In Los Angeles, nightmarish fires

Two days of nightmare, writes Los Angeles Timesbut the city is not finished and is preparing for several more days of fires. Very strong winds and immense flames have already caused considerable damage, left hundreds of people homeless and caused the death of five people.

The winds had dropped slightly this Thursday at the start of the day, the RFI correspondent tells UNITED STATES, Guillaume Naudin. On Wednesday evening, flames reached the hills above the famous Hollywood district, which was evacuated. They also threaten Pasadena. 130,000 people were evacuated. The president Joe Bidenwho was traveling in Los Angeles, went to the firefighters. And he canceled his trip in Italywhich was to be the last of his term, to oversee the federal response to the fires.

« A wall of flames fueled by winds consumes the enclaves of LA. », headlines the New York Timesabove a photo of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, a photo of trees twisted by the winds or on fire, a photo rendered orange, an intense orange, by the glow of the flames. THE New York Post summarizes the situation: “ Hell.A. », pun on Hell (Sick), LA (Los Angeles). « Apocalypse Los Angeles », adds the Washington Post. Wednesday evening, two new fires appeared, one of which caused, writes the LA Timesevacuations “ chaotic » near the Hollywood district. Two fires to which already exhausted firefighters were sent, underlines the daily.

Firefighters who ran out of water to fight the fire: at three a.m. Wednesday, all the water tanks in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood were dry, which, writes the LA Timesreduced the flow rate of fire hydrants located at height. “ Demand was huge in the area, four times more than normal, which took pressure off our system “, explained the general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Also readFires in California: Los Angeles surrounded by flames, the center of Hollywood evacuated

Controversies

But the president-elect Donald Trump claims water shortage is due to Democratic Governor Gawin Newsom: “ I tried to convince Gavin Newsom to let the water get there, but he sends it to the Pacific to save a little fish called a “smelt”, which also lives elsewhere, and because of this smelt they don’t have more water. » A controversy which saddens the main interested party, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom: “ I can’t even find an answer to that. People literally have to flee, others have lost their lives (…), and he is trying to politicize all of this. »

Another controversy: vehicles blocked by traffic jams when evacuating. THE New York Times speaks of a “ catastrophic evacuation in preparation for years » : « Pacific Palisades residents have long called for more attention to be paid to preparedness for the wildfires that strike the region with increasing frequency and ferocity. » A resident interviewed by the daily reports that at a meeting, they were told that evacuation routes should be determined at the time of the fire. Result: residents who try to flee the fires and find themselves stuck in cars that they ultimately have to abandon, and which will be half destroyed by the bulldozers who come to clear the way for the rescue teams.

Demonstrations this Thursday in Venezuela

Au Venezuelathe president Nicolas Maduro must be sworn in for a third consecutive term this Friday. The opposition, which claims that its candidate won last July’s presidential election, is calling for a large demonstration this Thursday. “ It’s over. Tomorrow we will all hug each other », wants to believe the leader of the opposition Maria Corina Machado, echoed by The National. The National who writes in his editorial: “ It is time to commit ourselves to the marrow of our bones to change politics, to restore democracy, to make freedom flourish. » But in Venezuela, writes As Is« the reconquest of democracy seems more of a distant ideal than an achievable reality ». As Is which in its editorial recalls – nonetheless – that “ destiny is not written “. Meanwhile, reports Latest Newsthe vice-president asserts that the opposition has joined forces with “ international networks of drug traffickers, pedophiles and murderers, who distil the dirt » to continue harming the country.

Haiti: cash shortage in the provinces

Frantz Duval, the editor-in-chief of News writerreturns to a recurring and daily problem for Haitians: the difficulty of finding cash outside the capital, cash which is all the more important as there are almost no alternative means of payment in the provincial towns. As main roads are blocked, ships are attacked at sea and there is no air route connecting the capital and other cities, banks cannot transfer large amounts of cash to provincial banks. In the provinces, where there is rationing on withdrawals, or “ people need cash ».

Investigation into Camisea, one of the largest gas projects in Latin America

Close-up on one of the largest gas projects in Latin America: Camisea. It is a gas field located in the southeast of Peruin the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Each year, this consortium of six companies extracts nearly 14 billion cubic meters of gas.

Also listenCamisea, promises and disillusions of Amazonian gas

This gas exploitation is the subject of research carried out by our colleagues from France 24 and the investigative media Disclose. RFI is associated with it – read a series of articles on the RFI website, “ The rush for gas “. Objective: to understand the functioning of this gas site and the involvement of French banks in the sector. Stefanie Student questioned journalist Alexander Abdelilah, who visited the Camisea site. He explained, among other things, that the impact of gas extraction on this fragile ecosystem is in theory controlled, among other things, by structures “ whose nature surprised us »: associative-type structures, but financed by the companies they are supposed to control.