Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast / Photos via Getty/YoutubeAn alt-right comedian’s plans for a remote patch of land in Idaho have terrified his neighbors, who fear it could become a hostile compound or mark the start of a new Ruby Ridge-style standoff.Comedian Owen Benjamin once had a moderately successful Hollywood career, landing roles in movies and TV shows and briefly becoming engaged to actress Christina Ricci. After moving to the right, he appeared on podcasts hosted by Joe Rogan, Steven Crowder, and Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire.As his following among conservatives grew, however, Benjamin became increasingly racist and antisemitic. He repeatedly used the n-word at a February 2018 comedy show, and embraced conspiracy theories about the Holocaust, claiming that Adolf Hitler was only trying to “clean [Germany] of the parasites.” Benjamin’s broadcasts to his fans grew more erratic, seeing the one-time comedian embrace flat-Earth theory and recommend drinking turpentine as a medicinal cure.But being on the internet’s fringes can be lonely, so Benjamin decided to build a place where his remaining, bear-themed following—who call themselves “Unbearables”—could meet in person.Exactly what Benjamin’s intentions for the property in Sandpoint, Idaho, are has become a hot topic in Idaho’s Boundary County. Dubbed “Ursa Rio” by Benjamin, after the Moyie River that abuts the property, the land marks the culmination of Benjamin’s year-long plan to establish a gathering place for his fans.As Benjamin and his supporters set up basic sanitation and housing on the property, Benjamin’s neighbors are getting nervous, urging local officials to step in and issue a cease-and-desist order blocking construction.“You are the only people who can prevent this reenactment of Ruby Ridge,” a flyer distributed at a hearing last week urging county commissioners to block construction on Benjamin’s property reads.For Benjamin’s opponents, the prospect of a far-right encampment in Idaho recalls the state’s history with other extremists. The Aryan Nations once ran a compound in the state. In 1992, three people were killed in the Ruby Ridge standoff between federal agents and white separatist Randy Weaver.Ammon Bundy Violates Ban by Delivering Signs to Idaho Capitol ProtestThe controversy over Benjamin’s property was first reported by the Kootenai Valley Times and the Bonners Ferry Herald. In an April 14 letter obtained by the Kootenai Valley Times, the man who sold the land to Benjamin warned a county planner that the situation could have an “unpleasant outcome,” saying he had read a Twitter post after the sale about the possibility that Benjamin’s fans would flock to the remote area.“I’m telling you this because I was recently made aware of an unsettling situation with potential unpleasant outcome and want to do everything I can to prevent it,” the land’s previous owner wrote.Benjamin has pitched Ursa Rio as an “Unbearable” haven. His supporters refer to Benjamin as “Big Bear” and often take bear-related aliases of their own, adopting bear handles based on their personalities or what they can contribute to Benjamin’s cause in a style reminiscent of the Care Bears.The roots of the clash over Ursa Rio began last year, when Benjamin began raising funds for “Beartaria,” a then-unspecified place he imagined as a location where Benjamin and his “bears” could lead the simple rural lifestyle Benjamin has advocated for after detonating his entertainment career. Benjamin, who said he wasn’t allowed to have “internet friends” at his actual home, said Beartaria would be a place where he could meet his “internet friends,” with 10 percent of the land set aside for camping as a “refuge.”“I’m not allowed to have internet friends over at my house,” Benjamin said in one video. “But if we get land and yurts—internet friends.”In exchange for a $400 donation, Benjamin said in a June 2020 video, his “Bears” would be entitled to a “two-weeks vacation” on the land. After fundraising to buy a much-larger, better-equipped property for “Beartaria,” fell short, however, Benjamin backed away from his camping offer, pitching “Beartaria” as more of a concept than an actual place and calling himself “an idiot” for offering to exchange the $400 donations for camping rights.“Don’t plan your life around Beartaria at all,” Benjamin cautioned his fans.In an email to The Daily Beast, Benjamin now says many of his donors will never come to the Idaho property, describing it as a place for families “to take their kids fishing and sleep under the stars.”“It is a private residence not commercial and we have no obligation to donors as was indicated on the website,” Benjamin wrote.A group of nine of Benjamin’s neighbors have grown concerned about the prospect of Benjamin’s fans trekking out to the property, which they say is zoned for agricultural or forest uses.In an email to county officials, one neighbor pointed out that the property isn’t serviced by utilities, raising the threat that inexperienced campers could start forest fires in their attempts to have campfires. The property is connected to a narrow, crude road, according to the neighbors, whose meager maintenance amounts to residents adding rocks to it every year.Benjamin’s neighbors have also become alarmed over the possibility of organized military training at the property.“This poses a clear and present danger,” a Vietnam War veteran who lives near Benjamin told the Kootenai Valley Times. “This is a commercial enterprise offering training in weapons and tactics and not a use allowed in this zone. There is no conceivable reason to allow this use. If we wait too long, it will be too late.”Benjamin told The Daily Beast no guns have been fired on the property since he purchased it. But his attempts to downplay the possibility of guns at Ursa Rio have been undermined by his habit of describing grandiose plans for the land in hours-long livestreams several times a week, with the most incendiary statements archived and analyzed by his online detractors.For example, Benjamin has often referenced having a paramilitary force at his property, saying he is “friends with, basically, a paramilitary group” in Idaho.“If you try to squat on my land when I offer you campgrounds, I have my own paramilitary squad,” Benjamin said in one video, warning off “Bears” who might try to live on the land permanently.“I’d have my own private paramilitary force, which is always a good thing,” Benjamin said in another video.Benjamin insists he was just joking about the paramilitary.“I do not have a paramilitary squad,” Benjamin told The Daily Beast in an email. “I was making a joke as a comedian. Unless you consider my goats and chickens a military.”In his videos, Benjamin has also discussed the prospect of guns at “Beartaria.”“Shooting range?” Benjamin said in one video, describing his plans for a bear-themed community in Idaho. “Yes! Will there be a gun range? Yes!”By his own accounts, Benjamin does not come off as an ideal neighbor. In several videos, he relates stories where he berates store employees or fellow customers who asked him to wear a face mask. In one incident, according to Benjamin, he called an elderly man in a post office who asked him to wear a mask a “crusty old hunchback” and accused him of being a pervert, saying that masks are only used by criminals or perverts.After a reporter in the area covered the controversy over Benjamin’s property, the comedian baselessly accused the reporter during a livestream of being a pedophile and mocked him for using a wheelchair.The Boundary County commissioners didn’t respond to a request for comment. Commissioners are talking with other local officials about how to respond to Benjamin’s construction, according to the Kootenai Valley Times.Benjamin purchased the property through real estate broker Todd Savage, who describes himself as a “strategic relocation consultant” assisting conservative city-dwellers relocating to rural areas like the plot Benjamin purchased. In a video on the website for his company, Black Rifle Real Estate, Savage’s business is described as helping people move to places where “where we support our nation and its allies in the fight against radical terrorism, and where the residents proudly support Blue Lives Matter.”Savage told The Daily Beast that he’s seen an uptick in business as conservative urbanites try to move to rural areas. But Savage won’t work with just any buyer—his website warns that “snowflakes” and “Marxists” need not apply.“We only work with people who are libertarian-right, end of story,” Savage told The Daily Beast. “Because we want people who will have the same belief system around us, and that’s OK.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo gets input from supporters of both candidates
A Post Office in Florida’s largest county is inundated with a mail backlog, which could reportedly contain ballots.
The Minority Leader of the Florida House of Representatives, Kionne Mcghee, posted undated footage to his Twitter account on Friday that allegedly showed USPS Inspection Service officials arriving at a Florida Post Office location in Miami-Dade County to look into a massive mail pile-up, which is said to include mail-in ballots.
One local resident told McGhee he or she hadn’t received mail in five days, while a source told McGhee that sorting was expected to go on past Tuesday.
Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, D-Fla., who represents the area said in a statement on Friday said she has contacted relevant authorities.
“I am aware of the concerning situation involving backed-up mail, including election mail, at the Post Office in Princeton,” Mucarsel-Powell said. “Earlier today, I inspected this facility and took immediate action to contact the US Postal Service and the USPS Office of the Inspector General. I have requested an immediate briefing from the Postmaster General. I am working to ensure that mail delays do not impact participation in this election.”
A spokesperson for the Miami-Dade County Elections Departments also told our local Fox affiliate USPS has assured them that “all ballots will be delivered timely.”
The Miami Herald reported that the issue is being looked into, alongside potential remedies to ensure the office is caught up on delivery before Election Day.
According to information from the state, the last day for a Supervisor of Elections is be able to mail out a ballot is 8 days before the election.
The ballot must be returned by 7 p.m. ET on Nov. 3 in order to be counted.
A voter who has requested a ballot may change his or her mind and vote in person.
President Trump defeated Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton by a margin of 1.2% in the 2016 election, though there is speculation that this year’s race could be tighter.
Early indications show that Democrats are turning out in lower rates than expected in Miami-Dade – the largest county in the state.
La Fiscalía del Estado de Veracruz reconoció que el sacerdote José Luis Sánchez Ruíz, escapó de sus secuestradores y posteriormente llegó por su cuenta, en estado de shock y con huellas de tortura, a San Andrés Tuxtla.
“Quien dio el aviso de que el cura ya se encontraba con bien fue la Diócesis de San Andrés” dijo el fiscal General, Luis Ángel Bravo Contreras, quien en compañía del gobernador interino, Flavino Ríos Alvarado, arribaron al municipio de Catemaco, donde el padre fue privado de su libertad el pasado viernes 11 de noviembre de 2016.
No obstante que unos 150 elementos de la Fuerza Civil cercaron las inmediaciones del Palacio Municipal de Catemaco, para lo que sería un informe de las diligencias referentes al plagio del presbítero veracruzano, las autoridades se enterarse por redes sociales que la Diócesis de San Andrés Tuxtla había confirmado la aparición de José Luis Sánchez Ruíz.
“Quien dio el aviso de que el padre ya se encontraba con bien fue la Diócesis. Estamos por entrevistarnos con él. Vamos a esperar, pero el Ministerio Público sí investiga. Tenemos muchos elementos que no puedo darte a conocer porque la secrecía del caso así lo impone”, refirió Bravo Contreras.
Por su parte, una fuente de la Diócesis de San Andrés confirmó que el padre habría escapado de sus agresores durante las primeras horas de este domingo y que sus manos son de las partes más lesionadas a causa de posibles ataduras. Ahora se encuentra resguardado por la propia feligresía, pues los agresores siguen libres.
Alcalde de Catemaco señala a OGAI por el vandalismo
En otro tenor, el alcalde de Catemaco, Jorge González Azamar, aprovechó la visita del gobernador interino para demandar que Wilfrido Reyes Martínez y Luis Sánchez Aguirre, dirigentes de la Organización del Gobierno Autónomo Indígena (OGAI), fueran sujetos a investigación por su presunta responsabilidad en el incendio del Palacio Municipal.
González Azamar confirmó que presentará una denuncia por los hechos, pues al no hacerlo, “se convertiría en omiso”.
Las instalaciones municipales fueron consumidas por el fuego en un 70 por ciento, lo que afectó documentos que pertenecían a los 50 mil habitantes del municipio y que estaban bajo resguardo del Registro Civil, el Ministerio Público, el Catastro y a la Comandancia Municipal.
Estos hechos se registraron a menos de un mes de la presencia del secretario de Gobernación, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, quien aseguró que mediante operativos comandados por la Secretaría de Marina, se combatiría a los grupos que operan en la zona, como Los Zetas, Los Mismos y el Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación.
(Con información de Miguel Ángel León / Al Calor Político
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer claimed in a recent interview that “all” of the Americans who wanted to leave Afghanistan are already out, contradicting statements by the State Department that a small number of U.S. citizens are still trying to flee the Taliban-controlled country.
During an interview with ABC-affiliated WSYR at the New York State Fair on Friday, Schumer, D-N.Y., was asked how President Biden’s widely criticized ending to the U.S. war in Afghanistan might affect Democrats’ chances in the 2022 midterm elections.
“You know, I can’t predict that,” Schumer responded. “I will say there will be a job for congressional oversight. There always is.”
“But at the moment, actually, I’m still focused on trying to get some of those brave Afghans out,” he continued. “The Americans, all of whom wanted to come out have come out, praise God. But there are a lot of Afghans who risked their lives for our soldiers and others. Many got out, some didn’t, and I’m still working on trying to get some of them out.”
Schumer’s comments came several days before Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that U.S. officials in Washington had identified a “relatively” small number of Americans seeking to depart Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport and that the State Department was working with the Taliban to facilitate additional charter flights from Kabul, where the last of the U.S. troops departed on Aug. 30.
Blinken said the United States believes there are “somewhere around 100” American citizens still in Afghanistan who want to leave. The State Department had previously put that estimate at between 100 and 200.
It appeared to be the first time that the Biden administration confirmed there were Americans at the Mazar-i-Sharif airport after several reports that Taliban fighters had blocked Americans aboard six planes from evacuating.
Schumer’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
Fox News’ Edmund DeMarche contributed to this report.
Media captionRockets were seen in the sky above Ashkelon in Israel.
Militants in the Gaza Strip have fired more than 150 rockets into Israel, the army says, prompting air strikes and tank fire on the Palestinian territory.
Sirens went off as people rushed to shelters in southern Israel. Two Israelis were wounded and a Palestinian man was killed in the exchange.
Four Palestinians, including two Hamas militants, were killed on Friday after an attack injured two Israeli soldiers.
The flare-up followed a truce in the run-up to Israeli elections in April.
It marks yet another increase in hostilities despite attempts by Egypt and the United Nations to broker a longer-term ceasefire, says the BBC’s Tom Bateman in Jerusalem.
The rocket barrage hit several homes in parts of Israel bordering the Gaza Strip. Many residents rushed to bomb shelters.
The injured include a man in Ashkelon, 10km (six miles) north of Gaza, and an elderly woman in Kiryat Gat, further east.
The country’s Iron Dome missile-defence system shot down dozens of the rockets, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
Image copyright AFP
Image caption
The rockets have caused damage in southern Israel
In response the IDF launched air and artillery strikes against 30 Gaza sites belonging to Hamas, a militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, and against groups including Islamic Jihad.
Palestinian officials say a 22-year-old man was killed. Reuters news agency quotes a small pro-Hamas militant group as saying he was one of their fighters. Several Gaza residents were wounded.
Islamic Jihad said it had launched the rocket attacks in response to Friday’s violence.
The statement also accused Israel of failing to implement last month’s ceasefire deal, which was brokered by Egypt
How did this wave of violence start?
The violence began during weekly Friday protests in Gaza against Israel’s blockade of the area. Israel says this is needed to stop weapons reaching Gaza.
A Palestinian gunman shot and wounded two Israeli soldiers at the boundary fence.
The Israeli air strike in response killed two Hamas militants. Another two Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire at the fence.
Saturday’s rocket attacks coincided with Palestinians burying the two militants.
Image copyright EPA
Image caption
Israel says it has targeted militant sites in Gaza – this one is in Gaza City
“The resistance will continue to respond to the crimes by the occupation and it will not allow it to shed the blood of our people,” Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said in a statement on Saturday. He made no explicit claim for Hamas firing the rockets.
About two million Palestinians live in Gaza, which has suffered economically from the Israeli blockade as well as recent foreign aid cuts.
President Trump said he’ll raise tariffs Friday on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, ending a truce in the U.S. trade war with Beijing amid negotiations that the president said are moving “too slowly.”
Mr. Trump said on Twitter that U.S. tariffs of 10 percent will be increased to 25 percent on a variety of Chinese imports. He also warned that $325 billion worth of Chinese goods that haven’t been subject to tariffs will be levied at a rate of 25 percent “shortly.”
A team of trade negotiators from China led by Vice Premier Liu He is due in Washington this week to resume the latest round of talks with Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and other U.S. officials. Both sides reported progress during negotiations in Beijing last week, and CNBC had reported that a deal could come by this Friday.
Mr. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in late November to suspend any more tariff increases on both sides as talks continued. The U.S. had begun raising tariffs on Chinese products in 2018 as Mr. Trump complained about Beijing’s unfair trade practices and a rising trade deficit with China.
The Chinese had responded with retaliatory tariffs on a broad range of U.S. goods, including agricultural products.
Mr. Trump said Sunday that partial tariffs on Chinese high-tech products “are partially responsible for our great economic results.”
“The Tariffs paid to the USA have had little impact on product cost, mostly borne by China,” he said. “The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!”
Economists say that tariffs are paid by U.S. importers, not by China, and that the importers pass along most of those increased costs to U.S. consumers.
In February, Mr. Lighthizer told Congress that the U.S. had suspended its plans to raise tariffs to 25 percent as negotiations progressed.
No es para él un honor, sino el sinónimo de una condena.
El sargento Carlos Eduardo Mora ha sido el primero -y hasta hoy el único- miembro de las fuerzas armadas de Colombia que obtuvo a su favor una medida cautelar dictada por la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH).
Él está seguro de que en algún momento lo van a matar (ver video que acompaña a esta nota).
Es un temor compartido por la CIDH, que en octubre de 2013 le solicitó al gobierno de Colombia que ofreciera protección para “preservar la vida y la integridad personal” de Mora y su núcleo familiar.
“Mucha gente lo tomó como la confirmación de que yo era un traidor”, le dijo el militar a BBC Mundo.
¿Qué hizo Mora?
A fines de 2008 se presentó ante la Justicia para dar cuenta de lo que sabía acerca de las ejecuciones extrajudiciales conocidas en el país como “falsos positivos” y todavía sigue colaborando con procesos abiertos a soldados y oficiales.
Para mostrar “resultados”
En esta práctica, soldados y oficiales, presionados por sus superiores para mostrar resultados “positivos” en la lucha contra la guerrilla y la delincuencia, llevaban por la fuerza o citaban en lugares remotos, con promesas falsas -como ofertas de empleo-, a sus víctimas.
Luego las asesinaban y las hacían aparecer como combatientes enemigos, colocándoles armas o vistiéndolas con ropas militares.
Cuando la existencia de los casos de falsos positivos se difundió en 2008, hubo protestas en varias partes del país.
Además de ser usados para demostrar “resultados”, estos falsos positivos les daban a los militares que los ejecutaban ciertos beneficios, como vacaciones.
Hasta el momento hay más de 800 miembros del Ejército condenados por ejecuciones extrajudiciales ocurridas entre 2002 y 2008, los años en los que se concentra el mayor número de casos conocidos de falsos positivos.
Aunque hay algunos excomandantes de batallones y otras unidades presos por estos actos, en su mayoría los condenados son soldados de rangos inferiores.
16 generales investigados
Mora, al igual que otros testigos, está ayudando a la Fiscalía a excavar hacia arriba esa sólida montaña que es la estructura militar colombiana, a la que la Justicia puede acceder desde la base, pero cuyas partes más altas se le hacen más difíciles de alcanzar.
De esa aparente impenetrabilidad da cuenta un informe presentado este miércoles por la organización internacional Human Rights Watch (HRW), en el que expone por qué considera que hubo responsabilidad por parte de generales y coroneles en los casos de falsos positivos y cuáles parecen ser los impedimentos para que sean llevados ante la Justicia.
El reporte señala que en Colombia hay investigaciones abiertas contra 16 generales del Ejército activos y retirados, pero ninguno ha sido acusado formalmente.
“Los falsos positivos representan uno de los episodios más nefastos de atrocidades masivas en el hemisferio occidental de los últimos años, y hay cada vez más evidencias de que altos oficiales del Ejército serían responsables de estos hechos atroces”, indicó José Miguel Vivanco, director ejecutivo de la división de las Américas de Human Rights Watch.
HRW asegura que comandantes de las brigadas y unidades tácticas responsables de gran cantidad de ejecuciones al menos sabían o deberían haber sabido sobre estos delitos.
“Human Rights Watch examinó transcripciones o grabaciones de testimonios prestados a la Fiscalía”, dice el informe, “en los cuales se acusa de manera directa a varios militares que eran entonces comandantes de división, al entonces jefe del Comando Conjunto del Caribe, General (r) González Peña, y al entonces comandante del Ejército Nacional, el General (r) Mario Montoya, de haber tenido conocimiento de falsos positivos, o de haberlos planificado o intentado facilitar su comisión, mientras ocuparon estos cargos”.
Eso los haría, según la organización, penalmente imputables.
La responsabilidad puede llegar aún más lejos.
En un reporte interino sobre Colombia, de 2012, la Corte Penal Internacional (CPI) asegura que “existen bases razonables para creer que (los falsos positivos) fueron cometidos en virtud de una política adoptada al menos a nivel de ciertas brigadas dentro de las fuerzas armadas”.
De acuerdo con la CPI podría incluso considerarse una política de estado, ya que las mismas, de acuerdo con el organismo, no necesariamente deben ser concebidas al más alto nivel de la maquinaria estatal.
Brigada Móvil 15
HRW analizó 11 brigadas, algunos de cuyos comandantes luego ascendieron en la cadena de mando militar.
“Sus posiciones jerárquicas en el momento de los delitos incluían las de comandantes de batallones, brigadas y divisiones, así como un comandante del Ejército Nacional”, indica el reporte.
Una de las unidades analizadas por HRW era la Brigada Móvil 15, que operaba en el departamento de Norte de Santander, bajo la 2ª división del Ejército, a la que el sargento Carlos Eduardo Mora llegó desde su fundación, en 2006.
La Unidad de Derechos Humanos de la Fiscalía está investigando 38 ejecuciones extrajudiciales presuntamente cometidas entre 2006 y 2008 por esa brigada, según HRW.
Mora ha sido clave en las investigaciones que se realizaron y realizan sobre lo ocurrido allí.
En 2007, el entonces cabo formaba parte del área de inteligencia de esa unidad.
Le contó a BBC Mundo que al empezar a notar actividades sospechosas intentó, sin éxito, levantar la voz de alarma con algunos de sus superiores.
Fue amenazado y terminó siendo trasladado a Bogotá.
Antes de partir, asegura que los coroneles le dijeron: “Si llega a contar lo que pasó y lo que vivió acá en Ocaña y lo que usted sabe, le matamos a su familia”.
Soacha
Ya en la capital, una noticia lo llevó a volver a intentar contar lo que sabía.
En octubre de 2008 se hallaron en Ocaña, Norte de Santander, 17 cuerpos vestidos con ropas militares.
Eran muchachos de bajos recursos que vivían en la municipalidad de Soacha, vecina de Bogotá, a los que les habían ofrecido empleos cerca de la frontera con Venezuela.
Las víctimas de falsos positivos pertenecían generalmente a sectores de bajos recursos.
Al llegar allí, miembros de la Brigada Móvil 15 los mataron.
Ante esos hechos, el gobierno pasó a retiro a tres generales del Ejército y a los coroneles Rubén Darío Castro, entonces comandante de la brigada, Jesús Rincón Amado, jefe de operaciones de la brigada, y Santiago Herrera Fajardo, quien estaba en ese momento trabajando con el general Mario Montoya Uribe, comandante del Ejército Nacional.
En total el gobierno retiró del servicio a 27 miembros del ejército.
El general Montoya renunció.
Condenas e investigaciones
A finales de 2008, el sargento Mora llegó hasta la oficina del entonces director de inteligencia del Ejército, el general Ricardo Hernando Díaz Torres.
Según Mora, tras contarle lo que sabía, Díaz Torres se comunicó con el comandante de las fuerzas militares y luego llamaron al ministro de Defensa, que en ese entonces era el actual presidente Juan Manuel Santos.
Le dieron la orden de ir a radicar la denuncia al día siguiente a la Fiscalía ya la Procuraduría, dice el sargento.
La evidencia que brindó hasta ahora permitió a los fiscales conseguir las condenas de un teniente coronel y varios otros oficiales y soldados.
La Brigada Móvil 15, en la que se desempeñaba Mora, fue cerrada a comienzos de 2009.
De los oficiales que operaban en esa unidad, Santiago Herrera Fajardo está procesado; y Jesús Rincón Amado fue condenado en marzo de 2014 a 35 años de cárcel por el homicidio en abril de 2007 de un un motociclista, quien fue presentado como baja en combate.
Este martes, la Fiscalía anunció que citó a declarar al excomandante del Ejército Nacional, Mario Montoya Uribe, junto a otros tres generales, en el marco de investigaciones por falsos positivos.
Montoya Uribe había estado al mando de la Brigada 4 entre fines de 2001 y fines de 2003, período en el que según HRW, “al menos 44 presuntas ejecuciones extrajudiciales (fueron) perpetradas por soldados (de esa unidad)”.
Según la información que HRW obtuvo de la Fiscalía de Colombia, se están también investigando por presuntas ejecuciones extrajudiciales las brigadas dirigidas por el general retirado Óscar González Peña, y los generales en activo Juan Pablo Rodríguez Barragán (hoy es comandante general de las fuerzas militares) y Jaime Lasprilla Villamizar (actual comandante del Ejército).
Respaldo del presidente Santos
Sobre el señalamiento a Rodríguez Barragán y Lasprilla Villamizar, el presidente Juan Manuel Santos dijo este miércoles en un acto ante las Fuerzas Armadas que estos le “mostraron las respuestas de la Fiscalía y la Procuraduría (…) no hay una sola investigación en contra de estos altos oficiales”.
“Que se castigue al culpable, pero que no nos vengan a manchar la institución”, dijo Santos.
“Entonces que no vengan a señalarlos y a causarles un daño enorme sin ninguna justificación, sin ninguna documentación”, agregó.
BBC Mundo tuvo acceso a documentos de la Fiscalía que aseguran que esos dos generales no tienen condenas, antecedentes, ni órdenes de captura, pero no dicen nada respecto a la inexistencia de investigaciones (eso no quita que haya otros documentos que así lo demuestren, pero BBC Mundo no los conoce).
Santos también dijo: “Si hay ejemplos, como hay en cualquier institución, que hayan cometido errores, son las propias fuerzas las más interesadas en que se haga justicia”.
“Que se castigue al culpable, pero que no nos vengan a manchar la institución”.
Amenazas
Desde el momento en que empezó a colaborar con la Justicia, Mora dice que comenzó a recibir nuevas amenazas e intimidaciones.
Según HRW, las amenazas y ataques a testigos constituyen uno de varios obstáculos a los que se enfrentan las investigaciones de falsos positivos.
El director de Derechos Humanos del ministerio de Defensa, teniente coronel Carlos Javier Soler Parra, le dijo a BBC Mundo que en respuesta a esta situación hace dos años se estableció un esquema de protección para militares que actúan como testigos en estos casos.
“Estamos respondiendo por su vida y estamos dando todas las garantías de protección para que puedan seguir aportando al tema”.
____________________
Otros testigos afectados
Los tres primeros casos aparecen en el reporte de HRW, el último fue referido a BBC Mundo por el sargento Mora y ha sido registrado por medios colombianos.
Nixon de Jesús Cárcamo
El 27 de octubre de 2014 Nixon de Jesús Cárcamo apareció muerto en el centro de detención del Ejército de la 11ª Brigada de Montería, departamento de Córdoba, donde estaba detenido por cargos de falsos positivos y por los que daba testimonio sobre el supuesto rol de oficiales y soldados en ejecuciones extrajudiciales.
Once días antes de su muerte le había dicho a los fiscales que temía por su vida, que había rumores en el centro de detención de que peligraba su vida por cooperarar con la justicia. Dijo que si algo le pasaba hacía responsables a quienes estaba acusando.
Esposa de testigo violada
“Hay evidencias serias” de que en 2013, hombre no identificaron violaron a la mujer de un soldado, en represalia por el testimonio del soldado en contra de un coronel del ejército, dice HRW. Ella contó que durante la violación los asaltantes la llamaban la esposa del “sapo”.
Ataque en Soacha
El 12 de agosto de 2012, en Soacha, mataron a tiros a Jhon Fredy Garcés, un testigo que había dado testimonio a los fiscales sobre un caso de falso positivo en una unidad militar en la que sirvió como guía civil.
Alexander Rodríguez
A finales de 2007 Alexander Rodríguez, también, como Mora, de la Brigada Móvil 15 de Norte de Santander, denunció lo que creía eran falsos positivos.
“Lo echaron como un perro”, dijo Mora.
Luego fue detenido, acusado de un supuesto delito de extorsión. ____________________
Otro es la falta de cooperación por parte de los organismos castrenses.
En una nota escrita, el Ejército le dijo a BBC Mundo que ha “dispuesto unos equipos de trabajo que tienen como objetivo brindar el apoyo en cada uno de los requerimientos que (la Fiscalía General de la Nación y la Procuraduría General de la Nación realicen sobre) información relacionada con el personal militar vinculado a las investigaciones y con ello agilizar las mismas”.
“Somos los primeros interesados en que se aclaren los hechos y se asuman las responsabilidades individuales por los mismos”, agrega el texto.
Sin embargo, HRW señala que “los fiscales a cargo de casos de falsos positivos indican que, con frecuencia, miembros del Ejército interponen obstáculos al acceso a archivos que son cruciales para sus investigaciones”.
Por otra parte, la organización cuestiona el hecho de que haya casos de ejecuciones extrajudiciales bajo la jurisdicción de la Justicia Militar Penal, que “tradicionalmente (…) ha garantizado la impunidad para estos delitos, y hasta hoy carece de independencia y credibilidad”.
El sargento Mora ya no ejerce las tareas de inteligencia para las que fue formado.
Y el organismo cree que dentro mismo de la Fiscalía se han dado problemas de organización y distribución del trabajo que han ralentizado las investigaciones.
Aun con esas limitaciones, la Fiscalía continúa investigando al menos 3.700 ejecuciones extrajudiciales ocurridas en la órbita de más de 180 batallones y otras unidades tácticas, según HRW.
El director de Derechos Humanos del ministerio de Defensa, teniente coronel Carlos Javier Soler Parra, le dijo a BBC Mundo que se ha sentenciado a algunos militares de forma injusta.
Dijo que a su entender hay al menos cuatro casos de suboficiales o soldados -no de oficiales- condenados indebidamente por falsos positivos.
Unidad administrativa
El sargento Mora continúa colaborando con la Fiscalía en procesos de falsos positivos.
Ya no ejerce las tareas de inteligencia para las que fue formado.
Se encuentra ahora trabajando en una unidad administrativa en Bogotá.
Y aguarda con certeza y un cierto estoicismo no falto de temor el momento en que sus enemigos finalmente den con él.
_____________
Nota: La versión original de este artículo no incluía las declaraciones de Juan Manuel Santos, que fueron incorporadas tan pronto como se dieron a conocer.
Sean Hannity describes the protests as ‘peaceful Canadians’ who just want life to ‘return to normal.’
Sean Hannity predicted the truckers in Canada’s “Freedom Convoy” will “win in the end” during Friday’s opening monologue.
“The cowardly Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, along with government officials in Ontario … they’re now threatening these peaceful protesters,” Hannity said. “You know, the guys that were the heroes of the pandemic … with a massive $100,000 fines, one-year prison time — they want to seize their trucks and their licenses and pretty much destroy their lives.”
He noted the protests were “picking up steam,” with a similar convoy possibly coming to the United States.
“Needless to say, Joe Biden’s not happy,” Hannity said.
“Keep in mind, this is the same Joe Biden that … refuses to secure our southern border,” Hannity said. “But Joe has a very different opinion on the northern border.”
Hannity noted that a court in Canada is attempting to freeze over $8 million in donations to the “Freedom Convoy,” though crowdfunding site GiveSendGo doesn’t “take orders from Canada,” and is “vowing to get those funds to the truckers” one way or another.
Despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other leftists “vilifying these truckers and calling them racist,” Hannity said the protesters come from varying backgrounds, and all have the same goal.
The “Freedom Convoy” protest (Fox News Digital/Lisa Bennatan)
“No more mandates, no more lockdowns, no more COVID-19 restrictions — they want life to return to normal for every man, woman and child,” Hannity said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested Friday that Yujing Zhang, the woman who breached security at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Florida club, may have been a Chinese spy.
Pompeo said on “CBS This Morning” that there was an active investigation into the incident where 32-year-old Zhang was arrested.
“I think this tells the American people the threat that China poses, the efforts they’re making inside the United States, not only against government officials but more broadly,” Pompeo said.
Zhang’s arrest has surfaced broader security concerns across several law enforcement agencies, as she has reportedly been charged by federal prosecutors and is under investigation by the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division in South Florida for possible ties to Chinese intelligence services, according to the Miami Herald.
Upon her arrest, agents discovered she was carrying a laptop, a hard drive, and a thumb drive containing “malicious malware” and spoke better English than she had initially presented to security.
The private property presents a unique security challenge to federal agents, as Trump has previously hosted official visits on the property, in close proximity to resort guests.
The Secret Service said in a statement after Zhang’s arrest that it “does not determine who is invited or welcome at Mar-a-Lago; this is the responsibility of the host entity. The Mar-a-Lago club management determines which members and guests are granted access to the property.”
When reports of a shooter spread on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte on Tuesday, the university’s emergency officials blasted out a stark, but increasingly familiar message: “Run, hide, fight.”
Some students reported doing just that. One student, in a study hall at a library, said she and others barricaded the door with a table and stayed quiet, waiting for police. Another hid in a men’s restroom, and a student who was in the classroom where the shooting broke out followed others who fled.
Student Riley Howell, without the option of running or hiding, confronted the suspected gunman, Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, and “took the assailant off his feet,” the Charlotte police chief said. That act saved lives, the chief said, but Howell was killed. In total, two people were killed and four others were wounded in the attack and police have yet to release a motive for the shooting.
The guidance to respond to active shooter situations by fleeing, hiding, or in a last resort taking action against a gunman began being used after the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech, in which a gunman killed 32 people before killing himself, and it has become standard advice, experts said.
In 2012, the city of Houston released a training video titled “Run. Hide. Fight.” funded through a Department of Homeland Security grant and that has been adopted by it and other federal agencies.
“It’s simple, it’s easy to repeat, it resonates,” said Randy Burba, chief of public safety at Chapman University in Orange, California, and past president of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. He likened it to the instructions given on airplanes about what to do if there is a loss of cabin pressure and the oxygen masks drop.
“We don’t want you to walk around worrying about a shooting,” Burba said. “… But if it happens, a little bit of training and muscle memory is useful.”
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said Wednesday that Howell, a 21-year-old environmental studies major, was a hero who “did exactly what we train people to do” and that he “took the assailant off his feet.”
“You’re either going to run, you’re going to hide and shield, or you’re going to take the fight to the assailant,” Putney said at a news conference. “Having no place to run and hide, he did the last. But for his work, the assailant may not have been disarmed. Unfortunately, he gave his life in the process, but his sacrifice saved lives.”
Fighting an assailant is a last resort, Burba said. People in active shooter situations are urged to run from the danger but if they are unable to do that, they are told to hide. That can involve locking the door to rooms, turning off the lights to make it appear as though no one is inside, and using furniture to barricade doors, he said.
Even if the door opens out, stacking furniture can create impediments to a shooter. “Even if they get the door open, now they’ve got all these obstacles,” Burba said.
The UNC Charlotte campus went on lockdown during the shooting, and students studying in the library described hearing an announcement on the intercom and people coming into the building yelling about a shooter.
One student who was in a library study room told NBC affiliate WCNC of Charlotte on Tuesday that they barricaded themselves in the room by putting a table against the door.
Eventually, a police officer entered the library and told students inside to leave “and we all grabbed our stuff and ran out,” she said.
Another student, Jordan Pearce, 19, was also in the library and grabbed another girl, and the two hid in a men’s restroom until police arrived and escorted them out.
Students lay candles and flowers at the steps of Kennedy Hall to honor the victims of a shooting the day earlier on the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina on May 1, 2019.Logan Cyrus / AFP – Getty Images
Some students as young as Pearce are not strangers to active shooter training; they grew up participating in active shooter drills. She said Wednesday that she had training in high school, and UNC Charlotte had also talked to students about it, telling them to run, hide or fight and to stay away from windows.
But she said her reaction “was also a gut instinct.”
Randy Spivey, founder of the Center for Personal Protection and Safety, which licenses training videos to schools, including the UNC system, said the instruction is designed to make people aware of their options.
The company produced the video “Shots Fired, When Lightning Strikes” in 2007 after the Virginia Tech shooting which uses the terms “get out, hide out, take out.” That video was used as a reference by the DHS in the active shooter guidance it published in 2008.
“What we don’t want is them to be frozen in fear with no options because they have no training,” he said.
“Before first responders arrive, those students or your children are immediate responders, and they are in what we call that extreme danger gap,” before police or other law enforcement arrive, Spivey said. “Many times, it’s what they do between the 2, 5, 10-minute window that determines the outcome.”
People also need to learn the “red flags” that can offer clues that someone could become violent against others or themselves, Spivey said.
He said that training in recognizing signs of behavior that can precede violence is especially needed in K-12 schools, and his company has produced a video it will make available to schools free of charge.
“It’s not just school shooters, but also some of those same indicators that someone is progressing towards violence, they’re also for suicide,” Spivey said.
Students pray together during a vigil at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte in Charlotte, N.C., on May 1, 2019.Chuck Burton / AP
Ken Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, which deals with school security and training for pre-K-12 schools only, says that anecdotally there has been an increase in some of those districts adopting “run, hide, fight” or other options-based training, but “the vast majority in our experience are still not doing that.”
“You’re looking at asking kids to make life-and-death decisions and they’re not emotionally, behaviorally and mentally developed to do that,” he said, adding “we know the traditional lockdowns work.”
The non-profit group Safe Havens International has studied options-based active shooter training in K-12 schools and in simulations at a southwestern U.S. school district, staff members who completed a five-hour training program based on “Run. Hide. Fight.” were more likely to opt for force in a scenario involving a student with a handgun to his head.
In one out of four incidents, staff members who had the options-based training would opt to throw objects at or attack that student, and staff members who had not received formal training would begin talking to the student and encouraging him to put the gun down, the group’s CEO wrote in a January 2018 article in the trade magazine Security Management.
“Colleges and higher ed have a lot more applicability in that concept [run, hide or fight] because there may be fewer areas accessible to lockdowns,” and more open areas, Chris Dorn, senior analyst for the group, said Thursday.
Terrell was arrested and is charged with two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder for the UNC Charlotte shooting. Officials told WCNC that Terrell was a history major at the school but had dropped out this semester.
A motive for the shooting, which occurred on the last day of classes, has not been released by police. A police report says that investigators do not believe Terrell knew the people killed in the attack.
In addition to Howell, student Ellis Parlier, 19, was also killed in the shooting. Four other students were wounded, but all are expected to survive, UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip Dubois said.
The university issues the “run, hide, fight” guidance on its police website, and sent out alerts as the situation was unfolding for people to do just that.
Tristan Field, 19, who was inside the classroom when the gunman opened fire and followed a professor and others who fled, said in a message Wednesday over Twitter that they did what came naturally.
“We all just did what came naturally which was to run,” Field said. “I just followed others. We didn’t have a plan.”
El techo de crédito para obtener una vivienda propia a través del banco del Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social (Biess) se incrementó de 150 mil dólares a 200 mil dólares.
El anuncio lo hizo hace pocos días el presidente del Consejo Directivo del IESS, Richard Espinosa.
Se estima que más de 20 mil personas a nivel nacional puedan acceder a un préstamo hipotecario con este nuevo monto, según Espinosa.
“Ayudar a construir un hogar para las familias de nuestros afiliados es una de las tareas fundamentales del Biess, y en ese esfuerzo conjunto estamos empeñados”, dijo. Añadió que este incremento se lo hace porque “las aportaciones y el trabajo de los afiliados deben rendir los mejores frutos posibles”.
El Biess espera que el incremento contribuya a la dinamización del mercado inmobiliario mediante el fortalecimiento de la cadena productiva del sector de la construcción y la generación de nuevas plazas de trabajo.
Más de 11 mil créditos
Desde su creación, el Banco del Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social ha entregado un total de 167.000 créditos para vivienda. En lo que va de este año ha desembolsado 11.282 préstamos hipotecarios. (I)
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Divers found the white Nissan Pathfinder that was involved in a mass shooting on Sunday morning was submerged in a canal in Miami-Dade County.
Detectives said on Monday that they had found the vehicle was in a canal in the area of 154th Street and Northwest Second Avenue. It had been reported stolen on May 15, police said.
Surveillance video shows a trio jumped out of the stolen vehicle to turn a rapper’s celebration early Sunday morning into a bloody rampage — killing two men and injuring 21 people.
Law enforcement officials work the scene of a shooting outside a banquet hall, Sunday, in Miami-Dade County. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
The organizers of the event at El Mula Banquet Hall, at 7630 NW 186 St., advertised it as a party for Courtney Paul Wilson, 24, better known as rapper ABMG Spitta, and the release of his new album “Round of Applause: Book of Spitta, Vol. 1.”
The shooting victims were 17 to 32 years old. Five of them were women ages 20, 23, 26, and 31. The majority of them were men.
Law enforcement officials work the scene of a shooting outside a banquet hall, Sunday, in Miami-Dade County. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
According to the Miami-Dade Police Department, 17 victims, including the five women, remained at Jackson Memorial Hospital. The hospital listed three of them, a 31-year-old woman and two men ages 21 and 25, in critical condition, police said on Monday morning.
Miami-Dade detectives are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
There is a $130,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. Marcus Lemonis contributed $100,000; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives contributed $25,000; and Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers contributed $5,000.
There was a school of thought that said former Vice President Joe Biden would begin to sink in the polls the moment he announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. Biden’s first day in the race, the thinking went, would be his best day.
In fact, the opposite has happened. Since formally becoming a candidate on April 25, Biden has shot up in the polls. On announcement day, Biden held a 6.3-point lead over second-place Sen. Bernie Sanders in the RealClearPolitics average of polls. Today, that lead is 23.5 points. That is a big change.
Polls do not tell us who will win an election months from now. But they do tell us what is happening at this moment. And at this moment, Democratic voters, who are sometimes said to be moving left and itching to transform the United States with a “Green New Deal,” “Medicare for All,” and through-the-roof taxes on the rich, are in fact responding to a decidedly more centrist appeal.
That appeal, from Biden, is a promise not to fundamentally remake American society but to restore things to the way they used to be. And “the way they used to be” means before President Trump.
Obviously, Democratic voters want to replace a Republican president with a Democratic president. But they are especially dismayed by Trump — and some, driven by increasingly strident news coverage, seem to have gone nearly ’round the bend about him.
But for some center-left Democrats, the solution to the Trump Problem — that is, the fact that Trump is president — might not be the “Green New Deal” or “Medicare for All.” It is to restore the pre-2017 order in American politics. And Biden, Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017, is the physical embodiment of that old order.
That is what Biden promises. Nearly every day, he repeats some version of his core campaign pledge: “I want to restore the soul of this country.”
Biden’s unexpected choice of Charlottesville, Va., as the theme of his announcement was a way of saying that something has gone terribly wrong in the U.S. and that he wants to return to the pre-Trump past. Addressing a real or imagined moral crisis is one way for an opposition candidate to run against an incumbent president whose term has brought solid economic growth, low unemployment, and higher wages.
How long will Biden’s lead last? Who knows? There is simply no telling how the Democratic race will play out. In the last two Republican nomination contests, we saw one race, in 2012, in which several candidates alternated holding the lead before Mitt Romney finally won. In the other, in 2016, we saw Trump lead a big field virtually the entire time. Now, with an even bigger Democratic field, the race dynamics are not yet clear.
Plus, for Biden specifically, there will always be the issue of age. Biden will be 78 years old on inauguration day 2021. That is the same age Trump would be upon leaving office, should he serve eight years. But Biden would be just beginning his presidency nearing the age of 80. That is totally uncharted territory in U.S. history. (By the way, one other candidate, Sanders, is even older.)
Even if Democrats want to restore the old order, they might decide a younger candidate should do the job.
They might also want a candidate without Biden’s record of fizzling out in presidential campaigns. In his first run for president, in 1988, Biden withdrew amid a plagiarism scandal before any votes were cast. In his second run, in 2008, he quit after finishing fifth in the Iowa caucuses. So, he has run twice and never even made it to the New Hampshire primary.
Now, though, Biden stands ahead of the field. Democrats know how old he is, they know he has lost in the past, and they still like him.
There’s a truism that elections are always about the future, not the past. That’s often the case. But what if it isn’t this time? A lot of political truisms did not hold up in the 2016 election, which was won by a man with another promise of restoration, to “Make America Great Again.”
Now, many Democrats seem happy to support a candidate who pledges to take them back a few years. Again, that could change, but for the moment, it shows how many Democrats yearn to return to a time before Trump.
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