International
Daniel Sancho’s mother says that her son is “well” and adapting to the new prison
Daniel Sancho’s mother, Silvia Bronchalo, assured on Wednesday that her son is “well” and in “adaptation period” in the Thai prison of Surat Thani, to which he was transferred on August 30, after being sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta.
“(It’s) okay. He is strong and where he is, logically, but well,” Bronchalo told EFE today in Surat Thani after visiting Sancho, 30, in the prison of this city in southern Thailand.
Bronchalo, a Spanish investment analyst, said that she has been able to visit her son on several occasions since last Friday and this week because the prison, which only allows a weekly appointment, has “compressed his visits.”
“It’s not like Samui, where you can see him every day,” said Bronchalo, who stressed that “they have compressed the visits, they have had that deference,” and said she was “happy” to have had the opportunity to see her son on more than one occasion.
The Spaniard referred to the differences between Samui prison, where Sancho remained on a provisional regime from August 7, 2023 until he was transferred to Surat Thani prison one day after he was sentenced to life imprisonment on the 29th of last month.
The Provincial Court of Samui found Sancho guilty of the premeditated murder of Arrieta on August 2, 2023 on the neighboring island of Phangan, a sentence that can still be appealed up to two times in Thailand.
“He is in a period of adaptation, now he is in another prison, there are more people, there are more prisoners of all kinds and they are other rules,” Bronchalo said.
Sancho had to be transferred from prison after the sentence because Samui’s prison only accepts prisoners with sentences of a maximum of 15 years, while Surat Thani’s includes prisoners with a minimum of that sentence and up to the death penalty.
Bronchalo confirmed that Sancho “is in an isolation module,” in which the prisoners are installed “until some time passes” of adaptation and then “they classify them depending on the sentence or what they have done.”
The Spaniard, his mother said, shares a cell “with 14 people,” all Asian except a European of Austrian origin.
The isolation module would be inside zone 6 of the prison, qualified as high security by the prison, according to sources close to the case.
Surat Thani prison is located in an almost depopulated area about 600 kilometers south of Bangkok and hosts about ten times more prisoners than Samui’s, about 4,730 prisoners and 626 prisoners, according to the Department of Corrections.
Also son of Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho, Daniel Sancho initially confessed to the crime but later and during the trial last April he maintained that the death of Arrieta, with whom he stayed in Phangan on the day of the events, was due to an accident.
International
Erin brings strong winds and storm surge despite weakening offshore
Hurricane Erin weakened to a Category 2 storm on Tuesday but continues to pose a threat to parts of the U.S. East Coast with potentially dangerous flooding, according to meteorologists.
Although the hurricane’s eye is expected to remain offshore, experts are concerned about Erin’s size, as strong winds extend hundreds of kilometers beyond the storm’s center.
In its 18:00 GMT bulletin, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) lifted tropical storm warnings for the Bahamasand Turks and Caicos Islands, but kept them in effect for parts of North Carolina.
Erin was located several hundred kilometers southeast of North Carolina and was moving northwestward.
“This means there is a risk of potentially life-threatening flooding of 60 to 120 centimeters above ground level,” said NHC Director Michael Brennan.
He also warned of the possibility of destructive waves, combined with storm surge, that could cause severe damage to beaches and coastal areas, making roads impassable.
International
Three U.S. Warships deploy near Venezuela to combat drug trafficking
Three U.S. naval vessels are moving toward the coasts of Venezuela, according to international media reports on Tuesday, after White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed that President Donald Trump is ready to combat and curb international drug trafficking.
Reports indicate that the ships will reach Venezuelan waters within the next 36 hours as part of a recent U.S. deployment aimed at countering international narcotics operations.
The announcement coincides with Leavitt’s statement that Trump is prepared to “use the full extent of his power” to halt drug flows into the United States. The naval deployment involves approximately 4,000 military personnel.
“The President has been clear and consistent. He is ready to use every element of U.S. power to prevent drugs from flooding our country and to bring those responsible to justice. The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela—it is a narco-terror cartel,” the spokesperson said during a press conference.
International
Cuban authorities free salvadoran convicted in 1997 hotel bombing
Salvadoran national Otto René Rodríguez Llerena was released after serving a 30-year prison sentence for his involvement in a terrorist attack at a hotel in Cuba in 1997, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
During his trial, Rodríguez Llerena admitted to placing an explosive device at the Meliá Cohiba Hotel under the orders of anti-Castro exile leaders. He was arrested the following year when he returned to Havana with another load of explosives that failed to detonate.
“The Cuban government reiterates its commitment to combating terrorism, respecting human rights, and the need for the international community to hold accountable those who promote such acts,” the statement read.
He was released on August 15 and is the second Salvadoran to complete his sentence. In December of last year, another Salvadoran, Ernesto Cruz León, was released after planting bombs at tourist centers, one of which killed an Italian tourist identified as Fabio Di Celmo.
A third Salvadoran, Francisco Chávez Abarca, also received a 30-year sentence from Cuban courts in 2010 after being extradited from Venezuela through Interpol for actions against Cuba.
Rodríguez Llerena had requested conditional release in 2016, arguing that his actions had not caused any direct fatalities, but no further information was released about his situation until now.
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