International

Maduro announces plans to build two maximum-security prisons for protesters

Nicolás Maduro rejects OAS statements on Essequiba Guayana

On Thursday, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced plans to prepare two maximum-security prisons to house protesters detained during demonstrations that erupted following his controversial re-election.

“I am preparing two prisons that I expect to have ready in 15 days; they are already being repaired,” Maduro stated during an event broadcast by the state channel VTV.

“All the ‘guarimberos’ (protesters) will be sent to Tocorón and Tocuyito, maximum-security prisons,” he added, referring to two facilities that had been under the control of criminal gangs for years before being taken over by law enforcement last year.

For instance, Tocorón was known as the operational center of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang.

Since the protests against Maduro’s re-election—deemed fraudulent by the opposition—erupted, more than 1,000 people have been detained. The opposition, led by María Corina Machado and her candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, reports a higher death toll, with at least 16 fatalities compared to the official count of 12, including one military personnel.

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“We have over 1,200 detained and are looking for 1,000 more, and we will catch all of them because they were trained in the United States, in Texas; in Colombia, Peru, and Chile,” Maduro declared, facing international pressure for greater transparency in the electoral process.

Maduro refers to the protesters as “terrorists,” “criminals,” and members of “new generation gangs,” drawing comparisons to gangs in Haiti and Central American maras.

“They wanted to turn Venezuela into another Haiti,” the president remarked. “There is a lot of work to be done; let them build roads,” he added about the “re-education” plans for these prisons.

The protests have also led to clashes where statues of the late former president Hugo Chávez and large billboards featuring Maduro’s image were toppled.

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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”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

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.