International
Lula asks for severe sanction if the guilt of general arrested for coup is proven
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Sunday that reserve general Walter Braga Netto, accused of leading an attempted coup d’état in 2022, has the right to the presumption of innocence, but must be severely punished if his guilt is proven.
The head of state referred to the arrest of Braga Netto in a brief comment that he slipped during the interview he gave after being discharged from the hospital where he was admitted on Monday and in which he underwent surgery to treat an intracranial hemorrhage.
“About what happened this week with the arrest warrant issued against General Braga Netto… I’m going to show you that I have more patience and that I’m democratic. I think he has every right to the presumption of innocence. I didn’t have it, but I want them to have it,” he said in reference to his imprisonment for two corruption processes that ended up annulled.
But, he added, “if those people did what they tried to do, they have to be severely punished.”
The arrest of Braga Netto
The former Minister of Defense and the Presidency in the Government of the far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro was arrested this Saturday at his residence in Rio de Janeiro by order of the Supreme Court after the Federal Police accused him of obstructing the investigation of the coup plot.
The Army reserve general, who was a candidate for vice president as Bolsonaro’s running mate in the 2022 elections, is accused of being the main articulator of an attempted coup d’état to prevent Lula’s investiture and an alleged plan to assassinate the progressive leader.
“It is not possible for us to admit that, in a generous country like Brazil, there are people of high military grade plotting the death of the President of the Republic, plotting the death of his vice president and plotting the death of a judge who was president of the Supreme Electoral Court,” Lula said in reference to the accusations against Braga Netto.
The defendants
Both the detained general and Bolsonaro are among the 37 defendants to whom the Federal Police requested that charges be opened for having planned a coup to prevent Lula’s investiture in January 2023.
Despite these accusations, Braga Netto arrested him preventively because, according to the Federal Police, he had been making steps to hinder the investigation and prevent the collection of evidence.
Magistrate Alexandre de Moraes, a member of the Supreme Court responsible for the case and for the arrest warrant, said in his sentence that the investigations “revealed the very serious participation of Walter Braga Neto in the facts investigated and his true role as leader, organizer and financier.”
The reserve general was taken to the headquarters of the First Army Division on the same Saturday, in the so-called ‘Military Villa’ in Rio de Janeiro, where he was placed in the custody of the Armed Forces for having the right to remain in a special cell in a military barracks.
International
Meta Says Russia Seeks to Ban WhatsApp for Defending Secure Communication
U.S. tech giant Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, said that Russia is seeking to ban the messaging app because it “challenges government attempts to violate people’s right to secure communication.”
Russian authorities have encouraged citizens to switch to state-backed applications, and in August they already blocked WhatsApp’s calling feature.
On Friday, the communications regulator Roskomnadzor claimed that the platform was being used to “organize and carry out terrorist acts in the country, recruit perpetrators, and facilitate fraud and other crimes.”
“If the messaging service does not comply with Russian law, it will be completely blocked,” the regulator warned.
WhatsApp remains one of Russia’s most widely used messaging services, alongside Telegram.
Moscow is pressuring both platforms to grant authorities access to user data upon request for investigations into fraud and activities the government labels as “terrorist.”
Human rights advocates fear the demand could be used to target critics of the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin, or the war in Ukraine.
International
Archbishop Wenski criticizes Trump’s deportation policies, calls for stronger push for reform
The Archbishop of Miami, Thomas Wenski, has called for increased pressure on the U.S. Congress to advance comprehensive immigration reform and criticized President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies, arguing that they “do nothing to help.”
“We need to apply more pressure on Congress so lawmakers can make the necessary changes. It is also important for the Administration to listen to our voice. We do not want to be anyone’s enemy—we are Americans,” Wenski said in an interview with EFE.
The religious leader, who heads one of the dioceses with the largest Latino and Haitian populations in the United States, issued a call to defend the rights of migrants. He also emphasized that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has maintained a strong and public stance in favor of migrants for decades.
International
Trump relaunches diplomatic push to finalize U.S.-Backed peace plan for Ukraine War
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his diplomatic team will resume meetings with delegations from Russia and Ukraine in an effort to pressure both sides to accept the peace plan proposed by Washington to end the war in Ukraine.
As part of this new round of talks, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will hold discussions with Ukrainian representatives to narrow differences on the remaining points of the agreement.
Trump also confirmed his intention to meet personally with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and with Putin, though he emphasized that such meetings will only take place “when the agreement is fully finalized or in its final stage.”
The president claimed that his administration has made “tremendous progress” toward resolving the conflict and reiterated that the war “never would have started” if he had been in the White House at the onset of the crisis.
The U.S.-backed peace plan consists of 28 points and has been revised following feedback from both sides. According to Trump, only “a few points of disagreement” remain under active discussion.
One of the most controversial aspects of the proposal is the suggestion that Ukraine cede parts of the Donbas region to Russia and limit the size of its armed forces. Kyiv is working closely with Washington to soften these clauses in search of an arrangement that does not compromise its sovereignty or security.
With this diplomatic push, Trump aims to solidify his role as the main mediator in the conflict and steer the war toward a political resolution after years of devastation, humanitarian crisis, and rising global geopolitical tensions.
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