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
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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