International

Armed group sows terror “by sea and land” in Ecuadorian fishing port

Photo: Armed Forces of Ecuador

April 12 |

Nine people lost their lives this Tuesday in the town of Esmeraldas, in northern Ecuador, when some thirty alleged members of “organized crime” sowed terror “by sea and land” by opening fire on the fishing port, according to official sources.

“Today, around 09:00 am, 30 heavily armed people, both by sea and land, attacked fishermen in a criminal and delinquent manner”, informed the Ministry of Interior through a communiqué, in which it also detailed that Minister Juan Zapata went to the place of the facts, “after 9 violent deaths and 4 wounded registered so far”.

Zapata himself, quoted in the statement, detailed that the National Police and the Armed Forces are working on the case “in a coordinated manner”. “We are confronting organized crime with force,” he said.

President Guillermo Lasso stated on his Twitter account that those responsible will be captured and confirmed that the police and military forces are “looking for those responsible for this crime”.

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According to the Ministry, the police in the sector arrived to repel the attack, taking into account that there were between 1,500 and 2,000 people in the port. At least two victims were rescued from the sea because they jumped into the water to avoid the attack, according to AP citing police sources.

So far, according to the Interior Ministry, 60 raids have been carried out in sectors where, “according to police intelligence, the Organized Crime Group (GDO) would be responsible for this act”. Likewise, he informed that more than 200 ballistic indications have been collected, both of 9 millimeters and 223.

The Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office informed that it removed seven bodies in the Artisanal Fishing Port of the canton, and two more in a nearby health center, which were transferred to the Forensic Center.

Earlier, Minister Zapata also announced, through a tweet, that they were coordinating with the police “to capture those responsible for the violent deaths registered in the Fishing Port”. For their part, the country’s military forces announced a security deployment in the area.

Esmeraldas is one of the most violent cities in Ecuador, frequented by criminal gangs involved in crimes such as drug trafficking and extortion.

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International

Winter Storm Fern Leaves 30 Dead and Over One Million Without Power Across the U.S.

The massive winter storm Fern, bringing polar temperatures, battered large portions of the United States for a third consecutive day on Monday, leaving at least 30 people dead, more than one million households without electricity, and thousands of flights grounded.

In the Great Lakes region, residents awoke to extreme cold, with temperatures dropping below -20°C. Forecasts indicate that conditions are expected to worsen in the coming days as an Arctic air mass moves south, particularly across the northern Great Plains and other central regions, where wind chills could plunge to -45°C, temperatures capable of causing frostbite within minutes.

Across the country, heavy snowfall exceeding 30 centimeters in roughly 20 states triggered widespread power outages. According to PowerOutage.com, nearly 800,000 customers remained without electricity on Monday morning, most of them in the southern United States.

In Tennessee, where ice brought down power lines, approximately 250,000 customers were still without power. Outages also affected more than 150,000 customers in Mississippi and over 100,000 in Louisiana, as utility crews struggled to restore service amid dangerous conditions.

International

Spain approves plan to regularize up to 500,000 migrants in Historic Shift

In November 2024, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced a reform of the country’s immigration regulations aimed at regularizing 300,000 migrants per year over a three-year period, in an effort to counter population aging in a country where births have fallen by 25.6% since 2014, according to official data.

Going against the trend in much of Europe, Spain’s left-wing government has now approved an exceptional migrant regularization plan that could benefit up to 500,000 people, most of them from Latin America.

The measure will allow the regularization of around “half a million people” who have been living in Spain for at least five months, arrived before December 31, 2025, and have no criminal record, Migration Minister Elma Saiz explained on public television.

The plan, approved on Tuesday by the Council of Ministers, establishes that applications will be processed between April and June 30, enabling beneficiaries to work in any sector and anywhere in the country, Saiz said.

“Today is a historic day for our country. We are strengthening a migration model based on human rights, integration, and one that is compatible with economic growth and social cohesion,” the minister later stated at a press conference.

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The socialist government of Pedro Sánchez stands out within the European Union for its migration policy, contrasting with the tightening of immigration measures across much of the bloc amid pressure from far-right movements.

Central America

Honduras swears in conservative president Asfura after disputed election

Conservative politician Nasry Asfura assumed the presidency of Honduras on Tuesday with an agenda closely aligned with the United States, a shift that could strain the country’s relationship with China as he seeks to confront the economic and security challenges facing the poorest and most violent nation in Central America.

Asfura’s rise to power, backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, marks the end of four years of left-wing rule and secures Trump another regional ally amid the advance of conservative governments in Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina.

The 67-year-old former mayor and construction businessman was sworn in during an austere ceremony at the National Congress, following a tightly contested election marred by opposition allegations of fraud and Trump’s threat to cut U.S. aid if his preferred candidate did not prevail.

Grateful for Washington’s support, Asfura—who is of Palestinian descent—traveled to the United States to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, before visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We need to strengthen relations with our most important trading partner,” Asfura said after being declared the winner of the November 30 election by a narrow margin, following a tense vote count that lasted just over three weeks.