International

Haitian armed gangs mobilize before the arrival of the multinational force

The armed gangs of Haiti call for a series of demonstrations in repudiation upon the arrival, scheduled for May 26, of the multinational force to restore security in the nation and which will lead Kenya.

The demonstrations are organized by the armed coalition “Vivre Ensemble” (Living Together), led by the powerful Haitian ex-police officer Jimmy Cherisier, alias “Barbecue”.

Carrefour, south of Port-au-Prince, is practically paralyzed this Saturday, just like yesterday, since the armed structures that control the area require the population to prepare to go out to the street to demonstrate against the arrival of police forces.

To attract large crowds, bandits force thousands of people to take to the streets under threat of beating, killed or expelled if they refuse, as happened on Friday in Fontamara, in the south of the capital; in Bel-air, in the heart of the capital, and in Canaan, at the northern entrance of Port-au-au-Prince, where thousands of citizens demonstrated.

In the massive demonstrations, heavily armed men with sa balacers shouted slogans hostile to the international community and the multinational assistance force to the Haitian Police, approved last October by the Security Council of the United Nations (UN).

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CEL

Information circulating on social networks suggests that gang leaders are putting pressure on their members to prevent them from fleeing inland in the face of the arrival of international force.

Meanwhile, the armed gangs gain new territories and on Friday night they took the police station of the town of Gressier, at the southern entrance of the capital, which until then was not under the control of the gangs.

A resurgence of kidnappings in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince has also been reported these days, at the same time that there is a timid resumption of school activities in the capital.

For several days, U.S. military aircraft have been coming and going through the runway of Port-au-au-Prince’s Toussaint Louverture airport, as part of the preparations for the initial deployment of the multinational force.

More than a hundred U.S. military flights are expected in the coming days, according to the local press.

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Haiti is experiencing a crisis in all orders, aggravated by the terror imposed by the armed gangs, a situation that led to the resignation of the Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, and gave way to the installation in April of the Transitional Presidential Council, which must pave the way for the holding of elections to choose a new president no later than February 7, 2026.

This country, the poorest in America, held presidential elections for the last time in 2016, when Jovenel Moise won, killed on July 7, 2021 by an armed group in his private residence in Port-au-Prince.

International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”

International

Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?

This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.

The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.

While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.

Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.

Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.