Former American soilders jailed in Venezuela and 3 other international news

1. Former US soldiers, to jail

The Attorney General of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, announced that two former US military personnel and 50 Venezuelans were sentenced to 20 years in prison for Operation Gideon.

The operation, planned in La Guajira, Colombia, included a private US security service called Silvercorp and several Venezuelan dissidents and sought to attack Venezuela by sea in order to overthrow Nicolás Maduro. In the middle of the operation, two members of Silvercorp, Luke Denmnan and Airan Berry, two former US military personnel, and dozens of other Venezuelans, were arrested, while the confrontation left 8 dead.

According to the Prosecutor, the ex-military men admitted their responsibility and "admitted having committed crimes of conspiracy, association, illicit trafficking in weapons of war and terrorism, typified in the Penal Code."

2. Consequences of the explosion in Lebanon

Last week, the explosion in the port of Beirut that caused at least 160 deaths and more than 4 thousand injured, sparked a wave of protests in the country surrounding the crisis that has been going on for several years.

Although hypotheses still suggest that the explosion was accidental, the question is why the material caught fire. And although there is still no indication that it was provoked, the images have led people to remember the civil war that they lived in the last century, where the streets looked the same and thousands of lives were in danger. This, summed up in economic and social discontent, led Lebanese to the streets to protest against the government.

Following the explosion and protests, several members of the government began to resign in recent days, including the Minister of Justice and the Ministers of Information and Environment. After these resignations, Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced the dissolution of his entire government. According to DW, “the head of the government, who presents himself as independent, blamed the traditional political class for his failure and lashed out at the 'corruption' that led to this 'earthquake that hit the country'.

3. USA asks not to travel to some countries

The US State Department issued a statement in which there is a list of some places in the world that it specifically advises against going. The main reason for the recommendation is the increase in COVID, taking into account that the country already has 5 million infections, but also includes other possible dangers of traveling to some of the countries included. In the statement the countries are divided according to their risk: Level 1 consists of traveling with normal prevention measures, Level 2 includes increasing precautions, Level 3, where Chile is located and some European countries such as France, Germany and UK is reconsidering travel and level 4 contains the no travel alert.

This level 4 includes many Latin American countries: Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Belize, Cuba, Guyana, French Guyana, Haiti, Nicaragua and Panama, according to Semana, and explains the possible risks of traveling to these countries.

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In the COVID warning, it is warned that some countries still have travel restrictions, such as China, and that travel may be affected. "Travelers can experience border closures, airport closures, travel bans, requests to stay at home, business closures and other emergency conditions," he published in the case of some countries that are still going through their crisis, as is the case in America. Latin.

In some cases, the risks go beyond the pandemic and the State Department added some topics such as terrorism and crime. For example, In the case of Colombia , he specifically warned that some departments and regions where armed groups control the territory should not be visited, such as what happens in Norte de Santander with the ELN. In this case, he referred to "organized criminal activities, such as extortion, robbery and kidnapping for ransom."

4. The eruption of the Sinabung

One of Indonesia's 120 volcanoes, Sinabung, spewed an amount of ash on Monday that covered the sky with a black cloud that reached more than 7,000 meters high , according to Reuters. This is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia and prone to seismic activity "due to its location in the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines that surround the Pacific Basin," according to La Vanguardia.

Although there is no record of deaths or injuries, at least 30,000 people had to move from their homes as many villages are at the foot of the mountain. The authorities warned to move at least 5 kilometers away from the volcano, but villages up to 20 kilometers away were covered by the ash.

The last explosion of the Sinabung was in 2016 and left 7 dead, so it is still alert of a possible eruption with lava.