International
NATO wraps up its main partners in the Indo-Pacific to exert pressure on China
The NATO summit in Washington has made clear the Alliance’s support in its main partners in the Indo-Pacific -Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand-, with whom it shares the interest of stopping China and North Korea as their relations with Russia increase the risk on the interests of the bloc.
NATO, born 75 years ago to provide security to the North Atlantic area in a context of cold war with the Soviet Union, has been strengthening its cooperation with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, known as the IP4 group, for years, but that relationship has intensified and its leaders participate significantly in a summit for the third consecutive year against the background of an increasingly militaryly powerful China.
The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, yesterday made some harsh statements against China for its “responsibility” in the war in Ukraine, today he expressed concern about the strengthened relationship between Russia and North Korea, which is the reason for “usual discussions” between the two groups.
Stoltenberg accused China yesterday of “steering up the Russian war economy” by supplying Moscow with technology and microchips used to attack Ukraine, something that Beijing described today as an “unfounded” denunciation of NATO, which seeks to “establish an imaginary enemy to justify its expansion and power.”
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, China has assumed an ambiguous and equidistant position with both parties and that adds to the growing tensions between the Asian country and NATO due to other factors such as Chinese military expansion, its economic influence and its relationship with Russia.
This morning, when receiving South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Stoltenberg emphasized the fear of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, strengthened after the agreement they signed last month and which, he suggested, could result in “support for Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.”
The importance of the Indo-Pacific partners for the Alliance was also reflected in the meeting of their leaders on the sidelines of the summit with the host, US President Joe Biden, where they “viercally condemned” the “illicit” transfers of weapons from Pyongyang to Moscow.
The leaders of IP4 also participated in a session with the 32 heads of state and government of NATO, plus the European Union, focused on China’s role in the “Russian war economy.”
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, future head of European diplomacy, warned there that the cooperation or relationship between the allied countries and their partners in the Pacific with Beijing could be “very damaged if China continues to support Russia in this war.”
“In the context of an interconnected environment of threats, which is characterized by the deepening of the Russia-North Korea military partnership and China’s support for Russia’s industrial defensive base, NATO benefits from exchanging knowledge and experiences” with IP4, the White House explained in a note.
The first meeting of the Alliance with IP4 was in 2016 and was raised to the level of leaders at the Madrid summit in 2022, when NATO for the first time included China among its strategic priorities because Beijing’s ambitions and its “coercive policies,” he said, challenge its “interests, security and values.”
In addition, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States participate in the AUKUS military partnership since 2021, very focused on this first phase on the development of defense capabilities with submarines and technological development, with a clear focus of deterrence against Chinese expansionist ambitions in its area of influence in the South China Sea.
In the Washington summit statement on Wednesday, the allies reiterated that statement about China, included their concern about its partnership with Russia and warned that they face “hybrid, cyber, spatial threats” and “malicious activities of state and non-state actors.”
The Alliance is not aware that Beijing is supplying weapons directly to Russia, unlike North Korea or Iran, but considers that it sends it the technology and microelectronics necessary to create armaments, hence the hard turn in language over the Asian country.
International
Mexican authorities bust Meth Lab and seize tons of drugs and chemicals in multiple states
Mexican authorities dismantled a clandestine laboratory containing 2.5 tons of methamphetamine in the southeastern state of Chiapas, seized a warehouse with more than four tons of chemical precursors in Guerrero (south), and intercepted a trailer in Tijuana attempting to cross into the United States with 2.7 tons of drugs.
Omar García Harfuch, head of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), reported on Saturday via social media that agents from the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), along with representatives from the Defense Secretariat, Navy (Semar), National Guard (GN), and SSPC, disabled the methamphetamine production lab in Chiapas and confiscated 2.5 tons of the drug.
A statement specified that the agents secured 2.5 tons of methamphetamine, barrels containing substances used to manufacture synthetic drugs, a firearm, and four trucks. In another operation in Guerrero, authorities located over four tons of chemical substances.
The discovery took place on a property in the community of Margarita Maza, Juárez, used to store materials for synthetic drug production. Sufficient evidence was collected and presented to a control judge who authorized the intervention of the property.
In Chiapas, authorities also seized more than 300 barrels and containers with chemicals for making synthetic drugs, as well as various metal containers and devices.
International
Maduro gains support from Venezuelan Assembly amid U.S. drug trafficking accusations
The National Assembly of Venezuela expressed its support this Saturday for President Nicolás Maduro, condemning the United States’ increase in the reward offered for his capture as an “act of aggression.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday that Washington had doubled the reward to $50 million for Maduro’s capture, labeling him as one of the “world’s largest drug traffickers.”
“We reject the absurd and desperate actions announced by the U.S. Attorney General’s Office, which are clearly illegal and lack any real basis, beyond being a delirious attempt of aggression against the president (…) and against our rebellious and brave people,” said the Assembly leader, Jorge Rodríguez, while reading a letter he said was unanimously approved by the deputies.
“It is precisely President Nicolás Maduro (…) the protector of the strong democracy that shelters us and the leader who firmly upholds the rule of law and justice,” Rodríguez continued. He is also Venezuela’s chief negotiator in talks with Washington.
Bondi accused Maduro of using “terrorist organizations like the Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa cartel, and the Cartel of the Suns to introduce lethal drugs and violence” into the United States.
“In 25 years of revolution, we have resisted and advanced despite constant imperialist aggressions. They have not succeeded, and will not succeed, with crude sanctions, criminal blockades, or senseless threats in diverting the noble path the Venezuelan people charted in the free elections of July 28, 2024, in which Nicolás Maduro was elected President of the Republic,” the statement read.
The Venezuelan opposition alleges fraud in those elections and claims victory, and as a result, has boycotted the 2025 legislative, regional, and municipal elections.
International
U.S. doubles bounty on Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro to $50 million
In February, the United States designated eight Latin American criminal organizations as “global terrorist” groups, including Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, and the MS-13 gang. In July, it added the Cartel of the Suns to the list — a group Washington claims is led by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Last Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest, raising it from $25 million to $50 million, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on social media platform X.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained that labeling the Cartel of the Suns as a terrorist organization allows for a strategic shift in dealing with the Venezuelan regime, as it is now also considered a direct threat to U.S. national security, according to El Espectador.
In an interview with The World Over on EWTN, Rubio said the designation enables the U.S. to “use intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, or any other element of American power to go after them.” He stressed this is no longer just a law enforcement matter, but a national security operation.
When asked at the White House whether he believes it is worth sending the military to combat Latin American drug cartels, Trump responded:
“Latin America has many cartels, a lot of drug trafficking, so, you know, we want to protect our country. We have to protect it.”
Mexican authorities bust Meth Lab and seize tons of drugs and chemicals in multiple states
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