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
At least ten dead in Iran in a bus accident in the west of the country
At least ten people lost their lives this Saturday when a passenger bus fell down a ravine on a highway in the province of Lorestan, in western Iran.
“The bus that left Andimeshk (Juzestan province) to Poldokhtar (Lorestan), went off the road and fell into a ravine so unfortunately at least 10 people have died,” announced the executive director of the Red Crescent of the province of Lorestan, Mohammad Ghadami, reported the Tasnim agency.
The official did not give details about the number of injured in the accident and their state of health.
Ghadami said that four rescue teams were sent to the scene of the incident immediately after it was reported at 12:39 local time (9:10 GMT) this Saturday.
Mortality on roads, one of the highest in the world
Traffic accidents are very common in Iran, where the road mortality rate is one of the highest in the world, with an average of 20,000 deaths per year.
Many of the accidents are due to the poor condition of the vehicles and the poor compliance with traffic rules by drivers.
Last August, at least 28 Pakistani pilgrims died when the bus in which they were traveling overturned in central Iran, in an accident that occurred due to a brake failure.
International
Helene, the violent hurricane that destroyed the southeastern United States
Hurricane Helene is one of the extreme climatic events that have starred this 2024 after leaving more than 150 direct deaths and billions of dollars in losses in six states of the southeastern United States, according to preliminary figures.
The deadly Helene, which in the continental United States has only been surpassed by Katrina (2005), ended with more than 150 deaths, at least a hundred in North Carolina, in addition to leaving a path of destruction that reached the mountainous area of that state with special virulence.
After impacting Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula, Helene made landfall on September 26 with winds of 225 kilometers per hour in the Big Bend region of Florida, in the northwest of that state, as the most powerful cyclone in that region since records have been available.
From Florida, where it arrived as a major hurricane, and while it weakened progressively to become a tropical depression, Helene continued on land through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
North Carolina was the one that took the worst part, not only for the number of deaths but for the economic losses, which amount to more than 59.6 billion dollars, according to an update from the state government released this month.
The historic rainfall of up to 76 centimeters caused floods and landslides in this state, which caused serious damage, and long-term, both in homes and in public infrastructure and the agricultural industry.
Million-dollar economic losses
Quantifying at this time the economic losses in all the states impacted by Helene, which generated strong winds and tornadoes, is difficult because there are discrepancies in the damage assessment since it produced “a large-scale disaster,” as Mónica Escaleras, professor of the Department of Economics at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), told EFE.
“The widespread nature of the damage, the diversity of affected sectors and ongoing recovery efforts” are factors that prevent an accurate estimate at present, he added.
Escaleras believes, however, that Helene is a reflection of how in recent years “extreme weather events have become increasingly frequent and intense, altering infrastructure and supply chains.”
A preliminary report from the Institute of Agricultural and Food Sciences of the University of Florida (UF/IFAS) estimates that agricultural losses in this southern state due to Helene can range between 40.3 and 162.2 million dollars, after destroying 6.1 million acres (2.4 million hectares) of arable land.
More hurricanes like Helene in the future
A key factor in Helene’s intensity were the high temperatures in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, whose surfaces were at about 29.4 degrees Celsius when the system began to form.
A preliminary study by the World Weather Attribution network of scientists reflected that this temperature is the result of climate change, which made Helene’s effects worse, responsible for example for 10% more rain.
“It is expected that the growing occurrence of these events will generate higher insurance premiums and may lead to the withdrawal of coverage in high-risk areas, which will affect both the real estate and business sectors,” Escaleras said.
This possible future scenario can, on the other hand, affect unprotected communities more, such as the Hispanic one in the United States. The Climate Power organization revealed last week a report that shows that Latino communities have been the great victims of the extreme weather events that occurred in 2024.
The report in question found that many Latino families in western North Carolina live in trailers flooded or destroyed by the storm, and that not mastering English they had obstacles when it came to receiving information about recovery tasks.
Antonieta Cádiz, executive director of the Climate Power In Action campaign, reminded EFE of the case of the workers of a plastics factory in Erwin (Tennessee) who died after a negligence in their evacuation, which was not carried out due to the imminent effects of Helene, employees who were mostly Hispanic.
The above, he said, is a sample of the disproportionate and “deep inequalities” that affect the Hispanic community when it comes to extreme weather events.
International
The piangua, the mangrove mollusk that empowers women in the Colombian Pacific
When the low tide in the Colombian Pacific, a group of women put on rubber boots, take a raft and enter a mangrove forest to collect the piangua, a mollusk that, in addition to providing food to their families, empowers them and gives them a voice in their territory.
They are in the community of La Plata, in the heart of the Uramba-Bahía Málaga National Natural Park, and they have just six hours to work before the sea rises again. Stuck in the mud they sing to liven up their days and regardless of the sun or rain they fill their containers with this mollusk similar to the mussel with which they prepare delicious recipes.
“It is a very important ancestral activity because it allows us to have economic sustainability as women, to be a symbol of resistance to cultural traditions and to take care of our gastronomic traditions,” Matilde Mosquera Murillo, legal representative of the Raíces Piangüeras Association.
Mosquera, 27 years old and a sociologist by profession, took on the challenge of leading that organization created in 2019 and has managed to bring together more than 70 women who are dedicated to this profession in the Community Council of La Plata-Bahía Málaga, where they play a fundamental role in conservation.
“We monitor mangroves, because we know the importance they have in the ecosystem, they are the cradle of thousands of species. We also make every process sustainable so that all the initiatives we lead allow us to take care of nature,” Mosquera insists.
International recognition
Their work already has international recognition and since 2023 they have held the ‘Meeting of Women of the Colombian Pacific’. In the first edition they asked the National Government to advocate before UNESCO to declare the piangüeo as Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
“We believe in the need for a political strengthening of women, that our voice is heard and that we are part of the decisions that are made in the country so that we have votes in public policies and that they recognize our ancestral work in the world,” she adds.
The environmental richness of the La Plata archipelago is enormous and its 32 islands and islets are the habitat of 1,396 species of birds, reptiles, mammals and felines, as well as 60 classes of frogs, 25 of lizards and 52 of snakes.
There are also eight species of sharks, 22 rays and 348 of fish that have six types of mangroves as their home: red mangrove, born mangrove, ped mangrove, button or button mangrove, bobo mangle and feeder mangle.
Unity and awareness
According to Santiago Valencia, leader of the Community Council of La Plata-Bahía Málaga, women use a ‘piangüímetro’, a tool that works as a rule that allows them to measure the mollusk when it has already passed its reproductive stage.
“Their organization is as strong as the roots of the mangrove and they even come together to reforest when they see it necessary. This unity has made them look for other alternatives because they see that everything is possible and today they see themselves as what they are: powerful women, businesswomen and nature lovers,” says Valencia.
Currently, women piangüeras work in the search for resources that allow them to access studies to improve and strengthen their processes.
Some of them have already created other ventures for the manufacture of ointments based on medicinal plants from the jungle, ancestral drinks and even think about packing the piangua in a vacuum to export it to other countries.
“When we go to the mangrove we sing as a symbol of power, to express our feelings, it also serves to harmonize our activity and understand that we are important; we will leave this inheritance to our children and it will continue for generations,” concludes Mosquera.
At least ten dead in Iran in a bus accident in the west of the country
Helene, the violent hurricane that destroyed the southeastern United States
The piangua, the mangrove mollusk that empowers women in the Colombian Pacific
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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