Brazil can include issues of its economic and commercial interest in the meetings of the “Group of the Rich”.

President Lula

247 The Itamaraty this Friday (5th) confirmed President Lula’s attendance at the next G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, between May 19th and 21st.

The G7 brings together Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom. Lula was invited to attend the meeting by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Also invited to the meeting were Australia, Comoros, Cook Islands, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea and Vietnam.

“Brazil shares values ​​that bring the G7 countries together such as strengthening democracy, economic modernization and protecting the environment and human rights and maintains permanent coordination with its members on issues on the international agenda, be it bilateral, whether in Framework of the G20 and international organizations in which Brazil and the members of the G7 cooperate,” the ministry said in a press release.

According to journalist Jamil Chade, Brazilian diplomats point out that G7 statements are usually released without the consent of the participating countries, which could embarrass Brazil.

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For political scientist and ESPM professor Denilde Holzhacker, Brazil can influence the group’s debates.

“The great benefit is sitting at the negotiating table with the main leaders of Western countries. This allows a country the size of Brazil to hold talks and influence decisions,” Holzhacker told Sputnik Brasil.

A further advantage for them would be the possibility for Brazil to bring up topics of its economic and commercial interest in the meetings of the “group of the rich”.

“The main downside is that there is pressure on some policies that the Brazilian government probably does not want to endure, such as the environmental issue, [….] in view of the conflict in Ukraine and the rapprochement between Brazil and China,” explained Holzhacker.

For those skilled in the art, participating in international debates means political costs and pressure for Brazil to change some positions that western countries dislike.

“Brazil has to face these costs and burdens […]”The invitation is a recognition of Brazil’s prestige, but it involves a logic of pressure on some issues that Brazil defends.”

If he attends the summit, President Lula’s main challenge will be maintaining his position of impartiality in the face of the Ukraine conflict.

In the recent joint statement, the G7 pledged to promote “strong sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine.” For Brazil, signing a similar document could undermine its position of impartiality in the Ukraine conflict. (With Sputnik Brazil).

Pilot programs aimed at granting permanent status to French-speaking immigrants have not had the expected success. Two years after they were founded by Quebec, two of these immigration fast lanes aimed at attracting favored companions and food factory workers have starving participation rates, according to Le Devoir. A third pilot program to recruit workers, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence, also fails to achieve its goals.

“These are very restrictive programs,” explains Me Laurence Trempe, an attorney at EXEO and a member of the Quebec Association of Immigration Lawyers (AQAADI). In response to the ministry’s call, she had already expressed some reservations about these pilot programs, which were put in place to allow certain immigrants not to lose access to permanent residency while the more restrictive Quebec Experience Program (PEQ) reform leaves them in place had a vacuum.

Launched in March 2021, the pilot program for food processing workers (slaughterhouses, fish factories, etc.) where the need is great should attract 550 people per year. However, in two years, barely 50 applications were submitted and 25 Quebec Selection Certificates (CSQ) were issued under this program.

Created at the same time and with the same goals, according to data from late 2022, the Companion Beneficiary List received just over 200 CSQ requests, less than half of which were issued.

Finally, with a target of 600 people per year, the pilot program in artificial intelligence and information technologies and visual effects received only 869 applications in two years, and 701 CSQs were issued. It should be noted that this two-part program reserves a total of 300 places (out of its annual target of 600) for non-French speakers and that this target was achieved in less than two months for one of the parts, that of communication, technologies, information and visual effects.

Too restrictive?

According to Dimitri Fraeys, vice president for innovation and economic affairs of the Conseil de la Transformation Alimentation du Québec, the low turnout can be explained by the difficulty for some in obtaining an equivalent of a high school diploma, which is however the one of the criteria and by the required experience of 24 months instead of 12 in some provinces. “For example, some workers will ask to be reassigned to New Brunswick, where the delays are shorter before they become permanent,” he explains.

However, some temporary workers have recently met the two-year experience requirement, which the Department of Immigration says could increase the number of applications. The latter says he has already seen an increase in recent months.

Is the requirement to have a Level 7 on the Quebec French Proficiency Scale a barrier? Perhaps, suggests immigration attorney Krishna Gagné, “but perhaps not in the case of favored companions who are generally required to speak French”. She notes that the program, aimed at favored escorts, will no longer attract interest by 2024 because the profession was recently upgraded to a higher category, allowing immigrants who practice it to qualify for the PEQ.

While Liberal MP for Nelligan, Monsef Derraji, called these programs “failures,” his Quebec solidaire colleague, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, called for a “relaxation” of the criteria.

The Minister for Immigration, Franciscanization and Integration (MIFI), Christine Fréchette, pointed out when studying the academic achievements that there are 550 annual places in each of the programs, but that there are no “goals” involved. She also said that the program must be given time to “make itself known” and that there are no plans to relax the criteria. “When you give a pilot program five years, you have to give the estimated time at the start to assess relevance and impact,” she argued. “For now, the programs remain as they are and when it comes time to analyze them, we’ll see if [convient] to soften. »

To see in the video

EL PAÍS launched an investigation into pedophilia in the Spanish Church in 2018 and has an updated database of all known cases. If you know of a case that has not yet come to light, you can write to us at: [email protected]. If the case is in Latin America, the address is: [email protected].

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The Provincial of the Bolivian Jesuits, Bernardo Mercado, testified before the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Andean country in the case of the pedophilia of the Spanish Jesuit Alfonso Pedrajas, who admitted in a secret newspaper that he had abused dozens of minors and how order covered it up for four decades . “We are fully committed to working with the judiciary and the proof of that is that I am here to present the requests that were sent to my office,” Mercado said before stepping in to testify before the prosecutor in charge of the trial Patricia Zenteno to testify.

The fall of this priest’s diary, known as Pica, has rocked Bolivia for the past week. After EL PAÍS published the story, the Bolivian Jesuits deposed eight former high officials, the Bolivian Bishops’ Conference apologized and the public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation. The latter to reveal who within the religious order covered up Pedrajas, who died in 2009. This Friday, the Bolivian police said they will go to Interpol to find out the whereabouts of the separated Jesuit superiors with Spanish and Bolivian nationality and to make sure they have not fled Bolivia.

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The “pedophile priest”, as the Bolivian press calls him, confessed that he had sexually abused his students and reported these crimes to his superiors and fellow Jesuits in a personal diary found after his death by his nephew Fernando Pedrajas in Madrid, where they sent the priest’s belongings after his death. The testimony of five victims corroborated the priest’s testimony. Despite the fact that Pedrajas’ criminal activities were known to the Bolivian Catholic leadership, he was never arrested or prosecuted.

The order, in addition to suspending eight provincials — five held office during Pica’s lifetime and three more after his death — filed a “general complaint” with police on Wednesday, based on the EL PAÍS report. Regarding the police initiative to request information from Interpol, the Jesuit lawyer Audalia Zurita has ruled out that this has happened and assured that everyone will be available to the authorities if they need it. Most of these priests are already in their eighties.

The alumni association of the Juan XXIII school, which was the main scene of Pica’s crimes, revealed that these had long been known to the Jesuits and that several students and priests who denounced them were eventually expelled, sanctioned or bribed to do so to avoid there would be a scandal.

The same happened with Fernando Pedrajas’ complaint of 2022, which was not considered by those responsible for the order until the report on Pica appeared in EL PAÍS. The Bolivian press has published the path of the complaint and identified some of the priests who have turned them down, despite Pope Francis’ directive to act proactively in these cases.

The victims of Pedrajas are organizing to demand “full redress” for what they suffered at a young age and left a lasting mark on their lives. However, it turns out they fear the high profile of the case will cause them to become victims again.

The mayor of the administrative capital of Bolivia, La Paz, Iván Arias, who studied at the Colegio Juan XXIII, stated that Pedrajas is a “Judas” who betrayed the work of this institution, which “saved the lives of many people”, she herself. The For his part, former President of Bolivia Carlos Mesa tweeted that “the crimes committed by the pedophile priest, protected by his superiors, must be punished. The victims must be fully compensated. The state must ensure the protection of minors in all educational establishments, regardless of who administers them.”

The boarding school was dedicated to educating the brightest children in the public education system, who came from poor families. It passed into the hands of the Society of Jesus in the 1970s and closed in 2008. Pedrajas, who became associate director of the college in 1972, exploited the economic vulnerability of these students to make them victims of what he called his “disease”.