FTS 12:30 11-07: Venezuela: presidential campaign underway ahead of July 28th election
11/07/2024
FTS 12.30
*Argentina: university of Buenos Aires in salary emergency after budgets cuts
*Hezbollah to stop attacking Israel if peace agreement is reached
FTS 12.30
*Argentina: university of Buenos Aires in salary emergency after budgets cuts
*Hezbollah to stop attacking Israel if peace agreement is reached
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NewsTranscript
00:00Venezuela continues its preparations and campaign ahead of the July 28th presidential election.
00:20In Argentina, the University of Buenos Aires declared itself in salary emergency for professors
00:26and non-teaching staff due to a lack of agreement with the Libertarian government of Javier
00:34Milley.
00:36And top leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, assured that they will stop attacking Israel
00:41if a peace agreement is reached between Tel Aviv and the Palestinian resistance.
00:49Hello and welcome to From the South.
00:51My name is Belén de los Santos and I'm from the Tel Aviv studios in Havana, Cuba.
00:55We begin with the news.
01:07In Venezuela, the presidential candidate of the Great Patriotic Poll, Nicolás Maduro,
01:12was received by the people of Barina State in support of his electoral campaign for the
01:17elections to be held on July 28th.
01:19With the great gathering, the inhabitants of Barina State raised slogans reaffirming
01:24their support to the candidacy of the current Venezuelan president and condemning the unilateral
01:29U.S. sanctions.
01:31In this regard, the candidate for the Great Patriotic Poll thanked the people for their
01:36unconditional support to defeat the actions of the far-right wing and imperialism against
01:41national stability.
01:42Maduro further condemned the old neoliberal model imposed in Argentina by the current
01:47president, Javier Mele, who has fired almost 300,000 workers, allowed the entry of the
01:54U.S. Southern Command into the country, and resigned to severity over the Malvinas Islands.
02:08So the people of Argentina wanted a change and Mele appeared, a deceiver, a fascist,
02:13a fake, Mele representing the old decrepit of the Nazi ideology, Mele representing the
02:18old decrepit of the wild capitalism, and how is the people of Argentina now?
02:28They deeply regret their votes, as there have been almost 300,000 layoffs, is that what
02:32you want?
02:36Is that what the people of Barina want?
02:38Mele destroyed public education, closed universities, went against science, technology, public health.
02:47Mele delivered the U.S. a part of the South Atlantic Territory for installing a U.S. military
02:52base.
02:54He even recognized the Malvinas to England.
02:57Do you want a puppet to come and deliver the Essequibo to the White House?
03:00Likewise, the presidential candidate of the Great Patriotic Poll, Nicolás Maduro, condemned
03:05the intentions of the Venezuelan far right wing to hire Colombian paramilitaries to cause
03:10turmoil in the country.
03:14They do damage with the economic war, with the electric war, and now they have gone to
03:24hire paramilitaries in Colombia, Ojo Palau.
03:30I come from Tashira, and the people of Tashira told me, Maduro, here in Tashira, we put a
03:35certain end to the hired assassination, to the kidnapping.
03:40With the paramilitary, we have peace and stability.
03:42We don't want anything with those people.
03:46And Barinas also has to stand up and tell the far right fascist wing they will never
03:50come back, neither to Barinas nor to Venezuela, nor to this homeland.
03:57They will never come back.
04:00In this context, at the invitation of the National Electoral Council and in compliance
04:04with the Barbados Agreement of October 2023, the panel of electoral experts of the United
04:09Nations arrived in Venezuela to work during the presidential elections of July.
04:14The panel is made up of four specialists with extensive experience in electoral techniques
04:20and will remain in the country until a few days after the elections are over.
04:25The members of the delegation will enjoy total freedom of movement to meet with political
04:30and social actors of different denominations.
04:33These specialists are part of the more than 635 international experts that will participate
04:39in this election.
04:44We go now to Caracas, specifically to the Petare neighborhood, where our special envoy
04:48Yunus Soner has the latest in this presidential campaign.
04:52Let's see.
04:55Hello from Caracas, from the neighborhood of Petare.
04:58We find ourselves right now in the Cristo Square, which is the center of Petare.
05:04Take a look.
05:05This is the center of Petare.
05:07Petare is a famous neighborhood.
05:09It is the second biggest favela in all Latin America.
05:14It's supposed to have more than 500,000 habitants.
05:18The electoral campaign has already started.
05:20We see in the background a poster of President Maduro.
05:25It says President Maduro loves the people and this is actually mounted upon a truck
05:31and this truck takes rounds in the center of Petare.
05:34And here on the right, we see a so-called electoral fair.
05:39This is a stand which educates citizens how the voting process on July 28 happens.
05:46It starts with the giving the, presenting the ID and giving the fingerprint here on
05:52this machine.
05:54Then once notified by the responsible, behind this cage is the voting machine.
06:02This vote is an electronic vote.
06:04So they, on a screen, they choose the candidate of their liking and they receive a paper receipt
06:10for them.
06:11This paper receipt goes into the cage which is behind and is like a kind of comprobante,
06:18they say in Spanish.
06:19It's like a receipt and is separately collected there.
06:23And then they sign there and the process is finished.
06:26This whole process takes, according to responsibles, approximately 25 seconds and is part of deep
06:34preparations, profound preparations for the elections.
06:38Remember that the government has already also organized a simulation of the voting process
06:43on June 13th with thousands of citizens already casting their votes, not officially, legally,
06:51just to test the system.
06:53This simulation was to test also the connections between the machines, the voting machines
06:58and the voting centers and the counting procedure as well.
07:02The voting machines are being checked by representatives of all political parties and candidates thoroughly
07:09and until now all things seem to be very safe and working fine.
07:15So there will be on July 28th, there will be 30,000 voting machines all over the country
07:23and 15,000 voting centers where citizens will be able to cast their votes.
07:29Foreign Minister Ivan Hill yesterday, on Wednesday, held a meeting with the representatives of
07:35the diplomatic staff, foreign countries diplomatic staff here in Caracas and he announced that
07:40625 watchers, international watchers, will be present here in Caracas and the rest of
07:49the country during the elections.
07:51Some of them already arriving these days.
07:54So this is a kind of citizen's education and it's worth underlining, this is not a special
08:01one, not a unique one, there are 81 such stands all over Caracas and in all of Venezuela there
08:08are almost 1,000 such stands, 976 to be exact, according to the numbers provided by the National
08:17Electoral Council, which are educating citizens how to cast their votes and responsibles told
08:23us that there is a huge interest, that people are coming all day long to know, to get familiar
08:30with the process of voting, casting their votes on July 28th, the presidential elections.
08:36This is for the time being the situation in Caracas, all is easy, all is smooth and the
08:42preparations for the elections are going forward.
08:49And in other news, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, reported
08:54this month that Venezuela recorded the highest average crude oil production in June.
08:59In this sense, the OPEC reported that the national oil production of Venezuela grew
09:034.62% in just one quarter from April through June.
09:08The feed evidences the remarkable recovery of the industry that registers today a daily
09:13production of 922,000 barrels, despite an industrial income of zero dollars, influenced
09:21in no small part by the impact of the illegal U.S. sanctions imposed on the nation.
09:26Regardless, the achievement puts Venezuela, the country with the largest proven crude
09:30oil reserves in the world, once again at the same levels as other strong members of
09:36the OPEC.
09:41And on Wednesday, the Bolivian judiciary ordered the house arrest of retired Army General José
09:46Agreda, accused by the prosecutor's office of being part of the organization of the failed
09:51coup d'etat attempt against Luis Ariz's government on June 26th.
09:56The military officer was arrested last Monday after voluntarily testifying at the Special
10:01Force Against Crime, as he already had an arrest warrant against him.
10:06According to the investigation of the prosecutor's office, the retired military officer was part
10:11of the group of retired military officers that helped the leader of the attended coup,
10:17Juan José Zúñiga, in part of the planning.
10:20The Arzé government affirmed that the defendant was the one who drafted the speech that Zúñiga
10:26was going to give if he succeeded in obtaining power.
10:34Now let's take a short break, but remember you can join us on TikTok at TELUS for English,
10:38where you will find news in different formats, news updates, and much more.
10:47Other stories coming up, stay with us.
10:56Welcome back from the south.
11:11In Argentina, the Higher Council of the University of Buenos Aires declared a salary emergency
11:16for professors and non-teaching staff due to a lack of agreement with the libertarian
11:20government of Javier Millet.
11:22The governing body of one of the most important higher education institutions in the country,
11:28which is made up of the rector, deans, professors and students, backed the salary claim of workers
11:33and professors in view of the 40% loss in the purchasing power of salaries during the
11:39first semester of the year.
11:41The council expressed its concern for the hierarchy of the activity, including the fair
11:46remuneration for the work performed.
11:48Since President Millet took office, the universities have been in conflict over the budget and
11:53cuts in higher education spending.
11:59In Brazil, the proposed amendment to the constitution that decreased the temporary framework for
12:04the demarcation of native communities' lands was suspended in the context of the Brazilian
12:09Senate's Constitution and Justice Committee.
12:12As expressed in the proposed amendment, demarcation can only be carried out in regions already
12:16occupied by tribal communities since October 1988, when the federal constitution was enacted.
12:23The Commission's decision came after the Federal Supreme Court established the first
12:28meeting of the Accommodation Commission focused on the demarcation of aboriginal village lands,
12:34a meeting planned for August 5, which would be supported by the native communities that
12:40would request the removal of this issue from the Senate's agenda.
12:49The permanent criminal chamber of the Supreme Court of Peru denied on Wednesday the legal
12:53appeal for the protection of rights filed by the former president, Pedro Castillo, requesting
12:58the exclusion of the police intervention records derived from his arrest on December 2022.
13:05However, the Supreme Court argued in its ruling that there are no reasonable grounds to understand
13:11that on the occasion of the police intervention and the first proceedings carried out, there
13:16was material vulnerability or a serious violation of the normal course of the proceedings.
13:21Former President Castillo was under investigation for several allegations of corruptions and
13:26was facing an impeachment process in Congress when he announced that he was closing the
13:32parliament and installing an emergency government.
13:39On Wednesday, in El Salvador, the non-governmental organization Cristosal presented a report
13:44revealing that 261 people, four of them minors, have died in local prisons in the middle of
13:50the exception regime in the country.
13:53In this sense, the report, entitled Silence is Not an Option, collects information from
13:58family members and primary sources between March 2022 and April of 2024 as part of the
14:04President Nayib Bukele's policy of persecution, which, according to its supporters, is aimed
14:10at reducing the levels of violence in the country.
14:13The investigations based on forensic reports indicate that 88 of the deaths may have been
14:19the result of a criminal act.
14:22They have died in Salvadoran jails and dungeons due to torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading
14:36treatment, lack of food, unhealthy conditions, lack of medical attention, among other situations.
14:43But there is a deliberate policy not to protect people deprived of their freedom, and we already
14:49know the speeches of government officials, who call for and sow hatred against these
14:55people.
14:56This is also one of the most painful impacts because they are not known, hundreds of children
15:01are unprotected and abandoned, more than 80,000 people have been arrested, and most of them
15:08have children.
15:09Who takes care of the children?
15:12We have a final short break coming up but before we invite you to join our WhatsApp
15:16community for our English speaking audience, you can scan the QR code on screen to join
15:20directly and also share the link to reach more people.
15:24Constant news coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean as well as the rest of the world.
15:28Stay connected and informed with Telesurf.
15:30Final short break, don't go away.
15:46Welcome back to From the South.
16:09On Thursday, the top leader of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah,
16:14assured that they will stop attacking Israel if a peace agreement is reached between Tel
16:19Aviv and the Palestinian resistance.
16:21Nasrallah's statement was made during a tribute to former Hezbollah commander Mohamed Nasr
16:27Abunimah, who was assassinated by Israel.
16:31In this context, he reiterated that the resistance movement has prepared for the worst scenarios,
16:36but they want to give the ceasefire a chance, although he clarified that if the Zionist
16:41state attacks Lebanon during this period, they will respond forcefully.
16:46Nasrallah also reminded the Ministry of Defense of the Tel Aviv regime that their army has
16:50not been able to advance in Rafah, which is a small area, indicating that Israel's threats
16:57to invade Lebanon seem unfounded.
17:01Meanwhile, in Palestine, families continue to be displaced from the city and the north
17:09of Gaza due to the constant bombardment of the territory by the Israeli army.
17:14The armed forces of the Tel Aviv regime have been dropping leaflets in the last few days
17:19urging Palestinians to evacuate to cities located in the south of the Gaza Strip.
17:25In this context, Palestinians have denounced the scarce provision of basic supplies since
17:30the onset of the armed conflict, and demanded that Israeli troops end the oppression and
17:36violence in the Gaza Strip that is affecting Gaza's children and youth the most.
17:46We went to the Sabra area, and they bombed the house on top of us and pulled us out from
17:50under the rubble.
17:52We were there for a long time, and my husband was injured and had a fractured pelvis.
17:56He was wounded for a long time, and we had to move from one side to the other until we
18:00reached the south.
18:02God willing, this war will end.
18:04Everyone will settle in one place and have a place to stay.
18:07No more humiliation.
18:08No more oppression.
18:10I have no one with me, no family, no nothing.
18:13I have endured everything I'm going through, and no one can endure more.
18:17They dropped leaflets and told us to evacuate to the south and that the road would be safe
18:23and that there would be no inspection.
18:25After this we left, thank God, from Gaza to the south and that's what happened.
18:29There the situation was difficult with fire belts, shelling and evacuations from one place
18:34to another, and I was wounded and my children were martyred.
18:38I was only able to bring some of my things and my clothes.
18:51Now we move on to other topics.
18:53On Thursday, Russian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Ryabkov assured that the NATO
18:58summit being held in the US exposed the complicity of the military bloc with Ukraine.
19:04In this regard, Russian Foreign Affairs Vice Minister stressed that in the face of the
19:09strategies of Kiev and the 32 NATO leaders who intend to undermine the security of his
19:15country, there will be a military response from Moscow.
19:19On the other hand, Ryabkov also indicated that Russia approaches this issue without
19:24nerves and without emotions, according to his words, giving priority to a military response.
19:30It is worth noting that Germany and the US announced that they will deploy long-range
19:36strike systems on German territory by 2026, including hypersonic weapons.
19:48And in turn, NATO Secretary General Denis Stoltenberg reiterated that the military bloc's
19:52position to stay aimed at Ukraine's NATO membership, while also stating that relations
19:59between China and Russia are a threat to the West.
20:04We also decided to take further steps to bring Ukraine even closer to NATO.
20:10As Ukraine continues its vital reforms, we will continue to support them on the irreversible
20:17path to NATO membership.
20:20The work we are doing together now will ensure that when the time is right, Ukraine can join
20:27without delay.
20:28It is not a question of if, but when.
20:31Since the creation, China has become a decisive enabler of Russia's war against Ukraine.
20:38And China's support increases the threat Russia poses to Euro-Atlantic security.
20:46Allies have stated clearly that China cannot enable the largest conflict in Europe in recent
20:53history without this negatively impacting their interests and reputation.
20:58In this context, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lin Yang called on NATO leaders
21:04to listen to the international community and take action to ease the ongoing tensions.
21:11We urge NATO to reflect on the root causes of the crisis and its own actions.
21:16Listen carefully to the just voice of the international community, and take concrete
21:20actions to ease the situation, instead of shifting the blame to others.
21:38We go now to sports as Colombia defeated Uruguay 1-0 in their Copa América semi-final on Wednesday,
21:44despite being reduced to 10 men before halftime in a game that ended with ugly scenes as players
21:50entered the crowd to confront fans.
21:53Jefferson Slerma's header got his team the victory.
21:56The three-collar team will be Argentina's opponent in the championship's final on Sunday
22:01at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, and it will try to win its second Copa América in
22:06history after they won it as hosts in 2001, while the Albi Celeste team could become the
22:13tournament's top winner by surpassing Uruguay, since they are both equal at 15 victories.
22:20One day earlier, at the same time, Uruguay will face Canada in the match that will define
22:23the third and fourth place of the competition.
22:31And like this, we have come to the end of this news brief.
22:34You can find these and many other stories on our website at www.telusorenglish.net.
22:38You can also join us on social media.
22:40We are on Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and also on TikTok.
22:44For Telusore English, my name is Belinda de los Santos, thank you for watching.