International
EU prioritises Venezuela elections over Guaido ties
AFP
The EU on Friday made clear it is prioritising its approach towards regional elections in Venezuela next month over its stance towards opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is against the polls.
Brussels plans to send an election observer mission to Venezuela to monitor the November 21 vote in the impoverished South American country.
Guaido — whom more than 50 countries, including the United States and much of Latin America regard as the acting president of Venezuela — has come out against both the elections and the EU observer mission, along with another high-profile opposition figure, Leopoldo Lopez.
But, said an EU official on condition of anonymity, “you have to look at what influence Guaido and Lopez have”.
The official noted that most of Venezuela’s opposition parties have opted to compete in the regional polls, breaking with their past strategy of boycotting elections called by Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s government.
That, despite the opposition accusing Maduro of fraudulent re-election in 2018.
“We respect their (Guaido and Lopez’s) point of view, but their own party is in favour of participating in the elections and the mission,” the official said.
The EU mission is headed by a Portuguese MEP, Isabel Santos, and counts around 100 election experts who are to start arriving in Caracas over the coming days.
On Wednesday, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement that the elections were “unprecedented”, involving “the majority of political forces for the first time in recent years”.
No EU member states has raised objections to the mission, though some have voiced worries that it could be used by Maduro’s regime to assert legitimacy.
The EU official said that “even in the US there is a pragmatic tilt. The atmosphere has changed. The aim is to find a negotiated solution to the crisis in that country (Venezuela).”
The EU, US and Canada have said they would be prepared to review their sanctions against Maduro’s government if there is “significant progress” in political talks between it and the opposition taking place in Mexico City.
International
Trump and Putin end Alaska summit without Ukraine peace agreement
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin wrapped up their summit in Alaska on Friday with a brief joint press conference, during which they announced no agreement on peace in Ukraine.
Trump described the more than three-hour meeting with Putin and his delegation at Elmendorf-Richardson base as “extremely productive,” but admitted, “we have not reached the goal.”
“Many points were agreed upon. Only a few remain unresolved. Some are not significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have a good chance of resolving them. We haven’t gotten there yet, but we have a good chance of achieving it,” Trump stated cryptically at the no-questions press conference.
According to White House officials, the summit began around 11:30 a.m. local time (7:30 p.m. GMT).
Trump was joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy for the Middle East and Kremlin mediator Steve Witkoff. On Putin’s side, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov were in attendance.
Central America
International tourism brings over $2.2 billion to El Salvador in 2025
International tourism has generated more than $2.2 billion in foreign exchange for the Salvadoran economy during the first seven months of 2025, according to the Ministry of Tourism (Mitur).
Tourism Minister Morena Valdez stated on Thursday that this figure reflects a favorable development of the tourism sector so far this year.
“Over $2.2 billion by July, and we estimate more than $3 billion in foreign exchange by December 2025. I believe we will perform quite well,” Valdez said in an interview with Frente a Frente.
These figures do not include the 91,000 international tourists received during the August holidays, who contributed $60 million to the local economy, according to the government.
The accumulated results by July represent 73.3% of Mitur’s estimates for foreign exchange generated by international tourism in 2025.
During the same period, tourism authorities recorded 2.3 million international visitors, which is 57.5% of the more than 4 million visitors projected by the government by the end of 2025.
Authorities have recently adjusted the tourism target: at the beginning of the year, Mitur anticipated 4.2 million visitorsafter receiving 3.9 million in the previous year.
International
Tabasco ex-officials linked to drug trafficking spark Mexico-U.S. tensions
The scandal involving two former state officials from Tabasco, southeast Mexico, linked to drug trafficking and now fugitives, has added tension to Mexico-U.S. relations, which had already been strained by President Donald Trump’s threats to send troops across the border to target cartels.
At the center of the controversy is the current coordinator of the Mexican Senate, former governor of Tabasco, and former Secretary of the Interior, Adán Augusto López Hernández, a close ally of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018–2024), along with his then-security secretary, Hernán Bermúdez Requena.
According to the Mexican weekly Proceso, published two weeks ago, the criminal ties of the former officials were reported in 2022 by Mexican intelligence services during López Obrador’s administration when López Hernández was Secretary of the Interior.
Bermúdez Requena, known as ‘El Comandante H’, was appointed Secretary of Security in Tabasco in 2019 by then-governor Adán Augusto López Hernández, from the ruling Morena party, and is accused of being a leader of the criminal group ‘La Barredora’, a cell linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
On July 22, Mexico’s Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, confirmed that a warrant and Interpol red notice had been issued against Bermúdez Requena, who had been under investigation since 2024 for his links to organized crime.
Honduran prosecutors charge three with terrorism and assassination plot against Manuel Zelaya
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