International

Ecuador signs agreement authorizing U.S. military presence

Photo: @RepDanCrenshaw

October 2 |

The governments of the United States (US) and Ecuador signed an agreement that would allow the sending of US military forces to the South American nation with the alleged objective of confronting drug trafficking organizations.

The member of the US House of Representatives, Dan Crenshaw, informed a local media that the agreement was signed during the recent visit of Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso to the US.

Crenshaw, who chairs the Congressional Task Force to Combat Mexican Drug Cartels, confirmed that senior officials from the Coast Guard and the Department of Defense were present during the signing.

According to press reports, a status of force agreement and a maritime forces agreement were signed. Both give the green light to U.S. military presence both on land and off the Ecuadorian coast.

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A lobbyist for the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Adam Isacson, said of the first agreement that “it doesn’t mean that there are going to be military forces there, but it does mean that we can have them and it sends a very clear message that they want us to be more involved”.

As for the maritime forces agreement, the State Department pointed out that it allows the presence of U.S. military vessels in the waters off the Ecuadorian coast, a common cocaine trafficking route for Colombian cartels, to reinforce surveillance and combat this illicit activity.

Press media called attention to the fact that the State Department issued more than 30 press releases since last Wednesday, but did not disclose the signing of this agreement with Ecuador.

International

Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.

“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.

“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.

Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.

International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”