International
Daniel Sancho, before his sentence: “I am prepared for the best and for the worst”
The Spaniard Daniel Sancho claims to be “prepared for the best and the worst” before the sentence that will determine on August 29 whether or not he is guilty of the premeditated murder of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta on an island in Thailand last year.
“I am prepared for the best and the worst,” Daniel Sancho told EFE on August 22 in Samui prison (southern Thailand) when asked how he faces the ruling, although he was optimistic and convinced that the judge will rule out that Arrieta’s death was due to a premeditated murder.
The Spaniard considered that during the trial “it was clear that it was an accident,” referring to Arrieta’s death on August 2, 2023 on the Thai island of Phangan, and cited the forensic evidence presented by the defense that, according to him, would prove that the death was due to a fight.
Sancho, 30 years old, made these statements during a visit to the prison and the conversation took place through a glass and a telephone without being able to record or take notes.
After more than a year in pretrial detention, the young man admitted that he lives impatiently waiting to know the sentence and that the months since the celebration of the trial, which ended last May, have become “very long.”
“Until the trial he was a man with a mission,” he said, and indicated that he spent a lot of time focused and preparing for the process, in which he played a very active role, since the judge allowed him to ask questions to the witnesses.
During the trial, held behind closed doors at the Provincial Court of Samui between April 9 and May 2, the accused and his defense team maintained that Arrieta’s death was due to an accident during a fight and that the Spaniard acted in self-defense in the face of an alleged attempted sexual assault.
The Prosecutor’s Office, for its part, tried to prove through dozens of evidence and witnesses, including the purchase of knives and a saw, that Sancho planned the previous days the murder and dismemberment of Arrieta, 44, whose remains were found in several places in Phangan, including the sea.
The autopsy performed at the Colombian surgeon was not conclusive because no key body parts such as the torso were found.
The Spaniard, who keeps the last few days before listening to the sentence his usual exercise and reading routine, had met with the Colombian surgeon, whom he knew since 2022, on the same day of the events.
The accused, who initially confessed to the crime to the Phangan Police, will go to the reading of the sentence next Thursday in the Samui court, where the trial was held in the midst of enormous media attention.
According to sources close to the case, the sentence is already drafted and has been sent for ratification to the office of the dean judge of Surat Thani (province on which Samui depends).
Sancho assured that it gives him “tranquility” and “confidence” in the process of this procedure, usual in Thailand for serious cases, both criminal and civil, that may involve high penalties or compensation.
The Thai penal code contemplates from 15 years in prison to the death penalty in cases of murder, although Thailand barely applies this last punishment and is usually commuted to lower ones.
Cases of involuntary manslaughter are punishable by between 3 and 15 years in prison.
The Spaniard is also accused of dismembering Arrieta’s body – of which he has pleaded guilty – and of making his passport disappear, crimes that could lead to between one and six years in prison, respectively.
Access to the courtroom during the reading of the sentence this Thursday will be very restricted, and the judge will not decide until the last moment who can enter, according to EFE.
It is planned, however, that the defendant’s father and mother, the Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho and the investment analyst Silvia Bronchalo, will be present in the room, as well as the prosecutor, the Thai defense lawyers and those who represent the victim’s family in the Asian country.
Arrieta’s family will in principle not go to the reading of the sentence, and for the moment they have not wanted to make statements about how they face the ruling.
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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