International
Bolivia rejects “interfering” US statements
March 13 |
Representatives of Bolivian social movements support today on Twitter the public rejection by the Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energy, Franklin Molina, of the interfering statements made by the head of the U.S. Southern Command, Laura Richardson.
“We do not admit any interference, from any State in the world. Bolivia has a definition regarding the industrialization of natural resources, something we started to do since 2006”, assured Molina in an interview to the state channel Bolivia Tv.
Referring to four-star general Richardson’s statements before U.S. congressmen that “we have ignored our backyard”, Molina was categorical.
“There is no consultation here, neither to the IMF (International Monetary Fund), nor to the World Bank, nor to any northern country to develop our own destiny. Therefore, as a sovereign country, we have decided and we are sovereign to choose and work with the one that brings us the best conditions for the country”, he reaffirmed.
He considered that the assertions of the military hierarch show little capacity for analysis and at the same time little respect for the countries of the lithium triangle (Argentina, Bolivia and Chile).
The minister added that these expressions denote not only desperation, but also a lack of global vision of what is happening in the world.
Last Wednesday Richardson said that China “expands its influence” in Latin America and the Caribbean and “manipulates” its governments through “predatory investment practices”.
He added that “this region is full of (natural) resources and I am concerned about the malign activity of our adversaries, who are taking advantage of it, pretending they are investing, when in reality (they) are extracting them.”
The representative in the region of the Pentagon high command highlighted that the so-called triangle accumulates 60 percent of the world’s lithium and negotiates with China, Russia and Iran, nations she described as adversaries that “are taking resources from these countries and their people.”
Internet users from the Comité Impulsor de la Justicia en Bolivia praised the direct criticism expressed in a thread of three tweets by former President Evo Morales to those interfering views. “Latin America is not a colony of the United States,” wrote the former president and leader of the Movement Towards Socialism-Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples.
Morales repudiated the threats of the general “who repeats his country’s predatory interest in the lithium triangle in Bolivia, Argentina and Chile, the water and oxygen of the Amazon and the gold of Venezuela”.
Warning that China is a strategic ally that offers cooperation without conditions, Morales pointed out that “Latin America will never again be the backyard of interventionism”.
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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