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00:02The Cuban government has strongly condemned the intensification of the U.S. economic
00:06blockade with the imposition of new financial restrictions that target the island's private
00:10sector. Colombia's opposition coalition, Pacto Historico, has exposed a coordinated digital
00:20campaign utilizing artificial intelligence to target and impersonate opposition lawmakers.
00:30And the United States announced the conclusion of its military operation in Iraq, officially
00:34withdrawing U.S. military forces and equipment from Airbus Airbase after 23 years of foreign
00:39intervention.
00:45Hello, welcome from the South, I'm Luis Alberto Matos from Derezo Studios in Caracas, Venezuela,
00:50with the good news.
01:06The United States government has intensified this illegal economic blockade against Cuba
01:10imposing harsh new financial restrictions that target both public entities and the island's
01:15private sector.
01:16The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control eliminated dollar U-turn transactions
01:21and revoked U.S. banking access for independent Cuban entrepreneurs.
01:25Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez denounced the move as an attempt to sabotage the nation's
01:30ongoing economic reforms, noting it openly attacks the entire population.
01:35Business owners warned that these measures further impede international payments for critical
01:39food and fuel supplies.
01:42Rights advocates condemn Washington's aggressive policy as a unilateral attempt to inflict maximum
01:47economic hardship and undermine Cuban sovereignty.
01:55The U.S. government has issued another wave of blockade measures against the Cuban people,
01:59among them it is eliminating people-to-people exchanges and further restricting academic and research
02:05exchanges.
02:06It is also timing prohibitions on private entities in Cuba conducting direct business with the
02:11U.S. and U.S. banks, in addition to banning U-turn transactions.
02:15Indirect transactions with entities on the State Department's unilateral list of restricted entities
02:20are prohibited.
02:21Less than 24 hours ago, the Secretary of State said that Cuba has already fallen, and yet now,
02:27it turns out that additional measures are needed.
02:30These new blockade measures are intended to hinder the ongoing process of economic transformation.
02:40Both the public and private sectors are being openly targeted, the very sectors that some U.S.
02:46officials claim they want to help develop.
02:48Cuba is not a threat, the blockade is.
02:58Nicaragua's tourism sector expanded by over 2% during the first eight months of the year,
03:04welcoming more than 621,000 international visitors.
03:07Tourism authorities reported a 40% surge in foreign exchange earnings during the first quarter,
03:12reaching $159 million.
03:15With peak travel season approaching, officials expect to surpass 1 million tourists a row,
03:21sponsored by international accolades including a Michelin key awarded to Morgan's Rock Ecolodge,
03:27and Grenada's inclusion in Lonely Planet's recommended destinations for 2027.
03:39And on Tuesday in San Pedro Sula and Northwest Honduras Transportation Union,
03:44civil organizations and citizens stepped up road blockades in protest at the increase in fuel prices,
03:50causing gridlock in freight and passenger transport.
03:53Demonstrators set up barricades and burning tires also clashed with security forces,
03:59arguing that the new rates raise the cost of living and the basic basket of goods.
04:04The protest came after a new fuel pricing structure took effect on Monday 28th September.
04:10In San Pedro Sula, Super Patrol rose from 143.94 to 148.69 lampiras per gallon,
04:19regular from 128.60 to 130.98 and diesel from 146.85 to 149.20,
04:27according to prices released by the Secretary of Energy.
04:30The demonstrators demanded urgent measures and temporary relief from the government
04:34in light of the direct impact this crisis is having on Hondurans.
04:47The public university faculty and staff across Argentina launched a 72-hour national strike
04:53to demand the immediate implementation of the university financing law and a 33% wage adjustment.
05:00The industrial action backed by major academic unions and the University of Buenos Aires
05:04comes as a judicial deadline ordering the executive branch
05:07to settle outstanding education funds expired without official response.
05:11Alongside class boycotts and community outreach activities,
05:15union leaders criticized President Javier Melay's administration for ignoring court orders
05:19and refusing dialogue, warning that protests will build toward a nationwide march for public education on October 15th.
05:34And the Argentine Supreme Court has revoked a lower court ruling that declared unconstitutional the repeal of the country's rural
05:40land law,
05:41including emergency decree 7023.
05:43the highest judicial body unanimously dismissed the lawsuit brought by the Malvinas Veterans Center of La Plata,
05:51ruling that the organization lack legal standing and that national sovereignty cannot be invoked
05:56as a collective right under constitutional law.
05:58Also, Joseph says clarified that the decision was strictly procedural and does not constitute a definite ruling
06:04on the constitutional validity of the executive order itself.
06:15Now our first break coming up, remember you can join us on TikTok at Telesol English,
06:19where you will find news in different formats, news updates and more.
06:22We're going to be right back, stay with us.
06:41Welcome back.
06:42Colombia's opposition coalition Pacto Historico has exposed a coordinated digital campaign
06:48using artificial intelligence to target and impersonate opposition lawmakers.
06:53Party leaders condemned the use of deepfake videos, bot farms and targeted disinformation
06:58aimed at silencing Sen. Isabel Soleta and Rep. María Fernanda Carrascal, among other opposition figures.
07:05Backed by independent investigative reports showing thousands of synchronized automated posts,
07:10the political movement called on the Attorney General's Office, Cyber Police and electoral authorities
07:16to investigate identity theft, misogynistic harassment and potential state resource involvement.
07:40With Brazil's presidential election just days away, the battle at the polls reveals a growing tension
07:46between Catholic and evangelical political identities in the country.
07:50One of these were a correspondent live from Rio de Janeiro.
07:53Welcome, Valen, to From the South.
07:56Hello, Luis.
07:57You are exactly correct.
07:59We are in the final stretch.
08:01And we've been saying this for the last few days, the final days.
08:05Everything is counting, particularly on a race that polls are saying is going to be a close one.
08:11And also, the polls for this first election day on October 4th is giving President Lula da Silva a number
08:19between four to five points,
08:21depending on the polls, on top of the opposition leader, Flavio Bolsonaro.
08:26It is still a close race.
08:28With the numbers that we have so far, of course, anything can change.
08:32We are looking about the election going into a run-up that will be on October 25th.
08:37And when we say that anything can play an important role in that moment and that anything can tip the
08:44scale,
08:44we really mean that there can be any sort of different events that suddenly shift public opinion.
08:53And in this case, for example, we are talking about a Catholic icon, a Catholic speaker,
08:58that is playing a part in the final few days of campaign.
09:02Let me explain.
09:03We are talking about the Nossa Senhora da Aparecida, the patron of Brazil,
09:09and news that has been circulating over the past few days where, in an interview,
09:15someone linked Flavio Bolsonaro and his campaign to a project that was supposed to eliminate the status of this Our
09:25Lady of Aparecida,
09:26a very important Catholic image linked to Brazil and Brazilian, particularly Catholic sector.
09:32to take away the role of patron of the country.
09:37This, of course, ruffled a lot of feathers, particularly in the Catholic community.
09:41Let's recall that there is a lot of Catholics in Brazil.
09:46It's a profoundly religious in general country, but with an important Catholic community.
09:52And this, of course, had an important impact.
09:55This was the campaign of Flavio Bolsonaro said that this was incorrect,
10:00that he did not have anything to do with this project.
10:04Such project existed, but it existed years ago.
10:08But it was led by a candidate that is now linked to Bolsonaro.
10:13So, not particularly Bolsonaro himself, but someone within the Bolsonaro space did have a project like this years ago.
10:22But we are talking about it in the 2000s, and it was retired in 2008.
10:28Why is this important? First, because it speaks to this project that was against this Catholic icon being patron of
10:37Brazil by law, by legislation.
10:40It has to do with the growing evangelical base and the impact that it has on Brazilian politics,
10:48and particularly the strength it has given over the years to the Bolsonaro movement.
10:53And, of course, what we're seeing now is how that base is also conflicting with the Catholic sector in an
11:02election and a population that more and more,
11:05this is happening in Brazil, but we can see it also across the continent and the world,
11:09how this religious interest also play a very important part at the moment of casting a vote.
11:16So, of course, the Lula campaign was talking about this topic and addressing the Catholic population in particular,
11:24saying how they would always defend these important symbols.
11:28And with the Bolsonaro side trying to distance themselves from the project,
11:33actually one of the top four judges, Andre Mendoza, said that all the publications from social media needed to be
11:42taken away
11:43because they said this was fake news. And right now, today, the top court, the Supreme Court,
11:49is going to rule on this decision of taking this information away from social media or not.
11:54So everything is happening and the polls are saying that this is having a positive impact for Lula.
12:01We're talking about maybe polls going up a couple of points because of this incident in particular.
12:07So just a way of understanding how these last few days are crucial and also how these different bases,
12:15different sectors of the population are interacting and how both campaigns are trying to appeal to as broad an audience
12:23as possible.
12:24This is what is happening and we will continue following because it's not the only thing happening right now,
12:29just a little bit here from Rio de Janeiro.
12:31We're going to continue reporting everything that comes from Brazil.
12:35And to continue on topic on the important election day that Brazil is going to be going to the polls
12:39next Sunday,
12:40let's now welcome to our program, Marco Fernandez, PhD in Social Psychology and a researcher at the Tri-Continental Institute.
12:49Welcome, Marcos, to From the South.
12:53Hello, Luis. Thanks for having me here.
12:55It's a pleasure. Marcos, before we go to the regional and international impact that this election can have in Brazil,
13:01what can you what is your analysis on the current geopolitical context in Brazil that Brazilians are going to the
13:07polls next Sunday?
13:10This is just the most internationalized elections in Brazil ever in history.
13:15Of course, that any election in Brazil, there is an importance for the whole region and also for the whole
13:21world,
13:21because Brazil is one of the major countries, major economies and major political actor.
13:29But right now, with the stage of geopolitics that we are watching, with the aggressiveness of U.S. in both
13:37in the region,
13:38but also in Western Asia, for instance.
13:40I think this is we could say that is not a dispute between Lula and Bolsonaro, but it's actually a
13:47dispute between Lula and Trump,
13:49or at least a dispute between Lula and Marco Rubio on Sunday, because right now, of course,
13:56we know that Brazil and Mexico are the only two major countries in Latin America that are not really controlled
14:02by United States.
14:04And there is a huge dispute over some natural resources going on in the whole planet.
14:12And of course, Brazil is one of the key countries for that.
14:17I'll give you just two examples.
14:19First of all, the oil.
14:20Everybody knows, I mean, what's going on now in Western Asia, in Iran,
14:24and everything related to the aggressiveness of U.S. regarding the search for oil.
14:33We're watching now what's happening in Venezuela, the kidnapping of the President Maduro, etc.
14:39And Brazil just found a new source of oil in the so-called equatorial margin in the north of the
14:48country, close to the Amazon River,
14:50which might make Brazil the fifth larger producer of oil in the planet.
14:57Brazil right now is the seventh major producer.
15:00But the potential of this new fine is from 10 to 30 billion barrels of oil in the region.
15:10So Brazil can be a major player.
15:12And second example is the rare earth, which now everybody talks about because all the electronics and all the key
15:21military devices and weapons need rare earth.
15:25And we know that China controls the market, controls 90% of the refined and is the major global reserve
15:32of rare earth.
15:34U.S., for instance, is only 2% of the reserve.
15:38China has more than 40%.
15:40But guess what?
15:41Brazil is the second largest reserve of rare earth in the planet.
15:45It's around 23% of the reserves that are known in the planet.
15:50So imagine if Bolsonaro wins, which means if Trump wins the elections in Brazil, these resources will be at disposal
16:01of the United States.
16:03And this would be terrible not only for Brazil, but for the rural region and for the whole global south.
16:09And I'm not talking about theory because a few weeks ago there was a leak of an email from Marco
16:17Rubio to Flávio Bolsonaro where actually Marco Rubio is thanking Bolsonaro for saying that or for promising that if Bolsonaro
16:31wins, the so-called transition government, which is an important institution that is right after the elections,
16:39if it's a different candidate wins election, not a presidential candidate, the current president, there is a transition government.
16:48So they have to make all the coordination between the ministries, et cetera.
16:54And in this email, Rubio said, thanks, Bolsonaro, for saying, for promising that the Brazilian transitional government will be at
17:04the disposal of the White House in case of you winning the election.
17:10So this is actually what's going to happen in Brazil.
17:14And also, just to find the last thing, there's already lots of denouncements in Brazil about how much U.S.
17:23is interfering in the election, also in the social media, as we expected.
17:28Like there's already some denouncements about Meta and X blocking some content from Lula.
17:35And so, I mean, we should expect a very difficult, very tight election with a lot of intervention from the
17:44United States, not only on Sunday, but I mean, if we confirm the runoff in three weeks, the next three
17:52weeks will be a massive attack from the United States against Lula and everything that Lula represents.
18:01Brazil, Marcos is one of the founding members, we can say, of the BRICS.
18:05It's right there, the beginning letter, the B for Brazil.
18:09So we know BRICS represents a more multilateral system, a multilateral world order that goes completely against with the U
18:17.S. hegemonic intention.
18:19So how could the electoral results, depending who wins, affect Brazil's role within BRICS?
18:26It's the same. I mean, it's interesting because in 2018, when Bolsonaro, the father, won the election, there was not
18:36actually a discussion about Brazil leaving BRICS.
18:39It's true that actually Bolsonaro didn't do anything for BRICS or for moving towards a important position of Brazilian BRICS.
18:51So Brazil was stuck in BRICS between 2018 and 2022, but Bolsonaro didn't want to leave formally BRICS.
19:00But right now, with the level of attacks that Trump has been doing against BRICS and threatening BRICS countries of
19:09more tariffs,
19:10if they do something about the dollar, if they move to international payment system, etc.
19:15Because after all, even Trump recognized before his election that for United States to lose the hegemony of the dollar
19:23would be the equivalent of losing a third world war.
19:26So that's why Trump is being so vocal and so aggressive against BRICS.
19:32And I should say that if Bolsonaro wins, I think most likely Brazil will quit BRICS.
19:39And this would be a major blow to BRICS because, first of all, this would mean that no Latin American
19:45countries would be a member of BRICS.
19:47Right now, Brazil is the only member of BRICS.
19:50We have two partners at Bolivia and Cuba, but Brazil is only the only member.
19:56So it would be no members from Latin America.
19:58And I would say that, again, losing Brazil in the international geopolitics, in the international stage,
20:06because Bolsonaro will be 100% subservient to the White House.
20:10It would be a major tragedy not only for Latin America, but the whole Global South will lose.
20:17BRICS will lose.
20:18Also, African countries will lose because one of the things that Lula has been trying to rebuild his policies for
20:27Africa from the first and the second term between 2003 and 2010,
20:33of course, they will be raised from the Brazilian foreign policy.
20:39So I would say that, again, if Lula wins, lose, sorry, this election, that would be a major blow for
20:49the whole Global South and for the country will be a tragedy.
20:53And just the last thing, it's actually a little bit frustrating.
20:58I would say that after everything that happened, the four years of Bolsonaro, which meant the devastation of the state,
21:07we still have almost 50% of the people or at least 40% of the people that might vote
21:12for Bolsonaro again.
21:14I think this is also brings us to a more important discussion about some of the limits of the liberal
21:21democracy in Brazil and the whole Latin America
21:24and how much U.S. has so much power to intervene in the elections, either by social media, either by
21:33actually raising and projecting candidates that are actually agents of the United States.
21:42Like now we have a president in Colombia, for instance, is his American citizen.
21:47I mean, it's absolutely insane to think that American citizen now is running Colombia.
21:52But I think we should have a proper discussion, no matter what the results of this election.
21:59But we need to create more some mechanism of defense against United States intervention in different levels that they have.
22:09I mean, what happened in Brazil with the car wash operation, how much they actually created Sergio Moro, the judge,
22:15and they were able to impeach Dilma Rousseff to put the Lula in jail.
22:20And now it's documented that was actually an operation ran by the Department of Justice and the FBI.
22:27So this kind of interventions, we need to rediscuss the democracy in Latin America, and we need mechanisms to defend
22:37against this kind of interventions from the White House.
22:40Very interesting points you were making.
22:42This is all we have time for.
22:43Unfortunately, Marcos, thank you for being with us here in From the South for this important analysis.
22:49Have me here.
22:51Thank you, Marcos.
22:52Let's now continue with other topics as we continue to inform what is happening around the world.
23:16The United States completed the withdrawal of its military troops from Iraq after 23 years of foreign intervention.
23:23The Iraqi Ministry of Defense confirmed the end of U.S. operations and highlighted the nation's capabilities to protect the
23:29country's sovereignty and security.
23:32The process was in line with a joint statement signed in September 2024 between Washington and Baghdad.
23:39According to the U.S. administration, this was in response to national security interests.
23:44The Pentagon says it will provide targeted intelligence support.
23:47Regional analysts emphasize that true national security requires full sovereignty and an end to foreign military oversight.
23:54The departure marks a pivotal shift for Iraq as popular forces and state institutions face the task of securing national
24:00borders without external interference.
24:09This information, we have come to the end of this news brief.
24:11Remember, you can find these and many other stories on our website at telestoryenglish.net.
24:15So join us on social media, learn on Facebook, X, Instagram, Telegram and TikTok.
24:20For Telestoryenglish, I'm Mr. Alberto Matos. Thank you for watching.
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