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
Trump alleges “massive fraud” in California redistricting vote without evidence
U.S. President Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday — without providing evidence — that “fraud” is taking place in California’s referendum on the redrawing of electoral districts, one of the key votes held nationwide alongside mayoral elections in cities such as New York.
“The unconstitutional vote on redistricting in California is a MASSIVE FRAUD, because the entire process, particularly the voting itself, is RIGGED,” the president wrote on his social network, Truth Social.
Trump — who in 2020 also alleged widespread fraud in the presidential election he lost to Joe Biden — argued that Republicans have been “shut out” of mail-in voting and claimed the process is “under very strict legal and criminal investigation.”
Proposition 50, the measure being put to referendum in California, proposes a temporary redrawing of the state’s congressional districts in favor of the Democratic Party. Such a change could jeopardize the Republican majority in the House of Representatives ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The proposal was introduced by California authorities, where Democrats hold majority power, as a response to a similar Republican-backed initiative in Texas aimed at reshaping districts to boost Trump-aligned candidates in next year’s House elections.
International
Four suspected PCC members killed in Police shootout in Florianópolis
At least four armed men, allegedly linked to an organized crime group, were killed Sunday night during a shootout with police officers at Ponta das Canas beach on the island of Florianópolis, capital of the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, local media reported on Monday.
According to the Santa Catarina Military Police, one of the men killed was a native of the state of São Paulo (southeast) and identified as a leader of the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), a gang that controls drug trafficking in the Papaquara community in northern Florianópolis, one of Brazil’s most popular tourist areas.
Police said officers were conducting a patrol in the Ponta das Canas neighborhood when they noticed a man entering a house in a hurry, raising suspicion. Upon entering the residence, they encountered four heavily armed individuals.
During the police operation, one of the suspects reportedly attempted to seize an officer’s rifle, triggering the exchange of gunfire. “Faced with the imminent threat and the criminals’ high firepower, the officers responded to stop the aggression,” the Military Police said on social media.
International
U.S. uses $4.65 billion in emergency funds to sustain SNAP benefits amid shutdown
The U.S. government will use $4.65 billion from an emergency fund to finance payments under SNAP, the country’s primary food assistance program, covering roughly “50% of benefits for eligible households,” according to a Department of Agriculture official in court filings.
The administration, however, does not plan to make up the funding shortfall through other resources, as noted in documents submitted to a federal court in Rhode Island.
This announcement follows a federal judge’s order in Providence — one of two issued last week — requiring the government to tap emergency funds to ensure the program remains operational.
The Trump administration argues that SNAP is running out of money amid a month-long federal government shutdown, triggered by a budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans who continue to blame each other for the crisis.
President Trump said on Friday that he was willing to release the necessary funds if the courts required it and emphasized that he does not want “Americans to go hungry.”
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives, accused Trump and the Republican Party on Sunday of “weaponizing hunger” during the political dispute.
Trump alleges “massive fraud” in California redistricting vote without evidence
Four suspected PCC members killed in Police shootout in Florianópolis
U.S. uses $4.65 billion in emergency funds to sustain SNAP benefits amid shutdown
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
-
International3 days agoFloods in Central Vietnam leave 28 dead, thousands displaced
-
International4 days agoHurricane Melissa kills over 30, leaves thousands displaced in the Caribbean
-
International4 days agoU.S. considering airstrikes on military sites in Venezuela, reports say
-
International2 days agoAt least 23 killed in Sonora supermarket blast, including minors
-
International4 days agoTrump sets historic low refugee cap at 7,500, prioritizes white South Africans
-
International4 days agoUNICEF: Over 700,000 children affected by Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean
-
International3 days agoFBI foils ISIS-Inspired attack in Michigan, arrests five teens
-
International17 hours agoU.S. uses $4.65 billion in emergency funds to sustain SNAP benefits amid shutdown
-
International4 days agoPope Leo XIV revives Global Compact on Education to confront cultural crisis
-
International4 days agoU.S. warns China over Taiwan during high-level defense talks in Kuala Lumpur
-
International2 days agoU.S. strike in Caribbean kills three suspected drug traffickers
-
International17 hours agoFour suspected PCC members killed in Police shootout in Florianópolis
-
International24 seconds agoTrump alleges “massive fraud” in California redistricting vote without evidence