International
EU observers report irregularities in Venezuela vote
AFP
An EU observer mission on Tuesday reported irregularities in Venezuelan elections for governors and mayors over the weekend, in which opposition parties participated for the first time since 2017.
Despite “better conditions” than in previous elections, the observers noted a “lack of adherence to the rule of law.”
Mission head Isabel Santos told reporters that “some laws affected the equality of conditions, the balance and the transparency of the elections” and this within the context of a “lack of judicial independence.”
The government of President Nicolas Maduro, whose 2018 election is not recognized by part of the international community, won a landslide victory in Sunday’s ballot, which was overseen by EU observers for the first time in 15 years.
Weakened and divided, the opposition won only three of 23 states, although this significantly included oil-rich Zulia — the country’s most populated region whose capital Maracaibo is Venezuela’s second-largest city.
Santos said the electoral campaign had been marked by a “widespread use of state resources” and noted “arbitrary disqualifications” of candidates.
Observers had furthermore witnessed ruling party agents create so-called “red spots” or illegal control points near several voting stations, she said.
The mission said it lamented the shooting death of one voter at a polling station, which the government said was unrelated to the election.
– ‘Grossly skewed’ –
Leftist Maduro, whose deeply controversial presidency has seen the South American nation targeted by economic sanctions, has sought a relaxation of the punitive measures through careful shows of goodwill and democratic intent.
With hundreds of millions of dollars of its funds frozen abroad, Venezuela wants to be able to sell its petroleum more easily — the United States is historically its biggest customer — and to end limits on imports.
The government has made a calculated series of concessions, opening negotiations with the opposition, and inviting election observers from the EU, the United Nations and the US-based Carter Center to witness Sunday’s vote in a bid to boost its legitimacy.
The opposition, which for the past three years had boycotted elections they said were neither free nor fair, agreed to take part in Sunday’s race after receiving assurances from the government.
Opposition leaders hoped to raise their profile through participation, and to gain support ahead of presidential elections set for 2024, but were hamstrung by divisions within their own ranks.
On the eve of the vote, Maduro had warned that the European Union had no authority to give a “verdict” on the process in a country that is prickly about its “sovereignty” and often accuses the United States of interventionism.
“All international escorts must respect the laws of Venezuela, and must strictly respect the regulations of the electoral power that invited them,” the president said.
The United States, which also had observers in Venezuela, on Monday called the vote “grossly skewed.”
Venezuela, a once-rich oil producer, is battling its eighth year of recession and hyperinflation that reached nearly 3,000 percent in 2020 and more than 9,500 percent the year before, according to central bank figures.
Three in four Venezuelans live in extreme poverty, according to a recent study, with the economic crisis made worse by US sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic.
Millions have left the country in recent years to try their luck elsewhere.
International
Trump to sign over 200 executive orders, declaring National Emergency at U.S.-Mexico Border
Donald Trump will sign over 200 executive orders this Monday, including declaring a national emergency at the southern U.S. border and designating Mexican drug cartels as terrorists on his first day as president, according to U.S. network Fox News.
A senior administration official familiar with the executive actions Trump will sign, and who was authorized to inform the media according to Fox News, said that the president will sign multiple “omnibus” executive orders, each containing dozens of significant actions.
The source indicated that Trump will declare a national border emergency, order the U.S. military to work with the Department of Homeland Security to fully secure the southern border, and make it a national priority to eliminate all criminal cartels operating on U.S. soil. This version of the emergency declaration had previously been reported by CNN News and was also confirmed to The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
According to Fox News, Trump will close the border to all undocumented foreign nationals through a proclamation. He will also create task forces for national security protection, working with officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and other agencies to “completely eradicate the presence of criminal cartels.”
International
Trump appoints Stallone, Voight, and Gibson as special ambassadors to Hollywood
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced on Thursday the appointment of actors Sylvester Stallone (‘Rocky’) and Jon Voight (‘Midnight Cowboy’), as well as actor and director Mel Gibson (‘Braveheart’) as special ambassadors to the “very problematic” Hollywood.
“They will help me as special envoys to make Hollywood, which has lost many overseas businesses in the last four years, COME BACK BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER,” he posted on his social media platform, Truth Social.
The Republican lamented all the “problems” he claims Hollywood faces and created this role with the aim of improving the situation from a business perspective.
“These three talented men will be my eyes and ears. I will do whatever they suggest,” he said.
Stallone had previously described Trump as the second George Washington, the first U.S. president (1789–1797) and one of the nation’s founding fathers, during a dinner after his victory in the November presidential elections, where he served as the master of ceremonies.
Meanwhile, Gibson attacked Trump’s rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, accusing her of having “the IQ of a fence.”
The Republican leader will be sworn in as president on January 20 on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, succeeding Democrat Joe Biden.
International
Latin American and Caribbean diplomats voice concern over U.S. mass deportation plan
Diplomatic chiefs from ten Latin American and Caribbean countries expressed their “serious concern” over the announcement of a mass deportation of migrants, a measure they consider incompatible with human rights, according to a joint statement released this Friday.
The statement, which does not attribute the measure to any specific country, refers to the announcement made by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to carry out the largest foreign deportation operation in the history of the nation once he takes office next Monday. “The announcements of mass deportations are a serious cause for concern, especially due to their incompatibility with the fundamental principles of human rights and their failure to effectively address the structural causes of migration,” the statement said, released by Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE).
The signing countries—Brazil, Belize, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, and Venezuela (almost all migrant-sending nations)—also committed to “defend the human rights of all migrants.”
This includes “rejecting the criminalization of migrants at all stages of the migration cycle” and “protecting them as a priority from transnational organized crime that profits from migration,” the document adds.
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