International

Historic verdict: Bouterse ordered to prison for opposition killings

Former Surinamese President Desi Bouterse must report to a detention center on Friday to serve a 20-year prison sentence for the murder of 15 opposition figures in 1982, as announced by the prosecutor on Wednesday.

“The Public Prosecutor’s Office has already executed the appeal judgments, and the convicted persons must report to the prison institution on January 12, 2024, according to the ruling, to serve their sentences,” stated the prosecutor in a press release.

In addition to Bouterse, four co-defendants were also sentenced in this 16-year-long trial.

The 78-year-old former president appeared free during his trial and was absent during the December 20 hearing, where his 20-year prison sentence was confirmed. Although the prosecutor expressed the intention to execute the sentence, some experts estimated that the ex-president might not go to jail.

Bouterse still has the option to request a pardon. Thousands of his supporters gathered a few days before his sentencing on December 16, expressing their support with the slogan “Free Bouta,” his nickname. Bouterse, in a speech, called for calm, saying, “Let’s not sow chaos. We will endure until the 2025 elections.”

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However, he warned that “things can get out of control,” referring to potential problems arising from his imprisonment. A coup leader twice, Bouterse, who led a military junta in 1982, was elected president of Suriname in 2010 and held the position until 2020.

International

One Dead, Three Injured in Shooting at Cree Nation in Saskatchewan

One person was killed and three others were injured in a shooting reported early Tuesday in the Big Island Lake Cree Nation, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, according to local media.

Police said they were alerted to the incident in a remote area located approximately 392 kilometers northwest of the city of Saskatoon. Authorities issued a dangerous persons alert for two suspects, who were described as armed.

Saskatchewan police urged residents to seek shelter immediately, lock their doors, and avoid the area while the situation remains under investigation. Officers are working to determine whether the shooting was a targeted attack or a random act of violence.

As a precautionary measure, seven health-care facilities in the surrounding area were placed under lockdown, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said in a post on X.

International

Mexico’s President Visits Victims After Train Derailment Kills 13 in Oaxaca

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum visited on Monday the victims injured in a train accident that left 13 people dead in the southern state of Oaxaca and announced financial assistance for those affected by the derailment of the Interoceanic Train, which was inaugurated in 2023.

The train, carrying 241 passengers and nine crew members, derailed on Sunday while traveling along the Interoceanic Corridor, a major infrastructure project that connects the Pacific coast with the Gulf of Mexico across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The corridor was one of the flagship initiatives of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration (2018–2024).

Sheinbaum visited three hospitals in the neighboring towns of Tehuantepec and Salina Cruz, where around 20 injured passengers remain hospitalized. She also went to a funeral home to accompany the families of those who lost their lives in the accident.

According to Mexico’s Navy Secretary, Raymundo Morales, the accident occurred when one of the locomotives derailed, causing all four railcars to leave the tracks.

International

Six killed, including baby, in armed attack near tourist beach in Ecuador

Six people, including a baby girl about two years old, were killed on Sunday in an armed attack near a tourist beach in southwestern Ecuador, police said. The shooting, carried out with rifles, also left three people wounded.

The incident took place in the coastal town of Puerto López, in the province of Manabí, a popular tourist destination known for whale watching. The attack occurred amid a surge of violence over the weekend that left at least nine people dead nationwide, according to local media reports.

“There are six fatalities and three injured,” Colonel William Acurio, the local police commander, told reporters on Sunday. He confirmed that one of the victims was a baby “approximately two years old.”

Authorities have not released further details about the motive behind the attack or whether arrests have been made.