LIMA, Peru (AP) — Pope Francis strongly condemned corruption in Latin America as a “social virus” infecting all aspects of life in stern remarks Friday to Peru’s president and high-ranking political leaders, several of whom are embroiled in the region’s biggest graft scandal.
Hours after decrying the destruction of Peru’s Amazon, the pontiff warned President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and other leaders gathered that another, more subtle form of environmental degradation is also pervading society: corruption.
“How much evil is done to our Latin American people and the democracies of this content by this social virus,” the pope said. “Everything being done to combat this social scourge deserves our utmost attention.”
The remarks come less than a month after Kuczynski narrowly avoided impeachment over $782,000 in payments Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht made to his private consulting firm over a decade ago when he served as a minister. Odebrecht has admitted to paying hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to officials throughout Latin America in exchange for lucrative public works contracts.
The bribery scandal has ended the careers of some of Latin America’s most prominent politicians and in Peru two former presidents stand accused of accepting money from Odebrecht while a third is under investigation.
Peru has been jolted in recent weeks into a new period of uncertainty following Kuczynski’s near ouster and the subsequent pardon of former strongman Alberto Fujimori from a 25-year prison sentence. The pardon sent thousands of Peruvians into the streets in protest and reopened wounds from a bloody chapter in Peru’s history.
While some Peruvians credit Fujimori with stabilizing the nation’s economy and defeating Maoist guerrillas in the 1990s others condemn him for having permitted grave human rights abuses. Fujimori was convicted for his role in the deaths of 25 Peruvians in addition to having sanctioned the use of military death squads.
In the weeks since his release angry Peruvians have staged multiple protests and scrawled graffiti with phrases like “Fujimori never again” on buildings around the capital city.
The president dodged impeachment after Fujimori’s lawmaker son, Kenji Fujimori, and a small group of lawmakers from his party surprisingly abstained from voting in what many Peruvians believe was a quid pro quo to release the former president from jail. Both Kenji Fujimori and his sister Keiko Fujimori, a two-time presidential candidate, were on hand for the pope’s remarks Friday.
Keiko Fujimori has been under investigation into whether she received money from Odebrecht during her campaign.
Francis called for a greater culture of transparency between the public and private sectors and society in his speech, saying that, “No one can be excluded from this process.”
Alpha Kappa Alpha’s annual event “Shades of Africa” scheduled for February 21 has been postponed. Please be on the look out for announcements about the rescheduled date.
Bressay Development Ltd is a not for profit community group which runs the Speldiburn Cafe and Good As New Shop in the former Bressay Primary School along with a community library and rooms available for hire, used regularly for meetings, sewing classes, yoga and by the Bressay Under 5s group. RAM Knitwear and artist Aimee Labourne have studios within the school.
The main aim of our organisation is to secure and sustain a vibrant future for Bressay, with an active, connected, thriving and resilient community.
Objectives include retaining and supporting the existing population; improving and developing facilities on the Island; identifying and exploring funding opportunities for community activities on the island and strengthening the community bond.
Since its formation, BD Ltd has produced a quarterly newsletter ‘Weel Bressa, Whit News’, organised regular community skips for the collection of bulky household waste and held numerous social and fundraising events. BD Ltd provides a recycling facility at the school where Bressay residents can leave newspaper, batteries, ink cartridges and drinks cans to be processed for recycling.
Since securing the lease of the former primary school in December 2015 and with grant assistance from the Climate Challenge Fund, Awards for All, Shetland Islands Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
BD Ltd have worked hard to create and run a community hub which includes a café, generous creative studio and exhibition spaces, a good as new shop, community library, community training / work room and recycling facilities.
Bressay Development Ltd is currently managed by seven volunteer directors and employs a part time development worker and part time café staff.
Originally set up in January 2014 as Bressay Community Development Association, the group's intention was to address major challenges faced by the residents of Bressay including depopulation, an aging population, lack of on-island services and increasing ferry fare costs to the Shetland mainland.
Set up to “Secure and sustain a vibrant future for Bressay, with an active, connected, thriving and resilient community”, Bressay Development Ltd have two sub groups set up to pursue environment and tourism ideas.
The Skills for Sustainability project has been one part of a larger effort by BD Ltd to transform an empty former primary school building into a thriving community hub.