International
The deputy head of prison officers of one of the largest prisons in Ecuador murdered

A group of hitmen murdered this Friday the deputy chief of prison officers of one of the largest prisons in Ecuador, located in the Andean province of Cotopaxi, according to the Prosecutor’s Office and the prison authorities reported this Friday.
This Friday, at least two people were arrested for investigations related to the murder of Olger M., deputy chief of prison agents of the Latacunga prison, which is officially known as the Cotopaxi Freedom Deprivation Center Number 1, the Public Ministry added in a message in X.
The Prosecutor’s Office “ordered the practice of proceedings, including the removal of the body of Olger M., deputy chead of prison agents, who was attacked today in Latacunga for alleged hitmen,” the source remarked.
Crime in the midst of the relocation of prisoners
This announcement about the murder of the deputy prison chief of this prison in the province of Cotopaxi, whose capital is Latacunga, comes a few days after the Service for Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI), the state prison unit, reported on the relocation of 1,193 inmates from two prisons in the central Andean region of the country.
The SNAI indicated that the authorities transferred prisoners from a prison in the neighboring province of Tungurahua to Cotopaxi, and also prisoners from Cotopaxi to Tungurahua.
The transfer process involved 665 men and 528 women with the purpose of improving security conditions and promoting a safer and more appropriate environment for the inmatees, the SNAI said.
Crisis in the prison system
The processes of transferring prisoners between prisons are common in Ecuador, which for about three years has been suffering from a crisis in the prison system due to the violence attributed to gangs of criminals, who are fighting for control of detention centers.
For this reason, the military has been managing several Ecuadorian prisons since last January, when the country’s president, Daniel Noboa, declared a situation of “internal armed conflict” to face violence in prisons and streets due to the presence of groups belonging to organized crime, which he called “terrorists.”
And it is that, between 2021 and 2023 alone, more than 500 people were murdered in Ecuador’s prisons, most of them in a series of massacres due to internal confrontations between rival criminal gangs.
Latacunga prison has been part of these violent episodes. Until the end of September it was the second most populous prison in Ecuador, with about 4,400 inmates, only surpassed by the Litoral Penitentiary, located in Guayaquil, with about 6,900 prisoners.
Prison violence also took to the streets, which caused Ecuador to be the Latin American country with the highest homicide rate, registering 47.2 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023.
International
Paraguay summons Brazilian ambassador over Itaipú espionage scandal

Paraguay summoned the Brazilian ambassador in Asunción on Tuesday to demand “explanations” and called its own representative in Brasília for consultations following Brazil’s acknowledgment of an espionage operation. The Brazilian government, led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, attributed the operation to the previous administration.
The surveillance effort aimed to uncover Paraguay’s position in now-suspended negotiations with Brazil regarding the pricing of electricity from the binational Itaipú hydroelectric plant, according to reports in the Brazilian press.
The Brazilian government “categorically denied any involvement in the intelligence operation,” stating in a Foreign Ministry communiqué on Monday that the espionage was carried out under former President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration (2019-2023).
“The operation was authorized by the previous government in June 2022 and was annulled by the interim director of the (state intelligence agency) ABIN on March 27, 2023, as soon as the current administration became aware of it,” Brazil’s government asserted.
Paraguay’s Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez announced that Brazilian Ambassador José Antonio Marcondes de Carvalho was summoned “to provide detailed explanations” regarding the operation. Additionally, Paraguay recalled its diplomatic representative in Brasília “to report on aspects related to the intelligence activity conducted by Brazil regarding Paraguay’s government affairs.”
International
Elon Musk to step down as government advisor, per Trump insiders

President Donald Trump has informed his inner circle that Elon Musk will be stepping down from his role as a government advisor, according to a report by Politico today.
Citing three individuals close to Trump, Politico states that the president is pleased with Musk’s leadership at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where he has implemented significant budget cuts. However, both have agreed that it is time for Musk to return to his businesses and support Trump from a different position outside the government.
A senior administration official told Politico that Musk will likely maintain an informal advisory role and continue to be an occasional visitor to the White House. Another source warned that anyone thinking Musk will completely disappear from Trump’s circle is “deluding themselves.”
According to the sources, this transition is expected to coincide with the end of Musk’s tenure as a “special government employee,” a temporary status that exempts him from certain ethics and conflict-of-interest regulations. This 130-day period is set to expire in late May or early June.
International
Milei vows to make Argentina so strong that Falkland Islanders “choose” to join

Argentine President Javier Milei reaffirmed his country’s claim over the Falkland Islands (known as the Islas Malvinas in Argentina) and praised the role of the nation’s armed forces during a ceremony marking the “Veterans and Fallen Soldiers of the Malvinas War Day,” commemorating 43 years since the 1982 conflict with the United Kingdom.
Argentina continues to assert sovereignty over the islands, arguing that Britain unlawfully seized them in 1833.
“If sovereignty over the Malvinas is the issue, we have always made it clear that the most important vote is the one cast with one’s feet. We hope that one day, the Malvinas residents will choose to vote with their feet and join us,” Milei stated.
“That is why we aim to become a global power—so much so that they would prefer to be Argentine, making deterrence or persuasion unnecessary. This is why we have embarked on a path of liberation, working to make Argentina the freest country in the world and once again the nation with the highest GDP per capita on the planet,” he added.
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