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WORLD NEWS Thursday 17 February 2022
Brazil mudslides from torrential rains kill at least 58

By DIARLEI RODRIGUES and slowly.
DAVID BILLER Gov. Claudio Castro told
Associated Press reporters on Wednesday
PETROPOLIS, Brazil (AP) — that the situation “was al-
The death toll from dev- most like war” and that he
astating mudslides and was mustering all the state
floods that swept through government’s heavy ma-
a mountainous region of chinery to help dig out the
Rio de Janeiro state has buried area. The state fire
reached 58, local authori- department said late Tues-
ties said Wednesday. day the area received 25.8
The city of Petropolis was centimeters (just over 10
slammed by a deluge on inches) of rain within three
Tuesday, and Mayor Ru- hours Tuesday almost as
bens Bomtempo said the much as during the pre-
number of dead could rise vious 30 days combined.
as searchers pick through Petropolis’ civil defense au-
the wreckage. Twenty-one thority said moderate rain
people had been recov- was expected Wednesday
ered alive. afternoon and evening.
Civilians joined the offi- Video posted on social me-
cial recovery efforts early dia Tuesday showed cars
Wednesday. Among them Rescue workers remove the body of a mudslide victim in Petropolis, Brazil, Wednesday, Feb. 16, and houses being dragged
were Priscila Neves and 2022. away by landslides, and
her siblings, who looked Associated Press water swirling through Pet-
through the mud for any But we couldn’t do any- people escaping summer in areas unfit for structures ropolis and neighboring dis-
sign of their disappeared thing; the water was gush- heat and tourists keen to and rendered more vulner- tricts.
parents, but found only ing out, the mud was gush- explore the so-called “Im- able by deforestation and The Globo television net-
clothing. Neves told The ing out,” Virgilio told The perial City.” inadequate drainage. work on Wednesday
Associated Press she had Associated Press. “Our city Petropolis was among the The stricken mountain re- showed houses buried be-
given up hope of finding unfortunately is finished.” nation’s first planned cities gion has seen similar catas- neath mud in areas fire-
her parents alive. And Rosi- Petropolis is a German-in- and features stately homes trophes in recent decades, fighters hadn’t yet been
lene Virgilio, 49, was in tears fluenced city named for a along its waterways. But its including one that caused able to access. Several
as she recalled the desper- former Brazilian emperor. population has grown hap- more than 900 deaths. In streets remained inacces-
ate pleas from someone Nestled in the mountains hazardly, climbing moun- the years since, Petropolis sible as cars and household
she couldn’t save. “There above the coastal metrop- tainsides now covered with presented a plan to reduce goods piled up, blocking
was a woman screaming, olis, for almost two centu- small residences packed risks of landslides, but works access to higher parts of
‘Help! Get me out of here!’ ries it has been a refuge for tightly together. Many are have been advancing only the city.q

Cuba begins public consultation on marriage equality law

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba’s ment or vote the measure The National Anthem was
leaders have launched an and others like it before sung, the Cuban flag dis-
unusual series of neighbor- have roused an unusually played.
hood meetings across the strong discussion in society Heidi Sanchez, a nurs-
island to debate a mea- as a whole. ing assistant, said she like
sure that would legalize While gay rights are the the change “because it
same-sex marriage and most debated part of the includes everyone in the
adoption, a measure that proposed law, its more than world: children, the elderly,
pits the daughter of for- 400 articles cover all sorts people of the same sex.”
mer President Raul Castro of family topics, including “We are all human beings
against a growing evan- the rights of grandparents and Cubans.
gelical movement. and grandchildren, protec- I don’t see anything abnor-
The planned 78,000 meet- tion of the elderly, punish- mal.”
ings, which officially began ment of gender violence Rosmery Rivera, a 29-year-
at the start of February but and how the law deals with old housewife, said she was
are only now being seen in marriage and parental re- basically in favor of same-
practice, were called by sponsibility. sex marriage, “as long as
Cuba’s parliament to dis- It would give children grad- they maintain their priva- Residents attend a popular consultation to discuss the draft of a
cuss the content of a pro- ually greater rights as they cy.” new family code, in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022.
posal and gather public grow. She said she’d prefer not Associated Press
comment by the end of Such a vast consultation on to have gay neighbors,
April. That will be used to pending legislation is rare in though, because “it looks as being daughter of the of a (family) code so ad-
draft a final version to be Cuba though a similar pro- ugly,” especially “when former president and revo- vanced, so revolutionary,”
put to a public referendum cess preceded adoption of there are children.” lutionary leader. she told reporters recently.
at a yet to be determined the country’s new constitu- A prime supporter of the “It gives me much hope But beyond the revolution-
date. tion in 2019. measure is Mariela Castro, that in spite of how diffi- ary government, there’s a
While there is no debate in About 200 people attend- director of the National cult and contradictory the strong strain of social con-
the meetings comments ed a meeting in front of a Center for Sex Education processes of social trans- servatism in Cuba, where
can be expressed in writing house in Havana witnessed and a promoter of rights for formation have been ... we evangelical churches have
or verbally, with no argu- by The Associated Press. same-sex couples, as well have reached this moment been growing.q