International
The Kurdish PKK guerrilla announces its dissolution and the end of the armed struggle after 40 years
The Kurdish guerrilla of the PKK announced on Monday its dissolution and the end of its “armed fight” that began against the Turkish state 40 years ago and that has left about 45,000 dead, thus responding to the call made at the end of February from prison by the founder and leader of the organization Abdullah Öcalan.
“The 12º Congress of the PKK has decided to dissolve the organizational structure of the PKK and put an end to the method of armed struggle, whose implementation process will be directed and carried out by the APO leader (Öcalan), thus ending the activities carried out under the name of the PKK,” the guerrilla said in a statement released by the Turkish media.
Öcalan, who has been serving a life sentence for 25 years, asked the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered a terrorist by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, on February 27 to abandon his weapons.
The PKK held a congress between May 5 and 7 to discuss Öcalan’s request.
“The 12º Extraordinary Congress of the PKK evaluated that the struggle of the PKK has broken the policy of denial and annihilation imposed on our people, has brought the Kurdish question to the point of being resolved through democratic politics and has thus fulfilled its historical mission” justified today this proscribed organization its decision to lay up arms.
On the 8th, the Turkish president, the Islamist Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced at a meeting of his party, the AKP, that the disarmament of the PKK would be announced soon.
Initially, the PKK, which operates mainly from its bases in northern Iraq, had demanded that Öcalan himself lead in freedom an eventual peace process with the Turkish state.
Already in 2013, Öcalan had announced the end of the PKK’s independence aspirations, the intention to integrate the Kurds into a democratic Turkey and the abandonment of weapons, but the process was aborted in 2015 and the fighting and attacks intensified.
The Turkish government has described it as an advance to end the “scourge of terrorism” that the Kurdish guerrilla of the PKK has announced that it will dissolve.
The president of the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, celebrated this dissolution and considered it a step to promote “coexistence and stability” in Turkey and the rest of the Middle East.
International
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Ecuador’s Armed Forces carried out an operation on Monday — including airstrikes — against illegal mining in the town of Buenos Aires, in the country’s north, Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo reported.
The mountainous, gold-rich area has been a hotspot for illegal mining since 2017, located in the Andean province of Imbabura.
In 2019, former president Lenín Moreno deployed around 2,400 soldiers to the region in an attempt to curb the illegal activity. “The operation began with mortar fire, followed by gunfire and bombing runs by Supertucano aircraft,” Loffredo said in a video released by the Defense Ministry.
He added that the operation would continue on Tuesday with patrols across the area to locate possible members of “irregular armed groups that may have crossed from the Colombian border.”
The Armed Forces stated on X that the intervention focused on the “complete elimination of multiple illegal mining tunnels” in the areas known as Mina Nueva and Mina Vieja.
The operation coincided with the deployment of a military and police convoy into Imbabura, which has been the epicenter of protests against President Daniel Noboa since September 22, following his decision to scrap the diesel subsidy.
International
Caracas shuts embassy in Oslo without explanation following Machado’s Nobel win
Venezuela has announced the closure of its embassy in Norway, just days after opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Venezuelan diplomatic mission provided no explanation for its decision on Monday.
“It is regrettable,” a ministry spokesperson said. “Despite our differences on several issues, Norway wishes to keep the dialogue with Venezuela open and will continue to work in that direction.” The ministry also emphasized that the Nobel Committee operates entirely independently from the Norwegian government.
In its announcement, the Nobel Committee stated that Machado met the criteria established by Alfred Nobel, “embodying the hope for a different future, where the fundamental rights of Venezuelans are heard.”
International
Sheinbaum: Urgent to restore access to towns cut off by heavy rains
Thousands of military personnel and civilians in Mexico worked tirelessly on Tuesday to clear roads blocked by the torrential rains of recent days, which have left more than 300 communities cut off across central and eastern regions of the country. Authorities also launched mass fumigation efforts in several affected areas to prevent the spread of dengue fever.
The official death toll remains at 64, though dozens of people are still missing. President Claudia Sheinbaumacknowledged that the government does not yet know the full situation in many of the isolated villages, which range in population from 500 to 1,000 inhabitants.
“The reopening of roads is one of the greatest urgencies,” Sheinbaum said. “It’s essential to guarantee air bridges, food supplies, clean water, and a proper census of the isolated communities so we can determine the condition of every person living there.”
Private construction companies are also assisting the effort with heavy machinery and technical support to help reopen highways and reconnect rural areas.
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Caracas shuts embassy in Oslo without explanation following Machado’s Nobel win
Sheinbaum: Urgent to restore access to towns cut off by heavy rains
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
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