International

Argentine ex-president to be questioned over sunk sub ‘espionage’

AFP

Former Argentine president Mauricio Macri will be questioned in a probe into spy claims regarding the 2017 sinking of a submarine that left 44 people dead, the investigating judge said Friday.

Macri, 62, led the country from 2015 to 2019 and is now the leader of Argentina’s rightwing opposition.

He is in the United States, but on his return home, will be barred from leaving again under an order issued Friday by judge Martin Bava.

Macri has been summoned for questioning on October 7.

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The ARA San Juan sub disappeared in November 2017. When it was found just over a year later, it was at a depth of more than 900 meters in a desolate area of the South Atlantic some 400 kilometers off the coast of Argentina.

It had been crushed from an implosion apparently caused by a technical fault. Authorities decided against attempting to refloat it.

Family members of the 44 crew members told investigators they were followed and wiretapped, filmed and intimidated into abandoning any claims related to the incident.

Macri is accused of ordering the espionage. He risks between three and 10 years in jail for allegedly violating Argentina’s intelligence laws.

Bava on Friday ordered the prosecution of secret service heads Gustavo Arribas and Silvia Majdalani, who reported to Macri at the time.

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In March, two former Argentine military chiefs were sanctioned over the sinking.

Retired admiral Marcelo Srur was handed “45 days of arrest” for having given an “incomplete” picture to the defense ministry of what happened.

Claudio Villamide, the former commander of the Submarine Force, was dismissed after he was found guilty of a “lack of care and neglect of the troops and equipment under his charge.”

Two active captains were given 20 and 30-day detentions and the former head of a naval base in the south of the country 15 days.

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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.