– After 45 Days in Prison, Daniel Jadue is Dismissed as Mayor of Recoleta

– Bangladesh’s Supreme Court Scraps Most of Government Job Quota Amid Widespread Protests and Violence

– Amnesty International Alleges Boluarte May Have Deliberately Planned Violent Repression of Anti-Coup Protests in Peru

– Sudan’s Health Crisis, From War Zones to Refugee Camps

By Global News Service

Credit Line: from the Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service

1. After 45 Days in Prison, Daniel Jadue is Dismissed as Mayor of Recoleta

On July 26, the commune of Recoleta in Santiago, Chile, will be forced to elect a new mayor to replace Daniel Jadue, who is currently in preventive prison. Since Jadue could not report to work for 45 days after being incarcerated, an automatic mechanism removed him from the mayor’s office, even though he has not been proven guilty. 

The Chilean justice system accuses him of tax fraud, swindling, concealment of assets, bribery, and unfair administration. Jadue was arrested and put in preventative detention on June 3. He allegedly committed these acts when he was the president of the Association of Municipalities with Popular Pharmacies (ACHIFARP).

Some see Jadue’s arrest as an attempt to remove the most successful communist politician in the country as mayor and to damage the Communist Party of Chile. Jadue himself asked, “Can anyone think that with the attention of the public prosecutor’s office always on our administration we would commit illicit acts that would jeopardize such a wonderful project [as the Farmacias Populares] that has improved the quality of life of thousands of people? This accusation could have happened years ago or several months after the elections. But the accusation is made ‘coincidentally’ in the middle of an election year.”

Sociologist José Salvador Cárcamo stated that Jadue’s case represents persecution: “Lawfare has moved to Chile… [the Farmacias Populares project] affected oligopolistic and monopolistic interests that acted as cartels through three pharmacy chains that comprise 90 percent of the market: Cruz Verde, Farmacias Ahumada, and Salcobrand.”

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2. Bangladesh’s Supreme Court Scraps Most of Government Job Quota Amid Widespread Protests and Violence

Amid widespread violence across the country over the controversial quota in government jobs, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court issued a crucial verdict on July 21, scaling back the quotas drastically.

According to the verdict, 93 percent of government jobs would be based on merit and the overall quota would be reduced to 7 percent from the current 56 percent. Descendants of “freedom fighters” who currently have 30 percent of posts reserved for them would now only get 5 percent reservation. The remaining 2 percent of reserved jobs would be allotted to candidates belonging to sexual and ethnic minorities in the country and people with disabilities.

According to various reports, around 140 people, including a large number of students, were killed in the violent clashes between security forces and students—who have been opposing the quota system—which took place during the third week of July. The protests were mostly peaceful until July 15 but turned violent after an alleged attack carried out by pro-government students, backed by the country’s security forces.

The ruling Awami League has, however, stated that the otherwise “legitimate protests” by students have been “hijacked” by the opposition party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and some extremist groups in the country. It alleged that those opposition parties who could not win through elections have been looking for an opportunity to destabilize the government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which won its fourth consecutive term in January 2024. BNP had boycotted the elections.

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Amnesty International Alleges Boluarte May Have Deliberately Planned Violent Repression of Anti-Coup Protests in Peru

On July 18, Amnesty International published an 86-page document about the human rights violations committed by the Peruvian state during the protests that took place between December 2022 and March 2023. During this period, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest the coup carried out against then-President Pedro Castillo leading to more than 50 dead and thousands injured.

The report alleges that Dina Boluarte, the de facto president of Peru following the coup, as well as other senior state officials, either planned the police and military operations that led to human rights violations against thousands of people protesting the coup, or they deliberately failed to stop the publicly known crimes.

For example, in Andahuaylas city in Apurímac, special forces used tactics that repeatedly violated human rights for several months without any order to cease such actions. The same special forces were deployed in Juliaca, where on January 9, at least 17 people were killed and 68 were wounded. According to the Amnesty International report, Boluarte may be implicated in calling for this kind of repression or for not having done anything to prevent it.

The report details that several commanders of the National Police of Peru signed documents stating that the protesters were “terrorists,” thus justifying the special forces’ lethal use of force during the protests.

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Sudan’s Health Crisis, From War Zones to Refugee Camps

For more than a year, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been engaged in a bloody conflict, forcing thousands to flee their homes. Some refugees are living in forests, while others have tried to find refuge in neighboring countries like Chad. However, without adequate support from international organizations, these camps have become breeding grounds for disease outbreaks.

Sanitation infrastructure in some camps consists merely of holes in the ground serving as latrines, leading to dangerous conditions, especially for children, who often fall into these holes, Dr. Ihsan Fagiri, physician and member of the Sudanese Communist Party, reported at a press conference organized by the International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA), Peoples Dispatch and Madaar. Additionally, women and girls at the camps lack access to menstrual hygiene products and face constant threats of gender-based violence.

In Sudan, women face similar risks, with hundreds of documented rape casespossibly representing only a fraction of the true number. The stigma associated with rape exacerbates the mental health issues among survivors, pushing it to critical levels. Adequate care and psychological support for women, girls, and families are imperative, which will only be possible if the war stops, Fagiri asserted.

Far from bolstering aid efforts, United Nations (UN) agencies have scaled-down activities due to blockades by authorities and direct attacks from both warring parties, adding to the burden of hunger shouldered by the people of the country.