Miguel Henrique Otero, president and director of Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional, said that the current situation regarding freedom of speech in Venezuela not only affects national and local media and journalists, but also foreign correspondents. During the 75th General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) in Miami on [ … ]
Transnational Threats
The Dangers Of Beef Exports For The Bolivian Amazon
On August 28, Bolivia shipped 96 tons of beef to China, its first shipment to the Asian country. Bolivian President Evo Morales, Chinese officials, and representatives of Bolivian livestock companies celebrated the event as the start of a promising business relationship. The inauguration was held amidst a national crisis, while [ … ]
Trump: Maduro Is “A Puppet,” And Cuba Takes Advantage To Maintain Its Regime
U.S. President Donald Trump said on September 24 that Venezuela’s disputed president is “a Cuban puppet,” adding that the Caribbean government only takes advantage of Venezuelan oil wealth to stay in power. Before world leaders, who heard his speech at the 74th United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly in New York, [ … ]
Chinese Companies To Exploit Bolivian Lithium
In late September, the Bolivian government, through its state-owned company Yacimientos de Litio, partnered with the Chinese company Xinjiang TBEA Group Baocheng to set up new lithium carbonate processing plants, now in the salt flats of Pastos Grandes and Coipasa, in Potosí and Oruro departments, with a $2.4 billion investment. [ … ]
Human Rights Watch Reports Extrajudicial Killings in Underprivileged Areas of Venezuela
The nongovernmental organization (NGO) Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported extrajudicial killings and arbitrary detentions committed by the Venezuelan Police’s Special Action Forces (FAES, in Spanish) in underprivileged areas that have withdrawn their support for the Nicolás Maduro government. “Amidst an economic and humanitarian crisis that most seriously affects those who [ … ]
Honduran and Nicaraguan Armies Neutralize Criminals At Border
The 12th edition of Operation Morazán-Sandino, conducted by Honduras and Nicaragua along their common border in mid-2019, resulted in more than 70 criminals arrested, 12,000 marijuana plants destroyed, a narco-lab dismantled, and $130,000 seized. The operation, led by both countries’ armed forces, aims to neutralize transnational crime linked to drug, [ … ]
Al-Baghdadi Profile
For Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the high point of his life may have come in 2014, when he stood in a flowing black robe before worshippers in a mosque in Mosul, the northern Iraqi city the Islamic State had captured, and declared that he was the caliph, the political and religious [ … ]
US Military Acted Quickly On Intel To Capture Or Kill Baghdadi
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Vice President Mike Pence said late-breaking intelligence gave special forces the opening they needed to carry out the attack on Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi after U.S. President Trump approved the raid. Pence told CBS News that by October 24, the U.S. had [ … ]
Pompeo: We’re Going To Do “All That It Takes” So That The People Of Venezuela Get Democracy Back
During a meeting with the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., organization President David Rubenstein asked the secretary if the United States is willing to send troops to prevent further violence from occurring. “The president has said pretty clearly: we’re going to do all that it takes to make sure the [ … ]
China Targets Christian Weddings and Funerals
In early 2019, Chinese authorities have broken up Christian funerals and weddings in Henan province, says Bitter Winter, an online magazine that documents human rights abuses in China. Worshipers are threatened with jail and investigation. Some are arrested. The U.S. Department of State has designated China as a “Country of Particular [ … ]
As Iranians Suffer, The Regime Funds Terror
In 2018, The Iranian government spent $6.4 billion on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–Quds Forces (IRGC-QF), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization that supports Hezbollah, Hamas, and other foreign terror groups, and also plots attacks in Europe. Iran’s economy shrank nearly 5 percent between March 2018 and March 2019, while inflation jumped from 23 [ … ]
NGO Denounces Venezuelan Supreme Court Before Inter-American Commission On Human Rights
On September 25, Laura Louza, director of the Venezuelan nongovernmental organization (NGO) Acceso a la Justicia (Access to Justice), denounced the Venezuelan Supreme Court to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for ordering at least 105 sentences against lawmakers of the National Assembly for non-existent crimes. Louza said that [ … ]