International
Russia and China veto the first resolution in which the US called for a ceasefire in Gaza
Russia and China vetoed this Friday the first UN Security Council resolution in which the United States called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, after almost six months of war that has cost the lives of 32,000 people.
The resolution was also rejected by Algeria, while Guyana abstained and the other eleven countries voted in favor.
Nine votes in favor are enough to approve a resolution, but the negative votes of two countries with the right to veto (in this case Russia and China) prevented its approval.
It is the fourth time that a Member State has vetoed a resolution in this regard. On the previous three occasions the United States did so, arguing in those cases that Israel’s right to defend itself was not included and they actually allowed the rearmament and reorganization of Hamas.
The resolution rejected today, which had been negotiated for a month and required at least six drafts, was rejected for its ambiguous vocabulary, because, in the words of the Russian ambassador, Vasily Nebenzia, prior to the vote, he considered that it did not clearly call for a ceasefire, but was limited to considering “an immediate and sustained ceasefire imperative to protect the civilians of both sides.”
Nebenzia said that the resolution presented by the United States. The United States was “a hypocritical initiative designed to disorient the international community,” he regretted that Russian proposals to amend the text have been systematically rejected by Washginton and also considered that the text voted today “in fact assumes the green light for Israel to carry out a military operation in Rafah.”
As for Algeria’s ambassador, Amar Bendjama, he said that his rejection not only represented his country, but “the entire Arab world,” and stated that the text of the U.S. resolution. The United States on Gaza “does not convey a clear message of peace, but tacitly allows civilian victims to continue (falling) and lacks safeguards for a future escalation” of the conflict.
The Chinese ambassador, Zhang Jun, also considered the text voted today “ambiguous”, because “it does not clearly call for a ceasefire” and because it “deviates from the consensus of the members of the Council and is far from the expectations of the international community,” in addition to setting conditions for that ceasefire.
At this time, another resolution is being negotiated at the same time in the Security Council with a clearer language on the ceasefire, and while Russia and China have said that it will support that other resolution, it remains to be seen what the attitude of the United States will be, which could veto it.
At the same time, the United States sponsors other indirect negotiations in Doha (Qatar) between Hamas and Israel with a view to an exchange of prisoners between the two parties and an eventual truce.
Also yesterday, the European Union called for an “immediate humanitarian break” that “leads to a sustainable ceasefire,” the first common position in this regard in the European club, where Israel has solid allies such as Germany or the Netherlands.
All this political and diplomatic activity has intensified after a dramatic UN report was announced on Monday that assured that 1.1 million people in Gaza are about to enter “catastrophic food insecurity,” the most serious degree of famine.
International
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
A 65-year-old Austrian citizen was arrested at a border checkpoint in Croatia after attempting to enter the country in his car with a deceased woman sitting as a passenger, police announced on Tuesday.
The man was detained in a routine check in late November in Gunja, a border area separating Bosnia from Croatia, the police told AFP. Suspicious because they saw “no consciousness or movement” from the passenger, Croatian officers called a doctor, who confirmed the death of the 83-year-old woman, also Austrian, according to her identification.
The woman’s relationship to the suspect is unknown. She had died in Bosnia, and the man intended to repatriate her body to Austria to “avoid the formalities related to transporting a corpse,” according to the police. Croatian media reported that the man was her legal guardian.
Once her death was confirmed, a funeral service took charge of the body.
International
Colombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
Colombian authorities arrested two nationals accused of the illegal trafficking of migrants to the United States and of endangering lives due to the disappearance of a boat with 40 people aboard, U.S. Department of Justice officials reported on Tuesday.
Hernando Manuel de la Cruz Rivera Orjuela, 52, and Luis Enrique Linero Pinto, 40, both Colombian citizens, were arrested on December 13 in Colombia at the request of the United States for their alleged involvement in a “transnational human trafficking operation,” the department said in a statement.
According to the charges, the detainees were transporting migrants to San Andrés Island in the Caribbean, where they would then be taken by boat to Nicaragua. The goal was to reach the United States through Central America and Mexico.
The accused are said to have advised the migrants on how to reach San Andrés Island, where they personally received them, arranged accommodations, and “took them to the boats that transported them to Nicaragua so they could enter the United States illegally,” the statement reads.
“These defendants put several migrants on the boat that disappeared off the coast of Nicaragua in 2023,” said Deputy Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, as cited in the statement.
Both men are “directly and personally responsible for the illicit trafficking of migrants on that vessel,” according to the indictment dated October 23.
International
Homemade landmine explosion in Michoacán kills two soldiers, injures five
Two soldiers were killed and five others were injured by the explosion of homemade landmines planted by a criminal group in a mountainous area of the Mexican state of Michoacán (west), the Secretary of Defense reported on Tuesday.
The attack occurred on Monday morning in the municipality of Cotija, a border area between Michoacán and the state of Jalisco, when the military was conducting a reconnaissance mission after receiving information about an armed camp in the area, explained Secretary General Ricardo Trevilla.
“At that moment, an improvised explosive device detonated. Unfortunately, two soldiers lost their lives, and five others were injured,” the military leader detailed. The affected soldiers were airlifted to hospitals in the region by a military helicopter, while the rest of the team continued with the reconnaissance of the area.
Trevilla stated that before the explosion, the military unit had located the dismembered bodies of three people, and upon continuing the mission, they confirmed the camp was abandoned.
Asked about the individuals responsible for placing the explosives, the general suggested they could be criminals linked to the local group Cárteles Unidos, which operates in Michoacán and uses these tactics in their territorial dispute with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the country.
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
Colombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
Homemade landmine explosion in Michoacán kills two soldiers, injures five
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