"The delay in detecting the outbreak means that we are now playing catch-up with a very fast-moving epidemic." |
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World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned Monday that the swiftly spreading Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda “will get worse before it gets better,” as a deadly delay in detecting infections has responders to the epidemic “playing catch-up.”
“The outbreak is spreading rapidly,” Tedros said during a virtual ministerial meeting on the matter. “So far, 101 cases have been confirmed in DRC, with 10 confirmed deaths. But we know the epidemic in DRC is much larger. There are now more than 900 suspected cases and 220 suspected deaths.”
“Countries bordering DRC are at especially high risk and should take immediate action,” he asserted. “In Uganda, there are five confirmed cases and one death.”
Tedros pointed out that “there are several aspects of this outbreak that make it especially challenging.”
“First, the delay in detecting the outbreak means that we are now playing catch-up with a very fast-moving epidemic,” he said. “We are urgently scaling up operations, but at the moment, the epidemic is outpacing us.”
“Second, as you know, the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu are highly insecure, with intensified fighting in recent months, causing more than 100,000 people to be newly displaced,” the WHO chief continued. “There is also significant distrust of outside authorities among the local population. In the past week, there have been two security incidents at health facilities.”
“WHO is fully committed to working under the leadership of the governments of DRC and Uganda, side by side with Africa [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and all other partners,” Tedros added. “We will not rest until we bring this outbreak under control.”
Ebola—which typically kills between 25% and 90% of infected people, depending upon the strain of the virus and quality of available medical care—causes widespread and often catastrophic damage to the body’s blood vessels, immune system, and organs.
Critics say US President Donald Trump’s ideologically driven decision to withdraw the US from the WHO, his administration’s dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and reduced funding for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s global public health efforts have adversely affected the response to the current Ebola epidemic, compared with 2014 and 2019 outbreaks.
After US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that the WHO was “a little late” in identifying new Ebola infections, Tedros retorted that “we don’t replace the country’s work, we only support them,” and suggested that Rubio’s comments could be rooted in “a lack of understanding” of the agency and countries’ responsibilities.
While Rubio said that “our number-one objective on Ebola, before anything else... has to be, we can’t have it affect the United States,” public health experts warn that Trump administration actions could make it more likely that the virus will make its way to the country.
There is currently no confirmed CDC director, Food and Drug Administration commissioner, or surgeon general.
Taking aim at Trump’s evisceration of key public health agencies and programs, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said last week: “Ebola does not wait for bureaucratic reorganizations. It spreads when surveillance systems are weakened, health workers are laid off, clinics lack protective equipment, and communities lose the trusted partners who help detect and contain outbreaks before they become public health emergencies.”
“This is the perfect storm President Trump created,” she continued. “He recklessly dismantled USAID, withheld and slashed other United States assistance to the region, fired critical staff, and created global health chaos. This is not efficiency. It is dangerous neglect.”
“The United States spent years building the relationships, supply chains, laboratories, and community health networks that help stop deadly diseases at their source,” DeLauro added. “The Trump administration tore into that capacity and now wants to pretend the consequences were unforeseeable.”
"We have reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues under discussion," said an Iranian spokesperson. "But to say that this means the signing of an agreement is imminent—no one can make such a claim.” |
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Officials in Tehran on Monday swatted down President Donald Trump’s assertion that an agreement to end the nearly three-month Iran War was imminent, citing frequently shifting US positions and Israeli “sabotage” as obstacles during ongoing talks.
“It is correct to say that we have reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues under discussion,” Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said during a press briefing. “But to say that this means the signing of an agreement is imminent—no one can make such a claim.”
Trump tempered his own Saturday claim that a peace deal had “been largely negotiated” with Tehran, “subject to finalization.”
“Negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran are proceeding nicely!” the president said Monday on his Truth Social platform. “It will only be a Great Deal for all or, no Deal at all—Back to the Battlefront and shooting, but bigger and stronger than ever before—And nobody wants that!”
A 14-point memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran reportedly contains a ceasefire and 30-day negotiation period for a broader agreement, reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, easing or lifting the US naval blockade on Iran, unfreezing Iranian state assets abroad, relief from US sanctions, and restrictions on Iranian nuclear development.
Naming countries including Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan, Trump wrote that “after all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these Countries, at a minimum, simultaneously sign onto the Abraham Accords,” the US-brokered normalization pacts between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, Kazakhstan, and Israel that the Palestinian writer Karim Kattan called “a fever dream of dictators.”
Trump suggested that Iran could also normalize relations with Israel by signing the Abraham Accords and said that “it would be an Honor to have them also be part of this unparalleled World Coalition.”
However, Baghaei threw cold water on Trump’s optimism, stressing Monday that “the focus of the negotiations is on ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon,” and that this critical point is “one of the core elements of understanding in any agreement.”
What negotiators aren’t discussing at this time, according to both sides, is ending Iran’s nuclear development.
“The focus of the negotiations is on ending the war, and at this stage we are not discussing nuclear issues,” Baghaei said.
Also not under current discussion is the future management of the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian-controlled maritime chokepoint through which around 20% of the world’s oil is shipped.
“How this region should be managed concerns the littoral states,” Baghaei said, referring to Iran and Oman. “We understand that the security of the Strait of Hormuz is a concern for the entire world.”
Baghaei affirmed that negotiations on the 14-point memorandum of understanding would continue over the next two months, but that the US blockade of Iranian ports and shipping “must stop.”
According to Iranian state media outlet Press TV, Baghaei “criticized the inconsistency in US policymaking, saying contradictory positions within short periods complicate negotiations.”
A major sticking point in the talks is Iran’s insistence that any agreement to end hostilities must also include an end to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, which have killed or wounded more than 12,000 people, according to officials there. After the current Pakistan-brokered ceasefire took effect on April 7, Israel responded by escalating its war on Lebanon, killing or wounding more than 1,400 people, many of them civilians, over a 24-hour period.
Baghaei said Monday that “one should expect nothing from Israel except the sabotage of any process.”
It’s not just Israel; Iranian, Pakistani, and Omani negotiators have accused US officials of blowing up previous Iran peace talks when they were on the verge of success.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Sunday that while he supports the US effort to end the war, “President Trump and I agreed that any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear danger.”
Israeli and US intelligence agencies have said for decades—including under Trump—that Iran is not trying to build nuclear weapons and stopped trying to do so in the early 2000s.
Pro-war Republican US lawmakers joined many Israeli leaders in both government and the opposition in expressing alarm over a potential peace deal that is widely viewed as a major win for Iran.
“Details of the deal between the United States and Iran are so disturbing,” Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said Monday in West Jerusalem. “The deal is bad for Israel, bad for the region, bad for the citizens of Iran.”
“Netanyahu has failed to achieve every single one of the war’s objectives as he himself defined them,” he added.
Some US Congressional Democrats also said the outcome of the illegal US-Israeli war of choice is likely to favor Iran, even as airstrikes have killed or wounded more than 30,000 Iranians, many of them civilians, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.
“If this deal with Iran is real, I will welcome it because every day this insane war goes on, America gets weaker,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Sunday. “The priority is to end the war—now. But make no mistake: These are Iran’s terms. Our nation emerges humiliated.”
“The deal is basically this: We give Iran billions to get back to where we were before the war. And reports suggest the deal might codify Iran’s right to control the strait,” he continued. “There are reports there may be a tiny nuclear concession from Iran in the deal and if so, great. But I doubt it—they are most likely postponing all the nuclear issues.”
“But a promise to ship out enriched uranium (the reported concession) was also in [Former President Barack] Obama’s deal (as well as a lot of other things Trump will never get),” the senator noted, referring to the landmark Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—also known as the Iran nuclear deal—that Trump unilaterally abrogated during his first term.
“And now that we are dropping sanctions, we have less leverage to get them to give more in future negotiations,” Murphy said. “And just remember, Trump hasn’t accomplished ANY of his constantly shifting goals. Iran still has its ballistic missile and drone program. They still have a navy that can close the strait. A hardline regime is still in charge.”
“Of course, none of those things could be accomplished by an air campaign—which is why so many of us opposed this war,” he added. “And now the new regime is emboldened. They took our best shot and beat us. Iran emerges more powerful.”
Iranian leaders underscored their readiness to continue the fight should negotiations fail.
“Look, Americans talk too much and keep changing their story by the minute,” Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters Commander Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi said Monday. “We’ve said it many times before: On the battlefield, we’ll show what we’re capable of.”
"They call us all bandits and thugs," said protesters, who have been met with a police crackdown. "We are democracy." |
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Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz, who is facing calls for his resignation as Indigenous and labor organizers lead protests across the country, could declare a “state of exception”—described by local reporters as “essentially martial law”—as soon as Monday night after the country’s Senate overwhelmingly voted to overturn a law regulating the government’s ability to crack down on protests.
According to Bolivian reports, the Chamber of Senators on Sunday overturned Law 1341, which since 2020 had imposed strict time limits on emergency measures, ensured certain violable rights could not be suspended under a state of exception, required legislative oversight, and made the president criminally liable for exceeding the law’s perimeters.
“Abrogating Law 1341 does not remove the state of exception from Bolivia’s legal architecture,” according to The Rio Times. “It removes the apparatus that prevented that constitutional clause from being exercised at the executive’s sole discretion.”
Joseph Bouchard, who has reported for Drop Site News and The Intercept from Latin America, said far-right groups linked to the 2019 coup in Bolivia have demanded “a return to martial law, to use lethal force against opposition with impunity, and crack down on opposition as much as possible.”
“Many of these groups are openly fascist and white supremacist,” said Bouchard.
The law was overturned about three weeks into nationwide protests against Paz, who took office about six months ago. Protesters allied with former President Evo Morales have expressed anger over the administration’s decision to end a fuel subsidy that was essential for working people amid an economic crisis. The demonstrators—comprised of a broad coalition which includes Indigenous groups, labor unions, and farmworkers—have demanded higher wages and an end to privatization and the broader neoliberal project under Paz.
The protests have been met with a crackdown by police, in La Paz and at the sites of dozens of road blockades around the country.
Last week, the country’s public prosecutor issued arrest warrants for at least two organizers, including Mario Argollo, executive secretary of the top Bolivian labor union, Central Obrera Boliviana (COB).
On Monday, TeleSUR reported that COB refused to engage in talks with Paz’s government until the charges against Argollo are dropped.
Bouchard reported that if Paz’s government implements a state of exception, “the measures would mean security forces could arrest anyone, for any reason, and use extraordinary measures against all opposition.”
The overturning of Law 1341 struck down limits on “the use of lethal force by the security forces,” he said.
Only three senators aligned with Vice President Edmand Lara voted against repealing the law.
According to The Rio Times, Lara “has been politically distancing himself from Paz almost since inauguration.”
“No measure can stand above human life,” said Lara, expressing “profound concern and indignation” over the Senate vote.
"It is outrageous that the US government would target people for bringing humanitarian aid... But even more disturbing is the cruel and deeply immoral policy the United States continues to impose on Cuba."
The antiwar group CodePink it has yet to be served with any subpoenas after it was reported over the weekend that the Trump administration has opened an investigation into a recent humanitarian trip it helped organize to Cuba, but vehemently denied wrongdoing and said any government probe, if there is one, would only show that “this administration is beyond grotesque.” “Taking medical supplies to pediatric hospitals in Cuba is now a crime?” asked co-founder Medea Benjamin on social media on Saturday after Fox News reported that organizers had been served subpoenas. “Saving the lives of babies is a crime?” Fox reported that Benjamin and left-wing commentator Hasan Piker had been subpoenaed by federal investigators two months after they were among 40 Americans who sailed to Havana on the Nuestra America Convoy, which carried 20 tons of humanitarian aid to the island nation. The Fox reporting claimed the subpoenas issued to Benjamin and Piker seek to obtain financial, logistical, and communications information related to the trip, which was organized in response to the Trump administration’s decision in late January to threaten to impose tariffs on any country that provided Cuba with oil. The administration cut off Cuba’s main source of fuel at the beginning of the year when it sent US troops into Venezuela to abduct President Nicolás Maduro and took control of the country’s vast oil supply. White House officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, have long desired regime change in the communist country, and rights advocates have warned the administration appears to be moving toward just that as it strangles the island’s oil supply—causing frequent blackouts and impacting the healthcare and food systems—and claims the Cuban government poses a threat to the US. In organizing the Nuestra America Convoy, said Benjamin on Sunday, the advocates were acting “as moral US citizens trying to bring some relief to a population being deliberately starved by the cruel policies of our own government.” “This policy has contributed to catastrophic shortages of medicine and electricity, massive blackouts, transportation collapse, and a public health crisis that has hurt the most vulnerable, especially children and the elderly,” said Benjamin. “It is a policy that is, literally, killing babies, as we have seen in the recent tragic doubling of the infant mortality rate. This is why we focused our donations on medical supplies for pediatric hospitals.” The blockade is compounding the suffering caused by the trade embargo the US has imposed for decades, said Benjamin. The Cuban Assets Control Regulations law prohibits US citizens from conducting unlicensed travel-related transations with Cuba, but the law makes exceptions for humanitarian endeavors and other activities aimed at supporting the Cuban people. “We traveled to Cuba under the US government-authorized category of providing humanitarian aid to the Cuban people. We brought desperately needed medicines and medical supplies at a time when Cuba is suffering catastrophic shortages caused by the crippling US blockade,” said Benjamin. Benjamin, Piker, and Drop Site News co-founder Ryan Grim emphasized that the group stayed in Spanish-owned hotels that are “explicitly permitted under” the US law—while right-wing influencer Nick Shirley allegedly stayed in a sanctioned hotel on a recent trip to Cuba. “It is outrageous that the US government would target people for bringing humanitarian aid to suffering Cuban children,” Benjamin said. “But even more disturbing is the cruel and deeply immoral policy the United States continues to impose on Cuba—a policy designed to strangle the island economically, deprive people of food, fuel, medicine, and basic necessities, and make daily life unbearable.” Piker said the reports of the investigation indicate that “the American government would rather try to criminalize delivering aid to a country we’ve starved, than punish the Epstein class.” Benjamin emphasized that the reports of the probe come as the administration intensified its threats against Cuba, having indicted former President Raúl Castro last week on charges related to the shooting down of a plane operated by Cuban-American exiles in the 1990s. Trump and his allies have repeatedly mused about invading the country following his military attacks on Venezuela and Iran. “President Trump already has his hands full trying to disentangle himself from the disastrous US war with Iran,” said Benjamin. “He should not start another one in Cuba. The American people are tired of endless wars, interventions, sanctions, and suffering imposed in our name.”
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"The pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs, because the human person is an end, not a means." |
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