International
Robert Fico, Slovak Prime Minister, in serious condition after being shot
Slovakia is shocked by the attempted assassination of the prime minister, the populist Robert Fico, who is in a “critical” state after receiving several shots when he approached to greet a group of citizens in the town of Handlova, in the center of the country.
“He has been shot multiple times and currently his life is in danger,” says Fico’s Facebook account, which indicates that he was transferred by helicopter to the town of Banská Bystrica, about 65 kilometers from Handlová, where the attack took place.
The attack occurred at 13.00 GMT, after a council of ministers in the town of about 17,000 inhabitants, when Fico went to greet dozens of neighbors who were next to the Casa de la Cultural – where the government meeting was held – and who were behind a fence.
At that moment, when he had the politician very close, a 71-year-old man pulled out a gun and fired four or five times at Fico. The aggressor, who was arrested after the shooting, has a gun license and had previously shouted to Fico: “Robo (Robert), come closer.”
One of the bullets hit the politician in the abdominal cavity, although some witnesses claimed that he was hit on the sternum.
The prime minister was evacuated by his local bodyguards and transferred by helicopter to the hospital of Banská Bystrica, the regional capital. A statement from the Government points out that his condition is critical and that “the next few hours will be decisive.”
According to the Minister of Defense, Robert Kaliniak, the Prime Minister of Slovakia “fights for his life” in a “very complicated” operation at the Roosevelt Hospital in Banská Bystrica.
“His condition is extremely serious,” Kalinak added in an appearance before the press in which he indicated that the intervention lasted for three and a half hours.
Kalinak described the intervention as “very complicated” and added: “We all pray that the good constitution of the prime minister and modern medicine will do their job.”
Fico suffered a “polytrauma”, which affects two or more organs or that produces at least one wound that endangers the patient’s life, after being shot five times, and the politician continues to “fight for his life,” according to the head of Defense.
The police have identified the aggressor as Juraj C., from Levice, a city in the southwest of the country, and with a weapons license.
According to the Slovak press, the alleged attacker was a member of a literary club and in the past had worked as a security guard in a shopping center.
Eight years ago he announced on the internet that he was collecting signatures to create a political party called the Movement against Violence. “Violence is often a reaction of people, as a form of expression of discontent with the situation. We can be dissatisfied, but not violent!” he wrote then.
The acting president, Zuzana Caputová, strongly condemned the attack and called for calm and a stop to the rhetoric of hatred in the country, deeply polarized between supporters and opponents of the Government, formed by left-wing and far-right nationalists.
“I’m shocked. We are all shocked by the horrible attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico. A physical attack on the prime minister is first and foremost an attack on a person, but also an attack on democracy,” the president said.
“Any kind of violence is absolutely unacceptable. The rhetoric of hatred that we witness in society leads to acts of hatred. Please, let’s stop her!” he added.
Parliament suspended its sessions until May 21 and increased security measures.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, condemned on Wednesday the “vile attack” against the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, who was shot today.
“I strongly condemn the vile attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico. These acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our most precious common good. My thoughts are with Prime Minister Fico and his family,” Von der Leyen published on social network X.
The president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, was also “horrified and outraged by the attack” against the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, and expressed Spain’s support for the politician, his family and that European country “in these extremely difficult times.”
“Nothing can justify violence,” Sánchez added in a message on the social network X published in Spanish and English.
“I am deeply moved by the news of the attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico. I strongly condemn this horrible act of violence. Our thoughts are with Prime Minister Fico, his family and the Slovak people,” said the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenkovic, on the social network X.
The head of the Slovenian government has also expressed his dismay at the attack. “I am dismayed by what has happened in Slovakia. I strongly condemn the attack on my Slovak colleague Fico and wish him a speedy recovery,” Robert Golob wrote on the X network.
The prime ministers of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, and Ireland, Simon Harris, were “impacted” after learning of the attack against their Slovak counterpart, Robert Fico.
“Impressed to hear this horrible news. All our thoughts are with Prime Minister Fico and his family,” Sunak wrote on his account on the social network X, a message that was reposted by the country’s head of Foreign Affairs, David Cameron.
Meloni expressed on behalf of the Italian Government the “strongest condemnation of all forms of violence and attack on the fundamental principles of democracy and freedom.”
Likewise, Russian President Vladimir Putin has also described the attack as a “horrible crime.”
International
Indigenous candidate Leonidas Iza predicts a new social explosion if there is no change in Ecuador
The presidential candidate of Ecuador for the indigenous movement, Leonidas Iza, who was part of the wave of protests of 2019 and who led that of 2022, reveals himself as an “anti-system” politician in the face of “a corrupt system” that he intends to reformulate to relieve the impoverished, because he predicts a new social explosion if there is no change in the Government to meet popular demands.
Iza, 42, is the candidate of Pachakutik, the political arm of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) that he himself presides over, and with which he was at the forefront of the 2022 wave of protests against the government of conservative President Guillermo Lasso, where he was arrested and even labeled a “terrorist.”
“I am one of those who has never lost the ability to be outraged when governments have had policies against their own citizens,” Iza, a native of the Andean province of Cotopaxi, said in an interview with EFE.
“I am not against the private sector, I am against those who do not pay taxes and those who come to the Government only to defend their companies,” said the candidate in reference to the last two presidents (Lasso and Daniel Noboa).
“We fight for social justice, not to be violent. It is a reaction to the injustice to which we have been subjected,” he said.
For Iza, who represents the anti-extractivist left of Ecuador, the country has “a corrupt system, a health system that does not work, a deficient and unfair economic system, and public services that are not helping citizens.”
“And that’s what we want to change. We won’t be able to do it overnight, but the State can give relief to the people,” the candidate said.
To do this, it proposes to fight against tax evasion, which amounts to about 7.5 billion dollars a year, and also against corruption, which is estimated at about 3 billion dollars per year, to balance public accounts without having to follow the current credit program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that asks to cut public spending and raise taxes.
He also aimed to increase agricultural productivity, as well as boost tourism to go from 1 to 3 million visitors a year, and anticipated that he will regulate small and artisanal mining to avoid illegal mining but will not allow large-scale mining because it considers that it can contaminate the country’s large river basins.
Iza anticipated that he will not pay the external debt as long as there are “guaguas (children, in Kichwa) who have no education and are dying of hunger, and colleagues who are dying for lack of health.”
“We will tell the IMF and the other multilaterals that we are going to pay, but first we are going to solve the structural problem we have at the moment: education, health and minimum conditions for security,” he warned.
In that sense, Iza pointed out that “the strength of a popular reaction in the streets is accumulating” that must be resolved by whoever is elected. “Knowing my country, which has been on the streets all its life, there will be a popular reaction if (the discomfort) is not resolved in the following months,” he reiterated.
“The option that understands the people is us, and not the sectors that have always been in the Government,” said Iza, who avoided pointing out whether that reaction will reach the dimensions of the strong protests of 2019 and 2022, both led by the indigenous movement.
In this electoral campaign, Iza has left his distinctive Andean red poncho to put on the bulletproof vest in the face of the persistent wave of violence of organized crime that the country is experiencing, because he warned that the “war” that Noboa declared to the criminal gangs has not worked because its leaders are still free.
Faced with this, he promised “a hard hand for all” and recalled that “state institutions must suffocate everyone (criminals)”.
The candidate also advocated deepening international cooperation: “there must be a responsibility of all countries (producers, consumers and drug transit), especially in the region (of Latin America)”.
Asked if Ecuadorian society is ready to have an indigenous president of rural origin, Iza sees himself with popular support to face “the most reactionary sectors that have support in racism and stigmatization.”
International
Deaths in a hotel fire in a ski resort in Turkey rise to 69
The fire that occurred this morning in a 12-story hotel in a ski resort in northwestern Turkey claimed at least 69 deaths, in addition to causing fifty injuries, according to the latest assessment of the country’s authorities.
The fire originated around 3.30 a.m. local time (0.30 GMT) in a hotel, built entirely of wood, in the Kartalkaya ski center, halfway between Istanbul and Ankara, with almost full occupancy.
The flames were extinguished after about ten hours of firefighters’ work and the authorities found the death of 66 people, in addition to rescuing 51 injured, compared to the 10 dead and 32 injured initially estimated.
The hotel, with 161 rooms, had an occupancy close to 90%, because these days are the winter school holidays in Turkey, says the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet.
The wooden construction and the location of the hotel at the foot of a ski slope, which only allows vehicle access from the front facade, made the intervention of firefighters difficult, the Turkish newspaper explained.
According to the television network NTV, about 300 people, including employees, were in the hotel at the time of the fire, the causes of which are still unknown.
International
Hamas calls for counterattack on Israeli soldiers during their incursion in the West Bank
The Islamist organization Hamas urged the Palestinians on Tuesday to intensify and support their militiamen in the clashes against the Israeli Army during the military incursion that began today in Yenin, in the north of the occupied West Bank.
“We call on the masses of our people in the West Bank and their revolutionary youth to mobilize and intensify the clashes against the (Israeli) occupation army at all points, and to work to thwart the extensive Zionist aggression against the city of Yenin.”
“This military operation launched by the occupation in Yenin will fail, as did all its previous military operations against our brave people and their tenacious resistance,” the Palestinian group said.
Since the beginning of the operation, nicknamed by the Army “Iron Wall”, at least seven Palestinians have died in Yenin and another 35 have been injured, according to data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Hamas accused the forces of the Palestinian National Authority (ANP), President Mahmoud Abbas’ ruling party in the West Bank, of having left Yenin to allow the operation of Israeli troops, instead of defending the Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended on Tuesday that the last assault launched by his forces against Yenin, in the north of the occupied West Bank, seeks to “eradicate terrorism.”
“This is another step towards the objective we have set ourselves: to strengthen security in Judea and Samaria (West Bank),” according to a statement released by its Office.
“We are acting systematically and decisively against the Iranian axis wherever it sends its weapons: in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Judea and Samaria (West Bank),” concludes the Israeli president’s note.
The rail comes shortly after the start of the ceasefire in Gaza, which includes a weekly exchange of hostages in the Strip for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Following the release of the prisoners, the Army increased its presence in this occupied territory with seven companies, claiming to strengthen its “anti-terrorist efforts.”
The images recorded in Yenin show dozens of Army vehicles accessing the local refugee camp, which has also been bombed by Israeli aviation.
The incursions and attacks of Israeli forces in Yenin, considered a bastion of Islamist-like militias, were already constant but they worsened after the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.
However, since mid-December it has been the security forces of the Palestinian National Authority (ANP), which governs small parts of the West Bank, that have led an offensive in this population, which until last Friday triggered armed fighting against the militiamen.
This exchange of fire has caused at least 15 people dead on both sides, including two minors.
The occupied West Bank is experiencing its greatest spiral of violence since the Second Intifada (2000-05), and in 2024 at least 491 Palestinians have died in the territory by Israeli fire, most of them militiamen from refugee camps, but also civilians, including at least 75 minors, according to EFE’s count.
So far this year, at least 24 Palestinians have already died in Israeli attacks, five of them minors.
Indigenous candidate Leonidas Iza predicts a new social explosion if there is no change in Ecuador
Deaths in a hotel fire in a ski resort in Turkey rise to 69
Hamas calls for counterattack on Israeli soldiers during their incursion in the West Bank
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Ecuador prison riot leaves at least 43 dead
-
International4 days agoNoboa once again entrusts the Vice President of Ecuador to the vice president he appointed by decree
-
International4 days agoMusk’s Starship was lost after a smooth takeoff
-
International4 days agoMark Carney announces his candidacy to replace Trudeau as Prime Minister of Canada
-
International4 days agoHRW assures that Sheinbaum “inherited a crisis” from López Obrador due to “extreme violence” in Mexico
-
International4 days agoTrump appoints Stallone, Voight, and Gibson as special ambassadors to Hollywood
-
International4 days agoThe Prosecutor’s Office asks Boluarte to hand over the documents that justify the surgery he kept hidden
-
International4 days agoLatin American and Caribbean diplomats voice concern over U.S. mass deportation plan
-
International4 days agoEdmundo González Urrutia’s team says that the anti-chavista will attend Trump’s investiture
-
International4 days agoChina, Israel and Burma, the countries in the world with the most journalists imprisoned in 2024
-
International2 days agoTrump to sign over 200 executive orders, declaring National Emergency at U.S.-Mexico Border
-
International6 hours agoDeaths in a hotel fire in a ski resort in Turkey rise to 69
-
International6 hours agoHamas calls for counterattack on Israeli soldiers during their incursion in the West Bank
-
International6 hours agoThe Israeli Chief of Staff submits his resignation for October 7
-
International6 hours agoSheinbaum says that “it will remain the Gulf of Mexico for the whole world” despite Trump
-
International6 hours agoIndigenous candidate Leonidas Iza predicts a new social explosion if there is no change in Ecuador
-
International4 days agoAntony Blinken assures that the Panamanian sovereignty of the Panama Canal “will not change”
-
International4 days agoAt least five peace signatories and social leaders are killed in fighting in Colombia
-
International2 days agoPope Francis hopes Trump will build a more just society free of hatred
-
Sin categoría2 days agoParaguayan president Santiago Peña meets Venezuela’s opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia in Washington
-
International4 days agoForeign Affairs confirms the kidnapping of a Spaniard in North Africa by a jihadist group
-
International1 day agoBrazil’s Lula wishes Trump a successful term focused on prosperity and peace
-
International1 day agoTrump to sign executive order recognizing only two sexes
-
International1 day agoIran hopes U.S. will adopt realistic approaches under Trump administration
-
International6 hours agoTrump begins his first day in power with a mass in Washington Cathedral
-
International6 hours agoRubio promises to work for “a safer world” after swearing in as US Secretary of State
-
International6 hours agoMexico will return migrants affected by Trump’s restrictions to its countries
-
International6 hours agoTerrorism, prisoners and the Vatican: autopsy of the agreement between the US and Cuba that was born dead
-
International6 hours agoWhat are the first measures approved by Trump after taking office as US president?
-
International6 hours agoAt least 409 minors were recruited in Colombia in 2024, according to the Ombudsman’s Office
-
International6 hours agoIsrael shifts the spotlight to the West Bank with a large-scale raid and kills 9 Palestinians