The Wall Street Journal - 07.09.2019 - 08.09.2019

A8| Saturday/Sunday, September 7 - 8, 2019 *** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

WORLD NEWS

Mr. Bolsonaro’s administra-

tion has argued that cuts to

Ibama’s budget were in line with

general budget cuts to combat

the country’s fiscal crisis.

Ibama has issued fewer fines

under Mr. Bolsonaro—2,

from January to August this

year, compared with 3,213 in

the period last year, Mr. Salles

said. He said the decrease was

insignificant, but it didn’t mat-

ter because the current system

wasn’t working anyway given

that authorities estimate that

only 5% of the fines, or even

less, are ever paid.

Mr. Salles also rejected criti-

cism that the government has

dismantled Ibama, saying that

he fired regional bosses who

didn’t agree with his policies,

and has struggled to replace

them given the low salaries for

those posts.

Instead, he criticized Bra-

zil’s former leftist leaders and

foreign-backed organizations

in the Amazon, accusing them

of trying to turn the region

into an “open-air museum” for

trees, where people are only

allowed to exist in primitive

ways.

Cattle amble in the Amazon after a fire in Apui. ‘The Amazon is not just a zoo to be observed,’ says Environment Minister Ricardo Salles.

BRUNO KELLY/REUTERS

On Thursday, New York

state health officials said they

identified vitamin E acetate, or

oil, in some samples of vaping

products linked to several

cases and have made it a key

focus in their investigation.

Late Friday, the Food and

Drug Administration announced

that people should avoid THC-

containing products specifically.

Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC,

is a compound in marijuana

known for its psychoactive ef-

fects and has been associated

with many of the illnesses.

They also said that most of the

THC products tested contained

“significant amounts” of vita-

min E acetate.

The FDA still cautions that

there isn’t enough evidence to

pinpoint vitamin E acetate as

the cause of the illnesses, but

people should avoid inhaling

the substance. They also

warned against buying THC

products off the street be-

cause consumers can’t be sure

whether the unregulated prod-

ucts contain vitamin E acetate.

There were 35.9 million

marijuana vape pens and car-

tridges sold in the year ended

Aug. 31 in licensed recreational

marijuana stores in California,

Colorado, Nevada and Wash-

ington, according to Marijuana

Business Daily.

Roughly 13.8 million people

in the U.S. were users of nico-

tine e-cigarettes as of June,

according to tobacco giant Al-

tria Group Inc. The company

estimates that among them

more than seven million use e-

cigarettes exclusively.

A spokesman for Juul Labs

Inc., which represents about

70% of e-cigarette sales in

stores tracked by Nielsen, said

the startup has been closely

monitoring the situation.

“We appreciate the work of

investigation into this issue.”

A decline in nicotine vaping

could lead to increased ciga-

rette sales.

Altria is the biggest U.S. ciga-

rette company, and the Marl-

boro maker’s share price jumped

following the CDC’s announce-

ment before finishing the day

little changed. Shares of British

American Tobacco PLC, which

owns Reynolds American, were

up 0.8% in after-hours trading.

A CDC spokesman said it is

investigating more than 450

vaping cases in 33 states and

one U.S. territory, suggesting

the number of reports of cases

has more than doubled since

the agency updated its probe

last week. “Although more in-

vestigation is needed to deter-

mine the vaping agent or

agents responsible, there is

clearly an epidemic that begs

for an urgent response,” David

Christiani, a Harvard Univer-

sity public-health professor,

wrote in an editorial published

online Friday in the New Eng-

land Journal of Medicine.

Also on Friday, the medical

journal published three reports

providing the most comprehen-

sive look at the vaping-injury

cases so far. The CDC reported

its own findings after looking

at a small number of cases.

One study reviewing 53 pa-

tients in Wisconsin and Illinois

found abnormalities in the lungs

and chests of the patients who

were scanned. The researchers

believe the inflammation or in-

jury seen in the patients was

due to some sort of chemical ex-

posure. “What’s striking is that,

in general, these individuals are

young and pretty healthy, and

most of them are men,” said

Jennifer Layden, the chief medi-

cal officer at the Illinois Depart-

ment of Public Health and first

author on the study.

WORLDWATCH

to budget cuts at Ibama, the

government’s environmental

protection group, and his fiery

pro-farming rhetoric that they

say has given loggers more

confidence to cut down the

forest.

“This creates a sense of im-

punity that is clear to see

across the region,” said Maurí-

cio Voivodic, executive director

in Brazil of WWF, the global

conservation group.

Mr. Voivodic said existing

laws already allow forest dwell-

ers to survive from its re-

sources and the government

should focus on stopping illegal

deforestation. “The administra-

tion is making a mistake,” he

said.

Mr. Salles agreed that Mr.

Bolsonaro’s rhetoric may have

changed behavior among some

illegal loggers, but said that the

president had been misunder-

stood.

“There are people who cre-

ated false expectations that

this government would allow

illegal logging,” said Mr. Salles,

adding that the government

strictly opposes any type of

crime.

tion and endangering one of

the planet’s best natural de-

fenses against climate change.

French President Emmanuel

Macron has threatened to pull

out of a landmark trade deal

clinched in June between sev-

eral South American nations

and the European Union, while

Germany and Norway have sus-

pended funding for environ-

mental projects in protest.

Multinational companies

have joined the backlash, with

H&M, one of the world’s largest

clothing brands, becoming the

latest group on Thursday to

suspend leather purchases

from Brazil over fears that land

grabbers are racing to clear the

Amazon for pasture.

From January through the

end of July, some 1,800 square

miles of rainforest have been

cleared—almost the size of Del-

aware, and nearly 70% more

than in the period last year, ac-

cording to Brazil’s space

agency.

The number of fires in the

Amazon—the preferred method

by land grabbers to clear forest

that is then illegally sold to

farmers and ranchers—has

more than doubled from 2018,

the agency said.

Environmentalists have

blamed Mr. Bolsonaro for the

greater destruction, pointing

BRASÍLIA—Brazil’s environ-
ment minister said economic
development in the Amazon is
the best way to protect the
rainforest, accusing foreigners
and his leftist predecessors of
trying to turn the region into
an untouchable sanctuary.
Ricardo Salles, who took of-
fice in January under conser-
vative President Jair Bolson-
aro, told The Wall Street
Journal the government plans
to develop the forest’s indus-
tries—from mining to palm-oil
production—giving people in
the region an alternative to il-
legal deforestation and wildcat
farming.
“There are more than 20
million people living in the Am-
azon who need to survive,” he
said. “The Amazon is not just a
zoo to be observed.”
His comments come in the
wake of a bitter showdown be-
tween Mr. Bolsonaro and Euro-
pean leaders, who have accused
him of accelerating deforesta-

BYPAULOTREVISANI
ANDSAMANTHAPEARSON

Brazil Pushes

Development

In Rainforest

Environment chief says

opportunity will save

Amazon from illegal

logging and farming

County health officials said
they were investigating a fatal-
ity in the county that was asso-
ciated with vaping. The CDC
has yet to confirm this death.
The latest reports follow the
deaths of individuals in Illinois
and Oregon after using a vap-
ing device. The cause of the ill-
nesses is a mystery, though
health authorities have linked
them to the vaping of key mar-
ijuana ingredients or nicotine.
Most of the cases seem to be
cannabis-related, state and fed-
eral health officials say.

Continued from Page One

FROM PAGE ONE

Alert Is

Given on

Vaping

CUBA

Sanctions Tightened,

Stifling Dollar Flows

The U.S. Treasury Department

said it would curb remittances to

Cuba and ban some money trans-

fers through U.S.-regulated banks

in a stiffening of a sanctions ban

it says will further financially iso-

late the country.

The Trump administration be-

gan reversing an Obama-era

thawing of relations early in its

tenure, ratcheting up sanctions

in an attempt to coerce the

communist regime to allow de-

mocracy and end human-rights

abuses against political dissi-

dents.

U.S. tensions with Havana

have increased amid Cuba’s alli-

ance with Venezuela’s longtime

ruler, whose government the

U.S. says is illegitimate.

The Cuban mission to the

United Nations didn’t respond to

a request to comment.

The Treasury said it would

cap remittances from the U.S. to

Cuban nationals at $1,000 a per-

son for each quarter, and pro-

hibit remittances to close family

members of blacklisted Cuban

officials and Communist Party

members.

The new rules will take effect

Oct. 9.

—Ian Talley

INDIA

Moon Probe Loses

Contact With Center

India lost communications

with Chandrayaan-2 just as the

moon lander was about to reach

the lunar surface early Saturday.

Minutes away from the

scheduled touchdown, the

screen at the Indian Space Re-

search Organization’s monitoring

center in Bangalore showed the

lunar lander veering away from

its expected path.

After more than 20 tense

minutes, ISRO chairman K. Sivan

said the lander was about 2.1 ki-

lometers from the surface and

then stopped sending signals.

“The communication from

lander to ground station was

lost,” he said. “The data is being

analyzed.”

After Russia, the U.S. and

China, India is trying to become

the fourth country to land an

unmanned craft on the moon.

The lander had a small lunar

rover inits belly. It was sched-

uled to move around the lunar

surface, analyzing the nearby

terrain and minerals for two

weeks.

—Eric Bellman

CHINA

Shanghai Disneyland

To Allow Outside Food

Walt Disney Co. will allow

visitors to Shanghai Disneyland

to bring their own food inside

the theme park, in a reversal

that follows a public outcry

about perceived discrimination

against Chinese customers.

Food items will be allowed in

“provided they are not in con-

tainers with reheating capabili-

ties, do not require preparation

and are for self-consumption,”

the resort complex that includes

Shanghai Disneyland said.

The policy shift comes after a

Chinese law student sued Dis-

ney in March over the U.S. en-

tertainment giant’s ban on out-

side food at the park.

Last month, Shanghai Disney-

land apologized for the “inconve-

nience caused to tourists” and

said it was listening to sugges-

tions. Disney’s other parks in

Asia—in Hong Kong and Tokyo—

are subject to the food ban, and

it wasn’t clear whether that pol-

icy would change.

—Bingyan Wang

Robert Mugabe, a school-
teacher-turned-guerrilla
fighter who helped topple
white colonial rule in Zimba-
bwe only to lead the country
to the brink of economic ruin,
is dead.
Mr. Mugabe died in a Singa-
pore hospital, where he had
traveled frequently for medical
treatment,
and less
than two
years after
a bloodless
coup ended his 37-year rule
over the southern African
country. He was 95 years old.
President Emmerson Mnan-
gagwa, the former deputy who
toppled him, confirmed Mr.
Mugabe’s death in a message
from his official Twitter ac-
count Friday. “Cde Mugabe
was an icon of liberation, a
pan-Africanist who dedicated
his life to the emancipation
and empowerment of his peo-
ple,” Mr. Mnangagwa said.
“His contribution to the his-
tory of our nation will never
be forgotten.”
On the streets of Zimba-
bwe’s capital Harare, the for-
mer strongman’s death was
received in quiet, with small
groups of people gathering to
discuss the news. Their silence
stood in contrast with the ju-
bilation that greeted Mr.
Mugabe’s ouster in 2017.
For most Zimbabweans, the
end of the Mugabe era hasn’t
brought the change they once
expected.
The country’s official an-
nual inflation rate spiked once
again in June, to 176%. In re-
cent weeks, there have been
crackdowns on protesters, op-
position activists and other
government critics.

“The author of our prob-

lems is dead,” said Tinotenda,

a 22-year-old student who de-

clined to give his last name. “I

am in college now, but I don’t

know whether or not I will get

a job. Mugabe got us where we

are now.”

Mr. Mugabe’s topsy-turvy

rule became the narrative of

Zimbabwe’s independence

story. In 1980, he was elected

prime minister of the newly

independent nation and ini-

tially went to great lengths to

cultivate goodwill among

white people. He would fre-

quently invite Ian Smith, the

erstwhile leader of the white-

minority government that ran

the country then known as

Rhodesia, to tea. The former

colony had detached from the

British Empire 15 years earlier,

but many white settlers re-

tained deep ties to Britain.

When his Zanu-PF party

lost control of Parliament in

2000, in part because white

farmers had swung their sup-

port behind a rival, Mr.

Mugabe felt betrayed. In keep-

ing with a pattern that defined

his long political career, he

moved to neutralize his oppo-

nents, giving the green light

for veterans of Zimbabwe’s

liberation war to invade white-

owned farms.

Over the next several years,

white farmers and business

owners left the country, send-

ing the economy into a tail-

spin. Thousands of Zimba-

bwe’s black professionals

followed. Elections in 2002

and 2008 turned violent. Infla-

tion spun out of control and

the country began to import a

main food staple—maize—to

stave off hunger.

As hunger and poverty

spread, the man who came to

power as a new African demo-

crat ended up as another Afri-

can despot.

It was an ailing Mr.

Mugabe’s failure to control an

intensifying succession battle

that ended his reign. On the

evening of Nov. 14, 2017, tanks

and soldiers directed by Mr.

Mnangagwa, whom Mr.

Mugabe had purged as vice

president days earlier, moved

into Harare. Locked in his opu-

lent “Blue Roof” mansion on

the outskirts of the city, Mr.

Mugabe watched his hold over

the country and party evapo-

rate within days.

Hundreds of thousands of

Zimbabweans took to the

streets to celebrate his im-

pending departure. He re-

signed from the presidency on

Nov. 21, 2017, as his Zanu-PF

colleagues were preparing to

impeach him.

Mr. Mugabe didn’t cease to

chide his opponents, even in

retirement.

In one of his final public

appearances, on the eve of

2018 elections that were even-

tually won by Mr. Mnangagwa,

a frail and at times disoriented

Mr. Mugabe endorsed the op-

position over the party he had

led for much of his life.

“I cannot vote for those

who have tormented me,” he

said.

BYPETERWONACOTT
ANDGABRIELESTEINHAUSER

Ruler Took Zimbabwe to Edge of Ruin

Robert Mugabe in 2008, 28 years into his long, tumultuous reign.

JEROME DELAY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

OBITUARY
ROBERT MUGABE
1924-

the CDC, FDA and other public

health authorities and are confi-

dent that they will get to the

bottom of this issue,” he said,

adding that Juul’s products don’t

include vitamin E or any com-

pound derived from cannabis.

Altria, which owns a 35%

stake in Juul, declined to com-

ment. Reynolds American Inc.,

maker of Newport cigarettes,

also owns Vuse, the No. 2 U.S.

e-cigarette brand. A Reynolds

spokeswoman said: “We are

glad to see the CDC has appro-

priate resources for a fulsome

CDC is investigating

450 vaping cases in

33 states and one

U.S. territory.