International
Evo Morales celebrates the anniversary of the MAS and reiterates that he will be a presidential candidate in 2025
Former Bolivian president Evo Morales (2006-2019) led a massive celebration for the 29 years of the founding of the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) reaffirming that he is qualified to be a candidate in the 2025 presidential elections.
The event was the counterpoint to the rally organized on Thursday by the Government of President Luis Arce, which brought together a crowd of followers, under the slogan of commemorating a new anniversary of the creation of the MAS, with Morales absent.
The celebration of the groups related to Evo Morales or ‘evistas’, took place in the stadium of the town of Yapacaní, in the department of Santa Cruz, between typical dances and slogans of unity around who is also the leader of the MAS.
The attendees, most of them members of indigenous and peasant groups, exhibited hundreds of MAS flags, blue, black and white, also shouted that ‘Evo is not alone!’ constantly.
Ramiro Cucho, who is the main leader of the National Council of Ayllus and Markas del Qullasuyu (Conamaq) warned that they “want to disable” Morales as a candidate and also the MAS and that if that occurs there will be “an uprising” of the Bolivian people.
“If blood has to flow on the roads, we are going to do it (…) we will see each other in the streets,” the leader said vehemently.
On Wednesday, in an interview with EFE, Morales said that if he is disqualified for the 2025 elections, there will be “a convulsion” that will be the responsibility of the Government.
In the celebration of the MAS in Yapacaní, the followers insisted that they are the “true militancy” of that political party and reiterated that Morales is the “only candidate” of that organization.
Morales said that the Government and the opposition maintain that he is disabled from being a candidate “to demoralize, scare and make cry” the people, but that several “national and international experts” have said that: “Evo is qualified as a candidate.”
At the end of December, the Constitutional Court issued a resolution establishing that indefinite re-election is not a human right and that in Bolivia a continuous or discontinuous “only” is applied.
This affects the former governor who ruled Bolivia three times between 2006 and 2019 and who assures that the opinion of the Constitutional does not address his specific case and is only a consideration.
In his speech, Evo Morales spoke about planning the “program” for 2025 and raised proposals such as the delivery of a “second ease” for the elderly, state funding so that those who study can access postgraduate courses or install an electric vehicle assembly plant to reduce the public subsidy to fuels.
The former head of state also said that for this Tuesday an “emergency meeting” was called to analyze a recent resolution of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) that urges the MAS to hold in “consensus” a new party congress at the end of 25 days.
The request of the electoral authority comes after the annulment of the MAS congress that in 2023 re-elected Morales as leader of that party and the recent call of the “archist” bloc, afin to the Government, which ignored that appointment and called a meeting in early May.
Morales and Arce, both from the MAS, have been distanced since the end of 2021, while the followers of each leader have raised them as possible candidates for the Presidency.
International
Trump: U.S. has hit three venezuelan narco boats in Caribbean
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that American forces have struck three suspected Venezuelan drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean so far, not two as previously reported.
“We took down boats. It was actually three boats, not two, but you only saw two,” Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for a state visit to the United Kingdom.
The president was asked about remarks by Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, who accused Washington of plotting to invade his country.
“Stop sending members of the Tren de Aragua to the United States. Stop sending drugs to the United States,” Trump responded.
The Republican leader mentioned this third vessel a day after announcing that U.S. forces had struck a speedboat in which, according to him, three “terrorists” were killed. Later, from the Oval Office, he claimed the boat had been carrying cocaine and fentanyl.
The attacks come amid escalating tensions between Washington and Caracas, as the U.S. military maintains a Caribbean deployment under the banner of counter-narcotics operations.
The Trump administration accuses Maduro of heading the so-called Cartel of the Suns, which the Venezuelan government denies. Washington has also offered a $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s capture.
On Monday, Maduro said communications with the U.S. were “broken” in the face of what he called an “aggression” and declared that Venezuela is now “better prepared” in case of an “armed struggle.”
International
Ecuador’s Noboa declares State of Emergency in seven provinces amid fuel price protests
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency on Tuesday in seven provinces due to what he described as “serious internal unrest,” as road blockades and demonstrations erupted in response to the elimination of the diesel subsidy and growing concerns over insecurity.
The 60-day measure applies to the provinces of Carchi, Imbabura, Pichincha, Azuay, Bolívar, Cotopaxi, and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas.
Since Monday, partial protests have been reported in Pichincha, Carchi, Azuay, and Imbabura. On Tuesday, road blockades extended to northern Pichincha and routes in Carchi, near the Colombian border. In response, the Executive headquarters was temporarily relocated to Cotopaxi and the Vice Presidency to Imbabura.
The presidential decree states that the measure comes amid “strikes that have disrupted public order and provoked acts of violence, endangering the safety of citizens and their rights to free movement, work, and economic activity.”
According to the decree, the goal is to “prevent the radicalization of disruptive actions” in the affected provinces and to limit the impact on the population. It further emphasizes that the situation requires an “exceptional intervention by state institutions to safeguard security, guarantee citizens’ rights, maintain public order, and preserve social peace.”
Social organizations and labor groups, including the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), have strongly rejected the diesel price increase following the subsidy’s elimination.
The decree justifies the two-month duration as necessary “to ensure a strengthened state presence in the affected territories, restore order, and prevent further acts of violence against people, public, and private property.”
International
Colombia’s special peace tribunal hands down first sentence against former FARC leaders
Seven former rebel leaders, including their last known commander Rodrigo Londoño, alias “Timochenko,” have been handed the maximum penalty established in the 2016 peace agreement.
Under the ruling, they will face mobility restrictions and be required to carry out activities aimed at restoring the dignity of victims, such as helping locate missing persons and participating in landmine clearance in territories where they once operated. These alternative sentences to prison were part of the historic deal signed in 2016 between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) —once the most powerful guerrilla group in Latin America— and then-President Juan Manuel Santos, Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) found the ex-commanders guilty of being responsible for the kidnapping of 21,396 people before laying down their arms and transitioning into a political party. “Investigations showed that kidnapping became a systematic practice. These crimes not only broke the law but also left open wounds that persist in families, communities, and the daily life of the country,” a magistrate told reporters in Bogotá, in the absence of the former commanders, who had accepted responsibility for their crimes back in 2022.
It took the tribunal more than seven years to deliver its first ruling, amid criticism from opponents of the peace deal who argue it is too lenient on the rebels. The former commanders still face charges for other crimes against humanity, including the recruitment of minors.
During their decades-long conflict, the FARC held hostage soldiers, police officers, businesspeople, and political leaders, including French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt. Images of emaciated captives chained in jungle camps shocked the world and became symbols of the conflict.
Trump: U.S. has hit three venezuelan narco boats in Caribbean
Ecuador’s Noboa declares State of Emergency in seven provinces amid fuel price protests
Trump files $15 billion defamation suit against The New York Times
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
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