Venezuela crisis deepens as Maduro seeks support abroad

January 17, 2015

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — When Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro returns from an urgent fundraising trip that has taken him to seven nations, he'll find his oil-dependent economy teetering on the edge and desperate countrymen searching empty store shelves for basic goods.

In the two weeks Maduro has bounced around the globe seeking help, the government has deployed soldiers to prevent stampedes and looting at markets while business leaders have warned that food stocks will run out by early March. Political opponents are rallying supporters and foreign investors are bracing for a potential default.

The crisis is the worst since the 2002 coup that briefly ousted Hugo Chavez, Maduro's predecessor who launched the country's socialist revolution after winning the presidency in 1998. "For 15 years, we've been hearing that the country is collapsing. But never before have we had an economic, political and social crisis at the same time," said Dimitris Pantoulas, a Caracas-based political consultant.

About 95 percent of the money Venezuela earns from exports comes from its oil sales. This week, prices for Venezuela's heavier crude fell below $40 a barrel for the first time since 2008, a decline of more than half since September.

"The true ideology of Chavismo is a single number: the price of oil," said Alberto Barrera Tyszka, author of a 2004 biography of Chavez. "Now that the money is running out, the only way to stay in power is by reducing democracy — more controls, more censorship, more repression."

Venezuela's crisis has been long in the making. Even before collapsing oil prices strangled its foreign revenue stream, the country was stuck in a year-old recession and its inflation rate raced toward triple digits. A Datanalisis poll last month showed popular support of Maduro had fallen to 22 percent, the lowest since he took office in 2013.

Maduro announced his Jan. 4 trip with only a few hours' notice and along the way has surprised many Venezuelans by adding stops, including a second visit to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin. In Beijing he touted a $20 billion infusion of Chinese investments, and while in Qatar announced a new financial alliance. His quest also has taken him to Iran, Saudi Arabia and Algeria. On Friday, he touched down in Portugal en route home, where supporters promised to greet him with a rally at the presidential palace.

Maduro says the harried shuttle diplomacy is securing the financial "oxygen" Venezuela needs. But observers aren't so optimistic. Investors have been driving up the cost of insurance to protect against what they see as almost certain default.

A sense of desperation is palpable in Caracas, where some schools this week advised parents to pack toilet paper in their children's backpacks and at least one executive-class hotel told guests to bring their own detergent if they want laundry services.

The government has deployed the military to maintain order in daylong lines snaking around blocks and has implemented rationing at government-run supermarkets where prices are capped. Goods also have become harder to find on the normally thriving black market, a sign that the government is holding onto dollars earned from oil sales rather than deliver them to importers who need the money to buy merchandise.

"If you want 20 things, you have to wait in 20 lines," Alexander Anteliz said Friday at a shop in a poor Caracas neighborhood, where it took the store only 30 minutes to sell out of its daily supply of corn flour. "Maybe the opposition wouldn't be much better, but the government is clearly failing."

Political opponents, wracked by division and infighting since violent protests last year failed to unseat Maduro, have seized on the crisis. This week, both hardliners and moderates gelled behind a common call to take to the streets to denounce the government's failings. The main anti-government coalition, however, has yet to organize a march and protests by students — a key sector in last year's demonstrations — have been small and sporadic.

The opposition hopes to gain momentum ahead of legislative elections later this year and take control of congress, which they hope to use as leverage to force a recall of Maduro. Some analysts have raised the possibility of an even more dramatic scenario — a military coup. So far there's been no outward sign of disloyalty or nervousness on the part of the armed forces, which have seen their power expand dramatically under Maduro. But observers point out similarities to 1992.

That was the last time an unpopular Venezuelan leader traveled abroad amid the throes of an economic crisis spurred by a sudden collapse in oil prices. When then-President Carlos Andres Perez returned from Switzerland, he was greeted by an army rebellion led by a then-unknown lieutenant colonel named Hugo Chavez.

"It is not inconceivable that stakeholders, among which are the armed forces, would step in before Maduro drives the government into single digits of popularity," said David Smilde, a Venezuelan expert who is a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America.

"That would be unfortunate but is within the realm of possibilities."

Associated Press writer Hannah Dreier reported this story in Caracas and Joshua Goodman reported from Bogota, Colombia. AP writer Jacobo G. Garcia in Bogota contributed to this report.

Air Force to tap Guard, Reserve to fill drone pilot shortage

January 15, 2015

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force is taking several steps to fill a significant shortfall in drone pilots, laying out plans to increase incentive pay, bring more National Guard and Reserve pilots onto active duty, and seek volunteers to fill needed slots, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said Thursday.

Calling them interim measures, James told reporters they may seek larger retention bonuses for drone pilots, much like the maximum $25,000 stipend that manned aircraft pilots can receive. While the Air Force has long struggled with a shortage of drone operators, the demands of ongoing operations around the world, including persistent airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, have exacerbated the problem.

"This is a force that is under significant stress from what is an unrelenting pace of operations," James said. The Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Mark Welsh, said plans to reduce the number of combat air patrols by drones are instead "on an upward trend" because of the missions in Iraq and Syria.

"We have just got to get ahead of this," said Welsh, adding that the Air Force can train only 180 drone pilots a year, despite an annual need for 300. The force loses about 240 drone pilots a year, as airmen leave the service or move to other jobs.

James said she will double the monthly incentive pay for some drone operators — from $600 to $1,500 — to persuade them to stay in the Air Force. The increased bonus pay would be targeted to those who have finished their initial six-year service commitment. All drone pilots now get the $600 monthly stipend, but James said current policies do not allow her to give any a retention bonus of up to $25,000 to encourage them to stay in the service.

She also said she will shift funds in order to bring some National Guard and Reserve drone pilots onto active duty, and will ask other trained drone operators to volunteer to deploy for six months to some of the more strained units. Welsh added that the Air Force will ask 33 current drone pilots to voluntarily stay in their jobs, rather than going back to their original aircraft as planned later this summer.

The shortage of drone pilots dates back to at least 2008, when the service was forcing fighter pilots to transfer to the unmanned aircraft to meet escalating demands for wartime surveillance and strike operations. Two years ago, the service was struggling to fill a shortfall of 300 drone pilots to meet the continuing demand for surveillance and airstrike operations in Afghanistan, while other regions, such as Asia, also sought more patrols.

There are currently 988 active-duty pilots for the Predator and Reaper drones — the two most lethal unmanned aircraft commonly used for surveillance and strikes. More than 1,200 pilots are needed. Drone pilots work six days in a row, for an average of 13 to 14 hours a day. They log 900-1,100 flight hours a year, compared with pilots who fly manned aircraft and put in between 200-300 hours per year, James said.

Drones are currently flying 65 24-hour combat air patrols day around the world. The goal has been to have 10 crews per combat air patrol, in order to meet staffing needs and allow the pilots time for schooling, training and other career-building time. But the Air Force has struggled to maintain eight crews for each patrol and that will become increasingly difficult as a number of pilots prepare to leave the force this year.

Welsh said the plan had been to reduce the daily patrol to 55, but that became impossible when the mission against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria began last year. Welsh and James said they have trimmed their force as much as they can, but the current 315,000 is as low as they can go.

"We are getting too small to succeed," said Welsh.

Somber gatherings mark 5th anniversary of Haiti earthquake

January 13, 2015

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — On crowded streets where fragile concrete homes collapsed and anguished people searched through rubble for loved ones, Haitians paused to remember the devastating January 2010 earthquake that shattered much of the teeming capital and surrounding area.

At 4:53 p.m., the time five years ago when the 7.0 magnitude quake heaved the ground and upended the lives of millions, many Port-au-Prince residents shared a moment to remember the dead before taking comfort in routines of everyday life.

"Five years ago, Haiti was in great pain. I pray for those who died and I thank you God for not taking the lives of my children," Edline Guervil said with her eyes shut tight during a family prayer at her laundry shop in a hard-hit neighborhood where many died.

Hundreds of people attended a Catholic Mass just after dawn at a new church built alongside the ruined National Cathedral, the towering remnants of broken walls still dominating the impoverished Bel Air neighborhood in downtown Port-au-Prince.

"This is the anniversary of the day I can never forget," Gladys Lambard, who lost her husband and sister in the quake, said as she walked into the church arm-in-arm with her 14-year-old daughter. "The sadness of that day marked me forever."

Yet, as the nation of 10 million marked the fifth anniversary of the quake, a political crisis between Haiti's president and parliament that has delayed legislative elections threatens to undermine the troubled country's political stability.

President Michel Martelly and opposition lawmakers have been embroiled in a political showdown since 2011, when he was supposed to call a vote for a majority of Senate seats, the entire Chamber of Deputies and local offices. A group of opposition senators who accuse Martelly of trying to undermine the Constitution have blocked a vote that would lead to approval of an electoral law.

Parliament's mandate comes to a close Monday and no law has been authorized to allow a vote. The president, who leaves office next year, could soon sign a decree allowing Haiti to hold legislative elections later this year. On Monday morning, he told The Associated Press that he was losing hope that lawmakers would pass a law in the hours before Parliament dissolves.

"It's their responsibility to do it, it's not mine. I just hope that they do it, but it's been there for so long that I think we have little chance," he told AP at a memorial service for earthquake victims at a mass burial site north of the capital.

After days of negotiations with opposition figures, the president announced Sunday he had forged a last-minute accord with leaders of four opposition parties, leading to hopes an electoral law could soon be passed. But an emergency parliamentary session scheduled for Monday did not take place.

At a memorial service on the national holiday, Martelly contrasted the solidarity Haitians displayed in the immediate aftermath of the quake with the messy political situation it is enduring now. Opposition protesters have repeatedly clashed with riot police in downtown Port-au-Prince as they press for the president's departure.

"Enough is enough," Martelly said during his speech, addressing his words to opposition groups orchestrating the street protests. "Give the country a chance, in the name of the all the victims who died five years ago."

Martelly spoke on the northern outskirts of Port-au-Prince, where he and the first lady placed white flowers before a large chunk of rubble set on a concrete pedestal. The site is being developed as a memorial for those who lost their lives.

The government has said more than 300,000 people were killed but the exact toll is unknown because there was no systematic effort to count bodies amid the chaos and destruction. Carine Joiceus, a 24-year-old customs worker who attended the memorial Mass in Bel Air, had to have one of her arms amputated near the shoulder after she was pinned by falling rubble at a university. She has since had two children and says she has learned to live with her disability.

"I remember just crying the first year after it happened," Joiceus said. "But since then, I'm moving ahead with my life and thinking of the future. " For the country as a whole, the recovery has been uneven.

The United Nations says Haiti has received more than 80 percent of about $12.45 billion pledged by more than 50 countries and multilateral agencies since the disaster, a combination of humanitarian assistance, recovery aid and disaster relief. Parts of the capital are awash in new construction and the number of people in dismal tent camps has dropped from around 1.5 million after the quake to around 80,000.

But Haiti also remains a desperately poor country facing many of the same challenges as before the earthquake. The World Bank says more than 6 million out of roughly 10.4 million inhabitants live under the national poverty line of $2.44 per day.

Haiti leader, opposition forge deal to possibly end impasse

January 12, 2015

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti's president said Sunday he has forged a last-minute accord with leaders of four opposition parties after days of closed-door negotiations, possibly creating a viable path to ending a political standoff stalling long-delayed elections.

"Through this agreement, we are sure to achieve normalization of the political situation in the country," Martelly said at a Port-au-Prince hotel following talks with the chiefs of opposition factions, including the Unity party of former President Rene Preval.

Martelly and opposition lawmakers have been embroiled in a political showdown over legislative elections due since 2011, when he was supposed to call a vote for a majority of Senate seats, the entire Chamber of Deputies and local offices.

After days of fruitless negotiations with lawmakers, Martelly on Sunday finally achieved consensus to try and end the impasse. The electoral law must still be approved by lawmakers and an emergency session was scheduled for Monday after the senate failed to achieve quorum Sunday night. The government feels it now has the support needed to win the vote.

Martelly, who took power in May 2011 and is due to leave next year, will rule by decree if political leaders don't resolve Haiti's crisis by authorizing the law by Monday's close. Senate President Simon Desras told The Associated Press he was hopeful that the political gridlock could be resolved in the next 24 hours. He said he expected participation of at least three but possibly four members of a group of six senators who have used parliamentary procedure to prevent a vote authorizing the elections. They accuse Martelly of trying to undermine the Constitution.

"I'm confident and feeling positive that we can solve this," Desras said before a Monday parliamentary session was scheduled. In a Sunday statement, the U.S. Embassy said it strongly supported efforts by Martelly to end the impasse, noting his "wide-ranging concessions," including the recent removal of his prime minister.

If lawmakers still don't approve the law and Haiti has one-man rule starting this week, the U.S. said it will continue to work with Martelly and "whatever legitimate Haitian government institutions remain to safeguard the significant gains" achieved since the 2010 quake.

There has been an uptick in street protests orchestrated by opposition factions that have caused a measure of mayhem in downtown Port-au-Prince. On Sunday, mostly young male protesters again burned tires and threw rocks at riot police, who fired tear gas and sprayed water from armored vehicles.

Brazil fights 'epidemic' of cesarean births

16 January 2015 Friday

Seven months into her pregnancy, Rosineide Moreira chose her first child's birthday.

An hour after surgeons sliced painlessly into her on Jan. 5, the 31-year-old chemical engineer from Sمo Paulo was cradling her newborn daughter, Mariana, as planned.

"We set a date that was convenient for both my husband and me," Moreira said. "The doctor gave me the option of a natural birth, but we weighed up the options and decided we'd go with the C-section."

Moreira's story is not uncommon in Brazil, particularly in the country's private health care network, used by more than a quarter of the population, where 84.6 percent of babies are delivered by cesarean.

Even though Brazil's public national health system, the SUS, carries out fewer cesareans proportionally, overall this still means that upwards of 55 percent of babies born here are delivered by C-section, one of the highest rates in the world.

In Latin American and Caribbean nations, the rate is also generally high, at around 40 percent in 2014, according to UNICEF figures. In comparison, around 33 percent of all births in 2012 in the U.S. were by C-sections; in the UK, in 2013 it was 25.5 percent.

The World Health Organization says only 15 percent of births should require a cesarean.

A day after Moreira's daughter was born, health officials in Brazil announced new rules to reduce cesarean rates and new programs to promote natural births.

"The epidemic of cesarean sections that we see in our country is unacceptable, and we have no option other than to treat it as a serious public health issue," Health Minister Arthur Chioro said. "We cannot ... consider cesarean sections as normal births."

Among the new measures is a delivery record that doctors will have to submit, justifying the procedure, in order to receive payment for the procedure, and which the government will use to monitor cesarean rates.

Health plan providers will also be obliged to provide expectant mothers with information about the risks of unnecessary C-sections, such as an elevated risk of infection; and information on cesarean rates among specific doctors, hospitals, and providers. Those who fail to comply will face a fine.

Ana Maria Malik, professor of health at the Fundaçمo Getْlio Vargas, or FGV, a higher education institute and think tank in Sمo Paulo, says the public system has already defined "much lower C-section rates and been successful at least with hospitals that are paid on a contract basis," but that the private sector has been virtually untouched by the measures, until now.

"Health officials have now set some quality indicators, including C-section rates, to be achieved by third party payers and this will include financial rewards -- or sanctions -- for the providers," Malik said, while admitting that Brazil would likely remain among the world's C-section leaders for some time.

Such high rates stem from cultural norms established among patients and physicians, Malik said. "Brazilian medical schools have been perceived to teach C-sections as the normal childbirth ... which is now considered exceptional."

With women, cesareans can be seen as a status symbol, and many body-conscious Brazilians also turned to C-sections to reduce the impact a natural birth can have.

But an FGV study showed that most who opt for C-sections simply want a convenient birth, at the time of their choosing. Physicians also favor the practice, as its predictability mean doctors can more efficiently plan bed and staff rotations.

Although Moreira's doctor gave her a choice, other mothers have felt pressured to undergo the procedure.

"I more or less begged to have a natural birth, but the doctor convinced me having a C-section was the best option, safety-wise," said Maria Luiza Guimarمes, a 40-year-old lawyer and mother of three from Sمo Paulo.

All Guimarمes’ children, including her 5-month-old daughter, have been delivered by C-section at private hospitals.

"One doctor we saw, but didn't proceed with, said a natural birth would cost twice as much as a cesarean - $6,880 (18,000 reais) instead of $6,440 (9,000 reais) - because his team would be kept on standby, unlike with a planned C-section," Guimarمes said.

Announcing the new rules, Chioro warned that doctors charging such extra "availability fees" for natural births, typically not covered by health plans, were breaking the law.

While Brazil has doctors specializing in natural births, including those who cater to mothers who want to have multiple future pregnancies, many women say doctors insist C-sections are the right course, while others choose this path for reasons of convenience.

Guimarمes says she understands these women, but wishes she had had a doctor more open to natural births.

"Even now I don't know whether any of my C-sections were really necessary."

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/153097/brazil-fights-epidemic-of-cesarean-births.

Election measure being withdrawn after Congo unrest

January 24, 2015

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — The head of Congo's parliament says a controversial measure that led to violent street protests in the enormous country is now being withdrawn.

Aubin Minaku, president of the National Assembly, made the announcement late Saturday. It comes a day after the Senate voted to eliminate the measure that would have required a census before next year's vote. Had it become law, it was expected to delay the 2016 presidential vote.

Critics say the proposed change to electoral law would have paved the way for President Joseph Kabila to prolong his time in power. Kabila has been president since 2001 and under current law is barred from seeking another term.

Human rights groups say dozens of people died amid the unrest and hundreds of other activists and opposition members were arrested.

Congo opposition to occupy parliament over election law

16 January 2015 Friday

Opposition leaders in Democratic Republic of Congo called on their supporters to occupy parliament next Monday to block a reform of the electoral code they say is designed to keep President Joseph Kabila in power after his term ends next year.

The law, which cleared a preliminary vote in parliament on Monday despite noisy protests by some deputies, would require the vast central African nation to hold a census before a presidential election scheduled for 2016.

A grouping of opposition parties said in a statement the census would take at least four years and called it a ploy to extend Kabila's time in power. Kabila is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.

Vital Kamerhe, president of the Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC), said that demonstrators would hit back against tough police tactics that have thwarted previous protests.

"We have entered a fight with the police," he said. "We're going to fight them with stones."

Frequent opposition protests in Kinshasa have failed to mobilize large numbers and have been easily dispersed. Some Kinshasa residents say they are dissuaded from participating in the marches by fear of the police, while many are skeptical of the political elite after decades of corrupt rule.

An attempted march to parliament on Monday by a few hundred demonstrators was stopped by police in heavy body armor, firing teargas.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende dismissed the opposition's calls, saying it had threatened similar action many times before.

"Every day they announce an occupation of the parliament," he said. "How many times are they going to occupy the parliament? It's 10, 15, 40 times. And there is never an occupation."

The opposition's statement calls for large protests throughout the country, while urging parents to keep their children home from school and shop owners to close their stores.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/153121/congo-opposition-to-occupy-parliament-over-election-law.