Press review of the Americas
In the news: in Venezuela, two leaders of the opposition party Vente Venezuela arrested
Maria Corina Machado is accompanied on her right by her national coordinator Henry Alviarez, and political coordinator Dignora Hernández, right, in Caracas, Venezuela, September 6, 2023. (Illustrative image) AP - Matias Delacroix
By: Christophe Paget Follow
Advertisement
Read more
Two members of the Vente Venezuela party were arrested this Wednesday. Vente Venezuela is the party of Corina Machado, the opponent declared ineligible by the country's justice system – the presidential election is scheduled for July 28. Henry Alviarez and Dignora Hernandez, national coordinator and national political secretary of the party, were arrested, writes
El Nacional
, "
for supposed
'destabilizing actions'
", a "
supposed link with violent plans to
'force'
the registration of Machado's candidacy
." Arrests accompanied by verbal attacks at the highest level targeting, without naming her, Corina Machado: President Nicolas Maduro affirmed this Wednesday that “
Venezuelans do not want the next leader of Venezuela to be a “
puppet”
of Alvaro Uribe (the Colombian president) and the Colombian oligarchy,”
reports
El
Periodiquito
,
while
the president of the Socialist Party of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, affirmed that “
Corina Machado deceives her supporters by bullshitting them
.
”
On social networks, writes Efecto Cocuyo, opposition leaders have denounced "
an intensification of the repressive wave in the country as the presidential election approaches
", and affirm that the government is "
maneuvering to exclude the opposition from the process electoral
,” underlines
Tal Cual
. The Voluntad Popular party notes that this “
attack occurs just hours after the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights denounced the measures taken by the Chavista regime to restrict civic and democratic space in Venezuela . This confirms what the international community denounces.
» In fact, the United States also denounced the “
arbitrary
”
arrests of this Wednesday, writes
the daily
, and the arrest warrants which were issued. Because other members of Corina Machado's campaign team are supposed to be arrested:
Efecto Cocuyo
counts six, and recalls that between January and March, at least eight members of the party and campaign directors of Vente Venezuela were imprisoned. .
Read alsoVenezuela: the government continues to attack the leader of the opposition
33 pages on the Multinational Force in Haiti
In the United States, the online news site
Politico
obtained a 33-page document that the State Department passed to several lawmakers last week, giving details of how the Multinational Force could operate. in Haiti – the document itself is, according to an official, the fruit of a “
multinational effort
”
. Politico
contacted five people who had the document in their hands, and who found it disappointing.
According to a Republican parliamentary attaché, it would not answer the most basic questions that parliamentarians ask: how would the United Nations fund which must reimburse Kenya, which must take the lead of this force; how said force would help local police fight gangs; and how long she would stay, at most, in Haiti. According to
Politico
, “
this discontent means that the plan has little chance of releasing to Congress the 40 million dollars planned
” to finance the force, 40 million that the Republicans have blocked since December – because they are, once again, demanding more details to the Biden administration on its plan supposed to ensure the success of the Kenyan mission.
A network of traffickers from Colombia to Gambia via Ecuador
Ecuador and the Gambia dismantled a drug trafficking network this Wednesday morning: Gran Fénix 18, this is the name of the joint operation carried out by the Ecuadorian National Police and the Gambian Anti-Drug Agency, writes
Vistazo
. Operation carried out in the provinces of Guayas, Manabi and Los Rios. 12 people – nine Ecuadorians, two Gambians and one Colombian were arrested. The drugs came from the department of Nariño, Colombia, and were then sent in containers to the port of Banjul, Gambia, from where they were then distributed to Africa and Europe. According to
El Universo
, which specifies that the investigation lasted three years, the drugs were hidden in packets of salt and cans.
Also read: Ecuador: record drug seizures since the declaration of a state of emergency at the beginning of the month
The return of the Peruvian Senate
In
Peru,
the Parliament had only one chamber for thirty years, it will once again have two, with the return of the Senate. The Peruvian government today promulgates the constitutional reform approved by Congress on March 6, writes
El Comercio
. The change will be effective in July 2026, and the next Parliament will have 130 deputies and 60 senators, elected for five years, specifies
Diario Correo
. Why this change, wanted by President Dina Boluarte? To allow “
greater reflection on the approval of laws and political control
”
.
Opponents believe that this decision should not have been taken by a very unpopular Congress – 86% of Peruvians surveyed reject the current Congress, writes El Comercio.
A rewarded “ghost army”
In the United States,
the “Ghost Army
” will receive the Congressional Gold Medal this Thursday. The mission of this “
Ghost Army
”
that deceived Hitler, writes the
Washington Post
, “
was not to kill Nazis, but to perform in front of them, armed with sound effects, costumes, scenarios and props
»
,
like inflatable tanks. In short, “
theatrical means worthy of Hollywood
”
to deceive the German army about the location and size of the Allied forces. No fewer than 1,100 sound engineers, actors, and theater designers “
passed themselves off as a combat force more than 30 times its actual size
. ”
Operating as close as possible to the front lines, they would have saved the lives of tens of thousands of American soldiers by attracting the Nazis elsewhere. This “
ghost army
”
,
that is to say the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops and the 3133rd Signal Service Company Special, will therefore receive this Thursday at the Capitol the Congressional Gold Medal, its highest award. Three of the seven known survivors of the Ghost Army will be present.
Also listen to The Journal of Haiti and the Americas - Brazil: concern around deforestation in the Cerrado region
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your inbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Share :
Continue reading on the same themes:
Press review of the Americas
Venezuela
Colombia
Gambia
Peru
UNITED STATES
Newspaper