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Ecuadorans likely reject allowing extradition in
referendum
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Haitian PM installs transition council to prep for
elections
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Illegal miners in Brazil seek state help to leave Yanomami
Feb 6 (Reuters) - The latest in Latin American politics today:
China says sorry for balloon over Costa Rican airspace
SAN JOSE - China apologized to Costa Rica for a balloon that
flew over its territory, Costa Rica's government said, after a
separate suspected Chinese spy balloon traveling over the United
States sparked a major political and diplomatic spat.
According to Costa Rica's foreign ministry, the Chinese
government recognized that one of its balloons flew over Costa
Rica, and China's Embassy in San Jose "apologized for the
incident," while insisting the balloon was focused on scientific
research, mainly weather studies.
Voters in Ecuador appear to vote down allowing extradition
QUITO - Ecuadorans likely rejected a government-backed
referendum to allow extraditions for drug crimes and other
charges, preliminary results showed, while voters in the
country's two largest cities backed mayoral candidates from
leftist former President Rafael Correa's political movement.
The results reinforced a difficult scenario for conservative
President Guillermo Lasso, who has struggled to contain rising
insecurity, protests by indigenous groups that have hurt the
economy, and widespread violence in prisons.
Haitian PM installs council to prepare for long-delayed vote
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry
installed a transition council whose job will be to prepare for
long-overdue elections in the Caribbean country, amid a
humanitarian crisis driven in part by violence from armed gangs.
The transition council is expected to develop a road map for
the next elections and choose members of a provisional electoral
council. Haiti has been without elected representatives since
early January, and last held presidential elections in 2016.
Days ahead of a visit from the U.N. High Commissioner for
Human Rights, Henry said the council unanimously backed his
request for an international force to help police restore order.
Miners in Brazil's Yanomami reservation seek help to leave
BRASILIA - Illegal gold miners blamed for causing a
humanitarian crisis on Brazil's largest indigenous reservation
are asking authorities to help them leave, one of their leaders
and a Brazilian senator said.
Aware of an imminent military enforcement operation to evict
them, Jailson Mesquita, head of the Wildcat Mining Is Legal
movement, called on the government to airlift miners from
Yanomami territory or lift a no-fly zone to allow them to fly
out on small planes from clandestine airstrips inside the
reservation where mining is banned under Brazil's constitution.
More than 20,000 miners have occupied the reservation,
bringing disease, sexual abuse and armed violence that has
terrified many Yanomami, and led to malnutrition and some
deaths.
(Compiled by Steven Grattan and Sarah Morland; Editing by
Leslie Adler)
