International
Mexico says top US diplomat to visit for security talks
AFP
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Mexico next week to discuss a new strategy to combat drugs and organized crime, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Wednesday.
The top US diplomat is expected in Mexico City on October 8, accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Ebrard told reporters.
At the top of the agenda is a memorandum of understanding “on what the priorities are, the security approach on which we can agree,” he said.
“Our priority is to reduce violence, homicides, all forms of violence that we have in Mexico,” he said.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has urged the United States to end a security assistance program called the Merida Initiative and instead invest in economic development in Mexico and Central America.
“The Merida Initiative is over. Now we’re entering another stage,” Ebrard said, adding that the plan had only left “an increase in (drug) consumption, an increase in violence and an increase in arms trafficking.”
Launched in 2008, the Merida Initiative aimed to combat drug trafficking with US military equipment, technical support and training for security forces in Mexico and Central America, which received more than $3 billion in aid under the plan.
Ebrard said that the migration crisis that has seen tens of thousands of undocumented foreigners, mostly Haitians, arrive in Mexico in recent weeks heading for the United States was not expected to be discussed as it was a separate issue.
The situation facing the migrants on the border has provoked a major backlash for US President Joe Biden’s administration, which repatriated around 2,000 Haitians on expulsion flights.
International
Judge declares Donald Trump not guilty in Stormy Daniels case
Judge Juan Merchan acquitted U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the case involving former porn actress Stormy Daniels.
“At this moment, I am issuing this verdict to cover all 34 charges,” Merchan stated. The judge also wished Trump good luck in his second term as president.
Trump will now become the first criminal president.
Merchan declined to impose any punishment. This decision strengthens Trump’s acquittal and clears the way for his return to the White House without the threat of prison or a fine.
“Never before has this court faced such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances,” Judge Merchan said.
International
Canada imposes sanctions on 14 venezuelan officials for human rights violations
Canada imposed sanctions on 14 high-ranking officials of the Venezuelan “regime” this Friday, including prominent members of the Military Counterintelligence Directorate (DGCIM), for their involvement in human rights violations in Venezuela.
Among those sanctioned are DGCIM prosecutors Dinorah Yoselin Bustamante Puerta and Farik Karin Salcedo Mora; the director of criminal investigations at the agency, Asdrubal José Brito Hernandez, as well as its former deputy director, Rafael Ramón Blanco Marrero.
The sanctions also target several members of the Bolivarian National Guard: its general commander, Elio Ramón Estrada Paredes; the commander of the capital region, Johan Alexander Hernández Lárez, and lieutenant colonel, Alexander Enrique Granko Arteaga.
Other individuals sanctioned include the director of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), Alexis José Rodríguez Cabello, and his deputy director, Miguel Antonio Muñoz Palacios; Brigadier General of the Bolivarian National Police, Rubén Darío Santiago Servigna, and Domingo Antonio Hernández Lárez, commander of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces.
International
María Corina Machado urges Edmundo González Urrutia not to return to Venezuela for his safety
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said on Friday that she asked Edmundo González Urrutia, former candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), not to return to Venezuela to avoid putting himself at risk.
In a video message, Machado explained that the opposition evaluated the situation and concluded that González Urrutia would be in danger if he tried to enter Venezuela as he had planned.
González Urrutia, who claims to have won the July 28 elections with the support of more than 85% of the official voting records, had announced that he would return to Venezuela on January 10 to assume the presidency.
Earlier, Nicolás Maduro, who was declared the winner of those elections, took the oath of office for a third term.
Judge declares Donald Trump not guilty in Stormy Daniels case
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