International
Former candidate Márquez asks the Supreme Court of Venezuela for an investigation of the electoral body
Former Venezuelan opposition candidate Enrique Márquez asked the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) on Friday for an investigation for “conspiracy” of the National Electoral Council (CNE), which ratified President Nicolás Maduro as the winner of the July 28 presidential elections, a result questioned inside and outside the country.
“We accuse (…) the rectors of a serious crime, which is a conspiracy to destroy the bases of the republic, based on an alleged check (which affected – according to the CNE – the transmission of the results of the elections),” said Márquez, who made this request through a document that he consigned to the TSJ.
The former candidate expressed his “conviction” that the “five main rectors of the CNE are committing a criminal offense (…) by violating the popular sovereignty contained in the suffrage.”
Likewise, he asked for “counting the votes”, since “it is not enough” to publish the results, something that the CNE has not yet done.
“In the face of that immense doubt (…), I demand that the court generate a vote-by-vote count, order the CNE, or that the court do so. That he orders to bring all the boxes, all the electoral ballot boxes, because there it is (…) the vote of the Venezuelans to check what has happened,” Márquez said.
He recalled that, in 2013, the opponent Henrique Capriles asked the CNE to “open all the boxes” after losing the Presidency to Maduro, and the electoral institution allowed it.
Márquez said that next week he will go to the Prosecutor’s Office to request “an investigation” to “determine if there is a criminal offense” in the “way the CNE has behaved.”
“The CNE is jailed, but the cyber system is not under check, it is politically under a check,” said the opponent, who criticized that, after almost two weeks of the elections, the electoral entity has not published the disaggregated results, but “it can take them, supposedly, to the Electoral Chamber.”
This Thursday, Márquez attended an appearance before the TSJ, after this institution accepted a contentious appeal introduced by Maduro to “certify” the electoral results.
However, the opponent said that he was “surprised” by an audience that was “emputy,” since he was not asked any questions or allowed to “establish any type of verbal communication.”
“I was not asked for (the) minutes, I was not asked for anything. Everything was very strange, I confess it. And when I left I realized that the media had been put in a place, to which I did not have access. That’s why the press conference,” he reported.
He said that the contentious appeal “does not exist” and the “procedure they are using either.”
“We asked the (Electoral) Chamber to restore justice in this case. The president cannot exercise this type of resource and we make it clear in the document. We also made it clear (…) that the TSJ should never have accepted that document to the president. It is inadmissible because of all the vices it has (…). The Electoral Chamber is not acting in accordance with our Constitution and the laws,” he said.
International
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump criticized what he described as unfair fees imposed on American ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand that Washington take back control of the strategic waterway.
“Our Navy and commerce have been threatened in a very unjust and reckless way. The rates that Panama charges are ridiculous,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The president-elect also denounced the growing influence of China in the canal, a situation he called concerning as U.S. businesses depend on the waterway to transport goods between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
“This complete scam against our country will end immediately,” he stated.
The Panama Canal, completed by the United States in 1914, was handed over to Panama under the 1977 treaty signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Panama took full control of the commercial passage in 1999.
“It was exclusively for Panama to manage, not China or anyone else,” Trump said. “We would never allow it to fall into the wrong hands!”
“If Panama cannot guarantee a ‘safe, efficient, and reliable’ operation of the canal, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in its entirety, without a doubt,” the Republican added.
Panamanian authorities did not immediately respond to Trump’s statements. While he will assume office on January 20, Trump has been exerting his political influence in the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Five percent of global maritime trade passes through the Panama Canal, which allows vessels traveling from Asia to the U.S. East Coast to avoid the long and dangerous route around the southern tip of South America.
The countries that use the Panama Canal the most are the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea.
In October, the Panama Canal Authority reported earnings of nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year.
International
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised more “destruction” in Ukraine on Sunday, in response to a drone strike that hit a residential building in the city of Kazan, located in central Russia, on Saturday.
Russia accused Ukraine of launching a “massive” drone attack, which struck a luxury apartment block in Kazan, about 1,000 kilometers from the border.
Videos shared on Russian social media show drones hitting a high-rise glass building. No casualties have been reported as a result of the attack.
In his statements, Putin addressed the local leader of Tatarstan, the region where Kazan is located, during a virtual ceremony marking the opening of a road.
The attack in Kazan is the latest in a series of increasingly frequent bombings in this nearly three-year-old conflict. Ukraine has not commented on the attack.
Putin had previously threatened to strike the center of Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities were retaliation for Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied missiles to target Russian territory.
International
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
At least nine people were killed on Sunday after a small aircraft crashed in a commercial area of the tourist city of Gramado, in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, authorities confirmed.
“There are nine confirmed deaths according to Civil Defense services, and there are no survivors from the plane,” said Cléber dos Santos Lima, director of the Interior Police Department of the Civil Police of the state, in a statement to AFP.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number of passengers and crew aboard the aircraft, a turbo-prop Piper Cheyenne 400. However, Civil Defense had previously stated that “preliminarily, the plane was carrying ten people.”
The plane crashed on Sunday morning “into the chimney of a building, then onto the second floor of a house, and finally fell onto a furniture store,” according to a statement from the Rio Grande do Sul Public Security Secretariat.
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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