International
Armed group sows terror “by sea and land” in Ecuadorian fishing port
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”.
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.
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
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Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction