International

Missing Ecuadoran lawyer found murdered, husband wanted

AFP

A young woman lawyer was found murdered in Ecuador 10 days after going missing, the government said Wednesday, in the latest femicide in a country plagued by violence against women.

The body of Maria Belen Bernal, who was 34, was found on a hill some five kilometers (3.1 miles) from the Quito police training school where she went missing on September 11 on a visit to her husband there, Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo said on Twitter.

Her husband, Lieutenant German Caceres, is on the run and is considered the main suspect in the woman’s death, according to police.

“I deeply regret her death, a femicide that will not go unpunished,” Carrillo said as he announced the discovery of Bernal’s body.

President Guillermo Lasso, also on Twitter, vowed that Bernal’s “femicide will not go unpunished and all those responsible will be subject to the law.”

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

Bernal disappeared after entering the police college to visit her instructor husband, according to her family.

Two days after she was reported missing, Caceres also disappeared, prompting a manhunt and his dismissal from his job.

We will not rest

The head of the training school was also fired, and the government has offered a $20,000 reward for Caceres’ capture.

“We will not rest until we bring the murderer to justice,” a police statement said.

The crime of femicide is punishable by up to 26 years in prison in Ecuador.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

According to the prosecutor’s office, at least 573 femicides have been registered in Ecuador’s population of 17.7 million since 2014.

In the first months of 2022 there had been 206 murders of women, according to Geraldine Guerra from the Aldea NGO that tracks femicides in the country.

This amounted to about one woman every 28 hours, she said.

Official data shows that 65 out of every 100 Ecuadoran woman aged 15 to 49 have experienced some form of violence.

On Monday, a prosecutor investigating hate crimes and femicide was himself murdered outside the Ecuadoran public prosecutor’s office in Guayaquil, authorities said.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

Edgar Escobar was shot outside the building where he worked.

Crime and violence have been on the rise in Ecuador as rival drug gangs sow terror, especially in Guayaquil and its prison system.

Ecuador lies between Colombia and Peru, the world’s two largest producers of cocaine.

In 2021, the murder rate almost doubled from the previous year to 14 per 100,000 inhabitants.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

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.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

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.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

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.