International

EU prioritises Venezuela elections over Guaido ties

AFP

The EU on Friday made clear it is prioritising its approach towards regional elections in Venezuela next month over its stance towards opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is against the polls.

Brussels plans to send an election observer mission to Venezuela to monitor the November 21 vote in the impoverished South American country.

Guaido — whom more than 50 countries, including the United States and much of Latin America regard as the acting president of Venezuela — has come out against both the elections and the EU observer mission, along with another high-profile opposition figure, Leopoldo Lopez.

But, said an EU official on condition of anonymity, “you have to look at what influence Guaido and Lopez have”.

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The official noted that most of Venezuela’s opposition parties have opted to compete in the regional polls, breaking with their past strategy of boycotting elections called by Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s government.

That, despite the opposition accusing Maduro of fraudulent re-election in 2018.

“We respect their (Guaido and Lopez’s) point of view, but their own party is in favour of participating in the elections and the mission,” the official said.

The EU mission is headed by a Portuguese MEP, Isabel Santos, and counts around 100 election experts who are to start arriving in Caracas over the coming days.

On Wednesday, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement that the elections were “unprecedented”, involving “the majority of political forces for the first time in recent years”.

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No EU member states has raised objections to the mission, though some have voiced worries that it could be used by Maduro’s regime to assert legitimacy.

The EU official said that “even in the US there is a pragmatic tilt. The atmosphere has changed. The aim is to find a negotiated solution to the crisis in that country (Venezuela).”

The EU, US and Canada have said they would be prepared to review their sanctions against Maduro’s government if there is “significant progress” in political talks between it and the opposition taking place in Mexico City.

International

Chile declares state of catastrophe as wildfires rage in Ñuble and Biobío

Wildland firefighting crews are battling 19 forest fires across the country, 12 of them concentrated in the Ñuble and Biobío regions, located about 500 kilometers south of Santiago.

“In light of the severe fires currently underway, I have decided to declare a state of catastrophe in the regions of Ñuble and Biobío. All resources are now available,” the president announced in a post on X.

Authorities have not yet released an official report on possible casualties or damage to homes.

According to images broadcast by local television, the fires have reached populated areas, particularly in the municipalities of Penco and Lirquén, in the Biobío region, which together are home to nearly 60,000 people. Burned vehicles were also reported on several streets.

“The Penco area and the entire Lirquén sector are the most critical zones and where the largest number of evacuations have taken place. We estimate that around 20,000 people have been evacuated,” said Alicia Cebrián, director of the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred), in an interview with Mega TV.

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In recent years, forest fires have had a severe impact on the country, especially in the central-southern regions.

On February 2, 2024, multiple wildfires broke out simultaneously around the city of Viña del Mar, located 110 kilometers northwest of Santiago. Those fires resulted in 138 deaths, according to updated figures from the public prosecutor’s office, and left approximately 16,000 people affected, based on official data.

International

Former South Korean President Yoon sentenced to five years in prison

Former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison for obstruction of justice and other charges, concluding the first in a series of trials stemming from his failed attempt to impose martial law in December 2024.

The sentence is shorter than the 10-year prison term sought by prosecutors against the 65-year-old conservative former leader, whose move against Parliament triggered a major political crisis that ultimately led to his removal from office.

Yoon, a former prosecutor, is still facing seven additional trials. One of them, on charges of insurrection, could potentially result in the death penalty.

On Friday, the Seoul Central District Court ruled on one of the multiple secondary cases linked to the affair, which plunged the country into months of mass protests and political instability.

International

U.S. deportation flight returns venezuelans to Caracas after Maduro’s ouster

A new flight carrying 231 Venezuelans deported from the United States arrived on Friday at the airport serving Caracas, marking the first such arrival since the military operation that ousted and captured President Nicolás Maduro.

On January 3, U.S. forces bombed the Venezuelan capital during an incursion in which Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured. Both are now facing narcotrafficking charges in New York.

This was the first U.S.-flagged aircraft transporting migrants to land in Venezuela since the military action ordered by President Donald Trump, who has stated that he is now in charge of the country.

The aircraft departed from Phoenix, Arizona, and landed at Maiquetía International Airport, which serves the Venezuelan capital, at around 10:30 a.m. local time (14:30 GMT), according to AFP reporters on the ground.

The deportees arrived in Venezuela under a repatriation program that remained in place even during the height of the crisis between the two countries, when Maduro was still in power. U.S. planes carrying undocumented Venezuelan migrants continued to arrive throughout last year, despite the military deployment ordered by Trump.