International
US, Brazil planning Biden-Lula meeting in Washington
| By AFP |
Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and US officials said Friday he is planning a trip to meet with President Joe Biden at the White House before taking office on January 1.
“I can confirm that we are planning for a visit,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. “We look forward to welcoming President Lula here at the appropriate time.”
Kirby said Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, would travel to Brazil Monday to meet with the incoming Lula team, as well as with outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration.
Veteran leftist Lula defeated far-right incumbent Bolsonaro in a hard-fought election in October, returning to power after two presidential terms from 2003 to 2011.
Lula said he and Sullivan would “hold talks and discuss the date” for a visit to Washington — probably after December 12, the day his victory is formally ratified by Brazil’s electoral tribunal, he told a news conference in Brasilia.
US-Brazilian relations have chilled since Biden defeated former president Donald Trump, Bolsonaro’s political role model, in the 2020 US election.
But ties look set to warm under Lula.
Biden was one of the first world leaders to congratulate him on his election win.
“I think we have a lot to say to each other,” Lula said.
“The United States is facing the same problems with democracy as Brazil. The damage Trump did to American democracy is the same as what Bolsonaro did to Brazil.”
Diplomatic issues on the table will include “US-Brazilian relations, Brazil’s role in the new geopolitics (and) the unnecessary Ukraine war,” Lula said.
The Biden administration will also likely be keen to discuss climate policy, after four years of surging deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon under agribusiness ally Bolsonaro.
Lula vowed last month at the UN climate conference in Egypt — which Bolsonaro skipped — to fight for zero deforestation in Brazil’s 60-percent share of the world’s biggest rainforest, a key resource in the fight to curb climate change.
The incoming president said he would also begin naming his cabinet ministers after December 12 — with markets particularly anxious over his pick for finance minister, amid concerns about how his government will pay for his promised social spending.
International
Trump to Meet Qatari Leaders During Asia Stopover to Discuss Gaza Peace
U.S. President Donald Trump will meet on Saturday with the Emir and Prime Minister of Qatar during a stopover on his trip to Asia, officials reported. Qatar plays a key role in maintaining the fragile peace agreement in Gaza.
The Qatari leaders will board Air Force One at the end of the day when it lands for refueling at Al Udeid Air Base, the regional headquarters of U.S. military forces, a White House official said.
This marks Trump’s first trip to Asia since taking office in January. His agenda includes two regional summits, a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and planned encounters with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
In Qatar, the previously unannounced meeting will also include U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who recently returned from Israel after working to maintain the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Qatar has been a key mediator in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas since the conflict began and is one of the guarantors of the peace deal alongside the United States, Turkey, and Egypt.
This week, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss critical next steps in the agreement, including the establishment of a security force in Gaza and the future of Hamas. Meanwhile, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has been a central negotiator since the outbreak of the war following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
International
Maduro Requests Supreme Court to Strip Opposition Leader López of Venezuelan Citizenship
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has requested that the country’s Supreme Court revoke the nationality of opposition leader Leopoldo López, accusing him of promoting a U.S. military invasion of Venezuela, the government reported on Saturday.
There is no precedent of Venezuelans born in the country being stripped of their nationality, and the Venezuelan Constitution explicitly prohibits it. Caracas has previously accused López and other opposition figures of seeking to overthrow Maduro.
Maduro now claims that López and his allies are supporting the deployment of U.S. warships, fighter jets, and troops in the Caribbean, which the White House says are part of anti-narcotics operations. The Venezuelan president insists that the military presence aims to remove him from power.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil stated on his Telegram channel that Maduro “filed a request with the Supreme Court of Justice to revoke Leopoldo López’s nationality.”
Gil added that the request was made “due to his grotesque, criminal, and illegal call for a military invasion of Venezuela, his ongoing promotion of the economic blockade, and his call for mass killings of Venezuelans in collusion with foreign governments and enemies.”
However, the Dean of the Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), the country’s main public university, told AFP that the law does not allow the revocation of nationality for Venezuelans by birth.
International
Pentagon deploys USS Gerald R. Ford after narco-boat operation kills six
The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Friday the deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest warship in the country, to the Caribbean Sea. The mission is part of efforts to strengthen the fight against drug trafficking and transnational organized crime in Latin America.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell stated that the deployment will enhance the U.S. operational capacity to detect, monitor, and dismantle illicit actors and activities within the Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility.
He added that the operation will bolster existing capabilities to reduce drug trafficking and counter the activities of transnational criminal organizations operating in the region.
The announcement comes just hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the death of six crew members of a narco-boat in the Caribbean during a U.S.-led operation. The vessel was linked to the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua, one of the most violent groups in the region.
The incident has heightened diplomatic tensions between the United States and several Latin American governments, particularly Colombia and Venezuela, following direct statements by President Donald Trump.
Trump to Meet Qatari Leaders During Asia Stopover to Discuss Gaza Peace
Maduro Requests Supreme Court to Strip Opposition Leader López of Venezuelan Citizenship
Pentagon deploys USS Gerald R. Ford after narco-boat operation kills six
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
-
International17 hours agoControversial $130 million donation to Pentagon sparks debate over troop pay
-
International4 days agoThe Chief Builder: Trump and his remodeling of the White House
-
International5 days agoJoe Biden finishes prostate cancer radiotherapy at Penn Medicine
-
Central America5 days agoWhite House targets Nicaragua over human rights and labor violations
-
International4 days agoTrump warns Hamas that they will be “eradicated” if they break the ceasefire with Israel in Gaza
-
International3 days agoUruguay’s Orsi and Tony Blair discuss AI cooperation and child poverty policies
-
International4 days agoVenezuela accuses U.S. of using anti-drug operations as pretext to target Maduro
-
International3 days agoColombia conducts nationwide emergency drill focused on hidroituango dam
-
International5 days agoZelenskyy: Meeting with Trump “Positive” Despite Rejected Missile Request
-
International3 days agoCuba accuses U.S. of pressuring countries ahead of UN vote on embargo
-
International4 days agoThe United States investigates why a Waymo autonomous vehicle did not respect a stop sign
-
International4 days agoCosta Rica hails appointment of Japan’s first female Prime Minister, Takaichi Sanae
-
International4 days agoTrump assures that Ukraine could still “win” the war
-
Central America3 days agoU.S. and Panama hold joint jungle exercises to strengthen security ties
-
International2 days agoColombia ready to replace suspended U.S. support, President Petro asserts
-
International4 days agoMexico and the US launch an unprecedented joint border plan to stop arms trafficking
-
International5 days agoTrump says Venezuela is ‘feeling the heat’ amid U.S. anti-drug operations in the Caribbean
-
International2 days agoCristina Fernández calls Argentina’s legislative elections “decisive” to stop Milei
-
International4 days agoColombian court overturns ex-president Uribe’s conviction for witness tampering
-
International2 days ago
Trump announces over 3,000 arrests in major U.S. crackdown on drug cartels
-
International17 hours agoPentagon deploys USS Gerald R. Ford after narco-boat operation kills six
-
International2 days agoPutin calls U.S.-Russia summit a “mistake” without guaranteed results
-
International3 hours agoTrump to Meet Qatari Leaders During Asia Stopover to Discuss Gaza Peace
-
International3 hours ago
Maduro Requests Supreme Court to Strip Opposition Leader López of Venezuelan Citizenship