International
The Brazilian Amazon relives the drama of drought: empty channels and isolated communities
The Brazilian Amazon is once again suffering an extreme drought that threatens to worsen in the coming months.
In Manaquiri, near Manaus, there are already dry riverbeds, cornered fish and about twenty isolated rural communities.
After a dramatic 2023, Brazil faces the worst drought since 1950 this year and one of the most affected parts of the country is the Amazon region, according to the National Center for Surveillance and Alert of Natural Disasters data.
In the state of Amazonas, the Government has decreed an “emergency situation” in its 62 municipalities due to drought and forest fires. The meteorological specialists had already anticipated it and it has been confirmed.
“Everything indicates that we will have a very serious drought. The rivers will go down like never before,” warned the governor of Amazonas, Wilson Lima.
The Negro River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon, today has a level four meters lower than in the same period last year. Throughout Amazonas, the Brazilian state with the largest number of indigenous population, the drought already directly affects about 80,000 families, according to the Civil Defense.
Several hundred of them are in Manaquiri, where from the end of August you can walk along the dry bed of the river that bathes this town (Paraná Manaquiri).
The footprints are marked on the sandbanks, once covered with fresh water and today naked in the sunlight. Where boats loaded with goods used to sail and today you can ride a horse.
Hundreds of herons take advantage of the drought to feed on fish that are restricted to the little river left.
Meanwhile, Ednaldo Freitas, 35, is busy connecting all the hoses he had at home and thus be able to reach the part where there is still water, according to EFE.
That’s not his only problem. Their children have to walk several kilometers these days to get to school, because the boat that transported them no longer arrives because there is no river.
To go to Manaus, the regional capital, it is still possible to go by another tributary, although it takes an hour longer than usual, which hinders the transport of medicines, food, etc., and harms the local economy.
And with the severe drought, fires have multiplied. This Sunday there were 3,640 active foci throughout Brazil, half of them in the Amazon, the largest tropical forest on the planet. In the state of Amazonas alone there were 237.
In other areas of the country, the flames are also advancing. A fire has burned in four days about 10,000 hectares of the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, near the Federal District of Brasilia, which this Sunday was again shrouded in smoke.
São Paulo and Minas Gerais, the two most populous states in Brazil, have also mobilized a large number of troops to fight forest fires in their territories, on which there are suspicions that many of them have been caused.
International
Habeas Corpus at risk as Trump team eyes drastic border policy shift
The White House is reportedly considering suspending habeas corpus, the legal principle that protects individuals against arbitrary detention, as part of its efforts to escalate anti-immigration measures in the United States.
In remarks to reporters, Stephen Miller, a senior advisor to President Donald Trump, argued that the U.S. Constitution allows the suspension of habeas corpus “in times of invasion.”
“It’s an option we are actively considering, and it all depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not,” Miller stated.
The Trump administration has frequently invoked the notion of a “migrant invasion” to justify actions such as the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border and the deportation of foreign nationals—primarily Venezuelans—to El Salvador’s CECOT megaprison.
International
Maduro to Xi: Venezuela is a loyal friend to China
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro assured his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, during a meeting held in Moscow on the sidelines of the 80th anniversary of the Red Army’s victory in World War II, that China has “loyal friends” in the Caribbean nation.
“You know that in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela you have loyal friends and people willing to continue working for a new world,” said the South American leader, according to footage aired Friday by Venezuelan state broadcaster VTV.
Maduro, accompanied by several of his ministers including Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, highlighted the “great results” of a 2023 agreement between China and Venezuela called the “All-Weather and All-Round Strategic Partnership.”
“I believe we can multiply the great results we’re already seeing, and I’m sure that strong and clear guidelines will emerge from this meeting to keep moving forward together,” Maduro added.
International
Iberojet reaffirms commitment to Honduras as Central American Hub
Spanish airline Iberojet and Palmerola International Airport, located in central Honduras, signed a three-year renewal of their exclusive agreement to operate direct flights between the Honduran terminal and the cities of Madrid and Barcelona.
With this renewal, Iberojet—part of the Spanish tourism group Ávoris Corporación Empresarial—reaffirms its commitment to Honduras as its main gateway to Central America from Europe.
The agreement was signed by Iberojet’s Commercial Director, Mario Domínguez, and Erick Spears, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Palmerola.
The signing ceremony took place at the residence of the Spanish Ambassador to Honduras, Diego Nuño García, who served as an honorary witness.
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