Argentine lawmaker Marcela Pagano filed a criminal complaint against officials of the Milei administration to investigate how Brazilian senator Flavio Bolsonaro crossed into Argentina and departed for United States despite a judicial ban on leaving Brazil.
The complaint was presented before the Federal Court in Puerto Iguazu, in Misiones province. It seeks to establish the circumstances of Bolsonaro’s entry into Argentina and his later departure toward United States.
The far-right senator, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, lost the presidential run-off to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday. He faces criminal cases in Brazil for corruption and money laundering, and Supreme Federal Court justice Alexandre de Moraes had prohibited him from leaving the country.
Pagano framed the matter in stark terms. “The justice system has to establish who organized Bolsonaro’s passage through our territory toward U.S. and whether Argentine officials facilitated it. A government cannot become the escape route for someone who is barred from leaving his country by court order”, she said.
The reconstruction presented to the court traces the route in detail. The Brazilian Senator crossed the international border between Foz do Iguazu and Puerto Iguazu through the Tancredo Neves crossing at 10.50 P.M. local time on Tuesday.
Forty minutes after entering Argentine soil, Flávvio Bolsonaro and his family boarded a private Gulfstream G400 jet at Iguazu International Airport. The aircraft belongs to the firm Baires Fly and had been positioned there since Monday.
🇧🇷 "I address the Brazilian people and the international community as the true elected president of Brazil."
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who lost Sunday's presidential runoff to incumbent Lula da Silva by about 4.4 million votes, is claiming the presidency in a statement released… pic.twitter.com/oTTodsaOcU
The jet traced a path through the airspace of Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru. It made a technical stop in Guayaquil, Ecuador, before landing Wednesday in Miami, avoiding Brazilian airspace at every stage.
Pagano detailed that Flávio Bolsonaro reached the air terminal under escort from an Airport Security Police patrol car. That force answers to the Security Ministry, which falls under the federal Executive.
The National Directorate of Migration initially denied on Tuesday that the conservative leader was present or had any flight plans. Yet the government of Javier Milei officially acknowledged his passage at 2.00 A.M. Wednesday, when the aircraft was already airborne.
The complaint demands clarification of another element, the presence in Misiones of Santiago Caputo, political strategist and chief advisor to the Argentine presidency. Caputo reportedly arrived in the province earlier in the week aboard the same private plane.
La Dirección Nacional de Migraciones informa que a las 22:50 hs del dia 27/10, ingresaron por el paso fronterizo de Puente internacional Tancredo Neves en la provincia de Misiones, los ciudadanos Flavio Nantes Bolsonaro, Fernanda Antunes Figueira Bolsonaro, Carolina Figueira…
Text reads: “The National Directorate of Migration reports that at 10:50 P.M. on October 27, entered through the border crossing of Tancredo Neves International Bridge in the province of Misiones, citizens Flávio Nantes Bolsonaro, Fernanda Antunes Figueira Bolsonaro, Carolina Figueira Bolsonaro and Luiza Figueira Bolsonaro, who did so with skilled travel documentation without any legal impediment to entry into the country, also the transits were registered by the enforcement authority without incidents. For its part, at 11:30 P.M., the incoming party boarded a private flight dispatched by the company Baires Fly S.A to the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador, as reported in the flight plan.”
The written filing asks the court to investigate alleged crimes of illegal trafficking of persons, facilitation of illegal stay, abuse of authority, violation of public official’s duties, and cover-up. It requests urgent evidence measures including camera footage from the border bridge, aeronautical records, and the Airport Security Police duty logs.
The political fallout reached the legislature quickly. Argentine Congressman and former Defense Minister Agustin Rossi formalized a request to summon the Chief of Cabinet, Diego Santilli, to answer before Parliament.
The sequence raises the question at the heart of the complaint. A senator barred from leaving his country crossed a border, boarded a private jet, and flew to Miami without touching Brazilian airspace, all with a police escort on Argentine soil.
The government first denied any knowledge. It then confirmed the passage hours later, after the plane was gone. That gap between denial and confirmation sits at the center of the criminal filing.
The denunciation now forces the federal justice system to determine whether officials in the Milei administration facilitated a fugitive’s exit. The demand in Congress puts the same question to the Cabinet’s Chief.
U.S. federal judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, who presided over the criminal case against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, died Wednesday at the age of 92, and his pending cases will pass to another judge.
Alvin K. Hellerstein died Wednesday at 92 of natural causes after nearly three decades presiding over high-profile matters. He had led the penal process against President Maduro and Cilia Flores since the two were kidnapped on January 3 during a U.S. military incursion into Venezuelan territory.
Ed Friedland, administrative director of the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York, confirmed the death.
Hellerstein held the role for nearly three decades. He was appointed in 1998 by then U.S President Bill Clinton to the Southern District of New York, considered one of the most significant federal tribunals in United States.
BDE: Longtime Manhattan federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein, an Orthodox Jew appointed by President Clinton in 1998, has died at 92, according to a court spokesperson. He was overseeing the prosecution of deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. pic.twitter.com/w0nHyrcwc2
The federal case against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has a new judge. Analisa Torres will preside over the Southern District of New York proceedings after the death of Alvin K. Hellerstein, court records confirmed Wednesday.
The tribunal posted a document covering the reassignment of matters “previously assigned to judges no longer serving due to retirement or death.” The notice names Torres as the magistrate now handling the file.
The court’s standard procedure produced the transition. A docket left by a deceased judge passes to a colleague, assigned without public choice. The reassignment document makes no special provision for the President Maduro file, treating it like every other pending matter.
Analisa Torres was born in New York in 1959. She reached the federal bench in 2013 by appointment of President Barack Obama, and she has since presided over a wide range of civil, criminal, and regulatory matters.
Her path runs deep in the law. Descended from a family of Puerto Rican judges, she graduated with honors from Harvard, earned her doctorate at Columbia Law School, and worked in private firms before entering the courts. Before her federal appointment she sat for almost a decade on the New York State Supreme Court. Earlier she served on the city’s civil and criminal benches.
The trial against the Venezuelan President and his wife remains set for June 14, 2027. The judge’s death did not alter that date, and the schedule already fixed by the court holds.
On October 15, President Maduro and Flores appeared at a judicial hearing in New York after prosecutors tightened the accusations against them. The two listened to the arguments and pleaded “not guilty” to the new charges of alleged conspiracy to commit torture brought by the U.S. Attorney’s office.
That same day Hellerstein accepted a request presented by both the prosecution and the defense to postpone the start of the trial by two weeks. The extra time allows both sides to present pretrial motions.
The next hearing was programmed for December 17. On that date the defense will argue its motions to dismiss the case. The outcome of those arguments could reshape the proceeding before it reaches a jury. President Maduro’s lawyers affirmed that sovereign immunity shields the President from prosecution in a foreign court.
Hellerstein’s career extended far beyond this single file. Over nearly three decades on the federal bench he supervised a wide variety of matters, including the litigation tied to the September 11 attacks.
That new judge will inherit the pretrial motions, the pending defense requests, and the responsibility of presiding over a trial that involves a sitting head of State and his spouse.
Venezuelan authorities have characterized the detention of President Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores as a kidnapping carried out during a military incursion into sovereign territory. The December 17 hearing stands as the next concrete step in a process scheduled to stretch into mid 2027.
Acting President Delcy Rodriguez demanded Wednesday that the Bank of England return Venezuela’s gold, calling the metal a Central Bank reserve that belongs to the Venezuelan people and declaring that no excuse remains.
Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez delivered the demand during a working meeting with the Council of Ministers and regional authorities held at Miraflores Palace. She insisted the gold constitutes a reserve of the Central Bank and belongs to the nation.
Rodriguez recalled that the National Assembly, including the 2015 legislature, had produced an agreement in which political sectors of Venezuela called for the gold’s return, framing the demand as a settled matter of national will.
The Acting President added that an irrational legal action that opposition figures had attempted was dropped by those same actors. That withdrawal, she argued, removed any remaining justification for the Bank of England to hold the metal.
“There is no excuse. That is the only thing I have to tell the Bank of England. They must return Venezuela’s gold, which belongs to Venezuelan men and women”, she stated.
The language was direct. Rodriguez offered no room for negotiation, framing the gold as a sovereign asset held outside the country against the will of Venezuelan institutions.
#28Oct | La presidenta encargada de Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, solicitó a la Cancillería de la República y a la Procuraduría General que inicien las gestiones correspondientes para recuperar el oro venezolano que se encuentra en el Banco de Inglaterra.
Text reads: “The Acting President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the Attorney General to initiate the appropriate steps to recover the Venezuelan gold that is at the Bank of England. “I will not stop demanding the Bank of England to return our gold. Enough excuses. There was an agreement”, said Rodriguez, referring to the agreement to recover international reserve assets reached last August during the first cycle of dialogue between the delegations of the elected National Assembly in 2015 and the government (…)”
Mining Push Grows
The same working session included a live link with Mining Minister Hector Silva from the Choco plant in Bolivar state. Silva confirmed the arrival of 41 surface machines, part of a total of 544 pieces of equipment purchased by the state.
Those machines are meant to boost gold and coal production. The government tied the mining drive to strengthening the country’s reserves and generating income for social projects, health care, and worker welfare.
The equipment delivery anchors the government’s broader argument. Venezuela insists it does not need foreign permission to manage its resources, whether gold underground or gold stored abroad.
The Bolivarian government also pledged a productive revival across the country to energize the engines of the economy and support organized local development. The gold demand sits at the center of that agenda. Every program announced, from ham production to health brigades, depends on revenue the government says its reserves should generate.
Venezuela has long argued that the Bank of England’s refusal to release the gold violates its sovereignty. Acting President Rodriguez renewed that claim in the sharpest terms, insisting the metal funds the welfare of a people, not the accounts of a foreign institution.
No response from the Bank of England appears in the official record. The demand now stands public, delivered from the presidential palace and addressed directly to London.
The Spain’s government has declared three days of national mourning, from October 29 to 31, for the 64 people killed in the collision of two passenger trains on October 28 in the province of Toledo.
The Spanish government declared three days of national mourning, to be observed on October 29, 30 and 31, 2026. The order requires flags to fly at half-staff on public buildings and military installations across the country during the three days.
Pedro Sánchez announced the measure in memory of those who died in the rail collision in the province of Toledo, in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha.
The impact occurred at 8:54 A.M. local time near the municipality of Urda. A high-speed AVE train, operated by state-owned Renfe, hit the rear of a train operated by the private company Iryo, which was stopped on the tracks. The collision derailed the last two cars of the Iryo train and sent several units down a ravine.
Following a deadly train crash near Toledo, Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez declares 3 days of national mourning and demands strict safety measures: "It is unacceptable for Spain to suffer two high-speed rail accidents in the same year." pic.twitter.com/IeiKNHndtf
The crash involved two operators that share Spain’s high-speed network. Renfe, which is state-owned, runs the AVE, while Iryo, which is privately owned, operates the train that was struck from behind. Both companies carry passengers on high-speed corridors.
65 people died in the crash, according to the President of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page. There were 544 passengers aboard the two trains at the time of the impact: 397 on the AVE and 147 on the Iryo, including a baby.
The rescue operation involved 100 members of the Military Emergencies Unit. The Civil Guard’s Major Disasters Team also took part. The search for bodies continues, meanwhile the injured remain in hospitals.
Official activity was suspended in the central government and in regional administrations while emergency teams continue their work at the crash site.
Sánchez traveled to Toledo to assess the response at the scene. King Felipe VI set aside his official engagements after speaking with the prime minister about what had happened. Both cleared their public schedules.
For her part, Health Minister Mónica García suspended her scheduled activities and merged state medical resources with the regional administrations of Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha to assist victims of the disaster in Urda. The order pulled national capacity and local response into a single coordinated operation.
Signaling and safety failures on the high-speed network are the focus of the technical investigation. Transport Minister Óscar Puente went to Atocha station in Madrid to review those systems. He also examined the factors surrounding the collision between the two trains.
‼️Accidente tren
🚨 La Guardia Civil ha desplegado en la zona personal de Seguridad Ciudadana de la provincia de Toledo, OMAC (Oficinas Móviles de Atención a la Ciudadanía) así como agentes del SEPRONA y de la Jefatura de Tráfico.
Text reads: “The Civil Guard has deployed personnel from the Citizen Security area of the province of Toledo, OMAC (Mobile Offices for Citizenship) as well as agents from SEPRONA and the Traffic Headquarters.”
The January Precedent
The Urda disaster follows a wreck that Spanish investigators still struggle to explain. In January 2026, on the Madrid-Andalucía route near Adamuz in Córdoba province, an Iryo train departing the capital derailed and struck another unit serving the Huelva-Madrid corridor.
That collision produced no immediate answers and the track had been renovated shortly before. The first train cleared its technical inspection only four days earlier, moving between 200 and 210 kilometers per hour. Minister Óscar Puente described the crash as a highly unusual event.
The consequences spread fast. Rail service toward the south of the country stopped temporarily while experts examined the wreckage. Atocha station, Madrid’s main rail terminal, absorbed massive cancellations as passengers rebooked or abandoned their journeys.
Months later, the cause remains open. Renovated track, a freshly inspected train, and routine high speed, none of it explained the collision. That unresolved record shaped the public mood when the news from Urda arrived.
Two railway disasters within a single year have now tested Spain’s emergency systems twice. January demanded a forensic response, an effort to understand an accident that defied easy explanation. Urda has demanded a medical one.
Spanish authorities have not yet released a complete account of the Urda disaster. Investigators will face the same task that followed Adamuz, determining what failed and why. The January wreck left a toll of 39 dead and more than 100 wounded, and the questions it raised remain unresolved as the country confronts a second emergency on the same network.
The national mourning decreed by the government will last until October 31. Technical teams will determine the causes of the crash and the condition of the signaling systems on that stretch of the network, as well the recovery of the hospitalized injured completes the authorities’ immediate agenda.
The Brazil’s government warned that false social media posts claimed the 6×1 workweek law had been changed and that social programs such as Bolsa Familia faced cuts, and it urged citizens to consult official sources.
The Secretariat of Social Communication (Secom), denied that any change had been made to the constitutional amendment that ends the 6×1 workweek.
The posts, which spread after the presidential run-off, offered incorrect information about labor legislation and social benefits.
Constitutional Amendment 141 guarantees two paid rest days each week without any reduction in salary. The way those free days are organized can be settled through collective bargaining, as long as the constitutional conditions are respected. The Secretariat of Social Communication stressed that the norm remains in force and untouched.
The false claims included an alleged exclusion of certain professional categories from the new rules. No such proposal exists. The Secretariat of Social Communication explained that conversations with different sectors concern only how to implement rules that have already been approved.
The reduction of the workweek will unfold gradually. The initial limit will be 42 hours a week, and later 40 hours, with no salary reduction at any stage.
The government offered a blunt explanation of why the Executive holds no power over the text. Since the measure is a constitutional amendment approved by the National Congress, the Executive cannot modify or veto it.
O Governo do Brasil alerta para informações falsas que circulam nas redes sociais neste período pós-eleitoral sobre um suposto recuo no fim da escala 6×1 e cortes no Bolsa Família e no Gás do Povo. pic.twitter.com/SIR0but5Vl
Text reads: “The Government of Brazil warns about false information circulating on social media in this post-election period about a supposed retreat at the end of the 6×1 scale and cuts to Bolsa Família and Gás do Povo.“
Welfare Programs Intact
Separate rumors suggested that the Bolsa Família program faced suspension or reduced benefits. The Secretariat of Social Communication confirmed that the program keeps operating normally, with payments continuing and no cuts applied.
In October the minimum amount per family rose by 15.04%, from R$600 (about 112 U.S. dollars) to R$691 (around 129 U.S. dollars). That adjustment contradicted the online claims, since a program facing cuts does not raise its floor. Families can verify their information through the Bolsa Familia app, the Caixa Tem platform, or by calling 111, the direct line of the Caixa Economica Federal bank.
The government also rejected rumors about Gas do Povo, the program that provides free refills of 13-kilogram gas cylinders to families that meet the requirements. The Secretariat of Social Communication (Secom) affirmed that the initiative already has budget assigned for 2026 and that resources appear in the 2027 budget proposal sent to Congress.
The pattern was consistent across all the false messages. Each one targeted a program or a right that benefits working families, and each one crumbled against the official record.
The Secretariat of Social Communication (Secom) advised the public to distrust messages that do not identify reliable sources. Citizens should verify whether information has been confirmed by competent authorities before sharing it. The Social Direct Line 121 and official digital channels remain open for questions about benefits.
The warning reflects a government trying to contain a wave of misinformation at a politically charged moment. False posts about labor rights and welfare can spread faster than corrections, especially when they play on fear of losing income or benefits.
The facts, however, tell a different story. The workweek amendment stands. The Bolsa Familia Program pays more than before. Gas do Povo holds its funding for this year and next. None of the alleged changes appears in any official document.
The government’s message closed with a practical instruction. Before passing along a message about labor law or social programs, check the source. The tools to do so, apps and official channels, remain available.
Serguéi Lavrov described Africa as a civilization in its own right and one of the pillars of an order that, in his view, is replacing five centuries of Western hegemony. Russia opens the third summit on Wednesday with 48 delegations and an offer to support the continent’s industrial and technological sovereignty, with the El Dabaa nuclear plant already under construction.
Serguéi Lavrov spent nearly an hour and a half on Tuesday with the heads of Africa’s leading media outlets, gathered in Moscow on the eve of the third Russia-Africa summit, and laid out how Russia sees the continent.
“We regard the African continent as a distinct civilization, one of the most important pillars of the multipolar world that is now, as an objective course of history, actively taking shape on the international stage, replacing the hegemony that Western countries have exercised for more than 500 years,” the Foreign Minister said.
According to Lavrov, Russia wants to help strengthen the sovereignty of African states, the development of their industries and greater self-sufficiency in the economy, finance and technology. The summit agenda, on October 28 and 29, groups those goals into four areas, namely political and economic cooperation, security, science and technology, and cultural and humanitarian ties.
Nearly all the delegations from the 48 confirmed countries are already in Moscow, and 22 of them are led by heads of state. On the table are 33 documents, among them an agreement on cooperation in artificial intelligence, and the 2027-2029 joint action plan, which Vladimir Putin and Burundi’s Évariste Ndayishimiye, the current chair of the African Union, will adopt at Thursday’s plenary session. Putin also has 24 bilateral meetings scheduled, with the leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali and Libya, as well as Iran and Qatar, in a week when the Russian capital is also hosting the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.
Seven years separate this gathering from the first one, held in Sochi in 2019, which closed with 92 agreements worth some $12.5 billion. The second brought together delegations from 48 countries in St. Petersburg in July 2023, and since then the Russian Foreign Ministry has created the Department of Partnership with Africa to follow up on what was signed, while intergovernmental commissions grew from four in 2023 to nine in 2025. In August, Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced that Moscow would bring to this summit a package of contracts on peaceful nuclear energy, independent payment systems, food security, digitalization and artificial intelligence.
Paul Kagame confirmed his attendance after several Western governments suspended part of their financial aid to Rwanda in 2025, and in Moscow he will sign the creation of a cooperation commission with a country he has already invited to build fertilizer plants. Ghana, whose parliament is processing a military-technical cooperation agreement with Russia, has an open tender for its first nuclear power plant, a 1,000-megawatt facility, in which Rosatom is competing with suppliers from China, South Korea, Canada and the United States.
In 2023, oil, refined products, wheat and metals made up 90% of Russian exports to Africa, while Russia bought mainly fruit, cocoa and coffee. The balance leaves Russia with a surplus of more than $10 billion a year.
Settling that trade became harder when Russia’s exclusion from SWIFT in February 2022 cut off the usual channels of Russian banks. Moscow responded with its own payment network, in which the rublealready covers 84% of transactions with Africa, backed by the Russian financial messaging system, China’s CIPS, crypto assets and the A7 payment agent, which operates in Nigeria and Zimbabwe. For African importers the circuit still carries costs, since obtaining rubles requires a double conversion through dollars, exposes them to the volatility of that currency and leaves their banks open to Western secondary sanctions, which is why several banks on the continent refuse to process payments linked to Russia.
Egypt, which accounts for 30% of Russia’s trade with Africa, hosts the Russian Industrial Zone on the Suez Canal, agreed in 2018 for 50 years, which took its first step in July 2026 when Moscow selected the developer. An Egyptian government source estimates investment of up to $5 billion and completion in 2028, and goods made there with more than 30% local content will enter as Egyptian products the markets where Cairo has preferential agreements. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, the African Export-Import Bank, urged Russian companies to seize an open market in energy, mining, railways and health, and in June the bank signed contracts with four Russian manufacturers.
Uranium for Europe, Blackouts in Niger
On Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, at El Dabaa, Rosatom is building four 1,200-megawatt reactors that will supply 10% of the country’s electricity. A Russian state loan covers most of a cost set in 2017 at $28.75 billion, which other estimates put at $30 billion, and the first unit is due to come online between 2028 and 2029.
The Russian corporation, which is carrying out 27 of the 31 nuclear plant export projects underway worldwide, offers a complete package covering the reactor, fuel, waste management and staff training over a 40- to 60-year lifespan, to a continent where some 600 million people live without electricity. The International Energy Agency estimates that universal access requires $15 billion a year, six times what was committed in 2023 for sub-Saharan Africa.
Niger, the world’s eighth-largest uranium producer, supplied France’s power plants for more than five decades (France gets about 70% of its electricity from nuclear power) and in 2022 provided almost a quarter of the natural uranium delivered to European plants.Only 20% of its 25 million inhabitants have electricity, and in Arlit and Agadez, where the ore is mined, coverage is close to zero. French company Orano took 86.3% of all the uranium sold from the Somaïr mine since 1971, more than its 63.4% shareholding. General Abdourahamane Tiani’s government nationalized the mine and the power utility Nigelec in June 2025, and although a tribunal of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ruled in Orano’s favor in September and barred the sale of the ore, some 1,000 tonnes of concentrate are waiting at Niamey airport. The French press reported a deal to sell them to Rosatom.
Niger’s Mines Minister, Ousmane Abarchi, brought to Moscow a proposal for two reactors totaling 2,000 megawatts. “Electricity must be accessible to everyone on this planet; it should not be a privilege,” he said, and his Russian counterpart for energy, Sergei Tsivilev, replied that Moscow wants to build a complete peaceful nuclear energy system in Niger, beyond mining.
A plant of that size takes ten to fifteen years from contract signing to the first unit in operation, and costs tens of billions of dollars. The Russian model, tested in Egypt and Bangladesh, rests on state loans repaid over decades, and analysts following the case note that in Niger the most visible collateral is the uranium itself.
In Namibia, the world’s third-largest uranium producer, Rosatom plans to invest $500 million in a mine set to start production in 2029. Rwanda signed a roadmap in June for small modular reactors, Ethiopia signed another in March for its first power plant and Nigeria resumed the design of two plants. South Africa, home to Koeberg, the continent’s only commercial nuclear plant, launched a tender for 2,500 megawatts in which Rosatom is competing with French, South Korean, Chinese and U.S. companies.
Rosoboron export has military-technical cooperation agreements with 46 African countries and has signed some 150 contracts worth more than $20 billion since 2023. Between 2020 and 2024, Russia was the continent’s leading supplier of heavy weapons, with 21% of imports, ahead of China and the United States, helped by a Soviet-era arsenal that still needs spare parts and by contracts free of political conditions. Even with the war in Ukraine, which cut its global arms exports by 64% between 2021 and 2025, Africa accounts for 30% of the state company’s order book.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger asked French troops to leave, formed the Confederation of Sahel States and opened their barracks to the Africa Corps, the force that replaced the Wagner Group under the direct command of Russia’s Defense Ministry. The “3+1” pact, signed in Niamey, extends cooperation to the economy and the central banks of the three countries, and Moscow plans to use the Togolese port of Lomé as a sea outlet for a landlocked region.
In July, during the second round of consultations with the Sahelian foreign ministers in Niamey, Lavrov spoke of building together “a fair multipolar world order” against “neocolonial practices.” Russia reopened its embassy in Niger this year, and Putin asked his Foreign Minister to invite the three presidents to the summit.
The alliance is fighting the jihadist coalition JNIM, which in September 2025 blockaded fuel supplies to Bamako and in April 2026 forced the Africa Corps out of Kidal. When Human Rights Watch attributed killings of civilians to Russian forces in July, Moscow and Bamako jointly rejected the accusation.
Lavrov announced in August a security memorandum with ECOWAS, the bloc the three Sahelian countries left in January 2025, and offered to mediate between the two; the regional organization has not yet confirmed the scope or the signing date.
Washington Tries the Russian Formula
The break with Niger cost the United States the withdrawal of 1,000 troops and a $110 million drone base in 2024, and Donald Trump brought a transactional approach. Massad Boulos, the presidential adviser for Africa, toured Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in early 2026 and acknowledged past mistakes in the name of sovereignty, while Erik Prince, owner of a military contracting firm and an informal adviser to Trump, has been meeting with Madagascar’s junta since late 2025.
A U.S. company agreed in late 2025 with Mali’s state mining company to revive a gold deposit valued at $11 billion. In Madagascar, Washington is negotiating the $700 million Toliara project to extract titanium, zirconium and rare earths, along with a proposal for a military presence at the former naval base of Antsiranana. Colonel Michaël Randrianirina, who came to power after the overthrow of Andry Rajoelina, received Russian drones and instructors and U.S. envoys almost at the same time.
The Washington think tanks that call the Russian offer a “survival package”for military governments now note how their own government is adopting a similar scheme, with security in exchange for minerals.
From Classrooms to Fields
The places Russia funds for African students rose from 2,100 in 2021 to about 4,800 in 2026, and some 35,000 young people from the continent are now studying at Russian universities. The Association of African Universities opened an office in October at St. Petersburg Mining University, and Rwanda already has 24 graduates in nuclear fields working at its Atomic Energy Board and the country’s regulator.
Russia’s ambassador to Burkina Faso, Igor Martynov, pledged technology transfers in agronomy, fertilizers, irrigation, fisheries and animal vaccines. In Togo, which signed a military agreement with Russia in 2024 and keeps its security channels with the West open, the first intergovernmental commission closed on October 1 with a protocol, a memorandum on cultural heritage and plans for mechanization and fertilizer production from local phosphate.
Egypt is building its nuclear plant with Rosatom without distancing itself from Washington or the Gulf monarchies, South Africa defends its non-alignment and Ethiopia joined BRICS without breaking with its Western lenders. According to an analysis published within that bloc’s orbit, Russia is welcome in Africa wherever it offers what others do not.
This week’s 33 documents will add to the 92 from Sochi and those from St. Petersburg, and the 2027-2029 plan will have its first milestones at the Suez industrial zone in 2028 and, a year later, at the first unit of El Dabaa and the Namibian mine. With those projects, Moscow seeks to give concrete form to the idea of Africa as a pillar of the multipolar world that Lavrov laid out on Tuesday before the African media.
On Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly approved—for the thirty-fourth time—a resolution calling for an end to the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba. The resolution passed with 130 votes in favor, 17 against, and 25 abstentions.
During the debate, Mexico, Nicaragua, Egypt, Vietnam, India, Ghana, and Mozambique reiterated their support for the Cuban people and condemned unilateral coercive measures, which they view as contrary to the United Nations Charter and international law.
Mexico’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Héctor Vasconcelos, reaffirmed his country’s solidarity with Cuba and its rejection of any unilateral measures directed against the Cuban population. He maintained that the blockade, which has been in place for more than six decades, violates international law and is incompatible with the principles of the United Nations.
Vasconcelos noted that the sanctions constitute a structural obstacle to the island’s economic and social development. “Ending the blockade against Cuba is an urgent necessity and a humanitarian imperative,” the Mexican diplomat stated.
Mexico argued that dialogue, cooperation, and respect for international law should take precedence over measures that exacerbate the hardships faced by a population. It also called for the removal of Cuba from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism and urged that priority be given to channels of dialogue.
Meanwhile, Nicaragua’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Jaime Hermida Castillo, announced his country’s vote in favor of the resolution. He based this position on principles and values shared by the two nations and reaffirmed Managua’s support for Cuba in the face of pressure tactics employed by the United States.
Hermida Castillo condemned the 64-year-long economic, commercial, and financial blockade, describing these coercive measures as a systematic act of aggression and a violation of human rights. He asserted that such policies are intended to stifle Cuba’s scientific, cultural, and social development. The Nicaraguan delegation also questioned the inaction of the multilateral system in the face of the overwhelming opposition from governments to Washington’s unilateral actions.
¡VICTORIA DE CUBA!
La Asamblea General de @ONU_es ha votado mayoritariamente contra el bloqueo de EEUU contra Cuba.
El gobierno de EEUU queda nuevamente aislado en su pretensión de continuar asfixiando al pueblo cubano y someterlo a un acto de castigo colectivo y de genocidio.… pic.twitter.com/MhnrjGnzSt
The text reads, “CUBA’S VICTORY! The General Assembly of @ONU_es has voted by a large majority against the US blockade against Cuba. The US government is once again isolated in its attempt to continue strangling the Cuban people and subjecting them to an act of collective punishment and genocide. Neither its most insane pretexts nor its pressures nor media circus will prevail over the force of facts and truth. #CubaNoEsUnaAmenaza The Blockade Is.
The delegations of Ghana and Mozambique concurred that the financial blockade violates the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law. They denounced the fact that these extraterritorial measures hinder Cuba’s economic, social, and cultural development—particularly in the areas of healthcare, education, and energy supply.
Mozambique highlighted Cuba’s historic contributions to South-South cooperation and its assistance in the fields of health and education across Africa. The representative from the African nation noted that, for more than six decades, the Cuban people have endured the consequences of the blockade—a policy that the General Assembly has repeatedly condemned.
Ghana stated that its support is rooted in the principles of sovereign equality, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence among states. It warned that the extraterritorial application of the blockade imposes burdens on third countries and runs counter to the principles of fair and equitable international economic relations.
Egypt, for its part, called for action from the UN. Ihab Awad, Egypt’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN, reaffirmed his country’s commitment to the principles of the United Nations Charter and demanded an end to the economic strangulation of Cuba.
“The negative repercussions of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed on Cuba affect the Cuban people’s ability to meet their basic needs,” the Egyptian diplomat stated.
Meanwhile, Vietnam reiterated its support for the immediate lifting of the commercial and financial blockade. Its delegation expressed concern regarding restricted access to energy and fuel, as well as the adverse impact on hospitals, schools, water services, and trade relations with third countries.
The Vietnamese delegation called for respect for the right to self-determination—free from coercion—advocated for political dialogue in accordance with international law, and urged the removal of Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. It also requested international support to address the accumulated economic and social damage.
India endorsed the statements made by the G-77 and ASEAN against the blockade. Its representatives called for the immediate repeal of these measures in order to mitigate their impact on key sectors such as energy, health, food production, and education.
Furthermore, India highlighted the need to eliminate extraterritorial sanctions to create an environment that would allow for Cuba’s full participation in international trade.
An in-depth look at thirty years of dynastic clientelism, illicit property purchases, and attacks on democratic institutions
The Bolsonaro family’s political trajectory marks a polarizing era in modern Brazilian history. Led by patriarch Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain who served nearly three decades in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies, the political clan built its brand on anti-establishment rhetoric, militarism, social conservatism, and zero-tolerance policies toward crime.
Despite promoting an image centered on traditional values and law enforcement, investigative records and judicial proceedings of the Bolsonaro family depict a political network deeply tied to public fund diversion, money laundering, and connections with armed paramilitary groups.
The Bolsonaro family expanded its influence into a dynasty, embedding sons Flávio, Carlos, and Eduardo across local, state, and federal offices.
Flávio Bolsonaro served as a Rio de Janeiro state deputy for sixteen years before his election to the Federal Senate in 2018. Carlos Bolsonaro directed public messaging as a Rio city councilor, while Eduardo Bolsonaro represented São Paulo as a federal deputy.
The structural base of this network began unraveling following political shifts, election defeats, and growing scrutiny from the Supreme Federal Court (STF) and federal authorities.
Clientelism, Militias, and the Rio de Janeiro Subculture
Jair Bolsonaro’s public life began in the late 1980s following his departure from the Brazilian Armed Forces. Elected to the Rio de Janeiro City Council in 1988 and to Congress in 1990, Jair Bolsonaro established a conservative political base anchored in military sector interests, opposition to progressive social policies, and public defense of paramilitary activity.
During his parliamentary career, Jair Bolsonaro openly defended Rio de Janeiro’s irregular security forces, known locally as milícias. These militias are armed paramilitary groups formed by former and active police officers who exercise territorial control over neighborhood communities.
Unlike drug trafficking networks, militia groups operate illegal local monopolies in extortion, land sales, private security, public transport, and cooking gas distribution. In parliamentary speeches, Jair Bolsonaro repeatedly characterized these militia groups as “self-defense units” that brought order to neglected communities.
The expansion of the Bolsonaro family’s political influence relied heavily on these political networks. In 2002, Flávio Bolsonaro was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (ALERJ) at age twenty-one. Carlos Bolsonaro secured his city council seat in 2000 at age seventeen.
This strategy allowed the family to secure multiple legislative budgets, employ political operatives across jurisdictions, and maintain influence in local communities.
During his time at ALERJ, Flávio Bolsonaro maintained direct political and employment ties with figures associated with Rio’s militia structures. Flávio Bolsonaro employed Raimunda Veras Magalhães and Danielle Mendonça da Costa—the mother and ex-wife of Adriano Magalhães da Nóbrega—in his legislative office.
Nóbrega was a former Special Police Operations Battalion captain who led the Crime Bureau (Escritório do Crime), a professional hit squad linked to militia extortion and high-profile assassinations.
Official records show Flávio Bolsonaro conferred the Medal of Tiradentes, the highest honor awarded by the Rio legislature, on Nóbrega in 2005 while Nóbrega was incarcerated on murder charges.
Financial audits showed that funds drawn from legislative payrolls were routed through accounts controlled by Nóbrega’s family members, linking parliamentary staff operations directly to informal militia networks.
Defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro and his family have landed in Miami after fleeing his country.
This comes a day after they were granted United States visas by the Trump administration. pic.twitter.com/oB91ejWab5
During his mandate in the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro, Flávio Bolsonaro operated a systematic financial embezzlement enterprise through his parliamentary office.
This illicit network relied on a practice known locally as a salary kickback scheme (rachadinha), a scheme in which legislative staff members are required to return a substantial portion of their public salaries to the elected official or an appointed intermediary.
Investigations conducted by the public prosecutor’s office of Rio de Janeiro and financial intelligence reports from the Council for Financial Activities Control (COAF) revealed that numerous staff members appointed to Flávio Bolsonaro’s office did not perform their legislative duties, functioning instead as nominal ghost employees.
Fabrício Queiroz, a retired military police officer, long-term associate of the Bolsonaro family, and former advisor to Flávio Bolsonaro, served as the primary operator of the collection network. COAF reports identified atypical financial transactions moving through Queiroz’s bank accounts, including transfers directed to members of the Bolsonaro family.
Investigators documented that a significant portion of the embezzled funds was funneled back to cover personal expenses for the Bolsonaro family, ranging from utility and school tuition payments to real estate acquisitions.
To legitimize the illicit funds generated through the rachadinha structure, Flávio Bolsonaro acquired commercial and residential properties and established a franchise business, a chocolate shop located in a Rio de Janeiro shopping mall.
Financial audits of the chocolate business revealed statistical anomalies: cash deposits into the store’s accounts frequently mismatched daily retail sales volumes, indicating the business operated partly as a front to inject cash from the legislative payroll scheme into the formal financial system.
Public prosecutors formally denounced Flávio Bolsonaro for embezzlement, money laundering, and running a criminal organization based on these findings.
Broader Crimes and Systemic Attacks on Brazilian Democracy
The financial allegations against Flávio Bolsonaro formed part of a broader pattern of asset accumulation and institutional interference linked to the wider Bolsonaro family network.
Investigative reports tracking real estate transactions across Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Brasília revealed that a substantial portion of the family’s property acquisitions over three decades were conducted using physical cash payments.
Public registries and journalistic investigations showed that family members purchased multiple residential and commercial units without utilizing standard banking mortgages or formal credit lines, raising concerns regarding the origin of the funds and potential systemic money laundering.
Beyond financial offenses, the family’s political dominance was maintained through continuous friction with investigative bodies and democratic institutions.
Throughout Jair Bolsonaro’s presidential term and the subsequent legislative mandates of his sons, the administration systematically attempted to alter leadership positions within federal agencies, including the Federal Police and the Federal Prosecutor’s Office.
The systemic subversion extended to public discourse, where state apparatuses were utilized to discredit journalists, civil society organizations, and judiciary members examining the clan’s legal exposures.
By framing routine judicial oversight and anti-corruption investigations as partisan political persecution, the Bolsonaro network undermined public trust in regulatory institutions while insulating its members from administrative accountability.
These maneuvers laid the groundwork for an escalating judicial crisis that culminated when electoral outcomes shifted control of the executive branch and removed institutional protections from the family’s inner circle.
The Anatomy of the Bolsonaro Exodus
The national elections on October 25 and subsequent rulings by the magistrate Alexandre de Moraes, representing Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court, marked a decisive shift in the legal landscape surrounding the Bolsonaro family.
As anti-corruption investigations advanced, the Supreme Federal Court, under the leadership of justices overseeing inquiries into financial crimes, institutional subversion, and antidemocratic acts, began tightening judicial restrictions on key figures within the clan. For this reason, Justice Moraes prohibited Flávio Bolsonaro from leaving Brazil and ordered the seizure of his passports—both his ordinary and diplomatic ones. After 24 hours, as he had not physically surrendered them, the Federal Police proceeded to officially cancel his travel documents.
It has been known through the medias that since October 27 Flávio Bolsonaro, along with his family, traveled via private transport to cross Brazil’s border; they are currently in the United States, having arrived there by private plane.
This strategic retreat mirrored patterns observed among regional political figures seeking to evade national accountability systems through foreign asylum or extended stays abroad.
The exodus highlighted broader questions regarding international cooperation and judicial jurisdiction. Right-wing political factions and sympathetic organizations abroad played a facilitative role, offering platforms and legal assistance to political figures fleeing Latin American jurisdictions.
Other media outlets reported that a U.S. State Department official stated that Flávio Bolsonaro and his family would be granted visas, allowing them to reside in the United States following his loss in the Brazilian election to Lula.
The departure of key family members underscored the challenges facing Brazilian legal institutions as they sought to enforce judicial rulings against individuals with transnational resources and foreign political allies.
WATCH: Brazilian President Lula on Flávio Bolsonaro leaving Brazil for the U.S.:
For the Bolsonaro family, Brazil is their second homeland.
Their first homeland is licking boots in the United States, just as they are accustomed to doing. pic.twitter.com/ugCdYWD9gg
The trajectory of the Bolsonaro family and the specific criminal charges leveled against Flávio Bolsonaro illustrate the structural contradictions of contemporary populist right-wing political movements.
While campaigning on platforms of moral renewal, fiscal discipline, and strict law enforcement, the Bolsonaro’s constructed a sophisticated network of public fund embezzlement, real estate money laundering, and structural alignment with paramilitary groups.
The legal actions and subsequent international flights of Flávio Bolsonaro and his family carry profound implications for Brazilian democracy. On one hand, the coordinated evasion of judicial mandates highlights the enduring vulnerability of state institutions when confronted with entrenched political dynasties possessing international safety valves.
On the other hand, the rigorous investigative work conducted by federal prosecutors, financial intelligence units, and the judiciary demonstrates the operational capacity of Brazil’s democratic framework to investigate and prosecute powerful political actors regardless of office.
Ultimately, the handling of the Bolsonaro family’s legal exposures serves as a critical test for the rule of law in Latin America.
As Brazilian courts continue to address the financial and institutional infractions of the Jair Bolsonaro administration, the outcome will define the boundaries of accountability for political elites in the region for decades to come.
Sources: Brasil de Fato – Agência Brasil – Gov.br – O Globo – Folha de S.Paulo – O Estado de S.Paulo – El País – CNN Brasil – EFE – TeleSUR – NYT
The Akademik Lomonosov has been operating in the Arctic since 2020.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country is leading the development and operation of floating nuclear power plants, as can be seen in the Akademik Lomonosov, which is operating in the port of Pevek, in the Chukotka region, across from Alaska.
“This is not just a project; the plant is operational. It is located in northern Russia, in the Arctic region, and has been operating and generating electricity since 2020,” he said on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Forum in Moscow.
Putin insisted that French, Japanese and U.S. companies say they are ready to develop plants like Russia’s, “but so far, no one has done anything.” By contrast, “Russia has an existing plant that has been built and is operating, and there is nothing like it anywhere in the world,” he reiterated.
Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) previously signed the first agreement with Indonesia to build two floating nuclear power plants abroad.
A nuclear power plant… on water 🌊⚡️ Russia’s Akademik Lomonosov first floating NPP is bringing reliable, low-carbon energy to remote regions. Learn more from this video ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/UrTPsWix49
— Russian Embassy in Kenya/Посольство России в Кении (@russembkenya) April 27, 2026
Rosatom Director Alexei Likhachev said Moscow hopes the international business community will take note of “an infrastructure project in the field of nuclear energy capable of transforming a country’s economy.”
The world’s first floating nuclear power plant, the Akademik Lomonosov, was built to withstand tsunamis and iceberg impacts. It has a capacity of 70 megawatts of electricity and 50 gigacalories of thermal energy, and can supply electricity and heat to a city of nearly 100,000 people.
The United States also launched a floating nuclear power plant, the Sturgis, in the Panama Canal in 1968, but decommissioned it in 1976 because of high maintenance costs.
On Wednesday, President Miguel Díaz-Canel praised the actions of the Cuban delegation at the United Nations during the annual debate on the resolution calling for an end to the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba. The president affirmed that the island will not back down in the face of Yankee pressure and dictates.
In messages posted on the social media platform X, the Cuban leader acknowledged the work of Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, Ambassador Ernesto Soberón, and the rest of the Cuban delegation, following an incident that took place during a session of the UN General Assembly.
“Today at the UN, the international community’s overwhelming support for Cuba was on display, as they condemned the blockade and the U.S. government’s policy of maximum suffocation. Most of the speakers were clear in their denunciation,” the Cuban president wrote.
These remarks followed an intervention by Bruno Rodríguez, who interrupted U.S. representative Mike Waltz as he was blatantly presenting a series of slanders, distortions, and lies against Cuba.
“You are lying,” Rodríguez stated, while requesting that the president of the General Assembly call the U.S. representative to order.
The Cuban Foreign Minister also denounced pressure exerted by Washington on UN member states and rejected what he described as insults to the dignity of the Cuban people and the international organization itself.
El pretexto más empleado y manipulado por el gobierno de Estados Unidos para tratar de justificar su actuación es presentar a Cuba como una supuesta amenaza para la superpotencia nuclear o, incluso, para el hemisferio. Se sabe que ningún gobierno aquí representado admite o acepta… pic.twitter.com/9ADzwpPsXS
The text reads, “The most commonly used and manipulated pretext by the United States government to try to justify its actions is to present Cuba as an alleged threat to the nuclear superpower or even to the hemisphere. It is known that no government represented here admits or accepts such a crude fallacy. They lack arguments.”
Díaz-Canel maintained that this international body serves as a space for sovereign equality among states, and he asserted that Cuba will defend the rights granted to it by the United Nations Charter and its regulations, as well as the dignity of its people and its heroes. “Cuba will not back down, and certainly not in the face of Yankee pressures and orders,” emphasized the head of state, who described the U.S. stance as one of imperial arrogance and overbearing conduct.
The Cuban delegation’s protest was voiced at the start of the debate on the resolution titled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”—an initiative that has garnered broad support in the General Assembly for over three decades.
Cuba denounced a vile campaign of diplomatic pressure aimed at influencing the delegations present, with the goal of eroding support for the Cuban resolution. Nevertheless, the world once again spoke out—by an overwhelming majority—against the embargo, even in the face of pressure and blackmail from the United States intended to alter the outcome.
Díaz-Canel further noted that the U.S. representative—visibly isolated—offered no explanation for the energy blockade imposed on Cuba, nor for the intensified extraterritorial reach of the embargo.
In their remarks, Cuban authorities presented verifiable data demonstrating that the tightening of the embargo—particularly since 2025—has caused severe economic and social hardship on the island. This confirms that the U.S. policy amounts to collective punishment of the population; the authorities warned that the international community must not become complicit in such measures.
“Because we believe in the truth and in global solidarity, we know that the U.S. embargo against Cuba and the energy blockade will be condemned once again in the General Assembly,” Díaz-Canel stated on X.
The Argentine president was directly involved in the operation, said a lawyer close to the Bolsonaro clan.
Over the last 12 hours, Argentine and Brazilian media outlets have continued to stir up controversy regarding the role President Javier Milei played in the flight of far-right Brazilian senator Flavio Bolsonaro to the United States—a journey that included a stop in Argentina.
On Tuesday, outlets reported that Bolsonaro might flee through Argentina. Immigration authorities, however, responded by saying there were no records of Bolsonaro entering the country.
Presidential spokesman Adrian Ravier said only at a news conference that Argentina had received no asylum request from the Brazilian senator. Milei chose to remain silent.
In an interview with channel A24 on Tuesday night, Mexican lawyer Simon Levy, who is close to the Bolsonaro family, claimed that Milei was aware of the efforts to coordinate Bolsonaro’s escape to Miami.
“Thanks to President Milei, Flavio Bolsonaro is alive today. The only person who knew about this was President Milei. He has been and was involved in part of the coordination of this entire operation,” Levy said.
Flávio Bolsonaro fugiu para os Estados Unidos em um jato de uma empresa que aparece numa investigação sobre lavagem de dinheiro ligado a contratos públicos para atender pessoas com deficiência na Argentina.
The text reads, “Flavio Bolsonaro fled to the U.S. on a jet belonging to a company that appears in an investigation into money laundering linked to public contracts for the care of people with disabilities in Argentina.
The aircraft belongs to Baires Fly, which is owned by Luis Grande. The company also transported Javier Milei to the U.S. following his 2023 electoral victory. On that trip, Grande himself piloted the plane. Argentine judicial authorities are investigating transfers made by suppliers of the National Disability Agency (ANDIS) to Baires Fly accounts.
Following these payments, invoices were issued for the advance purchase of flight miles. It is suspected that these transactions were used to provide a veneer of legality to funds derived from irregular contracting. Flavio left Brazil despite a court order prohibiting him from exiting the country and requiring him to surrender his passports. Sources: Reuters, elDiarioAR, and Ambito.“
The newspaper La Nacion reported that presidential adviser Santiago Caputo was in Misiones province, which borders Brazil, on Tuesday night, when the aircraft carrying Bolsonaro took off. This would confirm that the Milei administration actively assisted in the operation.
According to Argentina’s National Directorate of Migration, Flavio Bolsonaro, his wife, Fernanda Antunes Figueira, and their two daughters entered the country on Tuesday at 10:50 p.m. local time via the Tancredo Neves International Bridge in Misiones province.
Bolsonaro used his Italian passport, while his family members traveled with their usual identification documents, according to the flight plan. Argentine immigration authorities said no laws had been violated: “We cannot prevent him from entering the country with his European passport.”
Forty minutes later, at 11:30 p.m. local time, the Bolsonaros boarded a private aircraft operated by Baires Fly S.A. at Puerto Iguazu Airport, bound for Guayaquil, Ecuador, from where they traveled to Miami, United States.
So far, neither Milei nor his ministers and aides have made any public statements about the operation that enabled the escape of Bolsonaro, a far-right politician who faces several criminal investigations.
His departure came after Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered him to surrender his passports and barred him from leaving the country as part of money laundering investigations.
All opposition parties to Milei in Argentina’s Congress have demanded explanations about what role the government may have played in the operation.
On wednesday, opposition groups in Colombia have expressed their rejection of a strategic memorandum of understanding—signed over a month ago between Abelardo De la Espriella and the United States government—warning of potential socioeconomic, environmental, and territorial implications for the country, while also questioning the scope of the pact.
The criticism centers on a potential extractive mining project targeting strategic minerals; according to the opposition, the exploitation of these resources would negatively affect ecosystems and communities located in the Amazon, the Pacific region, and parts of the Caribbean.
Senator Carolina Corcho, of the Historic Pact (in spanish Pacto Histórico) coalition, argued that the agreement subordinates national sovereignty to an extractive mining and energy model designed to serve U.S. industry.
According to the lawmaker, the document reportedly includes provisions for streamlining permits for extractive mining companies, the handover of geological maps, and granting the U.S. government prior knowledge of planned sales in Colombia to facilitate its decision-making processes.
The opposition has characterized the agreement as mercantilist, criticizing the fact that it was finalized without the participation of Colombian civil society—a group that asserts its right to have a say in how its lands are used.
¡No vamos a permitir que regalen nuestra soberanía a espaldas del país!
La administración de @ABDELAESPRIELLA firmó a oscuras un memorando que le entrega a EE. UU. el control de nuestras tierras raras y minerales estratégicos, poniendo en riesgo a nuestras comunidades campesinas… pic.twitter.com/Oel6iYraPk
The text reads, “We will not allow them to give away our sovereignty behind the country’s back! The administration of @ABDELAESPRIELLA signed a memorandum in the dark that hands over to the United States control of our rare earths and strategic minerals, putting our peasant and ancestral communities at risk. Colombia’s wealth must be respected! Watch the full interview and the details of this complaint on @TeleSUR: http://youtu.be/d0pxJpb7sZY?si=ZnJ_szg_QyUlmO6J
Critics warn that the affected territories contain lithium, nickel, uranium, and copper—resources essential for the manufacture of mobile phones, computers, microprocessors, radar systems, guided missiles, and defense equipment. These materials can also be used for military purposes.
According to the allegations, a large portion of these resources would be extracted from the Amazon, the Pacific, and parts of the Caribbean—regions that hold extensive deposits of rare earths and strategic minerals. Most of these areas are inhabited by Afro-descendant, Indigenous, and peasant (rural farming) communities, which further compounds the concerns raised by the opposition.
Colombian analyst Ricardo Vargas noted that these territories possess a social sensitivity, which is why communities tend to mobilize when faced with risks to their land, water, air, and biodiversity. Vargas also pointed to measures aimed at containing social protest and warned of the presence of armed groups that illegally access these resources.
According to the allegations, the executive branch is clearing protected territories to allow for the entry of foreign entities and the exploitation of resources. The opposition claims that the document bypasses requirements for prior consultation and environmental permits, effectively placing the country’s geological and mining map at the disposal of the U.S. economy and American corporations.
Meanwhile, the executive branch has stated that the memorandum is non-binding—an argument the opposition views as an attempt to evade constitutional obligations and the mandatory review process by the Congress of the Republic.
Opposition groups have drawn parallels to the situation during the administration of Álvaro Uribe Vélez, specifically regarding the presence of military bases in the country.
A productive day in Colombia, building on the enduring friendship between our two nations.
The memorandum was signed on September 8, 2026, in Barranquilla, during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The instrument establishes a framework for cooperation to secure supply chains for the mining and processing of critical minerals and rare earth elements.
According to official information, the agreement includes provisions for financing, support for geological mapping, and the streamlining of administrative procedures for extraction and processing projects. The Colombian Foreign Ministry maintains that such memoranda are non-binding and that they respect both national legislation and state sovereignty.
At the heart of this debate lies the tension between bilateral cooperation, foreign investment, and the protection of national sovereignty, strategic resources, and the rights of local communities.
A dispute over conflicting versions of a provision in Colombia’s 2027 national budget has raised questions about the bill’s legislative validity. Senator Esmeralda Hernández says the Senate and House of Representatives approved different versions of Article 65 but failed to… pic.twitter.com/kNlFunNq1o
Federal and state governments to address chronic shortages and contamination without taking on new debt.
On Wednesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that the federal government and the state of Jalisco will jointly invest about US$1.3 billion to improve water supply and quality in the Guadalajara metropolitan area, the country’s second-most-populous metropolitan area.
During her morning news conference, she explained that her administration will contribute US$777 million, while Jalisco will allocate US$547 million.
“The good news is that the joint investment will prevent the need to take on debt and will make it possible to carry out this very important project for the country’s second-most-populous metropolitan area,” Sheinbaum said.
Jalisco Governor Pablo Lemus said the agreement will address a longstanding problem of water service interruptions and poor water quality that has affected residents of Guadalajara and neighboring municipalities for generations. He stressed that the projects will not involve new debt, privatization, or water rate increases.
For decades, Guadalajara has faced water supply and contamination problems, exacerbated by the deterioration of hydraulic infrastructure that is more than 70 years old in some sections. Some of the water supplied from Lake Chapala flows through open channels exposed to domestic and industrial discharges, while various neighborhoods experience service interruptions and irregular water distribution.
Efrain Morales, director of the National Water Commission (CONAGUA), explained that federal investment will fund two new aqueducts, with construction set to begin in early 2027 and last approximately two years. The projects will increase water supply by 1,200 liters per second, equivalent to providing water to half a million people, and improve water quality over the next 30 years.
Chapala: el reto de llevar más agua sin perderla en el camino y sin sobreexplotar el lago
El proyecto del gobierno de Jalisco para mejorar el abasto de agua en la zona metropolitana de Guadalajara mediante un nuevo acueducto genera preocupación entre organismos ciudadanos. pic.twitter.com/VG7vyvz7Qz
The text reads, “Chapala: the challenge of transporting more water without losing it along the way or overexploiting the lake. The Jalisco state government’s project to improve the water supply for the Guadalajara metropolitan area—which involves a new aqueduct—is raising concerns among civic organizations.”
Contamination and Water Supply Interruptions
The state of Jalisco will allocate about US$402 million to renovate the Miravalle water treatment plant, which is about 70 years old. Lemus explained that the first phase will begin operating in April 2027 and that all work will be completed in approximately two years.
Authorities are also working to clean up channels and dams affected by polluting discharges and to build collectors to protect water from Lake Chapala.
Sheinbaum said about 150 unauthorized discharges have been identified, 80 of which have already been shut down. The project also aims to make full use of the infrastructure at the El Zapotillo Dam, built during the administration of former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (2018-2024).
The Israeli military killed four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, one day after parliamentary elections—elections that failed to halt Israeli attacks on the Palestinian enclave.
A medical source at Nasser Hospital confirmed to EFE that 33-year-old Mohamed Alyan al-Bayouk was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Bayouk neighborhood in the southern city of Khan Yunis. The bombardment also left six people wounded.
In a separate Israeli attack on Al-Mawasi, in the southern part of Rafah, three Palestinians lost their lives and seven were wounded—three of whom are in critical condition—the same medical source stated.
At that location, Israeli drones struck a police checkpoint belonging to the Gazan Ministry of Economy, which is responsible for managing the movement of trucks entering the Gaza Strip from the Israeli side.
🇵🇸💢 Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday, including a 6-year-old girl, according to Palestinian news site Felesteen.
Those killed include:
➤ Tahani Mohammed Saeed Shalalfa, a girl, 6, who died of a gunshot wound from Israeli fire in al-Mawasi, the…
Despite a ceasefire—ostensibly in effect since October 10, 2025—more than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks and fire within the enclave. Furthermore, at least 1.8 million people remain displaced from their homes, most living in tents near the Mediterranean Sea, where they now face their fourth winter.
Since October 2023, Israel has killed more than 74,500 Gazans, according to data from the local Ministry of Health. The majority were civilians, and the victims include more than 20,000 minors.
Most of Gaza remains devastated. Hospitals continue to operate only partially, relying on their own power-generation equipment, while children attend classes in tents. The continued Israeli bombardment makes it clear that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip remains critical, with a civilian population that is displaced, wounded, and exposed to further attacks.
The nonbinding resolution passed with 130 votes in favor, 17 against and 25 abstentions.
On Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) approved a resolution presented by Cuba against the U.S. blockade, with 130 votes in favor, 17 against and 25 abstentions.
Colombia, Paraguay, Argentina, Ecuador, and Costa Rica were the Latin American countries that joined the United States in voting against the nonbinding resolution titled “Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade Imposed by the United States of America Against Cuba.”
“The world has once again spoken out overwhelmingly against the blockade, despite the most blatant pressure and blackmail by the U.S. to change the course of this vote,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on social media.
“This victory for Cuba today in the UNGA is a victory for the heroic Cuban people, who refuse to surrender in the face of economic strangulation, threats and abuses by the U.S. government.”
“It is the triumph of truth over those who resort to lies and blackmail to subject an entire nation to collective punishment. Cuba is not a threat; the blockade is!” the revolutionary leader stressed.
BREAKING 🇨🇺🇺🇳 The UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly condemned the genocidal US blockade of Cuba for the 34th time. pic.twitter.com/WbPSMmHL7x
The U.S. Blockade Causes $23 Million In Damages Per Day
Before the vote, Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez forcefully rebutted the United States, which denies that a blockade against the island exists. He said the economic war against Cuba causes more than US$22.9 million in economic damage in a single day.
Rodriguez displayed a real-time counter tracking the economic impact of the U.S. blockade. The counter began operating on Tuesday, coinciding with the start of the debate in the General Assembly on the annual resolution against the sanctions.
“The blockade kills and silently punishes our population as never before,” Rodriguez said and warned that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump “has unleashed a wave of pressure, intimidation and blackmail” against countries to prevent them from supporting the resolution, a text that has been approved almost unanimously year after year since 1992.
“The U.S. blockade is an act of war, collective punishment, and genocide… Its effects are felt at Cuban families’ dinner tables, in the beds of the sick, during childbirth or in operating rooms, in a child’s food or classroom, in the lack of electricity, drinking water and medicines, and in the high prices of goods essential to life,” Rodriguez pointed out.
Among other things, he denounced that Cuba faces shortages of 70% of the medicines on its basic list and that about 100,000 people, including 12,000 children, are awaiting surgery. All of this is “a consequence of the blockade.”
“What Cuba is asking for is to be left in peace, to allow the Cuban people to live in peace, resolve our own problems peacefully and find solutions to the great difficulties facing the world today, free from political, military, cognitive or economic aggression,” Rodriguez concluded.
“Cuba is not a threat. The blockade is.” 🇨🇺🇺🇳
In his speech, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez denounced the cynicism and hypocrisy of labeling the island an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the national security of the world's greatest nuclear power.
The far-right politician arrived at Miami-Opa Locka Airport with his wife and two daughters.
On Wednesday, former presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro, his wife and their two daughters entered the United States through Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport in Miami-Dade County.
The far-right politician left Brazil by crossing the land border with Argentina after losing Sunday’s presidential runoff to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
After several hours of unconfirmed media reports, Argentine immigration authorities acknowledged that Flavio Bolsonaro had stopped in Argentina before traveling to Ecuador.
On Tuesday night, Bolsonaro and his family entered Argentina through the Tancredo Neves International Bridge border crossing in the province of Misiones.
Then, at 11:30 p.m. local time, they boarded a private flight that departed from Puerto Iguazu Airport bound for the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador, from where they traveled to Miami.
Why Did Flavio Bolsonaro Flee?
Following his electoral defeat on Oct. 25, Flavio will also lose his seat in the Senate in February 2027, when the new legislative session begins, marking the first time since 2003 that he will not hold public office.
An electoral victory for the far-right politician would have halted investigations against him, as Brazilian presidents cannot be held accountable during their terms for acts committed before their inauguration.
On Monday, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the rapporteur in the trial that ended with Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction for attempting a coup, gave Flavio 24 hours to surrender his travel documents as part of a money laundering case being handled under seal.
That same day, the 45-year-old senator posted a video on social media saying he had no intention of leaving Brazil, that he would surrender his passports and that he would defend himself against what he described as a “clear attempt at intimidation.” However, the Federal Police canceled the documents on Tuesday after the deadline to surrender them expired.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s administration confirmed that it would issue visas and formally receive Bolsonaro and his family. Trump, a close ally of the Bolsonaro clan, called Brazil’s election “fraudulent,” although he added that he does not govern Brazil when asked whether he would take any action in response.
Flavio will reunite with his brother Eduardo Bolsonaro, who has been living in the United States since March 2025 after fleeing Brazilian justice.
Putin Denounces Western Colonialism and Pledges Increased Grain Supplies to Africa.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated the Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow, where delegations from 48 countries will discuss cooperation, defense and technology topics for two days.
Representatives of regional organizations, such as the African Union and the African Continental Free Trade Area, are also present at the Moscow meeting.
The summit will have two plenary sessions, after which participants will adopt a final declaration outlining the agreed approaches for the development of Russian-African cooperation and the deepening of collaboration in the international sphere.
They will also approve a declaration on cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence and an action plan for the Russia-Africa Cooperation Forum for the years 2027-2029.
At the end of the event, Putin and Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye, in his capacity as the current head of the African Union, will offer statements to the media to summarize the results of the summit.
📌 EXCLUSIVE | Russia-Africa Summit convenes as "global geopolitics has changed substantially": Kenyan FM
During his intervention at the summit, Putin denounced Western colonialism in Africa and promised to increase grain supplies to the continent.
“We are observing active attempts by Western countries to once again plunge Africans into debt, imposing on them much-needed financial resources under abusive conditions, subsequently forcing them to overpay far beyond the debt to the detriment of their long-term development plans,” he said in the plenary session.
According to the Kremlin chief, the multipolar world is a reality, but not everyone is willing to accept it. “We are witnessing how the multipolar world is becoming a reality and this trend is objective and irreversible,” he asserted.
He also drew the attention of those present to Africa’s “new awakening” with the strengthening of its countries’ sovereignty and the increase of their prestige on the world stage.
Russia develops its relations with African countries on the principles of “equality and friendship” and is willing to expand aid to the continent, said Putin, who stressed that “more than 40 African countries already receive Russian fertilizers and cereals, and we are ready to further expand the geographic scope of our agricultural exports.”
In the first nine months of 2026, Moscow exported 13 million tons of agricultural products to Africa. “For some countries, shipment volumes have multiplied several times, not only in percentage, but in absolute terms,” Putin stated.
He also mentioned that exports of African agricultural products to Russia cover 8% of the needs of the Russian market and “this figure must grow and it will.”
The Russian leader placed special emphasis on humanitarian contacts, highlighting the growing number of students at Russian universities, and called on African airlines to begin operating flights to Russia.
On Monday, mexican authorities have reported the presumed death of Jesús González Peñuelas—known as ‘Chuy Peñuelas,’ an alleged operative for the Guasave Cartel—during a confrontation with personnel from the Mexican Navy in Sinaloa. The United States government had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.
Omar García Harfuch, the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, stated that González Peñuelas is believed to be one of two individuals who died during an operation near Alfredo V. Bonfil, in the municipality of Sinaloa. The identities of the deceased are still awaiting formal forensic confirmation.
According to the Mexican Navy, the operation was supported by naval intelligence, which helped locate vehicles carrying armed individuals. During the pursuit, two men exited a pickup truck and fled into a brush-covered area, from where they opened fire on the naval personnel.
The naval forces returned fire, and both men were killed in the exchange. Their bodies have been placed in the custody of judicial authorities.
Family members who contacted the authorities suggested that the deceased may be Jesús González Peñuelas and Cesáreo Peñuelas Ruiz—known as ‘El Profe’—who has been identified by federal sources as an alleged associate of González Peñuelas. Official identification will be established through genetic and fingerprint analysis.
Derivado de las acciones permanentes para reforzar las acciones y avanzar en la pacificación de Sinaloa, personal de Marina @SEMAR_mx realizó un operativo en las inmediaciones de la colonia Alfredo V. Bonfil, Sinaloa, donde fue agredido por integrantes de una célula criminal… pic.twitter.com/03vxvnfVfN
The text reads, “Derived from the permanent actions to reinforce operations and advance the pacification of Sinaloa, personnel from the Navy. @SEMAR_mx conducted an operation in the vicinity of the Alfredo V. Bonfil neighborhood, Sinaloa, where they were attacked by members of a criminal cell and repelled the assault.”
During the operation, authorities seized four pickup trucks that had been reported stolen, as well as three long guns, three magazines, and 46 rounds of ammunition. The evidence has been turned over to the Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía General de la República) for further investigation.
According to federal sources, González Peñuelas had led an organization since the beginning of the century dedicated to the production and distribution of methamphetamine, marijuana, and heroin. In recent years, the organization reportedly ventured into fentanyl trafficking.
It operated primarily in Sinaloa and Sonora, with connections along the northern border and distribution networks in U.S. states such as California, Texas, Colorado, and Washington. Authorities identified the individual as one of the key operatives for Fausto Isidro Meza Flores—known as “El Chapo Isidro”—the leader of the Guasave Cartel.
Federal sources also indicated that the organization maintained ties to drug trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero, who was extradited to the United States last year.
This development comes amid federal operations targeting criminal organizations in Sinaloa—a state that has faced a wave of violence since September 2024, following the outbreak of a conflict between factions of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum addressed illicit drug production and consumption, stressing that consumption must be treated primarily as a public health matter rather than merely a law enforcement problem.
Debate on a nonbinding resolution takes place amid U.S. pressure on countries ahead of the vote.
On Tuesday, the Cuban government thanked the international community for its support in opposing the U.S. blockade during the first day of debate at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a nonbinding resolution calling for an end to U.S. sanctions.
“Today at the United Nations, the overwhelming support of the international community for Cuba in condemning the blockade and opposing the U.S. government’s policy of maximum strangulation was evident. Most speakers, some representing regional blocs, were clear in their denunciations,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said.
He also referred to the incidents involving U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, who made unfounded accusations against the Cuban government during his address to the General Assembly.
“During the debate, the U.S. representative, in clear isolation, did not have the courage to explain to the world the reason for the criminal energy siege imposed on the Cuban people, or for the strengthening of the blockade’s extraterritorial reach,” the Cuban president said.
“They may pressure sovereign nations, intimidate them and make distracting fabrications, but the overwhelming majority knows which side the truth is on and will continue to say it loud and clear: Cuba Is Not a Threat, the blockade is!” he added.
BREAKING: Cuba’s UN delegation, led by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, confronts US ambassador Mike Waltz during a debate on the US blockade.
The UN General Assembly will hold its 34th annual vote this week condemning the US blockade on Cuba. Cuban representatives… pic.twitter.com/YuMyUzbT9F
In social media posts, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez also thanked those who had called for an end to the U.S. blockade against Cuba, including the energy siege and secondary sanctions.
Earlier, Rodriguez and Waltz engaged in a heated argument during the session. Amid mutual accusations from the two representatives, UNGA President Khalilur Rahman threatened to suspend the session.
The current debate over the U.S. blockade, which has been in place for more than six decades, is taking place amid an oil blockade and secondary sanctions imposed by Washington.
The debate is also taking place amid allegations that President Donald Trump’s administration is pressuring countries to influence their votes and prevent widespread support for Cuba.
The resolution, titled “Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade Imposed by the United States of America Against Cuba,” has received the support of the overwhelming majority of the international community at the United Nations every year since 1992.
Spaniard Manuel ‘Manugas’ González heads into the Moto2 Malaysian Grand Prix with the goal of halting the charge of his compatriot, Izan Guevara. The two are separated by just 5.5 points in the world championship standings ahead of this weekend’s event at the Sepang International Circuit.
González, riding for Kalex, leads the intermediate-class world championship, while Guevara—on a Boscoscuro—has emerged as his primary rival following a high-performing second half of the season.
Over the last seven races, Guevara has collected 132 points compared to González’s 80, closing the gap by 52 points and keeping the title race wide open.
The rider from Madrid had a chance to extend his lead in Australia, where he secured pole position for the race at Phillip Island. However, poor weather conditions forced the cancellation of the Grand Prix, preventing González from checking Guevara’s momentum.
The Malaysian Grand Prix, held at the Sepang circuit, offers a fresh opportunity for both championship contenders. González will look to extend his lead, while Guevara could narrow the margin—or even take the lead—depending on the race outcome.
Weather conditions could once again play a role, given the frequent tropical rains in the region. This factor is particularly significant for González, who, according to available information, does not excel on wet asphalt.
While the spotlight is on the title battle, several other riders are also in contention for the win at Sepang. These include Spaniards Iván Ortolá, Daniel Holgado, Alonso López, and Daniel Muñoz—all on Kalex machines—as well as Alex Escrig (Forward), José Antonio Rueda (Kalex), and Adrián Huertas (Kalex).
Spanish-Colombian rider David Alonso, the 2024 Moto3 world champion, remains near the top of the championship standings, with a slim 0.5-point margin in the title race. His primary objective should be to secure more victories before his planned move up to MotoGP.
Also aiming for strong results are Australian Senna Agius, Czech rider Filip Salac, Italians Celestino Vietti and Tony Arbolino, Dutchman Collin Veijer, and Belgian rider Barry Baltus—all of whom have demonstrated their competitiveness throughout the season.
In Moto3, the world title has already been decided in favor of Spaniard Máximo Quiles (KTM), who clinched the championship at the Indonesian Grand Prix. Attention now shifts to the battle for the runner-up spot.
David Almansa (KTM) is currently the best-placed rider, followed by his compatriots Brian Uriarte (KTM), Álvaro Carpe (KTM), and Adrián Fernández (Honda), as well as Spanish-Argentine riders Marco Morelli (KTM) and Valentín Perrone (KTM).
As the already-crowned champion, Quiles has stated his intention to secure as many victories as possible before the season ends, adding an extra layer of competition for his rivals in the upcoming races.
📌 French driver Doriane Pin, 22, completed a day of private testing with the #Mercedes team at Silverstone Circuit. At the wheel of the W12 race car, Pin covered a total of 200 kilometers over 76 laps, becoming the first F1 Academy champion to drive a Formula 1 car. This session… pic.twitter.com/QtP1ynaLTT
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