Latest news with #LaRazón
Miami Herald
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Venezuelan opposition figure describes brazen escape from embassy siege in Caracas
One of the five Venezuelan opposition activists who recently escaped after more than a year confined inside the Argentine Embassy in Caracas says their dramatic rescue underscores the crumbling state of the Nicolas Maduro regime's security forces. In an opinion piece published by the Venezuelan independent newspaper La Razón, former lawmaker Omar González Moreno recounted the covert mission that freed him and four others without a single shot being fired. He called it a 'colossal blow' to the Maduro government. The operation — code-named Guacamaya — was orchestrated by opposition leader María Corina Machado and her allies in exile and inside the country. It ended a 14-month standoff that had turned the embassy into both sanctuary and prison for the activists. González Moreno, along with Magallí Meda, Claudia Macero, Pedro Urruchurtu and Humberto Villalobos — all close allies of Machado — had sought refuge at the embassy in March 2024 amid growing political persecution. The residence, protected by Brazil after Argentine diplomats were expelled from Venezuela, had become a high-profile flashpoint in the country's deepening political crisis. 'There were no shots fired, there was no chaos,' González Moreno wrote. 'Just perfect synchronization, as if time itself had stopped to grant us a miracle.' Reflecting on his departure, he described an overwhelming sense of symbolism surrounding his experience. 'As I got into the first vehicle that would pull us from the bowels of oppression, I cast one last look at the embassy and imagined Maduro fleeing in one of his planes along clandestine routes to Russia,' he wrote. 'If we managed to escape from the second most guarded installation in Venezuela, what could prevent the rest of its structure from collapsing?' His account contradicts claims by the Maduro regime that the group's release was part of a negotiation between the Caracas socialist regime and Machado. 'Everyone more or less knows this was the result of a negotiation,' said Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello during his weekly TV show Con el Mazo Dando ('Hitting with the Club') 'Those claiming otherwise are just bitter they weren't in the loop.' After the rescue, opposition leaders confirmed the activists are now in the United States but have asked the media to respect their privacy as they recover and reunite with loved ones. Also now out of the country is María Parisca de Machado, the mother of María Corina Machado. She left Venezuela after enduring months under house arrest, along with repeated blackouts and utility cutoffs allegedly imposed by security forces. The opposition figures sought refuge at the Argentinian embassy as the regime kicked its repression of political opponents into high gear ahead of last July's contested presidential election, which nine out of ten Venezuelans and a number of countries believe was won by opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who had Machado's support. Repression intensified after the vote, which Maduro claimed he won despite evidence to the contrary. Since then, the regime has arrested hundreds of people, including political leaders, journalists and human rights activists, prompting reports from human-rights organization denouncing documented cases of extrajudicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary detentions, including children. Though he didn't provide many details about the escape itself, González Moreno described the embassy's transformation into what he called an 'impenetrable prison,' surrounded by elite units of Venezuela's intelligence agencies, the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service and the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence, feared organizations whose members have several accusations of committing crimes against humanity. He said snipers lurked in the shadows, drones patrolled the skies and guards with trained dogs evoked scenes reminiscent of Nazi concentration camps. 'Food was scarce, but more unbearable than hunger was the silence — broken only by the screams of agents, the growling of dogs, and the buzzing of their drones,' he wrote. 'They wanted fear to devour us, to make us abandon our struggle, to betray María Corina, Edmundo, and the people who cried out for us from the streets.' He described days without electricity, rationed water, and medicine shortages — all part of what he called a campaign of psychological torture. 'The embassy, meant to be a bastion of sovereignty, became a theater of despair. The days stretched into eternity,' González Moreno wrote. 'Without electricity, we lived by candlelight. Without water, we feared the day there'd be none left.'
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Child and 4 Others Rescued from Alligator-Infested Swamp Over 40 Hours After Plane Crash
Four adults and one child were found alive after surviving nearly 48 hours in a swamp in Bolivia A search and rescue operation had been launched to find possible survivors after a small plane was reported missing on Wednesday, April 30 The plane had crashed after having engine failure, according to reports Four adults and one child have been found alive after surviving nearly two days in alligator-infested waters following a plane crash in Bolivia. On Friday, May 2, the five people were rescued after the small plane was found by local fishermen in Bolivia's Amazonas region around 48 hours after the aircraft was reported missing, Bolivian news outlets La Razón and Red Uno and BBC News reported. The plane took off from Baures in northern Bolivia heading to the city of Trinidad at 12:00 noon local time on Wednesday, April 30. The pilot reported "technical problems" around an hour into the flight, "before all contact with the aircraft was lost," La Razón reported. A search and rescue operation was launched to find the missing passengers on Thursday, May 1. Among the survivors were three women, a child, and the 29-year-old pilot. They were found in 'excellent condition,' Wilson Avila, director of the Beni Department's emergency operations centre, told BBC News. Related: Pilot Rescued with Daughters After Spending Night on Crashed Wing Was Not Authorized to Have Passengers: Officials The passengers were found 'huddled together on the fuselage of the small plane" after surviving there for more than 40 hours, Red Uno stated on Instagram. In footage posted by the outlet, the survivors are seen being transported to helicopters on stretchers by emergency responders after being rescued. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The Ministry of Defense said in a statement, per La Razón, "On Friday, May 2, at 7:20 a.m., an Eco Charlie EC-145 helicopter took off from Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Equipped with a crane, tracking technology, and specialized equipment from the SAR-FAB (Bolivian Air Force Search and Rescue Service), this unit headed to the municipality of Baures. The search was reinforced in the area delimited by the previous flights." Aerial work and ground tracking helped to locate the missing aircraft. Pilot Andres Velarde said the plane crashed in an emergency landing after having engine failure, according to BBC News. He tried to land the aircraft near the Itanomas River, however, the plane lost altitude and he was forced to land in the swamp, the outlet reported. Related: Man and 2 Children Found Alive During 'Miracle' Rescue 12 Hours After Plane Crashes on Frozen Alaska Lake The five people remained on top of the plane where they were "surrounded by alligators that came within three meters of us,' Velarde told BBC News. "We couldn't drink water and we couldn't go anywhere else because of the alligators.' Velarde said he believes the alligators stayed away as petrol was leaking from the plane into the water, the outlet reported. Ruben Torres, director of the Beni Region Health Department, said, "I am really happy because in the end all the institutions joined together to be able to find the missing people and save those lives," per BBC News. Read the original article on People
Local Spain
01-05-2025
- Health
- Local Spain
Spain arrests couple suspected of confining kids to home for three years
The children - two eight-year-old twins and a 10-year-old - were not educated, "neglected" and lived "surrounded by rubbish", police in the northwestern Asturias region told a press conference. After a resident reported the home earlier this month, police said they discovered that more people lived there than the one man listed on the civil register, including children not attending school. A key clue was the large amount of shopping delivered to the home, which according to neighbours nobody left since it was leased in October 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic. "We were all affected by the Covid syndrome... we can in some way speculate on what may have led a family to be locked up like that for a long time," said police commissioner Francisco Javier Lozano García. The couple had stockpiled a large amount of medicine, police added. Local media reported the children were found wearing nappies and three surgical masks each, with the father asking police to put on a mask before they searched the house. "The fact that they were wearing masks may be anecdotal or may have a basis," said Lozano García. According to La Razón daily, the smell inside the house was revolting and all the blinds were shut. When the children left the property, they touched the grass "with fascination, as if they had never been outdoors before". A doctor treated the siblings, who were then transferred to a child care centre. Police arrested the couple in the city of Oviedo on Monday and an investigation will determine how and why they came to live in Spain.
Morocco World
02-04-2025
- Business
- Morocco World
Spain-Morocco Undersea Tunnel Carries Hefty €15 Billion Price Tag
Meknes – Morocco-Spain undersea tunnel, an ambitious project that is designed to link Morocco's city of Tangier to Spain's Algeciras through the Strait of Gibraltar, could cost up to €15 billion, Spanish newspaper La Razón recently reported. La Razón reports that the tunnel between Spain and Morocco represents more than just an engineering achievement — it's a significant player on the global geostrategic scene. The newspaper spoke of how the project will strengthen connections between Europe and Africa, facilitating trade, freight transport, and tourism while accelerating rail integration between the continents, despite Morocco's railway network not yet being fully electrified. Interest in the tunnel project surged after FIFA accepted the joint Morocco-Spain-Portugal bid to host the 2030 World Cup. However, the tunnel won't be ready in time for the tournament. The intercontinental connection aims to boost economic exchanges between the countries by speeding up the movement of both passengers and goods. Currently, ferry services handle transport across the strait. Read also: FIFA: Joint Morocco-Portugal-Spain Bid Exceeds World Cup Hosting Standards According to La Razón, the project will also promote economic development throughout the Strait of Gibraltar region, benefiting both southern Spain and northern Morocco. Engineers project the tunnel won't be completed before 2040, even if construction begins soon. The Herrenknecht Ibérica, a Spanish subsidiary of the German firm Herrenknecht, is overseeing the project and recently launched two technical studies to determine feasibility and finalize engineering details. This delay is reportedly due to some significant technical challenges, as a result of the tunnel's location at the boundary between the Eurasian and African tectonic plates along the Azores-Gibraltar fault line. This massive infrastructure project represents one of the most challenging engineering feats currently planned in the Mediterranean region. If completed, it would create the first fixed link between Africa and Europe, potentially transforming trade relations between the continents. Tags: Gibraltar StraitMorocco spainUndersea tunnel
The Independent
20-03-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Holiday hotspots in Spain to be battered by Storm Martinho's 70mph winds after deadly floods
Large parts of Spain are set to be hit by 70mph winds as the country is struck by the fourth named storm in less than two weeks. Storm Martinho is expected to bring more strong winds and heavy rain to much of the country, with widespread warnings from the nation's forecaster Aemet. It comes after two people lost their lives in flooding caused by Storm Laurence earlier this week. Dozens of roads across Spain have been closed due to storm damage, with trains and flights also cancelled according to local news reports. And it is not just the mainland that is affected; the Canary Islands government advised residents against unnecessary travel ahead of fierce winds forecast in the archipelago. The Canaries are under a yellow alert for powerful wind gusts of up to 43mph, less than a week after major flooding in Tenerife and Gran Canaria caused widespread damage. La Palma remains under a yellow alert for Thursday with gusty westerly winds. Storm Martinho will bring more bad weather to close out the week, following storms Jana, Konrad and Laurence. 'A day of instability is expected across the Iberian Peninsula due to the passage of a front associated with Storm Martinho,' the weather bureau said. Orange weather alerts have been issued for Asturias, Cantabria and Galicia primarily for strong winds across Thursday, with gusts of up to 68mph forecast for Asturias. In Galicia, on the west coast, winds of up to 54mph are forecast with strong gusts, and sea swells of up to seven metres. The bureau has also issued yellow weather warnings for large parts of the country for Thursday. Wind gusts of between 43mph and 55mph are expected particularly in the north west. In the south, Aemet forecasts Storm Martinho will bring heavy rainfalls from Thursday, with some regions in the south around Seville expected to get up to 40mm of rainfall in a day. Aemet said rain and thunderstorms will be 'locally heavy and persistent' in the west of Andalucía on Thursday and through to Friday. Dramatic footage of Storm Laurence shows cars being swept away in flood waters in Murcia with roads turned into rivers as the region was hit by torrential rain on Tuesday. Video from Telemadrid showed vehicles piling up in a river while murky water ran through the streets as bad weather continues to lash Spain, with Barcelona forecast to get up to 100mm of rain on Wednesday. In Águilas, nine people were rescued from vehicles according to local media reports after the storm hit the town on Tuesday morning. La Razón reported the coastal town got about 70 litres of rain per square metre in the space of an hour. The mayor of Águilas, María del Carmen Moreno called for calm, La Razón reported her saying, "Losing a car doesn't matter; losing a human life does', as emergency services responded to more than 70 incidents across the region. In Málaga, heavy rains and flooding forced hundreds of evacuations on Monday evening and dozens of rescues on Tuesday in particularly badly hit towns, El País reported, with rainfall of up to 100 litres per square metre recorded in parts of Andalusia. Separately, emergency services in Seville have found the bodies of a man and a woman whose vehicle had been swept away in flooding on Tuesday, El País reports. The body of a man was found underneath the vehicle on Wednesday morning, while the woman's body was found on Tuesday afternoon. The body of a 70-year-old cyclist was also found on a riverbank after he went missing on Monday in Añora, and El País reported investigators were working to determine whether he was also killed by the storm. A British family's overseas home in Alicante, near Murcia, was hit by a tornado last week, flinging debris across the property and causing extensive damage, the Daily Mail reported.
