International

Gun ownership soars under Bolsonaro: NGO

AFP

The number of registered gun owners in Brazil rose by almost six times since President Jair Bolsonaro came to power and eased restrictions, an NGO said on Tuesday.

In 2018, when Bolsonaro began his mandate, there were 117,467 gun owners registered as hunters, sport shooters and collectors, according to army figures collected by the Brazilian Forum of Public Security (FBSP) NGO.

In June 2022 that figure had jumped to 673,818.

“There was a very big increase in the number of firearms in circulation in the country under the Bolsonaro government,” Renato Sergio de Lima, the FBSP president, told AFP.

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FBSP estimates that there are 4.4 million privately owned firearms in Brazil, based on Army and Federal Police data. Those two bodies are the ones that issue gun registrations to civilians.

“The problem is that a third of those (1.5 million) are in an irregular situation, with their registration elapsed,” said Lima.

That makes it impossible to know if the weapons remain with their legal owners or whether they have found their way into the hands of criminals, FBSP said.

Since coming to power, ex-army captain Bolsonaro has issued several decrees softening restrictions on gun ownership, such as increasing the number of weapons and amount of ammunition people can own.

Some of those decrees are being studied by the supreme court to decide whether or not they were constitutional.

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In its public security annual, FBSP said Brazil registered 47,503 murders amongst its 213 million population in 2021, a drop of 6.5 percent on 2020.

“But this good news hides an extremely perverse reality, that in 2020 Brazil accounted for one in every five intentional violent murders on the planet, according to UN data,” despite making up just 2.7 percent of the world’s population.

International

Brazil offers to mediate Colombia-Ecuador tensions, calls for restraint

The government of Brazil has offered to mediate in the ongoing tensions between Colombia and Ecuador, while calling on both nations to exercise restraint.

In a statement released Wednesday, Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the parties involved to act with moderation and seek a peaceful resolution to the dispute.

“Brazil encourages all sides to act with moderation in order to find a peaceful solution to the controversy. It stands ready to support dialogue efforts aimed at preserving peace and security in the region,” the statement said.

Brazil also expressed “serious concern” over reports of deaths in the border area between Colombia and Ecuador, noting that the circumstances surrounding the incidents have not yet been clarified.

The diplomatic move comes amid rising tensions between the neighboring countries, increasing regional concern over stability and security along their shared border.

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International

U.S. lowers travel advisory for much of Venezuela but keeps high-risk zones under warning

The U.S. Department of State announced on Thursday that it has lowered its travel advisory for much of Venezuela to Level 3 (“Reconsider Travel”), reflecting what it described as improved security conditions in parts of the country.

However, the agency will maintain the highest Level 4 warning (“Do Not Travel”) for several regions, including the states of Táchira, Amazonas, Apure, Aragua and Guárico, as well as rural areas of Bolívar, citing ongoing risks such as crime, kidnapping and terrorism.

The updated advisory marks a shift from December, when the United States raised the alert for Venezuela to Level 4 nationwide, warning of severe security threats.

Despite the partial downgrade, U.S. authorities continue to urge caution, emphasizing that conditions remain volatile in certain areas and that travelers should carefully assess risks before planning any trips to the country.

International

EU lawmakers move to ban AI tools that generate non-consensual nude images

Members of the European Parliament are pushing to ban across the bloc artificial intelligence services that allow users to digitally “undress” people without their consent.

The proposal, adopted on Wednesday at committee level, aims to prohibit applications that generate non-consensual explicit images. Irish lawmaker Michael McNamara, one of the sponsors, said the measure seeks to stop tools that “have caused significant harm for the benefit of a few.”

Dutch MEP Kim van Sparrentak welcomed the move, calling it “a major victory, especially for women and children in Europe.”

The amendment, part of broader EU legislation on artificial intelligence, was approved by the Parliament’s civil liberties and internal market committees. It specifically targets systems that use AI to create or manipulate sexually explicit or intimate images resembling identifiable individuals without their consent.

The proposal will be put to a full vote in the European Parliament on March 26. If adopted, lawmakers and European Union member states will need to agree on a final version before it can take effect.

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Separately, representatives of the 27 EU countries recently backed a Franco-Spanish amendment seeking to ban AI services used to generate non-consensual sexual images or child sexual abuse material.

The initiative follows controversy surrounding a feature introduced in Grok, developed by xAI, which allowed users to create simulated nude images from real photos. The tool sparked widespread criticism and prompted an EU investigation.

In response, xAI restricted image generation features in mid-January to paying subscribers and stated it blocks the creation of sexualized images in jurisdictions where such content is illegal.