Huawei’s chief finance officer, Meng Wanzhou, 49, had been arrested in 2018 in Canada at the request of the Trump Administration’s Justice Department for eventual extradition to the U.S. on charges of stealing trade secrets and selling equipment to Iran via a shell company called Skycom. File photo: Stocked House Studio, Shutter Stock, licensed.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – China, accused of successfully playing “hostage politics,” on Friday, released two Canadian citizens from prison roughly an hour after the United States had put an executive of Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies – who had been charged with fraud – on a plane back to her home country, bringing an end to three years of legal and political turmoil.
Huawei’s chief finance officer, Meng Wanzhou, 49, had been arrested in 2018 in Canada at the request of the Trump Administration’s Justice Department for eventual extradition to the U.S. on charges of stealing trade secrets and selling equipment to Iran via a shell company called Skycom – and misleading the HSBC bank about it – which violated sanctions that then-President Trump had imposed upon the Middle Eastern country.
Meng, however, fought the Justice Department’s extradition request, and had remained in Canadian custody as the legal wrangling played out.
China frees Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor moments after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was freed in Canada. If this wasn’t hostage taking by China pure and simple, I don’t know what is. The end of a terrible nightmare for the two Michael’s https://t.co/IVNUzJXoN2
— Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) September 25, 2021
Shortly after Meng’s arrest in Canada, China had announced that they had arrested two Canadian citizens in their country – Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor accusing them of espionage, but many found the timing to be potentially much more than a mere coincidence.
After a great deal of heightened tensions and political turmoil between the U.S., Canada, and China, the ordeal finally came to an end Friday when Meng had reached an agreement with feds to have the fraud charges against her dropped in December 2022 – four years after her arrest – as long as she adheres to certain provisions, such as not publicly disagreeing with the Justice Department’s allegations and accepting responsibility for misrepresenting Huawei’s business dealings in Iran.
Upon reaching a deal with U.S. feds, Meng was allowed to immediately get on a plane and return to China. Huawei is the world’s largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment and second largest manufacturer of smartphones, and the release and impending arrival home of Meng – daughter of Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei – was a top story on Chinese internet and television news broadcasts.
Within an hour after Meng had left Canada for China, it was revealed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Kovrig and Spavor had been released by the Chinese government after 1,000 days in captivity and were on their way home as well.
BREAKING – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Michael Kovrig and Micheal Spavor are on a plane back to Canada right now. After a 1000+ days in a Chinese prison, the two Michaels are on their way back home #cdnpoli https://t.co/0RD39Rv075 pic.twitter.com/mQw0h1xTqC
— Mackenzie Gray (@Gray_Mackenzie) September 25, 2021
The deal was achieved due to the efforts of U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who had wanted to decrease the public tensions that had developed between the two countries on a variety of issues, with Biden saying that he did not want to start “a new Cold War,” and Xi noting that their issues “need to be handled through dialogue and cooperation.”
The Chinese government is “not even making a pretense of a pretense” that it was holding two innocent Canadians as hostages to secure release of the Huawei CFO. Beijing is now openly “using detained foreign citizens as bargaining chips in disputes.” https://t.co/xkoSLA5dpB pic.twitter.com/YnoFHazg8g
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) September 26, 2021
While the release of Kovrig and Spavor was applauded by Trudeau, China’s actions throughout the four-year incident were harshly criticized by many, with Brahma Chellaney, a New Delhi-based geostrategist and author, accusing China on Twitter of “hostage diplomacy.”
“The US ended the Meng Wanzhou case the way it began it — politically. The real loser is Canada, whose willingness to do US’s bidding proved costly. The case will be remembered for China’s thuggish action in holding two Canadians hostage and eventually compelling the US to yield,” he said. “By letting Ms. Meng return to China, Biden has vindicated China’s holding of two innocent Canadians hostage since 2018. Canada had contended that its judicial system was insulated from any political influence. China’s successful hostage diplomacy is a real shot in the arm for Xi.”
By letting Ms. Meng return to China, Biden has vindicated China's holding of two innocent Canadians hostage since 2018. Canada had contended that its judicial system was insulated from any political influence. China's successful hostage diplomacy is a real shot in the arm for Xi.
— Brahma Chellaney (@Chellaney) September 25, 2021
Destiney Bocanegra was gunned down in front of a home in Bonita Springs; the 25 year old stood in front of her four year old son to protect him. Sadly, Destiney lost her life in the process. She was also pregnant with her second child at the time of the murder.
LEE COUNTY, FL – Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers is hoping that an increased reward and a new billboard will bring renewed focus to the murder of a young mother which remains unsolved nearly three and a half years later. According to authorities, Destiney Bocanegra was gunned down in front of a home in Bonita Springs, near Matheson Avenue and Goodwin Street, in April 2018. When gunfire rang out, the 25 year old mother stood in front of her four year old son to protect him. Sadly, Destiney lost her life in the process. She was also pregnant with her second child at the time of the murder.
Over the last three years tips have come in on Destiney’s case, however Crime Stoppers is hoping that additional reward money will be the key to someone coming forward. The reward in Destiney’s case has now been increased to $20,000 – with $3,000 coming from Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers, $6,500 from the Florida Association of Crime Stoppers, and $10,500 coming from Destiney’s family.
Late last week, a billboard was also posted in the area of US 41 and Old 41 in Bonita, asking for tips to help solve this case. Anyone with information on the murder of Destiney Bocanegra is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS (8477). All callers will remain anonymous and will be eligible for a cash reward of up to $20,000. Tips may also be made online at www.southwestfloridacrimestoppers.com or on the P3Tips mobile app.
‘This month, the mayor announced he will be reopening one of the closed jails on Rikers to accommodate the rising jail population driven by unchecked fear mongering from his police commissioner. This is the wrong move, especially under the horrific conditions in which people are currently being held.’
Jarrett Murphy
Rikers Island.
If you haven’t noticed, the climate has been changing around the world. And not for the better. Just last month, flash floods like we’d never seen before stunned our city and cost some of our neighbors their lives. So, in the fight to at least minimize the lethal effects of climate change, we should be changing our policies and practices now. New York City has an opportunity to do just that while also addressing another primary social justice issue in our city—the continued human rights catastrophe that is Rikers Island.
In 2019, after years of organizing by survivors of Rikers and our allies, New York City voted to close ‘Torture Island,’ aka Rikers. In February 2021, we took the next step forward by passing the Renewable Rikers Act—a set of three bills that create a pathway to transition Rikers from its shameful history of incarceration and brutality to hub for green infrastructure.
A key part of the plan is Local Law 16, which requires that every six months, starting July 1, 2021, the city must assess what areas of Rikers Island are not in active use for services to incarcerated people, and transfer them out of the control of the Department of Correction to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. In fact, the transfer of ownership began this July with the James A. Taylor Center, and will continue until August 2027, when DOC must hand over the island entirely.
I spent 14 months on that decrepit island—an island that was physically expanded to four times its original size by dumping the city’s garbage on it and creating a landfill. It’s an Island that also illegally held free Black men sent there by corrupt judge Richard Riker, who kidnapped them to sell into slavery down South where unfortunately the practice was still legal.
Renewable Rikers will take the soon-to-be-empty land on Rikers Island and transition it to green uses like solar panels and battery storage, composting facilities, and state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facilities. This would help New York City generate our own renewable energy, reduce our carbon footprint, and keep our waterways cleaner, while closing down aging, highly polluting infrastructure like peaker plants that are burdening communities.
I experienced not only the ugliness and torture that was created on this land, but also a feeling that legally and morally, Rikers does not belong to the DOC or the city—it belongs to its original inhabitants, the Lenape. When the Dutch and English Settlers arrived in America they began a slow process of raping the land and nature that indigenous people believed and still believe is a part of them, that they are one with. With the greening of this land, and our city, through Renewable Rikers, we can right some of those atrocities the early settlers committed as well as the more recent ones committed by individuals such as Mr. Riker and by our brutal criminal punishment system. Some of the native animals may also return—like some pals for the fat groundhog I used to see next to the Rosie M Singer Center.
But right now, this vision and all its powerful benefits are in danger. This month, the mayor announced he will be reopening one of the closed jails on Rikers to accommodate the rising jail population driven by unchecked fear mongering from his police commissioner. This is the wrong move, especially under the horrific conditions in which people are currently being held. New Yorkers have already decided—we are ending mass incarceration, closing the Rikers Island jails and moving on to a better future. The mayor should close and transfer at least three more jails on Rikers Island before his term ends: GMDC, which is already closed, along with EMTC and OBCC, which were slated to be closed months ago.
Millions of people have been detained at Rikers over the past hundred plus years, tortured and humiliated without provocation, illegally and unconstitutionally held—desecrating the land believed to be sacred by its original inhabitants. Continuing to implement the Renewable Rikers Plan will allow people and the land to heal and flourish.
Eileen M. Maher is a member of VOCAL-NY and the #Justice4Women Task Force.
The post Opinion: Mayor de Blasio Must Act Now to Make ‘Renewable Rikers’ Part of His Legacy appeared first on City Limits.
Las familias con niños pasan ahora casi 18 meses en promedio en los albergues del Departamento de Servicios para Desamparados (DHS por sus siglas en inglés), dos meses y medio más que el año fiscal anterior, según el informe anual de gestión del alcalde Bill de Blasio.
Adi Talwar
Starkeysha Love, de 30 años, fotografiada aquí con su hija Amira, de un año, en junio de 2021. La familia fue trasladada a un refugio de Queens este verano tras alojarse en una habitación de hotel alquilada en la ciudad durante la pandemia.
Este artículo apareció originalmente en inglés. Translated by Daniel Parra. Read the English version here.
Las familias sin hogar permanecen ahora más tiempo en los refugios de la ciudad de Nueva York, incluso cuando la población general de los refugios disminuye, según muestran los datos de la ciudad.
Las familias con niños pasan casi 18 meses en promedio en los refugios del Departamento de Servicios para Desamparados (DHS por sus siglas en inglés), dos meses y medio más que el año fiscal anterior, según el informe anual de gestión del alcalde Bill de Blasio. La estancia promedio de las familias con niños en los refugios del DHS alcanzó los 520 días en el año fiscal 2021. Eso es más que 443 días en el año fiscal 2020 y 414 días en el año fiscal 2017.
Las estancias más largas se producen incluso cuando el número de familias que entran en los refugios del DHS se redujo en aproximadamente un 40 por ciento el año fiscal pasado, con las protecciones estatales contra el desalojo que impiden que muchas familias se quedaran sin hogar, muestra el informe. Poco más de 6.100 familias entraron en el sistema de refugios el pasado año fiscal (que comenzó el 1 de julio de 2020 y terminó el 30 de junio de este año) en comparación con 10.087 en el año fiscal 2020 y un asombroso 12.595 en el año fiscal 2017.
En el año fiscal de 2021 hubo 9.823 familias con niños en los refugios en un día promedio, en comparación con 11.719 en el año fiscal de 2020 y 12.415 en el año fiscal de 2019.
La oficina del alcalde culpó a la pandemia por las estancias más largas en los refugios, que según el informe complicó las visitas a los apartamentos. “Los esfuerzos para frenar la propagación del COVID-19, que alentó a los neoyorquinos, incluidos los propietarios y los corredores, a permanecer en el interior tanto como sea posible, dio lugar a una fuerte disminución de las exhibiciones de apartamentos antes de que el DHS cambiara a las exhibiciones virtuales”, dice el informe.
Sin embargo, la analista política principal de la Coalition for the Homeless (Coalición de Familias sin Hogar), Jacquelyn Simone, cuestionó esa justificación. Para cuando el año fiscal 2021 comenzó en julio de 2020, el DHS había comenzado a establecer exposiciones virtuales y a ajustarse a los desafíos de una pandemia que se había instalado tres meses antes, dijo.
“Sí que les llevó a las agencias de la ciudad algún tiempo llegar a un escenario seguro comparable para que la gente pueda estar viendo esos apartamentos, pero este informe es de julio de 2020 al 30 de junio de 2021”, dijo Simone. “Así que el argumento de que estaban en modo de crisis debido a la pandemia y no sabían cómo hacer que la gente viera un apartamento de forma segura era más convincente en el informe [del año fiscal 2020]”.
“Esperemos que el hecho de verlo con tanta crudeza en el informe del alcalde sea una llamada de atención para que las agencias de la ciudad trasladen a la gente con más urgencia”, añadió.
El DHS y la oficina del Alcalde no respondieron a las solicitudes de comentarios adicionales para esta historia, pero en el pasado han promovido la disminución de la tasa de familias sin hogar antes de la pandemia, atribuyendo la disminución a las protecciones más fuertes de los inquilinos y el trabajo del personal de la agencia y los proveedores sin fines de lucro.
Un número significativamente menor de familias con niños, así como de adultos solteros sin hogar —una población que ha aumentado durante la pandemia— se trasladó de los refugios a una vivienda permanente. Unas 7.186 familias con niños salieron de los refugios hacia una vivienda permanente el año pasado, en comparación con 7.992 en el año fiscal 2020 y 9.137 en el año fiscal 2009. Esa disminución se debió en gran parte a la disminución del número total de familias en el refugio, dijo la ciudad.
“Si bien hubo menos ingresantes al refugio en comparación con el período anterior, esto llevó a menos familias e individuos con estancias a corto plazo y resultó en una mayor proporción de la población con estancias a largo plazo en el refugio”, dice el informe.
6.535 adultos solteros pasaron de los refugios a la vivienda permanente el año fiscal pasado, en comparación con 7.890 en el año fiscal 2020 y 8.912 en 2019, muestra el informe. El descenso se produjo incluso cuando el número de adultos solteros en refugios aumentó a 18.012 el pasado año fiscal, frente a los 16.866 del año fiscal 20 y los 16.094 del año fiscal 19. En el año fiscal 17 hubo 13.626 adultos solteros en los refugios por día.
La duración media de la estancia de los adultos solteros y las familias adultas también se disparó el año pasado. Los adultos solteros pasaron en promedio 476 días en los refugios, en comparación con 431 días en 2020 y 383 días durante 2017. Las familias adultas pasaron una media de 773 días en los refugios —el equivalente a dos años y dos meses—, frente a los 630 en el 2020 y los 550 días en 2017.
Áine Duggan, presidenta y consejera delegada de la organización Partnership for the Homeless, dijo que los datos ponen de manifiesto la importancia de las protecciones contra el desalojo y la ayuda de emergencia para el alquiler para mantener a las personas en sus hogares y evitar un aumento de nuevas admisiones en los albergues.
“El número total está bajando, pero está bajando debido a la moratoria”, dijo Duggan. “Los desalojos son uno de los principales alimentadores del sistema de refugios, pero las reubicaciones son lentas y las estancias en los refugios son más largas. Lo que nos dice es que si la moratoria termina, la población de los refugios se disparará en la parte delantera del sistema y se disparará en los próximos años porque se tarda más en sacar a la gente”.
A finales del último año fiscal, la ciudad y una red de proveedores sin ánimo de lucro adquirieron 14 edificios utilizados durante mucho tiempo como albergues para personas sin hogar y comenzaron a convertirlos en viviendas permanentes para cientos de familias, aunque los problemas persisten en cada uno de ellos.
Se redujo por quinto año fiscal consecutivo el número de familias y personas que volvieron a los refugios menos de un año después de conseguir una vivienda permanente, algo que la ciudad considera un “indicador crítico” del éxito de las intervenciones.
En septiembre, la Administración de Derechos Humanos de la ciudad de Nueva York aumentó el valor de los vales de vivienda CityFHEPS —subvenciones que cubren un año de alquiler para familias y personas que han experimentado la falta de hogar. Tras años de defensa por parte de los neoyorquinos sin hogar y sus aliados, el Concejo aprobó en junio el aumento del valor del subsidio de la ciudad para igualar los niveles de la Sección 8 federal, desbloqueando potencialmente decenas de miles de apartamentos anteriormente inasequibles en los cinco condados.
Raysa Rodríguez, directora ejecutiva asociada del Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York, dijo que los datos del Alcalde refuerzan la necesidad de esos subsidios más fuertes para el alquiler.
“Creo que la conclusión es que el informe no hace más que confirmar lo que estamos escuchando de la gente acerca de la dificultad de utilizar los subsidios que no se establecieron en el valor correcto”, dijo Rodríguez. “El aumento de la duración de la estancia habla realmente de las dificultades que experimentan las familias cuando buscan una vivienda asequible permanente, incluso cuando tienen ‘Cartas de compra’ y cumplen los requisitos para recibir los subsidios de vivienda de la ciudad”.
Rodríguez, miembro de la Coalición de Familias sin Hogar de la ciudad de Nueva York (un financiador de City Limits), también advirtió que los datos pueden enmascarar una crisis pendiente que, por ahora, está frenada por las protecciones estatales contra los desahucios.
“Yo advertiría que no hay que establecer conexiones amplias entre el descenso del número de familias que entran en los refugios y un descenso de las necesidades”, dijo.
La serie de City Limits sobre las familias sin hogar en la ciudad de Nueva York cuenta con el apoyo del Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York y la Coalición de Familias sin Hogar. City Limits es el único responsable del contenido y la dirección editorial.
The post Niños de Nueva York permanecen más tiempo en albergues, aunque disminuye el número de familias sin hogar appeared first on City Limits.
The city’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS) said it will stop contracting with Aguila to run the men’s shelter inside the Park View Hotel on West 110th St., across the street from Central Park, by the end of the year as it seeks to weed out inadequate providers.
Adi Talwar
The city’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS) said it will stop contracting with Aguila to run the men’s shelter inside the Park View Hotel on West 110th Street by the end of the year, as it seeks to weed out inadequate providers.
New York City is kicking shelter provider Aguila, Inc. out of a Harlem hotel for homeless men and cutting ties with the troubled nonprofit, City Limits has learned.
The city’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS) said it will stop contracting with Aguila to run the men’s shelter inside the Park View Hotel on West 110th Street, across the street from Central Park, by the end of the year as it seeks to weed out inadequate providers. The Park View is the last site run by Aguila, once one of the city’s largest homeless shelter operators with dozens of facilities in Manhattan and the Bronx.
A DHS spokesperson said the building, which is owned by the notorious Podolsky family, may still function as a shelter run by a different nonprofit. The city does not appear to have issued a request for proposals for a new shelter operator at the site.
The decision comes amid an ongoing audit of the city’s sprawling shelter system, commissioned by the mayor in February, following a New York Times investigation into allegations of rape and bribery against the head of another major shelter operator, Bronx Parent Housing Network.
Aguila CEO Ray Sanchez said he did not know about the city’s decision until he was contacted by City Limits, but said his company would “[cease] to exist without New York City contracts.”
Sanchez, the former counsel to Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., took over Aguila in 2020 after the previous agency head was fired while the state attorney general conducted an investigation into allegations of financial crimes and bribery. He sought to reform the organization, he said.
He said Aguila worked with the city to establish a new type of pandemic-related facility at the Park View: a “pre-assessment” shelter housing men who may have been exposed to COVID-19 before they are assigned to shelters for longer stays elsewhere in the city. The former single-room occupancy hotel is currently known as the Jardin Central Pre-Assessment Shelter and earned “significant praise” from city officials, Sanchez said.
He said he met in October 2020 with senior city officials who informed him “that almost all of Aguila’s contracts would be canceled or reassigned to other providers except for the ‘Parkview Inn/Jardin Central Pre-Assessment.’”
“Nevertheless, the city expressed a willingness to work with Aguila at new sites,” he added in a statement. “To that end, I took several important steps to rehabilitate Aguila, such as implementing new financial controls and recruiting three upstanding attorneys to Aguila’s Board.”
Prior to the pandemic, the 110th Street building served as a shelter for adult families. It was the frequent subject of tabloid reporting.
One resident who spoke with City Limits outside the building Monday said men sleep in single rooms and share bathrooms in the 205-unit property overlooking Central Park. He said he arrived Friday and was informed that he would be moved to another shelter as early as Wednesday, as is common at the transitional site.
Three staff members who spoke with City Limits while entering or exiting the building Monday said they had not heard of any upcoming changes at the shelter.
Less than a decade ago, Aguila ran more than 40 shelters for single adults and families with children. The troubled but politically connected nonprofit managed to win contracts totaling more than $250 million since 2012, despite scathing accounts of financial mismanagement and unsafe conditions uncovered by the city comptroller’s office.
“In light of the repeated and systematic failures, DHS should discontinue its use of Aguila,” then-Comptroller John Liu wrote to Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2013.
At the time, Aguila was led by former DHS Commissioner Robert Hess and frequently provided services in shelters, like the Apollo Hotel and the Aladdin Hotel, owned by the Podolskys and their associate Alan Lapes. Those landlords have been accused of failing to maintain their buildings and driving tenants out in order to land lucrative city shelter contracts.
After Liu’s report, the nonprofit continued to score major contracts despite its reputation for shoddy services and hazardous conditions.
A 2019 audit by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office looked at five of the 24 shelters Aguila ran at the time. The inspectors rated conditions “poor” at two of the sites and “very poor” at three, where they found cockroaches and rodent feces inside an oven, a mangled floor covered in plywood, broken appliances and a missing fire extinguisher. New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer’s Office inspected 10 Aguila shelter units during a 2020 infant safety audit report. They documented “Safety and Health Concerns Due to Unsafe Sleep and Inadequate Unit Conditions” at all 10.
Adi Talwar
Prior to the pandemic, the 110th Street building served as a shelter for adult families. It was the frequent subject of tabloid reporting.
Aguila received $56.1 million from the city in the 2014 fiscal year, the year the Bloomberg Administration gave way to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s. Aguila continued contracting with the city under de Blasio, including agreements totaling $47 million in the 2018 fiscal year and $36.4 million in the 2019 fiscal year, the comptroller’s contract database checkbook.nyc shows. Aguila received $16.5 million last year and has so far taken in $6.9 million during the current fiscal year, which began July 1.
In addition to accusations of substandard services, Aguila has in recent years been embroiled in a legal dispute with another provider and a criminal probe targeting its former top executive. Ex-CEO Jenny Rivera was fired last year after Attorney General Letitia James’ office investigated her for bribery, money laundering and falsifying business records. James’ office declined to comment on the status of the case, or say whether the investigation is still underway.
Before her ouster, Rivera complained in an open letter to de Blasio about the city’s efforts to “systematically dismantle Aguila” by rejecting their contract bids and citing them for poor conditions. Rivera was replaced by Sanchez, who ran unsuccessfully for City Council in Manhattan’s District 7 earlier this year.
DHS’ systemwide audit of its shelters could lead to even more shake ups. The agency’s First Deputy Commissioner Molly Park described their strategy for ending contracts with problematic providers during an April 30 City Council hearing about the audit.
“These ongoing transformation efforts include phasing out certain providers who do not meet our high standards of service and care, and our comprehensive review of all providers and contracts continues,” Park said.
She noted that the city had ended its relationships with four shelter operators that oversaw egregious conditions, particularly inside cluster site shelters. They include the organizations We Always Care, Housing Bridge, Bushwick Economic Development Corporation and Children’s Community Services.
“We are four years into addressing a problem that built up over 40 years, overhauling the way we do business top to bottom, including removing noncompliant providers and building a bench of qualified and experienced new providers, while also meeting our legal and moral obligation to shelter all those who need it every single night,” Park added.
Advocates say they hope the audit will foster a safer shelter system and more moves to permanent housing. There were 45,616 people, including just 8,495 families with children, staying in DHS shelters on Sept. 27, according to the city’s most recent census.
“The right to shelter is a vitally important part of the city’s safety net, and we support oversight efforts to ensure that homeless New Yorkers are provided with safe, accessible, and clean shelters with services that meet their needs,” said Coalition for the Homeless Senior Policy Analyst Jacquelyn Simone.
“The city must also redouble efforts to prevent homelessness before it begins and to move people out of shelters and into permanent affordable housing as quickly as possible, which will allow for a smaller, more person-centered shelter system,” she added.
The post NYC Cutting Ties with Troubled Homeless Services Provider Aguila, Inc. appeared first on City Limits.
