International
The US and Morocco agree on the importance of promoting the peace proposal for Gaza
The United States and Morocco agreed on Monday on the importance of continuing to closely coordinate efforts to promote peace and security in the Gaza Strip and ensure the release of all the hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke today with the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, about the truce agreement that was announced on Friday by President Joe Biden, and which was criticized by members of the government of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Blinken told Bourita that the proposal would “enormously” benefit both Palestinians and Israelis, allow an increase in humanitarian assistance to Gaza, the return of the displaced and the start of international reconstruction efforts, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
The Secretary of State reiterated that Hamas should accept the proposal “without further delay.”
Hamas responded, a day after the proposal was announced, that it had valued it “positively,” while the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, said that he “fervently hopes” that the proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza “lead to an agreement between the parties for a lasting peace.”
The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, spoke with Netanyahu on Sunday and expressed his support for the proposal, which also has the support of the G7, the seven largest industrialized economies.
The group urged Hamas to accept the proposal for the cessation of hostilities, which have been extended for seven months.
Netanyahu, who has insisted that he wants a “total victory” over Hamas, avoided committing to the truce proposal on Monday and assured that the plan is incomplete.
Miller admitted today at a press conference that although Hamas remains “a threat” to Israel’s security because it continues to launch rockets against its territory, “this situation cannot be addressed only with a military response, but a political proposal is needed.”
Blinken also expressed to Bourita his gratitude to King Mohammed VI for Morocco’s humanitarian contributions to Gaza and stressed the importance of supporting this proposal as a means to build a “more integrated, peaceful and stable” Middle East region, Miller said.
He referred to the 40 tons of food aid sent to Gaza through an “unpublished” land route in the middle of this month and that was achieved thanks to good relations with Israel as a result of the rapprochement between the two countries in recent years and the normalization of their bilateral relations.
The Moroccan monarch took over with his personal resources a large part of the aid sent, especially that intended for babies and young children.
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
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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