Colombian immigration authorities said some 1,400 Venezuelan military had deserted for Colombia this year, while the Brazilian Army said over 60 members of Venezuela’s armed forces had emigrated to Brazil since Maduro closed the border on Feb. 23 to block an opposition effort to get humanitarian aid into the country.

“Most military people that are leaving are from the National Guard. They will continue coming. More want to leave,” said a National Guard lieutenant, speaking earlier this month. She had just crossed into Brazil on foot, arriving in the frontier town of Pacaraima after walking hours along indigenous trails through savannah.

Officials in both countries said the pace of desertion has sped up in recent months as political and economic turmoil in Venezuela has worsened. The deserters, who asked to withhold their names due to fear of reprisals against their families, complained that top commanders in Venezuela lived well on large salaries and commissions from smuggling and other black market schemes while the lower ranks confronted conflicts in Venezuela’s streets for little pay.(Stabroeknews)…[+]

Facebook has taken down several networks that were spreading far-right content to nearly 1.7 million people in Spain, days before national electionsthat are expected to see a surge in support for the far-right Vox party. The networks were uncovered in an investigation by the campaign group Avaaz, and taken down only after it presented Facebook with its findings.

The discovery of a large network, spreading politically sensitive content unmonitored days before a key European election, is likely to add to concerns about social media firms’ willingness and ability to control hate speech and criminal activity on their sites. On Wednesday British MPs condemned Facebook, Google and Twitter for their refusal to report users to the police when they remove criminal posts, except in rare cases when there is an immediate threat to life or limb.

Avaaz found that the networks in Spain were spreading fake news, including a doctored photo of a political opponent giving a Hitler salute, and misogynist, Islamophobic and homophobic messages. They were also coordinating the publication of identical posts apparently designed to look like spontaneous messages. However, unlike its decision earlier this month to ban British far-right groupsin a crackdown on hate organisations, Facebook said it had not taken down the Spanish pages because of their content, or for “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” – the network’s sanitised term for manufacturing and spreading fake news.(Theguardian)…[+]

BRIDGETOWN– The following is a statement from Caribbean Development Bank President Dr. W^m. Warren Smith on the passing of Sir Alister McIntyre.

The Caribbean Development Bank joins the wider regional community in mourning the loss of Sir Alister McIntyre, OCC, a   Caribbean statesman, a scholar, a true Caribbean son. Though we mourn his passing, we celebrate his life – one which he dedicated to the cause of Caribbean integration and development.

Born and raised in Grenada, Sir Alister shared his intellect and ability with our entire Region.  His work and his scholarship as a development economist and an integrationist influenced many of our leaders; and his legacy will endure through generations. We are especially grateful   for the leading role he played in shaping CARICOM and the University of the West Indies as Secretary-General and Vice Chancellor, respectively.

Sir Alister’s vision of a stronger, more integrated Caribbean is one which we share at CDB. Almost 50 years ago, the architects of the Bank mandated us to promote economic cooperation and integration among our regional members, having special and urgent regard to our less developed member countries.  We will continue to build on the strong foundation which Sir Alister left behind as we work to accelerate the economic development of our Region.  We offer our deepest condolences to his wife, Marjorie and children, Arnold, Andrew, Helga and Nicholas. We thank them for sharing him with us…[+]