International
UN mission for Venezuela: the Government is reactivating its most violent repression
The Government of Venezuela is reactivating “the most violent form of repression,” with a new wave of arrests of opponents accused of alleged conspiracies such as the so-called Operation White Bracelet, the UN Independent International Mission for the country said on Wednesday.
The president of the mission, the Portuguese Marta Valiñas, presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council a new report on abuses committed by the Government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela since 2023, where she stressed that “the authorities invoke real or fictitious conspiracies to smedget, arrest and prosecute opponents or government critics.”
In this period, he said, we have moved from a less repressive phase of the opposition, in which Nicolás Maduro’s regime was limited to creating “a climate of fear and intimidation,” to a more violent period “that is activated to silence the voices of the opposition at any price.”
Valiñas highlighted in this sense that in January 2024 Maduro asked to “activate the Bolivarian Fury” after assuring that the previous year four conspiracies had been deactivated to assassinate him or organize coups d’état, and that the Attorney General’s Office then announced the aforementioned Operation White Bracelet, one of the alleged plots to end the life of the Venezuelan president.
In the context of the fight against this last conspiracy, 33 soldiers were degraded and expelled and different critics of the regime were arrested.
Among them, he recalled, campaign leaders of the Vente Venezuela party (the formation of the opposition leader María Corina Machado) and human rights defenders such as Tamara Suju, Sebastiana Barráez or the Spanish-Venezuelan Rocío San Miguel.
Valiñas stressed that San Miguel, arrested on February 9 at Maiquetía airport without a court order, was in unknown whereabouts for five days “until the authorities reported that she was detained in El Helicoide, one of the torture centers documented by the mission.”
He also stressed that that month, shortly after both the mission he presides over and the UN Office for Human Rights expressed their concern for San Miguel, the Venezuelan Government suspended the activities of the technical mission of the aforementioned office and gave its staff a period of 72 hours to leave the country.
The head of the mission completed by the Chilean Francisco Cox and the Argentine Patricia Tappatá added that together with San Miguel they have documented cases of 18 other women who remain detained under the accusation of being associated or involved in “conspiracies” to overthrow the Government.
Valiñas also recalled that in the six months analyzed by the mission, an agreement between the Government and the opposition was signed in Barbados so that it could participate in the elections of July 28 of this year, but subsequent actions highlighted the difficulties for its implementation.
The president of the mission gave as an example the suspension by the Supreme Court of Justice of the opposition primaries of October 22, won by a large majority by María Corina Machado, and the ratification by the same instance of justice of her 15-year political disqualification of 15 years, on January 26.
“These actions highlight the serious difficulties that exist in ensuring that the next presidential elections are carried out in accordance with the right to participate in public affairs provided for in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” Valiñas stressed.
It also drew attention to the arrest warrants against 14 people, including prominent opposition leaders such as Juan Guaidó and Leopoldo López, for their alleged connection with a conspiracy against the consultative referendum on Guayana Esequiba, held on December 3.
In the turn of reply, Venezuela’s delegation to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva once again rejected the conclusions of the mission and even its legitimacy, created in 2019 by the council itself to investigate human rights abuses in the country.
“The United States, the greatest violator of rights in all history, the European Union and the failed Lima Group designed this mechanism (the mission) with the purpose of applying maximum pressure on Venezuela, manipulating the instruments and purposes of this Council,” said a representative of the delegation.
“They pretend to cover as absolute truths all the barbarities fabricated against Venezuela without verification or sustainable proof,” he added, alluding to the work of a mission that in his opinion “appeals to anonymous and even invented sources.”
International
Study finds COVID-19 vaccines prevented 2.5 million deaths worldwide
COVID-19 vaccines prevented an estimated 2,533,000 deaths worldwide between 2020 and 2024, according to an international study led by Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Italy and Stanford University in the United States, published in the journal JAMA Health Forum. Researchers calculated that one death was prevented for every 5,400 doses administered.
The analysis also found that the vaccines saved 14.8 million years of life, equivalent to one year of life gained for every 900 doses given.
The study, coordinated by Professor Stefania Boccia, revealed that 82% of the lives saved were people vaccinated before becoming infected with the virus, and 57% of deaths avoided occurred during the Omicron wave. In addition, 90% of the beneficiaries were adults over 60 years old.
“This is the most comprehensive analysis to date, based on global data and fewer assumptions about the evolution of the pandemic,” explained Boccia and researcher Angelo Maria Pezzullo.
International
Trump administration blasts judge’s ruling reinstating TPS for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump criticized a federal judge’s ruling on Friday that reinstated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua, stressing that the immigration program was never intended to serve as a “de facto asylum system.”
On Thursday, Judge Trina Thompson extended protections for about 7,000 Nepalese immigrants, whose TPS was set to expire on August 5. The ruling also impacts roughly 51,000 Hondurans and nearly 3,000 Nicaraguans, whose TPS protections were scheduled to end on September 8.
Immigrants covered by TPS had sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), alleging that the program’s termination was driven by “racial animus” and stripped them of protection from deportation.
DHS Deputy Undersecretary Tricia McLaughlin issued a statement saying the decision to end TPS was part of a mandate to “restore the integrity” of the immigration system and return the program to its original purpose.
“TPS was never conceived as a de facto asylum system; however, that is how previous administrations have used it for decades,” McLaughlin emphasized.
She also criticized Judge Thompson, calling the ruling “another example” of judges “stirring up claims of racism to distract from the facts.”
McLaughlin added that DHS would appeal the decision and take the legal battle to higher courts.
The Trump administration has also terminated TPS protections for approximately 160,000 Ukrainians, 350,000 Venezuelans, and at least half a million Haitians, among other immigrant groups.
International
Trump to build $200M ballroom at the White House by 2028
The U.S. government under President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that it will begin construction in September on a new 8,000-square-meter ballroom at the White House.
The announcement was made by Karoline Leavitt, the administration’s press secretary, during a briefing in which she explained that the expansion responds to the need for a larger venue to host “major events.”
“Other presidents have long wished for a space capable of accommodating large gatherings within the White House complex… President Trump has committed to solving this issue,” Leavitt told reporters.
The project is estimated to cost $200 million, fully funded through donations from Trump himself and other “patriots,” according to a government statement. Construction is scheduled to begin in September and is expected to be completed before Trump’s term ends in 2028.
The Clark Construction Group, a Virginia-based company known for projects such as the Capital One Arena and L’Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C., has been selected to lead the project.
The new ballroom will be built on the East Wing of the White House, expanding the iconic residence with a space designed for state dinners, official ceremonies, and large-scale events.
Study finds COVID-19 vaccines prevented 2.5 million deaths worldwide
Trump administration blasts judge’s ruling reinstating TPS for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua
Costa Rica faces historic vote on lifting presidential immunity for Rodrigo Chaves
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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