International
Ecuador mourns the deaths of four teenagers after military detention
The four Ecuadorian teenagers apprehended by soldiers and found dead near a military base were buried on Wednesday in the port city of Guayaquil, amid outrage over the incident that has “grieved” the country, according to the government.
The families of the minors, including two brothers, held their wake in their modest homes in the populous Las Malvinas neighborhood in southern Guayaquil, where they were detained by a military patrol on December 8 for an alleged robbery, and had been missing ever since.
The Prosecutor’s Office reported on Tuesday that the bodies found on December 24 near an Air Force base in the town of Taura, about an hour from Guayaquil, belonged to the teenagers apprehended by 16 soldiers, who are now in prison, initially accused of forced disappearance, a crime punishable by up to 26 years in prison. Several hundred people attended the wakes of Saúl Arboleda, Steven Medina, and the brothers Josué and Ismael Arroyo (ages 11 to 15), in their homes, from where they had left to play soccer on the day they disappeared, according to relatives.
Some young people cried around the coffins of Josué and Ismael, placed together and covered with soccer shirts of their respective teams, as observed by AFP.
The Prosecutor’s Office revealed on Tuesday the identification of the charred bodies, shortly after the 16 military personnel under investigation for forced disappearance were ordered into 90-day preventive detention by a civil judge in Guayaquil, one of the main cities affected by drug-related violence, where the government has deployed the Armed Forces in the streets.
International
Russia and US to Meet in Istanbul for Diplomatic Talks on April 10
The Kremlin confirmed today a forthcoming meeting with the United States to discuss the normalization of diplomatic relations, which will take place in Istanbul.
“Our participation will be through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” said Dmitry Peskov, the presidential spokesperson, during his daily telephone press conference.
Peskov was responding to a question about who would represent Russia in the new round of negotiations, which is supposedly scheduled for April 10.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the delegations will be led by the Russian ambassador to the U.S., Alexandr Darchiev, and the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Sonata Coulter.
These are the same negotiators who met in late February in Istanbul, where the expert-level negotiation format was the same, according to the source.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had said a few days ago that the next meeting would be held in the Turkish city, though he did not confirm a date.
Lavrov, who participated in only one of these meetings, clarified that the upcoming discussions would address the issues still dividing Moscow and Washington diplomatically, referring to the operations of both countries’ embassies.
The Kremlin asserted that Washington has not yet responded to Russia’s security concerns, preventing a ceasefire declaration on land, sea, and air.
Meanwhile, Trump expressed discontent with Russia’s recent attacks, including one last week that killed 20 people in Krivi Rig, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
So far, Russia has rejected a cessation of hostilities and only declared a 30-day ceasefire on March 18 against attacks on energy infrastructure, which was extended by Kyiv a week later.
International
Transgender Student Arrested at Florida Capitol for Using Women’s Restroom Under New State Law
A transgender student was arrested at the Florida Capitol for using a women’s restroom, in violation of a 2023 state law that restricts the use of restrooms in government buildings based on the sex assigned at birth.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), this is the first known arrest for violations of transgender bathroom restrictions in the United States.
Before entering the women’s restroom in March, Marcy Rheintgen warned Capitol officers in Tallahassee, Florida’s capital, that she would be violating the law.
Rheintgen was detained and faces a misdemeanor charge of trespassing, which could carry up to 60 days in jail.
The 20-year-old’s hearing, which has reignited the national debate on transgender rights and the enforcement of similar laws in other states, is scheduled for next May.
“Marcy Rheintgen’s arrest is not about security. It’s about cruelty, humiliation, and the deliberate erosion of human dignity,” stated Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida.
International
Maduro Announces Economic Emergency Decree Amid Growing Tensions with the U.S.
Nicolás Maduro, who swore in for a third term after his disputed reelection in Venezuela, announced on Monday that he will sign a decree for an economic emergency, following a proposal from Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez due to the “delicate moments” and “uncertainty the world is experiencing.”
“Tomorrow I will sign the constitutional economic emergency decree to protect and defend Venezuela’s economy, and I will explain it,” the Chavista leader stated in his weekly program ‘Con Maduro +.’
Maduro recalled that he has used this measure in previous years and explained that this decree allows him to assume “special, constitutional, extraordinary powers” for what he considered “the defense of the Venezuelan economy in its push, in its development.”
In the television segment, the vice president handed Maduro the document with the proposal for him to take the “reins of the economy” to “protect national industry, guarantee the provision of essential goods and services for the population, and ensure that the national economic life continues its course.”
Venezuela is facing a 15% tariff increase from the U.S., in addition to other measures such as a 25% additional tariff on buyers of Venezuelan oil or gas and the termination of licenses for oil companies to operate in the Caribbean nation, such as the U.S. company Chevron and the Spanish company Repsol.
Last Friday, Maduro assured that Venezuela would be “the first country in the world to overcome the tariffs and the trade war declared by (U.S. President, Donald) Trump against the world.”
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