International
Santiago Peña takes office as president of Paraguay, promises prosperity and international presence
August 16|
Economist Santiago Peña took office on Tuesday as Paraguay’s new president with a promise to promote prosperity for all in his country and lead the South American nation to become a protagonist on the international scene.
Peña, 44, became the youngest president since the return to democracy and maintains the continuity in power of the conservative Colorado Party in Paraguay, a country that has faced allegations of corruption in the spheres of power and is the last South American nation to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
“Success is to make all Paraguayans better off and for the world to witness the resurgence of a giant,” the new president said at a ceremony in the Paraguayan capital.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by leaders from neighboring countries, including Luis Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Alberto Fernández of Argentina and Gabriel Boric of Chile, to whom he said he will seek to make Paraguay a key country for South American integration, and will therefore seek to improve the functioning of the Mercosur sub-regional bloc.
The ceremony was also attended by the King of Spain, Felipe VI, and the Vice President of Taiwan, William Lai, who traveled to Paraguay as part of a tour that will also take him to San Francisco and New York, at a time when China is seeking to increase the isolation of the autonomous island.
Regarding Taiwan, Peña said that their relationship is a sign of Paraguay’s policy of “alliances and cooperation with a geostrategic vision”.
Paraguay is one of 12 countries that still maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, mostly small and poor nations in Africa and the Caribbean.
“At the international level three global challenges generate geopolitical tensions: access to water, food security and energy sufficiency,” he said. “Paraguay being a power in those three major issues, we are called to be protagonists in the concert of nations.”
On the local level, he noted that his commitment is to “build a society where everyone can prosper,” he said, and pledged to generate at least 500,000 new jobs. In Paraguay, poverty reaches 24% of the little more than seven million inhabitants.
Peña is a US-trained economist who worked for the International Monetary Fund.
In recent months, the issue of corruption in power circles has shaken the South American country. The United States accused former president Horario Cartes (2013-2018) of corruption and froze his assets. Cartes, considered Peña’s political “godfather”, owns a conglomerate of companies ranging from tobacco to cattle ranching and large media outlets, and has denied the charges.
In his speech as new president, Peña thanked Cartes, current president of the Colorado Party, for what he called his perseverance “in building consensus and seeking agreements over differences”.
On corruption, Peña said he had “the conviction” that it is solved “with an independent, impartial and fast justice, with sufficient resources to ensure an adequate and homogeneous administration throughout the national territory”.
International
Peru opens new probe into ex-president Humala over killings and forced disappearances
Peru’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened a new preliminary investigation against former President Ollanta Humala (2011–2016) and four other former military officers for the alleged killing of two people and the forced disappearance of four others during the 1990s, when Humala served as the head of the Madre Mía military base amid the country’s internal armed conflict, a local media outlet reported on Monday (Nov. 10, 2025).
The First Supraprovincial Criminal Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in Human Rights and Counterterrorism in Lima has formalized the investigation, which targets Humala — currently serving a 15-year sentence for money laundering related to illicit campaign financing — as well as former Army noncommissioned officer Amilcar Gómez and three additional ex-soldiers. They are accused of alleged crimes against humanity.
According to Radio RPP, citing a resolution dated October 28, the case concerns the aggravated homicide of Edgardo Isla Pérez and Nemer Acuña Silva, and the alleged forced disappearance of Luis Alberto Izaguirre Prieto, Nelson Hoyos Sagastegui, Hermes Estela Vásquez, and Yandel Leandro Zúñiga.
Prosecutors have classified the investigation as complex, setting a deadline of May 24, 2026.
Judge Jorge Chávez Tamariz has ordered that the suspects be listed in the National Registry of Individuals Prosecuted for the Crime of Forced Disappearance and has imposed standard reporting requirements while the inquiry continues.
International
Record cold wave freezes Eastern U.S., iguanas falling from trees in Florida
A severe cold wave is gripping two-thirds of the eastern United States, with record-low temperatures reported in Florida — where iguanas are literally falling frozen from trees — the National Weather Service (NWS) warned on Monday.
The agency noted that both high and low temperatures are running between 20 and 30 degrees Fahrenheit below seasonal averages, equivalent to about -6°C to -1°C. The unusual drop has caused many areas across the Southeast to match or break historic cold records.
According to the NWS, the cause is a “frigid continental polar air mass” continuing its push southward following a polar front. This system has brought snow, strong winds, and dangerous cold conditions from the Great Lakes to New England and the Appalachian Mountains.
As a precaution, authorities have issued freeze alerts stretching from the lower Mississippi Valley to the coastal plain of Virginia, where snowfall estimates range from 4 to 8 additional inches on top of what has already accumulated in recent days.
International
U.S. Senate holds emergency session as shutdown threatens economy
The U.S. Senate is convening on Sunday in an extraordinary session to try to put an end to the 39-day government shutdown, which threatens to shrink GDP in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to Kevin Hassett, Director of the White House National Economic Council.
In an interview with CBS, Hassett noted that U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs had previously estimated that the partial shutdown would cost the country around 1.5% of GDP. However, he warned that “this figure will likely fall short” if the impasse continues “for a couple more weeks.” The suspension of flights due to a shortage of air traffic controllers and major disruptions in food assistance distribution are among the difficulties the government is facing as operations stall over disagreements between Democrats and Republicans, including on healthcare spending.
Throughout Sunday, Donald Trump has continued to blame former President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan and the pandemic-era subsidies paid to insurance companies. On Friday, Democrats proposed reopening the government in exchange for a one-year extension of medical tax credits — an offer quickly rejected by Republicans.
“The Obamacare scam directly benefits their allies in the insurance industry. They are getting richer at the expense of the American people, while healthcare coverage worsens. If Democrats get their way again, they will score yet another big win at the people’s expense,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
As he did on Saturday, Trump has demanded that Senate Republicans redirect subsidies directly to U.S. citizens. “Republicans should allocate these funds straight into their health savings accounts,” he argued.
Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced Sunday that the chamber will remain in session until the government reopens in what is expected to be a marathon negotiation.
Senators are working on the final version of a package of three long-term appropriations bills that form part of the Republican plan to break the deadlock. Thune is pushing a strategy that would start by approving the temporary funding resolution previously passed by the House of Representatives and amending it to include the appropriations package — known as a “minibus” — with the ultimate goal of extending funding for a longer term.
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