International
The Supreme Court of Brazil decriminalizes the carrying of marijuana for personal use
The Supreme Court of Brazil decriminalized on Tuesday the carrying, cultivation and consumption of marijuana for personal use, so that this is considered just as an illicit act of an administrative nature.
A majority of magistrates interpreted that drug use is not a crime because the current law, passed in 2006, has already decriminalized it and those convicted of it only face minor punishments such as the provision of community services.
“Consumption is not punishable by detention or imprisonment, therefore, it is not a crime. The user should not be criminalized, it must be treated with public health and socio-educational policies,” said Judge José Antonio Dias Toffoli during the discussion.
In addition, Toffoli pointed to the “stigma” associated with criminalization, which can keep users away from asking for the help they need.
However, and in the face of the criticisms made in recent months by legislators of the conservative majority in Congress, the magistrates insisted that consumption is not being legalized, a measure that is the responsibility of the Legislative Branch.
“The use of illicit drugs is a bad thing and the role of the State is to combat trafficking and treat dependents,” said the president of the court, Luís Roberto Barroso.
Most of the magistrates agreed on the need to set an amount of marijuana to distinguish the user from the trafficker, who does face prison sentences, because the current law does not establish it.
The absence of a limit opens the doors to arbitrary behavior by the police and judges, which according to the magistrates can lead to cases of discrimination that mainly affect poor blacks.
According to data cited during the debate in the Supreme Court, 20 grams of marijuana are enough for a young black and illiterate to consider himself a trafficker, while in the case of a white man with studies the amount is 58 grams on average.
“We want to avoid that discrimination between rich and poor, we want a rule that is the same for everyone,” Barroso said during a session last week.
The magistrates have proposed amounts ranging from 10 to 60 grams, although a minority within the court has pointed out that Congress should be the one who established it.
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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