Venezuelan interim president proposes mass amnesty law

Venezuela’s acting president announced on Friday a push for mass amnesty in the country, in her latest major reform since the US toppling of Nicolas Maduro just weeks ago.Delcy Rodriguez, in a speech at the Venezuelan Supreme Court attended by top government officials, said she will propose a “general amnesty law covering the entire period of political violence from 1999 to the present.”Leftist revolutionary Hugo Chavez assumed the presidency in 1999, and was succeeded upon his death in 2013 by Maduro.”This law will serve to heal the wounds left by political confrontation, fueled by violence and extremism. It will allow us to put justice back on track in our country,” Rodriguez said, also announcing a “major national consultation for a new judicial system.”She also announced plans to close the notorious El Helicoide prison in Caracas, where rights groups say political prisoners were tortured by Maduro’s intelligence services.The massive facility, originally built as a shopping mall, will be turned into a “sports, cultural and commercial center for police families and neighboring communities,” Rodriguez said.Formerly Maduro’s vice president, Rodriguez, 56, has quickly moved in less than four weeks in power to overhaul Venezuelan society in ways sought by the United States, earning high praise from US President Donald Trump.Along with her brother, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, she has passed a new law opening up the country’s critical oil sector to private investments — a key demand of Trump.The move on Thursday was almost immediately followed by a rollback on US sanctions targeting Venezuela’s oil industry.The government also agreed on January 8, five days after Maduro was seized in a deadly US military operation, to free inmates considered political prisoners by rights groups.While the government claims more than 800 people have been freed since last year, NGOs have counted less than 400 since December — and under 300 in total since the January 8 announcement, according to the Foro Penal rights group.Opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate Maria Corina Machado said Friday that Rodriguez’s amnesty proposal came only after she was pushed by Washington.”This is not a voluntary gesture by the regime, but a response to pressure from the United States government. And I hope that the prisoners will soon be able to be with their families,” she posted on social media.- All US prisoners released -Families of dozens of detainees have anxiously waited for three weeks outside prisons for their release. US authorities on Friday announced that all Americans known to be held prisoner in Venezuela had been released. “We are pleased to confirm the release by the interim authorities of all known US citizens held in Venezuela,” the embassy in Caracas posted on social media. The announcement came hours after the release of Peruvian-American political prisoner Arturo Gallino Rullier. “He is already on his way to the USA,” Gonzalo Himiob of the Foro Penal NGO posted on X. Gallino was arrested last November on unspecified charges.For years, Venezuela has routinely arrested foreigners and domestic opposition actors on a range of charges from spying to plotting attacks. Foreign governments have long alleged the charges were trumped up and the arrests amounted to little more than hostage-taking.In a sign of Trump’s satisfaction with the new Venezuelan authorities, his administration lifted a ban on US flights to the South American country.And after years of the US embassy being shuttered, Washington is also preparing to re-establish its diplomatic presence in Caracas.Seasoned diplomat Laura Dogu was recently named US charge d’affaires for Venezuela — the highest level representative below an ambassador.Dogu is expected to arrive in Caracas on Saturday, diplomatic sources told AFP.

Canal du Panama: le Danois Maersk exploitera temporairement deux ports après l’annulation de la concession de CK Hutchison

Le Panama a annoncé vendredi que le géant danois du transport maritime Maersk exploitera temporairement deux ports du canal reliant l’Atlantique au Pacifique, après l’annulation la veille par la justice panaméenne de la concession accordée au groupe hongkongais CK Hutchison.La Cour suprême du Panama a invalidé la concession dont jouissait CK Hutchison pour exploiter deux ports situés aux deux extrémités du canal, celui de Cristobal, côté Atlantique, et de Balboa, côté Pacifique, provoquant une vive réaction de Pékin qui a promis de “protéger les droits et intérêts légitimes de ses entreprises”.Selon l’arrêt de 69 pages consulté parl’AFP, la concession a été déclarée “inconstitutionnelle” car elle avait “une inclination disproportionnée en faveur de l’entreprise” sans “aucune justification” et “au détriment des caisses de l’Etat”.Cette annonce a eu lieu alors que les États-Unis cherchent à limiter l’influence chinoise sur cette voie stratégique, exacerbant les tensions autour du canal de 80 kilomètres par lequel transite environ 5% du commerce maritime mondial.Les États-Unis et la Chine en sont les deux principaux utilisateurs. L’Autorité maritime du Panama a indiqué vendredi que le gouvernement panaméen “comptera, le moment venu, sur le soutien spécialisé d’APM Terminals (filiale de Maersk) en tant qu’administrateur temporaire” des ports de Balboa et Cristobal. Cette entreprise “est l’un des opérateurs maritimes les plus fiables au monde, ce qui en fait une option adéquate pour assumer cette responsabilité”, a ajouté l’autorité dans un communiqué.Le président panaméen José Raul Mulino avait auparavant évoqué des “discussions” avec Maersk pour “prendre temporairement en charge l’exploitation des deux terminaux”.Dans un premier temps, “il y aura une période de continuité avec l’opérateur actuel”, après quoi “débutera une période de transition, qui aboutira à une nouvelle concession à des conditions favorables à notre pays”, a-t-il expliqué.Le chef de l’Etat panaméen avait qualifié à plusieurs reprises de “contraires aux intérêts nationaux” les contrats en vertu desquels CK Hutchison exploitait les ports.Dans un communiqué, la filiale de Maersk a confirmé “sa disposition à assumer l’exploitation temporaire” afin de “prévenir tout risque” pour le commerce mondial.- Pression américaine -La Cour suprême a jugé jeudi “inconstitutionnelles” les lois en vertu desquelles le groupe hongkongais opère ces infrastructures.La nullité des contrats avait été demandée par la Cour des comptes panaméenne, qui avait déposé deux plaintes l’an dernier, estimant qu’ils présentaient des irrégularités.”La partie chinoise prendra toutes les mesures nécessaires pour défendre résolument les droits et intérêts légitimes des entreprises chinoises”, a réagi Guo Jiakun, porte-parole du ministère chinois des Affaires étrangères, lors d’un point presse régulier.Le gouvernement de Hong Kong a également répondu vendredi, affirmant dans un communiqué qu’il “désapprouve vivement et rejette fermement cette décision”. L’exécutif de la région administrative spéciale dit s’opposer “catégoriquement à ce que tout gouvernement étranger utilise des moyens coercitifs, répressifs ou autres pratiques déraisonnables dans les relations économiques et commerciales internationales”.Panama Ports Company (PPC), filiale de CK Hutchison, a dénoncé une décision qui “manque de fondement juridique et met en péril non seulement PPC et son contrat, mais aussi le bien-être et la stabilité de milliers de familles panaméennes qui dépendent directement ou indirectement de l’activité portuaire”.- Prudence des investisseurs -Fondé par le milliardaire Li Ka-shing, CK Hutchison est l’un des plus grands conglomérats de Hong Kong, présent notamment dans la finance, le commerce de détail, les infrastructures, les télécommunications et la logistique.Sa filiale PPC gère les ports de Cristobal et de Balboa depuis 1997. Elle avait obtenu une première concession de 25 ans, prolongée pour une durée équivalente en 2021.Construit par les Etats-Unis et inauguré en 1914, le canal est passé sous contrôle panaméen en 1999 dans le cadre de traités bilatéraux négociés sous la présidence du démocrate américain Jimmy Carter (1977-1981).A son retour à la Maison Blanche, Donald Trump a menacé à plusieurs reprises l’an dernier de reprendre le contrôle du canal, estimant qu’il se trouve sous l’influence de Pékin. Il a également exigé du Panama des conditions préférentielles pour son utilisation par les navires américains.En mars, CK Hutchison avait accepté de céder le contrôle des deux ports à un conglomérat mené par le fonds américain BlackRock, mais la transaction, que la Chine considère avec suspicion, n’a toujours pas été finalisée.Après l’annonce venue du Panama, l’action du conglomérat a perdu 4,6% en séance vendredi à la bourse de Hong Kong.Selon Kelvin Lam, économiste chez Pantheon Macroeconomics, “dorénavant, les pays étrangers vont être de plus en plus prudents lorsqu’il s’agira d’investir des capitaux dans des projets d’infrastructures stratégiques dans l’arrière-cour des États-Unis, en particulier pour les pays qui n’entretiennent pas de bonnes relations avec ces derniers”.

‘Standing up for freedom’: Minneapolis proud of peaceful ICE protests

Marchers braving arctic cold to join thousands of others appalled by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis lauded how peaceful the protests have remained despite fury over masked federal agents’ arrests and killings.”We learned so much from the Floyd protests. We had a bunch of cops that were rogues — white supremacists. They had warrior training. Now we have a wonderful police department and now I think people… know to speak up and to act peacefully,” said protester Mary, 67.The Midwest’s largest city, Minneapolis saw prolonged unrest after the 2020 murder by police of George Floyd, a Black man whose killing sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.At the protest Friday, police were barely visible as tens of thousands of people turned out under the banner of “National Shutdown,” with Minneapolis police telling AFP there were no arrests, and no reports of injuries or property damage.Ahead of the protest, President Donald Trump accused Alex Pretti, shot dead by federal officers in Minneapolis while helping women who had been pepper sprayed, of “abuse and anger” after video emerged of him in a heated exchange with agents.Mary, who declined to give a last name, said she was horrified by how federal officers including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have executed their push to round up undocumented migrants across Minnesota, a deployment that has seen officers shoot dead two US civilians.”They’re scooping up anybody. You know, there’s innocent people getting scooped up right and left, and it’s far more terrifying than when George Floyd was here. I think it’s important for our voices to be heard,” said Mary.There have been daily noisy protests at the Whipple federal building where ICE agents stage ahead of raids. On Friday morning, sheriffs deputies ran into a hostile crowd of activists and dragged away one of the demonstrators, AFP saw.- ‘Proud to be a Minnesotan’ -One gloved protester held up a widely shared image of a federal officer deployed to the city skidding on ice, captioned “baby’s first winter,” while another clutched a sign reading “gnomes in, Noem out” — a reference to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — at Friday’s protest.Sporting a giant papier mache head modeled on Noem, protester Connie described the official and Trump as “the criminals at large that are really causing so much trouble.”She said the peaceful demonstrations since the start of the sprawling immigration raids were a strength of the movement galvanizing against the raids.”We’re just trying to get them out of here. That’s all we want…They say, ‘Oh, you want all these criminals?’ Yeah, we’ll take them. You just get out of here. You’re the criminal. “We have 2,000, 3,000 ICE here — they’re the criminals.”She added that she was “100 percent” sure federal officers were seeking to provoke local people.”(ICE) are extremely aggressive, very intimidating. They’re out to cause trouble,” she said.Native Minnesotan protester Paul Chouinard said he thought Trump would “probably love for it to turn into something more so he could make an example — but that’s not what Minnesotans want.””You don’t fight force and guns with violence, you know? We’re gonna use our voices in the right way and make our opinions known to hopefully change this.”Nearby a child screamed “ICE out of Minnesota” into a bullhorn to huge cheers from the crowd, many of whom wore ski gear to brave the temperatures that hovered around 1F (-17C). There were protest actions and marches in cities across the United States including New York, Boston and Los Angeles.Protester Shushta Santhana, 24, whose parents emigrated to the United States 30 year ago, said “it’s really cool to see the community come together.”She pointed to “grassroots organizations pulling together to get groceries to people and protect (migrant) people when they’re leaving work and leaving the courts and all sorts of things.””We’ve done a good job here. I’m very proud to be a Minnesotan right now.”Retiree Lisa Schmid told AFP that Minneapolis would become known as “the city that stood up for freedom.”

Online foes Trump, Petro set for White House face-to-face

Colombia abruptly agreed to accept US deportation flights on Friday, an olive branch days before the countries’ dueling presidents meet face-to-face for the first time, at the White House.One is an alleged “racist” and “authoritarian,” the other a “low rated” “drug leader” who should “watch his ass.” After months of trading insults from their very active social media accounts, presidents Donald Trump and Gustavo Petro will hold an unlikely summit in Washington on Tuesday. Trump and Petro come from opposite ends of the political spectrum, and have sparred over everything from Israeli operations in Gaza to jailed migrants to Venezuela. Petro will have a US visa ban suspended for the visit — which comes after months of US sanctions, funding cuts and threats to bomb targets in Colombia. That the meeting is happening is a sign of improved relations, but in Bogota there is deep nervousness about what might happen. The Colombian leader is an ardent leftist, an ex-guerrilla and prone to long monologues laden with references to history and mythology. Trump rarely likes to share the spotlight and has admitted to having a short attention span. Diplomats joke darkly about Petro being “Zelenskyed” — receiving an Oval Office dressing down like the Ukrainian president. “Both Trump and Petro are volatile,” said Felipe Botero, a political expert at the University of the Andes. “The meeting could easily go off the rails.” – ‘It will work out’ – The meeting is likely to focus on drugs: Colombia is the world’s biggest producer of cocaine, and the United States by far its largest consumer. For decades, Colombia has been Washington’s closest partner in Latin America, with billions of dollars flowing to Bogota to boost the country’s military and intelligence services in the drug fight. But under Petro, coca production and cocaine exports have surged. Critics blame the end of eradication programs and his policy of negotiating with an alphabet soup of drug-running guerrillas, cartels and paramilitaries who still control swaths of the country. A January 7 phone call appears to have been a turning point between the two leaders. “I appreciated his call and tone,” Trump said after the call. “I am sure it will work out very well for Colombia and the USA.” Petro leaves office later this year, but for Colombia, the stakes are huge: hundreds of millions of dollars a year in military and other aid and the country’s most important trading relationship. Ahead of the meeting, Petro took steps to please Washington, announcing the resumption of migrant deportation flights to Colombia, the original trigger of the Petro–Trump conflict.There will be 20 flights, averaging “one a week,” according to Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio.Colombia will also restart glyphosate fumigation to destroy coca crops, a practice halted since 2015 and strongly opposed by Petro as a senator. The government says Petro also agreed with Trump to act jointly against the ELN — Colombia’s largest guerrilla group — near the Venezuela border, after failed peace talks. The visit comes before Colombia’s May elections, where left-wing candidate Ivan Cepeda leads polls to succeed Petro. Cepeda recently accused the United States of trying to “influence” the election. 

Trump expects Iran to seek deal to avoid US strikes

President Donald Trump predicted on Friday that Iran would seek to negotiate a deal rather than face American military action, despite Tehran warning that its arsenal of missiles would never be up for discussion.”I can say this, they do want to make a deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. Asked if he had given Iran a deadline to enter talks on its nuclear and missile programs, Trump said “yeah, I have,” but refused to say what it was.”We have a large armada, flotilla, call it whatever you want, heading toward Iran right now,” Trump said, referring to a US naval carrier group in waters off Iran.”Hopefully we’ll make a deal. If we do make a deal, that’s good. If we don’t make a deal, we’ll see what happens.”Trump cited what he said was Iran’s decision to halt the executions of protesters — after a crackdown in which rights groups say more than 6,000 people were killed — as evidence to show Tehran was ready to negotiate.- ‘Doing the right thing’ -Washington’s allies in the region are concerned that any US strike on Iran could cause instability and economic chaos.One senior Gulf official in touch with the Trump administration said that the United States was closely guarded on what it has planned.”We hope that whatever happens, it is going to lead to stability. That outcome could be reached by the Iranians doing the right thing, and we hope that happens,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.Meanwhile, the head of Iran’s top security body — secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani — met Tehran’s ally Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.No details of their talks emerged, but Moscow has offered to mediate between Washington and Tehran.Iran’s top diplomat said Friday that his country’s missile and defense capabilities would “never” be on the negotiating table.Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was “ready to begin negotiations if they take place on an equal footing.”But, he emphasized, “Iran’s defensive and missile capabilities will never be subject to negotiation,” adding there were no plans to meet with US officials on resuming talks.US news site Axios reported this week that Washington officials say any deal would have to include a cap on Iran’s arsenal of long-range missiles, the removal of enriched uranium from the country and a ban on independent enrichment. Serhan Afacan, director of IRAM, the Ankara-based Centre for Iranian Studies, told AFP that trying to link a nuclear deal with other issues would likely “be impossible.” “For now, the ballistic missile program remains a red line, as it sits at the core of Iran’s defense architecture,” he said. – ‘Reducing’ tensions -Iran has warned that it would respond instantly with missile strikes against US bases, ships and allies, notably Israel.”We are not limiting the geography of confrontation to the sea alone and have prepared ourselves for broader and more advanced scenarios,” the head of Iran’s Defence Council, Ali Shamkhani, said Friday, according to the Tasnim news agency.Speaking at a joint news conference in Istanbul with Araghchi, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Israel was pushing for the United States to attack Iran, and urged Washington to “not allow this to happen.”Iran has blamed the United States and Israel for the protests that erupted in late December over economic grievances and peaked on January 8 and 9, accusing the two countries of fueling a “terrorist operation” that turned peaceful demonstrations into “riots.”The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it has confirmed 6,563 people killed in the demonstrations, including 6,170 protesters and 124 children, as internet restrictions imposed on January 8 continue to hinder access to information inside the country. But rights groups warn the toll is likely far higher, with estimates in the tens of thousands. Iranian authorities give a toll of more than 3,000 deaths in the protests, but say the majority were members of security forces or bystanders killed by “rioters.” burs-sw/dc/bgs/abs/acb