International
Brazil’s Bolsonaro flexes muscles with military parade
AFP
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro drew criticism Tuesday for presiding over a military parade outside the presidential palace, a show of strength as he fends off sinking popularity and a raft of investigations.
Smiling with military top brass at his side, the far-right leader stood atop the palace steps as a long convoy of tanks and armored vehicles filed through the seat of power in Brazil, where Bolsonaro trails in the polls for presidential elections next year.
Critics said the display was reminiscent of Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship, for which Bolsonaro, a former army captain, is openly nostalgic.
“This is pathetic…. Our democracy has the means to defend itself from a coup-mongering outburst,” said Senator Omar Aziz, chair of a Senate committee investigating the Bolsonaro government’s widely criticized handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Bolsonaro, 66, is also facing investigations over his attacks on Brazil’s electronic voting system, which he alleges — without evidence — is riddled with fraud.
The Supreme Court and Supreme Electoral Court have ordered him investigated for potential crimes in his unrelenting campaign against the system, which Brazil has used since 1996.
The military parade came on the same day Congress debates a Bolsonaro-backed bill to overhaul the system.
The president wants “printable and auditable” paper ballots for every vote cast, in addition to the electronic system.
Opponents accuse him of setting the stage to claim widespread fraud if he loses the October 2022 election, following in the footsteps of his political idol, former US president Donald Trump.
Bolsonaro insisted there was no link between the military parade and the bill before Congress.
Officially, the event was for the armed forces to give the president an invitation to upcoming military exercises outside the capital.
However, it is the first time tanks have filed past the presidential palace, Congress and high court since the dictatorship era.
“The president is using this tank parade to try to intimidate Congress and the Supreme Court,” said political scientist Mauricio Santoro of Rio de Janeiro State University.
“He wants to show the armed forces are on his side.”
Nine opposition parties issued a joint statement condemning the display, including the Workers’ Party of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who leads Bolsonaro in the polls for 2022.
Soldiers arrested a group of protesters who tried to block the convoy. A small crowd of Bolsonaro supporters also attended, some carrying signs calling for the military to intervene to “save Brazil.”
International
El Chapo’s son Joaquín Guzmán López pleads guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges
Joaquín Guzmán López, one of the sons of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, pleaded guilty on Monday to drug trafficking charges in a U.S. court, months after his brother Ovidio reached a similar plea agreement, according to local media reports.
The defendant appeared before a federal court in Chicago early Monday afternoon and changed his previous plea in the case, the Chicago Tribune reported. U.S. authorities accuse him of forming, together with his three brothers, the cartel faction known as “Los Chapitos.”
The group is believed to have continued the operations of El Chapo, who has been serving a life sentence in the United States since 2019.
Guzmán López, 39, was arrested after landing in Texas in a small aircraft alongside cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
International
Venezuela authorizes return flights as U.S. continues deportations amid rising tensions
The arrival of U.S. aircraft carrying undocumented Venezuelan migrants continued regularly despite rising tensions between Washington and Caracas over President Donald Trump’s military deployment in the Caribbean.
Trump maintains that the deployment is part of an anti-narcotics operation, while Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro insists the true objective is to remove him from power and seize the nation’s oil resources.
Venezuela’s aviation authority has “received a request from the United States government to resume repatriation flights for Venezuelan migrants from that country to Venezuela,” the Ministry of Transportation said in a statement .
“Under the instructions of President Nicolás Maduro, authorization has been granted for these aircraft to enter our airspace,” it added.
Caracas will permit two Eastern Airlines flights to land on Wednesday and Friday.
Migration remains one of the Trump administration’s flagship issues. On Monday, the U.S. president held a meeting with his National Security Council to discuss the situation in Venezuela, a day after confirming he had spoken with Maduro by phone, without offering further details.
According to the Venezuelan government, roughly 75 deportation flights have been carried out this year, returning at least 13,956 Venezuelans from the United States.
International
20,000 rounds stolen from german army after driver leaves cargo unattended
The German army confirmed the theft of a shipment of ammunition that occurred a week ago while it was being transported by a civilian delivery driver, a military spokesperson told AFP, confirming earlier media reports.
According to Der Spiegel and the regional broadcaster MDR, around 20,000 rounds of ammunition were stolen from an unguarded parking lot near Magdeburg, in eastern Germany, while the driver was asleep in a nearby hotel. No information has been released regarding the identity of the suspects, and the military declined to specify the exact type or amount of ammunition taken.
Authorities have also not indicated how the perpetrators knew the cargo would be left unattended.
“The theft was discovered upon delivery at the barracks,” the German army spokesperson said.
A police spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that an investigation has been opened but refused to provide further details “for tactical reasons.”
Sources close to the German military, cited by Der Spiegel, believe it is unlikely the theft was a coincidence. They suspect the thieves waited for the driver to stop for the night before striking.
Der Spiegel also reported that the Defense Ministry normally requires two drivers for this type of transport to ensure the cargo is constantly monitored. However, in this case only one driver was assigned, meaning the civilian transport company failed to comply with the security protocols.
El Chapo’s son Joaquín Guzmán López pleads guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges
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