International
Maduro denounces an attempted coup d’état before the voices that question his victory
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, denounced on Monday that an attempted coup d’état “of a fascist nature” is underway, in view of the questions of his re-election – announced on Sunday by the electoral body -, rejected by the majority opposition and a good part of the international community.
“An attempt is being made to impose a coup d’état, again, of a fascist and counter-revolutionary nature in Venezuela,” Maduro said during the proclamation as re-elected president, at the headquarters of the National Electoral Council (CNE) in Caracas.
Maduro assured that this is “the same movie” and “with a similar script” that lived – he assured – in 2019, in which “the protagonists” are “the same”, on the one hand “the people who want peace” and on the other hand “elites full of a counterrevolutionary, fascist project, tied to the American empire.”
He pointed out that “the first failed steps are being rehearsed to destabilize Venezuela” and to impose “again” a “mantle of aggressions and damage,” a “kind of film (Juan) Guaidó 2.0”, in reference to the period in which the opponent proclaimed himself “president in charge” of the country, a “mandato” – recognized by half a hundred countries – that he could never exercise, lacking institutions and real power.
“I tell the plotters, those involved and those who endorse this operation against Venezuelan democracy that we already know the film and this time there will not be any kind of weakness. This time in Venezuela the Constitution will be respected, the law will be respected and neither hatred, nor fascism, nor lies nor manipulation will be imposed,” he stressed.
According to the president, “the same ultra-right, the same groups led by American imperialism, the same countries” are behind this coup plan.
Maduro celebrated, in his act of proclamation as re-elected president, the “feat” of having defeated fascism in Sunday’s elections, in which, according to data released by the National Electoral Council (CNE), he obtained the victory – with 51.2% of the votes -, a result questioned by several countries.
“Overcoming fascism, demons, demons, is a historical feat and our people have done it, once again our people did it again,” said the Chavista leader after receiving the credential, which will allow him to govern the country until 2031, from the hands of the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso.
Maduro considered that the votes, in which there was a participation of 59%, represented a historic day that concluded with the opinion of the CNE, a result that, he assured, he receives with humility and as a “man of the way.”
“The definitive battle against fascism took place in this land and we beat him,” he insisted.
Even though opponents assure that some audits are missing from the result of the elections, the CNE formally declared Maduro president despite the allegations of the largest anti-Chavista coalition, the Democratic United Platform (PUD), which believes that its standard-bearer, Edmundo González Urrutia, won the elections with a wide margin.
González Urrutia denounced that “all electoral rules” have been violated, due, among other things, to the refusal of the CNE to deliver to the PUD the minutes of totalization of the votes in more than 50% of the electoral centers.
On the other hand, the Government of Venezuela expressed that it has no interest in relating “with a criminal like” the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, whom he called “fascist and corrupt” after he questioned the results of the presidential elections in the Caribbean country, which give as a winner, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE), President Nicolás Maduro for a third consecutive term, and that the vast majority of countries in the region also question.
“Fascist and corrupt president, we don’t want to relate to a criminal like you, who only sought Venezuela to try to enrich himself with our oil,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Caribbean nation, Yván Gil, in X.
In response to Bukele’s publication on this social network, the chancellor added: “The lies and ridicules that you promote on social networks here will not happen, as your rated criminals will not pass.”
The Salvadoran president, who never showed interest in interacting with the Maduro Executive, said that there was “fraud” in the presidential elections of Venezuela and added that he will not re-establish relations until that country has “real elections.”
For her part, the Minister of the Interior of Chile, Carolina Tohá, said that the decision of the Venezuelan Government to expel Chilean diplomats and six other countries in the region is “shameful” and “incomprehensible” and assured that the measure “leaves in abandonment” the more than 700,000 Venezuelans who live in Chile.
“The decision (of the Venezuelan Government) is worrying for many reasons. It is one more symptom of the delicate situation that is being experienced in that country, especially because it leaves in the abandonment of the more than 700,000 Venezuelans who currently live in Chile,” Tohá said in a public statement from the La Moneda presidential palace.
The Government of Venezuela demanded on Monday from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay “the immediate withdrawal of their representatives in Venezuelan territory,” in rejection of their “interrenistic actions and statements” about this Sunday’s presidential elections and also decided to “withdraw all diplomatic personnel from the missions” in these seven Latin American countries.
Minister Tohá explained that the decision does not imply a total breakdown of diplomatic relations, but “in practice it means that there are no diplomatic delegations in either of the two countries.”
The Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, was one of the first leaders to demand transparency in the counting of votes in the elections early Monday morning, a request that was joined by multiple leaders from the region.
The progressive president warned that the results offered by the CNE “are difficult to believe” and that his country will not recognize “any result that is not verifiable.”
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
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