International
Humala says that if Odebrecht sent money to his campaign, his manager stole it in Peru
Former Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, whom the Prosecutor’s Office accuses of having received funds from the Odebrecht company for his 2011 election campaign, said that, if the Brazilian company sent that money to Lima, it was stolen by its executive director in Peru, Jorge Barata.
“If that thesis that, indeed, Marcelo (Odebrecht) had arranged for Barata (to send money to his campaign), what I think, first, (is that) I don’t think that happened, but, if that happened, Barata stole the money,” he said in an interview with EFE.
The trial for those alleged contributions, and others of the Venezuelan government of Hugo Chávez for his 2006 campaign, is in its final phase and it is likely that a verdict will be known in the first week of March, although the parties may appeal.
During the trial, the Prosecutor’s Office has maintained that Humala and his wife, Nadine Heredia, received illicit contributions from Odebrecht, thanks to the intermediation of then-President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, and Chávez to finance the 2006 and 2011 campaigns, so it considers that they committed money laundering.
His defense has denied the contributions and, likewise, assures that if they had received it, it does not constitute money laundering.
In this sense, Humala said that Barata “is hiding information” and “I have never said who left the money in his office.”
“He says they left his money in his office, he doesn’t know who leaves him; that is, he has no secretary, he has no guardian, he doesn’t have a surveillance camera, he doesn’t have a janitor who takes data from the people who enter. Even to order a grilled chicken they ask you for your data, but this (Barata) curiously does not ask for data,” he said.
In 2017, the former director of Odebrecht in Peru confessed to the Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office that he gave 3 million dollars for the 2011 Humala presidential campaign, in which he was the winner.
Regarding this testimony, Humala commented that “it is a ‘sui generis’ case, because he has a problem in Brazil with the Lava Jato prosecutors,” since he “denounced the pressure” they made him, “forcing him to a series of things to give him an agreement to collaboration and threatening to have more time in prison.”
“So, he has done everything that the prosecutors have asked him to do,” he said.
The former president reiterated that they have always been “financed exclusively with what is” in the party’s report and the notes they have mentioned, although he admitted that there could be some “disorder”, because “the campaign is a vortex”.
Regarding the testimony of businessman Martín Belaunde Lossio, initially very close to Humala and who said he had received money at the Venezuelan Embassy in Lima for the 2006 campaign, considered that it is a revenge, because he approved his extradition from Bolivia for a case of an alleged corrupt network.
“It is a revenge and the hand of the Prosecutor’s Office is evident, because this gentleman, when he brings him extradited from Bolivia, begins a process of effective collaboration, but they have only been given to him in 2024, with things that he would have said in 2016,” he said.
In 2022, Humala became the first former Peruvian president to be tried for the Odebrecht bribery scandal, uncovered in Brazil in the Lava Jato case and with repercussions in a dozen Latin American countries.
International
Mexico’s Sheinbaum urges U.S. to target cartels on its own soil
Under orders from U.S. President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice has directed the “total elimination” of drug cartels.
Newly appointed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has made the “complete eradication” of organized crime cartels a top priority. In response, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum urged Washington on Friday to begin operations against these groups within U.S. territory.
On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department released a memorandum in which Bondi called for a review of national security and anti-narcotics strategies to achieve the swift dismantling of all cartels and transnational criminal organizations.
“This public policy requires a fundamental shift in mindset and approach.
We must do more than just try to mitigate the enormous harm these groups cause in the United States. It is not enough to stop the wave of deadly poisons, such as fentanyl, that these organizations distribute in our country,” the memo states.
International
Trump strips Biden of classified briefings: ‘Joe, you’re fired’
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will revoke his predecessor Joe Biden’s authorization to receive classified intelligence briefings, a privilege typically extended to former presidents even after leaving office.
“There is no reason for Joe Biden to continue having access to classified information,” Trump stated on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“We will immediately revoke Joe Biden’s security clearances and stop his daily intelligence briefings,” he declared, before adding in capital letters: “JOE, YOU’RE FIRED.”
Trump claims he made the decision in response to Biden’s actions in 2020 when the then-president stripped him of security clearance after winning the election. At the time, Biden cited Trump’s “erratic behavior” both before and after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when protesters attempted to block Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.
On Friday, Trump argued that Biden “cannot be trusted” with intelligence reports, referencing a special counsel’s findings on classified documents found at Biden’s home, which concluded that the 82-year-old Democrat has “poor memory.”
International
Florida Governor announces Highway Patrol to perform Immigration tasks
The personnel of a Florida security agency will be able to carry out tasks against irregular immigration in this US state, after an agreement signed with the government Department of Homeland Security (DHS), state governor Ron DeSantis reported on Friday.
At a press conference, the Republican announced the agreement signed with this federal agency through which the members of the Florida Highway Patrol will be able to interrogate and arrest people suspected of being illegal immigrants, as well as prosecute those who re-entered the country after a deportation.
“Now is the last chance to end illegal immigration once and for all,” said DeSantis, after announcing this agreement that grants “migration authority” to the state Highway Police, dependent on the Florida Department of Road Safety and Motor Vehicles.
Under this agreement with DHS, the troops of the Florida Highway Patrol will also be able to arrest undocumented people who arrive in this southern state by sea and hand them over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE).
DeSantis explained that being an agreement with the Government of US President Donald Trump, what was announced this Friday does not require approval by the state legislature, with whom the governor maintains a struggle.
The state Congress has approved in an extraordinary session convened by DeSantis a migration project that ignores proposals made by the governor, who has replied that he plans to veto the initiative once it reaches his desk for signature.
The fight against irregular immigration has been one of DeSantis’ workhorses, especially when he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential elections, from which he withdrew before the advance of current President Trump.
Since then and to date, he has harshly criticized what he describes as an “open border policy”, in force during the mandate of former President Joe Biden (2021-2025).
Mexico’s Sheinbaum urges U.S. to target cartels on its own soil
Trump strips Biden of classified briefings: ‘Joe, you’re fired’
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