International
Colombia police sexually abused at least 28 during protests: Amnesty
| By AFP |
At least 28 people were sexually abused by police during Colombia’s mass anti-government protests last year, Amnesty International said Thursday.
Having received hundreds of reports of gender-based violence during that upheaval, the international rights NGO documented 28 cases in seven cities, including the South American country’s capital Bogota.
The cases detailed in Amnesty’s 68-page report, entitled “The police does not care for me: Sexual violence and other gender-based violence in the 2021 National Strike,” occurred between April 28 and June 30, 2021.
During that time, hundreds of thousands of people enduring economic strife caused by the pandemic took to the streets to protest against a proposed tax hike by then-President Ivan Duque (2018-2022), which he ultimately withdrew.
Police brutally cracked down on the unprecedented youth-led social uprising, with the UN reporting at least 46 deaths and accusing security personnel of serious human rights violations.
Erika Guevara, Amnesty’s director for the Americas, said at a Bogota event presenting the report that “state violence faced by the population… was part of a generalized pattern against the protesters.”
The Amnesty report details multiple instances of police, after deploying tear gas and other dispersal measures on peaceful gatherings, taking women aside and assaulting them.
The report also describes police insinuating to detained male protesters that they would be punished through sexual violence, before placing them in rooms where they were sexually assaulted.
“The common factor in all cases is the intention behind this use of violence: the perpetrators sought to punish the victims for contravening social gender norms and going out onto the streets to claim their rights,” the report says.
Deploring the lack of convictions for the sexual violence, Amnesty secretary general Agnes Callamard said: “The violence of the street translated into the violence in the judicial system translated into the violence of the system altogether.”
International
Suspect Armed With Shotgun and Knives Detained at White House Correspondents Dinner
U.S. authorities confirmed Saturday that the suspect who stormed into the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner while President Donald Trump was attending acted alone, adding that there is no ongoing threat to the public following the incident, which left one Secret Service agent injured.
Acting Metropolitan Police Department chief Jeff Carroll said during a press conference that the suspect was carrying “a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives” when he attempted to pass through a Secret Service security checkpoint inside the hotel lobby at approximately 8:36 p.m. local time.
“At this point, everything indicates that this was a lone actor, a lone gunman,” Carroll stated, adding that investigators have found no preliminary evidence suggesting the involvement of additional suspects.
During the exchange of gunfire inside the hotel corridors, the suspect was not struck by bullets but was subdued by law enforcement officers and later transported to a hospital for medical evaluation.
A member of the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division was shot during the incident, though the bullet was stopped by the officer’s ballistic vest, preventing serious injuries. The agent was taken to a hospital and is reportedly “in good spirits,” according to Carroll.
The shooting prompted the immediate evacuation of President Trump, Melania Trump, and several senior officials attending the event after multiple gunshots were heard outside the hotel’s main ballroom.
International
U.S. allows Venezuela to fund Maduro and Cilia Flores’ legal defense
Until now, the U.S. administration had blocked the Venezuelan government from covering the legal fees of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who is also jailed and facing drug trafficking charges, due to international sanctions imposed on Venezuela.
The couple’s legal team had relied on that argument in an attempt to have the indictment dismissed, claiming that preventing a defendant from accessing counsel of their choice violates rights guaranteed under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
However, the U.S. Treasury Department will now allow “defense attorneys to receive payments from the Government of Venezuela under certain conditions,” New York prosecutor Jay Clayton wrote in a letter dated Friday to Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is overseeing the case.
According to the letter, the funds must have become available after March 5, 2026, and cannot come from Venezuelan oil sales regulated in the United States.
Since Maduro’s removal from power in early January, former Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has served as Venezuela’s interim leader.
The United States effectively controls Venezuelan crude exports, with revenues deposited into special accounts supervised by Washington.
Court documents filed on Friday show that the defense acknowledged the sanctions exemption and, for now, withdrew its motion seeking dismissal of the charges.
International
U.S. Sanctions Network Linked to Fentanyl Trafficking Across India, Guatemala and Mexico
The United States Department of State announced sanctions on Thursday against 23 individuals and companies allegedly linked to an international fentanyl production and smuggling network operating in India, Guatemala and Mexico.
According to the State Department, the network supplied precursor chemicals to the Sinaloa Cartel, which the United States has designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Washington declared fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, a weapon of mass destruction last year due to its role in the ongoing overdose crisis in the United States.
“By targeting the entire supply chain — from chemical suppliers in Asia to logistical intermediaries in Central America and cartel-linked networks in Mexico — the Trump Administration is dismantling networks that destabilize governance across our hemisphere and threaten U.S. security,” the State Department said.
In a separate statement, the Office of Foreign Assets Control detailed sanctions against three Indian chemical and pharmaceutical companies: Sutaria, Agrat and SR Chemicals, along with a sales executive accused of supplying precursor chemicals to contacts in Guatemala and Mexico.
In Guatemala, authorities sanctioned J and C Import and Central Logística de Servicios, as well as intermediary Jaime Augusto Barrientos.
The OFAC also designated several intermediaries and import companies operating in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.
As part of the investigation, U.S. authorities identified Ramiro Baltazar Félix as a member of Los Mayos, a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, and Alejandro Reynoso, accused of operating clandestine drug laboratories in Guadalajara.
Suspect Armed With Shotgun and Knives Detained at White House Correspondents Dinner
U.S. allows Venezuela to fund Maduro and Cilia Flores’ legal defense
U.S. Sanctions Network Linked to Fentanyl Trafficking Across India, Guatemala and Mexico
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