International
Colombia: President Petro’s son does not accept charges of illicit enrichment and money laundering
August 2|
The son of Colombian President Gustavo Petro did not accept on Tuesday the charges of illicit enrichment and money laundering of which he has been accused by judicial authorities.
Nicolás Petro rejected the charges in a hearing in which the Attorney General’s Office set out the elements against him.
The son of the head of state was captured on Saturday in Barranquilla, a city in the north of the country. His ex-wife, Daysuris del Carmen Vásquez, was also arrested that day.
Nicolás Petro – who serves as a deputy of the Departmental Assembly of Atlántico, in northern Colombia – is accused by judicial authorities of having illegally increased his wealth.
The investigation by the Attorney General’s Office began after allegations by his ex-wife, who claimed that she had received money for her father’s presidential campaign but kept those resources for herself.
The Attorney General’s Office exposed on Tuesday that the illegal increase in the assets of the president’s son would have reached $270,000 in 2022, the same year of the campaign in which his father won the head of state.
In the hearing the prosecutor in charge of the case, Mario Andrés Burgos, made a comparison between Nicolás Petro’s income in his work as departmental assemblyman and the expenses he had last year and concluded that he earned around $71,000 but his expenses amounted to about $308,000. According to Burgos, the Attorney General’s Office found no other income declared by Nicolás Petro nor financial credits that would justify that level of spending.
At the same time he exposed the allegations made by his ex-wife before the investigating entity. According to these accusations, Nicolás Petro would have received around $270,000, in different payments, from Samuel Santander Lopesierra, convicted in Colombia and who served a prison sentence in the United States for crimes related to drug trafficking.
Lopesierra is running for mayor of Maicao in La Guajira, in the north of the country, in an election next October.
According to Vasquez’s allegations, her ex-husband also allegedly received money from Alfonso del Cristo “El Turco” Hilsaca through his son, Gabriel Hilsaca. “El turco” Hilsaca is being prosecuted for homicide and conspiracy to commit a crime.
Both payments, according to the president’s former daughter-in-law, were for Gustavo Petro’s presidential campaign, but according to prosecutor Burgos, Nicolás Petro “never” delivered that money but bought goods. Through these acquisitions -according to the Attorney General’s Office-, the president’s son would have sought to “give the appearance of legality” to the money received, which would constitute the crime of money laundering.
Now the judge in charge of the case must decide whether or not to grant the preventive detention requested by the Attorney General’s Office.
International
Police investigate deaths of Rob Reiner and wife as apparent homicide
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is investigating the deaths of Hollywood actor and filmmaker Rob Reinerand his wife as an “apparent homicide,” amid a wave of tributes to the director of classics such as When Harry Met Sally.
According to U.S. media reports on Sunday, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead at their Los Angeles mansion with what appeared to be stab wounds.
Several political figures shared messages of condolence following the reported deaths of the director of A Few Good Menand his wife.
While the LAPD did not officially confirm the identities of the victims, it stated that homicide detectives were dispatched to the Reiner residence.
“At this time, no additional details are available and the investigation into an apparent homicide is ongoing,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement posted on social media.
LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton told reporters that no arrests have been made and that no individuals are currently being questioned as suspects.
“I’m not going to confirm whether anyone is being questioned at this moment or not. We are going to try to speak with as many family members as we can,” Hamilton said.
CNN reported that a family spokesperson confirmed the deaths of Reiner and his wife.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, former U.S. President Barack Obama, and former Vice President Kamala Harrisissued statements expressing their condolences.
International
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement to comply with current water obligations affecting U.S. farmers and ranchers and for Mexico to cover its water deficit to Texas under the 1944 Water Treaty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement.
The department уточified that the agreement applies to both the current cycle and the water deficit from the previous cycle.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Mexico of failing to comply with the water-sharing treaty between the two countries, which requires the United States to deliver 1.85 billion cubic meters of water from the Colorado River, while Mexico must supply 432 million cubic meters from the Rio Grande.
Mexico is behind on its commitments. According to Washington, the country has accumulated a deficit of more than one billion cubic meters of water over the past five years.
“This violation is severely harming our beautiful crops and our livestock in Texas,” Trump wrote on Monday.
The Department of Agriculture said on Friday that Mexico had agreed to supply 250 million cubic meters of water starting next week and to work toward closing the shortfall.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, quoted in the statement, said Mexico delivered more water in a single year than it had over the previous four years combined.
Trump has said that if Mexico continues to fall short of its obligations, the United States reserves the right to impose 5% tariffs on imported Mexican products.
Mexico’s Deputy Foreign Minister for North America, Roberto Velasco, said that a severe drought in 2022 and 2023prevented the country from meeting its commitments.
International
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
Several people were shot on Saturday in an attack on the campus of Brown University, in the northeastern United States, local police reported.
“Shelter in place and avoid the area until further notice,” the Providence Police Department urged in a post on X. Brown University is located in Providence, the capital of the state of Rhode Island.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that he had been briefed on the situation and that the FBI was on the scene.
At 5:52 p.m. local time (11:52 p.m. GMT), Brown University said the situation was still “ongoing” and instructed students to remain sheltered until further notice.
After initially stating that the suspect had been taken into custody, Trump later posted a second message clarifying that local police had walked back that information. “The suspect has NOT been apprehended,” the U.S. president said.
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