Lives of Struggle and Strength For Brazil s Zika Families,Mar 12, 2017 · C M Y K,Bs-4C,E3 1 ,00...
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Late Edition VOL. CLXVI . . No. 57,534 © 2017 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017 ESCADA, Brazil — Not a soul was in sight on the narrow dusty street, except for a cat skittering under a three-quarter moon. It was 2:30 a.m., and in a small pink house up 29 steps carved jaggedly into a red clay embankment, Vera Lúcia da Silva was readying her baby for a journey to the city of Recife, two and a half hours away. Cradling Sophia Valentina, she walked through the fog-shrouded town, then climbed into a government van for the jostling ride, arriving just after sunrise. They make the arduous trip several times a week. It is the only way to get the treat- ment and therapy Sophia needs for an omi- nous array of problems caused by the Zika virus. Now more than a year old, Sophia is a child of the Zika epidemic, one of nearly 2,500 babies in Brazil born to infected mothers, with brain damage so profound the consequences are only beginning to be understood. Thirteen months after the World Health Organization declared Zika a global health emergency, some of the public alarm over the mosquito-borne virus that swept through Latin America is receding. In No- vember, the W.H.O. lifted its emergency designation, but Zika has hardly disap- peared. Thousands of new Zika infections continue to be reported throughout Latin America, and W.H.O. officials said that their action simply signals that, like ma- laria or yellow fever, Zika is a continuing threat in the region rather than an urgent pandemic. For families of Zika babies, however, the disastrous effects are only deepening. That is especially true in the impoverished cities and villages of northeastern Brazil, where the connection between the mysterious vi- rus and infants born with tiny misshapen heads was first detected and where hun- dreds of families are struggling to give these babies the best lives possible. Family relationships have been up- ended, precarious livelihoods shattered. Some parents have had to leave jobs to de- vote themselves to their child’s care. High rates of teenage pregnancy in Brazil add another layer of hardship, as adolescents with braces on their teeth and homework to finish find themselves the mothers of af- flicted infants. And doctors and researchers are just starting to grasp the medical conse- quences of Zika. Besides the alarmingly small heads characteristic of microcepha- ly, many babies have a long list of varied symptoms, leading experts to rename For Brazil’s Zika Families, Lives of Struggle and Strength Vera Lúcia and Ronaldo da Silva with their son, Richarlisson, and daughter, Sophia, a baby debilitated by Zika. PHOTOGRAPHS BY ADRIANA ZEHBRAUSKAS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Sophia being evaluated at a clinic. One therapist shined a light to assess vision problems. By PAM BELLUCK and TANIA FRANCO Continued on Page 12 WASHINGTON — President Trump and House Republicans are pressing forward with a high- risk strategy to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, disre- garding the views of medical pro- fessionals and potentially im- periling the party’s political future in conservative states where many voters stand to lose their health care. The effort could cause upheaval in an already roiled insurance market next year, as Republicans face voters for the first time with Mr. Trump in the White House — though that turmoil would happen only if the plans manage to clear a divided Senate. Mr. Trump is showing only a tenuous grasp of the legislative process and mercurial leadership in rounding up support. But Re- publicans who spent seven years promising to scrap President Barack Obama’s signature do- mestic achievement say their strategy is worth the risk. “If you ask someone to give up something, there will be resent- ment,” said Representative Mi- chael C. Burgess, Republican of Texas and chairman of the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health. But, he added, “If that claims my congressional career, so be it. It will be worth it to me to have effected this change.” The risks mounted steadily throughout this past week. The in- surance and health care industry cited likely damage to medical coverage for millions of Ameri- cans. Conservatives fought the bill on the grounds that it did too G.O.P. ADVANCES RISKY STRATEGY ON HEALTH CARE UNFAZED BY RISING PERIL Potential Upheaval for Consumers, Insurers and the Party By ROBERT PEAR and THOMAS KAPLAN Continued on Page 20 WASHINGTON — Henry A. Kissinger slipped into the State Department last week for a quiet lunch in his old office with Rex W. Tillerson, the former Exxon Mobil chief executive, who has all but covered himself in a cloak of in- visibility in his first six weeks as secretary of state. Describing his impressions, Mr. Kissinger, perhaps America’s most famous diplomatic strat- egist, chose his words judiciously. “The normal tendency when you come into that job is to increase your visibility and to show that you are present and in charge,” he said in an interview. “He wanted to first inform himself of all the nu- ances. I was impressed by the con- fidence and self-assurance that he showed.” But in the Washington of Don- ald J. Trump, where foreign policy proclamations often appear first on Twitter, and where White House advisers are still battling for dominance, this approach can be seen as brilliant, mystifying or a prescription for powerlessness. Mr. Tillerson has skipped every opportunity to define his views or give guidance to American di- plomats abroad, limiting himself to terse, scripted statements, taking no questions from reporters and offering no public protest when the White House proposed cutting the State De- partment budget by 37 percent without first consulting him. He suffered in silence, State De- partment officials said, when President Trump called, in a mat- ter-of-fact way, to reject Mr. Tiller- son’s choice for deputy secretary of state. He has been absent from the White House meetings with key world leaders, and when the State Department issued its annu- al report on human rights — usually a major moment for the United States to stand up against repression around the world — he skipped the announcement. Defenders say Mr. Tillerson has Tillerson Leads From Shadows Of State Dept. Silence Spurs Questions as White House Acts By DAVID E. SANGER Continued on Page 17 BERLIN — He was skinny in his trim, dark suit, an almost lu- pine figure, nervous and un- expectedly youthful for a presi- dent of Russia. Taking the lectern beneath the dome of the restored Reichstag, Vladimir V. Putin soon shifted to German, with a fluency that startled the German lawmak- ers and a pro-West message that reassured them. The Cold War seemed over. It was 2001, just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, and Mr. Putin pledged solidarity with America while also sketching a vision of Russia’s European destiny. He was the first Russian leader to ad- dress the German Parliament, and lawmakers jumped to their feet, applauding, as many depu- ties marveled that he could speak their language so well. Except for Angela Merkel, then the relatively untested leader of the opposition. She joined the standing ovation but turned to say something to a lawmaker who had grown up in the formerly Commu- nist East, as she had. She knew how Mr. Putin’s German had got- ten so good. “Thanks to the Stasi,” Ms. Merkel said, a reference to the East German secret police Mr. Putin had worked alongside when he was a young K.G.B. officer in Dresden. Fast-forward more than 15 Clashing Visions and Distrust Trail Putin and Merkel Rivalry By ALISON SMALE and ANDREW HIGGINS Continued on Page 10 BRIDGE-BUILDING Ivanka Trump works on issues championed by Democrats by forging alliances with Republican women. PAGE 18 Pressured, the website dropped sex ads, many of which featured minors. But the unexpected result is that prosti- tution may now be even riskier. PAGE 16 NATIONAL 16-23 Backpage and Prostitution An architect says his design was stolen in Dubai, where the law is not always the final word and outsiders can be vulnerable to mistreatment. PAGE 1 SUNDAY BUSINESS Landmark May Be Counterfeit The photographer Daniel Arnold is fascinated by Midtown Manhattan and explains his love for the nonstop motion of the area through his photos. PAGE 4 SUNDAY STYLES Capturing the Look U(D5E71D)x+=!#!/!#!_ Frank Bruni PAGE 3 SUNDAY REVIEW The landslide victory in India’s largest state consolidated the prime minister’s power and put him in a strong position for his re-election bid in 2019. PAGE 4 INTERNATIONAL 4-14 Modi’s Party Wins Indian Vote CHARLES DARWIN RE- SEARCH STATION, Galápagos — Of all the giant tortoises on these islands, where the theory of evolution was born, only a few have received names that stuck. There was Popeye, adopted by sailors at an Ecuadorean naval base. There was Lonesome George, last of his line, who spent years shunning the females with whom he shared a pen. And there is Diego, an ancient male who is quite the opposite of George. Diego has fathered hundreds of progeny — 350 by conservative counts, some 800 by more imagi- native estimates. Whatever the figure, it is welcome news for his species, Chelonoidis hoodensis, which was stumbling toward ex- tinction in the 1970s. Barely more than a dozen of his kin were left then, most of them female. Then came Diego, returned to the Galápagos in 1977 from the San Diego Zoo. “He’ll keep reproducing until death,” said Freddy Villalva, who watches over Diego and many of his descendants at a breeding cen- ter at this research facility, situat- ed on a rocky volcanic shoreline. The tortoises typically live more than 100 years. The tales of Diego and George demonstrate just how much the Galápagos — a province of Ecua- dor — have served as the world’s laboratory of evolution. So often here, the fate of an entire species, evolved over millions of years, can hinge on whether just one or two individual animals survive from one day to the next. Diego, and his offspring, are The Tortoise Whose Sex Drive Saved His Species By NICHOLAS CASEY Diego the giant tortoise has fa- thered hundreds, helping his species stave off extinction. MERIDITH KOHUT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Continued on Page 11 The call to Preet Bharara’s of- fice from President Trump’s as- sistant came on Thursday. Would Mr. Bharara, the United States at- torney in Manhattan, please call back? The following day, Mr. Bharara was one of 46 United States attor- neys appointed by President Barack Obama asked to resign — and to immediately clean out their offices. The request took many in his office by surprise because, in a meeting in November, Mr. Bhara- ra was asked by the then-presi- dent-elect to stay on. Mr. Bharara refused to resign. On Saturday, he announced on Twitter that he had been fired. It was unclear whether the president’s call on Thursday was an effort to explain his change of heart about keeping Mr. Bharara or to discuss another matter. The White House would not comment on Saturday. However, there are protocols governing a president’s direct contact with federal prosecutors. According to two people with knowledge of the events who were not authorized to discuss delicate U.S. Attorney In New York: ‘I Was Fired’ By MAGGIE HABERMAN and CHARLIE SAVAGE Continued on Page 23 RUSSIAN INQUIRY Some Democrats may drop support for an investigation into meddling in the 2016 election. PAGE 16 Today, sunshine and patchy clouds, very cold, high 32. Tonight, partly cloudy, very cold, low 20. Tomorrow, sunshine giving way to clouds, cold, high 35. Weather map is on Page 22. $6.00
Transcript of Lives of Struggle and Strength For Brazil s Zika Families,Mar 12, 2017 · C M Y K,Bs-4C,E3 1 ,00...
C M Y K Nxxx,2017-03-12,A,001,Bs-4C,E3
Late Edition
VOL. CLXVI . . No. 57,534 © 2017 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017
ESCADA, Brazil — Not a soul was insight on the narrow dusty street, except fora cat skittering under a three-quartermoon.
It was 2:30 a.m., and in a small pinkhouse up 29 steps carved jaggedly into ared clay embankment, Vera Lúcia da Silvawas readying her baby for a journey to thecity of Recife, two and a half hours away.Cradling Sophia Valentina, she walkedthrough the fog-shrouded town, thenclimbed into a government van for thejostling ride, arriving just after sunrise.They make the arduous trip several timesa week. It is the only way to get the treat-ment and therapy Sophia needs for an omi-nous array of problems caused by the Zikavirus.
Now more than a year old, Sophia is achild of the Zika epidemic, one of nearly2,500 babies in Brazil born to infectedmothers, with brain damage so profoundthe consequences are only beginning to beunderstood.
Thirteen months after the World HealthOrganization declared Zika a global healthemergency, some of the public alarm over
the mosquito-borne virus that sweptthrough Latin America is receding. In No-vember, the W.H.O. lifted its emergencydesignation, but Zika has hardly disap-peared. Thousands of new Zika infectionscontinue to be reported throughout LatinAmerica, and W.H.O. officials said that
their action simply signals that, like ma-laria or yellow fever, Zika is a continuingthreat in the region rather than an urgentpandemic.
For families of Zika babies, however, thedisastrous effects are only deepening. Thatis especially true in the impoverished citiesand villages of northeastern Brazil, wherethe connection between the mysterious vi-rus and infants born with tiny misshapenheads was first detected and where hun-dreds of families are struggling to givethese babies the best lives possible.
Family relationships have been up-ended, precarious livelihoods shattered.Some parents have had to leave jobs to de-vote themselves to their child’s care. Highrates of teenage pregnancy in Brazil addanother layer of hardship, as adolescentswith braces on their teeth and homeworkto finish find themselves the mothers of af-flicted infants.
And doctors and researchers are juststarting to grasp the medical conse-quences of Zika. Besides the alarminglysmall heads characteristic of microcepha-ly, many babies have a long list of variedsymptoms, leading experts to rename
For Brazil’s Zika Families,Lives of Struggle and Strength
Vera Lúcia and Ronaldo da Silva with their son, Richarlisson, and daughter, Sophia, a baby debilitated by Zika.PHOTOGRAPHS BY ADRIANA ZEHBRAUSKAS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Sophia being evaluated at aclinic. One therapist shined a
light to assess vision problems.
By PAM BELLUCK and TANIA FRANCO
Continued on Page 12
WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump and House Republicansare pressing forward with a high-risk strategy to repeal and replacethe Affordable Care Act, disre-garding the views of medical pro-fessionals and potentially im-periling the party’s political futurein conservative states wheremany voters stand to lose theirhealth care.
The effort could cause upheavalin an already roiled insurancemarket next year, as Republicansface voters for the first time withMr. Trump in the White House —though that turmoil would happenonly if the plans manage to clear adivided Senate.
Mr. Trump is showing only atenuous grasp of the legislativeprocess and mercurial leadershipin rounding up support. But Re-publicans who spent seven yearspromising to scrap PresidentBarack Obama’s signature do-mestic achievement say theirstrategy is worth the risk.
“If you ask someone to give upsomething, there will be resent-ment,” said Representative Mi-chael C. Burgess, Republican ofTexas and chairman of the Energyand Commerce subcommittee onhealth. But, he added, “If thatclaims my congressional career,so be it. It will be worth it to me tohave effected this change.”
The risks mounted steadilythroughout this past week. The in-surance and health care industrycited likely damage to medicalcoverage for millions of Ameri-cans. Conservatives fought thebill on the grounds that it did too
G.O.P. ADVANCESRISKY STRATEGYON HEALTH CARE
UNFAZED BY RISING PERIL
Potential Upheaval forConsumers, Insurers
and the Party
By ROBERT PEARand THOMAS KAPLAN
Continued on Page 20
WASHINGTON — Henry A.Kissinger slipped into the StateDepartment last week for a quietlunch in his old office with Rex W.Tillerson, the former Exxon Mobilchief executive, who has all butcovered himself in a cloak of in-visibility in his first six weeks assecretary of state.
Describing his impressions, Mr.Kissinger, perhaps America’smost famous diplomatic strat-egist, chose his words judiciously.“The normal tendency when youcome into that job is to increaseyour visibility and to show thatyou are present and in charge,” hesaid in an interview. “He wantedto first inform himself of all the nu-ances. I was impressed by the con-fidence and self-assurance that heshowed.”
But in the Washington of Don-ald J. Trump, where foreign policyproclamations often appear firston Twitter, and where WhiteHouse advisers are still battlingfor dominance, this approach canbe seen as brilliant, mystifying ora prescription for powerlessness.
Mr. Tillerson has skipped everyopportunity to define his views orgive guidance to American di-plomats abroad, limiting himselfto terse, scripted statements,taking no questions fromreporters and offering no publicprotest when the White Houseproposed cutting the State De-partment budget by 37 percentwithout first consulting him.
He suffered in silence, State De-partment officials said, whenPresident Trump called, in a mat-ter-of-fact way, to reject Mr. Tiller-son’s choice for deputy secretaryof state. He has been absent fromthe White House meetings withkey world leaders, and when theState Department issued its annu-al report on human rights —usually a major moment for theUnited States to stand up againstrepression around the world — heskipped the announcement.
Defenders say Mr. Tillerson has
Tillerson LeadsFrom ShadowsOf State Dept.
Silence Spurs Questionsas White House Acts
By DAVID E. SANGER
Continued on Page 17
BERLIN — He was skinny inhis trim, dark suit, an almost lu-pine figure, nervous and un-expectedly youthful for a presi-dent of Russia. Taking the lecternbeneath the dome of the restoredReichstag, Vladimir V. Putin soonshifted to German, with a fluencythat startled the German lawmak-ers and a pro-West message thatreassured them. The Cold Warseemed over.
It was 2001, just weeks after theSept. 11 attacks, and Mr. Putinpledged solidarity with Americawhile also sketching a vision ofRussia’s European destiny. Hewas the first Russian leader to ad-dress the German Parliament,and lawmakers jumped to their
feet, applauding, as many depu-ties marveled that he could speaktheir language so well.
Except for Angela Merkel, thenthe relatively untested leader ofthe opposition. She joined thestanding ovation but turned to saysomething to a lawmaker who hadgrown up in the formerly Commu-nist East, as she had. She knewhow Mr. Putin’s German had got-ten so good.
“Thanks to the Stasi,” Ms.Merkel said, a reference to theEast German secret police Mr.Putin had worked alongside whenhe was a young K.G.B. officer inDresden.
Fast-forward more than 15
Clashing Visions and DistrustTrail Putin and Merkel Rivalry
By ALISON SMALE and ANDREW HIGGINS
Continued on Page 10
BRIDGE-BUILDING Ivanka Trumpworks on issues championed byDemocrats by forging allianceswith Republican women. PAGE 18
Pressured, the website dropped sexads, many of which featured minors.But the unexpected result is that prosti-tution may now be even riskier. PAGE 16
NATIONAL 16-23
Backpage and ProstitutionAn architect says his design was stolenin Dubai, where the law is not alwaysthe final word and outsiders can bevulnerable to mistreatment. PAGE 1
SUNDAY BUSINESS
Landmark May Be CounterfeitThe photographer Daniel Arnold isfascinated by Midtown Manhattan andexplains his love for the nonstop motionof the area through his photos. PAGE 4
SUNDAY STYLES
Capturing the Look
U(D5E71D)x+=!#!/!#!_
Frank Bruni PAGE 3
SUNDAY REVIEW
The landslide victory in India’s largeststate consolidated the prime minister’spower and put him in a strong positionfor his re-election bid in 2019. PAGE 4
INTERNATIONAL 4-14
Modi’s Party Wins Indian Vote
CHARLES DARWIN RE-SEARCH STATION, Galápagos— Of all the giant tortoises onthese islands, where the theory ofevolution was born, only a fewhave received names that stuck.
There was Popeye, adopted bysailors at an Ecuadorean navalbase. There was LonesomeGeorge, last of his line, who spentyears shunning the females withwhom he shared a pen.
And there is Diego, an ancientmale who is quite the opposite ofGeorge.
Diego has fathered hundreds ofprogeny — 350 by conservativecounts, some 800 by more imagi-native estimates. Whatever thefigure, it is welcome news for hisspecies, Chelonoidis hoodensis,which was stumbling toward ex-tinction in the 1970s. Barely more
than a dozen of his kin were leftthen, most of them female.
Then came Diego, returned tothe Galápagos in 1977 from the SanDiego Zoo.
“He’ll keep reproducing untildeath,” said Freddy Villalva, whowatches over Diego and many ofhis descendants at a breeding cen-ter at this research facility, situat-ed on a rocky volcanic shoreline.The tortoises typically live morethan 100 years.
The tales of Diego and Georgedemonstrate just how much theGalápagos — a province of Ecua-dor — have served as the world’slaboratory of evolution. So oftenhere, the fate of an entire species,evolved over millions of years, canhinge on whether just one or twoindividual animals survive fromone day to the next.
Diego, and his offspring, are
The Tortoise Whose Sex Drive Saved His SpeciesBy NICHOLAS CASEY
Diego the giant tortoise has fa-thered hundreds, helping hisspecies stave off extinction.
MERIDITH KOHUT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Continued on Page 11
The call to Preet Bharara’s of-fice from President Trump’s as-sistant came on Thursday. WouldMr. Bharara, the United States at-torney in Manhattan, please callback?
The following day, Mr. Bhararawas one of 46 United States attor-neys appointed by PresidentBarack Obama asked to resign —and to immediately clean out theiroffices. The request took many inhis office by surprise because, in ameeting in November, Mr. Bhara-ra was asked by the then-presi-dent-elect to stay on.
Mr. Bharara refused to resign.On Saturday, he announced onTwitter that he had been fired.
It was unclear whether thepresident’s call on Thursday wasan effort to explain his change ofheart about keeping Mr. Bhararaor to discuss another matter. TheWhite House would not commenton Saturday.
However, there are protocolsgoverning a president’s directcontact with federal prosecutors.According to two people withknowledge of the events who werenot authorized to discuss delicate
U.S. AttorneyIn New York:
‘I Was Fired’By MAGGIE HABERMAN
and CHARLIE SAVAGE
Continued on Page 23
RUSSIAN INQUIRY SomeDemocrats may drop support foran investigation into meddling inthe 2016 election. PAGE 16
Today, sunshine and patchy clouds,very cold, high 32. Tonight, partlycloudy, very cold, low 20. Tomorrow,sunshine giving way to clouds, cold,high 35. Weather map is on Page 22.
$6.00
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