- 5 hours ago
06/12/2025
FTS 8.30
*Honduras: Attorney General orders investigation into National Electoral Council over irregularities
*Countries reject Israel's plans for the Rafah crossing
FTS 8.30
*Honduras: Attorney General orders investigation into National Electoral Council over irregularities
*Countries reject Israel's plans for the Rafah crossing
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NewsTranscript
00:00Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro activated what is known as the Integral Defense Doctrine
00:16in response to the threat of aggressions by the United States.
00:21In Honduras, the Attorney General Joel Zelaya announced an investigation against the National
00:30Electoral Council for irregularities in the electoral process.
00:38And several foreign ministers rejected the announcement made by Israel regarding the
00:42Rafa crossing and the authorizations solely for outbound circulation.
00:52Hello and welcome to From the South.
00:53My name is Belen de los Santos and from the Tesor Studios in Havana, Cuba.
00:57We'll begin with the news.
01:07In Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro activated what is known as the Integral Defense Doctrine
01:16in response to the threat of aggression by the United States.
01:20President Maduro instructed security forces to study and practice prolonged popular resistance
01:26and permanent offensive in the face of Washington's threats in the region.
01:31The Venezuelan leader also explained that his model of power is comprehensive and not
01:36limited to public institutions as it involves communal social power and social movements.
01:42He also maintained that his government dismantled the main criminal gangs, such as the now defunct
01:48Tren de Aragua and Tren del Llano, and offered his security model to neighboring countries.
01:54He denounced that the 2015 Opposition National Assembly stole US$14 million from blocked accounts
02:02to distribute among its leaders.
02:10No one or nothing will take it from us, not today, not ever.
02:17Have the certainty, the absolute certainty that no one will take the land or the destiny of the Venezuelan people.
02:27In this context, the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro affirmed that, at present, the nation had the most advanced
02:38police and security system in all its history.
02:43Today, December 5th of 2025, I can say to Commander Chávez, whatever he is watching us, today we have the police system and the public security more complete and advance of all of the history of the Republic of Venezuela and all of the historical times of the Balevira revolution, thanks to you.
02:56Police of the homeland, thanks to you, police of the homeland, thanks to you.
03:14And on Friday, Airlines Plus Ultra and Laser announced the launch of an alternative route between the capitals of Venezuela and Spain with a stopover in Cartagena de Indias in Colombia.
03:23The new service will begin operating on Wednesday, December 10th, two weeks after the cancellation of direct flights between the two countries following the unilateral closure of the Latin American nation's airspace decreed by United States President Donald Trump.
03:42According to the Venezuelan airline, Laser, the new proposed route will serve as an alternative for passengers who already had confirmed reservations.
03:52Police Ultra explained that the operation will be carried out in interline connection with Laser and informed that travelers should check availability through their customer service center.
04:04In Colombia, the historical pact party, the ruling party, registers its candidates for parliament with the National Registry.
04:18Our correspondent Hernán Tobar gives us more details on this.
04:20In Bogotá, the left-wing party, Pacto de Historico, registered its candidates for both the House of Representatives and the Senate with the National Registry.
04:32The lists were drawn up as a result of its internal consultation held on October 26th, which also selected the party's presidential candidate, who spoke about the expectations for winning a majority in the Colombian Congress, with support from the popular sectors.
04:46These candidates are not the result of elite agreements or hand-picked appointments, but rather the living expression of the will of the people who are calling for a new direction for the country.
05:04In addition, in this participatory exercise, we ratify a democratic achievement and recognize the fundamental role of women in politics.
05:26We restructured our closed lists to be gender balanced by intercalating a woman or a man in each line.
05:34This political force and its congressional candidates are guided by the fight against the boycott by opposition sectors of the reforms promoted by the government of President, Gustavo Petro, in the Legislative Congress.
05:52We will arrive at Congress to deepen the social reforms that the traditional parties have hindered and obstructed, and here we have to talk about very specific things.
06:03We can no longer wait for healthcare reform. We can no longer wait for agricultural jurisdiction.
06:09We can no longer wait for political reforms so that clientelism, political maneuvering, and mafias do not interfere in public affairs, and so that free citizens can choose who will be their representatives in political power.
06:20In this context, it was known that the National Electoral Council gave the green light for the different political movements and organizations that make up the Pacto Historico to merger,
06:36a great convergence that allows them to strengthen their position to face the upcoming elections as a political power, whose application and approval had been delayed and torpedoed by the council.
06:46It means we won, because the National Electoral Council delayed granting legal status to the historic pact until the last minute.
06:57Today, the Democratic poll has disappeared, the Patriotic Union has disappeared, the Communist Party has disappeared,
07:03progressives, and a new life has been born, which is a political project to continue governing Colombia for a long time, to make changes and transformations.
07:11It is called the Pacto Historico-Political Movement.
07:18Just as the NEC has played a political role rather than a legal one, like a political party opposing change in the unity of the Colombian people,
07:28so too has the Registry.
07:30The Registrar's Office was responsible for torpedoing and traumatizing the entire popular consultation process, therefore vigilance is necessary.
07:39The elections to choose members of the parliament in Colombia will be held on March 8, 2026.
07:50100 candidates for the Senate and 34 lists for the House of Representatives have registered with the Registry.
07:55Hernán Darío Tobar, Gaitán Telesur, Bogotá, Colombia.
08:00We continue now with other topics.
08:02On Friday, for the sixth consecutive week, Cuba's President Miguel Díaz-Canel returned to visit the areas affected by Hurricane Melissa in the east region of the country.
08:12In the municipality of Tercer Frente, located in the Sierra Maestra mountain range, the head of state inspected the rehabilitation work on roads, housing, and basic services accompanied by national and local authorities.
08:27The itinerary concluded a visit to the coffee experimental center where Hurricane Melissa caused damage to almost 90 percent of its infrastructure and affected coffee plantations and other crops.
08:40He also visited the Mario Munoz Monroy Educational Center, which suffered severe structural damage, mainly to roofs and carpentry.
08:49Plans established by the Cuban executive estimate that the area will be ready before December 22.
08:56Now we have a short break coming up, but first, remember you can join us on TikTok at Telesur English, where you will find news in different formats, news updates, and much more.
09:09We'll be right back. Stay with us.
09:10Welcome back to From the South.
09:30In Honduras, the Attorney General, Joel Zelaya, announced an investigation against the National Electoral Council for irregularities in the electoral process.
09:41According to the instruction of the Attorney General, he has ordered the Technical Criminal Investigation Agency to immediately enter the headquarters of the electoral body
09:51to collect evidence, documents, and all the necessary material required by his office.
09:57While the country continues to await definite results, the prosecutor has requested all this material to investigate the numerous complaints of conspiracy, extortion,
10:08as well as the accusations made by three members of the National Electoral Council,
10:12who, in the words of the prosecutor, are not fulfilling the interests of Honduras.
10:21And with the full arrival of electoral material in Tegucigalpa, the process enters a phase marked by allegations of massive manipulation the citizens demand to defend the popular will.
10:35Our colleague, Karim Duarte, provides us further details.
10:38The complete return of the tally sheets to the capital takes place in parallel with technical allegations of structural irregularities in the vote counting system,
10:51where it is warned that the platform may have redistributed votes among candidates and parties,
10:57indicating possible automated manipulation of the results.
11:00The system skipped boxes, moving votes from one candidate to another, and from one party to another,
11:18confirming the manipulation denounced in the audio recordings.
11:21Various social sectors maintain that Honduras is facing an attempted electoral coup,
11:32and call for the defense of democracy against what they consider a technological alteration of the popular mandate,
11:39insisting that the people must not give in to pressures or narratives that seek to normalize manipulation.
11:45No, right? To the coup, and not to a hacked trap, which is what they are showing now more than ever.
11:54A people in resistance and a people in democracy will rise again.
11:58And that is what we want that the entire population of Honduras rises up.
12:02Do not be afraid, we are united, and now more than ever democracy will be respected.
12:07Meanwhile, the armed forces emphasize that they fulfilled their duty of safeguarding and transporting the material throughout the territory,
12:21stressing that their actions were subject to the scrutiny of the citizenry and the international missions that observe the process.
12:28Well, the armed forces have always been committed to democracy.
12:35We have fulfilled our duty, and as I reiterate, those who can say whether we did so or not are you.
12:41On our part, we have complied, but it is you and the population the ones who went out to vote on November 30th as,
12:48well as the international observers, who can say what our actions were, and we leave satisfied.
12:54The process becomes even more tense following the complaint by Councillor Marlon Ochoa,
13:06who points to a mega-fraud based on 13,246 tally sheets with inconsistencies between the biometric system
13:14and the preliminary election results transmission system, equivalent to 982,140 to inflated votes for the bipartisan system.
13:24Para Telesur, desde Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Karim Duarte.
13:29And from Honduras, we go now to Chile, as the labor code allows the mass dismissal of workers for company-related reasons.
13:38And it's not just a law in a single holding, there have been already a thousand layoffs.
13:44Our correspondent Paula Draknek with more details.
13:46There's no Christmas spirit here. Any of these workers could be next.
13:54Mass layoffs are a reality in one of Chile's most powerful holdings, Sencosid,
13:59whose corporate tower rises almost like a skyscraper in Santiago.
14:02In just the first half of this year, the supermarket chain Jumbo recorded profits of more than 180%.
14:11This represents profits of nearly 200 billion pesos.
14:18It makes no sense or logic to apply the article on needs of the company for this number of layoffs.
14:23Already a thousand have been dismissed for company-related reasons.
14:29It's an article of the labor code that authorizes the dismissal of workers without further explanation.
14:33This article is absolutely backward, since it has existed since 1981 as part of José Páinra's labor plan A Labor Code,
14:45also created under dictatorship.
14:47It is time to change it.
14:48More than 40 years cannot have passed, and we still continue with the labor code,
14:52whose framework was made under dictatorship.
14:56It was precisely during the dictatorship when its founder,
15:00the controversial German migrant Horst Paulmann, consolidated his fortune.
15:05In July 2024, he gave this improvised interview to small entrepreneur François Puset.
15:14I have more than 1,000 employees with me, and they are all so happy.
15:18You can see it here.
15:19Ray smile.
15:20And if you have your staff happy, the staff serves your customers well.
15:23But they are not happy, despite the fact that at the magnate's funeral in March of this year,
15:32those now called collaborators took part in the cortege.
15:36Perhaps this is one of the main problems Chilean neoliberalism diluted the working-class consciousness.
15:41I believe that out of fear of losing their jobs, people are protesting very little.
15:53I feel there is a fear of confronting the boss.
15:55I believe that we, the workers,
15:57are the ones absent from the streets.
16:05It is not the workers themselves.
16:08With this flag as a class present in the March, on Women's Day, or mostly not even on May 1st.
16:17For the classes central, it is key to take up this idea that is not just theory.
16:24How many of those workers who mourn Paulmann are today without a job?
16:27For all those who live off a salary, for all those whose lives are thrown into disorder
16:35when that salary doesn't arrive no matter if they earn the minimum wage or three,
16:39for a million pesos because at the level things are, it affects you just the same.
16:43To recognize oneself as part of a class, the working class, we are the ones who produce the wealth.
16:50If tomorrow we don't get up and go to work, we are the ones who move the factories,
16:54and the owners of the factories, of the companies, don't need us.
17:01But up to now, neither the holding company nor the associated businesses carrying out the mass layoffs
17:08have made contact with the unions, electoral times.
17:15So here too is the call, and for the workers of Chile to think very carefully when it comes time to vote,
17:20we find it quite contradictory that workers are voting for our executioners.
17:24And now moving on to other topics, the president of the United States, Donald Trump,
17:42has dismantled the refugee program, leaving more than 600.000 people abandoned to their fate.
17:49Under a so-called migration offensive, the president cut short the future of applicants
17:55who had already fulfilled all requirements and were ready to travel to the United States.
18:00The threat was formalized with the immediate suspension of the program at the start of his term.
18:06The administration justified this act of disregard toward refugees
18:11with arguments of national security and economic concerns.
18:15Human rights activists, for their part, are describing this decision as a pretext to close the doors
18:21and break the promise of refuge that the United States has upheld for decades.
18:27At this moment, we have a second short break coming up,
18:35but before we invite you to visit our Facebook page at Tell Us of English,
18:38there you'll be able to watch our top stories, special live coverages and much more.
18:43Follow the page and activate notifications to stay up to date on the world's most recent events.
18:48Final short break, don't go away.
18:49Welcome back to From the South.
19:10We continue with more information.
19:12The German government on Friday questioned the assessment made by President Donald Trump's administration
19:17regarding the alleged democratic erosion in Europe.
19:22Through a statement, German authorities strongly rejected the warnings included
19:26in the new U.S. security strategy defending the strength of its constitution, democratic system and free press.
19:34It is important to note that the criticism comes at a time when Washington
19:37continues to discredit the European Union and press its government
19:43to align with its conservative ambition of the international order,
19:48a stance that is causing growing discomfort across the continent.
19:51The Federal Republic of Germany has so far been able to discuss all of these issues internally
20:07in a satisfactory manner, and we also see ourselves in the future capable of addressing
20:12and discussing this entirely on our own, and we do not need any outside advice on this.
20:18We move now to Palestine as this Friday several foreign ministers rejected the announcement made by Israel
20:45regarding the Rafah crossing and the authorization slowly for outbound circulation.
20:52The foreign ministers of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt
20:58have objected to Israel's announcement to open in the coming days the Rafah border crossing
21:04to allow exclusively the departure of Palestinians from Gaza into Egypt.
21:09In a joint statement, they demanded that Israel adhere to the U.S. plan,
21:14including its provisions on maintaining the crossing, which envisions movement in both directions,
21:21guaranteeing the population's freedom of circulation.
21:24They reaffirmed that they will continue working on the basis of that plan.
21:29Meanwhile, Israel carried out new attacks against residential areas in southern Lebanon,
21:41increasing tensions and regional instability despite the ceasefire agreement that is in place.
21:46These assaults were carried out after prior threats from Israel,
21:50which forced the Lebanese to evacuate several towns in the southern border region.
21:56Authorities reported that these Israeli attacks caused considerable damage to buildings and civilian homes,
22:02but no casualties or injuries were reported.
22:05Additionally, they asserted that these actions by Israel represent a flagrant disregard for international agreements
22:11and the ceasefire declaration that came into effect on November 27th of 2024.
22:17Until November of this year, Israel committed over 5,000 violations of the ceasefire,
22:24resulting in 209 people that have died, 598 injuries and structural damage as well.
22:32With this information, we have come to the end of this news preview.
22:40You can find this and many other stories on our website at www.telesouringlish.net.
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22:49For Tell Us Your English, my name is Belen de los Santos.
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