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
Bolsonaro diagnosed with skin cancer amid coup conviction
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been diagnosed with skin cancer while serving a historic sentence for attempting a coup d’état. His medical team confirmed that the lesions have been removed and that, for now, he does not require further procedures, though he will need regular monitoring.
On Wednesday, September 17, Bolsonaro’s doctors confirmed the diagnosis. The announcement comes shortly after the former leader was convicted of orchestrating an attempted coup.
According to his physician, Claudio Birolini, Bolsonaro has “squamous cell carcinoma, which is neither the most benign nor the most aggressive form — it is intermediate.” Birolini warned, however, that this type of skin cancer “can carry more serious consequences.”
International
Milei praises Paraguay’s growth, calls Argentina’s last 20 years a ‘decline’
Argentine President Javier Milei praised Paraguay’s economic growth over the past two decades during a speech before the Paraguayan Congress on Wednesday (Sept. 17, 2025), crediting it to incentives that favored capitalism. At the same time, he contrasted that progress with what he described as Argentina’s deepening “decline” during the same period.
“If we compare the last 20 years of Paraguay with those of the Argentine Republic, we will find almost diametrically opposite results,” Milei told lawmakers during a special session of Parliament on the second and final day of his official visit to Asunción.
“While you have not stopped growing, we have deepened our decline. If we understand incentives as the engine of capitalism, Paraguay focused on preserving and strengthening them, while Argentina dedicated itself to chaining, directing, and suffocating them,” the right-wing leader stated.
International
Trump administration launches large-scale immigration operation in Chicago
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump intensified a large-scale immigration operation in the Chicago area with the arrival of additional Border Patrol agents on Tuesday and the presence of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem during a raid.
Noem posted a video on her X account showing the immigration operation, in which DHS reportedly removed “violent criminals” from the streets. The footage shows Noem observing the arrest of a man taken into custody at his home early Tuesday morning at an undisclosed location.
“I was in Chicago today to make it clear that we will not back down,” the secretary wrote. “Our work is just beginning,” she added.
The warning from Noem was echoed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Chief Gregory Bovino, who posted a video on X Tuesday showing multiple Border Patrol vehicles arriving in the city with the caption: “Chicago, we are here!”
Bovino, who led the immigration crackdown in Los Angeles implemented since last June, said the team will remain in Chicago to continue the mission they started in California.
Operation “Midway Blitz” is currently focused on the Chicago metropolitan area and its suburbs. Activists and residents have reported sightings of masked agents and unmarked vehicles in predominantly Latino neighborhoods.
Bolsonaro diagnosed with skin cancer amid coup conviction
Milei praises Paraguay’s growth, calls Argentina’s last 20 years a ‘decline’
Trump administration launches large-scale immigration operation in Chicago
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 ago20th Festival Salvadoreñísimo brings together thousands of salvadorans in Houston
-
International2 days agoEcuador’s Noboa declares State of Emergency in seven provinces amid fuel price protests
-
International5 days ago22-Year-Old Suspect Arrested After 33-Hour Manhunt in Small Western U.S. Town
-
International2 days agoTrump: U.S. has hit three venezuelan narco boats in Caribbean
-
International3 days agoEl Salvador unveils 2025-2029 National Reintegration Plan for returned migrants
-
Sin categoría2 days agoTrump files $15 billion defamation suit against The New York Times
-
International2 days agoColombia’s special peace tribunal hands down first sentence against former FARC leaders
-
International24 hours agoAsteroid 2025 FA22, 300 meters long, to pass safely near Earth tomorrow
-
International24 hours agoTrump administration launches large-scale immigration operation in Chicago
-
International22 hours agoMilei praises Paraguay’s growth, calls Argentina’s last 20 years a ‘decline’
-
International22 hours agoBolsonaro diagnosed with skin cancer amid coup conviction