Juan Carlos Fuentes, 43; Luis Ramón Amundarain, 36; Eduard Hidalgo, 46; Dushak Milovcic, 24; Robert Sánche;, Jesús Carreño; Eduardo Jaime; Luis Alí Martínez; Alejandro Andrés Carranza Medina, 42; Ronald Arregocés; Adrián Lubo (ages unknown); Pedro Ramón Holguín Holguín, 40; Carlos Manuel Rodríguez Solórzano, 34; Chad Joseph, 26; Rishi Samaroo (age unknown); and Ricky Joseph (age unknown) were 13 of those killed by US forces in their attacks on small boats in the seas of the Caribbean in the lead up to their attack on Venezuela. The justification of these fatal attacks was that the 194 victims were all “narco-terrorists”. The men were from across the region: Venezuela; Colombia; Ecuador; Trinidad and St Lucia but were in common young people living in extremely precarious conditions, doing whatever work they can to support their families,
There is no evidence that the US military have made much effort to identify those they have killed. This instead has been the courage and perseverance of Latin American journalists which have made up for this disrespect.
Such disrespect was shown to be unforgiveable in South Korea when a Starbucks made light of the Gwanju massacre of 1980. This crucial moment when hundreds were killed in a mass protest against martial law imposed by the military strongman Chun Doo-hwan was referenced with a pun on Tank Day in the advert. Tanks had been used in Gwanju an people of the country when so many were killed had just last year acted to prevent a President becoming a dictator. The CEO of Starbucks Korea was forced to resign.
Yves Sakila was a 35 year old working man, originally from the Congo who had lived in Ireland since he was a teenager. He was murdered George Floyd style by five men on busy Henry Street in Dublin, capital of the country. His horrible death followed recorded comments by a former Prime Minister (Taoiseach) and Member of Parliament for the centre od the city, one Bertie Ahern. He said, as giving the green light for what happened “the ones I worry -about are the Africans” and that Ireland “can’t be taking in people” from “the Congo and all these places.”
At least 82 miners were killed at the Liushenyu Coal Mine, run by the Tongzhou Group, in Shanxi Province, China. Many more were injured and these injuries are liable to be horrific from the explosion that caused the deaths. State media reported that the levels of carbon monoxide – a highly toxic, odourless gas – in the mine were found to have “exceeded limits”. Even though China is highly advanced in its development and use of renewable energy, the equal state enthusiasm for AI and its data centres means the demand for coal is intense accounting for over half of national energy consumption. it is the worst case for a decade and there has been a gradual reduction in cases, and a 2024 study found that safety policies have some impact on accident occurrence in coal mines. But that “Although there has been a decrease in accidents and deaths over time, higher mortality rates are observed during periods of increased production intensity.”