by the El Reportero’s news services
Hugo ChávezVenezuelans on Wednesday are mourning President Hugo Chávez, who died after a two-year battle with cancer, while government officials make preparations for his funeral and succession.
The armed forces fired a 21-gun salute to Chávez at 8:00 a.m. and announced that a cannon would be fired once an hour until the late president was buried on Friday.
The order for the continuous salute was given by Defense Minister Adm. Diego Molero, armed forces strategic command chief Gen. Wilmer Barrientos said.
“This is one of the top honors for a head of state,” the general told VTV.
The 58-year-old Chávez died on Tuesday after battling cancer for nearly two years.
Chávez’s death was announced by a tearful Vice President Nicolás Maduro, who will serve as interim president.
Elections will be held within 30 days and Maduro is expected to be the candidate of the governing Venezuelan United Socialist Party.
The Venezuelan leader’s death made headlines around the world and his funeral is expected to be attended by several world leaders.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, Uruguayan President Jose Mujica and Bolivian President Evo Morales have already arrived in Caracas, while other leaders are expected to arrive on Thursday, Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said Wednesday. Chávez had undergone four operations, as well as courses of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, since first being diagnosed with cancer in June 2011.
The socialist president spent more than two months in Cuba due to complications that followed his Dec. 11 cancer surgery in Havana.
Government officials make preparations for his funeral and succession.
The armed forces fired a 21-gun salute to Chavez at 8:00 a.m. and announced that a cannon would be fired once an hour until the late president was buried on Friday.
Latin America vows to protect sharks and fight Asian interests
Latin America adopted a nearly unanimous position Wednesday at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, meeting in Bangkok to protect sharks, putting its weight behind a proposal that the Asian bloc considers unacceptable. Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Honduras took the lead in advancing the shark-protection position, which is backed by the European Union and the United States.
Advocates of shark protection want to regulate captures and the trade in whitetip reef sharks, hammerhead sharks, sardine sharks and stingrays.
The proposals won the near unanimous support of the regional bloc formed by South America, Central America and the Caribbean at a previous CITES meeting.
The Latin American bloc wants sharks included in Appendix 2 of CITES, which regulates captures, to avoid endangering the animals’ populations.
Mexican priest activist criticizes police focus on migrants
The Rev. Alejandro Solalinde, who is known for his work with Central American migrants, said during a conference in Mexico City that he was concerned about the government’s increasing emphasis on policing in its immigration policy.
Officials have been turning the National Migration Institute, or INM, into more of a police agency, Solalinde said at the Universidad Iberoamericana.
The Catholic priest, who founded the Hermanos del Camino shelter in the southern state of Oaxaca, was forced to leave Mexico for a short time last year after receiving threats.
“Sometimes there are few migrants and up to 80 armed (Federal Police) officers, who get involved in everything” at the INM station in Acayucan, Veracruz, the priest said.
(Hispanically Speaking News contributed to this report).
