International
Colombian ex-military officer sentenced for false positives
August 1|
The Prosecutor’s Office of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) on Monday requested a 20-year prison sentence for retired Colombian Army Colonel Publio Hernán Mejía Gutiérrez for around 72 cases of extrajudicial executions known as false positives.
Giovanni Álvarez Santoyo, director of the Investigation and Accusation Unit (UIA) of the JEP accused the ex-military of structuring a criminal organization to kill, disappear and torture people with the objective of generating false evidence, while he commanded the La Popa Battalion.
“He created an armed power structure that was dedicated to execute the criminal plan for false results (…) The accusation made against Mr. Mejía Gutiérrez is for the crimes of homicide in protected person, forced disappearance and torture”, assured Álvarez Santoyo.
The official affirmed that copies were sent to the Prosecutor’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office and the Military Criminal Justice to investigate if there are officials with any criminal or disciplinary responsibility for negligence in dealing with situations of the armed conflict.
The retired colonel will be charged for “35 facts and 72 persons; that is, 72 persons who were extrajudicially executed”, specified Álvarez, who pointed out that these are “criminal conducts”.
It also transpired that prosecutors will have to prove in a trial that the former soldier did indeed commit these crimes and that he did so in collusion with paramilitaries of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), which could lead to a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
The JEP is studying the so-called “false positives” and counts 6,402 people who “were illegitimately killed to be presented as combat casualties throughout the national territory between 2002 and 2008,” corresponding to the government of former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010).
Mejía was commander of the La Popa Battalion, based in Valledupar, in the north of the country, and was charged along with other high-ranking officers for 127 murders and forced disappearances in his jurisdiction. However, he is one of the high-ranking army officers who has not recognized the crimes against humanity charged by the JEP.
“The former colonel was always clear about who his victims were going to be: young people in economic need, the unemployed – in some cases from broken families (…) – and peasant and indigenous populations,” concluded Álvarez.
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.
International
Seven inmates dead, 11 injured after violent riot in Veracruz prison
Seven inmates were killed and eleven others injured in a violent riot and clash inside a penitentiary in the Mexican state of Veracruz, local authorities reported on Sunday.
The disturbance began on Saturday afternoon at the Social Reintegration Center in the port city of Tuxpan, in northern Veracruz, when inmates staged a protest over extortion and assaults allegedly carried out by members of the criminal group known as Grupo Sombra.
The protesting prisoners clashed with another group of inmates and set fires inside and outside the facility, seizing control of the prison for more than 12 hours.
During the takeover, the rioters released several videos, including one showing four prisoners —believed to be members of Grupo Sombra— accusing them of being behind the violence and extortion inside the prison.
It wasn’t until Sunday morning that elements of the Mexican Army, the National Guard, and local police forces managed to enter the prison and regain control. The state’s Public Security Secretariat confirmed that around 9:00 a.m. local time a coordinated operation restored full order and reestablished control of the facility.
Authorities also reported that the fires set by inmates were fully extinguished.
Official figures confirmed the “tragic” deaths of seven inmates and injuries to eleven people, who are now receiving medical treatment in various regional hospitals.
This is the second deadliest riot in Veracruz in the past eight years. In 2018, a violent uprising at the La Toma medium-security prison left seven people dead (six police officers and one unidentified man) and at least 22 injured (15 officers and seven inmates).
The riot follows the kidnapping and killing of retired teacher and taxi driver Irma Hernández, a case that shocked the entire country and was attributed to Grupo Sombra. Images of Hernández kneeling, surrounded by armed men in the municipality of Álamo, sparked nationwide outrage. She was murdered after refusing to pay extortion demands from the criminal organization.
Despite these incidents, Veracruz has not seen a spike in the daily homicide average. In fact, there has been a 1.6% decrease in homicides in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, according to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System.
In 2023, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) reported 3,094 incidents in Mexican prisons —an 18.5% increase from the previous year— resulting in 100 deaths and 892 injuries.
International
Study finds COVID-19 vaccines prevented 2.5 million deaths worldwide
COVID-19 vaccines prevented an estimated 2,533,000 deaths worldwide between 2020 and 2024, according to an international study led by Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Italy and Stanford University in the United States, published in the journal JAMA Health Forum. Researchers calculated that one death was prevented for every 5,400 doses administered.
The analysis also found that the vaccines saved 14.8 million years of life, equivalent to one year of life gained for every 900 doses given.
The study, coordinated by Professor Stefania Boccia, revealed that 82% of the lives saved were people vaccinated before becoming infected with the virus, and 57% of deaths avoided occurred during the Omicron wave. In addition, 90% of the beneficiaries were adults over 60 years old.
“This is the most comprehensive analysis to date, based on global data and fewer assumptions about the evolution of the pandemic,” explained Boccia and researcher Angelo Maria Pezzullo.
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