Press Review of the Americas

In the News: Donald Trump soon to be indicted?

A group of people demonstrate near the prosecutor's office, Tuesday, March 21, 2023, in New York, in anticipation of the possible indictment of former President Donald Trump. © Eduardo Munoz Alvarez / AP

Text by: Christophe Paget Follow

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In the United States, the entire press is asking the question: will Donald Trump be arrested and charged, as he announced on Tuesday? The case is that of the alleged payment of the former president, in 2016 – before his victory – of bribes to an actress of pornographic films with whom he would have had an affair.

If it takes place, it would be "the first indictment," headlines The Hill, "of a former president, and for a serious offense." According to Donald Trump's lawyers, "he will surrender to avoid being arrested," which, explains the news site, "will prevent him from being brought to a van, handcuffed, while the cameras roll and the flashes crackle."

But that doesn't stop Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump's possible rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, from saying that, for his part, he "stays away from this 'circus,'" notes USA Today. This has drawn the ire of Trump supporters – although, notes the New York Times, DeSantis has also attacked the prosecutor in charge of the case, Alvin Bragg, claiming that he has a "political" agenda. The attack was also carried out, adds The Hill, by Republican congressmen, "who seek to portray Alvin Bragg as a rogue prosecutor who has allowed crimes to increase dramatically in the city (New York), while continuing to investigate a 'zombie' case against Donald Trump."

The press is wondering what will happen if Donald Trump is indicted, and the NYPD is taking the lead, reports Politico: its officials met on Monday with members of the secret service, and officials of the prosecutor's office. "We monitor comments on social media, and police also make sure nothing wrong takes place in the city," the mayor said. For experts interviewed by the Boston Globe, "an indictment of Trump will not represent a test for democracy," but "any effort by Trump and his allies to weaken this process will undermine public confidence in the judicial institution, creating new risks to democracy two years after Donald Trump's attempt to foment an insurrection and overturn an election."

► Read also: Donald Trump calls on his supporters to demonstrate before his possible indictment

Argentine state takes control of private electricity operator

In Argentina, the state announces a temporary takeover of the private operator Edesur, responsible for distributing electricity. 180-day takeover, headlines La Nacion, "after massive power cuts in the last two weeks, which have caused economic losses and endangered the lives of people dependent on electrical appliances". The objective of this "intervention", writes Pagina 12: "'monitor and control' the execution of maintenance and service improvement work, after the detection of numerous breaches of the concession contract". The Minister of Economy, adds La Nacion, also explained this gesture by "the imminent decision of Enel (the Italian group that controls Edesur) to sell the company, a situation generating some uncertainty".

Clarin notes that it is a close friend of Vice-President Cristina Kirchner, who will be in charge of "control". And, according to La Nacion, "one cannot rule out the idea that this intervention is intended to lower the price of the company, so that it ends up in friendly hands of the government".

► Read also: Argentina: a massive blackout affects millions of homes in the middle of a heat wave

Venezuelan Oil Minister resigns

In Venezuela, the Minister of Oil, Tarek El Aissami, resigns, "in the midst of a scandal of embezzlement within PDVSA", the state oil company. Resignation "to help, accompany and support" the investigations, says the now former minister quoted by El Universal. "Since last Friday," recalls Tal Cual, "several senior officials of the administration of President Nicolas Maduro have been arrested, implicated in acts of corruption related to the possible disappearance of three billion dollars from the sale of oil." "I have the absolute will to go to the end to dismember these mafias," says Nicolas Maduro on the front page of Ultimas Noticias, announcing a restructuring of the company at the highest level. In its editorial, El Nacional is not kind to the resigning minister: "lawyer and criminologist, he did not have the training and skills to lead the oil industry." "The government is showing once again that it is incapable of protecting the main national resources on which the country's budget is based. Further resignations are needed."

Booby-trapped envelopes in Ecuador

In Ecuador, several media outlets have been given booby-trapped envelopes. And the USB stick contained in one of them exploded when a journalist connected it to a computer, it happened in the premises of the private television channel Ecuasiva, reports El Universo. The newspaper said journalists from other media outlets received envelopes with the same type of device. In Expreso, the spokesperson of the NGO Fundamedios says his "great fear that this is a political message": "if we put it in the context of instability, political uncertainty that the country is experiencing, there are probably groups that want to send this kind of messages of chaos".

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