International
Ex-president Anez of Bolivia seeks international legal help
AFP
Lawyers for Bolivian ex-president Jeanine Anez, in jail since March, said Friday they were appealing to a regional UN rights body for her.
Attorney Luis Guillen said the appeal to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) was made because Anez’s legal team “exhausted the legal and court bodies (to which they could appeal) in Bolivia.”
Anez, 54, has been charged with “genocide” over protesters’ deaths in 2019; she made an attempt on her life while suffering from “severe depression” due to her prolonged imprisonment, her family has said.
Anez’s family has repeatedly asked the government to transfer her to a hospital for treatment of hypertension and other conditions.
The conservative Anez came to power in November 2019 after then-president Evo Morales resigned and fled the country following weeks of violent protests over his controversial re-election to an unconstitutional fourth term.
The specific accusation against Anez relates to two incidents in November 2019 in which a total 22 people died.
Attorney General Juan Lanchipa has said he presented documents against her in which the incidents were “provisionally classified as genocide, serious and minor injury and injury followed by death.”
After Morales resigned, Anez, as the most senior parliamentarian left, was sworn in as interim president, but her political opponents denounced this as a coup.
Under Anez’s administration, Bolivia held peaceful, transparent elections in October 2020 in which Morales’s leftist protege Luis Arce won a landslide victory.
Arce subsequently vowed to pursue those he accused of staging a coup.
Anez, arrested in March on accusations of leading a coup, also faces charges of terrorism, sedition and conspiracy.
Bolivia’s opposition has decried the lack of separation of powers in the country, saying the courts, electoral body and public prosecutor’s office are all loyal to Arce.
Guillen said the legal team’s appeal was motivated by “threats, harassment and attacks against the life and personal integrity of the ex-president.”
He also denounced “the lack of access to adequate medical treatment… to restore (Anez’s) health.”
International
Mexican authorities bust Meth Lab and seize tons of drugs and chemicals in multiple states
Mexican authorities dismantled a clandestine laboratory containing 2.5 tons of methamphetamine in the southeastern state of Chiapas, seized a warehouse with more than four tons of chemical precursors in Guerrero (south), and intercepted a trailer in Tijuana attempting to cross into the United States with 2.7 tons of drugs.
Omar García Harfuch, head of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), reported on Saturday via social media that agents from the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), along with representatives from the Defense Secretariat, Navy (Semar), National Guard (GN), and SSPC, disabled the methamphetamine production lab in Chiapas and confiscated 2.5 tons of the drug.
A statement specified that the agents secured 2.5 tons of methamphetamine, barrels containing substances used to manufacture synthetic drugs, a firearm, and four trucks. In another operation in Guerrero, authorities located over four tons of chemical substances.
The discovery took place on a property in the community of Margarita Maza, Juárez, used to store materials for synthetic drug production. Sufficient evidence was collected and presented to a control judge who authorized the intervention of the property.
In Chiapas, authorities also seized more than 300 barrels and containers with chemicals for making synthetic drugs, as well as various metal containers and devices.
International
Maduro gains support from Venezuelan Assembly amid U.S. drug trafficking accusations
The National Assembly of Venezuela expressed its support this Saturday for President Nicolás Maduro, condemning the United States’ increase in the reward offered for his capture as an “act of aggression.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday that Washington had doubled the reward to $50 million for Maduro’s capture, labeling him as one of the “world’s largest drug traffickers.”
“We reject the absurd and desperate actions announced by the U.S. Attorney General’s Office, which are clearly illegal and lack any real basis, beyond being a delirious attempt of aggression against the president (…) and against our rebellious and brave people,” said the Assembly leader, Jorge Rodríguez, while reading a letter he said was unanimously approved by the deputies.
“It is precisely President Nicolás Maduro (…) the protector of the strong democracy that shelters us and the leader who firmly upholds the rule of law and justice,” Rodríguez continued. He is also Venezuela’s chief negotiator in talks with Washington.
Bondi accused Maduro of using “terrorist organizations like the Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa cartel, and the Cartel of the Suns to introduce lethal drugs and violence” into the United States.
“In 25 years of revolution, we have resisted and advanced despite constant imperialist aggressions. They have not succeeded, and will not succeed, with crude sanctions, criminal blockades, or senseless threats in diverting the noble path the Venezuelan people charted in the free elections of July 28, 2024, in which Nicolás Maduro was elected President of the Republic,” the statement read.
The Venezuelan opposition alleges fraud in those elections and claims victory, and as a result, has boycotted the 2025 legislative, regional, and municipal elections.
International
U.S. doubles bounty on Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro to $50 million
In February, the United States designated eight Latin American criminal organizations as “global terrorist” groups, including Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, and the MS-13 gang. In July, it added the Cartel of the Suns to the list — a group Washington claims is led by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Last Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest, raising it from $25 million to $50 million, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on social media platform X.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained that labeling the Cartel of the Suns as a terrorist organization allows for a strategic shift in dealing with the Venezuelan regime, as it is now also considered a direct threat to U.S. national security, according to El Espectador.
In an interview with The World Over on EWTN, Rubio said the designation enables the U.S. to “use intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, or any other element of American power to go after them.” He stressed this is no longer just a law enforcement matter, but a national security operation.
When asked at the White House whether he believes it is worth sending the military to combat Latin American drug cartels, Trump responded:
“Latin America has many cartels, a lot of drug trafficking, so, you know, we want to protect our country. We have to protect it.”
Mexican authorities bust Meth Lab and seize tons of drugs and chemicals in multiple states
Maduro gains support from Venezuelan Assembly amid U.S. drug trafficking accusations
U.S. doubles bounty on Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro to $50 million
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Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
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