International
Former Correísta vice president Jorge Glas, sentenced to 13 years in prison for embezzlement in Ecuador
A court of the National Court of Justice of Ecuador unanimously decided on Monday to sentence former Correísta vice-president Jorge Glas to 13 years in prison for embezzlement (embezzlement of public funds) during the process of reconstruction of the areas affected by the 2016 earthquake, the case that led him to request asylum from the Mexican Embassy in Quito and that he was arrested in an invasion of the diplomatic headquarters when they granted it.
Along with Glas, who was in the courtroom in person, Carlos Bernal, former technical secretary of the Manabí Reconstruction Committee, created with the aim of carrying out the most urgent works, also received the same years in prison, who must also pay a fine of 60 unified basic salaries ($28,200) and compensation of 250 million dollars.
The court, composed of judges Mercedes Caicedo, Marco Rodríguez and Javier De la Cadena, determined that Glas and Bernal used their positions as president and secretary of the Committee to “abuse public money” that was to be used “for the care of earthquake victims”.
The magistrates considered the thesis of the Prosecutor’s Office, which during the trial of the case called the Reconstruction of Manabí, assured that Glas, who presided over the Committee, and Bernal prioritized projects of works that were not urgent and that the urgent requirements of those affected by the earthquake were not met, which generated a damage to the State of more than 225 million dollars.
The financing of these works, some of them unfinished or classified as unnecessary, came from funds from the Solidarity Law, created to alleviate the damage of the earthquake.
“This money from Ecuadorians was allocated to 11 non-priority projects that would have benefited particular interests in the allocation and signing of contracts, and in the securities canceled by complementary and inspection contracts,” the Public Ministry said.
Glas assured days ago that he did not administer “a single dollar” during the reconstruction process, but Judge Caicedo said in the reading of the decision that, although the former vice president of Correísta did not sign contracts, they could show “his impulse to process and approve the prioritization of works under the context of an emergency, but that they did not attend to the emergency, but rather to an arbitrariness.”
In the same sense, Bernal’s defense had assured that the former secretary of the Committee did not award contracts either, but the magistrate pointed out that she was promoting the disbursement of money so that the institutions make those contracts and that the budget of some of those prioritized projects “finally reached the coffers of Bernal Alvarado’s family because the contracts were directed towards them.”
The judges also ordered the loss of participation rights for 25 years of both and that the Prosecutor’s Office initiates investigations into beneficiaries of contracts prioritized by the Committee, especially to the works related to Bernal’s family.
“This is not the trial of a political crime nor is it a political decision, this is about funds that were not used in favor of the victims of the earthquake, who to date suffer the pain of loss, so it is necessary to repair the damage caused by the actions carried out by Jorge Glas and Carlos Bernal,” Caicedo added.
Jorge Glas, one of the strongmen of the Government of Rafael Correa (2007-2017), is already serving an eight-year prison sentence following two convictions for corruption imposed in 2017, for illicit association in the Odebrecht case, and in 2020 for bribery in the Bribery case, in which Correa was also sentenced to eight years and politically disqualified.
At the end of 2022 he was released from prison thanks to a controversial and irregular judicial decision and he remained free for just over a year, until at the end of 2023 he arrived at the Mexican Embassy in Quito, where he asked for asylum, when he warned that the Prosecutor’s Office sought to prosecute him for this same case.
Months later, on April 5, 2024, the President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, ordered the assault of the diplomatic headquarters to arrest Jorge Glas, once the Mexican Government had granted him asylum considering him a “political persecuted” and since that day he is imprisoned in La Roca, the maximum security prison of the country.
The invasion of the embassy led to the rupture of relations between the two countries and a dispute in the International Court of Justice, where Mexico accuses Ecuador of having broken the inviolability of the diplomatic headquarters and Ecuador blames the North American country of having contravened the treaties that regulate diplomatic asylum.
International
Cuban authorities free salvadoran convicted in 1997 hotel bombing
Salvadoran national Otto René Rodríguez Llerena was released after serving a 30-year prison sentence for his involvement in a terrorist attack at a hotel in Cuba in 1997, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
During his trial, Rodríguez Llerena admitted to placing an explosive device at the Meliá Cohiba Hotel under the orders of anti-Castro exile leaders. He was arrested the following year when he returned to Havana with another load of explosives that failed to detonate.
“The Cuban government reiterates its commitment to combating terrorism, respecting human rights, and the need for the international community to hold accountable those who promote such acts,” the statement read.
He was released on August 15 and is the second Salvadoran to complete his sentence. In December of last year, another Salvadoran, Ernesto Cruz León, was released after planting bombs at tourist centers, one of which killed an Italian tourist identified as Fabio Di Celmo.
A third Salvadoran, Francisco Chávez Abarca, also received a 30-year sentence from Cuban courts in 2010 after being extradited from Venezuela through Interpol for actions against Cuba.
Rodríguez Llerena had requested conditional release in 2016, arguing that his actions had not caused any direct fatalities, but no further information was released about his situation until now.
International
Peruvian woman arrested in Bali for smuggling cocaine in sex toy
A Peruvian woman was arrested on the popular Indonesian tourist island of Bali for allegedly attempting to traffic 1.4 kg of cocaine, part of which was hidden inside a sex toy in her vagina, police announced on Tuesday.
The 42-year-old woman, identified only by her initials N.S., arrived at Bali’s international airport from Qatar on August 12.
“Customs officers became suspicious of her behavior and, after consulting with the police, conducted additional checks,” said Radiant, head of Bali’s narcotics unit, during a press conference.
Authorities discovered 1.4 kg of cocaine, partly concealed in the sex toy. She was also accused of carrying dozens of ecstasy pills.
The Peruvian confessed to the police that she had been hired by a man she met in April on the dark web to transport the drugs to Indonesia in exchange for $20,000.
Indonesia has some of the world’s strictest drug trafficking laws and imposes the death penalty on drug traffickers. Currently, more than 90 foreign nationals are on death row in the country for drug-related offenses, according to the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections.
In July, a court in Bali sentenced an Argentine woman to seven years in prison for attempting to smuggle 244 grams of cocaine into the island in a condom hidden in her vagina.
The last executions for drug trafficking in Indonesia occurred in 2016, when an Indonesian and three Nigerians were executed.
International
Trump says Russia open to security guarantees for Ukraine amid peace talks
U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Monday that Russia is willing to accept security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a potential peace agreement, during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House.
After the talks, Zelensky described the discussions as positive, while Trump took a moment to speak with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and confirmed a trilateral summit between the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia.
Trump expressed optimism about the prospects of ending the Russian invasion.
Zelensky, who also held a separate meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, called the discussions with the U.S. leader “the best to date.” He emphasized the importance of “strong signals” from the United States regarding Western security guarantees.
The atmosphere between the two leaders was reportedly more relaxed than in February, when Trump and his vice president, J.D. Vance, publicly rebuked Zelensky for not appearing “grateful” for U.S. support.
“In one or two weeks, we will know if we are going to resolve this or if this horrible fight will continue,” Trump said at the start of the meeting.
The presence of leaders from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, the European Commission, and NATO highlighted ongoing concerns about Washington’s stance on Ukraine.
Before the meeting, Trump had pressured Kyiv to relinquish Crimea and abandon its NATO membership ambitions, two of Moscow’s main demands. However, he stated that the Alaska summit with Putin had brought progress.
“I like the ceasefire. From another perspective, it immediately stops the killing. But I think a peace agreement at the end of all this is very achievable and could be reached in the near future,” Trump said.
Cuban authorities free salvadoran convicted in 1997 hotel bombing
Peruvian woman arrested in Bali for smuggling cocaine in sex toy
Trump says Russia open to security guarantees for Ukraine amid peace talks
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