International
Henrique Capriles is chosen as candidate for Venezuela’s internal opposition race
March 12 |
Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles was designated on Friday as his party’s representative for the primary elections proposed for October 22 in which, despite their divisions, the opponents of Nicolás Maduro’s government will choose a unitary candidate for the 2024 presidential elections.
“I am convinced that in 2024 this country has a chance,” Capriles said after being proclaimed candidate of the Primero Justicia party.
Capriles – who lost the 2013 presidential elections to Maduro and those of 2012 in which he faced the late President Hugo Chávez – has defended the idea that the opposition should participate electorally despite the stance of the main parties to promote boycotts in past national and regional elections arguing that conditions for free and democratic elections did not exist.
In April 2017 the Comptroller General’s Office, controlled by the ruling party, politically disqualified him from participating in electoral events for 15 years and in June of that year the Supreme Court, with a majority of magistrates sympathetic to the government, threatened him with arrest if he refused to contain the anti-government protests and road blockades he led that left at least 120 dead.
Capriles remains disqualified and it is unclear whether the ban will be lifted in a timely manner to allow his participation in an eventual run for the presidency.
The primaries organized by the opposition have not yet defined the infrastructure they will use, although they hope to count on the support of the National Electoral Council, which is in charge of carrying out national, state and municipal elections in the country. The commission in charge of coordinating the election has said that they will take place on October 22, but it is yet to be defined where, how and who will vote.
The primaries reflect the will to unify the opposition forces that have been deeply fragmented since 2020. In June of that year, the Supreme Court suspended the boards of directors of the Acción Democrática, Voluntad Popular and Primero Justicia parties and handed over their leadership, assets and symbols to dissident opponents.
In 2019 opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president while serving as head of the National Assembly arguing that Maduro had been reelected in 2018 in fraudulent elections.
International support for Guaidó, one of his main strengths to take on Maduro, diminished significantly over the years and his former allies terminated the interim government figure last December.
International
Trump: U.S. has hit three venezuelan narco boats in Caribbean
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that American forces have struck three suspected Venezuelan drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean so far, not two as previously reported.
“We took down boats. It was actually three boats, not two, but you only saw two,” Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for a state visit to the United Kingdom.
The president was asked about remarks by Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, who accused Washington of plotting to invade his country.
“Stop sending members of the Tren de Aragua to the United States. Stop sending drugs to the United States,” Trump responded.
The Republican leader mentioned this third vessel a day after announcing that U.S. forces had struck a speedboat in which, according to him, three “terrorists” were killed. Later, from the Oval Office, he claimed the boat had been carrying cocaine and fentanyl.
The attacks come amid escalating tensions between Washington and Caracas, as the U.S. military maintains a Caribbean deployment under the banner of counter-narcotics operations.
The Trump administration accuses Maduro of heading the so-called Cartel of the Suns, which the Venezuelan government denies. Washington has also offered a $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s capture.
On Monday, Maduro said communications with the U.S. were “broken” in the face of what he called an “aggression” and declared that Venezuela is now “better prepared” in case of an “armed struggle.”
International
Ecuador’s Noboa declares State of Emergency in seven provinces amid fuel price protests
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency on Tuesday in seven provinces due to what he described as “serious internal unrest,” as road blockades and demonstrations erupted in response to the elimination of the diesel subsidy and growing concerns over insecurity.
The 60-day measure applies to the provinces of Carchi, Imbabura, Pichincha, Azuay, Bolívar, Cotopaxi, and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas.
Since Monday, partial protests have been reported in Pichincha, Carchi, Azuay, and Imbabura. On Tuesday, road blockades extended to northern Pichincha and routes in Carchi, near the Colombian border. In response, the Executive headquarters was temporarily relocated to Cotopaxi and the Vice Presidency to Imbabura.
The presidential decree states that the measure comes amid “strikes that have disrupted public order and provoked acts of violence, endangering the safety of citizens and their rights to free movement, work, and economic activity.”
According to the decree, the goal is to “prevent the radicalization of disruptive actions” in the affected provinces and to limit the impact on the population. It further emphasizes that the situation requires an “exceptional intervention by state institutions to safeguard security, guarantee citizens’ rights, maintain public order, and preserve social peace.”
Social organizations and labor groups, including the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), have strongly rejected the diesel price increase following the subsidy’s elimination.
The decree justifies the two-month duration as necessary “to ensure a strengthened state presence in the affected territories, restore order, and prevent further acts of violence against people, public, and private property.”
International
Colombia’s special peace tribunal hands down first sentence against former FARC leaders
Seven former rebel leaders, including their last known commander Rodrigo Londoño, alias “Timochenko,” have been handed the maximum penalty established in the 2016 peace agreement.
Under the ruling, they will face mobility restrictions and be required to carry out activities aimed at restoring the dignity of victims, such as helping locate missing persons and participating in landmine clearance in territories where they once operated. These alternative sentences to prison were part of the historic deal signed in 2016 between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) —once the most powerful guerrilla group in Latin America— and then-President Juan Manuel Santos, Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) found the ex-commanders guilty of being responsible for the kidnapping of 21,396 people before laying down their arms and transitioning into a political party. “Investigations showed that kidnapping became a systematic practice. These crimes not only broke the law but also left open wounds that persist in families, communities, and the daily life of the country,” a magistrate told reporters in Bogotá, in the absence of the former commanders, who had accepted responsibility for their crimes back in 2022.
It took the tribunal more than seven years to deliver its first ruling, amid criticism from opponents of the peace deal who argue it is too lenient on the rebels. The former commanders still face charges for other crimes against humanity, including the recruitment of minors.
During their decades-long conflict, the FARC held hostage soldiers, police officers, businesspeople, and political leaders, including French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt. Images of emaciated captives chained in jungle camps shocked the world and became symbols of the conflict.
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