International
The blackouts mark the electoral campaign in Puerto Rico
The tension of Puerto Ricans over the frequent blackouts, for which they blame the electricity company LUMA Energy, has marked the electoral campaign for the November 5 elections in Puerto Rico, forcing the candidates for governor to position themselves.
The candidates for the governorship – Juan Dalmau, of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP); Jesús Manuel Ortiz, of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD); Jenniffer González, of the New Progressive Party (PNP); and Javier Jiménez, of Proyecto Dignidad (PD) – have promised to cancel the contract with LUMA, although offering different solutions.
Puerto Rico’s electricity grid has been very fragile for decades, but many complain that the arrival in 2021 of LUMA, in charge of the transmission and distribution of energy, has not improved service and has meant an increase in the electricity bill.
Various proposals for change in Puerto Rico
In this context, the candidate for the alliance between the PIP and the Citizen Victory Movement (MVC), said in a televised debate of the candidates for governorship that Puerto Rico cannot be “economically competent if LUMA continues.”
Dalmau, if he wins the elections, proposes “a new energy governance model that is not in private hands.”
“LUMA did not arrive in Puerto Rico out of nowhere, it came because of the bankruptcy to which the Popular Party and the PNP took us,” he said in one of his interventions in the debate.
For her part, the PNP candidate promised during a party assembly at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico that, in the case of obtaining victory in the elections, she will take out LUMA Energy.
LUMA “is leaving”
“I tell him that LUMA is leaving. But we are going to do it by appointing a tsar who collects the information, who coordinates with federal and state agencies to look for second operators, so that when they leave we are not left without electricity, so that there is a transition and it costs less to the people,” González said.
In addition, in the debate of the candidates, she remarked that she brought to “Puerto Rico the largest amount of federal funds in history” and intends to “put them to run starting with the electricity system.”
As for Ortiz, he advocated in a recent forum of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Puerto Rico to cancel the contract and replace LUMA with a “depoliticized and regionalized” system.
“If it’s a private company, let it be a private company. If it is a public sector, let it be a public sector,” he said.
Clamor for a “resilient” electrical system
These promises are, in the opinion of LUMA Energy’s director of External Affairs, José Pérez, “political distractions at a specific time.”
“I reaffirm that we are not leaving,” he stressed in a recent interview with EFE.
Pérez explained that the company is carrying out “the possibly largest electrical transformation in the world” and that the island’s network will take “about three years to be resilient.”
This reconstruction comes after the devastation of the network by the passage of Hurricane Maria in 2017 and years of inefficient management of the previous administration of the Electric Power Authority (AEE), which ended in a bankruptcy of 10 billion dollars.
Natalia Santiago, vice president of Únete, one of the organizations that have called demonstrations against LUMA, reminded EFE that many citizens, especially with respiratory problems, “died because their equipment could not be connected,” as happened to her mother.
To the cry of ‘They privatize energy and steal it from us every day’, ‘energy, we claim it because it is a human right’ or ‘Puerto Rico is not for sale’, citizens have demanded in various protests a change in the electricity system, pressuring politicians in the face of the elections.
International
Italian tourist dies after jet ski collision in Colombian caribbean waters
The Colombian Navy recovered the lifeless body of an Italian national on Tuesday who had gone missing in the waters of Colombia’s Caribbean on Monday afternoon after a suspected maritime incident.
Nicholas Cudini, 26, was riding a jet ski near Cholón Island, located in Cartagena, when he collided with another artisanal vessel operating in the area. The collision reportedly caused him to fall off the jet ski, according to information gathered by the Colombian Navy.
“Apparently, the person accompanying the foreigner noticed that his companion did not resurface, so he called for help from other nearby boaters, who alerted authorities to the emergency,” stated the Navy in a press release.
According to Frigate Captain Juan Felipe Portilla, commander of the Cartagena Coast Guard Station, Cudini was driving the jet ski when the incident occurred.
The search for Cudini lasted 22 hours, even continuing overnight, with specialized divers and sailors from the Caribbean Naval Force combing the area where he was last seen.
The body was recovered and later transported to a dock in Cartagena for an autopsy, conducted by judicial police.
International
Liga de Quito expresses concern over former player’s alleged kidnapping in Esmeraldas
Ecuador’s police reported on Tuesday that they are investigating the involuntary disappearance of player Pedro Pablo Perlaza.
Meanwhile, the popular club Liga de Quito, where he played four years ago, expressed concern about what it referred to as the news of the athlete’s kidnapping.
On its X account (formerly known as Twitter), the police stated that “due to the alleged involuntary disappearance” of Perlaza and Juan M. in the city of Esmeraldas, and following the formal complaint filed by their families, authorities immediately began “investigative and operational work around the incident.”
The Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Police is handling the investigation, according to the statement.
Last weekend, 33-year-old Perlaza had finished the Ecuadorian first-division season with the Delfín club and traveled to the city of Esmeraldas, located 182 kilometers northwest of the capital. His whereabouts have been unknown since Sunday. He had been part of Delfín’s 2019 Ecuadorian Championship-winning team.
Liga de Quito, in a statement on X, expressed its “deep concern and solidarity over the news of the kidnapping of our former player” and extended its solidarity to the athlete’s family and friends. Perlaza played for Liga de Quito in 2020 and the team is set to play the first of two championship matches this weekend.
Esmeraldas province, whose capital bears the same name, is considered one of the regions where criminal groups have extended their control, engaging in activities such as extortion and kidnapping. Other provinces facing similar situations include Guayas and Manabí.
Since 2021, Ecuador has been experiencing a spiral of criminal violence driven by local groups linked to drug cartels from Colombia and Mexico, seeking to control trafficking routes and territories. One of the signs of conflict between local gangs is the frequent massacres in the country’s prisons.
International
Over 1,500 migrants face blockade by mexican authorities in Chiapas
A caravan of over 1,500 migrants that set out this week from Mexico’s southern border is facing a blockade by Mexican authorities, who are preventing them from leaving the state of Chiapas, which borders Central America.
Amid pressures from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for Mexico to control the flow of migration, the group departed at 5:00 a.m. (11:00 GMT) from the municipality of Huixtla, moving slowly, with some migrants on bicycles and tricycles, flanked by the National Guard and municipal police.
The undocumented migrants, mostly from Venezuela, told EFE that officials from the National Institute of Migration (INM) have been monitoring their movements since their arrival in Huixtla, following them along the road. On Tuesday, the authorities attempted to detain a family, but the migrants prevented it.
The migrants are calling for understanding from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who last week assured Trump in a phone call that caravans “no longer reach” the U.S. border. Meanwhile, Trump has promised to impose a 25% tariff on Mexican products if the country fails to stop the “invasion” of migrants and drugs.
“President Sheinbaum should support us in reaching Mexico City, where there are more job opportunities, so we can wait for our ‘CBP One’ appointment (to apply for asylum in the U.S.) peacefully, because other states are more dangerous,” explained Venezuelan Genaro Cárdenas.
Cárdenas, who is traveling by bicycle with a group of fellow Venezuelans, remains hopeful of reaching their destination despite the obstacles and the pressure from immigration officials to convince them to return to the southern border.
“We fear that we will be disbanded and sent back to Tapachula, but we will continue forward,” Cárdenas warned.
Italian tourist dies after jet ski collision in Colombian caribbean waters
Liga de Quito expresses concern over former player’s alleged kidnapping in Esmeraldas
Over 1,500 migrants face blockade by mexican authorities in Chiapas
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