International
Justice of Ecuador revokes the ruling that declared the capture of Glas at the Embassy of Mexico illegal
An appeals court of Ecuador rejected this Friday in second instance the habeas corpus appeal that requested the immediate release of Jorge Glas, former vice president of Rafael Correa, and revoked the original ruling that described his detention within the Mexican Embassy in Quito, when the Government of this country had granted him asylum, as illegal and arbitrary.
The Specialized Administrative Litigation Chamber of the National Court of Justice agreed that Glas’s arrest, which occurred on April 5 in a police invasion of Mexico’s diplomatic headquarters condemned almost unanimously by the international community, was “legal, legitimate and not arbitrary,” according to Glas’s lawyers.
The court of first instance that reviewed the habeas corpus presented in favor of Glas had initially determined that the detention was illegal and arbitrary because the protocol of raids on foreign diplomatic delegations in Ecuador had not been respected, but kept Glas in prison pending the end of serving an eight-year prison sentence for two convictions (corruption and illicit association) in cases of corruption.
The sentence accepted the Government’s arguments, which say that the entry without permission at the Mexican Embassy in Quito sought to prevent the escape of a defendant on whom an arrest warrant weighed and who still had convictions in force.
The habeas corpus, promoted by lawyer Francisco Hidalgo, requested the Ecuadorian Justice to order the release of Glas and deliver him to Mexico or a third country willing to respect the asylum given to him by the Mexican Executive.
Glas, who rejects the charges against him and declares himself a politically persecuted, had arrived at Mexico’s diplomatic headquarters on December 17, 2023 to apply for asylum, when the Prosecutor’s Office was preparing to prosecute him for alleged embezzlement (embezzlement of public funds) in the reconstruction works after the devastating earthquake of 2016.
The Government of Mexico granted asylum to Glas in the midst of a crisis with Ecuador, whose president, Daniel Noboa, had expelled ambassador Raquel Serur after the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, related in statements the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio with Noboa’s electoral triumph.
After his capture, Glas was imprisoned in La Roca, the maximum security prison in Ecuador that is part of the Guayaquil penitentiary complex, a set of five prisons that since June 1 has suspended the food service by the supplier company.
The new sentence issued this Friday ordered the National Service of Comprehensive Care to Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI), the state penitentiary agency, to guarantee and teate the rights of Glas, “especially the right to life, health and integrity, in consideration of the current prison context.”
Glas, who also has German citizenship, was one of the strong men of the Correa Government (2007-2017), and between 2013 and 2017 he held the position of vice president, as well as during the first months of Lenín Moreno’s mandate (2017-2021), until investigations began against him.
“They never notified the composition of the court of appeal, they never made known. They didn’t even deign to mention who presented the amicus curiae,” lamented the former president.
Among the amicus curiae who had joined the appeal to provide arguments in favor of Glas’s petition were the Puebla Group, the Lawfare Observatory, the Argentine jurist Eugenio Zaffaroni and the former ambassador of Bolivia to the UN Sacha Llorenti.
“Everyone knows and has seen that it was done by pulverizing international law and Ecuadorian law. We will not stop denouncing this case until we reach his freedom,” Sacha Llorenti said on social network X this Friday.
Mexico and Ecuador have counterclaimed before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the events that occurred on April 5, with mutual accusations of having transgressed international conventions and standards.
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”
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.
Panama police clarifies that Interpol alert for Martinelli is still pending
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
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 agoFederal court blocks Trump’s use of Enemy Alien Act for deportations
-
Central America4 days agoHonduran group in U.S. pushes for voter registration to prevent election fraud
-
Central America4 days agoKristi Noem in Latin America: Talks with Bukele on expulsions and security policies
-
International4 days agoEcuador oil spill worsens as containment dam collapses
-
Central America3 days agoNicaragua denounces Costa Rica’s position in SICA as aligned with foreign interests
-
Central America3 days agoNicaragua’s new judicial law consolidates power in Ortega and Murillo’s hands
-
Central America3 days agoPanama’s president declares Darién gap ‘closed’ amid sharp drop in migrant flow
-
International3 days agoMarco Rubio warns Venezuela against military action against Guyana
-
International1 day agoSon of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
-
International1 day agoMiyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?
-
Central America2 hours agoPanama police clarifies that Interpol alert for Martinelli is still pending
-
International2 hours agoDeportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links
-
Central America2 days ago
Nicaragua revokes legal status of 10 more NGOs, bringing total to over 5,600