Un ouvrier agricole décède après une descente de la police de l’immigration près de Los Angeles

Un ouvrier agricole est mort vendredi après avoir été blessé la veille lors d’une descente de la police de l’immigration près de Los Angeles, dans des fermes légales de cannabis où 200 personnes ont été arrêtées et où des affrontements entre agents et manifestants ont eu lieu.”La famille m’a informé qu’il se trouvait en soins intensifs, et ce matin, elle a confirmé qu’il était décédé”, a expliqué sur place à l’AFP Roman Pinal, vice-président de United Farm Workers, un grand syndicat agricole américain.L’opération a eu lieu jeudi à Carpinteria et Camarillo, deux communes rurales du comté de Ventura, situées à un peu plus d’une heure de route de Los Angeles. L’ouvrier décédé “n’a jamais été détenu” par les policiers, a assuré à l’AFP Tricia McLaughlin, une porte-parole du ministère de la Sécurité intérieure.”Bien qu’il n’était pas poursuivi par les forces de l’ordre, cet individu a grimpé sur le toit d’une serre et a fait une chute de 9 mètres”, a-t-elle ajouté, en précisant que les policiers “ont immédiatement appelé une ambulance”.Les agents fédéraux ont “arrêté environ 200 étrangers en situation irrégulière sur les deux sites”, et “ont essuyé des coups de feu” de la part d’un tireur “toujours en fuite”, que le FBI recherche désormais activement, a précisé le ministère dans un communiqué séparé.”Plus de 500 émeutiers ont tenté de perturber les opérations”, a ajouté le ministère, en expliquant que les agents opéraient avec des “mandats d’arrêt”.Les images des médias locaux montrent des agents masqués, en tenue anti-émeutes, disperser des dizaines de protestataires avec du gaz lacrymogène, et certains manifestants jeter des projectiles sur les voitures de police.- “Raclures” -Vendredi soir, Donald Trump a ordonné, sur sa plateforme Truth Social, à tout agent fédéral “qui serait victime de jets de pierres, de briques ou de toute autre forme d’agression, d’arrêter leur voiture et d’arrêter ces RACLURES, en utilisant tous les moyens nécessaires pour y parvenir.””Je ne veux plus jamais voir une voiture transportant un agent des forces de l’ordre être attaquée !”, a-t-il insisté, en dénonçant “un mépris total pour la loi et l’ordre”.Au cours de l’opération, la police a trouvé “10 enfants migrants”, selon le ministère, qui estime les avoir “sauvés d’une exploitation potentielle, de travail forcé”. L’entreprise Glass House, propriétaire des deux fermes visées, a assuré dans un communiqué qu’elle “n’a jamais sciemment enfreint les pratiques d’embauche applicables et n’emploie pas, ni n’a jamais employé, de mineurs”.Sur place, Aaron Fuentes, un superviseur qui travaille pour Glass House depuis deux ans a raconté avoir vu des dizaines de fourgons de la police de l’immigration débarquer jeudi.”Ils ont identifié les personnes pour vérifier si elles avaient des papiers ou non, puis ils les ont fait monter une par une dans les camionnettes”, a-t-il expliqué. “Je n’ai pas vu toute l’opération, mais il y a eu de la violence, des mauvais traitements.”- Proches désemparés -Vendredi, des dizaines de proches des travailleurs arrêtés faisaient la queue devant la ferme de Camarillo, désemparés, face à des agents de sécurité qui les laissaient rentrer sur l’exploitation pour récupérer leurs affaires et le solde de leur paie. “Nous sommes là depuis 6 heures du matin à poser des questions et ils ne nous donnent aucune information”, a confié Saul Munoz, un Colombien de 43 ans dont le fils a été arrêté hier.Ce dernier travaillait à la ferme depuis moins d’un mois.”J’ai juste besoin de savoir comment il va, qu’on me le ramène. Si c’est notre tour, nous partirons”, a soupiré M. Munoz. “La vérité, c’est que le rêve américain n’est plus vraiment un rêve américain.”Cette descente risque de raviver les tensions, un mois après les manifestations à Los Angeles contre la politique migratoire de Donald Trump, qui ont parfois dégénéré en violences. Des milliers de soldats de la Garde nationale sont toujours déployés dans la région, les opérations anti-migrants y sont quotidiennes et l’administration Trump conteste en justice le statut de “ville sanctuaire” de la mégapole démocrate, qui limite la coopération des forces de l’ordre locales avec la police de l’immigration.Vendredi soir, une juge fédérale a ordonné à l’administration Trump de prendre des mesures pour éviter les contrôles au faciès à Los Angeles et dans six autres comtés de Californie, dont celui de Ventura.

Worker dies after US immigration raid on California farm

A farm worker died on Friday after being injured during a raid by US immigration agents on a legal cannabis farm in California that resulted in the arrests of 200 undocumented migrants and clashes with protestors.President Donald Trump, meanwhile, called demonstrators involved in attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “slimeballs” and said they should be arrested.In another development, a district judge ordered a halt to “roving patrols” in Los Angeles by federal agents who were detaining suspected undocumented migrants without probable cause and denying them due process.District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong ordered an end to the arrests, which she said were being made “based upon race alone,” on whether a person was speaking Spanish or English with an accent or because of their place of work and ordered them stopped.Trump’s remarks and the court order come a day after a chaotic raid on a cannabis plantation in Ventura County some 56 miles (90 kilometers) from Los Angeles left one farm worker critically injured.The United Farm Workers labor union said in a post on X on Friday that the worker had “died of injuries they sustained as a result of yesterday’s immigration enforcement action.”Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokeswoman, said the man who died was never in custody.”Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a green house and fell 30 feet (10 meters),” McLaughlin said. “(Customs and Border Patrol) immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”The DHS said 200 undocumented migrants were arrested during raids on marijuana growing sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo on Thursday and 10 children were rescued “from potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking.”Glass House Brands, which owns the farms, said in a statement that it has “never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors.”DHS said more than 500 “rioters” had attempted to disrupt the operation and four US citizens are facing charges for assaulting or resisting officers.Tear gas was used against the protestors, some of whom were seen in television footage throwing projectiles at law enforcement vehicles. The department said immigration agency vehicles were damaged and a $50,000 reward was being offered for the arrest of an individual who allegedly fired a gun at law enforcement officers.- Showdown -In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he had watched footage of “thugs” throwing rocks and bricks at ICE vehicles, causing “tremendous damage.”Trump said he was authorizing law enforcement officers who are “on the receiving end of thrown rocks, bricks, or any other form of assault, to stop their car, and arrest these SLIMEBALLS, using whatever means is necessary to do so.””I am giving Total Authorization for ICE to protect itself, just like they protect the Public,” he said.Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to deport millions of migrants, has been involved in a showdown over immigration enforcement with Democratic-ruled California for weeks.The Republican president sent thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles last month to quell protests against roundups of undocumented migrants by federal agents.California Governor Gavin Newsom has said the troops were not necessary to address the mostly peaceful protests, but his legal efforts to have them removed have failed so far.The cannabis farm in Camarillo was calm during a visit by an AFP reporter on Friday as workers waited in line to collect their belongings and paychecks.”We’ve been here since six this morning asking questions but they’re not giving us any information,” said Saul Munoz, a 43-year-old Colombian whose son was detained on Thursday.”I just want to know how he’s doing,” Munoz said. “Bring him back to me and if it’s time for us to leave, we’ll leave.”The truth is the American dream is no longer really the American dream.”

Tourists, residents evacuated from Grand Canyon due to wildfires

Fast-spreading wildfires have forced the evacuation of part of the Grand Canyon, with the US National Park Service ordering visitors and residents away from its northern rim. “Due to the advancing Dragon Bravo Fire within Grand Canyon National Park, all North Rim residents are now in ‘GO’ status and should evacuate the North Rim immediately,” the National Park Service said in an X post on Friday afternoon. The Dragon Bravo Fire, which was sparked by lightning and has been burning since July 4, was 150 acres (61 hectares) in size Friday evening and zero percent contained, a US government incident report said.Park Service staff had already cleared the North Rim, which is less popular with tourists than the South Rim, of some 500 visitors late Thursday.Day-use access to the area was also closed due to a larger blaze called the White Sage Fire, which was burning outside the Grand Canyon National Park.However, it was approaching Jacob Lake, Arizona, a small settlement known as the gateway to the North Rim.About 10,973 acres (4,441 hectares) have been scorched by the White Sage Fire which is zero-percent contained, according to authorities, who released images of large columns of smoke rising above the scrubby desert.Jon Paxton, press officer for the Coconino County sheriff’s office, told AFP that a hotel and some businesses had been emptied.”Most of the folks we evacuated were campers,” he said. “This area is high desert and mostly open forest for camping.”- Started by lightning -The White Sage Fire was also started by lightning, during a thunderstorm on July 9.”Crews encountered very extreme fire behavior due to the dry conditions (and) gusty and erratic winds inhibiting the ability for fire fighters to safely engage the fire,” the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) said.One of the greatest wonders of the natural world, the Grand Canyon is the result of the Colorado River eating away at layers of red sandstone and other rock for millions of years, leaving a gash up to 18 miles (30 km) wide and more than a mile (1.6 km) deep.Park Service advised against any hiking into the canyon, due to extreme heat and wildfire smoke. A 67-year-old man died on Tuesday while attempting to reach the river in hot conditions.Last year almost five million people visited the world-famous site.Another popular site, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado, was also closed Friday because of a wildfire.

US sanctions Cuban president four years after historic protests

The United States announced its first sanctions on Friday against Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel for his role “in the Cuban regime’s brutality toward the Cuban people.”It is the latest in a series of measures by US President Donald Trump’s administration to increase pressure on the Cuban government.The United States was restricting visas for the Cuban president and other high-ranking government officials, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an X post on the fourth anniversary of historic anti-government protests in Cuba.Demonstrations rocked the island in July 2021 as thousands took to the streets to protest shortages of basic goods and worsening economic conditions.Hundreds were arrested, one person died and dozens were injured in the lagest protests since Fidel Castro’s 1959 communist revolution.The State Department said it was sanctioning “key regime leaders… for their involvement in gross violations of human rights.”Officials sanctioned included Defense Minister Alvaro Lopez Miera and Interior Minister Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas.The United States was also taking steps to sanction Cuban judicial and prison officials linked to the “unjust detention and torture of July 2021 protestors.” “While the Cuban people suffer shortages of food, water, medicine, and electricity, the regime lavishes money on its insiders,” Rubio said.Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez slammed the measures on X, saying the United States cannot “bend the will of its people or its leaders.”In May, the Cuban foreign ministry summoned the US envoy to Havana to protest his “interference” in the country’s internal affairs.The United States has a six-decade-old trade blockade in place against Cuba.- Political prisoners -Rubio took to X to accuse Cuba of torturing dissident leader Jose Daniel Ferrer and demand “proof of life.””The United States demands immediate proof of life and the release of all political prisoners,” Rubio said.According to the United States, 700 people are still imprisoned for taking part in the July 2021 protests. Human rights organizations put the number at between 360 and 420. Some of the convicted protesters have been released in recent months after serving their sentences.Others, including Ferrer — leader of the dissident group Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) — were released as part of a Vatican-mediated agreement in January after former US president Joe Biden removed the island from the blacklist of countries sponsoring terrorism.But at the end of April, Ferrer’s parole was revoked, prompting criticism from Washington, which has put Cuba back on the blacklist after Trump returned to power.The State Department also added the “Torre K,” a 42-story hotel in Havana, to its restricted list of entities off-limits to Americans, “to prevent US dollars from funding the Cuban regime’s repression.”The establishment, recently inaugurated in a central area of the Cuban capital, sparked criticism of the government’s huge investment in new hotels at a time when tourism is declining.

Boeing evades MAX crash trial with last-minute settlement

Boeing has reached a settlement with a man whose family died in a 737 MAX crash in 2019, a law firm told AFP on Friday, meaning the US aviation giant will avoid a federal trial slated for Monday. Paul Njoroge, who lost his wife and three children in the Ethiopian Airlines disaster in which 157 people died, was to seek damages from Boeing in a case in Chicago.”The case has settled for a confidential amount,” said a spokesperson for Clifford Law, the firm representing Njoroge, whose mother-in-law also died in the crash. “The aviation team at Clifford Law Offices has been working round-the-clock in preparation for trial, but the mediator was able to help the parties come to an agreement on behalf of Paul Njoroge,” added Robert Clifford, a senior partner at Clifford, in a statement.Until now, Boeing has succeeded in avoiding civil trials connected to the 737 MAX crashes of 2018 and 2019, reaching a series of settlements, sometimes only hours before trials were set to begin.The crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 on March 10, 2019 took place six minutes after departing Addis Ababa for Nairobi.Njoroge lost his wife Carolyne, who was 33, his mother-in-law Ann Karanja, and the couple’s three children: six-year-old Ryan; Kelli, who was four; and nine-month-old Rubi.Njoroge told a congressional panel in July 2019 he was haunted by ideas of the final moments of the flight, how his children “must have clung to their mother, crying, seeing the fright in her eyes.””It is difficult for me to think of anything else but the horror they must have felt,” he said. “I cannot get it out of my mind.”The trial set for Monday was expected to last five to seven days.Between April 2019 and March 2021, family members of 155 Boeing victims joined litigation charging the aviation giant with wrongful death and negligence.Boeing has accepted responsibility for the Ethiopian Airlines crash, blaming the design of the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), a flight handling system that malfunctioned.That system was also implicated in the Lion Air crash in 2018, when the 737 MAX 8 fell into the sea after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. The Lion Air crash also spawned dozens of lawsuits in the United States. But as of July 2025, only one case remained open.Boeing has said it has reached out-of-court agreements with more than 90 percent of civil complainants in the MAX cases.The company also has a settlement pending that would resolve a long-running Department of Justice criminal probe connected to the MAX crashes.Some MAX families are contesting the Department of Justice’s accord with Boeing, arguing that the company should face federal prosecution. US District Judge Reed O’Connor, in Texas, has yet to make a final decision on the proposed accord.

“Fito”, le plus grand narcotrafiquant d’Equateur, sera extradé vers les Etats-Unis

Le plus grand narcotrafiquant d’Equateur, Adolfo Macias surnommé “Fito”, a accepté vendredi d’être extradé vers les Etats-Unis, où le parquet l’accuse de trafic de cocaïne et d’armes, a annoncé la Cour nationale de justice du pays sud-américain. Considéré comme l’un des plus dangereux criminels d’Equateur, “Fito” avait été arrêté fin juin dans sa ville natale de Manta, à 350 km au sud-ouest de Quito, après un an et demi de cavale.Il s’était évadé en janvier 2024 du centre pénitentiaire de Guayaquil (sud-ouest) qu’il contrôlait et où il purgeait depuis 2011 une peine de 34 ans de réclusion pour crime organisé, trafic de drogue et meurtre.Vêtu de l’uniforme orange des détenus et la barbe taillée, “Fito” a assisté vendredi à l’audience en visio-conférence, depuis sa cellule dans une prison de haute sécurité, et répondu au juge: “Oui, j’accepte” (l’extradition). Cette décision ouvre la voie à son transfert. “Une fois l’extradition (…) acceptée, la procédure pour son transfert vers les Etats-Unis suivra son cours”, a indiqué la Cour dans un communiqué. Le président équatorien Daniel Noboa devra ordonner la remise de “Fito” à la justice américaine. Ce dernier deviendra le premier Equatorien à être extradé depuis le rétablissement en Equateur de cette procédure par référendum en 2024, une mesure défendue par M. Noboa dans sa lutte contre le crime organisé.Parlant d’une possible extradition, le président Noboa avait déclaré lors de sa capture: “le plus tôt possible sera le mieux”.”Nous l’envoyons avec grand plaisir pour qu’il réponde devant la loi américaine”, avait-il affirmé lors d’une interview avec CNN.- “Impitoyable” -Le parquet américain a accusé en avril “Fito” de trafic de cocaïne et d’armes. John Durham, procureur d’un tribunal de Brooklyn, a alors décrit Adolfo Macia comme “un leader impitoyable et un narcotrafiquant prolifique pour le compte d’une violente organisation criminelle transnationale”.Chef d’un des principaux gangs du pays, les Choneros, qui règne notamment sur le trafic de cocaïne, “Fito” a été associé à l’assassinat en août 2023 de l’un des principaux candidats à l’élection présidentielle équatorienne, Fernando Villavicencio.Ancien chauffeur de taxi, il était devenu l’ennemi public numéro un en Equateur, les autorités le désignant comme un “criminel aux caractéristiques extrêmement dangereuses”.Son évasion début 2024 avait déclenché une vague de violences sans précédent dans le pays, faisant des dizaines de morts et générant des mutineries dans plusieurs prisons, des combats de rue déclenchés par les gangs et une prise d’otages sur un plateau de télévision.Daniel Noboa avait alors déclaré le pays en “conflit armé interne” et déployé l’armée pour tenter de neutraliser la vingtaine de groupes criminels impliqués.Du fait de sa situation entre la Colombie et le Pérou – les plus grands pays producteurs mondiaux de cocaïne – et ses ports stratégiques sur le Pacifique, l’Equateur est devenu ces dernières années le théâtre de violents affrontements pour le contrôle des territoires destinés à l’acheminement de la cocaïne vers les Etats-Unis et l’Europe.Le gang des Choneros a des liens avec le cartel de Sinaloa au Mexique, le Clan del Golfo en Colombie, plus grand exportateur de cocaïne au monde, et les mafias des Balkans, selon l’Observatoire équatorien du crime organisé.Plus de 70% de toute la cocaïne produite dans le monde transite désormais par les ports de l’Equateur. En 2024, le pays a saisi un record de 294 tonnes de drogues, principalement de la cocaïne.

UN says hundreds killed in recent weeks while seeking aid in Gaza

Ten Palestinians were reported killed Friday while waiting for rations in Gaza, adding to nearly 800 similar deaths in the last six weeks, according to the UN, with Israel’s army saying it issued new instructions to troops following repeated reports of fatalities.Friday’s reported violence came as negotiators from Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas were locked in indirect talks in Qatar to try to agree on a temporary ceasefire in the more than 21-month conflict.Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he hoped a deal for a 60-day pause in the war could be struck in the coming days, and that he would then be ready to negotiate a more permanent end to hostilities.Hamas has said the free flow of aid is a main sticking point in the talks, with Gaza’s more than two million residents facing a dire humanitarian crisis of hunger and disease amid the grinding conflict.Israel began easing a more than two-month total blockade of aid in late May. Since then, a new US- and Israel-backed organisation called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has effectively sidelined the territory’s vast UN-led aid delivery network.There are frequent reports of Israeli forces firing on people seeking aid, with Gaza’s civil defence agency saying 10 Palestinians were killed Friday while waiting at a distribution point near the southern city of Rafah.- ‘Unacceptable’ -The UN, which refuses to cooperate with GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives, said Friday that 798 people have been killed seeking aid between late May and July 7, including 615 “in the vicinity of the GHF sites”.”Where people are lining up for essential supplies such as food and medicine, and where… they have a choice between being shot or being fed, this is unacceptable,” UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday’s deaths, but has previously accused militants of firing at civilians in the vicinity of aid centres.Asked about the UN figures, the military said it had worked to minimise “possible friction” between aid seekers and soldiers, and that it conducted “thorough examinations” of incidents in which “harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported”.”Instructions were issued to forces in the field following lessons learned,” it added in a statement.GHF called the UN report “false and misleading”, claiming that “most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys”.Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza’s civil defence agency, told AFP that Israeli forces killed 45 people overall in the territory on Friday.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties.- Truce talks -In Gaza’s south, a witness said Israeli tanks were seen near Khan Yunis, reporting “intense gunfire, intermittent air strikes, artillery shelling, and ongoing bulldozing and destruction of displacement camps and agricultural land”.Israel’s military said troops were operating in the area against “terrorist infrastructure sites, both above and below ground”.Hamas has said that as part of a potential truce deal it was willing to release 10 of the hostages taken during its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the Gaza war.Netanyahu, who is under pressure to end the war after mounting military losses, said that would leave 10 living hostages still in captivity.”I hope we can complete it in a few days,” he said of the initial ceasefire agreement and hostage release in an interview with US outlet Newsmax.”We’ll probably have a 60-day ceasefire, get the first batch out, then use the 60-day ceasefire to negotiate an end to this.”Netanyahu has said that a key condition of any deal is that Hamas first gives up its weapons and its hold on Gaza, warning that failure to do so on Israel’s terms would lead to further conflict.Another issue holding up a deal is disagreement on the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for hostages, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has said.Hamas has said it wants “real guarantees” for a lasting truce and Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza, and that it opposes any Israeli moves to push Palestinians into “isolated enclaves”.The group’s 2023 attack on Israel led to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.Out of 251 hostages seized in the attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.At least 57,823 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the start of the war, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Pope Leo’s Illinois childhood home to become tourist site

Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home has been sold to the village where he grew up, which intends to make it a historical site, local media reported Friday.The modest brick home in the Chicago suburb of Dolton, population 21,000, was sold by its current owner for $375,000, WGN television said.It said the owner had bought the house for $66,000 last year — prior to Pope Leo’s election as the first American pontiff — and done extensive renovations.The Dolton village board of trustees voted earlier this month to purchase the three-bedroom house and turn it into an attraction open to the public.According to WBEZ Chicago radio, the parents of Pope Leo — born Robert Prevost — bought the house in 1949 and sold it in 1996.