The president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, highlighted this Friday his admiration for the commitment of the Venezuelan María Corina Machado, who is disqualified to compete for the Presidency of her country.

“We have said it over and over again: free elections, respect for human rights and full democracy. Your commitment and effort for the Venezuelan cause is admirable,” were the words that the president used to respond on the social network X a publication in which Machado said that they had had a dialogue.

“I have just spoken with the President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, whom I thanked for his permanent support and solidarity with our struggle for democracy and freedom. At the hours of the 28th, he confirmed his commitment to the values that unite us and gave me his admiration for the great example of civic courage that Venezuelans give to the world. Thank you very much, dear President!” Machado said there.

A day earlier, the candidate for the Presidency of Uruguay for the ruling National Party, Álvaro Delgado, shared a statement that he signed together with the candidates of three other political forces that make up the current government coalition, in which they asked for transparency in the Venezuelan elections.

“The conditions of next Sunday’s elections, where there are exiles, political prisoners, harassment of the opposition and the disqualification of the main opposition candidate, Maria Corina Machado, do not guarantee a democratic process,” they said.

This statement was also signed by Andrés Ojeda (Colorado Party), Guido Manini Ríos (Open Cabildo) and Pablo Mieres (Independent Party).

On February 1, Lacalle Pou had already spoken about the Venezuelan elections and stressed that they would not be “free and democratic” after Machado’s disqualification.

“We do not try to have a point of view as we like a government more or less,” the president said that day, who added that Machado’s disqualification was a sign that there was “no will” for the elections to be transparent.

The way Israel makes war in Gaza, together with the difficulties it puts on humanitarian aid, have created “a truly dramatic situation of terror,” lamented the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres.

On the one hand, the military campaign is causing “the greatest impact of deaths and destruction that I remember,” said Guterres, who also denounced “the chaotic nature” of this campaign that has been reflected in the orders that the Palestinians have received from the Israeli Army to evacuate their homes and move from the north to the center of the Gaza Strip, later from the center to the south, and again from the south to the north.

“At any time they tell people to move to another place, and people move in search of a security that no longer exists anywhere,” he lamented, referring to the 1.9 million Palestinians torn from their homes and displaced in many cases on several occasions.

To this are added the obstacles to humanitarian aid imposed by Israel, which creates “permanent obstacles to negotiation and puts one difficulty after another” to its entry and distribution, citing security reasons or the alleged deviated use of such aid.

In addition, he accused the Israeli Army of shooting on three different occasions only in the last five days at the vehicles that carry that humanitarian aid.

All this has created a situation of “total insecurity and total anarchy,” aggravated by the fact that the international community has partially responded to the humanitarian call for Gaza and has only provided 36% of the required funding, he highlighted.

In summary,” he concluded, “the way in which (Israel) conducts its military operations and the dramatic circumstances of the distribution of humanitarian aid have created a situation of human terror.”

Due to his open criticism of Israel, Guterres has been boycotted by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government almost since the war began, and the Israeli Prime Minister has not responded to any of his calls or contacted him during his current visit to the United States, according to the UN Secretary-General.

Asked about Netanyahu’s words in Congress about the future of Gaza – which would be demilitarized, deradicalized and with Israeli control over its security – Guterres disqualified them in his own way. “Nothing that was said deserves my comment,” he said, and again advocated the two-state solution as the only possible one.

The head of the National Intelligence Directorate (DNI) of Colombia, Carlos Ramón González, resigned this Friday from his position, after he was linked to the corruption scandal in the state National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), which splashes several members of the Government and Congress.

The resignation of González, one of the people closest to the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, with whom he played in the M-19 guerrilla in his youth, was confirmed by the same president in a message on his X account from Paris, where he attends the inauguration of the Olympic Games today.

“I accept the resignation of Carlos Ramón, director of the Directorate of National Intelligence. His position as head of civil intelligence is incompatible with any judicial investigation and with the same justice apparatus in the country,” Petro said.

González, who was also Petro’s right-hand man as director of the Administrative Department of the Presidency of the Republic (Dapre), was pointed out on Thursday by the Prosecutor’s Office as the person who last year ordered the payment of bribes to two important congressmen in exchange for legislative support to the Government.

As revealed on May 3 by the former deputy director for Disaster Management of the UNGRD, Sneyder Pinilla, money from that entity was used in 2023 to pay millionaires of bribies to the then president of the Senate, Iván Name, and that of the House of Representatives, Andrés Calle.

That money was allegedly diverted from the one allocated for the purchase of 40 tanker trucks to supply water to the Caribbean department of La Guajira, a project in which resources were misappropriated because the vehicles acquired did not meet the technical conditions, among other failures.

The name of González, a very influential figure within the Government who had already been mentioned in the complaints, was officially cited yesterday by the Prosecutor’s Office at the accusation hearing against Pinilla and against the former director of the UNGRD Olmedo López, although the accusing entity has not yet filed charges.

At that hearing, the delegated prosecutor before the Supreme Court of Justice, Andrea Muñoz, said that the former Presidential Counselor for the Regions Sandra Ortiz, also involved in the corruption plot, received orders from González, as her direct boss when she was the director of Dapre, to allegedly deliver the co-ras to Congressmen Name and Calle.

“For the tranquility of prosecutors and judges, for their independence and good judgment and for the same defense work of Carlos Ramón’s lawyers, the best thing is the separation from his position,” Petro added in his message in X.

The corruption scandal in the UNGRD, the body that is responsible for attending to and preventing emergencies caused by natural disasters in the country, was uncovered by the press last February and since then has been growing to reach senior government officials.

Another of those indicated in this process is the Minister of Finance, Ricardo Bonilla, who according to the Prosecutor’s Office was decisive, in coordination with Olmedo López, for the award of three contracts for 92 billion pesos (about 23 million dollars) to benefit six congressmen in exchange for supporting the extension of the Government’s debt quota.

In this case, Petro gave Bonilla a vote of confidence this Friday, pointing out that his actions have not been different from those of other finance ministers.

“I believe in the innocence of the Minister of Finance, because I know what has happened to all the ministers of Finance to maintain the macroeconomic stability of the country,” the president said.