International
Milei denies that Scholz has mentioned the social impact of the reforms in Argentina
The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, denied on Monday that the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has mentioned to him, at the meeting they held in Berlin, the impact on the social situation of the strong reforms he is making to lower inflation.
“He never mentioned that to me,” “at no time,” Milei replied in an interview on Mitre radio in Argentina, since the official German statement indicated that Scholz stressed the importance of the “social compatibility” of the reforms undertaken by the president.
Milei met with the head of the German Government during the third stopover of his European tour – which the Argentine president describes as “an excellent trip” – which began in Madrid, continued in Hamburg, and after passing through Berlin, he will meet this Monday with the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, the conservative Petr Fiala.
“Afar from questioning social policy, (the German authorities) weigh it, because they understand that in the face of an adjustment of this caliber and the initial conditions, social policy has had to be extremely good, because in the face of what we have done, it would have been a catastrophe if we had not acted correctly,” Milei explained in another section of the interview.
Milei has managed to reach the fiscal surplus in the first five months of the year, from a deficit of 6% of GDP in 2023, at the expense of a hard adjustment, which allowed him to slow inflation at a rate of 4.2% monthly last May and 276.4% year-on-on-year.
“It was a very productive meeting” and “extremely positive,” Milei said when talking about his meeting with Scholz, the first he has with a social democratic leader since he took the presidency, on December 10.
“The German minister asked us about how the economic program was working, given that (Germany) has an important weight in the IMF,” since Argentina intends to renegotiate (with the IMF) the financing program for more than $41 billion, and “what were the prospects for the future,” Milei explained.
“We have talked about the inconveniences of German companies in Argentina and how we were making progress in solving those problems,” Milei added.
Germany is the eighth foreign investor in Argentina, with interests in the manufacturing, mineral and oil extraction and retail and wholesale sectors, and with the presence of companies such as Siemens, Volkswagen and Bayer.
President Milei also referred to the “issue of natural resources, of extreme importance for Germany,” which “woust be motivating many investments to be made in Argentina,” since both leaders addressed global energy security and the importance of having critical minerals.
Milei mentioned that, as indicated in the official statement issued at the end of the meeting, Argentina’s accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the integration of Mercosur with the European Union (EU) was also discussed.
In addition, they talked about Argentina’s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and agreed that Russia has in its hands to end the war of aggression against Ukraine.
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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