Síntesis informativa del 26 de febrero de 2019
THE GUARDIAN
Venezuela: US increasingly isolated as allies warn against use of military force
The US vice-president, Mike Pence, has repeated a veiled threat of military intervention in Venezuela, but Washington appeared increasingly isolated in its willingness to contemplate using force to oust President Nicolás Maduro.
European powers and some of Donald Trump’s key Latin American allies – all of whom have recognised the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, as Venezuela’s legitimate leader – warned that they would oppose sending troops into the country. In Latin America, there is a painful and bloody history of US interventions, and the terrible fallout from the 2003 invasion of Iraq is another deterrent to the use of military force.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/25/venezuela-mike-pence-maduro-guaido
India launches airstrikes on Pakistan across Kashmir border
India has carried out aerial bombing over the disputed ceasefire line in Kashmir for the first time since it went to war with Pakistan in 1971, and claims to have hit a large militant training camp.
Pakistan, which was the first to announce the incursion of Indian fighter jets early on Tuesday morning, said the war planes made it up to four miles inside its territory before they were rebuffed, dropping their payloads without casualties or damage.
Pakistan’s foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, told a media briefing that Pakistan was planning its response. “This is an aggression against Pakistan and Pakistan will respond,” he said.
Kim Jong-un arrives in Hanoi for Vietnam summit with Donald Trump
Kim will meet the US president for a brief one-on-one conversation, followed by a social dinner, at which they will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.
Their meeting comes eight months after the historic summit in Singapore, the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader, which failed to produce concrete results on a path to denuclearisation.
There is no real expectation the second meeting will bring a final deal on ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons that threaten the US, but there are some hopes it could lead to a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is at last formally over.
Cuba overwhelmingly approves new constitution affirming ‘irrevocable’ socialism
Cubans have overwhelmingly ratified a new constitution that reaffirms that socialism on the island is “irrevocable” while also legalising modest economic reforms instituted over the last decade.
86.85% of those who voted answered “yes” to the question, “Do you ratify the new constitution of the Republic”. 9% of voters opposed ratification and 4.15% spoiled or left ballots blank. Turnout was 84.4%
But the state was met with a surprisingly forceful challenge from an unofficial campaign against the new constitution.
Evangelical churches concerned that the new constitution would create a pathway towards gay marriage hung banners reading “marriage: man + woman” from church walls, while religious activists daubed posters on lamp posts – a direct challenge to the state’s monopoly on public space.
The new constitution reaffirms the Communist Party as the only legitimate political party on the island, defines access to health and education as fundamental rights, and claims that humans can only “reach full dignity” through “socialism and communism”
The document also gives constitutional backing to cautious pro-market reforms carried out since 2011. Private property is recognised, the rights of multinationals investing with the state are strengthened, and the market is recognised as a fact of life.
Analysts estimate that one million Cubans now work in the private sector.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/25/cuba-approves-new-socialist-constitution
How many slaves are there today, and who are they?
Experts have calculated that roughly 13 million people were captured and sold as slaves between the 15th and 19th centuries; today, an estimated 40.3 million people – more than three times the figure during the transatlantic slave trade – are living in some form of modern slavery, according to the latest figures published by the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Walk Free Foundation.
Women and girls comprise 71% of all modern slavery victims. Children make up 25% and account for 10 million of all the slaves worldwide.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/feb/25/modern-slavery-trafficking-persons-one-in-200
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NEW YORK TIMES
Indian Jets Strike in Pakistan in Revenge for Kashmir Attack
NEW DELHI — Indian warplanes conducted airstrikes in Pakistan on Tuesday, Pakistani officials said, in an escalation of tensions between the nuclear-armed nations after a suicide bombing against Indian troops in the disputed Kashmir region this month.
It was the first time that Indian aircraft had crossed the Kashmir Line of Control to strike in decades. But it was unclear what, if anything, the attack jets hit on the Pakistani side, raising the possibility that India was making a calculated bet to assuage public anger but minimize the risk of a major Pakistani military response.
A spokesman for Pakistan's armed forces, Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, on Tuesday posted on Twitter four images of a forested area pockmarked with small craters and debris, which he said was the site of Indian airstrikes.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/world/asia/india-pakistan-kashmir-jets.html
Vietnam Summit Hosts Offer North Korea a Model: Cozy Up to the U.S.
HANOI, Vietnam — A country once at war with the United States cozies up to its former enemy. Market reforms galvanize its economy, even as the Communist Party remains firmly in control.
As Vietnamese officials play host to the summit meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea this week, they are offering up the hope that the North Koreans could somehow mirror Vietnam's trajectory — transforming from a closed society strangled by central planners to a bustling nation full of capitalist enterprise.
In preparation for the two-day meeting that starts on Wednesday, Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, has been festooned with North Korean and American flags, some of the stars and stripes fluttering upside down. Local restaurants are selling hamburgers garnished with kimchi, and one barber is offering free haircuts mimicking Mr. Kim's and Mr. Trump's signature styles
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/world/asia/trump-kim-vietnam-summit-north-korea-relations.html
2019 Is a Sensitive Year for China. Xi Is Nervous.
BEIJING — China's leader, Xi Jinping, abruptly summoned hundreds of officials to Beijing recently, forcing some to reschedule long-planned local assemblies. The meeting seemed orchestrated to convey anxious urgency. The Communist Party, Mr. Xi told the officials, faces major risks on all fronts and must batten down the hatches.
Whether dealing with foreign policy, trade, unemployment, or property prices, he declared, officials would be held responsible if they slipped up and let dangers spiral into real threats.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/world/asia/china-xi-warnings.html
Cubans Approve a Constitution, but Opponents Speak Out
MEXICO CITY — Cubans voted to approve a new constitution, the government announced Monday, but the growing boldness of those opposing its policies seemed to overshadow the modest legal changes that were on the ballot.
Nearly 87 percent of Cubans who cast ballots voted "yes" in Sunday's referendum, the National Electoral Commission said, according to Cuban media reports. But about 15 percent of voters stayed home, and those Cubans, along with the ones who voted "no," represented an unusual show of opposition in the one-party state.
While the final result presents no real challenge to the leadership of President Miguel Díaz-Canel and the continued control of the Cuban Communist Party, it reflects the growing confidence of diverse groups that have pushed back against official decisions in recent months and forced the government to negotiate.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/world/americas/cuba-constitution-vote-referendum.html
U.N. Court Tells Britain to End Control of Chagos Islands, Home to U.S. Air Base
PARIS — The United Nations' highest court on Monday told Britain that it should end its control "as rapidly as possible" over a remote colonial outpost in the Indian Ocean, best known for housing a strategic American air base on the island of Diego Garcia.
The judges of the International Court of Justice in The Hague voted 13 to 1 that Britain acted unlawfully in 1965 by detaching the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius, at the time a British colony, in order to pave the way for military installations to be leased to the United States.
The court heard testimony that negotiations between the United States and Britain about building a base began in 1964, a year before the Chagos Islands, which include Diego Garcia, were detached from Mauritius and made a new colony, named the British Indian Ocean Territory.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/world/asia/britain-mauritius-chagos-islands.html
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AL JAZEERA
India bombs targets inside Pakistan
India foreign secretary says jets hit Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Pakistan, but Islamabad denies casualties in air raids.
Asad Hashim
Indian fighter jets on Tuesday crossed into Pakistani territory, conducting what the foreign ministry in New Delhi termed a "non-military pre-emptive action" against armed group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), dramatically escalating tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours weeks after a suicide attack in the disputed Kashmir region.
"The fact that air power has been used for the first time against a terrorist target to my mind signalled to Pakistan that India is demonstrating resolve in terms of using military power, particularly air power," he said.
The air attacks on Tuesday appear to have taken place outside of Kashmir, at least 10km inside the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Syria's Assad visits Iran in rare trip abroad
President Bashar al-Assad meets Iran's Khamenei and Rouhani on first trip to country since start of Syrian civil war.
Tehran has given the Syrian government billions of dollars in aid since the conflict began and sent Iran-backed fighters to battle alongside his forces - assistance that has helped turn the tide in Assad's favour.
The visit to Iran comes a day before a trip by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Russia for talks expected to focus on Iran's role in Syria.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/syria-assad-visits-iran-rare-visit-190225184402114.html
UK opposition Labour Party moves to back second Brexit vote
Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn will push for second Brexit vote, party statement says.
Labour's statement on Monday said the party would put an amended plan for Brexit to the British parliament this week and also support a separate cross-party motion which seeks to rule out the possibility of the United Kingdom exiting the European Union without a withdrawal agreement.
The alternative Brexit strategy would include a "comprehensive customs union with a UK say", "close alignment" with the EU's single market, protection for Britain's role in the bloc's various agencies and a wide-reaching "security agreement", the party's statement added.
British Prime Minister Theresa May's ruling Conservative Party, meanwhile, accused Corbyn of wanting to "betray the will of the British people and ignore the biggest democratic vote in our nation's history".
Labour's announcement came after May postponed on Sunday an expected "meaningful vote" on her widely maligned Brexit plan, which had been expected to be held this week.
Sudan's Bashir bans protests, regulates foreign currency trade
In a series of emergency decrees, embattled president also outlaws trading or hoarding subsidised fuel products.
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir banned public gatherings and protests in a series of emergency decrees issued on Monday as he faces the most sustained anti-government street unrest of his 30-year rule.
In a statement issued by the presidential palace, Bashir also announced a ban on trading or hoarding subsidised fuel products, as well as new regulations on trading and transporting foreign currency and gold.
Protest organisers, an umbrella group called Alliance for Freedom and Change, called for Monday's "rally to challenge the emergency".
Protests first erupted in the town of Atbara on December 19 last year against a government decision to triple the price of bread.
Sudan's financial woes have worsened amid a lack of foreign currency since South Sudan became independent in 2011, taking with it the bulk of oil earnings.
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AL MAYADEEN
EE.UU. impone otra vez tema venezolano en Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU
A inicios de este mes, se conoció que la representación estadounidense en ONU preparaba un proyecto de resolución en el Consejo de Seguridad para intentar legalizar una agresión militar contra Venezuela, bajo pretextos de intervención humanitaria.
Si se aprueba, esto implicaría el desconocimiento al gobierno de Nicolás Maduro, pese a que el mandatario se impuso de manera categórica en los comicios de mayo pasado.
Además del proyecto de resolución de Estados Unidos, Rusia elabora un texto rival, que reitera la necesidad de respetar principios de la Carta de la ONU como la igualdad soberana, la no intervención en los asuntos internos y la solución pacífica de controversias.
Yemen: Neutralizan intento de avance de las fuerzas de Hadi en Najran
El Ejército y los Comités Populares frustraron un intento de avance de las fuerzas de Hadi, respaldado por intensos ataques aéreos de las fuerzas de la coalición saudita, hacia la zona fronteriza del monte de al-Shabakah en Najaran, donde decenas de efectivos fueron eliminados o heridos, según informó una fuente militar yemenita.
Por otro lado, el Ejército y los Comités Populares liberaron dos ataques contra posiciones de las fuerzas de Hadi en el desierto fronterizo de al-Ajajr, frente a Najran.
