Clear Policy Guidance: Ecuador Courts Reject Challenge as Noboa Pushes Hardline Agenda
NEED TO KNOW
Clear Policy Guidance: Ecuador Courts Reject Challenge as Noboa Pushes Hardline Agenda
ECUADOR
Ecuadoran courts recently rejected left-wing presidential candidate Luisa González’s challenge to the results of the country’s election in April, dismissing her fraud claims even as most international observers had already recognized incumbent conservative President Daniel Noboa’s victory, reported Reuters.
Time will tell if Ecuadorans question Noboa’s legitimacy. Until then, the 37-year-old banana empire heir’s win means the South American country will likely pursue two sets of policies in the next four years.
First, Noboa will almost certainly continue his controversial fight against drug cartels and criminal networks that have proliferated in Ecuador in recent years. To battle the gangs who use the country as a distribution hub for cocaine from Colombia and Peru, he sent the military onto the streets and declared a state of emergency to ensure public safety, explained the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Critics like González, however, say that Noboa has simultaneously flouted civil rights, ignored court rulings, and compromised citizens’ rights in his harsh crackdown on drug trafficking. They have a point. Ecuadoran military forces have acted brutally – some were recently exposed for killing children, as El País showed.
Even as he pledged to follow in the footsteps of El Salvador, where President Nayib Bukele has made the streets safe again while imprisoning thousands without due process, voters still trusted Noboa as a strong leader who will confront the violence and murder rates that have skyrocketed in the past few years, the Washington Post wrote.
The second policy set is more ideological. González was the standard bearer of the progressive left-wing “Correísmo” movement associated with former President Rafael Correa. Although Correa faces corruption charges and now lives in exile in Belgium, he is still a potent powerbroker in Ecuador.
Correa is especially proficient at using social media to wield influence, Caroline Ávila Nieto, a professor at the University of Azuay in Cuenca, Ecuador, wrote in the New York Times. He has more than one million followers on TikTok and four million on X, “often using humor and sharp language to connect with younger audiences.”
It wasn’t enough, however. On the campaign trail, Noboa painted Correa and his allies as spendthrift politicians who wasted oil revenues and Chinese loans while failing to nip the incipient drug problem in the bud when they had the chance.
Noboa repeatedly warned, for example, that Correísmo would turn Ecuador into Venezuela, the neighbor whose dictatorial, socialistic government has failed to sufficiently feed its population or provide young folk with economic opportunities.
The president still has time to prove who is right, wrote Global Voices, adding, “Noboa made Ecuadorians believe his efforts to restore order were sincere.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
UN: Russia Responsible for Downing Of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17
RUSSIA
The United Nations aviation agency ruled this week that Russia was responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014, an incident that killed hundreds and sparked calls for accountability and reparations from families of victims, the BBC reported.
On Monday, the UN’s Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) found that Russia “failed to uphold its obligations under international air law,” which requires nations to “refrain from resorting to the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight.”
Flight MH17 was traveling from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia when it was shot down by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine in July 2014.
At the time, Ukrainian troops were fighting Russian-backed separatists.
All 298 passengers and crew members were killed, including 196 Dutch citizens and 38 Australian citizens or residents.
Monday’s decision followed a case filed three years ago by Australia and the Netherlands, which sought compensation and an official apology from Moscow.
Both countries welcomed Monday’s decision, with Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp saying it marked an “important step toward establishing the truth and achieving justice and accountability.”
The ICAO added this was the first time in its history that its council has decided on the merits of a dispute between member states, the Guardian noted.
Russia did not comment on the ruling, but has repeatedly denied any involvement in the crash and withdrew from negotiations with Australia and the Netherlands in October 2020.
In November 2022, a Dutch court found that a Russian-backed group had downed the plane and convicted two Russians and a pro-Moscow Ukrainian national of murder in absentia.
Although all three men were sentenced to life imprisonment, they were never extradited and remain at large.
Germany Bans Far-Right Group and Arrests Leaders
GERMANY
Germany banned a secessionist group known as “Kingdom of Germany” that opposed Germany’s constitutional order and proclaimed to run a “counter-state” under the rule of an absolute, self-appointed monarch that called himself “King Peter,” Politico reported.
The ban was announced by Germany’s interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, on Tuesday. Officials said there were raids on the group across seven German states, with four alleged leaders of the group, including its “king,” Peter Fitzek, arrested. Another property was searched in Switzerland.
“These extremists created a counter-state in Germany and ran criminal financial operations,” Dobrindt said. “They reinforce their bogus claim to power with antisemitic conspiracy theories. A constitutional democracy cannot tolerate this.”
The group was founded in the eastern city of Wittenberg in 2012 and became known for running unlicensed banking operations and promoting its own laws and institutions. Fitzek, once convicted of running illegal banking operations, ruled as “King Peter I” and appointed two deputies and a finance chief.
This ban follows Germany’s increased scrutiny of the country’s Reichsbürger scene, or Citizens of the Reich. Last year, nine men, including a judge and a lawmaker, went on trial for an attempted coup in 2022 by one of these groups, noted Reuters.
The Reichsbürger movement is made up of individuals and small groups who deny the legitimacy of the modern German state, claiming that democracy is illegitimate and that the German Reich still exists. Many believe that Germany is still under the Allied occupation.
The “Kingdom of Germany,” which counts about 6,000 supporters, aims to secede from Germany and establish a counter-state with its own police force and jurisdiction.
German law allows for the ban of organizations, including political parties, that are deemed to violate or threaten the constitutional order. German politicians are currently debating whether to ban the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, the biggest opposition party in parliament.
Former Philippine President Wins Mayor Election From Prison
PHILIPPINES
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte won the mayoral election in his hometown by a landslide while in prison after being detained in the Netherlands by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity, the Associated Press reported.
The Davao election board proclaimed Duterte the winner with 660,000 votes, eight times as many as his closest rival.
Duterte’s youngest son and current Davao mayor, Sebastian Duterte, was declared vice mayor. His eldest son, Paolo Duterte, was reelected to the House of Representatives, while two grandsons won in local races, cementing the family’s influence in the south of the country, wrote the BBC.
Duterte’s win came as his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, faces an impeachment trial in July in the Senate over charges including the misuse of public funds and plotting to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife, and the speaker of the House.
Her trial in the Senate – the lower house already voted to impeach – could be impacted by the results of the election, analysts said.
Considered a serious contender for the 2028 presidential race, Duterte risks being banned from politics if convicted. To acquit her, at least nine of the 24 senators need to vote in her favor.
It was expected that candidates backed by Marcos Jr. would win most of the 12 seats in the Senate up for grabs. However, in early returns, only six are ahead, indicating that the president’s grip on power is slipping, analysts said. Meanwhile, at least five Duterte-backed candidates were leading in the Senate – exceeding pre-election predictions that only two would win.
Confirmed results of the Senate race will be available in a week.
According to Philippine law, candidates facing criminal charges, even those in detention, are eligible to run for office – unless they have been convicted and have exhausted all appeals.
Sara Duterte said she was in talks with her father’s lawyers to discuss how he could take his oath as mayor from his cell in the Netherlands. She said the vice mayor would likely serve as interim mayor.
Rodrigo Duterte was detained by the ICC in March and is awaiting trial for crimes against humanity for acts committed during his war on drugs, which saw thousands killed and thousands more arrested during his 2016-2022 presidency.
DISCOVERIES
Taking On Venom
Self-taught venom expert Tim Friede could be described as a modern-day Mithridates VI, an ancient king known for developing an immunity to poisons by regularly taking non-lethal doses.
The former truck driver from Wisconsin has developed such a strong immunity to the venom of various snakes that scientists are now using his blood to develop a super antidote.
In a span of 18 years, Friede envenomed himself 856 times with the venom of a variety of snakes, including black mambas, cobras, and rattlesnakes –via direct injections or bites.
It nearly cost him his life when he was bitten by an Egyptian cobra and a monocled cobra in the span of one hour.
“I basically flat-lined and died,” he told National Geographic. “It wasn’t fun. I had enough immunity for one bite, but not for two. I completely screwed up.”
His unique abilities caught the attention of Jacob Glanville, immunologist and CEO of Centivax, who saw the potential in Friede’s hyperimmune antibodies.
“What was exciting about the donor was his once-in-a-lifetime unique immune history,” Glanville said in a statement. “Not only did he potentially create these broadly neutralizing antibodies, in this case, it could give rise to a broad-spectrum or universal antivenom.”
In their study, Glanville and his colleagues thoroughly studied Friede’s antibodies and developed a special antivenom that was tested on mice.
They also created a testing panel with 19 of the World Health Organization’s category 1 and 2 deadliest snakes across the elapid family, a group which contains roughly half of all venomous species of snakes, according to Science Alert.
The research team created the new antivenom by combining two special antibodies – LNX-D09 and SNX-B03 – and a small molecule of varespladib, a known toxin inhibitor.
The findings showed that the antidote proved very effective at offering protection against the venom of different snake species.
“By the time we reached three components, we had a dramatically unparalleled breadth of full protection for 13 of the 19 species and then partial protection for the remaining that we looked at,” Glanville noted.
Traditional antivenoms use antibodies from horses or sheep, which only protect against single-species venom and carry the risk of triggering adverse reactions in humans.
While the new concoction is not a universal anti-venom, it is the next best thing – although scientists plan to conduct rigorous clinical tests before making it available.