International
Petro assures that CNE is taking steps towards a “coup d’état” by wanting to investigate him
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Saturday that the National Electoral Council (CNE) is taking steps towards “a coup d’état” by wanting to investigate him for possible irregularities in the financing of the electoral campaign that led him to the Presidency.
This week an investigation by the CNE became known, revealed by journalist Daniel Coronell on W Radio, which concluded that Petro’s electoral campaign in 2022 violated the spending limits established in the law and resorted to prohibited sources of financing.
“Every step taken against the president in the electoral council builds a coup d’état,” Petro estimated in his X account, who added: “Do they complain about Venezuela? In Colombia, a coup d’état against the president is advancing.”
This is because the CNE is the competent body to investigate parties, campaign managers and candidates, but the president has immunity, so the exclusive competence to investigate Petro criminally and disciplinary right now is the Commission of Inquiry and Prosecution of the House of Representatives, which has one open for this matter.
Therefore, Petro recalled that “the Constitution does not allow a purely administrative and political instance such as the electoral council, to prepare the way to suspend the president from his functions for a top investigation over which he had no more competence than 30 days after the election.”
However, the CNE alleges that it can investigate both the campaign and the president in the administrative field, as it already did with the campaign of former presidents Iván Duque and Juan Manuel Santos, and with it impose fines or refunds.
The CNE investigation against Petro
The investigation carried out by the CNE, led by the magistrate of the Liberal Party Benjamín Ortiz and the uribista Democratic Center Álvaro Hernán, and which according to the president “has no binding force”, concluded that Petro’s campaign crossed the limits by more than 5.3 billion pesos (1.27 million dollars) and that he also received contributions from legal entities, something explicitly prohibited by the electoral law.
Thus, during the first round it was supposedly exceeded by 3.7 billion pesos (888,650 dollars) and there were seven violations, among which it would have been omitted to report a contribution of 500 million pesos ($120,000) from the main education union, Fecode, and another contribution of the same amount from the Democratic Pole party that is part of the governing coalition.
Among the irregularities is linked to Xavier Vendrell, a Catalan politician investigated for what happened during the Catalan ‘process’ and close to Petro, specifically for not having reported the payment to electoral witnesses during the campaign.
Vendrell, who held the position of councilor of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), worked in Petro’s campaign as head of electoral witnesses and campaign strategist, and indicated that he continued to be linked to Petro’s Government, a fact that the president has denied claiming that there are no current contracts with the former Catalan politician.
In the second round it overcomes stops
During the second round of elections, the ceilings of 1.6 billion pesos ($382,000) would also have been exceeded and five violations would have been committed.
Among the violations, in addition to the fact that the payments to electoral witnesses managed by Vendrell were not reported, the total cost of renting the Movistar Arena event center in Bogotá, which was used by Petro to celebrate the results of the second round of elections and which cost 250 million pesos (almost 60,000 dollars) and only 150 million ($36,000 dollars) were reported, would not have been reported.
As reported by the W Radio of the CNE investigation, which has not yet been published, there would also be a lack of reports on private flights of the now president during the campaign to attend proselytising events.
International
Trump will receive Netanyahu at the White House next week
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Washington next week, a high-ranking official of Donald Trump’s government told EFE.
The visit, which according to the specialized portal Jewish Insider will take place on Monday, comes amid pressure from Washington to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza strip.
The US president launched a message on Sunday on his social network Truth calling for an immediate agreement to end the conflict and “release the hostages.”
This message follows another one from last Friday in which he assured that a solution to the conflict in Palestine could be reached as early as this week.
“We are working in Gaza and trying to solve it. We are supplying a lot of money and a lot of food to that area because we have to do it,” the president stressed at an event in Washington.
In addition to publicly insisting on his desire to reach a cease of hostilities in the region, Trump has also supported Netanyahu, a key ally, despite the fact that the Israeli is going through a judicial process where he is charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three different criminal cases.
Israel has maintained its offensive in Gaza, in a resurgence of the conflict that has already lasted for more than a year and that leaves dozens of deaths daily.
The Israeli Army has intensified its attacks in the north of the Strip after ordering last Sunday the forced evacuation of residents in several neighborhoods of the capital of Gaza and the northern city of Yabalia.
Since October 7, 2023, at least 56,259 Palestinians have died and more than 132,000 have been injured by Israeli fire, according to figures from the Ministry of Health of the Hamas Government.
International
The US climate agency will lose access to key data for hurricane forecasting in July
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Monday that it will lose access to essential satellite data for the hurricane forecast on July 31, when the Department of Defense will stop sharing the images with that US agency.
Initially, NOAA was going to lose access to the data from today Monday, but managed to extend the deadline since NASA, which was also going to be affected by the measure, requested an extension until July 31.
According to a NOAA statement, late on Friday, June 27, the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command received a request from Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division, “to postpone the withdrawal and continue processing and distributing data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program until July 31.”
The original decision to cut off access to satellite data as of today was made with the aim of “mitigating a significant cybersecurity risk,” according to the note.
NOAA’s access to data provided by the Defense Weather Satellite Program was crucial for predicting hurricane formation, since they allowed to mediate variables that were not available to conventional satellites.
In addition, the measure takes place in the middle of hurricane season, which experts expect to be more intense than normal in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to the Colorado State University (CSU), the probability of a major hurricane, category 3 or higher, impacting the United States in the current Atlantic cyclone season amounts to 51%.
This coincides with the approval in the Lower House of Congress of the controversial “great and beautiful bill” of US President Donald Trump, which includes a cut of almost 30% of the annual budget to NOAA and 646 million dollars to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
International
The Argentine justice declares Milei’s measure that limited the right to strike unconstitutional
The Justice of Argentina declared on Monday the unconstitutionality of two articles of the decree signed on May 20 by President Javier Milei that limited the right to strike of workers from various sectors, giving rise to a precautionary measure requested by the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), the main workers’ central of the country.
The decision was made by the National Labor Court No. 3, which ordered to stop the application of articles 2 and 3 of decree 340/2025, considering that they violate constitutional guarantees such as freedom of association and the right to strike, established in the Constitution and in international agreements signed by Argentina.
The decree modified article 24 of Law 25,877, which regulates collective labor conflicts, and declared a long list of activities as essential, limiting the possibility of its workers to carry out union action measures.
Judge Moira Fullana, who intervened in the case, argued that the unconstitutionality is based on the fact that, at the time of the signing of the decree, the National Congress was in full function, so there was no justification of necessity and urgency that deserved to skip the legislative treatment of such modifications.
On June 2, Fullana had provisionally failed to suspend the application of this measure, in response to another precautionary measure, requested by the Association of State Workers (ATE).
Until before its recent challenge, Decree 340/2025 required to guarantee between 50% and 75% of the usual benefits in sectors such as the production of medicines and/or hospital supplies, land and underground transport, radio and television, industrial activities, the food industry, the production and distribution of building materials, all airport services, logistics services, mining activity, refrigeration activity, mail and the distribution and marketing of food and beverages, among others, even during trade union conflicts.
The Government also included in that list of essential services all branches of maritime and river transport, customs, immigration services and education at all levels.
The measure, originally included in an extensive decree of general deregulation of the economy signed by Milei shortly after its assumption in December 2023, had already been unconstitutional by the Argentine Justice at that time.
Trump will receive Netanyahu at the White House next week
The US climate agency will lose access to key data for hurricane forecasting in July
The Argentine justice declares Milei’s measure that limited the right to strike unconstitutional
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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