Peronism lost this weekend the governorship of the province of Chubut, a stronghold in Patagonia that it had controlled for 20 years. The defeat in these provincial elections reflects the growing electoral weakness of the ruling party in the face of the fight for the Presidency of Argentina in the upcoming elections, at the end of October.

Ignacio Torres -now a senator for the PRO (Revolutionary Proposal), which is part of the Together for Change coalition, the party of former President Macri- won with 35.7% of the votes, compared to the 34.1% obtained by the Peronist Juan Pablo Luque. “Chubut changed its history once and for all,” celebrated Torres, who from December 10 will be, at the age of 35, the youngest governor of Argentina. The PRO thus obtains its second governorship among the 24 districts into which the country is divided. Until now, it controlled only the city of Buenos Aires, which has the entity and powers of a province.

Ignacio Torres -now a senator of the PRO (Revolutionary Proposal), which is part of the Together for Change coalition, the party of former President Mauricio Macri-

The defeat of Peronism in Chubut can be seen from various angles. One, important, is the geographic itself. Patagonia, made up of five provinces, is the most sparsely populated region in the country, but it has a large symbolic capital, as a strategic region full of wealth.

Comodoro Rivadavia, the main Argentine oil city, is in Chubut, a province of contrasts. Comodoro is a bastion of Peronism, which historically vindicated the YPF oil company as a jewel of the State, although it was the party that privatized the company and sold it to the Spanish Repsol, to expropriate it years later.. In other sectors of the province, especially in the cities near the Andes Mountains and the capital, Rawson, Peronism has lost strength.

A small province in electoral terms -350,000 registered residents-, Chubut is symbolic due to its size, 224,000 square kilometers, eight times Catalonia, and its wealth: oil, gas, fishing, tourism.

Four years ago, the two options for governor presented by Peronism added 75% of the votes. But many things have changed in this time. A very important one is that the province is bankrupt. Chubut was frequently in the news due to the strikes of teachers to whom the Peronist Mariano Arcioni did not pay their salaries.

That aspect, the economic bankruptcy of Chubut, was highlighted by Patricia Bullrich, presidential candidate for Together for Change (JxC), who starred in the photo on Sunday night: hug and kiss Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, mayor of Buenos Aires and the another contender for the presidency in the opposition coalition.

Argentina will celebrate this August 13 a presidential primary, the PASO (Open, Simultaneous and Compulsory Primaries), in which the key questions are three: who will win the internal one of the JxC coalition, how far will the electoral support for Peronism fall and what percentage of votes will get the disruptive Javier Milei. The highly discredited Argentine pollsters give, in less than two weeks, an advantage for JxC and a remarkably solid position for Sergio Massa, the candidate who promotes the majority of Peronism.

surveys

A recent survey published in Argentina gives Sergio Massa, the pre-candidate promoted by the majority of Peronism, 26% of the votes in the presidential primaries, a figure to which 3% is added for Juan Grabois, the pre-candidate of the left of Peronism. For their part, Bullrich and Rodríguez Larreta, from the opposition coalition JxC, would share 15% each and Javier Milei, 22%.

Massa has been the Economy Minister of the battered President Alberto Fernández for a year. Under his management, inflation climbed above 120% per year and the peso devalued sharply.. But he is confident of being the single candidate with the most votes in the primaries.

All in all, the JxC opposition coalition understands that the victory in Chubut, which adds to other falls in provinces that were in the hands of Peronism for decades, such as San Luis and San Juan, marks a path to electoral success.. In this context, the embrace between Bullrich and Rodríguez Larreta, protagonists of a bitter inmate, was a relief for those who support the opposition.

“Today we are celebrating Nacho's victory in Chubut,” said Bullrich. “I don't know who is going to win on August 13, I don't know if it's going to be Horacio or it's going to be me.. But the one who wins leads and the one who loses accompanies.”

A court in Bogotá formalized on Sunday the arrest of Nicolás Petro Burgos, son of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, and his ex-wife Daysuris Vásquez, arrested for the possible crime of money laundering, according to the Prosecutor's Office.. The judge decreed as legal the capture procedures carried out on Saturday in their places of residence in Barranquilla, capital of the Atlántico department, from where they were transferred by plane to Bogotá, reports Efe.

In the judicial decision, the “search, search and seizure for the purpose of confiscation of elements that would be useful for the investigation and that acquire the quality of probative material or physical evidence” were also decreed legal, the Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.

In a hearing that lasted eight hours, Municipal Criminal Court 74, with functions of control of guarantees, reaffirmed that “all constitutional and legal requirements were met in the procedure” of detention. In the next few hours, possibly this Tuesday, the Prosecutor's Office will charge Nicolás Petro with money laundering and illicit enrichment charges, and his ex-wife with money laundering and personal data violation, the information added.

explosive interview

Nicolás Petro, who is a deputy of the Atlantic Assembly, was arrested in Barranquilla as part of an investigation launched by the Prosecutor's Office in March. The starting point was an interview with his ex-wife to Semana magazine in which he said that Nicolás Petro received a large sum of money from a drug trafficker for the electoral campaign of today's President Gustavo Petro and that he kept that money.. According to the account of Vásquez, also arrested, drug trafficker Samuel Santander Lopesierra, alias the Marlboro man, gave her “more than 600 million pesos (about $153,000) for dad's campaign.”

Nicolás Petro would have also received 200 million pesos (about 51,000 dollars) from the controversial businessman Alfonso Turco Hilsaca, who did not go to the campaign either. The President of the Republic assured on Saturday that he will not intervene or pressure the decisions of the Prosecutor's Office to benefit his son.

Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman said Monday in Kiev that Croatia has made its ports on the Adriatic available to Ukraine for the export of grain and backed the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country invaded by Russia.

“In the context of the possible world food crisis, Croatia has made its ports available for the export of Ukrainian grains,” the minister said after speaking with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, the Croatian Foreign Ministry reported.

Moscow announced on July 17 the suspension of the agreement for the export of grain through the Black Sea from Ukrainian ports, after denouncing that the commitments with Russia had not been fulfilled.. Thus, the maritime blockade typical of a war of conquest returned. The United Nations immediately warned that some countries in the Middle East and Africa would face famine if kyiv could not export its products across the Black Sea.

The export agreement was sealed in July 2022, with the mediation of Turkey and the United Nations, and has allowed the export of more than 32 million tons of Ukrainian grain since then.

Grlic Radman opined that Croatia, which had a long and difficult path from independence and Serbian military aggression to the country's full integration into the European Union, has many experiences to share with Ukraine.

One of these is the peaceful reintegration of the occupied territories with the help of the UN and another is the dismantling of the mines, “especially in light of the fact that Ukraine is the breadbasket that feeds the world, including the most vulnerable countries,” he stressed.

The minister attended in the town of Hostomel the delivery of 50 electric generators obtained by UNICEF thanks to one million euros of Croatian donations for schools and hospitals in Ukraine. He pledged that Croatia will continue to provide “unwavering support for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, within its internationally recognized borders,” the Croatian ministry said.

When Gustavo Petro reviews in a week everything he experienced during his first year in charge of Colombia, he will feel exhausted.. Much noise and little progress for the “Government of change”, the same one that promised new ways of doing politics and an iron fight against corruption.

The first anniversary of Petro in Casa de Nariño thus comes with the outbreak of the most serious scandal of a surprising list, which also has his eldest son as the protagonist. A torpedo to the waterline of the Historical Pact, dotted with disagreements and struggles that have also affected his popularity: from 20% disapproval at the beginning of his term to the current 61%, according to Invamer. And with 70% of citizens convinced that the country is getting worse.

Yesterday the weight of history fell on the 74th Court of Guarantee Control of Bogotá, after the first arrest of the son of an acting president. The Prosecutor's Office, after five months of investigations, accuses deputy Nicolás Petro, 37, and his ex-wife, Day Vásquez, of illicit enrichment and money laundering.

The judge must decide in the next few hours whether to prosecute the couple and whether they remain in pretrial detention, in a case revealed in March by Semana magazine that can carry sentences of up to 30 years in prison, according to local media..

“The seizure measure is not illegal, but it could be a hasty action. This is important, understanding the political dispute between the prosecutor and Petro,” columnist David González Escobar explained to EL MUNDO, after criticism from the ruling party..

Vásquez herself confessed to the weekly that Nicolás kept a billion pesos from his father's campaign, which he himself had obtained from two obscure characters: the former drug trafficker Santa Lopesierra, alias the Marlboro Man, who was imprisoned in the United States and Alfonso Hilsaca, alias El Turco, once linked to paramilitary groups.

The magazine also revealed thousands of WhatsApp conversations between the two, which exposed various corruptions.. “As a person and a father, so much self-destruction and the fact that one of my children goes to jail hurts me a lot,” reacted the president, who above all announced that he is not willing to put pressure on the Prosecutor's Office, an attitude pondered by his allies and collaborators.

Allied support

Petro received the immediate support of his closest allies, such as Gustavo Bolívar, candidate for mayor of the capital for the Historical Pact. “Nicolás Petro is the first son of a president to go to jail, but not because the sons of other presidents have not committed crimes, but because no other president allows Justice to act independently and without pressure as Petro does,” he said. Bolivar.

“The arrest of Nicolás Petro is very serious and affects Petro's legitimacy,” summed up political scientist Mauricio Jaramillo. A legitimacy that opponents question, but that for its vice president, Francia Márquez, has screwed thanks to her “righteousness” in the response.

The media followed the news as if it were the World Cup final, minute by minute. When Vásquez provided the information that blamed her ex-husband months ago, the leaked wasap audios became a trending social topic.

“A good moment to remember that Nicolás Petro is not only Petro's son: he was also his political operator, he was his candidate for Governor of the Atlantic placed by him and one of the key leaders of his campaign on the coast, which was the region who decided the elections in the second round. There is political responsibility,” said González Escobar.

The other mainstay in Petro's campaign, especially in the transcendental coastal area, was Armando Benedetti, former Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, promoter of the whitewashing of the Chavista dictatorship and protagonist of the other great scandal of the Administration of Change: his personal scuffle and politician with the former head of the Office of the Presidency, Laura Sarabia, caused the dismissal of both, despite being their two closest collaborators.

An indirect consequence of the scandal is that Petro could be disqualified, “due to a conflict of interest”, when proposing a shortlist to replace the prosecutor, who is on his way out, recalls González Escobar.

Ukraine managed to attack the skyscraper district of Moscow on the night of Saturday to Sunday. Some glass panels in a high-rise building were blown into the air, with glass and debris littering part of the pavement below after a major detonation, videos shared on social media showed.. There were no casualties, but the Muscovites woke up again with the concern to see that the war that their government started returns with more force and impudence.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that three drones were involved in the attack on Moskva-city. The business district, located a few kilometers from the Kremlin, is known for its modern high-rise towers and one of the damaged buildings housed three Russian government ministries as well as exclusive residential apartments.. The area is an important meeting point on weekends with its expensive bars and restaurants.

As usual every time there is an attack on Russian soil, Ukraine avoided claiming responsibility for the action although several Kiev spokespersons ironized about the flying objects over the Russian sky. The Russian Defense Ministry said it shot down three Ukrainian drones early Sunday that were trying to attack Moscow.. But the fact that enemy drones have begun to reach the heart of the Russian capital in recent months, even if they do not cause serious damage, is embarrassing for the narrative of the authorities, who present the war against Ukraine as a “special military operation”. ” without consequences for Russian households. The main Russian television channels did not report on the matter, but social networks hardly talked about other things.

kyiv already managed to attack Moscow with two drones last Monday, one of which was shot down near the Defense Ministry headquarters.. Two drones arrived at the very Kremlin in May, it was the most serious incident of its kind.

View of a damaged office block of the Moscow International Business Center. ALEXANDER NEMENOV | AFP

This time there was minor damage to the facade of two office buildings in the Moskva-City business district, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, adding that no one was injured, but emergency services told the TASS agency that a security guard at the Oko-2 tower had to be treated for the spectacular explosion. The ground was covered with documents from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Communications, which have offices in these facilities.

In the attacked building, glass was broken from the first to the fourth floor. In one of the neighborhood's high-rise buildings, several windows were broken on the fifth and sixth floors, local media reported.

The Defense Ministry said only two drones crashed in the Moskva-City district after being shot down using radio-electronic equipment.. Air defenses had shot down a third over the Odintsovo residential neighborhood in the Moscow region.. As a result of the attack, the Vnukovo airport in the capital, the one used by Vladimir Putin for his trips, was closed for departures and arrivals.

nuclear attack

Former Russian President Dimitri Medvedev believes Moscow would have to use a nuclear weapon if kyiv's ongoing counter-offensive proves successful.. Medvedev, who is vice president of the Russian Security Council, has already raised the threat of a nuclear conflict over Ukraine.

Putin's predecessor and former successor said in a message on his official social media accounts that Russia would be forced to resort to its own nuclear doctrine in such a scenario: “Imagine if the offensive, which is backed by NATO, was a success.” and tear up a part of our land, then we would be forced to use a nuclear weapon in accordance with the rules of a decree of the President of Russia.”

Medvedev was referring to Russia's nuclear doctrine, which states that nuclear weapons can be used in response to aggression against Russia carried out with conventional weapons that threaten the existence of the state.

“There would simply be no other option,” added Medvedev, who believes that “our enemies should pray” for the success “of our fighters” since “they are making sure that a global nuclear fire is not ignited.”