- 2 months ago
* Colombia: historical pact coalition holds primaries
* Hurricane Melissa strengthens to category 4
* Hurricane Melissa strengthens to category 4
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00:00national legislative elections are underway in Argentina as 58% of registered voters have
00:19already cast their ballots colombia's historical pact coalition is holding its primaries this
00:27Sunday to choose its next candidates for the May 2026 presidential elections and Hurricane Melissa
00:37currently in the Central Caribbean Sea has front thanked and reached category 4 hello and welcome
00:46to from the south my name is Belen de los Santos and from a tercer studios in Havana Cuba we begin
00:51with the news we begin with the information as we were saying national legislative elections are
01:08underway at this moment in Argentina as voters cast their ballots to select the new members of
01:14the legislative cabinet polling stations have opened at 8 a.m. local time throughout the country so that
01:21more than 36 million Argentinians can vote for the 127 deputies and 24 senators both part of these
01:32legislative chambers according to polls the union for the homeland coalition with its different forms
01:39is the main opposition force to the ruling Liberty advances party let's recall that this is a provincial
01:45election in this context in this context the latest report issued by the National Electoral Council of the South
01:53American nation assured that 58% of registered voters had cast their ballot by 5 p.m. local time a percentage
02:03that is below the turnout for the 2021 legislative elections the first election results are expected to be
02:10announced at 9 p.m. in accordance with Argentine electoral law
02:16also in this context Argentine president Javier Millet has cast his vote in Buenos Aires meanwhile in La Plata district the governor of the province of Buenos Aires
02:30Axel Gizalov also voted alongside his wife at the Florian Ferreira health school authorities report that the election day moves forward in complete normality and without major incidents
02:44and precisely at this moment to go a little bit deeper into this topic we welcome Argentinian journalist Pablo Malizia hello Pablo thank you for joining us here in from the
03:00south my pleasure my pleasure to be with you and all the audience of Teresa it's a pleasure to have you with us one of the things we're just talking about this midterm elections was the turnout 58% so far there's been a lot of talk about participation being key in this election can you tell us a little bit more on that
03:22well we all I think everybody expected a higher number of voters for this election the situation is very complicated and a lot of people are really angry with the with the situation
03:40I think that a lot of voters that have voted for Millet in the past elections in the ballotage in the second term for presidential election are also angry and perhaps a lot of people that didn't went to vote today are Millet's people because they are angry because they feel they were
04:10cheated and cheated and they were they betrayed their trust so a way for them to punish him is precisely not going to vote today it is a let's say it's very it's a very important election in Argentina one of the most important midterm selection ever
04:30because we all witnessed in the last two weeks the way that the US government has been interfering into domestic Argentinian politics actually the president of the United States Donald Trump is in fact also the president of Argentina nowadays
04:54Argentina nowadays and he is also the chief of the officialist campaign we can say he is also the chief he determined everything that how it has to be done in the final part of the campaign and we also saw we had to witness the
05:24information that important to the German former president of the first two weeks before he was also the president of the president of the United States
05:26were silent as well you really was delighted to hear about our opponents with very catspatch they were
05:35a part of this at the time I think it was a part of this was a event and they came from there to be a national security point in Haiti or any author on their perspective
05:36Okay yeah, that's a part of it yeah not the time OST we started the charge of, what seem to reparator
05:42at all was goodunding to be decided to have a bad discussion to vierUlings he developed a negotiation.
05:48private meeting with the president in a way, so they would give him all the instructions,
05:55all the things that he must accomplish, let's say tomorrow, the day after the election, right?
06:04So this is a very, very important and uncertain election in Argentina. If you ask my personal
06:12opinion, I think that, well, it's obviously too early to guess the future, but I think that there
06:24are high chances that the Peronist parties, that the Peronist coalition will win this election,
06:36but at the same time, the government has prepared from the last, in the last days before today,
06:44they already prepared a tricky system to count the results. So they will try to say that actually
06:54they won, even if you don't believe it, it will happen. They will try to find a way to say that
07:01they actually won the election, even if they didn't, because they are going to do some tricky
07:07math, some tricky math, you know, and putting this number with that number and mixing things that are
07:14not to be mixed in order to get a better number for their performance. So this is going to be a very,
07:24very complicated post-election day, because we will witness certainly different opinions,
07:36half of the media will say that President Millet won, because they actually respond to Millet's wishes.
07:48You know, I'm talking about mass-concentrated media, you know, the biggest, the biggest and richest
07:55media in the country, they will for sure try to follow this intention of the government of making
08:05their defeat as if it was a victory, actually. And on the other hand, we will have medias like
08:13Telesur, of course, and smaller independent medias in Argentina that are going to give the right
08:22information to the population. But anyway, I think that it is very, very
08:30unprobable that even if the Peronist coalition gets a huge victory today, I'm not very confident
08:43that the government is going to pay much attention to it. Since we saw it the last couple of weeks
08:51before this election, actually, the Congress, the actual Congress in Argentina had approved
09:01a number of laws that the President refuses to accomplish. And nobody seems to be doing nothing
09:11about that. I mean, the judicial system is not doing their part. They had to force the President to
09:22accomplish the laws that the Congress had approved. But he's not doing it and nothing goes on. So I think
09:33that there was a little experiment of his to see what happens. Well, what happens if I do whatever I want,
09:42even if I don't listen to the Congress? And so far, nothing happened. So I think that perhaps
09:51this is going to make the plot thicken in a way in the near future, because if the Peronist coalition gets
10:00a good number of representatives in the Congress in both chambers, well, it is going to be harder for
10:09the President not to listen to them. But at the same time, I don't think he's going to do so, because
10:22at the same time, he thinks, the President, I mean, he thinks that he has the big,
10:28the big, you know, the big bad boy in the hood, you know, the one that the bully boy in the hood,
10:36the one that everyone is afraid of. Well, President delay things that he has the big, the big boy in
10:43the hood backing him up. So I think he will, he will try to do to do to continue doing what he has been
10:52doing. Actually, in Argentina, we are leaving a dictatorship. This is this time, it is not a
11:00military dictatorship. It's a dictatorship of made by the financial international capital. President
11:08Millay is only a puppet that is being moved by the fingers of the mainly the imperialist Western
11:21powers and the voucher funds that are the true, the true chiefs, the true bosses behind President
11:30Millay. Now, Pablo, you were touching on some very important points here, of course, the political and
11:37economic instability of the last weeks. Also, the very controversial pact with the U.S. with, of which we
11:46do not know much about what is Argentina and the Millay administration exchanging in favor of all
11:53of this support just for this electoral process. And also, as you were saying, the huge interest of
11:59the government of showing a positive result, not only to its own voters, but to the U.S. President
12:05Trump had been very emphatic in saying that they are intending to see a positive result in order to
12:12continue with the support. So, of course, you were saying the government is trying, is going to try
12:18to present this as an electoral win, even though, and we reiterated to our audience, it is a very
12:24difficult election to show just a clear winner in terms of it's not a national presidential election,
12:31but we need to analyze district by district, coalition by coalition. So they're all very important
12:37points. Just very briefly before we close, I wanted to ask you how you're looking at the months ahead,
12:45because definitely whatever happens tonight, we have months of the very important debates in Congress,
12:52also social unrest, and people really worried about this interference from the United States. Do you think
13:01that social mobilization will continue to rise on the streets in terms of how to put a stop to this
13:10constant interference and possible pacts that the government seems to want to move forward with?
13:17Positively. I think that, let's say that the Pyronist coalition in the last two weeks have been very,
13:27very, very, very careful because they didn't want to be accused of being trying to destabilize the
13:36government. The government was doing all the destabilization that they needed by their own,
13:43so the Pyronist coalition tried to let the president to do all his bad manners on his own
13:57government. He, they let him to move alone and they, they let the United States government to show what
14:04their, they actually were planning to do with Argentina, but they didn't want to, they didn't want
14:12to be the accused of being, of being, in a way, trying to, our, to overthrow the government, you know. So,
14:24but I'm especially having in mind that we, we had this election so close. So, I think that if today the,
14:32the message of the people is strong enough, now the opposition is, let's say, with a stronger
14:41reasons and stronger, um, confidence to start a, a very much, uh, radical, uh, plan of action in the
14:54streets, uh, with the social movements and, and with, um, demonstrations because they have, now they have
15:02the, the voice of the votes also backing up the, the, this limit that the Argentinian people really need,
15:10so desperately to, to stop this government, to, to, to stop doing whatever they are doing with the United
15:18States that we, we don't know what the, what is the, the, the secret, uh, part of the, all the,
15:25these, uh, agreements they are achieving with, uh, President Trump. So, uh, this need to be stopped,
15:33and I think that if the message of the votes are, is strong enough, I think that, that the, the Peronist
15:43coalition is going to have more tools in the near future to start a more, uh, a more radical, uh,
15:53struggle in, in the streets with the people, uh, in order to show the government and the United States
16:00that we are not going to, uh, to surrender so easily without, without facing them.
16:08We'll be looking forward to definitely a sovereign struggle that will be fought there in the streets.
16:14Thank you so much, Pablo, for joining us here in From the South to better understand a little bit of
16:20what is at stake tonight in Argentina. My pleasure as well. It's a pleasure to have you. Now we go to
16:27another of today's topics. Colombia's historical pact coalition is holding its primaries this Sunday
16:34to choose its next candidates. This for the May, 2026 presidential elections. The polls opened at 8
16:40AM local time in 13,400 voting centers of which 3,300 are located in rural areas. During the exercise,
16:50voters will receive three ballots, one to select their presidential candidate between
16:56Senator Iván Cepeda and former health minister Carolina Corcho. Another with the names of the
17:03coalition's 144 Senate candidates and the third with the 373 pre-candidates for the House of
17:12Representatives. All of these will be elected today.
17:19And Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, has exercised his right to vote in the city of Bogotá
17:24as part of the primaries, as we were saying, for the historic PAC party. Petro Castis ballot at
17:30polling station number one in the Marco Antonio Carreño district. The president was accompanied by
17:37his security detail and members of his cabinet. Through his social media, he expressed his gratitude
17:44to the working people of Puente Aranda for welcoming him with warmth and enthusiasm.
17:50And now, at this moment, we have a short break coming up. But first, remember, you can join us on
17:58TikTok at TelusRinglish, where you'll find news in different formats, news updates and much more.
18:03We'll be right back. Stay with us.
18:16Welcome back to From the South. We continue with more information. Venezuela reaffirmed the success of
18:28its fight against drug trafficking during the Bolivarian militia exercises that were held in
18:33Caracas as part of the Independence 200 Coast Defense. The operation included military deployments in key
18:40coastal areas with the aim of strengthening their protection and ensuring national independence.
18:46Venezuelan Defense Minister Padrino López specified that maneuvers have been carried out on the island
18:52of Patos and Urquila with successful results in the training of units. He also highlighted the
18:59country's achievements and reiterated that Venezuela is free of drug trafficking.
19:11The government of Barbados denounced the frequent threats by the United States to peace in the
19:17Caribbean region. At the 86th Annual Conference of the Labor Party of Barbados, Prime Minister
19:23Mia Motley denounced the deployment of U.S. warships in the Caribbean Sea and demanded respect
19:30for the sovereignty of countries in the region. She also highlighted the region's historic efforts
19:35to establish itself as a zone of peace, which is now directly threatened by foreign military ships.
19:42In turn, she demanded that any dispute be resolved in the UN through dialogue rejecting
19:47the unilateral imposition of force.
19:54We are now facing a multitude of threats. We need look no further than threats from ships,
20:03U.S. military ships across the Caribbean Sea, including what is reputed to be the largest warship
20:10in the world. These are no longer the days of pirates. This is 2025, and we have reason to be
20:17genuinely concerned, because even as that is happening, one of the most dangerous threats to
20:22the 2025 Atlantic season is taking into account our brothers and sisters in the Northern Caribbean,
20:29Melissa. We are facing, my friends, an extremely dangerous and intolerable situation in the Northern
20:36Caribbean. And as a people with a tragic history of being subjected to centuries of great power,
20:42orchestrated genocide, terrorism and war. And as a small state, we have invested enormous time,
20:48energy and effort in establishing and maintaining our region as a zone of peace.
20:54We continue now with other topics. Hurricane Melissa currently in the Central Caribbean Sea has
21:14strengthened and reached Category 4. Hurricane Melissa is expected to make landfall in Jamaica in the coming
21:20hours, while Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba have heightened alerts. The hurricane currently has
21:27sustained winds of 220 km per hour, moving slowly west-northwest at just 7 km per hour. According to
21:37regional forecasting centers, the slow movement makes the storm more dangerous, as its prolonged presence in
21:45the same area brings heavier rains, higher storm surges and stronger winds. The U.S. National Hurricane
21:51Center reported when the hurricane was 195 km from Kingston, Jamaica's capital, that the rainfall situation
22:01could be catastrophic, warning also that within less than 24 hours, Melissa could intensify into a Category 5
22:09hurricane. And moving on to other topics. In Spain, thousands of women took to the streets of Sevilla to protest
22:25against failures in the breast cancer screening system. The irregularities, which include delays in testing,
22:32modified reports and lack of communication with patients, have sparked a wave of public outrage.
22:39And the call for a large march by the Association of Women with Breast Cancer, AMAMA. According to the
22:46organization, numerous medical records have been altered, replacing terms such as suspicious or
22:55inconclusive with probably benign, which would have prevented many women from receiving the necessary
23:02medical follow-ups. In this regard, the regional government of Andalusia recognized that at least
23:092,370 women in the region have been affected by these errors in the follow-up of their mammograms.
23:16And the Euromed Human Rights Monitor warned that Israel continued refusal to allow international
23:34journalists, correspondents and forensic teams into Gaza constitutes a systematic policy to erase the
23:52evidence of genocide. In a statement released on Saturday, the group said that Israel enforces this
24:00policy through both field and administrative restrictions, preventing reporters and investigation committees
24:06from entering the territory. Euromed argues that by blocking access, Israel aims to impose a complete
24:13media blackout, concealing the true scale of destruction and civilian suffering. The organization is urging
24:20the United Nations and the international community to ensure immediate independent access for journalists and
24:26forensic experts before critical physical and biological evidence is completely lost.
24:36And like this, we have come to the end of this news brief. You can find this and many other stories
24:40on our website at www.telesureenglish.net. Also join us on social media. We are on Facebook,
24:45X, Instagram, Telegram, and TikTok as well. For Telesure English, my name is Verena de los Santos. Thank you for watching.
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