Internacionales
Argentine opposition requests explanation from Chancellor Cafiero after Ecuadorian ex-official’s escape
March 16 |
Opposition parties in Argentina are demanding that Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero give explanations to Congress for the escape of a former Ecuadorian minister convicted of corruption from the embassy in Quito where she was in asylum, which has provoked a diplomatic crisis with Ecuador.
The former minister of the government of former president Rafael Correa requested asylum in the Argentine embassy in Quito in August 2020, but the government of Ecuador denied the safe conduct because it considered that it was not a case of political persecution.
Duarte disappeared on Sunday, March 12 from the Argentine embassy in Quito and reappeared the following day at the Argentine embassy in Caracas, Venezuela.
The senator of the Radical Civic Union (UCR) for Mendoza Alfredo Cornejo said that the fact shows once again the terrible foreign policy of the government of President Alberto Fernandez.
“It is a new blunder of our foreign policy, our president and our Foreign Ministry have erred in their links with the world and are always entangled with corrupt people who dress up as political prisoners, when in fact they are condemned by judicial systems that live in democracy”, said Cornejo.
According to the senator, the president’s policy is tied “100% to the decisions of (Vice President) Cristina Fernández and makes him make these tremendous mistakes that isolate us from the world”.
Others are also concerned that the episode may affect the ties between the two countries.
“It is very serious everything that happened and damaged diplomatic relations with Ecuador. It is very serious that the Argentine government has given political asylum to a woman convicted of corruption, seeking to cover up these crimes in some way. It is serious that both governments have expelled the diplomats. But we advocate for dialogue to solve this conflict”, expressed the deputy of the PRO, for La Pampa, Martín Maqueyra.
The former Argentine ambassador to the US, China, Brazil and the European Union, Dr. Diego Guelar, expressed concern about the gestures that damage Argentina’s diplomatic tradition.
“The logic is to think that after two years of asylum, there was complicity, that he did not slip away and his exit was facilitated. It is also an irregular situation that the vice-president of Argentina maintains that the justice system cannot evaluate the responsibilities of political officials. This does not show independence of powers and violates the function of the judiciary”, said Guelar.
On the other hand, the Argentine ambassador in Venezuela, Oscar Laborde, denied that the former official was a refugee in the Embassy in Caracas, and clarified that she only went there for a meeting to find out how the immigration procedures would be in order to be able to live with her son in Buenos Aires.
“I don’t know where she is and there was never any talk of an escape”, declared the diplomat.
Internacionales
At least 15 bodies found in clandestine graves in Chiapas amid rising violence
At least 15 bodies were found in clandestine graves in the Mexican state of Chiapas (southeast), which has been hit by a rise in violence linked to organized crime, according to local authorities.
Governor Eduardo Ramírez shared details on his X account about an operation to restore security in La Frailesca, an area near the border with Guatemala, known for its significant agricultural and livestock activities but which has suffered a series of blockades by criminal cells for the past three years.
“Communication routes have been cleared,” and “fifteen bodies have been located so far in clandestine graves in two properties,” the state governor stated.
He added that four people were arrested during the operation, and weapons and vehicles were seized, though it was not specified whether those captured were connected to the clandestine burials.
According to reports, criminal cells in La Frailesca are fighting for control of drug trafficking routes and other crimes such as kidnapping and extortion.
Alongside nearly two decades of violence linked to drug trafficking, Mexico has seen an increase in the discovery of irregular graves, some containing over a hundred bodies at various points across the country.
Recently, 12 bodies were found in a grave in the state of Jalisco (west).
Since December 2006, when a controversial military-led anti-drug operation was launched, Mexico has accumulated over 450,000 violent deaths and tens of thousands of disappearances, according to official figures.
Internacionales
One dead in explosive attack on new prison site in Santa Elena, Ecuador
An explosive attack at the construction site of a high-security prison on the coast of Ecuador left one dead, the presidency reported, describing the incident as a “terrorist act.”
“On the morning of December 25, 2024, a group of armed men carried out a terrorist act by violently entering the construction site of the new Santa Elena detention center, where they detonated explosive devices,” the presidency said in a statement.
It added that the attack “resulted in one person dead,” without specifying their identity. President Daniel Noboa’s government began construction of the high-security prison in June, designed to house about 800 people in the rural town of Juntas del Pacífico, in the coastal province of Santa Elena (southwest). The prison will cost 52 million dollars.
Internacionales
Sinaloa security secretary resigns amid wave of violence and cartel infighting
The Secretary of Security for the Mexican state of Sinaloa (in the northwest), which has been shaken for over three months by a wave of criminal violence that has claimed more than 600 lives, resigned from his position, Governor Rubén Rocha Moya confirmed on Saturday.
The local leader confirmed to AFP the resignation of Secretary Gerardo Mérida, and shortly after, he swore in the new head of the department, General Óscar Rentería. The newly appointed secretary has previously served as the commander of a military zone in the also troubled state of Michoacán (in the west) and led another military region in Mexico City when the current president, Claudia Sheinbaum, was mayor (2018-2023).
The wave of killings that is hitting the state is due to an internal war between two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, the “Chapitos” and the “Mayos,” named after their leaders, the sons of drug lords Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán and Ismael “Mayo” Zambada.
Both criminal bosses are imprisoned in the United States on drug trafficking charges, but their sons are fighting for control of the legendary cartel in Sinaloa. The cartel is identified by Washington as the largest producer of illegal fentanyl in Mexico.
Mérida’s departure comes amid ongoing clashes, which have left over 600 people dead and another 700 missing in just over 100 days, according to state prosecutor data.
The resignation also follows the murder last Wednesday in the capital of Sinaloa of Halexy Guadalupe, one of the members of the investigative team leading the government’s anti-crime strategy under Sheinbaum.
The president is scheduled to visit the state on Sunday to lead a Security Table meeting to address the ongoing violence crisis.
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