#military-rulers

#military-rulers

The so-called troika of tyranny in Latin America, the dictatorships of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, was always a misleading oversimplification. Despite sharing some common elements due to their authoritarian resilience, 21st-century dictatorships were never a homogeneous bloc.

Out of 864 candidates for the 500-seat parliament, only 65, or 7.5%, are independents down from 8.5% in 2021. About 73.5 million registered voters are expected to take part in the elections, choosing both national and local representatives.

Official data reveals a significant discrepancy: while intelligence reports identified 58,270 gang members and collaborators at large, authorities have arrested 91,628 people, meaning over 33,000 were not previously listed as gang members.

On Feb. 25, 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; opposition leader Corazon Aquino the first woman to lead the country assumed the presidency.

The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation issued the decree late on Friday, citing the parties' failure to meet their legal obligations. Beyond stripping them of their legal status, the order froze their assets and banned the use of their names, logos and emblems, with a government-appointed curator assigned to oversee the transfer of their holdings.

The conviction last week of community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio has intensified concerns in the Philippines about how counterterrorism laws are being applied, particularly their impact on critical journalism and civic dissent. After nearly six years in detention awaiting trial, Cumpio was convicted on January 22 of financing terrorism and sentenced to 12 to 18 years in prison. She denies the charges.

Taking a taxi in Havana is an increasingly difficult mission, growing more complicated and expensive from one day to the next as drivers run out of the rationed gasoline they receive. When you say taxi, you might find an almendron—a classic car used for public transportation—a gacela—one of the government's yellow minibuses—a cocotaxi—a motorized tricycle with a shell—a bicitaxi—a man pedaling for tourists under an umbrella—a motorcycle, an electric tricycle, or even a horse-drawn carriage.

they won't sit with novices or enthusiastic tourists visiting Calle Ocho, the heart of the disapora in Miami, to admire the nostalgic murals of Cuban exile, but rather be able to play one-on-one with their own kind, those who know Little Havana, people who left Cuba and helped build a city on the swamp that was Miami, who spend long hours thinking about what a return would be like and who never stop talking about politics.

Sir Keir Starmer is only one of the middle power leaders trekking to Beijing to renew relations. No one has forgotten China's increasing international forcefulness, its handling of the pandemic and its closer relations with Russia as war engulfed Ukraine. But the wildness of Donald Trump's first year back in power is spurring Canada, France and others to hedge their bets. This, not whisky tariff cuts, is what the British prime minister sought.

Among the rebels who, on December 8, entered Damascus and put an end to almost 14 years of conflict and the Assad family regime one of the cruellest and longest-lasting in the Middle East was one who spoke Spanish with a slight Caribbean accent. Dr. Bachar Alkaderi, a graduate of the University of Medical Sciences of Havana, specializing in general and thoracic surgery, became, through the twists of fate and history, a revolutionary commander.

Guatemala's president has declared a state of emergency following a weekend eruption of violence during which gang members took dozens of hostages across three prisons and killed at least seven police officers in the capital in apparent retribution, after the authorities regained control of facilities where inmates had rioted. President Bernardo Arevalo issued a 30-day order on Sunday, which restricts civil liberties and allows security officers to arrest or question individuals

Any lingering doubts about the true motives behind the 2003 invasion of Iraq were dispelled when looters were ransacking Baghdad, carrying off millennia-old artifacts from the Iraqi capital's archaeological museum, while U.S. troops fortified the Ministry of Oilthe only government building left untouched and from which not a single document emerged. The disastrous and illegal invasion, spearheaded by the United States with military support from the United Kingdom