Bolivian national football team held in Venezuela on dubious grounds

Euronews

11 hours ago

After their 2-0 defeat against Venezuela in the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, the Bolivian national team has faced a new setback: the Venezuelan authorities have prevented their flight from leaving Maturin airport, without offering clear explanations.
The Bolivian delegation, which claims it had all the necessary documentation and permits to return to its country, was forced to return to its hotel in the middle of the night after hours of waiting without authorisation to leave Venezuela.
The technical director of the Venezuelan team, Óscar Villegas, said that the situation took them by surprise, as they had previously asked a Bolivian government minister to coordinate with the Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro to facilitate their departure.
Harold Howard, in charge of security and logistics for the team, spoke of "sabotage" by the Venezuelan regime, explaining that they were informed of an alleged problem with "air traffic" as the reason for the hold-up, despite the fact that there were only two planes landing at the time.
The incident has generated outrage in the Bolivian sporting and political community, which has called on the national authorities to intervene and demand answers from the Venezuelan government.
The situation has also affected the planning of the Bolivian team, which was scheduled to leave for La Paz at around 5:00 (local time) and train that afternoon ahead of Tuesday's match with Chile in El Alto.
This episode adds to a series of obstacles and problems that, according to complaints, Maduro's regime has imposed on foreign delegations, displaying a lack of reliability and transparency in the treatment of visiting teams.
Israel says it has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage kidnapped into Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, as it continues its military offensive across the strip, killing at least 95 people in the past 24 hours, according to Gaza's health ministry.
The prime minister's office said Saturday that the body of Thai citizen Nattapong Pinta was returned to Israel in a special military operation.
Pinta was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and killed in captivity near the start of the war, said the government.
This comes two days after the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages were retrieved. Fifty-five hostages remain in Gaza, of whom Israel says more than half are dead.
The defence minister said on Saturday that Pinta's body was retrieved from the Rafah area. He had come to Israel from Thailand to work in agriculture.
The army said he was taken into Gaza by the Mujahideen Brigades, the small armed group that it said had also abducted and killed Shiri Bibas and her two small children. It's also the same group that took the two Israeli-American hostages, Judith Weinstein and Gad Haggai, whose bodies were retrieved by the army on Thursday.
Later on Saturday, the Israeli army announced that they believed to have found the body of Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, killed in Gaza last month.
The IDF also said that four of its soldiers were killed when a building collapsed following a booby trap in southern Gaza's Khan Younis on Friday.
Pinta's body was found based on information received from the hostage task force and military intelligence, the IDF explained.
A statement from the hostage forum, which supports the hostages, said it stands with Pinta's family and shares in their grief. It called on the country's decision makers to bring home the remaining hostages and give those who have died a proper burial.
Thais were the largest group of foreigners held captive by Hamas militants. Many of the Thai agricultural workers lived in compounds on the outskirts of southern Israeli kibbutzim and towns, and Hamas militants overran those places first. A total of 46 Thais have been killed during the conflict, according to Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Before Pinta's body was retrieved, three Thai hostages remained in captivity and two were confirmed dead. The fate of Pinta was uncertain until today, according to the hostage forum.
Four strikes hit the Muwasi area in southern Gaza between Rafah and Khan Younis. In northern Gaza, one strike hit an apartment, killing seven people including a mother and five children. Their bodies were taken to Shifa hospital.
Israel said Saturday that it's responding to Hamas' 'barbaric attacks' and is dismantling its capabilities. It said it follows international law and takes all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm.
Staff at Nasser hospital where six of the bodies were taken, said they were killed while on their way to get food assistance.
Israel's army said Saturday that despite prior warnings that the area is an active combat zone during night time hours, several suspects attempted to approach army troops operating in the Tel al-Sultan area overnight 'in a manner that posed a threat to the troops'. The army said the troops called to drive them away but as they continued advancing they fired warning shots. The army said it was aware of reports of casualties.
An army official who can't be named in line with military procedures, said the warning shots were fired approximately one kilometer from the aid distribution site.