish have also died, local media reported.
Experts believe high water temperatures are the most likely cause of the deaths in the lakes in the region. Temperatures since last week have exceeded 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Tefe Lake region.
The Brazilian government’s Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, which manages conservation areas, said last week it had sent teams of veterinarians and aquatic mammal experts to investigate the deaths.
There had been some 1,400 river dolphins in Tefe Lake, said Miriam Marmontel, a researcher from the Mamiraua Institute.
“In one week we have already lost around 120 animals between the two of them, which could represent 5% to 10% of the population,” said Marmontel.
Workers have recovered carcasses of dolphins since last week in a region where dry rivers have impacted impoverished riverside communities and stuck their boats in the sand. Amazonas Gov. Wilson Lima on Friday declared a state of emergency due to the drought.
Nicson Marreira, mayor of Tefe, a city of 60,000 residents. said his government was unable to deliver food directly to some isolated communities because the rivers are dry.
Ayan Fleischmann, the Geospatial coordinator at the Mamirauá Institute, said the drought has had a major impact on the riverside communities in the Amazon region.
“Many communities are becoming isolated, without access to good quality water, without access to the river, which is their main means of transportation,” he said.
Fleischmann said water temperatures rose from 32 C (89 F) on Friday to almost 38 C (100 F) on Sunday.
He said they are still determining the cause of the dolphin deaths but that the high temperature remains the main candidate.
Mexico's president slams US aid for Ukraine and sanctions on Venezuela and Cuba
Mexico’s president on Friday slammed U.S. aid for Ukraine and economic sanctions on Venezuela, Cuba and other nations as the first of two high-level U.S.-Mexico meetings got underway in Washington.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador issued a broad criticism of U.S. foreign policy, saying U.S. economic sanctions were forcing people to emigrate from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
The harsh comments came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Trade Representative Katherine Tai met their Mexican counterparts at the State Department. None of the officials, including Mexican Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena and Secretary of Economy Raquel Buenrostro, addressed or were asked about López Obrador's comments.
Instead they concentrated on expanded trade and economic ties, hailing new cooperation on those fronts, and stressed their commitment to fight the surge of synthetic opioids like fentanyl into the U.S. from Mexico.
“By creating the right incentives and business environments and harnessing our two nations’ respective strengths, we have a tremendous opportunity to make North America the most competitive, the most productive, the most dynamic region in the world,” Blinken said.
“We’re continuing to strengthen, to expand, and diversify supply chains in emerging industries like electric vehicles and semiconductors,” he said, noting that the U.S. and Mexico are launching a new initiative to produce semiconductors.
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Although Friday's talks focused on commerce issues, Blinken will lead a U.S. delegation to Mexico next week with Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that will focus on border security and migration.
The State Department said in a statement that Blinken would be meeting López Obrador during the Oct. 4-5 trip.
Experts say economic mismanagement and political repression are largely to blame for the tide of migrants leaving Venezuela and Cuba.
López Obrador said the United States should spend some of the money sent to Ukraine on economic development in Latin America.
“They (the U.S.) don't do anything,” he said. “It's more, a lot more, what they authorize for the war in Ukraine than what they give to help with poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
He called for a U.S. program “to remove blockades and stop harassing independent and free countries, an integrated plan for cooperation so the Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Ecuadorans, Guatemalans and Hondurans wouldn't be forced to emigrate.”
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There has been a surge in Venezuelan migrants moving through Mexico in recent weeks in a bid to reach the U.S. border. Many of the migrants say deteriorating economic and political conditions in their home country led them to make the journey.
Mexico has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine but has adopted a policy of neutrality and has refused to participate in sanctions. Mexico also continues to buy 2020-vintage COVID-19 vaccines from Russia and Cuba.
The Mexican president laughed off an effort by U.S. Republican lawmakers to cut the tiny amount of foreign aid the U.S. gives to Mexico. López Obrador estimated it involved $40 or $50 million, calling it “ridiculous.”
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