International
Prosthetics craftsmen hope to ‘repair humans’ in ailing Venezuela
AFP
“I used to repair car tires. Now I repair humans,” boasts Jose Bastidas, an amputee who left his auto repair job to make artificial limbs in Venezuela, where the health system has all but collapsed.
“Getting someone to walk is priceless,” the 41-year-old told AFP at the Zona Bionica workshop in Caracas.
Bastidas joined the company as a trainee prosthetics manufacturer seven years ago after losing his right leg in a road accident.
“I don’t earn much,” he said, “but it is thrilling to see people stand up.”
There are no statistics on the number of amputees in Venezuela, a country of 30 million people, where three out of four live in extreme poverty, according to a recent study.
The latest data, from 2008, showed that 130,000 people in Venezuela had a physical disability that affects mobility, including amputees.
Zona Bionica says the majority of its clients lost a limb due to a medical problem, such as diabetes, or traffic accidents.
Besides the physical and emotional shock, survivors also have to contend with the cost.
Except for a lucky few beneficiaries of philanthropy, most have to pay all or most of the $1,800 price for the cheapest prosthesis, which needs to be replaced every two years.
The average salary in Venezuela, battered by recession and hyperinflation, is about $50 per month.
– ‘We lost a body part, not our lives’ –
Heidy Garcia, 30, works in the back office of Zona Bionica, which also runs sponsorship campaigns for amputees in need.
Garcia lost her right leg due to a blood circulation problem four years ago, and proudly displays a personalized turquoise replacement limb under short pants.
“It is very hard at first,” said Garcia, referring to phantom pain, cramps and having to get used to attaching the prosthesis, which she managed to acquire through a crowd-funding campaign.
“But you have to keep going and to accept. The mind is very strong.”
Garcia said the fact that most of Zona Bionica’s workers are amputees brings comfort to new patients.
“I encourage them. They get depressed, they have low morale, but we remind them that we lost a body part, not our lives,” Bastidas said.
Cristhian Sequera Quintana, who had both legs amputated after a motorcycle accident in 2015, said that at first, “I did not really want to live.”
“I needed help to bathe, to answer the call of nature,” the 34-year-old told AFP.
But with the prosthesis, “things changed,” said Quintana.
“Now I want to work and live. I want to continue fighting for myself, my son and my family.”
International
Uruguay’s Lower House votes to legalize euthanasia amid broad public support
The Uruguayan Lower House voted Wednesday to legalize euthanasia, following the examples of Cuba, Colombia, and Ecuador, marking a significant social shift in a predominantly Catholic region.
The bill to decriminalize assisted death was approved 64-35 in the 99-seat Chamber of Representatives after an emotional night-long debate. The legislation will now move to the Senate, which is expected to pass it into law before the end of the year.
Under the new law, mentally competent adults suffering from terminal or incurable illnesses will be able to request euthanasia.
A key amendment appeared to help convince lawmakers who opposed the original 2022 proposal, requiring that a medical board review a case if the two attending doctors disagree.
Representative Luis Gallo, who opened the debate, recalled patients whose struggles inspired the bill.
“Let us not forget that the request is strictly personal: it respects the patient’s free and individual will, without interference, because it concerns their life, their suffering, and their decision not to continue living,” said Gallo of the center-left governing coalition, Frente Amplio.
Public opinion polls indicate broad support for euthanasia, from President Yamandú Orsi downward. Uruguay has also been a pioneer in legalizing same-sex marriage, abortion, and cannabis use.
International
Trump deploys National Guard as Pentagon plans quick-reaction force for civil disturbances
The Pentagon is considering creating a task force of hundreds of soldiers to be rapidly deployed anywhere in the country in the event of domestic civil unrest, according to The Washington Post, which reviewed Defense Department documents on Tuesday.
The proposed unit, tentatively named the “Rapid Civil Disturbance Response Force,” would consist of 600 soldiers on “constant alert”, capable of responding to incidents within just one hour.
According to the report, the force would be split into two equally sized units: one stationed at a military base in Alabama in the eastern U.S., and the other in Arizona in the west.
Internal documents indicate that if approved, the initiative could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, particularly if troops are kept on 24-hour readiness and transported via military aircraft.
While the National Guard already maintains a rapid response unit, this new military formation would go further, potentially moving soldiers between states whenever necessary.
The plans remain preliminary, with funding potentially starting in fiscal year 2027 at the earliest.
This report emerges just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of the National Guard for the second time since returning to the White House in January. On Monday, Trump instructed this volunteer force, which supports the Army and Air Force in emergencies, to move to Washington D.C. to combat crime and remove homeless individuals from the streets—a third deployment to the capital.
International
Colombian president Gustavo Petro warns against U.S. military intervention in Venezuela
Colombian President Gustavo Petro defended his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro after the U.S. administration labeled him as the leader of the “Cartel of the Suns” and authorized the Pentagon to use military force against drug cartels, which could lead to an intervention on Venezuelan soil to combat these criminal groups. Petro stated that any military operation without the approval of Colombia or Venezuela would represent an “aggression.”
Petro responded over the weekend following reports on Friday from U.S. media about President Donald Trump’s order to confront designated global terrorist organizations such as the Cartel of the Suns, the Sinaloa Cartel, and the Tren de Aragua, including operations on foreign soil. Furthermore, the U.S. State Department increased the reward for information leading to Maduro’s capture from $25 million to $50 million.
“I publicly convey my order given as commander of the Colombian armed forces. Colombia and Venezuela are one people, one flag, one history. Any military operation without the approval of the brother countries is an aggression against Latin America and the Caribbean. It is fundamentally contradictory to our principle of freedom. ‘Freedom or death,’ Bolívar shouted, and the people revolted,” Petro posted on his social media, clearly expressing his disagreement with potential U.S. military intervention in Venezuela.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview on The World Over program on Friday that controlling these terrorist groups is decisive. He added that, for the U.S., these gangs are no longer just local street gangs but well-organized criminal enterprises spreading from Mexico, Guatemala, and Ecuador.
“We cannot continue treating these guys as local street gangs. They have weapons like terrorists, in some cases they have armies. They control territories in many cases. These cartels extend from Maduro’s regime in Venezuela, which is not a legitimate government,” Rubio told the audience.
Uruguay’s Lower House votes to legalize euthanasia amid broad public support
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