Venezuela seeks 14 arrests for alleged conspiracy
Jan 23, 2024
Venezuelan authorities issued 14 arrest warrants for civilians and former military personnel who were allegedly conspiring against the government of President Nicolas Maduro, announced attorney general Tarek Saab yesterday. The warrants target rights activists, journalists and soldiers in exile, for an alleged plot that also targeted Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino.
Human rights activist Tamara Suju and journalist Sebastiana Barraez - who both live abroad - are among those who the government wants to detain. "The attorney general continues to criminalize the work of lawyers and human rights defenders," Suju said on social media.
Officials released a video that purportedly implicates opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in the plot, and Saab vowed that "more arrests will follow" without naming names.
Since May of last year, authorities have arrested 32 civilians and soldiers in relation to their alleged part in a US-backed "conspiracy" to assassinate Maduro, he said.
Machado launched her presidential campaign last week, though there is still no date for the elections in which she will challenge the Maduro government — and despite a ban by the government-loyal judiciary preventing her from running for office.
Efecto Cocuyo, AFP, Infobae, Reuters, El País, Associated Press
Machado has challenged the ban in court, putting the judiciary at a crossroads regarding the election and an agreement with the U.S. that lifts economic sanctions in exchange for advances towards freer and fairer elections, reports El País.
Cuba
“Family members of 34 prisoners in Cuba who were jailed following anti-government protests in July 2021 have filed a petition with lawmakers seeking an amnesty for their loved ones,” reports Reuters.
Mexico
Naxalone remains tightly controlled in Mexico, despite the country’s growing problem with opioid abuse. “The restrictions in Mexico have been partly offset by people bringing small amounts of naloxone from the US,” reports the Guardian.
Mexico’s government has demanded an investigation into how U.S. military-grade weapons are increasingly found in the power of organized crime groups. “The Mexican army said in June that it had seized 221 fully automatic machine guns, 56 grenade launchers and a dozen rocket launchers from drug cartels since late 2018,” reports the Associated Press.
Migration
Senior Mexican, U.S. and Guatemalan officials will meet as soon as possible for talks on migration, Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena said on Monday. (Reuters)
Regional
Ecuador's police said they captured the leader of Colombian armed group Oliver Sinisterra, amid a military offensive launched by the Noboa administration to combat criminal gangs, reports Reuters.
Ecuador
Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa said he would seek financial support from the U.S. and Europe, as the country struggles to meet debt obligations in the midst of economic woes and a militarized fight against organized crime. Noboa also said he might postpone the closure of an Amazon oil block , which is scheduled to shut down in August after a landmark environmental referendum, last year. (Reuters)
Guyana
Can Guyana’s ambitious plans for smart development beat the feared “resource curse,” asks Americas Quarterly, a particularly pressing issue in a country with a history of ethnic tensions and “Venezuela is just one example, along with Angola or Congo, of how sudden resource wealth can fuel social conflict, destroy democracies and hollow out other productive sectors of a nation’s economy.”
Brazil
Fires destroyed more than 17.3 million hectares of vegetation in Brazil last year, an area equivalent to all of Uruguay and 6 percent more than the, already devastating, destruction in 2022. (EFE)
“Brazil is moving ahead with the creation of an international security center in Manaus that will bring together Amazon nations in policing the rainforest, sharing intelligence and chasing criminals,” reports Reuters.
“Authorities have discovered further illegal mining operations on Yanomami Indigenous lands in Brazil, casting doubt on efforts put forth in 2023 to eradicate this environmental crime,” reports InSight Crime.
Argentina
Hundreds of thousands of workers are expected to participate in a general strike against austerity measures implemented by Argentine President Javier Milei, tomorrow. “Analysts have warned that the government’s ability to limit disruptive protests will be critical to determining the sustainability of his reforms,” reports the Financial Times.
Ongoing negotiations between Milei and friendly opposition parties regarding the president’s massive reform bill remain fraught — particularly because the government’s zero deficit goal impacts political interests — that some analysts believe the government is aiming for a legislative defeat in order to blame the political establishment for policy failure, reports Infobae.
The privatization of state-oil firm YPF is now off the bill, one of the clearest signs the government is willing to make concessions, reports Bloomberg.
Argentine feminist journalist Lucian Peker writes in the Guardian about the backlash against feminists in Milei’s Argentina, after numerous threats pushed her into exile. “The country that led the struggle for women’s rights in Latin America has now suffered an extreme, misogynistic setback, and I, too, feel I have been forced to leave my country. Ever since Javier Milei took office in December 2023, his government has deployed a shocking strategy that plunders natural resources, attacks social justice, dismantles the state and erodes the rights of women and sexual diversity. The attacks on feminism that this environment enables are a huge problem for Argentina.”
Guatemala
The struggle over water resources in the Ixquisis valley has been deadly and violent for Indigenous activists: “ Between 2014 and 2022, the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defence (AIDA) registered almost 100 acts of violence, including intimidation of leaders, poisoning of pets, and physical assaults on opponents of the Ixquisis hydroelectric project,” reports the Guardian.
Critter Corner
Researchers in Rio de Janeiro state identified a new species of frog, the Hercules pumpkin toadlet. (Miami Herald)