Unsealed documents made public just as jury is about to start deliberations in Joaquín Guzmán’s drug-trafficking case
Unsealed documents about the Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán contain claims by witnesses that he had sex with minors he called “vitamins”. The disturbing allegation comes just as a jury is about to start deliberating in the US drug-trafficking case.
Related: Betrayal, torture and a $100m bribe: what the El Chapo trial has revealed
Continue reading...Opposition supporters held a nationwide protest on Saturday in a bid to keep up the pressure on president Nicolás Maduro after the international community widely recognised self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president.
Continue reading...More than 230 remain missing after an avalanche of liquid mining waste swept through the countryside of Minas Gerais
Helicopters clattered overhead as teams of men and sniffer dogs picked their way across the few areas of red mud solid enough to walk on. Other recovery teams gathered around a digger as its shovel scooped up the sludge and drained it, again and again.
Related: Brazil dam collapse: bodies pulled from toxic mud as hope fades for survivors
Continue reading...Protests take place in cities across the country amid optimism from the opposition, as president speaks to rival march
Tens of thousands of Venezuelan protesters streamed on to the streets of the capital on Saturday for what they described as the final push to force Nicolás Maduro from power.
“I believe [the end] is coming very soon – this week,” said Barbara Angarita, 49, as she and thousands of other demonstrators poured down the Avenida Principal de las Mercedes in Caracas. “We must have a free country, free for all Venezuelans and for our descendants.”
Continue reading...At Hay Cartagena festival author questions role of social media in policing personal development
The writer Zadie Smith laid into identity politics in a headline session at the 14th Hay Cartagena festival, insisting that novelists had not only a right, but a duty to be free.
Asked how she felt about cultural appropriation, she told an audience of nearly 2,000 at the festival in Colombia on Friday: “If someone says to me: ‘A black girl would never say that,’ I’m saying: ‘How can you possibly know?’ The problem with that argument is it assumes the possibility of total knowledge of humans. The only thing that identifies people in their entirety is their name: I’m a Zadie.”
Continue reading...The whole world waded in after Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president, but the global tug-of-war is dangerous and unhelpful
All crises are global, all solutions are local – and Venezuela is the latest case in point. No sooner had the young pretender, Juan Guaidó, declared himself interim president last month, ostensibly supplanting the corrupt old revolutionary, Nicolás Maduro, than the world piled in. The Trump administration insisted all countries must “pick a side” and back the “forces of freedom”. Russia denounced a US-backed “coup”. China, Latin American neighbours, Britain and the EU all scrambled for position, in accordance with their particular interests and prejudices.
In the past week, this international tug-of-war over Venezuela’s future has grown increasingly dangerous – and unhelpful – as protesters and security forces face off on the streets and the political impasse deepens.
John Bolton, the US national security adviser, is threatening “serious consequences” (meaning military intervention) should Guaidó be harmed or opposition supporters attacked. Maduro warns that the US could face a second Vietnam.
Footage shows destructive torrent of mining waste, while ceremony pays homage to 110 victims
A week after the deadly collapse of a mining dam in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, dozens paid homage to the 110 victims killed and 238 who are still missing, while newly released video footage showed the moment that a powerful wave of waste began sweeping over everything in its path.
A ceremony was held at the site of the disaster around 1pm local time, the hour at which the dam breached on 25 January, unleashing a destructive torrent of reddish-brown mining waste.
Continue reading...A video aired on Brazilian media shows the exact moment a dam burst in Brazil on 25 January. The dam break at an iron ore mining complex operated by the minerals firm Vale killed at least 65 people. A further 279 are missing. Cars can be seen driving around desperately trying to escape as a dramatic gush of mud approaches. The surge buried buildings adjoining the dam and several parts of the nearby city of Brumadinho.
Continue reading...Venezuelans have been in a state of uncertainty since Juan Guaidó, the leader of the democratically elected national assembly, declared himself the interim president in a move against the current leader, Nicolás Maduro. How did this once prosperous country descend into chaos?
Continue reading...Street demonstrations designed to drive Maduro out of office will be held on Saturday as he insists ‘we are indestructible’
Mass street protests designed to drive Nicolás Maduro out of office and into exile will sweep cities across Venezuela again on Saturday as Hugo Chávez’s successor fights for his political life and the future of their leftist Bolivarian revolution.
Maduro, who was first elected after Chávez’s death in 2013 and returned to office last year in a vote widely regarded as manipulated, has overseen a ruinous slide in the South American country’s fortunes.
Continue reading...Nayib Bukele favoured to win Sunday’s vote, after running on a platform targeting corruption
“Corruption is the plague that infests our country,” said Omar Garcia, a 37-year-old janitor from El Salvador’s capital San Salvador, reflecting the primary concern of much of the electorate ahead of Sunday’s presidential election.
A series of corruption scandals have left Salvadorans fed up with leaders who have pillaged government coffers for their own benefit while the country struggles to address the widespread inequality, unemployment, and insecurity that has led to mass emigration.
Continue reading...Driver of semi-trailer truck that struck coach of young hockey players will be sentenced at the end of March
The victims and grieving relatives of a Canadian truck crash, in which 16 people died, will have to wait until March to learn the driver’s sentence.
Following an emotionally charged week of victim impact statements, the judge overseeing the case has asked for nearly two months to consider how to sentence the driver, Jaskirat Singh Sidhu. On 6 April last year, his semi-trailer truck collided with the bus of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team after he failed to stop at an intersection in central Saskatchewan.
Continue reading...‘Yes we can!’ echo supporters of self-declared incumbent leader who calls for Saturday protests
The politician spearheading efforts to force Nicolás Maduro from power has vowed to step up his “fight for freedom” amid reports Venezuelan special forces had visited his home in the capital Caracas.
Addressing a packed theatre at the city’s Central University of Venezuela on Thursday lunchtime, Juan Guaidó said the opposition was determined to end Venezuela’s “tragedy” and lead the country into a new era of stability and prosperity.
Continue reading...Largest drugs haul in Italy in 25 years comes after sting operation involving Colombia and Spain
Italian police have taken possession of more than two tonnes of cocaine in the largest drugs seizure in the country in 25 years, after a sting operation involving three other nations across two continents.
The drugs, discovered in 60 bags in a cargo container at the Port of Genoa, have a total value of €500m (£436m) and were found with the help of the British, Colombian and Spanish police.
Continue reading...Latest case comes after dozens of American embassy workers in Havana were affected, some suffering mild brain injury
Canada has announced it is removing up to half of the Canadians at its embassy in Cuba after another diplomat was found to have fallen mysteriously ill.
Canada has confirmed 14 cases of mysterious health problems since early 2017. Twenty-six American embassy workers in Cuba have also been affected, suffering a range of symptoms and diagnoses including mild traumatic brain injury, also known as concussion.
Continue reading...Monarch production will not be replicated next year, experts warn, as above average temperatures will cause problems
The population of monarch butterflies wintering in central Mexico is up 144% over last year, according to new research.
Related: 'It's a sad reality': a troubling trend sees a 97% decline in monarch butterflies
Continue reading...Embattled president warns Donald Trump he risks turning country into new Vietnam
Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has accused Donald Trump and a “group of extremists around him” of plotting to topple him in order to seize Venezuela’s oil, and warned he risked transforming the South American country into a new Vietnam.
In a four-minute Facebook video – published as Venezuela prepared on Wednesday for a day of fresh pro-opposition protests – Maduro said the leaders of the US “empire” were conspiring “to get their hands on our oil – just like they did in Iraq and in Libya”.
Continue reading...Extradition case in Canada drags on as Donald Trump prepares to meet Beijing’s top trade envoy in Washington
The chief financial officer of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, has made her first appearance in a Canadian court in more than a month, part of a high-stakes dispute that threatens to cast a pall over this week’s US-China trade talks.
Meng, the daughter of the Chinese telecoms company’s founder, attended the hearing in British Columbia supreme court on Tuesday, just two days before Donald Trump and Chinese vice premier Liu He are scheduled to meet in Washington.
Continue reading...Indictments packed with emails and transactions allegedly showing how technology giant carried out criminal conspiracies
The twin criminal indictments against Huawei unveiled by US authorities on Monday are packed with emails and financial transactions allegedly showing how the Chinese technology giant carried out criminal conspiracies.
But the finer points of the 23 charges are less important than the overall shot they deliver across China’s bows. The US considers Huawei to be an arm of the Chinese state – and their devices to be potential spying equipment for Beijing.
Continue reading...Prosecution case against accused Mexican drug lord had lasted 11 weeks
After a prosecution that spanned 11 weeks and had its share of bombshells, the defense case at the US trial of the alleged Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán clocked in on Tuesday at a mere 30 minutes.
Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman called one witness and entered one document into evidence before resting the defense’s case. The jury was sent home for the day with closing arguments set to begin on Wednesday.
Continue reading...