World news in brief
Cuban doctors return after program ends with Brazil
The first wave of Cuban doctors returned home to Havana last night from Brazil after disagreements between the two states on the terms and conditions of their deployment. Cuban president Miguel DiazCanel greeted a flight carrying 211 doctors who had worked in the South American country in exchange for hundreds of millions in hard currency given to the government. Cuba recalled the doctors after rejecting conditions imposed by Brazilian president-elect Jair Bolsonaro.
Some 40 flights are expected to bring back more than 8,000 Cuban doctors in next few days. Overall, roughly 20,000 doctors tended to nearly 113 million patients as part of the “More Doctors” program that began five years ago under leftist Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff.
The Cubans practiced mostly in poor and remote areas of Brazil where Brazilian doctors do not want to work. The government is now scrambling to replace them. “I will be happy to see my children but sad to
leave people without medical care,” said Lume Rodriguez, a general practitioner who spent two years in the interior of Bahia state. “Our patients came to hug us goodbye,” said Rafael Sosa, 32, from Granma province in eastern Cuba. “I visited many patients here who had never had a doctor in their home.”
Cuba has a respected health service and generates major export earnings by sending more than 50,000 health workers to more than 60 countries. AP and Reuters
Bolsonaro appoints philosopher as education minister
Brazilian president-elect Jair Bolsonaro has appointed a philosopher to serve as education minister in his government. The selection of Ricardo Velez Rodriguez was announced after evangelical lawmakers openly criticised a more moderate name being considered for the job. Mr Rodriguez previously taught in military academies and currently teaches at the Federal Unviersity of Ouro Preto. He has written more than 30 books. The far-right Mr Bolsonaro is a former army captain.
Mr Rodriguez said in a statement that he will fight against what he calls a “leftist” approach to education in Brazil. Mr Bolsonaro has previously said that he would like to champion a bill against “Marxist indoctrination” and gender-biased teachings at public schools. Many education specialists say such an initiative would roll back freedom of expression. AP
Spanish court allows extradition of ex-Chavez bodyguard
Spain’s National Court yesterday agreed to extradite to Venezuela a former bodyguard of the country’s late leader Hugo Chavez. The court ruled that Adrian Velasquez Figueroa can go home to face charges of corruption and money-laundering. The court had previously ruled that his wife, Claudia Diaz, a one-time Chavez nurse, should also be extradited on the same charges.
Mr Figueroa’s lawyer argued, among other things, that his client should not be sent home because Venezuela doesn’t respect human rights. But the National Court said in its written ruling that political persecution in Venezuela is directed at opponents of Nicolas Maduros’ regime, not at those who belonged to Chavez’s government. Defense lawyers for Figueroa and Diaz have said they will lodge appeals. AP
Million Chinese ‘move uninvited into Muslim homes’
Uninvited, more than one million Han Chinese people have reportedly moved into the homes of Uighur Muslim families to report on whether they display Islamic or unpatriotic beliefs. Sent to homes in Xinjiang province by the Chinese government, American anthropologist Darren Byler said they were tasked with watching for signs that their hosts’ attachment to Islam might be “extreme”.
The informants, who describe themselves as “relatives” of the families they are staying with, are said to have received specific instructions on how to get them to let their guard down. As devout Muslims would refuse cigarettes and alcohol. this is seen as one way of finding out whether they were extreme.
“Had a Uighur host just greeted a neighbour in Arabic with the words ‘Assalamu Alaykum’? That would need to go in the notebook,” said Dr Byler, in research published by Asia Society’s Centre on US-China Relations. “Was that a copy of the Quran in the home? Was anyone praying on Friday or fasting during Ramadan? Was a little sister’s dress too long or a little brother’s beard irregular?” As many as a million Uighurs are thought to have been rounded up and placed in “re-education’ centres”, in what China claims is a clampdown on religious extremism.
South Korea: slaves on salt farm to get compensation
The South Korean government must pay 80 million won (£55,000) to three men who were enslaved on salt farms in remote islands off the country’s southwest coast for several years, a court ruled yesterday. Seoul High Court said the government was responsible for their ordeals because local officials and police failed to properly monitor their living and working conditions. The court said the government should pay 30 million won (£20,600) each to two of the men and 20 million won (£13,800) to the third plaintiff.
More than 60 slaves, most of them with intellectual disabilities, were rescued from the islands following an investigation led by mainland police in 2014. Dozens of farm owners and job brokers were indicted, but no police or officials were punished despite allegations some knew about the slavery. Lawsuits against the government in human rights cases are rarely successful in South Korea because the burden of proof in noncriminal cases is entirely on the plaintiffs, who often lack information or resources.
Man charged over 36,000 Nazi concentration camp deaths
A 95-year-old man was charged yesterday with more than 36,000 counts of accessory to murder for his role as a Nazi concentration camp guard by prosecutors in Germany. The historical offences allegedly took place at the Mauthausen camp in Austria towards the end of the Second World War between the summer of 1944 and spring of 1945, according to the Berlin public prosecutor’s office. The man – identified only as Hans H – is alleged to have been part of a SS unit at the death camp.
The prosecutor’s office said the suspect was “aware of all the killing methods as well as the disastrous living conditions of the incarcerated people at the camp”. The statement also accused Hans H. of providing “support or at least help [to] make easier the many thousands of deaths carried out by the main perpetrator”. At least 36,223 people were killed at the Mauthausen camp during the period in question.