International
The Presidency of Ecuador tells the former minister to allegedly hide the energy crisis
The Presidency of Ecuador told the former Minister of Energy and Mines Andrea Arrobo and other high-level officials of that Ministry on Wednesday that they had allegedly hidden information about the country’s energy crisis, which has again suffered blackouts of several hours due to the impossibility of meeting the national demand for electricity.
After having commissioned the Minister of Energy and Mines from the Minister of Transport and Public Works, Roberto Luque, the Presidency of Ecuador said on Wednesday in a statement, without presenting any evidence, that “a preliminary investigation gave indications that high-level officials, including former Minister Andrea Arrobo, intentionally concealed crucial information for the functioning of the national energy system.”
The Presidency reported that “a complaint was filed with the Prosecutor’s Office for paralysis of the public service against 22 saboteurs who sought to harm all Ecuadorians, affecting their development and productivity.”
On Tuesday, the president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, had already spoken of an alleged sabotage without mentioning specific names, in a speech where he immediately asked for Arrobo’s resignation.
The former minister had publicly assured on Friday that the blackouts, which were already recorded at the end of December 2023, would not occur again in the short term despite the fact that the largest reservoir in the country was at the minimum level and that Colombia had cut off the export of electricity to Ecuador, since it also faces a critical situation and does not have surpluses.
“These first investigations indicate that warnings and alerts were suppressed and made to the Energy Crisis Committee, with the purpose that this serious situation is not known for timely decision-making,” the Presidency, in charge of President Daniel Noboa, said in a statement.
According to the presidential office, among the highlights are the critical conditions of the Mazar and Paute reservoirs, in the Andes mountain range, which register an operational storage level of 0% and 4%, respectively.
Likewise, the flow of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric power plant, the highest power in the country with 1,500 megawatts, recorded a deficit of 40% compared to the historical average.
Blackouts have been recorded since Sunday in several areas of the country, including the capital Quito and Guayaquil, the two largest cities in Ecuador, just in the days before the referendum called by Noboa to vote on reforms in matters of security, justice and employment, which constitute some of the main lines of his administration.
These power supply cuts began to occur without prior notice from the Government and initially attributed to “emerging maintenance” within the electricity sector, where the production, transport and marketing of electricity is mainly in the hands of public companies.
That is why the Government has declared the electricity sector an emergency and has suspended the working day for Thursday and Friday, since it has already admitted that the blackouts will continue this week despite the fact that President Noboa had indicated on Tuesday in the province of Guayas that there were no more to be given this week.
In that sense, the minister in charge of Energy and Mines Roberto Luque said in a brief press appearance on Tuesday that there is no short-term solution, beyond the fact that torrential rains can occur in the areas of the main reservoirs of the country.
Thus, the Executive of Noboa has announced as compensation that its administration will subsidize 50% of the electricity service bills of April.
During these days, maintenance will be carried out in the power plants, which will involve energy rationing at certain immovable times.
International
Thousands rally nationwide against Trump’s threat to U.S. democracy
Thousands of protesters gathered on Saturday (April 19, 2025) in major cities like New York and Washington, as well as in small communities across the United States, in a second wave of demonstrations against President Donald Trump. The crowds denounced what they view as growing threats to the country’s democratic ideals.
In New York City, demonstrators of all ages rallied in front of the Public Library near Trump Tower, holding signs accusing the president of undermining democratic institutions and judicial independence.
Many protesters also criticized Trump’s hardline immigration policies, including mass deportations and raids targeting undocumented migrants.
“Democracy is in grave danger,” said Kathy Valyi, 73, the daughter of Holocaust survivors. She told AFP that the stories her parents shared about Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in 1930s Germany “are happening here now.”
In Washington, demonstrators voiced concern over what they see as Trump’s disregard for long-standing constitutional norms, such as the right to due process.
International
ACLU seeks emergency court order to stop venezuelan deportations under Wartime Law
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Friday asked two federal judges to block the U.S. government under President Donald Trump from deporting any Venezuelan nationals detained in North Texas under a rarely used 18th-century wartime law, arguing that immigration officials appear to be moving forward with deportations despite Supreme Court-imposed limitations.
The ACLU has already filed lawsuits to stop the deportation of two Venezuelan men held at the Bluebonnet Detention Center, challenging the application of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The organization is now seeking a broader court order that would prevent the deportation of any immigrant in the region under that law.
In an emergency filing early Friday, the ACLU warned that immigration authorities were accusing other Venezuelan detainees of being members of the Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal gang. These accusations, the ACLU argues, are being used to justify deportations under the wartime statute.
The Alien Enemies Act has only been invoked three times in U.S. history — most notably during World War II to detain Japanese-American civilians in internment camps. The Trump administration has claimed the law allows them to swiftly remove individuals identified as gang members, regardless of their immigration status.
The ACLU, together with Democracy Forward, filed legal actions aiming to suspend all deportations carried out under the law. Although the U.S. Supreme Court recently allowed deportations to resume, it unanimously ruled that they could only proceed if detainees are given a chance to present their cases in court and are granted “a reasonable amount of time” to challenge their pending removal.
International
Dominican ‘False Hero’ Arrested for Faking Role in Nightclub Collapse That Killed 231
A man identified as Rafael Rosario Mota falsely claimed to have rescued 12 people from the collapse of the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo—a tragedy that left 231 people dead—but he was never at the scene.
Intelligence agents in the Dominican Republic arrested the 32-year-old man for pretending to be a hero who saved lives during the catastrophic incident, authorities announced.
Rosario Mota had been charging for media interviews in which he falsely claimed to have pulled survivors from the rubble after the nightclub’s roof collapsed in the early hours of April 8, during a concert by merengue singer Rubby Pérez, who was among those killed.
“He was never at the scene of the tragedy,” the police stated. The arrest took place just after he finished another interview on a digital platform, where he repeated his fabricated story in exchange for money as part of a “media tour” filled with manipulated information and invented testimonies.
“False hero!” read a message shared on the police force’s Instagram account alongside a short video of the suspect, in which he apologized: “I did it because I was paid. I ask forgiveness from the public and the authorities.”
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