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IVOR PRICKETT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Pope Francis with President Barham Salih of Iraq in Baghdad on Friday. Francis is the first pope to travel to the country. Page A8.A Long-Awaited Visitor

Erik Ortiz, a 41-year-old hip-hopmusic producer in Florida, grewup poor in the South Bronx, andspent much of his time as a youngadult trying to establish himself fi-nancially. Now he considers him-self rich. And he believes shakingoff the politics of his youth hadsomething to do with it.

“Everybody was a liberal Dem-ocrat — in my neighborhood, inthe Bronx, in the local govern-ment,” said Mr. Ortiz, whose fam-ily is Black and from Puerto Rico.“The welfare state was bad for ourpeople — the state became the fa-ther in the Black and brownhousehold and that was a bad, bad

mistake.” Mr. Ortiz became a Re-publican, drawn to messages of in-dividual responsibility and lowertaxes. To him, generations of poorpeople have stayed loyal to a Dem-ocratic Party that has failed totransform their lives.

“Why would I want to be stuckin that mentality?” he said.

While Democrats won the vastmajority of Hispanic voters in the2020 presidential race, the results

also showed Republicans makinginroads with this demographic,the largest nonwhite voting group— and particularly among Latinomen. According to exit polls, 36percent of Latino men voted forDonald J. Trump in 2020, up from32 percent in 2016. These votersalso helped Republicans win sev-eral House seats in racially di-verse districts that Democratsthought were winnable, particu-larly in Texas and Florida. Bothparties see winning more His-panic votes as critical in futureelections.

Yet a question still lingers fromthe most recent one, especially forDemocrats who have long be-

As Latino Men Tilt to Right, Democrats Ask WhyBy JENNIFER MEDINA Key Voters Are Swayed

by Economic Issueson Work and Taxes

Continued on Page A17

PARIS — In a recent meetingwith a handful of foreign corre-spondents, President EmmanuelMacron of France philosophizedfor 100 minutes on the record,without notes. He dotted his con-versation with Americanisms —“game-changer,” “honest bro-kers” — that must have had deGaulle turning in his grave. Hedissected French “universalism.”He mused on colonial history. Heidentified hatred, turbochargedby social media, as “a threat to de-mocracy itself.”

The performance was typical ofMr. Macron, and unusual for anyhead of state, the equivalent oftightrope walking without a net.Yet, the many words revealed lit-tle of the man himself. Four yearsinto an often tumultuous term,facing an election next year, Mr.Macron remains an enigma toeven his own country.

Backed by the left in 2017, Mr.Macron now has more support onthe right. Once a free-market re-former, he now extols the role ofthe state and protection “at anycost” in the age of Covid-19. Oncethe leader of a freewheeling move-ment that swept away old politicalhierarchies, he now sits comfort-ably at the pinnacle of power, hisauthority accentuated by terror-ism and pandemic.

“With Macron we have gone tothe limit of presidential domina-tion in the Fifth Republic,” saidAlain Duhamel, a political com-mentator.

The question now is to what endMr. Macron, 43, will use thatpower as Europe faces a treacher-ous passage and the ability of thecontinent to bring Covid-19 undercontrol remains in question. He isdetermined to steer his countryand Europe on an independentcourse from China and the UnitedStates. “The day cooperationequals dependence, you have be-come a vassal and you disappear,”he said at the meeting with thecorrespondents.

With the era of Angela Merkel,the German chancellor, drawingto a close this year, Mr. Macron isin a position to shape the “sover-eign” Europe he has extolled, aswell as a new French identity at atime of violent flux. He could evenwin a second term next year,

Macron BearsAir of Mystery,Even to French

By ROGER COHEN


PODUJEVA, Kosovo — Sa-randa Bogujevci gazed withoutflinching at a cluster of bulletholes left in the garden wall by amassacre two decades ago thatwiped out most of her family andput 16 rounds into her own body.

She said her mind had erasedvisual memories of the slaughterby the Scorpions, a Serb paramili-tary unit. But, she said, “I can stillsmell the earth mixed with thesmell of blood.”

Ms. Bogujevci’s against-the-odds survival — she was left fordead in a heap of bodies in herneighbor’s garden — and her sub-sequent determination to testifyagainst the men who murderedher mother, grandmother, twobrothers and four other relativeshave made her a symbol of un-common fortitude in Kosovo, aland still scarred by the traumasof war in the 1990s.

But Ms. Bogujevci, 35, is farmore than a symbol. She is part ofan unlikely wave of women beingelected to Parliament in Kosovo,

which declared independence in2008, but remains one of the poor-est countries in Europe. When fi-nal results of a Feb. 14 electionwere finally announced on Thurs-day in Pristina, the capital, theyshowed that women had wonmore seats in Parliament thanever before — nearly 40 percent ofthe total.

That surge reflects growing dis-content with the endemic corrup-tion and bullying ways of a post-war order dominated by swagger-ing male veterans of the KosovoLiberation Army, the now dis-banded guerrilla force that battledSerbia and paved the way for Kos-ovo’s declaration of independ-ence.

These elected women have con-vinced voters that they can standup to Serbia, which has refused torecognize Kosovo as an independ-ent state, and also confront thecorruption, criminality and poorgovernance that dashed the highhopes that attended the end of

Kosovo, Still Scarred by War,Is Asking Its Women to Lead

By ANDREW HIGGINS


A $50 billion project to save Louisiana’scoast, above, would mimic the Missis-sippi River’s spring floods. PAGE A18

NATIONAL A12-18

Levee-Piercing Plan AdvancesThe actress Kelly Marie Tran has leftthe “Star Wars” bullies behind to star in“Raya and the Last Dragon.” PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

A New Kind of Disney Princess

Researchers found a link betweenrestaurant dining and an increase ininfections and said mask mandates helpkeep case numbers down. PAGE A4

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-7

C.D.C. Adds to Plea for MasksThe inventory of homes for sale isstartlingly low. The pandemic is part ofthe reason, but its end may not be amagic fix, as the rest of the story hasbeen years in the making. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-6

Plenty of Buyers, Few Houses

Workers with disabilities were hit espe-cially hard by lockdowns, and manyhave a tough search ahead. PAGE A12

A More Grueling Job Hunt

Gov. Kay Ivey, a Southern Republican,has resisted pressure from within herparty to lift a mask mandate. PAGE A6

Independent Voice in Alabama

The nostalgic reunion series is surpris-ingly polite. But on a rewatch, the origi-nal season is still eye-opening. PAGE C1

Back to ‘The Real World’

Leigh Stein PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23Officials said the economy would growby over 6 percent and that electoralreform would aid Hong Kong. PAGE A9

INTERNATIONAL A8-11

Bold Predictions in China

WASHINGTON — SenateDemocrats on Friday agreed toscale back the $400-a-week unem-ployment payments in PresidentBiden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan,making a key concession to pla-cate a crucial moderate in theirown party who had threatened todefect and derail the new adminis-tration’s first major legislative ini-tiative.

With the package stalled in theevenly divided Senate, leadingDemocrats agreed to drop theirbid to raise the existing $300-a-week benefit, bowing to the de-mands of Senator Joe Manchin IIIof West Virginia and other moder-ates who had voiced concern thatan overly generous benefit couldkeep people from returning towork and hamper a nascent re-

covery. As part of the agreement,they proposed to make a largeportion of last year’s unemploy-ment benefits tax-free.

The tentative deal emerged af-ter Mr. Manchin’s objections hadhalted the stimulus measure in itstracks just as the chamber had be-gun a marathon series of votes onan array of proposals to changethe bill. Democrats’ decision tomodify the measure to accommo-date his objections was the latestreflection of the strength of asmall group of moderates who arecrucial swing votes, and the diffi-culty of governing in a 50-to-50Senate, where Democrats cannotafford to lose a single vote.

DEMOCRATS TRIM JOBLESS BENEFITS IN STIMULUS BILL

PAVING WAY TO PASSAGE

West Virginia’s ManchinBack on Board After

Raising Objections

By EMILY COCHRANE

Senator Joe Manchin IIIANNA MONEYMAKER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES


On the weekend before Christ-mas in 1996, a shop owner wasopening his check-cashing storein East Elmhurst, Queens, along-side an off-duty police officer whowas working security, when thetwo were ambushed by a group ofmen, shot and killed.

The case touched off a ferociousmanhunt, and within days, three

men were arrested. They wereconvicted in separate trials andsentenced to between 50 yearsand life in prison for murder.

But more than two decades lat-er, the case has collapsed.

On Friday, a state judge inQueens threw out the convictionsof all three men and admonishedprosecutors for withholding evi-dence that would have cast seri-ous doubt on their guilt.

Prosecutors never turned overpolice reports showing that inves-tigators had linked the killings toother men, the members of a localrobbery ring. And five witness ac-

24 Years Later, Freed Over Prosecutors’ MisstepsBy TROY CLOSSON

From left, George Bell, Rohan Bolt and Gary Johnson leaving a prison in New York on Friday.AMR ALFIKY/THE NEW YORK TIMES

New York Judge Tosses3 Murder Convictions


Driven by unexpectedly largejob gains at the nation’s restau-rants and bars, the labor marketpicked up strength in February,raising hopes that the economicrecovery was taking hold morefirmly.

All told, employers added379,000 jobs, the government re-ported Friday, the strongest show-ing since October. The increase, asvaccination efforts ramped up andrestrictions on businesses eased,followed a deep loss in Decemberand a modest rise in January.

But the February pace was stillfar short of the gains recordedfrom late spring to early fall as thepandemic’s sudden strangleholdloosened. There are roughly 9.5million fewer jobs than a year ago,and a year’s worth of lost opportu-nities — as many as two millionjobs that would most likely havebeen created if previous hiringtrends had continued. Congress isconsidering a $1.9 trillion packageof pandemic relief intended tocarry struggling households andbusinesses through the comingmonths.

“Without a rescue plan, thesegains are going to slow,” PresidentBiden said Friday before a meet-ing with Treasury Secretary JanetL. Yellen and other economic offi-cials. “We can’t afford one stepforward and two steps backwards.We need to beat the virus, provideessential relief and build an inclu-sive recovery.”

He noted that at the rate ofFebruary’s gains, “it would taketwo years to get us back on track.”

Most of the increases came inthe leisure and hospitality indus-tries, which have been particu-larly hard hit by shutdown ordersand employ 3.5 million fewer peo-ple than a year ago. The Februarygains included 286,000 jobs in foodservices and drinking establish-ments, along with 69,000 at busi-nesses like hotels and gyms.

Some restaurant owners saythe combination of falling corona-virus cases and warming weatherin recent weeks is attracting morecustomers.

Last week Boathouse GroupRestaurants, which operates eightrestaurants in and around Rich-mond, Va., brought back 40 em-ployees who had been furloughedlate last year when dining restric-tions again tightened in the state.Kevin Healy, the owner, expects

Surprise JumpIn Job GrowthStirs Optimism

Biggest Gain Since FallIs Led by Restaurants

By PATRICIA COHEN


On Oahu’s North Shore, young surfersare embracing safety as they ride theworld’s most dangerous waves. PAGE B8

SPORTSSATURDAY B8-10

Surf’s Up. Grab Your Helmet.

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,989 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2021

Today, periodic clouds and sunshine,brisk, cold, high 35. Tonight, clear topartly cloudy, cold, low 24. Tomor-row, mostly sunny, remaining cold,high 38. Weather map, Page B7.

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