Síntesis informativa - 2 de mayo 2019

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Julian Assange Appears in Court for U.S. Extradition Hearing

LONDON — Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, appeared in a British court on Thursday for an initial hearing on whether he will be extradited to the United States to face prosecution in connection with one of the most serious leaks of classified material in American history.

Mr. Assange, 47, made a brief appearance by video link in Westminster Magistrates Court in London from Belmarsh Prison in another part of the city. A day earlier, he had been sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for bail-jumping.

The hearing on Thursday lasted just a few minutes, in which Mr. Assange told the judge that he did not wish to surrender himself to be prosecuted in the United States for what he called “journalism that has won many awards,” according to The Associated Press. His next hearing, in what promises to be a long extradition fight, is scheduled for May 30.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/02/world/europe/julian-assange-us-extradition.html

With Maduro Still in Power, Questions About the U.S. Role in Venezuela

President Trump’s top advisers woke up Tuesday believing that a rebellion in the Venezuelan military that day would galvanize a popular uprising and topple a leader they have described as a reviled despot who must be replaced. But at day’s end, President Nicolás Maduro was still in power and Mr. Trump’s advisers were left to blame Cuba, Russia and three influential Venezuelan officials, who failed to switch sides, for frustrating their plans.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/01/us/politics/trump-venezuela-maduro-guaido.html

U.N. Adds Leader of Outlawed Pakistan Group to Sanctions List

In a major diplomatic win for India, the United Nations on Wednesday added the leader of an outlawed Pakistani militant group to its sanctions blacklist after the group claimed responsibility for a February suicide attack in disputed Kashmir that killed 40 Indian soldiers.

Sanctions against Masood Azhar were confirmed by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal at a news conference in Islamabad. Mr. Azhar’s inclusion on the Security Council’s Islamic State and Al Qaeda blacklist comes with a travel ban and a freeze on his assets.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/01/world/asia/un-pakistan-sanctions.html

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THE GUARDIAN

US begins extradition case against Julian Assange in London

Julian Assange has declined a chance to consent to his extradition to the US at a court hearing in London where the American government started pressing its case to take him across the Atlantic.

Appearing by videolink from Belmarsh prison, Assange said: “I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many, many awards and protected many, many people.”

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/02/us-begins-extradition-case-against-julian-assange-in-london

Fentanyl use could end the opium era in Mexico: 'the only crop that paid’

Mexico is the main source of heroin trafficked to the US, with some 75,000 acres of opium poppy production in 2017.

But drug use in the US has shifted: addicts have increasingly swapped heroin for fentanyl – an ultra-potent synthetic opioid often manufactured in China. As a result, the market price for opium in Mexico’s top poppy-growing state, Guerrero, has plummeted from $1,300 a kilo to $200.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/02/fentanyl-use-could-end-the-opium-era-in-mexico-the-only-crop-that-paid

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RUSSIA TODAY

India seeks ‘downgrading’ of Pakistan on international terrorism financing list – minister

New Delhi is set to ask the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international body designed to tackle money laundering and terrorism financing, to downgrade Islamabad on its list. The meeting of the commission is scheduled for mid-May. “We would want that the FATF for Pakistan should be downgraded,” India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, as cited by Reuters.

https://www.rt.com/news/458191-india-fatf-pakistan-downgrading/

Bolton mocks Maduro’s bunker-bound 'cowardice' on day he addresses crowds in Caracas

US national security adviser John Bolton has condemned Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for “hiding in a military bunker” even as the leader was actually addressing crowds of supporters in the street.

Maduro “hides in a military bunker somewhere, surrounded by his Cuban overseers and corrupt cronies,” Bolton sneered in a tweet, denouncing the Venezuelan leader as a “cowardly autocrat” while praising opposition frontman Juan Guaido as a “brave leader.”

https://www.rt.com/news/458160-bolton-mocks-bunker-maduro-speech/

‘Contrary to intl law’: Mogherini slams US ‘full activation’ of Cuba embargo law, vows counter steps

Full implementation of US embargo law on Cuba is illegal under international law, the EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said as she promised retaliatory measures amidst yet another row between Brussels and Washington.

The “full activation” of US embargo legislation against Cuba is “contrary to international law” and goes against the previous US-EU agreements, Mogherini said on Thursday, promising to apply “all appropriate measures” to defend European interests.

On May 2, the Trump administration did not renew the decades-old suspension of the Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, also known as Libertad Act, which regulates the embargo on foreign trade with Cuba. The provision allows US citizens to sue foreign companies profiting from properties which Cuba confiscated or nationalized after the 1959 revolution.

https://www.rt.com/news/458186-us-cuba-embargo-eu-unlawful/