International
The Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires declares Nicolás Maduro persona “non grata”
The Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires, the legislative body of the Argentine capital, approved a resolution that declares “persona non grata” to the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. This is “because of the serious human rights violations against Venezuelan citizens in their country.”
The resolution, which was promoted by legislators Claudio Romero and Emmanuel Ferrario, of the conservative Republican Proposal (Pro), was processed “at the request of the Venezuelan diaspora in Argentina.” Likewise, it counted on the vote in favor of the majority of the members of the chamber, according to a statement from the institution, made up of sixty deputies.
However, the legislators of the Left Front abstained and the Union for the Homeland (kirchnerist) legislators voted against.
“In the City of Buenos Aires we are not going to tolerate dictators, people who come to violate human rights, people who make atrocities in their country in the name of a revolution that does not exist, people who use torture as a method of government,” said legislator Romero.
Elisa Trotta, general secretary of the Argentine Forum for the Defense of Democracy (FADD, an organization created in 2020), welcomed the decision adopted by the Buenos Aires Legislature, considering that it represents a strong message of support for the more than 220,000 Venezuelans “who have had to escape from their country and settle in Argentina.”
“Autocrats, like Maduro, must know that their crimes will not go unpunished and that the world is not their backyard to walk around with their hands stained with blood,” added Trotta, an Argentine Venezuelan diplomat.
The resolution was approved 45 days before the presidential elections that will take place in the Caribbean country.
“Venezuelans are in the streets, accompanying the national liberation movement led by María Corina Machado and Edmundo González (anti-Chavist opponents),” added Trotta, who declared that “the world is watching and will not allow the will of citizens to be expressed at the polls on July 28 to be stolen.”
Six citizens opposed to the Government of Venezuela have been in asylum since March 26 in the residence of the Argentine Embassy in Caracas.
On May 30, the Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs, Diana Mondino, demanded from Venezuela “the immediate issuance of safe-conducts,” in compliance with the 1954 Caracas Convention on Diplomatic Asylum, so that this group can leave the country.
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
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Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction