International

25 provinces placed on rain alert in Dominican Republic

Photo: EFE

December 20 |

The Emergency Operations Center (COE) of the Dominican Republic placed 25 provinces on alert on Tuesday, including four in red, 13 in yellow and eight in green due to heavy rainfall caused by a cold front.

The system that has been affecting the country since the day before has already caused heavy rains, and up to 120 millimeters of water is expected to fall in Santo Domingo, warned the COE directors in a press conference.

The director of this organization, Juan Manuel Méndez, warned the population not to cross rivers, streams and creeks which have a larger than usual water course. He also reported that the Valdesia dam is almost at the point of overflowing.

Méndez reported that the provinces of San Cristóbal, Perabia, the National District and the province of Santo Domingo are on red alert. On yellow alert are María Trinidad Sánchez, Puerto Plata, Espaillat, Hermanas Mirabal, Monseñor Nouel, San Pedro de Macorís, Santiago, La Vega, Monte Plata, Azua, Duarte, Espaillat and Samaná. Only Sanchez Ramirez, La Altagracia, Hato Mayor, San Juan, Barahona, Independencia, Pedernales and El Seibo are on green alert.

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The COE confirmed that the rains will last between 24 and 36 hours more, and that they will be felt more strongly in the capital of the country during the night of today. The Ministry of Public Administration (MAP), in response to this announcement, has already suspended work in the public sector in the regions under red alert.

Likewise, the agency also alerted small and medium-sized boats to follow the weather conditions, since the frontal system is almost stationary over Haiti and is accompanied by a pre-frontal trough over the Dominican Republic.

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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.