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world news Diaranson 2 Juni 2021

In Brazil's Amazon, rivers rise to record levels

(AP) — Rivers around activity and global warming ing the river rise and fall with
the biggest city in Brazil’s are altering the frequency and the seasons. Simas likes her
Amazon rainforest have intensity of extreme weather neighborhood because it is
swelled to levels unseen in events, including La Nina. safe and clean. But the quick-
over a century of record- ening pace of the floods in
keeping, according to Seven of the 10 biggest floods the last decade has her wor-
data published Tuesday by in the Amazon basin have oc- ried.
Manaus’ port authorities, curred in the past 13 years,
straining a society that has data from Brazil’s state- “From 1974 until recently,
grown weary of increas- owned Geological Survey many years passed and we
ingly frequent flooding. shows. wouldn’t see any water. It
was a normal place,” she said.
The Rio Negro was at its “If we continue to destroy
highest level since records the Amazon the way we do, “I think human beings have
began in 1902, with a depth the climatic anomalies will contributed a lot (to this
of 29.98 meters (98 feet) at become more and more ac- situation,” she said. “Nature
the port’s measuring sta- centuated,” said Virgílio Vi- doesn’t forgive. She comes
tion. The nearby Solimoes ana, director of the Sustain- and doesn’t want to know
and Amazon rivers were also able Amazon Foundation, a whether you’re ready to face
nearing all-time highs, flood- nonprofit. ” Greater floods her or not.”
ing streets and houses in doz- on the one hand, greater
ens of municipalities and af- droughts on the other.” Flooding also has a significant
fecting some 450,000 people impact on local industries
in the region. Large swaths of Brazil are such as farming and cattle
currently drying up in a se- ranching. Many family-run
Higher-than-usual precipi- vere drought, with a possible operations have seen their
tation is associated with the shortfall in power generation production vanish under wa-
La Nina phenomenon, when from the nation’s hydroelec- ter. Others have been unable
currents in the central and tric plants and increased elec- to reach their shops, offices
eastern Pacific Ocean af- tricity prices, government and market stalls or clients.
fect global climate patterns. authorities have warned.
Environmental experts and “With these floods, we’re out
organizations including the But in Manaus, 66-year-old of work,” said Elias Gomes, a in his small wooden boat.
U.S. Environmental Protec- Julia Simas has water ankle- 38-year-old electrician in Ca- Meteorologists say Amazon
tion Agency and the National deep in her home. Simas has cau Pirera, on the other side Gomes is now looking to water levels could continue
Oceanic and Atmospheric lived in the working-class of the Rio Negro, though move to a more densely to rise slightly until late June
Administration say there is neighborhood of Sao Jorge noted he’s been able to earn a populated area where floods or July, when floods usually
strong evidence that human since 1974 and is used to see- bit by transporting neighbors won’t threaten his livelihood. peak.

Mexico report suggests child sex abuse ring at some schools

(AP) — A study published by a children’s how these perpetrators came to work in the same report states that in the 2011 case, “those found
rights group in Mexico Monday suggests school? How were they assigned to this post and guilty include the school’s principal, four teach-
there has been a disturbing pattern at as by whom? How did their coordinated action ers, and the school janitor. The patterns in the
many as 18 schools and childcare centers come to be? Did they arrive to this post know- abuse and extreme violence are repeated in mul-
where multiple adult employees allegedly ing each other or did their coordination arise once tiple schools. The abuse takes place within the
collaborated among themselves and used working in the school?” the report asks. school and perpetrators do not seem to hide when
eerily similar tactics and practices to sexu- committing the repeated abusive behavior.”
ally abuse pupils between the ages of three “We have identified patterns of criminal behavior
and seven. that raise the possibility that numerous primary So the legal team reviewed 37 cases found “to
and pre-school facilities have been coopted and possibly match the criminal patterns we identi-
In one case uncovered in 2018, 11 adults at one used to commit on-line child sexual abuse,” the fied. Of these cases we were only able to attain
pre-school allegedly abused 49 children aged be- report states. greater detail as to the narratives of the children in
tween 3 and 5, by inserting water-filled syringes 18 schools that confirmed similar patterns.”
into their bodily orifices, a practice found over Asked about the report, President Andrés Manuel
and over in other cases. López Obrador pledged Monday to provide an But the report says that police investigations are
accounting of how the government is combating poorly coordinated with prosecutors, and tend to
The “11 offenders are accused of committing the such cases. prosecute abusers as individuals, without looking
abuse in a coordinated fashion,” according to the at whether even more accomplices were involved.
report by the civic group Center for The Defense “A lot of work is being done, all these reprehen-
of Children’s Rights. Children were forced to sible, appalling acts that involve the abuse of chil- “Organizational links between similar cases are
watch adults performing sexual acts or touch or dren are being combated, it is an ongoing activity,” impossible to detect if each school is investigated
abuse other kids. In many cases, the similar use López Obrador saying he would instruct the ap- in an isolated manner,” the report says. “Frag-
of disguises or specific staging of the abuse sug- propriate authorities to report on “how children, mentation guarantees criminal organizations that
gested a broader pattern. the most vulnerable segment of the population it is technically impossible to detect any partici-
are being protected from these attacks.” pation other than the material offenders in any
“The cases identified are notably different from given case.”
the unfortunately numerous cases of child sexual Some of the cases in which the Center’s lawyers
abuse committed by individual teachers against have participated have resulted in convictions of Moreover, many of the victims report there were
one or more students,” the report states. “These abusers. For example, in one 2011 case, six school cameras present during the abuse, raising the
cases demonstrate patterns of criminal behavior employees were convicted and received lengthy possibility the abuse was being filmed or pho-
characterized by organized aggressions commit- prison sentences. tographed for later distribution. “We considered
ted by multiple adults perpetrated in mass scale that a possible hypothesis of the production of
within the premises of a given school.” But the lawyers were struck both by the brazen- child pornography should be investigated,” ac-
ness of the abusers, and a pattern that seemed to cording to the report.
“Evidently this situation raises questions as to be repeated at other schools. For example, the