Day: November 7, 2019

A Chinese court Thursday jailed nine people, one with a suspended death sentence, for smuggling fentanyl into the United States, saying this was the first such case the two countries had worked together on.

China has faced U.S. criticism for not doing enough to prevent the flow of fentanyl into the United States, and the issue has become another irritant in ties already strained by a bruising trade war the two are now working to end.

The announcement of the successful action against the smugglers comes as the two countries are expected to sign an interim trade deal.

Fentanyl is a highly addictive synthetic opioid, 50 times more potent than heroin. It is often used to make counterfeit narcotics because of its relatively cheap price, and it has played an increasingly central role in an opioid crisis in the United States.

US-China teamwork

Yu Haibin, a senior official with China’s National Narcotics Control Commission, told reporters in the northern city of Xingtai where the court case was heard, that Chinese and U.S. law enforcement had worked together to break up the ring, which smuggled fentanyl and other opioids to the United States via courier.

One of the people sentenced by the court was given a suspended death sentence, which in practice is normally commuted to life in jail, and two got life sentences, Yu said.

More than 28,000 synthetic opioid-related overdose deaths, mostly from fentanyl-related substances, were recorded in the United States in 2017, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

U.S. drug enforcement has pointed to China as the source of fentanyl and its related supplies. China denies that most of the illicit fentanyl entering the United States originates in China, and says the United States must do more to reduce demand.

Issue of demand

Yu said that the issue of fentanyl was not something any one country could resolve.

“If illegal demand cannot be effectively reduced, it is very difficult to fundamentally tackle the fentanyl issue,” Yu said.

In August, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Chinese President Xi Jinping of not fulfilling a promise to crack down on fentanyl and its analogs.

Yu said China was willing to work with U.S. law enforcement authorities and all other international colleagues to fight narcotics and “continue to contribute China’s wisdom and power for the global management of narcotics.”

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A Bolivian protest leader who has become a symbol of opposition to President Evo Morales arrived on Wednesday in the nation’s capital, La Paz, where he plans to formally demand the leftist leader step down after a contentious election last month.

Luis Fernando Camacho, a civic leader from the eastern city of Santa Cruz, was whisked away in a convoy from the city’s main airport in nearby El Alto in the midst of a huge security presence and with rival protest groups massing outside.

The gambit, after he was blocked from leaving the airport on Tuesday, has sparked a fierce backlash from government supporters, while seemingly helping rally a split opposition. Camacho plans to march to the presidential palace to deliver a pre-written letter of resignation for Morales to sign.

The new attempt is likely to fan tensions following weeks of protests and strikes since the Oct. 20 vote. Hostilities have ramped up since Tuesday night in La Paz and Cochabamba, with clashes between Morales supporters and the opposition.

Government supporters and anti-Morales protesters clashed outside the El Alto airport late into Wednesday night. Carlos Mesa, the runner-up in the October election, had been at the airport waiting for Camacho to arrive, along with ex-President Jorge Quiroga.

“I think this is a fundamental moment for the opposition that believes in a democratic response and a peaceful way out,” said Mesa, who has repeatedly raised allegations of fraud against Morales and called for new elections.

Morales, a socialist leader who has been in power since 2006, has defended his election win and said that the opposition is trying to lead a “coup” against him and that his rivals were inciting violence.

Bolivians vs Bolivians

With little sign of a political solution, the standoff has worsened. On Wednesday, newspaper headlines decried the violence and pointed to an economic cost of $167 million. “Bolivians against Bolivians” read the front page of one local daily.

Local media reported the death of one young man in his twenties in the city of Cochabamba on Wednesday. In a tweet, Camacho blamed the death on Morales, and in a separate video message called for unity and calm.

Morales confirmed the death, saying the youngster was an “innocent victim of violence provoked by political groups encouraging racial hatred amongst our Bolivian brothers”.

“I hope Camacho and the people who follow him understand that the route they are taking simply leads to disaster,” state media reported defense minister Javier Zavaleta as saying.

Morales won last month’s vote with a lead of just over 10 points over Mesa, handing the former coca grower an outright win and avoiding a second-round runoff. The victory, however, was marred by a near 24-hour halt in the count, which, when resumed, showed a sharp and unexplained shift in Morales’ favor.

International governments have called for calm and are backing an audit of the election by the Organization of American States (OAS), which has recommended that a second round vote go ahead. Morales has agreed the audit will be “binding.”

The OAS on Wednesday called for calm while it completed its audit.

Since the vote, cities have gone into lockdown, with daily marches and road blocks. Camacho earlier this week called for people to blockade public institutions and the country’s borders in order to hit government incomes.

Benjamín Blanco, a senior trade official, said on Wednesday that borders with Peru, Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil had been affected, with hundreds of trucks being stopped.

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Britain’s Parliament dissolved Wednesday for a five-week election campaign. Rising inequality is expected to be one of the central issues in Britain’s pre-holiday general election, as conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces off with leftist leader Jeremy Corbyn. Johnson has called for the snap election to gain more parliamentary support for his Brexit plan. But for some British voters, employment, health care, the environment and other issues are more important than how soon and under what conditions Britain can leave the European Union. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.

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Several senior U.S. diplomats, including former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, are key witnesses in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. The president is accused of withholding U.S. military aid to Ukraine until that country’s new president agreed to investigate one of Trump’s political opponents, former Vice President and current presidential candidate Joe Biden. As transcripts from diplomats’ closed-door Capitol Hill hearings are released, many are questioning why Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did not shield or support Yovanovitch from an administration campaign that led to her eventual ouster. VOA’s diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.
 

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The capital of Asia America is one description used for an area spanning 36 kilometers just east of downtown Los Angeles, called the San Gabriel Valley. Close to half a million Asians live in this region. It’s an Asian enclave where nine cities in the area are majority-Asian. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has more on why so many Asians live there and the countries they represent.

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