The United States on Monday denounced the death of a Nicaraguan opposition figure who was detained in July and expressed being “horrified” by the “inhumanity” of co-presidents and spouses Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

Opposition member Mauricio Alonso was arrested on July 18 during police raids in the municipality of Jinotepe, 45 km south of Managua, according to Nicaraguan exile media, which also reported his death on Monday.

“Horrified by the inhumanity of the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship, authorities returned today the lifeless body of Mauricio Alonso to his family, a Nicaraguan defender of religious freedom,” tweeted the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. “The dictatorship unjustly detained Alonso and kept him incommunicado for a month, until his death,” it added.

Ortega and Murillo have been accused of pursuing a relentless crackdown on the opposition following protests against the government in 2018, which Managua described as a U.S.-backed attempted coup. The repression of these demonstrations resulted in more than 300 deaths, according to the United Nations.

Alonso’s death “occurred under the watch of Murillo-Ortega,” and “the United States will not tolerate such cruelty nor forget this crime,” the State Department stated.

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Ortega, a 79-year-old former guerrilla leader in power since 2007 and previously in the 1980s, is accused by critics and human rights organizations of establishing a “family dictatorship” alongside 74-year-old Murillo, who was named co-president in February following a constitutional reform.

The government of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced on Tuesday the direct purchase of various food products from sectors impacted by tariffs imposed on the country by the United States.

Initially, the government’s purchases—whose total amounts were not disclosed—will focus on açaí, grapes, coconut water, honey, mango, fish, and nuts. These products will be used to supply schools, universities, hospitals, the Armed Forces, and prisons, among other state institutions.

“This initiative will include family farmers and companies that have stopped exporting to the United States due to the tariffs imposed” by U.S. President Donald Trump, according to a decree published in the Official Gazette.

Paulo Teixeira, Minister of Agrarian Development, explained that other food products affected by the tariffs, such as coffee and beef, are not currently included as they “have other markets around the world.”

The expansion of government procurement programs is part of a relief package designed to minimize the impact of Trump’s decision to impose a 50% tariff on much of Brazil’s exports to the United States.

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Trump justified the tariffs by citing an alleged trade deficit, which U.S. data contradict, showing that bilateral trade favors the United States. The move also appeared to have political motives, as Trump criticized what he called a “witch hunt” against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and demanded the end of his trial for alleged coup-related activities before Brazil’s Supreme Court.

Amid rising tensions between the United States and Venezuela, Colombian President Gustavo Petro denied the existence of the so-called Cartel of the Suns, a purported criminal group accused by Washington of infiltrating Caracas’ power structure since the 1990s to traffic drugs to the U.S.

“The Cartel of the Suns does not exist; it is a fictitious excuse used by the extreme right to overthrow governments that do not obey them,” the president wrote on his X account on Monday.

According to Petro, the real organization controlling cocaine trafficking in the region is a broader network he calls “the Drug Trafficking Board,” which he claims is composed of kingpins operating from Europe and the Middle East.

A few days ago, following attacks in Amalfi and Cali, Petro stated that the “Drug Trafficking Board” operates internationally as “a confederation of mafias” and called for these groups to be designated as terrorist organizations, which would allow them to be pursued anywhere in the world, including Bogotá.

CNN reached out to the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. State Department for comment on Petro’s statements and is awaiting a response.

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The U.S. recently designated the Cartel of the Suns as an international terrorist organization. According to the Treasury Department, this alleged criminal group has infiltrated the highest political, military, and judicial levels in Venezuela since the late 1990s to traffic drugs to the U.S.

From Caracas, senior officials have rejected the accusations. Diosdado Cabello Rondón, Venezuela’s Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace, has called the Cartel of the Suns “a U.S. invention” and “a big lie used for manipulation.”