内容摘要：Bielousov said all such allegations against Ukrainian troops are being investigated.

Bielousov said all such allegations against Ukrainian troops are being investigated.

By then, Marcelo’s mother, Betty Soriano, had decided to start accompanying her son on his nightly tricycle shifts. The family believed he would be safer, and her presence would discourage him from spending time with the drug users he always ran across.Marcelo then made his wife an extraordinary promise: He was quitting shabu. It had become too dangerous.

Betchie felt he had to do more, and convinced him to work day shifts. But the competition was too tough, the money too little, and Marcelo reverted to working nights. He told Betchie she didn’t have to worry “because I’m not using drugs anymore.”At one point, a government official approached Marcelo at his tricycle stand, and told him he needed to turn himself in, a process called “surrendering” that has drawn about 700,000 drug users so far. Most have been released after acknowledging their crimes, giving up the names of others involved in the narcotics trade, and pledging never to use again.Marcelo waved the man off, saying it wasn’t necessary. He had already quit.

The police statistics show an astounding rise in the number of drug suspects shot dead by security forces: just 68 in the first half of the year, compared to 1,578 since Duterte took office.Vigilantes, though, appear to have killed significantly more: as many as 2,151 murders police have either linked to the drug trade or classified as “unexplained.” At least 864 of them were carried out by motorcycle-riding gunmen — a favored tactic employed by vigilantes against drug suspects.

Two unidentified drug suspects lie on the ground after being shot by police while trying to evade a checkpoint in Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)

Two unidentified drug suspects lie on the ground after being shot by police while trying to evade a checkpoint in Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)Some gang victims left Venezuela, joining the exodus of more than 7.7 million people who migrated in search of better living conditions. Among them was retiree Manuel Marquez’ son.

“He had a convenience store... and they wanted to charge him a ‘vaccine,’” Marquez, 71, said using the colloquial term in Spanish for a protection fee that criminals charge businesses. “They came in, tied him up, and took everything. Anyone who refuses (to pay), let’s just say it, is looted. That’s how things work here, it’s unfortunate.”Marquez’s son relocated to Ecuador after the gang emptied his convenience store in Maracay.

The Tren de Aragua also spread terror with phone calls and WhatsApp messages meant to extort hundreds or thousands of dollars from average Venezuelans.“The first time, thank God, my daughter-in-law was home, and she told me to hang up, but it was hard and I was trembling,” said Maracay dentist Esperanza de Andrade, who received three calls. “They told me my name, my children’s names, where they went to school, and that, of course, alarmed me greatly. They directly threatened my life and the lives of my children.”