Síntesis informativa - 12 de marzo 2019
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Jailed for War Crimes, Guatemalan Military Officials May Now Get Amnesty
In a reversal that seemed unimaginable just a few months ago, Guatemalan lawmakers are moving forward with a proposal to grant amnesty for war crimes committed during the country’s brutal 36-year civil war.
The bill, scheduled for a vote on Wednesday, would free more than 30 former army officers, soldiers and civil defense patrolmen within 24 hours and halt investigations into thousands of cases.
The amnesty has gained traction in Congress as part of a reaction against a broader fight against impunity and corruption, analysts said. What originally seemed like a push from the fringes of the far right seemed to gather force as President Jimmy Morales, battered by allegations of graft, turned to the military for support.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/world/americas/guatemala-military-amnesty-war-crimes.html
100 Days In, Mexico’s President Revels in High Ratings and Waves Off Recession Fear
MEXICO CITY — As a candidate, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico promised to remake Mexico, vowing to end corruption and impunity, attack inequality, pacify the country and disrupt a status quo that, he said, favored the few — the wealthy and powerful — and marginalized everyone else.
On Monday, in a confident speech marking his first 100 days in office, he insisted that transformation was firmly underway.
“We have already begun to write the prologue of the great work of national transformation,” he declared. “We will continue to build, among everyone, the beautiful utopia. We are going to continue walking toward that great ideal of living in a new, free, fair, democratic and fraternal homeland.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/11/world/americas/mexico-amlo-100-days.html
Taliban Wipe Out an Afghan Army Company While Talking Peace With the U.S.
HERAT, Afghanistan — Taliban fighters killed or captured an entire Afghan National Army company of more than 50 soldiers on Monday, Afghan officials said, the latest in a series of major attacks by the militant group even as it pursues a peace deal with the United States.
The attack, in which the Taliban were reported to have killed 16 soldiers and taken 40 prisoner, took place in northwestern Badghis Province, close to the country’s western border with Turkmenistan. It came as Taliban negotiators entered a third week of talks with American diplomats in the Persian Gulf kingdom of Qatar.
In the assault, a large force of Taliban insurgents surrounded a base in the Bala Murghab district. After four hours of fighting, the militants captured or killed all of the soldiers in their base, as well as others at two outposts nearby, according to Abdul Aziz Beg, head of the Badghis provincial council.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/11/world/asia/taliban-attack-afghanistan.html
Pompeo Accuses Cuba and Russia of Propping Up Venezuelan Ruler
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Cuba and Russia on Monday of propping up President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela in the Trump administration’s most explicit argument yet that his government is a dictatorial regime kept alive by two American adversaries.
Mr. Pompeo’s comments came amid a devastating power outage that has plunged many of Venezuela’s most populous areas into darkness, spoiling food in a nation where little is available.
He denied Mr. Maduro’s accusation that foreign powers — a clear reference to the United States — had any role in creating the blackout that has brought the country to the brink of social implosion. Instead, Mr. Pompeo said, the blame lies squarely with Havana and Moscow.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/11/us/politics/us-venezuela-pompeo.html
THE GUARDIAN
Resource extraction responsible for half world’s carbon emissions
Extraction industries are responsible for half of the world’s carbon emissions and more than 80% of biodiversity loss, according to the most comprehensive environmental tally undertaken of mining and farming.
The paper highlights growing inequalities. In rich countries, people consume an average of 9.8 tonnes of resources a year, the weight of two elephants. This is 13 times higher than low incomes groups. Much of this is unseen because huge amounts of materials are often needed for a small end product, such as a mobile phone.
Two ex-police officers arrested over murder of Brazilian politician
Two former police officers have been arrested over the murder of the Rio de Janeiro councillor Marielle Franco, two days before the first anniversary of her death, which prompted international outrage.
She had criticised police killings in the favelas where she grew up and took part in a 2008 state legislature inquiry into the paramilitary gangs that dominate large areas of Rio state. Known as militias, these groups often include police officers.
The suspects were identified as Ronnie Lessa, a retired military police officer, and Élcio Vieira de Queiroz, a former police officer.
Western powers using Christianity to 'subvert' China, says religious official
China’s constitution guarantees religious freedom, but since President Xi Jinping took office six years ago, the government has tightened restrictions on religions seen as a challenge to the authority of the ruling Communist party.
The government has cracked down on underground churches, both Protestant and Catholic, even as it seeks to improve relations with the Vatican.
In a speech on Monday, Xu Xiaohong, the head of the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China, said there were many problems with Christianity in the country, including “infiltration” from abroad and “private meeting places”.
AL JAZEERA
MPs to vote on May's Brexit deal with 'legally binding' changes
Parliament to judge prime minister's withdrawal agreement in second meaningful vote, having rejected previous plan.
Ylenia Gostoli.— May said on Monday evening that she had achieved the "legally-binding" changes to the backstop she had been seeking to quell the concerns of hardline Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) - the PM's ally in Northern Ireland.
They have argued that the backstop would tie the UK to EU's trade rules indefinitely and are opposed to Northern Ireland being treated differently from the rest of the UK.
The changes agreed on Monday came in the form of two documents.
The first is a "joint legally-binding instrument" that May said would allow the UK to complain to an independent arbitrator if the EU tries to "trap it" in the backstop.
The second is an addendum to the political declaration - the part of the deal that sets out the basis for the two parties' future relationship - in which the UK and the EU commit to finding alternative arrangements to the backstop by December 2020.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/mps-vote-brexit-deal-legally-binding-190312084209757.html
Demonstrators demand Bouteflika's immediate departure
Algerian president's move not to stand for fifth term fails to satisfy protesters as elections indefinitely postponed.
Djamila Ould Khettab.— Bouteflika - who has ruled Algeria for decades - has faced three weeks of mass protests against his planned fifth-term run. He relented on Monday by announcing he wouldn't be running again but said the presidential elections scheduled for April 18 will be postponed indefinitely.
According to Bouteflika's message, an inclusive and independent conference will oversee the transition of power, drafting new constitutional law and setting the date for new presidential elections. The conference, due to finish its work by the end of 2019, will submit a new constitution to voters in a referendum.
China official says West using Christianity to 'subvert' power
Beijing has tightened restrictions on religions it fears are a challenge to the power of the ruling Communist Party.
China's constitution guarantees religious freedom, but since President Xi Jinping took office six years ago, the government has tightened restrictions on religions seen as a challenge to the authority of the ruling Communist Party.
China has been following a policy it calls the "Sinicisation" of religion, trying to root out foreign influences and enforce obedience to the Communist Party.
RUSSIA TODAY
But where are all the wars? Dick Cheney tears into ‘isolationist’ Pence at neocon conclave
Former US Vice President Dick Cheney has attacked the Trump administration’s “isolationist” foreign policy, lecturing Mike Pence on not living up to his example as one of the primary architects of Middle Eastern destabilization.
“We’re getting into a situation where our friends and allies around the world that we depend upon are going to lack confidence in us,” Cheney said, seemingly unaware of the irony dripping from his words.
“I worry that the bottom line of that kind of an approach is we have an administration that looks a lot more like Barack Obama than Ronald Reagan,” he added, perhaps forgetting that Obama’s foreign policy largely consisted of continuing the wars that began under Cheney’s own watch – with a few more thrown in for good measure.
https://www.rt.com/usa/453583-dick-cheney-attacks-pence-isolationism/
US withdrawing all remaining diplomatic personnel from Venezuela – State Department
The US State Department announced it is withdrawing all remaining diplomatic personnel from Venezuela, citing the “deteriorating situation” and referring to the presence of US staff at the embassy as a “constraint on US policy.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the withdrawal on Monday. While most US staff stationed in Caracas had already been withdrawn in January following the US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido’s attempt to declare himself president, a select few remained in defiance of President Nicolas Maduro’s order to American diplomats to leave the country.
https://www.rt.com/news/453580-us-withdraw-diplomats-venezuela/
Russian PM to look into plans for construction of Chinese water-bottling factory at Lake Baikal
The proposed construction of a bottling plant on the shores of Lake Baikal will be reviewed following local concerns about the operators’ plans to export 190 million liters of water to China annually, the Russian PM has said.
Environmentalists and local residents expressed fears that exporting large volumes of water to China and its neighboring countries could drain or pollute the ultra-pure lake and irreparably damage its unique ecosystem.
“We shouldn’t create a situation that would jeopardize the ecological setting of Baikal,” Dmitry Medvedev told the media, adding that he has received a lot of messages on social media asking him to look into the issue.
https://www.rt.com/russia/453612-baikal-water-china-medvedev/
Russia shows off upgraded world’s most powerful rocket engine meant for Soyuz-5
A Russian rocket engine producer has offered a sneak peek of its latest creation, the RD-171MV, which is slated to be part of Russia’s next workhorse launch vehicle and, later, a super heavy-lift rocket.
The RD-170 family is the legacy of the Buran/Energia program, which remains the world’s most-powerful multi-combustion chambered rocket engine. Its producer, NPO Energomash, has adapted it to several launch vehicles over the years, from the two-chamber RD-180 variant for the US Atlas V rocket to the modified RD-171M for the Russian-Ukrainian Zenit-2 launches.
Last month the producer created the first engine meant for the future Soyuz-5 rocket, the RD-171-MV. On Tuesday, Energomash and Roscosmos presented a promo video of the new engine variant, confirming some of its characteristics.
https://www.rt.com/russia/453617-new-russian-rocket-engine/
AL MAYADEEN
Capturan a dos implicados en sabotaje al sistema eléctrico de Venezuela, anuncia Nicolás Maduro (+Video)
El presidente Nicolás Maduro, informó que fueron capturados dos individuos tratando de sabotear un sistema de comunicaciones en un intento por revertir el proceso de recuperación tras los graves y continuados sabotajes al sistema eléctrico de Venezuela.
Maduro afirmó que Venezuela quizá es el primer país del mundo que ha sido víctima de la tecnología estadounidense de ataque cibernético contra un sistema eléctrico.
Estadounidenses instan a regresar al acuerdo nuclear y levantar las sanciones
Más de 50 generales y diplomáticos estadounidenses retirados han pedido a la administración del presidente Donald Trump que regrese al acuerdo nuclear de 2015 con Irán, ahora que Teherán sigue cumpliendo con su parte del acuerdo.
Estadounidenses instan a regresar al acuerdo nuclear y levantar las sanciones Los socios europeos de Irán en el JCPOA han presentado recientemente un canal de pago directo que no es en dólares, conocido como INSTEX, con el objetivo de proteger a sus empresas contra las prohibiciones de los Estados Unidos y permitirles continuar el comercio con Irán.
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