International
Bolivia sets date for census after violent protests
| By AFP |
Bolivia’s leftist President Luis Arce said Friday a bill had been approved to hold a national census in March 2024 after weeks of deadly protests over the count.
“We passed this Census Law so people’s blood will not be spilled. The census will take place on March 23, 2024,” the president said in a televised message.
For almost five weeks, the economic hub of Santa Cruz was rocked by unrest over fears a new census to update spending allocation and the number of seats the region would be entitled to in parliament, would not take place before 2025 elections.
The protests, which began on October 22, were called off last Saturday after the bill was approved by the country’s Chamber of Deputies. It has now passed the Senate and been promulgated into law.
In addition to cementing the census date, the bill pledges government spending changes and legislative assembly seat allotment ahead of the country’s 2025 presidential election.
Bolivia’s last census was held in 2012, with a fresh count set to take place in November 2022 postponed by the government, who said they did not have time to organize it.
The protests left four people dead and more than 170 injured, and included clashes between opponents and supporters of the ruling party.
Transport was paralyzed, retail markets closed and riot police used tear gas to quell the unrest.
International
Court sends Keiko Fujimori to trial for money laundering in Peru
December 3 |
Judge Víctor Zúñiga issued on Friday an order to prosecute former Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori for money laundering to the detriment of the State.
“The Fourth Court of National Preparatory Investigation issued an indictment against Keiko Fujimori, 38 natural persons and two legal entities: Fuerza Popular political party and MVV Bienes Raíces, for money laundering to the detriment of the State,” the entity said.
In 2021, the Peruvian Public Prosecutor’s Office requested more than 30 years in prison for Fujimori in the Cocktails case.
The entity pointed out that the former presidential candidate used cocktail parties, raffles and voluntary contributions to finance electoral campaigns.
Vicente Silva Checa and Pier Figari will also attend the trial as defendants, according to the magistrate.
Fujimori has not yet made any statements regarding the judge’s decision to send her to trial for money laundering.
International
President Lula calls Israel’s attacks on Gaza genocide
December 3 |
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva on Friday described Israel’s continuous aggressions against Gaza as genocide.
Before the media Al Jazeera, Lula stressed that this is not a conventional war, but a genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The South American president denounced the murder of more than 15,000 civilians, including 7,000 Palestinian children.
On the other hand, Lula affirmed that the operation carried out by Hamas against Israel did not give the latter the right to kill thousands of innocent people.
In addition, the president singled out the United States for complicity in Israel’s ongoing crimes.
It is worth mentioning that Hamas indicated in a communiqué that Washington gave Israel the green light to continue the attacks against Gaza, following the visit of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
International
Fire reduction trend noted in Brazilian Amazonia
December 2 |
The Brazilian Amazon recorded 13,943 forest fires in November 2023, a figure 26 percent higher than the same period in 2022 and the highest for this month in the last six years, although with a tendency to a gradual decrease compared to indicators of last September and October.
According to a report issued this Friday by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), the number of hot spots measured by satellites was not so high for this month since the 14,105 measured in November 2017.
The agency specified that they decreased compared to October this year (22,061 hot spots) and were almost half of those of September (26,452) However, they remain at a high level.
According to INPE experts, this annual increase is due to a severe drought in the Amazon which, according to the Center for Monitoring Natural Disasters and Alerts (Cemaden), could be historic.
This situation is a consequence of the El Niño phenomenon, which generates abundant rainfall in some parts of the planet and strong droughts in others. This year was more intense than in 2015 and 2016, when the biome experienced its worst water crisis.
Despite this, thanks to the efforts made by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government to stop the devastation, the number of fires accumulated in the Brazilian Amazon between January and November this year (93,945) was down 16.3 percent compared to the data for the first 11 months of 2022 (112,077).
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