26/02/2025
FTS 8.30
*G20 Finance Ministers discuss challenges and stress importance of multilateral cooperation
*Israeli strike leaves two dead in Syria
FTS 8.30
*G20 Finance Ministers discuss challenges and stress importance of multilateral cooperation
*Israeli strike leaves two dead in Syria
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00In Venezuela, the head of state, Nicolas Maduro, emphasized that in 90 days, a definite proposal
00:15for the 2025 constitutional reform must be ready.
00:23On Wednesday, South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa opened the G20 Summit of Finance
00:28and Economic Ministers in Cape Town.
00:37And Israel has carried out a series of strikes in Syria, leaving at least two dead in the
00:41town of Sargaya, north of Damascus.
00:51Hello and welcome to From the South.
00:53My name is Belinda de los Santos.
00:54I'm from Televisión Studios in Havana, Cuba.
00:57We begin with the news.
00:58In Venezuela, the head of state, Nicolas Maduro, emphasized that in 90 days, a definite proposal
01:03for the 2025 constitutional reform must be ready.
01:07During the meeting of the National Commission for Constitutional Reform, the President stated
01:11that once the 60-day debate sessions have been held, the final drafting phase of the
01:16proposal generated by the expanded debate should begin.
01:20He also stressed that he entrusts in the commitment of the deputies of the National Assembly to
01:25deliver the constitutional reform to the National Electoral Council in a reasonable
01:30time and to proceed with the referendum elections in the country.
01:35In this context, he also stressed that members of the failed opposition bench have reappeared
01:40to cause confusion and sow fear among the Venezuelan people with regard to this constitutional
01:46reform.
01:54Now we continue in Venezuela, as the President, Nicolas Maduro, also received the Japanese
01:59architect, Rike Yamamoto, at the Simón Bolívar Hall of the Miraflores Palace.
02:04During the meeting, proposals were discussed to consolidate urban structures in the country's
02:08cities in addition to advancing towards the self-management of each territory through
02:13the organization of the communes.
02:16It should be noted that this initiative seeks to strengthen sustainable development and
02:20communal self-governance.
02:22In this sense, Yamamoto's collaboration with Venezuela strengthens international ties
02:27and promotes an innovative approach to urban planning in the region.
02:42And in this regard, the head of state, Nicolas Maduro, also held a meeting with the great
02:47Muslim religious authority of Lebanon, Alib Muhammad Al-Ghazawi, to strengthen ties of
02:53friendship between Venezuela and Lebanon.
02:56During the meeting, President Maduro reaffirmed Venezuela's intention for both countries to
03:01continue strengthening the diplomatic relations established in 1946.
03:07Other authorities, such as the representatives of the Lebanese embassy in the Venezuelan
03:11territory, were also pressing in this meeting.
03:20We now move on to other topics.
03:21In Colombia, the police arrested a 40-year-old man who tried to smuggle several bags of cocaine
03:28hidden under a carefully placed tupi onto a flight to the Netherlands.
03:33According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Monday at Cartagena Airport as he was about
03:39to board a flight to Amsterdam.
03:41A scan revealed the hidden shipment of 220 grams of cocaine, packed in small bags, strategically
03:48placed under the narco wig.
03:51Police estimate the street value of the drug to be approximately 10,000 euros on European
03:56markets.
03:57In this context, a police video captured the moment when an officer wearing blue gloves
04:02carefully removed the suspect with scissors, revealing approximately a dozen pockets of
04:08cocaine.
04:17After scanning this person, we found he had a wig containing more than 220 grams of cocaine,
04:23which he intended to take to the Netherlands.
04:28With this action, we attached the criminal revenue in Europe with an estimated price
04:32of more than 10,000 euros.
04:35This is the second detention at the airport in these checkpoints.
04:40And in Guatemala, survivors of the military dictatorship held a march to pay tribute to
04:45the more than 200,000 victims of the internal armed conflict.
04:50Santiago Otong with the details.
04:56This is the commemoration of a national day for the dignity of the victims of the internal
05:00armed conflict in Guatemala.
05:02And Mayanachi women who are currently seeking justice in the courts are also participating
05:07in the march.
05:10They join this demand for justice, this demand that the state should no longer use sexual
05:15violence as a weapon of war.
05:17It is also a demand to the army.
05:24Survivors of the military dictatorship have arrived in the Guatemalan capital to demand
05:28that the government of Bernardo Arevalo fulfill its commitment announced a year ago to promote
05:34a program for the dignification of the victims.
05:38We ask for material reparation, restitution of land, truth, and above all, to attend to
05:44the elderly women who lost their children, their husbands in the internal armed conflict.
05:53The survivors denounced that on the contrary, the government has prioritized economic compensation
05:58for more than 40,000 former paramilitaries, which contradicts the narrative of a democratic
06:03government, as they have reiterated.
06:05It is not possible that the military is being compensated.
06:11This does not fit in the mind of a civilized citizenry, to compensate the one who did wrong
06:16and to persecute the one who is doing good.
06:24In addition to the demand for the dignification of the victims, there is still a large number
06:28of survivors who continue to search for their loved ones who disappeared during the 36 years
06:32of military dictatorship.
06:35We continue in the struggle, in the search for justice, in the search for the disappeared,
06:40and on behalf of the victims of the internal armed conflict, we will continue to commemorate
06:44this day.
06:48The National Day for the Dignity of the Victims of the Internal Armed Conflict was established
06:52following the presentation of the Historical Memory Report in 1999, which revealed that
06:57the state committed crimes of genocide.
07:03And now we have a short break coming up, but first, remember you can join us on Tech Talk
07:06at TELUS for English, where you will find news in different formats, news updates, and
07:10much more.
07:11We'll be right back, stay with us.
07:14Welcome back to From the South.
07:31We continue with more information.
07:33On Wednesday, South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa opened the G20 Summit of Finance
07:37and Economic Ministers in Cape Town.
07:40Multilateralism was once again the common factor in the opening speeches.
07:44Recalling the group was founded on the principles of cooperation, the President called on the
07:50developed and emerging powers that make up this alliance to deepen multilateral cooperation.
07:56He referred to the escalation of tensions and the unprecedented global uncertainty to
08:01underline the importance of working together.
08:04The agenda of this conclave focuses on the reform of the financial architecture without
08:09neglecting to analyze the tariff threats from the United States, a country that is
08:14not attending this meeting.
08:21And from the United States, social organizations have rejected the aggressiveness of the Secretary
08:26of State Marco Rubio against Cuba, reminding him that the island's cooperation has saved
08:31lives all over the world while Washington is exporting wars.
08:35The inter-religious foundation for the community organization Pastors for Peace has recalled
08:40the initiatives and programs of the island, such as the Latin American School of Medicine,
08:46which has become not only an opportunity to study, but also to train sensitive professionals.
08:51The Americans trained in this institution take over the sectors condemned by death by
08:57the country's capitalist machine because they do not have the means to pay for million-dollar
09:03treatments.
09:10We go now to Chile, as the country has managed to restore electricity to approximately 90
09:16percent of the country's homes following a massive blackout that affected most of the
09:20territory.
09:21The blackout, which extended from the Arica region in the north to Los Lagos in the south,
09:26left millions of people without electricity and paralyzed essential services such as the
09:32subway and also the mining activity.
09:34President Gabriel Boric declared a state of emergency and established a curfew to guarantee
09:40public safety.
09:41The National Electricity Coordinator activated a recovery plan to restore service as soon
09:47as possible.
09:48As electricity is restored, authorities continue to work to fully normalize services in the
09:53country.
10:00Clara Richardson's replacement in the Southern Command traveled to Panama from February 19th
10:05to the 20th to meet with the Canal Administrator, Ricardo Tebasquez, the Foreign Minister, Javier
10:10Martinez Sacha, and Security Minister, Frank Abrego.
10:14Our colleague Rekha Chaviravandi with the details.
10:22Alvin Hosley, the new head of the Southern Command who replaced Laura Richardson in that
10:26division of the U.S. Department of Defense, visited Panama to increase the scope of the
10:31already tight control, now labeled as cooperation with key institutions in the country.
10:36The president of Panama had already signed several information exchange, security and
10:40migration agreements with the Joe Biden administration.
10:43However, the hostility of the new government did not prevent Hosley's visit from sealing
10:48larger agreements, the full extent of which has yet to be revealed.
10:59The visit of the commander of the Southern Command, let it be redundant, to our territory
11:03makes it clear, loud and clear who is giving the orders to the government, who is personally
11:08directing the operations of aggression and interference in our territory by the armed
11:12forces of the United States, by the interests, by the mandates of the White House.
11:18The acceptance on the part of the Mulino government is a disgrace, but the people will
11:22know how to respond.
11:24The people are resisting all the applications of the neoliberal model that has to do with
11:28this onslaught of imperialism.
11:35Hosley arrived in the midst of a scandal over migrants being held in a hotel and transferred
11:40to a camp in the province of Darien, from where they would be repatriated.
11:44The scope of this concession, which some criticize as a covert military base, is also
11:49unclear.
11:50On the other hand, the insistent narrative of the United States Embassy in Panama about
11:54the alleged direct threat from the Chinese Communist Party annoyed the president.
12:02We are not going to talk about lies.
12:05That is adding to the morbidity that somehow has been created around the Chinese issue
12:09in Panama and the control of the Chinese Communist Party in the canal, for God's sake.
12:20The president cannot claim here that he is only going to talk about the canal, that he
12:24is only going to talk about sovereignty.
12:27He cannot do that.
12:29The national territory cannot be alienated, sold, or ceded to anyone or to any foreign
12:33state and that base of Darien is to alienate and cede our territory.
12:41Contradictorily, while Trump throws darts at the Panamanian government, the Canal Administration
12:49signed a cyber cooperation understanding with the Southern Command that includes training
12:53in cybersecurity, supply chain security, information exchange, and technical assistance, which
12:59in turn expands the agreement signed in 2022 by the United States.
13:04The same day Hosley left, the Canal declared as a priority the construction of the Indian
13:09River Reservoir and allocated funds for it, a project rejected by the communities in the
13:13northwestern part of the basin that would be flooded.
13:16This study was carried out by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and U.S. investors are
13:21already eyeing this project.
13:22At the same time, while the concessions failed to placate Trump's onslaught, the Panamanian
13:27government and the Canal Administration hired lobbyists and lawyers in the United States
13:32to defend the country, ironically, from the United States itself.
13:57Ecuador increased from 6 to 8 the number of provinces that have declared an emergency
14:03due to the heavy rainy season that has hit the territory, leaving 9 dead and almost 1,100
14:09people affected since January.
14:12This measure was informed by the Secretary of Risk Management, Jorge Carrillo, in the
14:16face of the prolonged and powerful rainfalls that also affected some 16,500 people and
14:23more than 5,000 houses, as well as brigades and roads.
14:28In addition, on Monday, four members of a family died due to a landslide that affected
14:33a house in Manavi as a result of the downpours.
14:36This situation heavily contrasts with the drought of 2024, the worst in 60 years that
14:42resulted in forest fires and blackouts of up to 14 hours a day due to the affectations
14:49in the production of hydroelectric power plants.
14:54This is the first year this has happened.
15:01The houses around there didn't used to flood.
15:03I have a sister-in-law and her house flooded.
15:06The bakery motor, the refrigerator, everything was damaged.
15:10Her house filled up with water.
15:17Those who have houses, they're going to lose everything.
15:19Refrigerators, appliances, beds are lost and damaged because the water reaches a point
15:25where you can't fight against nature.
15:30And Brazil has announced the creation of its first vaccine against dengue fever, developed
15:35by the Butantan Institute in collaboration with the Chinese company Sushi Biologics.
15:40The announcement was led by the President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who signed executive
15:45orders to boost the production of these and other vaccines, including those against H5N8
15:52influenza and respiratory syncytial virus.
15:55With an initial investment of approximately US$221 million, the dengue vaccine is expected
16:01to be distributed throughout the healthcare network, with at least 60 million doses available
16:07next year.
16:08The single-dose vaccine has been proven to be effective against all types of dengue,
16:14representing a significant advance for Brazil, which has faced an alarming increase in cases
16:20in recent years.
16:44Don't go away.
17:14Welcome back to From the South.
17:19We continue with more information.
17:21Israel has carried out a series of strikes in Syria, leaving at least two dead in the
17:25town of Sargaya, north of Damascus.
17:28According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the attack was carried out by an Israeli
17:33drone.
17:34In addition, early Tuesday morning, Israeli fighter jets bombed several strategic sites
17:39in the al-Kiswar region, south of Damascus and in the Daraa province, extending their
17:45incursion to the administrative border with Quneitra.
17:50Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz has justified these attacks, assuring that the
17:56country will not allow southern Syria to become a southern Lebanon, referring to the influence
18:01of groups such as Hezbollah in the region.
18:10And we stay in Syria, as citizens have lifted placards and chanted slogans as they rallied
18:15against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent remarks.
18:19Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that southern Syria must be completely demilitarized, warning
18:26that Israel would not accept the presence of the forces of Damascus' Islamist-led government
18:32near its territory.
18:34In response to these statements, Syrian citizens gathered to express their disagreement.
18:39The demonstrators expressed that they were not surprised by Netanyahu's statements, while
18:43recognizing that the enemy had begun to intensify the rhetoric in their strategies.
18:55I came here to stand with my fellow citizens, to affirm Syria's unity and sovereignty and
19:00reject division calls.
19:02I also denounce Netanyahu's statements that have not yet been responded to by the new
19:06Syrian presidency.
19:10The enemy has started escalating its rhetoric in boldness.
19:16Netanyahu's remarks did not surprise us, as we are familiar with his plans and strategies.
19:21Our protest today was necessary to demand that the United Nations compel the occupation
19:26to adhere to the 1974 disengagement agreement.
19:39And in other news, the International Book Fair at the Palacio de Minería of the National
19:47Autonomous University of Mexico opened its doors this weekend.
19:51Our correspondent Antonio Aranda with all the details.
19:58The halls of the Palacio de Minería host the 46th edition of the National Autonomous
20:02University of Mexico International Book Fair, a cultural event that brings together readers
20:07of all ages.
20:13Alejandro and Lidia are regular visitors to the book fair, besides sharing their love
20:18as a couple.
20:19They also share their love for reading.
20:24We've been coming here for a while now and we've been reading and being regular readers.
20:28We love coming here.
20:29We find things here.
20:30We always say, we are not going to buy anymore, and we always leave with books.
20:38We love the place.
20:39It's a wonderful place in its architecture, and besides, you can find all kinds of reading.
20:49Teacher Alejandro seeks to encourage the habit of reading among his students.
20:54So every year, he brings his group to visit the International Book Fair at the Palacio
20:58de Minería.
21:03It is very important in contemporary times to be promoting reading, the approach to literature
21:08and the arts.
21:10Undoubtedly, the book fair has a series of events that are significant for the learning
21:14of different topics so that we consider that it is important and valuable that young people
21:18are encouraged to participate in these events and continue with the noble act of reading.
21:28For young people, this is a great way to get to know new interests.
21:33I find it very interesting to discover new books and see what I can buy, what I can acquire
21:40again, and I really like to look for art stuff.
21:48For the authors, this is an opportunity to open a direct dialogue with their readers.
21:57Some of us talk about life, about the world, and there is not much work and a good conversation
22:02arises with the reader, and you entertain yourself talking maybe with the public that
22:06hangs around here.
22:09You meet interesting people.
22:16During the International Book Fair at the Palacio de Minería, there will be hundreds
22:20of presentations, discussions and talks with authors.
22:26With more than 1,000 cultural activities, the International Book Fair continues to be
22:30the main reference in terms of literary encounters and also continues with its main objective
22:36to form critical and reflective readers with the reality of our country.
22:42And like this, we have come to the end of this news brief.
22:44You can find these and many other stories on our website at telesurreynglish.net.
22:48And also join us on social media.
22:49We are on Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, and also on TikTok.
22:54For TELESURREYNGLISH, my name is Belén de los Santos.