International
Bolivia judge sentences opposition leader to pre-trial detention
| By AFP |
A Bolivian judge on Friday sentenced key opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho to four months in pre-trial detention following his arrest on charges of “terrorism.”
Judge Sergio Pacheco ordered the former presidential candidate be held at the maximum security prison of Chonchocoro in La Paz.
Camacho, the right-wing governor of the country’s economic powerhouse region of Santa Cruz, was arrested on Wednesday on “terrorism charges,” including for an alleged role in the resignation of leftist president Evo Morales in 2019.
The prosecution on Thursday had sought six months in detention for Camacho, whose arrest sparked clashes between demonstrators and police in the regional capital Santa Cruz, the most populous city in Bolivia.
Camacho had been under investigation for his role in strikes and sometimes violent protests in 2019, prompted by Morales’s disputed election to a fourth term.
Morales ultimately resigned under pressure after losing the support of the military.
Camacho has repeatedly denied having fomented a coup against Morales.
Camacho, who leads the second-largest opposition bloc in parliament, came third in presidential elections in October 2020 that were won by leftist Luis Arce, a Morales protege.
Former interim president Jeanine Anez and ex-president Jorge Quiroga condemned his arrest.
The charges against Camacho echo the arrest and trial of Anez, who was detained last year and given a 10-year prison term in June for allegedly plotting the toppling of Morales, her predecessor.
Supporters of the socialist government of Arce, meanwhile, welcomed the detention of Camacho. Attorney General Wilfredo Chavez, a former minister under Morales, declared that “justice must do its job.”
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
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Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction