International
Relatives of the Menéndez brothers press for their release
The family members of Erik and Lyle Menéndez, the brothers who are serving a life sentence for killing their parents in Beverly Hills more than 35 years ago, asked the Los Angeles Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday to consider releasing them, after the new evidence that came to light in the case.
The brothers were sentenced in 1996 to life imprisonment for the murder of their parents, José and Kitty Menéndez, in a controversial case in which the young people reported being sexually abused by their father.
“I had no idea of the magnitude of the abuse they suffered at the hands of my brother-in-law. None of us knew,” Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menéndez’s sister, said in a choppy voice at a press conference in Los Angeles where more than 20 family members attended.
Menéndez brothers, victims of abuse
The woman described the couple’s death as “tragic,” but warned that it is now known that the abuse “has lasting effects and that trauma victims sometimes act in ways that are very difficult to understand.”
He added that at the time of the trial “the whole world was not prepared to hear that boys could be raped … and today we know more.”
For her part, Ana Maria Baralt, Erik and Lyle’s cousin and family spokesperson, said that “if the case had been heard today, with the understanding we have now about abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder, I have no doubt that the sentence would have been very different.”
Mark Geragos, the brothers’ lawyer, believes that the brothers must regain their freedom after the new evidence presented in the case to the office of the Los Angeles prosecutor, George Gascón.
The new tests
Among the new evidence is “a letter that one of the brothers allegedly sent to another family member confessing that he was a victim of abuse,” long before the murder.
Added to this are the statements of a member of the famous group Menudo, who claims that José Menéndez abused him on a visit to his home.
At the beginning of the month, Gascón said that although the Prosecutor’s Office maintains that the brothers committed the murders, it considers reviewing this evidence and making a decision on whether a new sentence is necessary.
After the crime, which occurred on the afternoon of August 20, 1989 at their home, located in a luxurious Beverly Hills neighborhood, with shotguns that they had bought days before the attack, the brothers told the authorities that they found the lifeless bodies of their parents after having spent the afternoon away from home.
The details of the crime
The case gained special relevance when the brothers began to follow a life of luxury and excesses after accessing their father’s fortune, which raised the suspicions of the authorities.
Shortly after, Erik’s psychologist’s girlfriend warned the Police of the existence of recorded sessions in which she admitted and discussed her guilt.
Although the Prosecutor’s Office argued that they sought to inherit the family fortune, the brothers affirmed, and today they maintain, that their actions were due to a lifetime of physical, emotional and sexual abuse by their father.
The brothers’ lawyer, Mark Geragos, also highlighted today that during their time in prison the brothers created programs to advise and guide other inmates, and were part of the first class of 22 prisoners who obtained their university degree while they were imprisoned.
The family also opened a website to seek public support in the release of the two brothers, of Cuban roots.
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