International
Colombian Foreign Minister on the accusation of Diosdado Cabello: To foolish words, deaf ears
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Luis Gilberto Murillo, said that “to foolish words, deaf ears” in reference to the accusations made against him by the Chavista leader Diosdado Cabello, who accused him of “working” for the United States Government.
“That doesn’t make sense, to foolish words, deaf ears,” the chancellor told journalists in Suriname, where he participated in a Ministerial Meeting of the Association of Caribbean States.
Murillo added that he met in Suriname with his Venezuelan counterpart, Yván Gil, to whom he expressed his “concerns.”
“We have always maintained a very fluid diplomatic dialogue, and that is the official voice of the Government of Venezuela. That’s why we don’t want to respond or give in to any provocation from other actors on both sides that sometimes what interests them is to generate conflict,” he said.
Cabello accused Murillo of working for the United States after the chancellor claimed that his country seeks a “quiet transition” in Venezuela after the presidential elections on July 28.
“Who sent it to you to declare that? Your president of Colombia or your president of the United States? Who do you work for? Who gives you the right to talk about transition in Venezuela? (…) Here the only transition that is coming is the transition to socialism, there is no other,” he said in his weekly television program ‘Con el mazo dando’, broadcast by the state channel VTV.
Cabello, first vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), said that Murillo “works for the Government of the United States” and that that recent statement is “very rude” and “unfriendly.”
At the 54th Annual Washington Conference on the Americas, Murillo said that Colombia hopes that the upcoming Venezuelan elections “will be fair, obviously, competitive… free.” And that it is, “at least, an acceptable process.”
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
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
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Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction