International
Morales affirms that there will be “a seizure” in Bolivia if he is disqualified in the 2025 elections
The former president of Bolivia Evo Morales (2006-2019) said in an interview with EFE that there will be a “convulsion” in the country if his presidential candidacy for the 2025 elections is disqualified and blamed the Government of Luis Arce, with whom he has a fight despite belonging to the same party.
“If Evo is disabled, there will be a seizure. If you want that, well, that will be the responsibility of the Government (…) that’s my calculation, I’m sincere,” warned the also leader of the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS).
Morales considered that “this kind of struggle is only won with mass action,” and said that he heard that various sectors anticipate “difficulties” in case his presidential candidacy is annulled.
At the end of last year, the Constitutional Court issued a ruling in which it mentions that indefinite re-election “is not a human right” and that it is only applied for once in a continuous or discontinuous way.
According to Morales, this must be understood as “an insinuation of a possible disqualification of his candidacy.”
The three-time president of Bolivia insisted that he is “legally and constitutionally authorized” to be a candidate, according to the consultations he himself made to “national and international experts.”
The ruling Movement for Socialism turns 29 years old and it is the first time that there are two separate celebrations.
In the city of La Paz, headquarters of the Government and the Legislative, the ‘arcist’ block celebrates, which supports President Luis Arce, while this Saturday will be the turn of the ‘evista’ wing, related to Evo Morales, in the town of Yapacaní, in the department of Santa Cruz.
Last year Morales and Arce coincided on the anniversary of the party in the Tropic of Cochabamba, the political bastion of the former president, in which there was friction among the militants of the MAS.
In that event, Evo Morales questioned the management of the one who was his Minister of Economy during his government, while Arce urged the MAS not to be afraid of the “pluralism” of ideas.
Morales pointed out that Arce “made a big mistake” by pointing out that “we should not be afraid of the pluralism of ideas” since, in his opinion, that marks an “ideological difference” with the ‘arcist’ sector, since the MAS is traditionally “anti-imperialist.”
The former president also questioned that the Arce Administration has not fulfilled two of the main mandates he received when he arrived at the Government in 2020, such as “prosecusing and imprisoning the coup plotters and genocide” for the 2019 crisis and “recovering the country’s economy”.
Morales resigned from the Presidency in 2019 after considering that he was the victim of a “coup d’état” after the frustrated elections of that year, between complaints from the opposition of an electoral fraud in his favor for a fourth consecutive term.
On November 12, 2019, Jeanine Áñez assumed the interim command of the country as the second vice president of the Senate, two days after the resignation of Evo Morales and all the officials in the presidential succession line.
“I thought that if (I) would return (to be president of Bolivia) it would be to do justice (…) because I have been given a (state) coup,” he said.
To the division for the anniversary of the MAS is added the struggle for the legality of the MAS congress, which was held last year in the Cochabamba region, and in which Morales was proclaimed as the “single candidate” for the 2025 presidential elections.
The ruling sectors related to Arce called for another congress, which will be held in May, after the electoral authority determined that a new meeting should be held.
Morales insisted that the congress that re-elected him as the top leader of the MAS met all the requirements and that the electoral body acted with “illegality,” while the call of the “arcists” is made by those who “are not militants” in that party.
The former president ratified that the MAS “is united at the level of the bases” and that a few leaders decided to demarcate themselves in exchange for alleged “bribes” offered to them by the Government.
International
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump criticized what he described as unfair fees imposed on American ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand that Washington take back control of the strategic waterway.
“Our Navy and commerce have been threatened in a very unjust and reckless way. The rates that Panama charges are ridiculous,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The president-elect also denounced the growing influence of China in the canal, a situation he called concerning as U.S. businesses depend on the waterway to transport goods between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
“This complete scam against our country will end immediately,” he stated.
The Panama Canal, completed by the United States in 1914, was handed over to Panama under the 1977 treaty signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Panama took full control of the commercial passage in 1999.
“It was exclusively for Panama to manage, not China or anyone else,” Trump said. “We would never allow it to fall into the wrong hands!”
“If Panama cannot guarantee a ‘safe, efficient, and reliable’ operation of the canal, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in its entirety, without a doubt,” the Republican added.
Panamanian authorities did not immediately respond to Trump’s statements. While he will assume office on January 20, Trump has been exerting his political influence in the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Five percent of global maritime trade passes through the Panama Canal, which allows vessels traveling from Asia to the U.S. East Coast to avoid the long and dangerous route around the southern tip of South America.
The countries that use the Panama Canal the most are the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea.
In October, the Panama Canal Authority reported earnings of nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year.
International
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised more “destruction” in Ukraine on Sunday, in response to a drone strike that hit a residential building in the city of Kazan, located in central Russia, on Saturday.
Russia accused Ukraine of launching a “massive” drone attack, which struck a luxury apartment block in Kazan, about 1,000 kilometers from the border.
Videos shared on Russian social media show drones hitting a high-rise glass building. No casualties have been reported as a result of the attack.
In his statements, Putin addressed the local leader of Tatarstan, the region where Kazan is located, during a virtual ceremony marking the opening of a road.
The attack in Kazan is the latest in a series of increasingly frequent bombings in this nearly three-year-old conflict. Ukraine has not commented on the attack.
Putin had previously threatened to strike the center of Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities were retaliation for Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied missiles to target Russian territory.
International
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
At least nine people were killed on Sunday after a small aircraft crashed in a commercial area of the tourist city of Gramado, in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, authorities confirmed.
“There are nine confirmed deaths according to Civil Defense services, and there are no survivors from the plane,” said Cléber dos Santos Lima, director of the Interior Police Department of the Civil Police of the state, in a statement to AFP.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number of passengers and crew aboard the aircraft, a turbo-prop Piper Cheyenne 400. However, Civil Defense had previously stated that “preliminarily, the plane was carrying ten people.”
The plane crashed on Sunday morning “into the chimney of a building, then onto the second floor of a house, and finally fell onto a furniture store,” according to a statement from the Rio Grande do Sul Public Security Secretariat.
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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