Months after a violent attack in Panama, Gatineau couple focuses on recovery
After being attacked in Panama at the end of October while travelling, a couple from Gatineau, Que., is now taking time to recover from the physical and mental trauma.
“I think it’s good to be with friends, with family, but at the same time, my heart is over there. It’s somewhere else,” said Geneviève Plouffe, who returned home a month ago with her partner Martin Audette.
They were in the middle of a years-long road trip across South and Central America.
“The plan was not to come [home]. The plan was to simply travel and live the life. But I don’t know how I feel.”
Plouffe and Audette were inside their parked bus, which they had transformed into a mobile home, near the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal on Oct. 28 when attackers opened fire and forced their way inside the vehicle.
The men dragged Audette out and beat him with a hammer and the butt of a gun, Plouffe said.
Others entered the bus and demanded money, threatening Plouffe’s life.
Geneviève Plouffe says she and her husband Martin Audette were inside their parked bus on Oct. 28 when a group of armed assailants fired on the vehicle and forced their way inside.
“I still have some aches, like my sternum still hurts and my ribs. I have scars all over the back of my head,” Audette said.
“The recovery process was what it was. It’s like, I just got beat up — like, beat up real bad.”
The couple said they know recovering mentally will be a long process. Since the attack, they’ve been struggling with flashbacks and anxiety.
“You feel anger, you feel sadness, you feel a lot of emotions … joy, pain and sadness for what happened,” Audette said.
“But it’s part of life. We all know life is not always great, with different chapters and different obstacles to go through. They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
Path to justice
Without insurance, the couple says they’ve incurred $40,000 to $50,000 in hospital and legal fees.
In a written response, Global Affairs Canada confirmed it is aware of the incident involving the two Canadians but declined to comment due to privacy concerns. Canadian consular officials in Panama are in contact with local authorities and are providing assistance.
On the advice of the Canadian embassy in Panama, the couple hired a lawyer hoping their case will be heard.
Radio-Canada reached out to police authorities in Panama but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Plouffe said a few weeks ago, two suspects were identified by police. The couple said updates from local authorities are infrequent.
Audette hopes to hold the attackers, as well as the owner of the property where they were parked, accountable through the justice system in Panama.
“Before leaving Panama, we hired this lawyer… and the last thing I said to him before we left was, someone has to pay, and it’s not going to be me.”
Plans to return to El Salvador
The couple sought help from a psychologist in El Salvador, who specializes in post-traumatic stress disorder, prior to returning to Canada.
“To have [a] psychological appointment in Quebec, it’s very difficult. So in El Salvador, it was very quick, very easy,” said Plouffe.
The couple said they’ve also found comfort in support from family and friends.
“The van-lifers are a crazy, amazing community. They are very kind, and they give us a lot of help,” said Plouffe. “We are very happy to be part of that beautiful family.”
They plan to stay in Canada for a few more weeks before returning to El Salvador, primarily for medical, psychological, and psychiatric support. The warmer weather is also a factor, said Plouffe.
The couple also plans to travel back to Panama one day to retrieve their bus, which requires extensive repairs.
Published at Tue, 24 Dec 2024 09:00:00 +0000
Matt Gaetz paid thousands for drugs and sex, U.S. House panel finds
The U.S. House ethics committee on Monday accused Matt Gaetz of “regularly” paying for sex, including with a 17-year-old girl, and purchasing and using illicit drugs as a member of Congress.
The 37-page report by the bipartisan panel includes explicit details of sex-filled parties and vacations that Gaetz, now 42, took part in from 2017 to 2020 while representing Florida’s western panhandle.
Congressional investigators concluded that Gaetz violated multiple state laws related to sexual misconduct while in office, though not federal sex trafficking laws. They also found that Gaetz “knowingly and willfully sought to impede and obstruct” the committee’s work.
“The Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” the report states.
Ahead of the report’s release Gaetz denied any wrongdoing and criticized the committee’s process.
A report from the U.S. House ethics committee found that former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz violated ‘House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,’ according to reporting from CBS and CNN, who say they have obtained a final draft of the investigative report.
“Giving funds to someone you are dating — that they didn’t ask for — and that isn’t ‘charged’ for sex is now prostitution?!?” he posted on X, the website formerly known as Twitter. “There is a reason they did this to me in a Christmas Eve-Eve report and not in a courtroom of any kind where I could present evidence and challenge witnesses.”
Lawmakers paint a damning portrait of Gaetz’s conduct, using dozens of pages of exhibits, including text messages and financial records, travel receipts, checks and online payments, to document a party- and drug-fuelled lifestyle. The committee said it compiled the evidence after issuing 29 subpoenas for documents and testimony and contacting more than two dozen witnesses.
In addition to soliciting prostitution, the ethics committee report states that Gaetz “accepted gifts, including transportation and lodging in connection with a 2018 trip to the Bahamas, in excess of permissible amounts.”
That same year, investigators say Gaetz arranged for his chief of staff to obtain a passport for a woman with whom he was sexually involved, falsely telling the State Department that she was his constituent.
Texts show Gaetz inviting women to events, panel says
In some of the text exchanges, Gaetz appears to be inviting various women to events, getaways or parties, and arranging airplane travel and lodging. At one point, he asks one woman if she has a “cute black dress” to wear. There are also discussions of shipping goods.
One of the exhibits is a text exchange that appears to be between two of the women concerned about their cash flow and payments. In another, a person asks Gaetz for help to pay an educational expense.
Former U.S. congressman Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration as president-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general, saying his confirmation was becoming a distraction.
Mounting a last-ditch effort to halt the publication of the report, Gaetz filed a lawsuit Monday asking a court to intervene, citing what he called “untruthful and defamatory information” that would “significantly damage” his “standing and reputation in the community.” Gaetz’s complaint argues he’s no longer under the committee’s jurisdiction since he resigned from Congress.
“The committee’s position that it may nonetheless publish potentially defamatory findings about a private citizen over whom it claims no jurisdiction represents an unprecedented expansion of congressional power that threatens fundamental constitutional rights and established procedural protections,” Gaetz’s lawyers wrote in their request for a temporary restraining order.
Investigated claims since 2021
The often secretive, bipartisan panel has investigated claims against Gaetz since 2021. But its work became more urgent last month when Trump picked him shortly after Election Day as his first choice to be the nation’s top law enforcement officer. Gaetz resigned from Congress that same day, putting him outside the purview of the ethics committee’s jurisdiction.
But Democrats had pressed to make the report public even after Gaetz was no longer a member and had withdrawn as Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department. A vote on the House floor this month to force the report’s release failed; all but one Republican voted against it.
The report brings to a close a nearly five-year investigation into Gaetz. Its release comes after at least one Republican joined all five Democrats on the panel earlier this month in a secret vote to release the report about their former colleague despite initial opposition from GOP lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, to publishing findings about a former member of Congress.
Earlier, CNN, which said it had obtained a copy of the report before its release, said that the panel investigated transactions Gaetz personally made, often using PayPal or Venmo, to more than a dozen women during his time in Congress.
The report found that Gaetz paid more than $90,000 US to 12 different women, payments the ethics panel determined were likely in connection with sexual activity and drug use, reported CBS. which also said it obtained a copy of the report before its release.
Had sex twice with 17-year-old, panel heard
The ethics panel received testimony that Gaetz had sex twice with a 17-year-old girl, described in the report as “Victim A,” at a party in 2017, CBS reported.
“Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex,” CBS quoted the report as saying. “Victim A said that she did not inform Representative Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did he ask her age.”
The ethics panel said there was not sufficient evidence that the three-term congressman violated the federal sex trafficking statute, CBS reported.
All of the women who testified said the sexual encounters with Gaetz were consensual, according to CBS.
However, one woman told the committee that the use of drugs at the parties and events they attended may have “impair[ed their] ability to really know what was going on or fully consent.”
Another woman told the committee: “When I look back on certain moments, I feel violated.”
The report found that Gaetz violated House rules and other standards of conduct banning prostitution, statutory rape and drug use, CBS reported.
It also found “substantial evidence” Gaetz engaged in illicit drug use, CBS reported. It accused him of accepting gifts of luxury travel in excess of permissible limits with a 2018 trip to the Bahamas, CBS added.
Published at Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:48:09 +0000
