International
60% of participation ninety minutes before the closing of the vote in Ecuador
60% participation in the referendum was reported this Sunday by the National Electoral Council (CNE) ninety minutes before the polling stations were closed in Ecuador, where the day took place with “tranquility” until the murder of the director of a prison was recorded.
The percentage was confirmed by the president of the CNE, Diana Atamaint, in the second report on the electoral process to which more than 13.6 million Ecuadorians are summoned to answer eleven questions related to security, justice, investment and employment.
Atamaint publicly invited the population to come to vote because “the country needs them,” he said in a public appearance.
This vote will be a turning point for Noboa, who plays in it the high popularity achieved in the first months of his mandate by having elevated the fight against criminal gangs to the category of “internal armed conflict.”
During the opening ceremony of the day, Noboa remarked that this referendum “will mark the direction of the challenge to face organized crime, the fight against corruption and job creation.”
“Today is our time to make history, to mark a before and after,” said Noboa, for whom “this consultation collects several political flags.”
The referendum is held at one of the most delicate moments for Noboa in the nearly five months he has been in power, with an international diplomatic crisis due to the assault on the Mexican Embassy to arrest former Vice President Jorge Glas and with an internal energy crisis with blackouts of up to eight hours a day this week.
In case of winning the plebiscite, Noboa will be reinforced with a view to the new general elections that will take place in less than ten months and where the president evaluates running for re-election, but if he loses he can be weakened for the remainder of his mandate, until May 2025.
Criminal violence has also rebounded in the week of the referendum with the murder of two mayors in rural towns in whose territories there is the presence of illegal mining, an activity in which organized crime has also incursion, which has drug trafficking as its main business.
Among the eleven questions there are five that imply changes in the 2008 Constitution approved during the presidential term of Rafael Correa (2007-2017), while the remaining six must be processed through the National Assembly (Parliament), in case of receiving the support of the population.
Most propose legal tools to strengthen the fight against organized crime, which is attributed the wave of violence that has led the country to be among the first in Latin America in homicides, with about 45 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023.
Therefore, he proposes that the Armed Forces support the Police in operations against organized crime on a permanent basis, and that the military be in charge of controlling access to prisons, the epicenter of this crisis having been dominated until a few years ago by criminal gangs, with large arsenals of weapons in their possession.
It also seeks to allow the extraditions of Ecuadorians required by the Justice of other countries and raise the penalties for crimes related to organized crime, as well as eliminate the prison benefits for several of these criminal figures.
To this is added the proposals to create a crime of possession and carrying of weapons for the exclusive use of the Police and the Armed Forces and that the weapons seized from crime immediately move on to equip police and military, in addition to expediting the process of expropriation of illegal property.
Other issues focus on establishing a system of constitutional courts, accepting international arbitrations in any jurisdiction and allowing hourly labor contracts.
In Ecuador, voting is mandatory for people between 18 and 65 years old, while it is optional for adolescents between 16 and 18 years old and also for those over 65 years of age, as well as for police, military and prisoners without a final sentence.
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.
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