International
Rwanda begins the commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of the 1994 genocide
Rwanda began this Sunday the hundred days of mourning established by the country to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 moderate Tutsis and Hutus were killed, a massacre that still shookes the world and Rwandan society.
To begin the commemoration, the country’s president, Paul Kagame, lit accompanied by the first lady, Jeannette, the traditional flame of remembrance at the Center in Memory of the Genocide in the capital, Kigali, where more than 250,000 victims of the massacre lie in mass graves.
In a solemn act with moments of silence only interrupted by the commemorative songs singed by a military band and by the protocol instructions, a dozen heads of state and government paid their respects to the white cement blocks where the graves of the victims are housed.
Among the leaders present were the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, and the presidents of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa; Central African Republic (RCA), Faustin-Archange Touadera; Madasgascar, Andry Rajoelina; South Sudan, Salva Kiir; Republic of the Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso; Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan; and the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel.
Likewise, the head of state of Mauritania and current president of the African Union (AU), Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, and the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, attended on the same day that it is precisely six months since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, for which Tel Aviv faces accusations of genocide in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Several former presidents, including the American Bill Clinton or the French Nicolás Sarkozy, as well as the president of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, and the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, also traveled to Kigali to join the memory acts.
The commemoration program that starts today throughout the country includes the prohibition of large celebrations, such as weddings or sports competitions, and the organization of concerts and other cultural or leisure events not related to genocide in bars and public spaces.
In addition, within the framework of these events, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has issued new certificates to register four other monuments commemorating the genocide as world heritage sites, in Kigali, Bisesero (west), Nyamata (southeast) and Murambi (south).
“This means the international recognition that what happened in Rwanda is a tragedy, not only for Rwanda but also for the entire international community, all of humanity,” the director general of Unesco, Audrey Azoulay, told the press on Friday.
The one hundred days of mourning marked by the Rwandan Government will conclude on April 13 with an act at the Center for the Memory of the Genocide of Rebero (Kigali), in memory of the politicians who were killed for opposing the massacre.
The genocide began on April 7, 1994 after the murder the day before of the presidents of Rwanda, Juvénal Habyarimana, and Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira (both Hutus), when the plane in which they were traveling was shot down over Kigali.
The massacre that followed – the Rwandan Government accused the Tutsi rebels of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) of the murder, against whom it had been waging a war since 1990 – caused the death of at least 800,000 moderate Tutsis and Hutus in just over three months.
The genocide was one of the worst ethnic killings in the recent history of humanity.
Paul Kagame warned this Sunday in his speech that the conditions for an ethnic killing can occur anywhere if they are not controlled.
“The process of division and extremism that leads to genocide can occur anywhere if it is not controlled,” the president said in a forceful intervention before about 3,500 people gathered at the imposing BK Arena stadium in Kigali.
He defined any “ambiguity” about who were the victims of the genocide as “a form of denialism, which constitutes a crime.”
The president referred to the situation in the east of the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), whose Kigali Army he accuses of supporting the rebel group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), founded in 2000 by leaders and other Hutu Rwandans exiled in that country.
“The remains of those forces (perpetrators of the killing) are still in the east of the Congo today,” Kagame said, assuring that they have the “full support of the blue helmets of the United Nations” and that “their objectives have not changed.”
International
Chile declares state of catastrophe as wildfires rage in Ñuble and Biobío
Wildland firefighting crews are battling 19 forest fires across the country, 12 of them concentrated in the Ñuble and Biobío regions, located about 500 kilometers south of Santiago.
“In light of the severe fires currently underway, I have decided to declare a state of catastrophe in the regions of Ñuble and Biobío. All resources are now available,” the president announced in a post on X.
Authorities have not yet released an official report on possible casualties or damage to homes.
According to images broadcast by local television, the fires have reached populated areas, particularly in the municipalities of Penco and Lirquén, in the Biobío region, which together are home to nearly 60,000 people. Burned vehicles were also reported on several streets.
“The Penco area and the entire Lirquén sector are the most critical zones and where the largest number of evacuations have taken place. We estimate that around 20,000 people have been evacuated,” said Alicia Cebrián, director of the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred), in an interview with Mega TV.
In recent years, forest fires have had a severe impact on the country, especially in the central-southern regions.
On February 2, 2024, multiple wildfires broke out simultaneously around the city of Viña del Mar, located 110 kilometers northwest of Santiago. Those fires resulted in 138 deaths, according to updated figures from the public prosecutor’s office, and left approximately 16,000 people affected, based on official data.
International
Former South Korean President Yoon sentenced to five years in prison
Former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison for obstruction of justice and other charges, concluding the first in a series of trials stemming from his failed attempt to impose martial law in December 2024.
The sentence is shorter than the 10-year prison term sought by prosecutors against the 65-year-old conservative former leader, whose move against Parliament triggered a major political crisis that ultimately led to his removal from office.
Yoon, a former prosecutor, is still facing seven additional trials. One of them, on charges of insurrection, could potentially result in the death penalty.
On Friday, the Seoul Central District Court ruled on one of the multiple secondary cases linked to the affair, which plunged the country into months of mass protests and political instability.
International
U.S. deportation flight returns venezuelans to Caracas after Maduro’s ouster
A new flight carrying 231 Venezuelans deported from the United States arrived on Friday at the airport serving Caracas, marking the first such arrival since the military operation that ousted and captured President Nicolás Maduro.
On January 3, U.S. forces bombed the Venezuelan capital during an incursion in which Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured. Both are now facing narcotrafficking charges in New York.
This was the first U.S.-flagged aircraft transporting migrants to land in Venezuela since the military action ordered by President Donald Trump, who has stated that he is now in charge of the country.
The aircraft departed from Phoenix, Arizona, and landed at Maiquetía International Airport, which serves the Venezuelan capital, at around 10:30 a.m. local time (14:30 GMT), according to AFP reporters on the ground.
The deportees arrived in Venezuela under a repatriation program that remained in place even during the height of the crisis between the two countries, when Maduro was still in power. U.S. planes carrying undocumented Venezuelan migrants continued to arrive throughout last year, despite the military deployment ordered by Trump.
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