Free Republic

José Mujica, a member of a Marxist rebel group that terrorized Uruguay in the 1960s and 1970s who later became a mainstream politician and one of his country’s most venerated presidents, died May 13 at his home in Rincón de Cerro, in the rural outskirts of Montevideo. He was 89. Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi, a protégé of the former leader, announced the death. Mr. Mujica said in April 2024 that he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and that any treatment with chemotherapy and surgery would be complicated by an autoimmune disease he also had. Mr. Mujica, widely known as...

Radical Islam in Latin America By Chris Zambelis In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the possibility of al-Qaeda infiltrating Latin America became a priority for U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials. However, the most publicized incidents of radical Islamist activity in Latin America have not been linked to al-Qaeda but instead to the Lebanese Shi’ite Hezbollah, which is ideologically and politically close to Iran. These include the March 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the July 1994 attack against the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AIMA), also in the Argentine capital, allegedly in retaliation for...

Like yin and yang: the tarantula's gynandromorphism can be seen with the naked eye. Image courtesy of Fernando Pérez-Miles and Álvaro Laborda The stunning specimen you can see above was the first documented instance of a tarantula with gynandromorphic characteristics: one side of its body is female, while the other is male. The case first came to light in 2014 at a lab at the University of the Republic in Uruguay when a team of bug experts was observing a bunch of orange baboon tarantulas (Pterinochilus murinus) that had just molted into adulthood. After emerging from its former exoskeleton, one...

In Los Angeles no immediate decision to release Erik and Lyle Menendez... Two elderly Israelis hurt in a late-night rocket attack... Two Syrians hurt in an Israeli air attack... Tonight, President-Elect Donald Trump promising tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico...Mr. Trump's statement triggering a phone call tonight from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau... Prosecutors in France asking for a maximum 20-year prison sentence for Dominique Pelicot in the "Mazan rapes" case... Tonight Israeli officials noting no concrete certainty of any ceasefire materializing as it appears Israel, France and the US will say they agree... Biden Administration Special Prosecutor Jack Smith...drop...

How do corruption perceptions in Latin America compare to other countries?In this graphic, LVisual Capitalist's Latinometrics uses data from Transparency International to provide visual context to corruption opinions across nations.What is the Corruption Perceptions Index?Every year, a German organization called Transparency International embarks on measuring corruption in each of the world’s countries. It does so through a metric they’ve branded as the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which, as the name implies, measures how corrupt a given country is perceived by the people living there.As with any such index, the methodology leaves room for criticism. Many will notice that according to...

A growing number of countries are coming forward to join BRICS and accept the new currency for global trade. The South African ambassador Anil Sooklal hinted that the alliance could expand this year becoming BRICS+. The move could add pressure on the U.S. dollar as developing nations would end their reliance on the greenback. The global financial order could tilt from the West to the East creating a new multipolar economy. According to the latest report, the BRICS alliance has formally received applications from 25 countries to join the bloc. The 25 nations that expressed their interest to join are...

Uruguay will melt down a bronze eagle found on a sunken World War II-era German destroyer off its coast 13 years ago, and recast it as a dove of peace, the South American country's president said Friday. The 350-kilogram (770-pound) "symbol of violence and war" will be turned into a "symbol of peace and union," President Luis Lacalle Pou told journalists in the capital Montevideo. The two-meter (6.5-foot)-tall bird with a Nazi swastika gripped in its talons adorned the stern of the Admiral Graf Spee, a battleship involved in one of the first naval skirmishes of World War II.

America might still be a military and economic superpower. The dollar might be the world’s most powerful currency (and we think it’s likely to remain so). America is still a country with high salaries, and coming to America is still a decent way to make a fortune, if one has the right skills and the right connections. And yet, for the average person on the ground, America is no longer really a First World country in the sense of being a country where a high-quality way of life can be had for an affordable price. For young people, the “American...

Two buses of illegal migrants sent by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott arrived at Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence in Washington, D.C. on Thursday morning, according to Fox News. The buses, which came from Eagle Pass, Texas, transported 75 to 100 illegal migrants from Venezuela, Uruguay, Colombia and Mexico, Fox News reported. They arrived at Harris’ residence at the D.C. Naval Observatory early Thursday. The Biden administration has tasked Harris with addressing the “root causes of migration” as southern border migrant encounters are set to surpass 2 million in fiscal year 2022, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)...

The analyses drew from a DNA sample of a man that dated back 800 years and another from a woman that went back 1,500 years, both well before the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas. The samples were collected from an archeological site in eastern Uruguay by co-corresponding author Gonzalo Figueiro, a biological anthropologist at the University of the Republic.The results of the analyses showed a surprising connection to ancient individuals from Panama—the land bridge that connects North and South America—and to eastern Brazil, but not to modern Amazonians. These findings support the theory proposed by some archeologists...

United States torturer Dan Mitrione was executed on this date in 1970 by Uruguayan guerrillas. A onetime Indiana beat cop, Dan Mitrione graduated to an agent of empire via a USAID program called the Office of Public Safety. This organ headlined the putatively amicable mission of extending training to foreign police officers, both in their home countries and in the American capital. OPS’s real purpose, according to A.J. Langguth‘s Hidden Terrors: The Truth About U.S. Police Operations in Latin America, was: "allowing the CIA to plant men with the local police in sensitive places around the world; and after careful...

Wikileaks and other sources reporting about an internal email from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that points to a biased report being produced on an alleged chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government in the city of Douma in April 2018.... Wikileaks founder Julian Assange could die in prison.... "Have no fear all will end well for everyone" That was the Sunday morning tweet from President Trump on Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher..... On Sunday night we have word of the firing of the Secretary of the Navy.... President Trump tweeting tonight in part regarding Eddie Gallagher..... Results...

Recent massive street protests in Ecuador and Chile could be interpreted as evidence of a left-wing comeback in Latin America. But tonight there is evidence in election results coming out of Argentina..... Also tonight election results in the presidential race in Uruguay with the ruling Left finding a tougher result.... A Democrat Congresswoman who sits on one of the committee's involved in the "impeachment inquiry" of President Trump announcing her resignation..... "Last night the United States brought the world's number one terrorist leader to justice" The words of President Trump speaking at the White House Sunday morning..... The protests continued...

A large electrical failure created a blackout in Argentina and Uruguay on Sunday, leaving both countries without power. Areas of Brazil and Paraguay were also impacted by the outage, which happened just after 7:00 a.m. according to the BBC. A massive failure in the electrical interconnection system left all of Argentina and Uruguay without power," electricity supply company, Edesur said in a tweet. The blackout occurred as people were getting ready to head to the polls for local elections in Argentina. It's not clear how the blackout will impact the voting process. Alejandra Martinez, an Edesur spokeswoman, described the blackout...

A massive crowd on the streets of Hong Kong Sunday as the protest continues against the extradition law. Organizers say some two million people took to the streets.... 30 killed and 40 wounded in a suicide bombing attack in northeastern Nigeria..... At least 12 killed, more than a dozen wounded in a jihadist rocket attack on a government held area in northwestern Syria... Turkey says it attacked the Syrian army in northwestern Syria in response to an attack by Syrian government forces on a Turkish observation post... Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the Russian S-400 air defense system is...

In an unprecedented move last week, India voted in support of Israel at the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organisation named ‘Shahed’. This is the first time India has taken a step back from its decades-old position on the two-state theory under which New Delhi sees both Israel and Palestine as separate and independent countries, seeking to bring peace in West Asia.The vote, which took place on 6 June at the UN, saw countries such as US, France, Germany, India, Japan, UK, South Korea and Canada polling in favour of...

Rep. Ilan Omar (D-MN) claimed the Trump administration was waging a “coup” against the Venezuelan government for recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaido, who temporarily assumed presidential powers in an effort to unseat Nicolas Maduro. “A US backed coup in Venezuela is not a solution to the dire issues they face,” she said on Twitter. “Trump’s efforts to install a far right opposition will only incite violence and further destabilize the region. We must support Mexico, Uruguay & the Vatican’s efforts to facilitate a peaceful dialogue.” Ilhan Omar ✔@IlhanMN A US backed coup in Venezuela is not a solution to the...

The European Union and Mexico reached an agreement on Saturday on a new free trade deal, a coup for both parties in the face of increased protectionism from the United States under President Donald Trump. Since its plans for a trade alliance with the United States were frozen after Trump’s election victory, the EU has focused instead on trying to champion open markets and seal accords with other like-minded countries. The agreement in principle with Mexico follows a deal struck last year with Japan and comes ahead of talks next week with the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and...

Israel is currently holding talks with 10 different nations over the possible relocation of their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely revealed Thursday... Hotovely told American Jewish leaders that Israel is currently engaged in talks with 10 different countries regarding the relocation of their embassies... Hotovely also discussed the politicization of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and the Palestinian Authority leadership's use of what Hotovely termed "fake refugees" as a political weapon against Israel. "For the first time, the Israeli leadership is no longer willing...

Proto-Sinaitic led to the development of the Phoenician alphabet and its variants, many characters from which are clearly visible within the Uruguayan petroglyphs. Based upon this hypothesis, the characters would be dated from 1850 BC to 1100 BC. After this date (1100 BC) came the fully developed, 22 character, Phoenician 'international' writing system subsequently used by all West Semitic languages. I observed that many of the 'new international' characters do not appear among the petroglyphs suggesting movement away from this particular coastline 'port of call' some time after 1100 BC... Proto-Sinaitic has, allegedly, been found in Brazil at Itacoatiara, near...