12/12/2024
FTS 12.30
*Mexican Chamber of Deputies passes 2025 federal budget
*Syrian Baath Party temporarily suspends its activities
FTS 12.30
*Mexican Chamber of Deputies passes 2025 federal budget
*Syrian Baath Party temporarily suspends its activities
Category
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NewsTranscript
00:00In Venezuela, the Minister of Communes and Social Movements announced justices of peace
00:19to be elected on Sunday will be in charge of enforcing communal justice in the country.
00:28The Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved on Wednesday 9.3 trillion pesos that is equal
00:34to 442.7 billion euros for the 2025 federal budget.
00:45And the Syrian Socialist Party, Ba'ath, has suspended all its activities and functions
00:50until further notice while it is currently working on the release of its militants.
01:01Hello and welcome to From the South.
01:03My name is Belen de los Santos.
01:04I'm from Telesur Studios in Caracas, Venezuela.
01:07Let's begin with the news.
01:23And now we begin with the information.
01:24In Venezuela, the Minister of Communes and Social Movements, Ángel Prado, announced
01:28that justices of peace to be elected on Sunday will be in charge of enforcing communal justice
01:34in the country.
01:35The Minister provided the emblematic 23 January Parish as an example as such commune in Caracas
01:42counts with valuable candidates for the election to be held on December 15.
01:47It is worth noticing that the Ministry of the Communes in conjunction with the Supreme
01:52Court of Justice will be responsible for providing specialized training to over 30,000 justices.
01:59In this regard, Prado remarked that those trained justices would do justice to ourselves
02:05as they will cope with our problems, grounded in that they are part of the communes and
02:11love the communes, noting that only the people can save the people.
02:22We continue in Venezuela as President Nicolás Maduro has condemned the calls from the far
02:26right to a civil war in the country during an assembly with the candidates for justices
02:31of peace whose elections will take place next December 15.
02:36The Venezuelan head of state referred to the recent calls by the extreme right wing to
02:40burst out a civil war in the country, stating that in Venezuela there will be permanent
02:46mobilizations to guarantee peace.
02:48The President further stressed that these calls to violence have serious consequences
02:53since they go against national laws.
02:55Concurrently, he pointed out that through his public denunciations, the representative
03:00of the extreme right, Edmundo González, is not only violating the legal framework
03:05of the country, but also the agreement that he signed in order to obtain political asylum.
03:22And now you are calling for a war in Venezuela.
03:26Old man, be careful with what you say from there.
03:29It has serious consequences.
03:33Watch your words.
03:34Do not make a mistake with the people of Venezuela.
03:40In Venezuela, there will be no war.
03:43Old man, what causes me to tell you, old man, do not play with fire.
03:49Respect Venezuela.
03:56Do not play with fire.
03:58You are violating the agreement you signed.
04:01You are violating the right to asylum in Spain.
04:04Stop calling for a civil war in Venezuela.
04:08Stop calling for a civil war in Venezuela.
04:12And we continue in Venezuela as activities are already underway in the framework of the
04:16upcoming 24th Summit of the ALBA-TCP.
04:20And Caracas youngsters participated at an ALBA political council model to learn and
04:25promote the mechanisms of the principle.
04:28Let's listen.
04:31First of all, in the framework of the ALBA, well, it is really important that we, as Venezuelans,
04:37get to know this type of organization, of activities, as students as well, because we
04:42get to know a little more about the current world, what surrounds us, and the great importance
04:47that the ALBA represents for Venezuela.
04:53We are already going towards the transition of a new world, of a new multipolar world,
04:57and the ALBA-TCP is adheres to that new world, where all the islands are not a colony, but
05:01are independent and sovereign peoples, and also, we, from here is the ALBA, talk about
05:05the peoples directly, about the social movements, we also break with the paradigm of the relation
05:10state-state, and we go beyond.
05:12Towards the human being with the human being, towards the man with the man, towards the
05:15woman with the woman, towards the child with the child, towards us to be able to discover
05:19that new horizon, that without a doubt the traditional model has not allowed us to know.
05:23It is undoubtedly important to adhere to this integration mechanism in order to be able
05:26to live and learn first-hand about these experiences, which will surely be the future of Latin America
05:31and the Caribbean.
05:36And we go now to Peru, as the Minister of Education, Morgan Quero, described those that
05:41were killed during protests against the government of Dino Boluarte as rats.
05:45In the framework of Human Rights Day, the Minister of Education issued a series of despicable
05:50comments emphasizing in a press conference that human rights are for people, not for
05:55rats, after being questioned about the lack of government pronouncements on the death
06:00in the protests.
06:02In these citizens' demonstrations two years ago, 49 civilians were killed by the forces
06:08of order in different departments of the country after demanding the exit of President
06:13Dino Boluarte and the members of the current Congress.
06:17For her part, Boluarte is being investigated by the public prosecutor for the alleged crime
06:23of genocide.
06:31And in Honduras, the President Xiomara Castro assured that her administration has made the
06:36largest public investment in the history of the country.
06:40The President expressed this in the activity for the 199th anniversary of the armed forces
06:46in Tegucigalpa, capital of the Central American nation.
06:50She also highlighted the construction of hospitals, schools, sports fields, roads, as well as
06:55the coverage of social programs related to food and health, in addition to giving an
07:00account of the progress of her government in the fight against crime and drug trafficking.
07:17My government has made the largest public investment in the history of Honduras.
07:22In highways, productive roads, airports, education, schools, scholarships, free tuition,
07:39school lunch, health, hospitals, sports, support for agriculture, energy, security, fuel subsidies.
07:51And now we have a short break coming up, but first, remember you can join us on TikTok
07:55at TELUS or English, where you will find news in different formats, news updates, and much
08:00more.
08:02Stay with us.
08:03Welcome back to From the South.
08:29The Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved on Wednesday 9.3 trillion pesos, that is equal
08:35to 442.7 billion euros, for the 2025 federal budget.
08:41After over four hours of debate, legislators passed the first budget of Shane Baum's government
08:47with 349 votes in favor and 129 against, registering no abstentions.
08:54The spending plan of the executive has been estimated at over 472 million euros, which
09:00will be fundamentally allocated to social programs.
09:04Moreover, Marilín Gómez Pozo, President of the Finance Commission of the Legislature,
09:09assured that the regulation prioritizes economic growth, shared prosperity, economic stability
09:15and public finances.
09:24And the Brazilian government spurred the international community to support Haiti in view of the
09:30violence wave that the country is facing.
09:32The Brazilian Foreign Ministry urged support for the interim government's efforts to ensure
09:37public safety, economic development and social pacification in Haiti.
09:42The ministry issued the statement in appalling rejection to a massacre that left on Sunday
09:48over 189 people dead.
09:51The incident occurred in a town of Port-au-Prince, capital, where members of a criminal group
09:57massacred nearly 200 elderly people.
10:08And also in this context, Haitian authorities have confirmed a new massacre that left at
10:12least 20 people killed, perpetrated in the apartment of Artibonite, in the center of
10:17the country.
10:18Between Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, while sleeping in their homes in
10:22the commune of Petite Rivière, at least 20 people were killed in an armed attack perpetrated
10:27by a criminal group known as Grand Grève.
10:31Authorities at the Artibonite Peace Initiative Committee described that among the dead victims
10:36were children who were brutally massacred.
10:39The attack is a retaliation against the residents of the area who had managed to eliminate several
10:45members of the criminal group since the return of the Haitian National Police to the region.
10:57And in Colombia, on Wednesday, the Economic Commissions of the Senate and the House of
11:01Representatives voted against the financing bill proposed by the government of President
11:07Gustavo Pedro.
11:08The bill, which began its processing after several days of delay, was supposed to guarantee
11:14close to 12 trillion pesos, that is a little bit more than 2,700 million dollars, for sustainable
11:22economic reactivation, adaptation to climate change and sustainable development, within
11:26a framework of fiscal sustainability and new tools to strengthen the control and operation
11:32of the tax system.
11:34President Gustavo Pedro assured through his social networks that the decision is a hard
11:39blow against the people, while the Minister of the Interior assured that a sensible discussion
11:44about the norm was not allowed.
11:53The regrettable thing about today's decision is that a discussion was not allowed and we
11:58had urged the benches, the members of the third and fourth commissions, to open the
12:04debate and to discuss point by point the advance payment of the fiscal rule, because taxes
12:10and gambling were excluded in the report.
12:12We wanted to discuss each one of the points of the reform and there was no opportunity
12:17to discuss them, to move forward in that debate.
12:21It seems to me that there was a haste on the part of the commissions in not allowing the
12:25debate.
12:26I believe that the country deserved that debate.
12:32And we continue in Colombia, where debating for a minimum wage increase has started and
12:37some unions have already proposed their percentage, which is far from the proposal of the World
12:42Workers represented in the Central Labor Unions.
12:45Let's see more in the following material.
12:51As usual for this month, the Central Labor, Trade Unions, Industrial Organizations and
12:56Government meet to discuss the increase in the minimum wage for workers in the country.
13:01The Colombian Association of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises initially put on the
13:06table its proposal of 5%, a figure that could be approaching the other unions.
13:12However, they did not give their proposal and left in the hands of the Ministry of Labor
13:18and the government the evolution of the table of consultation.
13:25The great interest that we have is to reach an agreement this year.
13:29Some people ask us why we have not given a number, and the reason why we have not given
13:34it is because we really believe that the probability of agreement increases a lot if
13:39we allow the government to play the role of intermediary or conciliator in the middle
13:43of this tripartite work.
13:45As it happened in the year 2022 and in the year 2023, we almost succeeded in achieving
13:51it.
13:52For their part, the workers, who were members of and represented by the National Unitary
14:03Command, assured that the initiative of the small businessmen is illegal since it does
14:09not take into account other indicators, only the inflation index.
14:13They proposed a two-digit increase and made a series of suggestions with measures to maintain
14:19the purchasing power of the workers and thinking of the increases that are coming next year.
14:28We made a review of the housing rental rates, that the increases of products regulated by
14:34the state be reviewed so that they are never higher than inflation, that the proposals
14:39of the pensioners be considered so that the pension allowance is equal to the minimum
14:44wage and that the health contribution is reduced, as well as the contribution to the
14:51family compensation funds, that the Bank of the Republic's interest rates be significantly
15:04reduced because they have been a brake on economic reactivation, that financial expenses
15:11be reviewed, and that the minimum wage increase for 2025 be 12%.
15:21In this context, what expectations do ordinary citizens have regarding these negotiations
15:30and their results?
15:31It is not enough for a person who earns the minimum wage, and even more so for a person
15:38who pays rent, who has a family.
15:40They always raise it very little, and then they raise the public transportation.
15:45So no, it must be something that allows one as a Colombian to be able to subsist.
15:54Perhaps in a middle ground between what the private sector and the workers' union are
15:59asking for, because it is really necessary for all people to have access to a better
16:04quality of life.
16:05That is the idea.
16:06The key data for the discussion of the minimum wage are inflation, which is 5.2%, the contribution
16:18of wages to GDP, which is 2%, and productivity, which ranges between 1.73% and 3.43%.
16:27The first deadline is December 15th to reach a consensus on the minimum wage increase,
16:34where for the moment the parties seem to be distant.
16:36The deadline is December 30th, otherwise it will be signed by decree.
17:04Welcome back to From the South.
17:30We go now to Syria, as this Wednesday the Syrian Socialist Party, Baath, suspended all
17:34its activities and functions until further notice while it is currently working on the
17:40release of its militants.
17:42The party's General Secretary, Ebrahim Al-Adid, informed that the measure will allow the militants
17:47to return to the entities in which they originally worked, and to make themselves available to
17:53them.
17:54Al-Hadid also called on the militants to hand over all the mechanisms, vehicles and weapons
17:59to the Ministry of the Interior or to the nearest police unit or police station, and
18:04to draw up an official record of these.
18:07The goods and funds of the party will be under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance
18:12and the Ministry of Justice.
18:14And in addition, its revenues will be deposited in the Central Bank of Syria, to be disbursed
18:20in accordance with the law by the current government.
18:30And also in this context, the Military Operations Department announced the cancellation of the
18:36curfew imposed by week in Damascus by terrorist functions.
18:42The Syrian entity called on citizens to return to their work normally and contribute to the
18:48formation of the new Syria.
18:50It also urged the Syrian people to keep their distance from public institutions and military
18:56barracks.
18:57The organization also reiterated its commitment to guarantee protection and reward any person
19:04with information about the existence of secret prisons.
19:07On November 27th, terrorist forces launched a surprise offensive against the Syrian army,
19:13taking control of several cities and proclaiming the fall of the government of Bashar al-Assad.
19:26And the government of Egypt condemned the Israeli attacks on military installations
19:30in Syria and the actions of the Zionist state in the Golan Heights.
19:34The Egyptian Foreign Ministry considered that this Israeli aggression against military installations
19:40and its attempts to expand its zone of influence by occupying Syrian territories is a flagrant
19:47violation of international law.
19:49Cairo also stated that the Israeli authorities seek to profit from the political vacuum imposed
19:55in Syria by the aggressive escalation of terrorist factions.
19:59In this regard, the Foreign Ministry called on the United Nations Security Council and
20:03the international community to take measures to stop the escalation of the Israeli occupation.
20:10And Major General Commander-in-Chief of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps Hossein Salami
20:24assured that they keep up supporting the resistance, reaffirming that the Iranian forces have not
20:29diminished.
20:30Salami met Thursday with several commanders, in which the leader further condemned the
20:35U.S. and Israeli exploitation of the current Syrian crisis.
20:40Furthermore, the Commander-in-Chief underscored that the Iranian government has made great
20:44efforts in recent years to ensure the geographical independence of the Palestinian and Lebanese
20:51resistance.
20:52Moreover, the Major General also unfolded that Iranian officials informed Syrian authorities
20:58about the Taqbedi movement in the area.
21:01Finally, Salami noted that the Iranian military strength enabled them for the launching of
21:07True Promise 1 and 2 operations.
21:31The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted two resolutions calling for a ceasefire
21:36in the Palestinian Gaza and rejecting the Israeli regime's restriction on the Agency
21:42for Palestinian Refugees, the UNRWA.
21:44The ceasefire resolution was approved by 158 countries, 9 were against it and 13 abstained.
21:52The decision includes the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees with immediate access
22:00for the civilian population of the Gaza Strip to basic services and humanitarian assistance.
22:05On the other hand, the resolution prohibits operations against the UNRWA and was approved
22:11with 159 votes in favor, 9 against and 11 abstentions.
22:18It determines that Tel Aviv must comply with its international obligations and respect
22:23the immunity of this Agency.
22:25However, it is important to note that the resolutions of the UN General Assembly are
22:29not binding.
22:30In other news, on Thursday, in a televised address, South Korean President Yun Sung-kyo
22:41defended his decision to implement martial law in the country.
22:45In his second public appearance since last week's martial law decree, he classified it
22:51as an inevitable measure to protect liberal democracy from the opposition's parliamentary
22:57dictatorship.
22:58Yun is currently being investigated for a crime of insurrection that can carry life
23:03imprisonment or the death penalty.
23:06Senior military commanders have claimed in recent days that both the President and former
23:11Defense Minister Kim Jong-un personally gave them orders to forcibly empty the parliament.
23:25And like this, we have come to the end of this news brief.
23:28You can find this and many other stories on our website at TELUSREINGLISH.NET.
23:30And also join us on social media, we are on Facebook, X, Instagram, Telegram and also
23:36on TikTok.
23:37For TELUSREINGLISH, my name is Belén de los Santos, thank you for watching.