International
Colombia leader in rift-healing visit to Caracas after 9-year pause
| By AFP | Javier Tovar and Barbara Agelvis |
Colombia’s Gustavo Petro met on Tuesday with his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, in the first talks at presidential level since the neighbors reestablished diplomatic ties after a three-year break.
The meeting in Caracas of the two leftist leaders marked a watershed warming between the once-estranged neighbors.
Petro, a former M-19 leftist insurgent who was sworn in as Colombia’s first leftist president in August, called for Venezuela to be brought back into a regional trade alliance and a human rights system.
“We want to invite Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru to accept the reintegration of Venezuela in the Andean Community as a member with full powers,” Petro said after meeting Maduro at the Miraflores Palace.
Venezuela left the regional trade bloc in 2006.
Petro also called for Venezuela to be pulled back into the human rights convention of the Organization of American States, a hemispheric alliance.
Maduro said he was “very receptive” to the idea.
Venezuela severed diplomatic relations in 2019 after increasingly strained ties with Petro’s predecessors Juan Manuel Santos and conservative Ivan Duque — who Maduro even accused of orchestrating plans to assassinate him.
The final straw came when Duque backed Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido — recognized by dozens of countries as the victor in 2018 elections claimed by Maduro.
It was the first visit by a Colombian president to Venezuela’s capital since 2013.
Visit could ‘normalize’ violations
Since Petro succeeded Duque in August, Colombia’s first ever left-wing president has moved to mend relations with Venezuela’s populist leftist government.
Caracas and Bogota formally reestablished diplomatic relations on August 29 by sending ambassadors to each other’s capitals.
Guaido on Tuesday criticized Petro’s decision “to visit the dictator Maduro… and to call him ‘president’.”
It was an “action that could dangerously normalize human rights violations… and the worst migration crisis in the world,” he wrote on Twitter.
More than seven million Venezuelans have left their country since 2014, according to the United Nations.
Some 2.5 million find themselves in Colombia, as part of an open-door policy followed under Duque, in support of Guaido.
Maduro, after the talks, called for “new steps toward a total opening” of the two neighbors’ shared 2,200-kilometer (1,370-mile) border, a frontier that has been infested with armed groups fighting over lucrative drug resources and routes.
In September, Colombia and Venezuela reopened the border to vehicles transporting goods — considered the first step toward resuming commercial relations worth about $7.2 billion in 2008 but only $400 million last year.
A string of recent leftist victories in South America meanwhile appear to have placed Maduro in a stronger position.
On Monday he said he had spoken to Brazil’s president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to “resume the binational agenda of cooperation” all but paralyzed under the government of far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and the pressure it placed on global energy supplies — also brought about behind-the-scenes efforts by the United States to engineer at least a minimal warming with Venezuela, a major oil producer.
International
Mexico’s president blasts ‘Inhumane’ U.S. migration law
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated on Friday that any Mexican detained in the United States should be “immediately” returned to Mexico. Her remarks come in the wake of the opening of a new migrant detention center in Florida earlier this week.
Speaking during her daily press conference, known as La Mañanera del Pueblo, Sheinbaum emphasized that so far, no Mexican national has been held in the facility, which has already sparked controversy and has been nicknamed “the Alcatraz of the Alligators.”
She also criticized the new fiscal law signed by former U.S. President Donald Trump, passed by Congress just a day earlier. The law, which Trump dubbed the “great and beautiful tax reform,” includes significant tax cuts and sweeping reductions in public policies, reallocating billions toward national security and defense—including $170 billion to enhance border security, deportations, and the expansion of detention centers.
“We do not agree with a punitive approach to migration. Migration must be addressed through its structural causes, with cooperation for development,” Sheinbaum asserted.
The Mexican president labeled the Trump administration’s view of migrants as criminals as “inhumane,” and warned that such policies ultimately harm the U.S. economy. She pointed to the mass deportation of agricultural workers as an example of how these actions are already backfiring.
“These are hardworking people—people of good will—who contribute more to the U.S. economy than they do to Mexico’s,” Sheinbaum said, announcing that her government will strengthen support programs to ensure that affected migrants can return home safely and reintegrate into the workforce.
International
Julio César Chávez Jr. faces charges in Mexico after U.S. arrest
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced on Friday that the country is expecting the deportation of boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. so he can face legal proceedings in Mexico, following his arrest in the United States and confirmation by Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR) of an arrest warrant for organized crime and arms trafficking.
“This is an arrest warrant stemming from an investigation that began in 2019 and was granted by a judge in 2023 (…). We are expecting his deportation so he can serve his sentence in Mexico,” Sheinbaum stated during her daily press briefing.
The president said she was unaware of the case until speaking with Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero, who confirmed an investigation linked to organized crime. She also noted that authorities had been unable to execute the warrant earlier because Chávez Jr. had spent most of his time in the United States. “His deportation to Mexico is now being pursued,” she added.
Sheinbaum said there is no confirmed date yet for the boxer’s return to the country, as the process involves “specific protocols” that the FGR is currently handling.
Her statement follows the announcement by U.S. authorities on Thursday of Chávez Jr.’s arrest. The boxer, son of Mexican boxing legend Julio César Chávez, is accused of involvement in organized crime and arms trafficking allegedly tied to the Sinaloa Cartel.
“This Sinaloa Cartel affiliate, wanted for trafficking firearms, ammunition, and explosives, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” said Tricia McLaughlin, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in an official statement.
International
Europe faces a summer of heatwaves and wildfires, Red Cross warns
The heatwave sweeping across Europe — accompanied by wildfires in countries such as Greece and Turkey — is “just the beginning” of a summer season expected to see extreme conditions lasting through September, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned.
In a statement, the IFRC stressed the urgent need for governments and communities to shift from a reactive to a preventive approach to safeguard lives.
The organization reported that wildfires in the Turkish region of Izmir, on the country’s western coast, have already claimed at least two lives and forced the evacuation of 50,000 people. Meanwhile, on the Greek island of Crete, around 5,000 residents and tourists have also had to flee due to encroaching fires.
Smaller-scale evacuations and wildfires are also being reported in other countries, including eastern Germany and North Macedonia, with Red Cross volunteers actively involved in firefighting and relief operations.
“Heatwaves and wildfires — increasingly frequent and deadly — are no longer isolated events. They are becoming the new reality for millions,” said Birgitte Bischoff, IFRC’s Regional Director for Europe.
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