International
Antony Blinken says that the US continues to press and sees it “possible” to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza
US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said in Cairo that the United States continues to pressure the parties involved to reach a ceasefire in Gaza in the negotiations that will follow this week in Doha, an agreement that he sees as “possible.”
“The differences are narrowing and we continue to push for an agreement in Doha. There is still hard work to be done, but I still think it is possible,” Blinken said at a press conference along with the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shukri, after a meeting with his counterparts in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and the head of the Palestinian Authority.
To reinforce his commitment to this truce, the head of American diplomacy reiterated that the United States will present a resolution to the United Nations Security Council in which for the first time it will specifically request an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, after having opposed three resolutions from other countries that requested it.
“I hope that all countries support this resolution,” said Blinken, who urged to increase and expedite the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip to avoid a crisis of serious proportions.
“Children should not die of malnutrition in Gaza or anywhere else because of these circumstances. 100% of the population in Gaza is experiencing severe levels of food insecurity. We can’t allow this. We must not allow this to happen,” he said emphatically.
In this sense, he stressed the importance of strengthening the delivery of humanitarian aid by land, sea and air, while showing his rejection of an Israeli land operation in the Palestinian town of Rafah, where more than one and a half million displaced Palestinians live overcrowded.
In his speech, Blinken again defended the creation of an independent Palestinian State with security guarantees for Israel with the aim of avoiding a new war like the current one and achieving peace in the region, with the Israeli state integrated with its neighbors.
The Egyptian Foreign Minister pointed out that it is necessary to “develop processes to implement these objectives in a new phase of political perspective through the two-state solution.”
“We have to address the current circumstances to break with the circle of violence that has marked numerous generations with blood and thirst for revenge,” Shukri added.
After reaching these assessments after the meeting with the six Arab countries, the US Secretary of State will travel to Israel this Friday to continue the round of talks that could culminate in integral peace in the region.
International
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
A 65-year-old Austrian citizen was arrested at a border checkpoint in Croatia after attempting to enter the country in his car with a deceased woman sitting as a passenger, police announced on Tuesday.
The man was detained in a routine check in late November in Gunja, a border area separating Bosnia from Croatia, the police told AFP. Suspicious because they saw “no consciousness or movement” from the passenger, Croatian officers called a doctor, who confirmed the death of the 83-year-old woman, also Austrian, according to her identification.
The woman’s relationship to the suspect is unknown. She had died in Bosnia, and the man intended to repatriate her body to Austria to “avoid the formalities related to transporting a corpse,” according to the police. Croatian media reported that the man was her legal guardian.
Once her death was confirmed, a funeral service took charge of the body.
International
Colombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
Colombian authorities arrested two nationals accused of the illegal trafficking of migrants to the United States and of endangering lives due to the disappearance of a boat with 40 people aboard, U.S. Department of Justice officials reported on Tuesday.
Hernando Manuel de la Cruz Rivera Orjuela, 52, and Luis Enrique Linero Pinto, 40, both Colombian citizens, were arrested on December 13 in Colombia at the request of the United States for their alleged involvement in a “transnational human trafficking operation,” the department said in a statement.
According to the charges, the detainees were transporting migrants to San Andrés Island in the Caribbean, where they would then be taken by boat to Nicaragua. The goal was to reach the United States through Central America and Mexico.
The accused are said to have advised the migrants on how to reach San Andrés Island, where they personally received them, arranged accommodations, and “took them to the boats that transported them to Nicaragua so they could enter the United States illegally,” the statement reads.
“These defendants put several migrants on the boat that disappeared off the coast of Nicaragua in 2023,” said Deputy Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, as cited in the statement.
Both men are “directly and personally responsible for the illicit trafficking of migrants on that vessel,” according to the indictment dated October 23.
International
Homemade landmine explosion in Michoacán kills two soldiers, injures five
Two soldiers were killed and five others were injured by the explosion of homemade landmines planted by a criminal group in a mountainous area of the Mexican state of Michoacán (west), the Secretary of Defense reported on Tuesday.
The attack occurred on Monday morning in the municipality of Cotija, a border area between Michoacán and the state of Jalisco, when the military was conducting a reconnaissance mission after receiving information about an armed camp in the area, explained Secretary General Ricardo Trevilla.
“At that moment, an improvised explosive device detonated. Unfortunately, two soldiers lost their lives, and five others were injured,” the military leader detailed. The affected soldiers were airlifted to hospitals in the region by a military helicopter, while the rest of the team continued with the reconnaissance of the area.
Trevilla stated that before the explosion, the military unit had located the dismembered bodies of three people, and upon continuing the mission, they confirmed the camp was abandoned.
Asked about the individuals responsible for placing the explosives, the general suggested they could be criminals linked to the local group Cárteles Unidos, which operates in Michoacán and uses these tactics in their territorial dispute with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the country.
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