International
Death toll from floods in southern Brazil rise to 148
The number of deaths from the serious floods that have been punishing southern Brazil for two weeks has reached 148 and the number of missing persons has reached 127, according to the latest Civil Defense bulletin.
According to the organization, the greatest climate tragedy in the history of the southern region of Brazil has also left 806 injured.
The most dramatic situation is in Rio Grande do Sul, a state bordering Argentina and Uruguay and where at least 147 deaths have been reported. The other victim has been registered in the neighboring state of Santa Catarina.
According to the Civil Defense, the tragedy has spread to 447 of the 497 municipalities of Río Grande do Sul. Affecting 2.12 million people, which corresponds to 18.8% of the 11.3 million inhabitants of this prosperous state.
Of those affected, 80,826 have had to be accommodated in improvised accommodation in schools, gyms and churches. Another 538,241, in homes of family and friends.
The Civil Defense has also reported that the rescue work, in which 27,651 firefighters, military and police participate with the support of 4,405 patrols, 41 aircraft and 340 boats, have so far allowed the rescue of 76,470 people and 10,814 animals.
The devastating floods have destroyed part of some populations. They have left numerous municipalities totally flooded and partially others, such as Porto Alegre, the regional capital, and a huge trail of devastation.
The already serious situation may get worse in the coming days, by the time new storms with precipitation, cold and strong gusts of wind are expected.
The rains have fallen again with intensity since Sunday, so the level of the waters of the rivers, which had begun to decrease on Friday, has risen again but without reaching the highs they recorded.
With the rains on Saturday and Sunday, the Guaíba River, which flooded much of the historic center of Porto Alegre, including its airport and the land transport terminal, has risen again and is now at 4.78 meters.
Projections from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) indicate that the water level in the Guaíba can reach the historical mark of 5.5 meters in the coming days if the rain persists.
In the same way, the Taquari and Caí rivers have overflowed again and have caused new floods in the municipalities of the interior of Rio Grande do Sul.
The new flood has dragged in the early hours of Monday the bridge that connected the cities of Caxias do Sul and Nova Petrópolis. The new floods have led the authorities to declare the maximum alert for the possibility of intense flooding in the Vales region.
Likewise, the maximum alert is maintained in the municipalities located on the banks of the so-called Lagoa dos Patos, where all the waters of the Guaíba flow and whose level has been rising since last Thursday causing flooding in important cities such as Pelotas and Rio Grande.
One of the main concerns is the economic impact that the tragedy will have. Río Grande do Sul is an important agricultural center in the country and the largest rice producer in Brazil.
According to the regional authorities, the initial needs to address the emergency are estimated at 18,839 million reais (3,663 million dollars or 3,392 million euros).
The Brazilian city of Porto Alegre spent ten days flooded and it is very likely that its situation will be aggravated by a new flood of the Guaíba River, which could reach a new record level on Tuesday, according to local authorities.
The heavy rains of the last few days in southern Brazil have again caused the rise of the river, which this Monday reached 4.94 meters, a level that exceeds 4.76 meters that, until last week, was the highest level of which there were records and that had only been reached once, in 1941.
The governor of Río Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite, warned that the river will be able to exceed the level of 5.5 meters on Tuesday, which is 20 centimeters more than the level reached last week, at the worst moment of the flood that affects the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
At a press conference, Leite said that “it is still not time to return home” and asked that people who returned to their homes in risk areas be safely returned to shelters.
The Brazilian Government announced on Monday a suspension of the payments of the debt of the state of Rio Grande do Sul with the Treasury for three years, to help the reconstruction of that region devastated by the floods.
The debt of that state reaches 104 billion reais (20,390 million dollars or 18.9 billion euros) and, with the moratorium, about 10% of that amount will be released for the reconstruction of the state, said the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, along with the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Parliament authorities, who will have to approve that measure.
The minister added that, during that period, interest on the debt will not be counted either, all with the purpose of “recovering the economic capacity of Rio Grande do Sul in the shortest possible period,” he said.
The governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite, who attended the announcement by videoconference, thanked the support and recognized “the effort of the entire federal government” in the face of the emergency.
With less intensity, the rain also affects the borders of Argentina and Uruguay, where thousands of people have been evacuated.
Before the current climate disaster, Rio Grande do Sul already had serious problems honoring its debt to the Treasury, which is equivalent to 185% of that state’s annual income, according to data from the regional government.
The economic consequences of the disaster are still immeasurable, but a balance sheet of the Federation of Industries of Rio Grande do Sul has already drawn a partial panorama.
According to that organization, 86.4% of the state’s industrial plants are located in the affected cities, which have had their activities practically paralyzed for two weeks, like almost the entire regional agricultural sector.
Also about 600,000 small and medium-sized companies have plummeted, due to the difficulties for delivery in regions where bridges and roads have collapsed and the airports operate halfway or are completely closed, as is the case with the one in Porto Alegre.
Last week, the federal government had already announced an aid plan for Rio Grande do Sul for about 50 billion reais (9.8 billion dollars or 9.09 billion euros), which includes direct assistance and subsidized credits for small businesses, among many other measures.
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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