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Pentagon won’t release full video of Caribbean strike that killed two people, Hegseth says

The Pentagon will not make public the full video of a September attack in the Caribbean that killed two individuals as they were clinging to the wreckage of a burning boat, Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. The strike has been the most controversial development in Donald Trump’s campaign against Venezuela, which has seen US forces blow up vessels alleged to be transporting narcotics from the South American country to the United States, seize an oil tanker and threaten further military action against the president, Nicolás Maduro. Legal experts have raised concerns that US forces may have committed a war crime by killing the survivors of an initial air strike on 2 September, and that the campaign is illegal. Democrats have called for the release of video detailing that attack, and Trump at one point supported making the footage public but later backtracked and deferred to Hegseth. As he left a classified briefing conducted for senators alongside Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, the Pentagon chief said he would not release it in its entirety. “In keeping with longstanding department of war policy, Department of Defense policy, of course, we’re not going to release a top-secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters. The video was not shown in the briefing, according to lawmakers who attended, but Hegseth said that he would hold a viewing on Wednesday for members of the House and Senate committees on the armed services along with Frank Bradley, the admiral who commanded the strike. Chuck Schumer, the top Senate democrat, said that he demanded Hegseth show the full video of the 2 September strike to all senators in their behind-closed-doors briefing, but the secretary refused. “The administration came to this briefing empty handed,” Schumer said, noting that anything shown in the classified setting would not be made public. “That’s the major question that we face, and if they can’t be transparent on this, how can you trust their transparency on all the other issues swirling about in the Caribbean?” Chris Coons, a Democratic senator, said lawmakers were told the full video could not be shown due to “classification” issues, which he struggled to believe because Trump, Hegseth and other defense officials have repeatedly posted portions of footage from other attacks. “It is hard to square the widespread routine prompt posting of detailed videos of every stripe with a concern that posting a portion of the video of the first strike would violate a variety of classification concerns,” the Delaware lawmaker said. Some Democrats objected to not being able to see the video, noting that they held positions in committees that deal with issues related to Venezuela. “I have asked, and will continue to ask, to see that – why, as a member of Congress and the ranking member in the foreign affairs committee, I’m not allowed to see it,” Democratic congressman Gregory Meeks told reporters after joining other House lawmakers for a briefing with Rubio and Hegseth. The United States has attacked more than 20 vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean since the beginning of the campaign in early September, killing at least 90 people that Washington alleges were smuggling drugs. In the most recent attack announced Monday, US Southern Command said it had hit three vessels and killed eight individuals. Lawmakers in both the Senate and House of Representatives have introduced war powers resolutions intended to stop the president from engaging in hostilities against Venezuela without Congress’s permission. Both chambers could vote on the measures this week, but it’s unclear if they would have enough Republican support to pass. Several Trump allies who emerged from Hegseth’s briefing with senators said they had no reservations about his actions against Venezuela or targeting of boats. “The process we have is legally sound. It’s been supported by legal opinions for a quarter century now of how we find these people, we fix them, and we finish them,” said Tim Sheehy, a Montana senator and former Navy Seal. While previous US administrations have stopped and detained vessels suspected of carrying drugs, Sheehy implied such operations were now too risky. “Keep in mind, if we don’t drop a bomb, we decide to interdict, as is being said by many folks, we have an obligation to send a team to interdict,” he said. “Interdicting a vessel underway, is perhaps the most dangerous mission we have in our entire military inventory.” Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina senator, said that Trump should not stop his campaign against Venezuela until the removal from power of Maduro, who the United States has designated a “narco-terrorist” and maintains stole last year’s presidential election. “If he’s still standing when this is over, this is a fatal, major mistake to our standing in the world. If, after all this, Maduro is still in power, that’s the worst possible signal you can send to Russia, China, Iran,” Graham said. Republican Rand Paul has been critical of the air strikes, and said the briefing did not allay his concerns over the campaign’s legality. “One of my criticisms has been that there really isn’t a legal or a moral justification for killing unarmed people, and I’ve heard nothing to contradict my previous assertion that these people were unarmed,” the Kentucky senator said. Don Bacon, a moderate Republican congressman who will retire after next year, said he supported Trump’s policy towards Venezuela but thinks Congress should vote to authorize it. “I heard what I thought was reassuring, a message that we’re trying to do this right,” Bacon said. “I think they should have to have congressional authorization. I would be supportive of it, if we got to vote on it.”

Serbian president threatens reprisals after plans for Belgrade Trump Tower thwarted

Serbia’s authoritarian ruler has threatened reprisals after protesters and a prosecutor thwarted plans for a Trump Tower in Belgrade. In a rare setback for the Trump family’s global moneymaking campaign, the $500m development was abandoned after Monday’s indictment of a Serbian minister on suspicion of abusing his office to support the project. “We have lost an exceptional investment,” Aleksandar Vučić, Serbia’s embattled president, said on Tuesday. “I will personally ensure that everyone who participated in causing this damage is held accountable.” Vučić, whose cosiness with Russia’s Vladimir Putin has left him few western allies, had personally courted the Trumps. But thousands of demonstrators have staged protests at the site of the proposed hotel and apartment building, a historically resonant spot long off-limits to developers. A spokesperson for Affinity Partners, an investment company run by Trump’s son-in-law and diplomatic envoy, Jared Kushner, which was developing the buildings alongside the Trump Organization, said: “Because meaningful projects should unite rather than divide, and out of respect for the people of Serbia and the City of Belgrade, we are withdrawing our application and stepping aside at this time.” Since Donald Trump won back the White House 13 months ago, his sons have struck a spree of deals from the Gulf to Vietnam that have helped to swell the family’s income to an estimated $864m in the first half of this year alone. The president’s financial disclosures show that, while Donald Trump Jr and Eric are formally in charge of the Trump Organization, profits still flow to their father. The Trumps’ critics call it “pay to play”: the perception that enriching the first family can buy the president’s favour. The White House has responded to questions whether commercial considerations have influenced pardons, technology transfers, sanctions relief and tariff reductions by insisting that “neither the president nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest”. The Trumps have mulled adding a Belgrade property to their international portfolio since at least 2013. In 2024, Kushner came to Serbia to announce that one was finally to be built. In January, days after Trump’s inauguration, Eric revealed it would bear the family name. Two months later, Trump Jr was in Belgrade to see Vučić. While Serbians were filling the streets with protests against his regime’s alleged corruption and incompetence, the president and Trump Jr enjoyed what Vučić called a “cordial conversation” about “bilateral relations” – comments that suggested blurred lines between business and geopolitics. Yet the project was already in trouble. The site had protected status as a place of cultural heritage. Once a gem of modernist architecture, it was preserved as the ruins of the genocidal Slobodan Milošević regime’s military headquarters, bombed by Nato in 1999. Nine days after Trump’s November 2024 election victory, the Vučić regime revoked this protected status. But the necessary paperwork had been falsified, the head of the cultural heritage institute said after his arrest in May. Vučić spoke darkly of “corrupt gangs” of prosecutors bringing “fabricated cases”. But the prosecutor, Mladen Nenadić, pressed on. He made further arrests, culminating on Monday in the indictment of Vučić’s culture minister, Nikola Selaković, and other officials “in connection with the illegalities in the removal of the status of cultural property” from the site of the planned Trump Tower. Selaković denies wrongdoing. None of these allegations relate to the Trumps’ conduct or Kushner’s. Vučić said on Tuesday that those who opposed the Trump Tower wanted to “destroy Serbia”. The country faces an energy crisis after the Trump administration in October imposed sanctions on its Russian-owned oil refinery. Estela Radonjic Zivkov, an official at the heritage institute who defied pressure from agents of the state security agency to support the project, welcomed the decision to abandon the project. She told the Guardian: “This decision demonstrates that public interest, the rule of law, and professional integrity cannot be permanently overridden by political will and private interests.”

EU to regulate short-term rentals in plan to tackle affordable homes shortage

The European Commission has announced it will regulate short-term rentals and seek to curb speculation in the housing market, under the EU’s first-ever plan to tackle a shortage of affordable homes. Housing is largely a matter for local and national authorities, but the issue has climbed up the EU agenda, as soaring rents and housing costs have priced out young people, key workers and families from many European cities. Dan Jørgensen, the EU’s first commissioner for housing, said European democracy was at stake: “If we don’t solve this issue, we risk leaving a void that extremist political forces will take.” Publishing a plan on Tuesday, the European Commission said it planned to draft legislation on the booming trade in short-term rentals via online platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com by the end of 2026. EU officials insist they do not intend to ban short-term holiday lets, but say local authorities need greater legal certainty about actions they can take to address the issue. Barcelona, for example, faces a legal complaint from the association representing Airbnb and Expedia over a law to ban apartment rentals to tourists by 2028. The European Holiday Home Association argues the Catalan decree is “unjustified” and breaches EU law on the freedom to provide services. In the wake of such legal challenges, Brussels officials say an EU law will enable local authorities to take “justified and proportionate measures” to control short-term holiday rentals. Draft legislation, which will not be published until December 2026, could effectively propose a “white list” of options available to local authorities in areas of housing stress, such as caps on the number of nights a home can be rented out for short-term stays. “We are not forcing cities or regions or member states to do these things but we are making it possible to solve these problems where they arise,” Jørgensen said. The commission, the EU’s fiscal regulator, will also grant member states greater leeway to offer subsidies or incentives to finance affordable housing. The plans to curb speculation are more open-ended. EU officials say they will analyse “housing price dynamics, including available evidence of speculation patterns” and seek to shed more light on property ownership. The Socialist group in the European parliament welcomed the plan, which had been their key demand for supporting Ursula von der Leyen’s second term as commission president. The Socialists and Democrats (S&D), a diminished force in the more right-leaning parliament, who have recently lost key votes on deregulation, were quick to claim the affordable housing plan as a victory. S&D leader Iratxe García Pérez described the plan as a “historic milestone” in response to a “social emergency” as she called for quick and ambitious implementation “with massive investments”. But the plan also faced criticism for being no more than “a framework of intentions and future timelines”. Maria Ohisalo, a Finnish Green MEP, also said the plan lacked “a more decisive approach to real estate speculation, which plays a fundamental role in the housing crisis”. The centre-right European People’s party housing spokesperson, Nikolina Brnjac, welcomed the emphasis on cutting red tape and accelerating housebuilding. The commission – as part of a broader deregulation drive under the banner of “simplification” – has pledged to map EU rules to assess where they may be putting “unnecessary administrative burden” on small and medium-sized housebuilding companies. Between 2010 and 2024, house prices increased by 53% across the EU, and rents by 25%, while general prices increased by 39%, according to Eurostat. But the averages mask significant variations. Rents in Estonia surged by 208% over this period – with rises of 177% in Lithuania, 108% in Ireland and 107% in Hungary. People in cities struggle most with unaffordability. Almost 10% of city dwellers lived in a household where total housing costs were more than 40% of disposable income in 2024, defined by Eurostat as “housing cost overburden rate”. City dwellers in Greece (29%) and Denmark (23%) were the most likely to be burdened with such high housing costs. The mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Colboni, told the Guardian this week that housing costs were akin to “a new pandemic” as he and 16 other city leaders urged the EU to help mobilise at least €300bn (£262bn) a year in public and private funds to promote the construction of affordable homes. The EU is not following that call for an affordable housing fund modelled on the pandemic recovery scheme, which was financed by EU borrowing. But officials pointed to an announcement from European public and regional banks on Tuesday promising a €375bn investment in social and affordable housing by 2029.

US designates Colombia’s biggest drug cartel Gulf Clan as terrorist organization

The US has designated the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s largest and most powerful illegal armed criminal group, as a foreign terrorist organisation. The notorious drug-trafficking militia with its roots in far-right paramilitary forces, is present in at least 20 of Colombia’s departments, and dominates people- and drug-smuggling routes through the Darién Gap. It has also battled unsuccessfully against leftwing rebels for control of criminal networks along the Venezuelan border. In recent years, the group has attempted to present itself as a political movement similar to Colombian insurgent factions groups, which would grant it different conditions at peace talks, but it is not widely considered to have concrete political aims. In a statement on Tuesday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, described the Gulf Clan – which calls itself the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC) – as a “violent and powerful criminal organisation with thousands of members” whose “primary source of income is cocaine trafficking, which it uses to fund its violent activities”. Although other criminal groups in Colombia – the world’s leading cocaine-producing country – have been designated as terrorist groups in the past, Tuesday’s ruling marks the first under the current administration of Donald Trump, which has targeted six cartels in Mexico and two in Venezuela. The move is likely to exacerbate tensions between Trump and Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, who strongly opposes the US president’s pressure campaign against Venezuela and the deadly airstrikes that have killed more than 90 people off the coasts of both countries in the Pacific and the Caribbean. The two leaders have traded public barbs for weeks. After warning that any country producing narcotics was a potential target – and singling out Colombia – Trump said last week that Petro “is going to have himself some big problems if he doesn’t wise up”. Petro, in turn, warned Trump to “not wake the jaguar” with threats of military action. The US has used its so-called war on drugs to justify the strikes on boats it alleges are ferrying drug shipments. Petro has described the attacks a “murder”. Early on Tuesday, the US Southern Command said it had carried out new strikes on three vessels near Colombia’s Pacific coast, killing eight people. Other Colombian criminal organisations have been featured on the US foreign terrorist organisations list for years, including the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissident factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) that took up arms again after the 2016 peace agreement. Some Colombian officials hoped that the Gulf Clan might be weakened by the capture and extradition to the US of its main leader in 2022. Instead, the group unleashed a campaign of terror, assassinating police officers and local leaders and holding large swaths of the country hostage. The Gulf Clan is now engaged in halting talks with the government but is considered the main obstacle to Petro’s stumbling “total peace” plan to end the country’s many-sided armed conflict.

Peace plans ready to be presented to Russia in days, says Zelenskyy

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said proposals negotiated with US officials on a peace deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine could be soon finalised, after which American envoys will present them to the Kremlin. After two days of talks in Berlin, US officials said on Monday they had resolved “90%” of the problematic issues between Russia and Ukraine, but despite the positive spin it is not clear that an end to the war is any closer, particularly as the Russian side is absent from the current talks. The Ukrainian president said if Russia rejected the proposals it would then be a “fair request” to ask the US for more weapons and further sanctions against Moscow. In a series of comments to journalists via WhatsApp in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Zelenskyy said the US Congress was expected to vote on the offered security guarantees for Ukraine in order to make them legally binding. He said the US would also hold consultations with the Russians, followed by high-level meetings that could take place as soon as this weekend. “We are counting on five documents. Some of them concern security guarantees: legally binding, that is, voted on and approved by the US Congress,” he said, adding that the guarantees would “mirror article 5” of Nato. However, Zelenskyy made clear that on the key issue of the Donbas region – which Russia is seeking to control in its entirety, including areas it has not yet occupied – Ukraine saw no change in the Russian position, adding: “They want our Donbas. And we do not want to give away our Donbas. “The Americans want to find a compromise, [and] they offer a ‘free economic zone’ [in the Donbas]. And I will emphasise once again: ‘free economic zone’ does not mean under the leadership of the Russian Federation.” US officials have declined to give specific details of what the security package was likely to include, and what would happen if Russia attempted to seize more land after a peace deal was reached. They did, however, confirm that the US did not plan to put boots on the ground in Ukraine. Leaders of the UK, France, Germany and eight other European countries said in a joint statement that troops from a “coalition of the willing” could “assist in the regeneration of Ukraine’s forces, in securing Ukraine’s skies, and in supporting safer seas, including through operating inside Ukraine”. They stopped short, however, of suggesting these would be guarantees that would match Nato’s article 5, and there is little sign that Russia is anywhere close to agreeing to the kind of package under discussion between Washington and Kyiv. The head of Ukraine’s delegation to the talks, Rustem Umerov, also underlined he saw a Russian rejection of proposals as a potential outcome in which case Ukraine would seek more weapons from the US. On Tuesday, the Kremlin said it had not seen the details of proposals on security guarantees. “We have seen newspaper reports so far, but we will not respond to them. We have not seen any texts yet,” its spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters. Peskov added that Moscow, which has in the past demanded Kyiv cede territories Russia claims as its own and ruled out the presence of any foreign troops in Ukraine, had not changed its stance on the conflict and the achievement of its military goals. “Our position is well known. It is consistent, it is transparent and it is clear to the Americans. And, in general, it is clear to the Ukrainians as well,” Peskov said. Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said Russia would not agree to troops from Nato countries operating in Ukraine “under any circumstances”. Asked about a potential for deployment of European forces in Ukraine outside the Nato framework, he added: “No, no, and no again.” The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said on Monday that peace was closer than at any time since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. But privately, European officials say that at this stage the talks are more about keeping the Trump White House onboard with supporting Ukraine than about reaching a lasting deal between Moscow and Kyiv. The main sticking point between the Ukrainian team and US negotiators remains the issue of land. Trump wants Ukraine to give up the parts of the Donbas region it still holds, while Ukraine wants to freeze the lines at the current point of contact. The US negotiation team, led by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, has proposed a compromise solution whereby Ukraine would withdraw, but Russia would not advance and the demilitarised area would become “a free economic zone”. Russia has suggested it could use police and national guard formations rather than the military, implying it would still expect to control the territory. “I want to stress once again: a ‘free economic zone’ does not mean under the control of Russia. Neither de jure nor de facto will we recognise Donbas – its temporarily occupied part – as Russian. Absolutely,” said Zelenskyy. It is not clear how the two sides will proceed on the territorial issue, with Zelenskyy previously suggesting that a compromise solution such as a free economic zone could be theoretically possible if the Ukrainian people voted for it in a referendum. The critical stumbling block is likely to be when the plans are put to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who has given no sign he is willing to compromise on his war aims. “If Putin rejects everything, we will end up with exactly what we are experiencing on our plane right now – turbulence,” said Zelenskyy, recording the comments after his plane took off from Berlin for the Netherlands. “I believe the United States will apply sanctions pressure and provide us with more weapons if he rejects everything. I think that would be a fair request from us to the Americans,” he said.

Relief and reward for passengers as Rome’s ‘museum stations’ finally open

Metro passengers in Rome can now peruse ancient history while in transit after the opening of two long-awaited stations showcasing a vast trove of treasures unearthed during their construction – including the remnants of a military barracks built during the reign of the emperor Trajan and 28 wells, along with the votives offered up in thanks. The Colosseo-Fori Imperiali, a sprawling station beside the Colosseum descending across four levels, and Porta Metronia, in the area of San Giovanni, form part of the driverless Metro C, an underground line that connects the suburbs of Rome to the centre. Tuesday’s grand opening of the two “museum stations” promises some relief for Rome’s commuters, as it comes after years of delays, while providing plenty of additional archaeological delights for tourists to marvel at during their visit to the Italian capital. The underground network in Rome, which includes Metro A and B, is limited, partly because construction works inevitably reveal long-buried history. Colosseo-Fori Imperiali contains the remains of a Republican-era townhouse and a thermal bath believed to date back to the beginning of Rome’s imperial period, and 28 wells that were used long before the first aqueduct was invented. Dozens of relics found during the metro station’s construction are displayed behind glass screens, including jugs, bowls and votives, such as a stag’s antlers and hairpins, found in the wells. Meanwhile, at Porta Metronia, located in Piazzale Ipponio, a vast military barracks including a commander’s house featuring frescoes and mosaic floors was discovered. The barracks, found at a depth between 7 and 12 metres, are believed to date back to the early second century AD – before the construction of the Aurelian walls, the huge defence around the city. “The military complex was an exceptional find,” Simona Moretta, the scientific director of the excavation, told reporters, adding that soldiers were either part of the emperor’s guard or based there for city security. However, although trains are running from Porta Metronia, passengers will have to wait until early next year before the museum opens. The opening of the two stations adds a further 3km (1.9 miles) to Metro C, whose extension, built by a consortium led by Webuild, will eventually branch out to include Piazza Venezia before heading towards the area of the Vatican. Pietro Salini, the chief executive of Webuild, said their delivery represented “a strategic milestone that combines in an exemplary way progress in infrastructure with the conservation of our heritage”. Carlo Andrea, a tour guide and historian, has been keeping close watch of the construction progress on his blog Odissea Quotidiana. “It’s been an eternal wait,” Andrea, who plans to give tours in the stations, said as he visited Colosseo-Fori Imperiali. “There has been a bit of resignation too as there’s this sense among Romans that the city will never have the same infrastructure as other European capitals. But then on days like this, we’re reminded that it’s important to build the subway, even if it’s a challenge in Rome, also because it brings us wonderful things.”

Victims of Iran’s 2022 crackdown file criminal complaint against 40 officials

A group of victims of the Iranian government crackdown during the Women, Life, Freedom protests in 2022 have filed the first criminal complaint against 40 named Iranian officials alleging crimes against humanity, including targeted blinding and murder. The request for a criminal investigation to be launched has been filed in Argentina by a group of Iranians with the help of the non-profit Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. The Argentinian legal system is especially open to accommodating universal jurisdiction claims. The filing claims the response from Iran’s security forces to the protests in Iran included “shooting live ammunition, paintball guns, metal pellets not intended to be shot at close range, and other projectiles at protesters. They also carried out mass arrests, arbitrary detentions, custodial torture, and ultimately even executions of protesters that continue to the present day.” Specific officers across the range of Iran’s security services have been named in the filing, but their names are being kept confidential. One of those making the claim, UK-based Mahsa Piraei, told the Guardian “what is being pursued here is not revenge in a personal sense, but accountability and truth”. Her mother, Minoo Majidi, 62, was shot dead in September 2022. Autopsy reports showed more than 167 metal pellets had been fired into her back at point-blank range. She had been on a street protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who was killed in a Tehran police station after being arrested for not complying with Iran’s rules around the hijab. Piraei, one of Majidi’s three children, lived in the UK at the time of her mother’s brutal death, but returned to Iran at great risk to visit her grave. Her sister Roya posted a photograph of herself by her mother’s grave with her hair shaved on her private social media account. A friend published the photograph which went viral, forcing Roya to seek exile in Turkey. Piraei said: “Through legal filings and documentation the aim is to preserve evidence, name crimes and prevent erasure.” She added her mother’s death was “not an isolated incident but part of a systematic practice. Even if protesters were not individually targeted for death, the actions of the security services show a reckless and knowing disregard for human life. Firing such weapons into crowds made serious injury or death foreseeable and effectively intentional.” She added: “Over time my grief did not disappear, but it became clearer to me that staying silent would be another form of loss. I no longer measure myself by whether I can ‘fix’ what happened because I cannot. Instead I measure myself by whether I refuse to let my mother’s life and death be erased.” The other two litigants who can be identified are Kowsar Eftekhari and Mersedeh Shahinkar, both victims of blinding at close range by paintball guns. Eftekhari, a 23-year-old university student, was shot in the right eye in October 2022. She protested in the streets for weeks, witnessing fellow protesters being shot with live ammunition and being beaten herself with electronic batons by security officers. During a protest on 12 October, Eftekhari was at a demonstration near Tehran University when a plainclothes officer shot her with seven or eight paintballs at the range of a metre. He then allegedly shot her in the eye when she did not respond to his demand to disperse. A video of the attack including blood pouring from her right eye went viral, and she was eventually given asylum in Germany. Shahinkar, 38 at the time she was attacked on 18 October, only realised what had happened when she felt something warm on her face. Protesters warned her not to get into an ambulance since she might be taken to a police station. When Shahinkar finally arrived at a medical clinic, a staff member told her to leave because they would not treat protesters. But a doctor examined her and sent her to a hospital, where Shahinkar pretended a rock accidentally injured her eye so that she would not be denied treatment. She posted her injuries on her Instagram page, and in January 2023 plainclothes officers approached her, leading her to flee Iran. She collected the 2023 Sakharov prize, which honours individuals or groups who defend human rights and basic freedoms, as a representative of the Women, Life, Freedom movement. The group seeking the criminal investigation say the filing is not viewed just as a legal complaint with no hope of a practical outcome. Universal jurisdiction allows complaints to be investigated in a third country even if the offence did not occur in that country and the offender is not there. Argentina has some of the most liberal rules on universal jurisdiction claims in the world. In 2014 alone the principle of universal jurisdiction led to 27 convictions, the opening of least 36 cases, covering crimes committed in 32 countries. Cases are currently being prosecuted in 16 different countries. As the request is solely for a criminal investigation, and this is not a civil lawsuit, there is no demand by the complainants for money damages. The complaint would not be the first case against Iranian officials brought in Argentina. In June 2025, an Argentinian judge ordered that in absentia trials begin against seven Iranian suspects, along with three Lebanese individuals, for the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in which 85 people were killed and hundreds wounded.

At least three authors withdraw from Hay festival in protest at Machado invite

At least three writers have withdrawn from next month’s Hay festival in Cartagena, Colombia, in protest at an invitation extended to the Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado. The main reason cited by them is Machado’s support for Donald Trump’s four-month pressure campaign against Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro and her comments in favour of a potential US military intervention in the Caribbean country. Their boycott stands as another sign that Machado – who has close ties with far-right leaders in the region, including Argentina’s Javier Milei and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro – is far from a consensus figure in Latin America. On Monday, Machado was among the many rightwing leaders worldwide who cheered the election of the ultra-conservative José Antonio Kast – an avowed admirer of the dictator Augusto Pinochet – as Chile’s next president. In a letter announcing her withdrawal from the Hay festival Cartagena, the acclaimed Colombian author Laura Restrepo described Machado as “an active supporter of US military intervention in Latin America”. The author of Delirium added: “No platform should be given or audience facilitated for someone who, like Ms Machado, promotes positions and activities that subject our peoples and undermine the sovereignty of our countries. Imperialist intervention is not something to debate, but something to reject outright.” Another Colombian author, Giuseppe Caputo, cited the deadly US airstrikes on boats that have so far killed more than 90 people many of them in the same Caribbean waters that border Cartagena. “I think that, given the grave moment of escalating imperial violence, it is better to withdraw from a festival held on the shores of the bombarded Caribbean Sea, which has decided to invite someone who dedicated a peace prize to the fascist responsible for these crimes,” wrote Caputo on his social media, recalling that Machado dedicated her Nobel prize to Trump. Machado recently told CBS that she “absolutely supports President Trump’s strategy” on Venezuela and that the “cost of staying in power” for Maduro must be increased “by force”. The Venezuelan opposition leader suffered a vertebra fracture during her film-like escape from Venezuela, where she had been in hiding for more than a year, to Oslo, Norway, to receive the prize. After a clandestine 5,500-mile journey that involved passing through multiple checkpoints on land, being rescued by a team led by a US special forces veteran after 12 hours in a flimsy boat in the rough Caribbean waters, and a flight on a private jet to Oslo, she ultimately missed the Nobel ceremony but took part in events and press conferences. It is unclear when or how she will return to Venezuela. Her remote participation in the Hay festival Cartagena – in a conversation with the Venezuelan journalist and former minister of trade and industry Moisés Naím – is still scheduled January 30. Machado’s team said she would not comment on the writers’ protest. The festival, which was founded in Wales and later expanded to other countries, issued a statement saying it respected the authors’ decisions but believed that open and diverse dialogue is essential to defending “the free exchange of ideas and freedom of expression”. “It is important to clarify that the Hay festival does not align itself with or endorse the opinions, positions or statements of those who take part in its activities, nor their political views,” it added. The Dominican writer and activist Mikaelah Drullard, the third to pull out in protest, said the festival’s invitation to Machado amounted to a validation of everything she says and “an ideological weapon to promote her justifications for US intervention, invasion and militarisation of the Caribbean, and of her delight at the success of the ultra-right Kast in Chile’s election.”

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