International
Humala says that if Odebrecht sent money to his campaign, his manager stole it in Peru
Former Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, whom the Prosecutor’s Office accuses of having received funds from the Odebrecht company for his 2011 election campaign, said that, if the Brazilian company sent that money to Lima, it was stolen by its executive director in Peru, Jorge Barata.
“If that thesis that, indeed, Marcelo (Odebrecht) had arranged for Barata (to send money to his campaign), what I think, first, (is that) I don’t think that happened, but, if that happened, Barata stole the money,” he said in an interview with EFE.
The trial for those alleged contributions, and others of the Venezuelan government of Hugo Chávez for his 2006 campaign, is in its final phase and it is likely that a verdict will be known in the first week of March, although the parties may appeal.
During the trial, the Prosecutor’s Office has maintained that Humala and his wife, Nadine Heredia, received illicit contributions from Odebrecht, thanks to the intermediation of then-President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, and Chávez to finance the 2006 and 2011 campaigns, so it considers that they committed money laundering.
His defense has denied the contributions and, likewise, assures that if they had received it, it does not constitute money laundering.
In this sense, Humala said that Barata “is hiding information” and “I have never said who left the money in his office.”
“He says they left his money in his office, he doesn’t know who leaves him; that is, he has no secretary, he has no guardian, he doesn’t have a surveillance camera, he doesn’t have a janitor who takes data from the people who enter. Even to order a grilled chicken they ask you for your data, but this (Barata) curiously does not ask for data,” he said.
In 2017, the former director of Odebrecht in Peru confessed to the Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office that he gave 3 million dollars for the 2011 Humala presidential campaign, in which he was the winner.
Regarding this testimony, Humala commented that “it is a ‘sui generis’ case, because he has a problem in Brazil with the Lava Jato prosecutors,” since he “denounced the pressure” they made him, “forcing him to a series of things to give him an agreement to collaboration and threatening to have more time in prison.”
“So, he has done everything that the prosecutors have asked him to do,” he said.
The former president reiterated that they have always been “financed exclusively with what is” in the party’s report and the notes they have mentioned, although he admitted that there could be some “disorder”, because “the campaign is a vortex”.
Regarding the testimony of businessman Martín Belaunde Lossio, initially very close to Humala and who said he had received money at the Venezuelan Embassy in Lima for the 2006 campaign, considered that it is a revenge, because he approved his extradition from Bolivia for a case of an alleged corrupt network.
“It is a revenge and the hand of the Prosecutor’s Office is evident, because this gentleman, when he brings him extradited from Bolivia, begins a process of effective collaboration, but they have only been given to him in 2024, with things that he would have said in 2016,” he said.
In 2022, Humala became the first former Peruvian president to be tried for the Odebrecht bribery scandal, uncovered in Brazil in the Lava Jato case and with repercussions in a dozen Latin American countries.
International
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Japanese police arrested a man on Thursday after he rammed his car into a group of seven schoolchildren in an apparent deliberate attack in the city of Osaka.
The children, who were on their way home from school, sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital. All seven remained conscious, according to local authorities.
An Osaka police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect is a 28-year-old man from Tokyo. The officer shared statements the man made after his arrest: “I was fed up with everything, so I decided to kill people by driving into several elementary school children,” the suspect reportedly said.
The man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
The injured children, aged between seven and eight, included a seven-year-old girl who suffered a fractured jaw. The six other children—all boys—suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scratches and were undergoing medical evaluation.
Witnesses described the car as “zigzagging” before hitting the children. One witness told Nippon TV that a girl was “covered in blood” and the others appeared to have scratches.
Another witness said the driver, who was wearing a face mask, looked to be in shock when school staff pulled him from the vehicle.
Violent crimes are rare in Japan, though serious incidents do occur from time to time. In 2008, Tomohiro Kato drove a two-ton truck into pedestrians in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, then fatally stabbed several victims. Seven people were killed in that attack.
Internacionales
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
May Day protests in France were marked by a heavy police presence and clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement in several cities.
In Paris, Lyon, and Nantes, thousands took to the streets to demand better wages, fairer working conditions, and to voice their dissatisfaction with President Emmanuel Macron’s government.
While the majority of the demonstrations remained peaceful, isolated confrontations broke out in some areas. Protesters threw objects at the police, prompting the use of tear gas and resulting in several arrests.
Videos showing police crackdowns circulated widely on social media, drawing criticism from labor unions and human rights advocates, who denounced the authorities’ response to the protests.
International
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
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