Venezuela and OPEC to boos mutual coperation // Mexico rejects U.S tariffs on steel and aluminum imports // Panama to resume social security fund law debate
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00:00The government of Venezuela and the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries, OPEC, move on
00:11with their future cooperation in energy investment projects.
00:20Mexico rejected the arguments used by the U.S. to justify the 25% increase in tariffs
00:25on steel and aluminum.
00:31And Panama's National Assembly will resume the second debate of the bills that seek to
00:35amend the organic law of the Social Security Fund.
00:45Hello and welcome to From the South, I'm Alejandra Garcia from Telesur Studios in Caracas, Venezuela.
00:50We begin with the news, so stay with us.
01:05This Tuesday, the third annual edition of the India Energy Week started in New Delhi.
01:10The event, which will run from February 11th to the 14th, brings together delegations from
01:15at least 120 countries to discuss the main challenges facing the sector and promote
01:21sustainable solutions.
01:23This year's edition will showcase technological innovations and decarbonization strategies
01:27aligned with global energy goals, with a focus on energy access, security, affordability
01:33and sustainability.
01:35With more than 500 speakers across over 95 sessions, the event will explore key themes
01:41shaping the global energy landscape.
01:48The Government of Venezuela and the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries, OPEC, move on
01:53with their future cooperation in energy investment projects.
01:57The Vice President and Minister of Oil and Gas of Venezuela, Delsi Rodriguez, met Tuesday
02:02in New Delhi with OPEC's General Secretary Haitham Al Ghais to address issues of interest
02:08in terms of cooperation and intra-organizational cohesion.
02:12The meeting took place during India's Energy Week, which is being held in the nation's
02:16capital.
02:17During the encounter, the representatives for both parties reviewed part of the OPEC
02:22Plus agreement and discussed benefits of being part of the alliance which seeks to stabilize
02:27the international energy market for the development of their countries.
02:37With this evolution, the energy future must be done with a lot of responsibility, without
02:42illegal sanctions that weigh so absurdly on the future, how the future is compromised.
02:48These investments should be aimed at collecting and storing CO2 emissions.
02:52And all the resources must be directed in a responsible way to research and technology
02:57to alleviate the terrible climate crisis, and above all, this evolution must be done
03:02with equity, equality and fair access for the people.
03:10Venezuelan Vice President Delsi Rodriguez said that excluding countries with large oil
03:14and gas reserves has a great economic, political and geopolitical impact.
03:21But also in the international economy, it is the role that producers play in the framework
03:25of the world economy.
03:27In the case of Russia, for example, pretending to exclude a giant in oil and gas, pretending
03:33to exclude it from the energy formula, undoubtedly had an impact, and it had an impact on the
03:38European markets.
03:40And well, this has had not only an economic impact, but also a political and geopolitical
03:46impact.
03:47In the case of Venezuela, to try to exclude the country that has the largest oil reserves
03:51on the planet is absurd, and I believe that time has proven that those who tried to exclude
03:55Venezuela from the international energy formula were wrong.
04:00What is the role of Venezuela?
04:02Venezuela not only has light oil, it also has many reserves of heavy and extra heavy
04:06oil.
04:07And we always reiterate in the case of India, with whom we share a relationship of brotherhood
04:11and cooperation, that oil must be at the service of development in the terms that we have been
04:16evaluating.
04:22Venezuela will go to the United States justice system to denounce those involved in the U.S.
04:27aid case.
04:28Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab said that international judicial cooperation
04:33is important to prosecute all those involved in the looting of U.S. assets and the financing
04:38of serious crimes against the Venezuelan state.
04:41The Bolivarian Prosecutor's Office will formally request the extradition of the fugitives from
04:46Venezuelan justice involved in the embezzlement of the federal agency Juan Guaidó, Leopoldo
04:52López and Carlos Vecchio, among others.
05:02Colombian President Gustavo Petro took to his social platforms to comment on the return
05:06of Venezuelan migrants and encourage undocumented Colombians living in the U.S. to return to
05:11their homeland.
05:12Good for the Venezuelan migrants who return to their countries from the United States
05:17without handcuffs.
05:19The migrants should be treated with dignity.
05:21In this context, Petro added, the pride of being Colombian should be carried around the
05:26world without shame.
05:27Ask all Colombians without papers in the U.S. to return.
05:31The consulates have expanded to warrant the information to all Colombian migrants who
05:36wish to return freely to our country.
05:45Venezuelans are getting ready to celebrate the International Tourist Carnival 2025 with
05:49a cultural agenda that includes concerts, parades and cycling.
05:54The event will begin on Friday in Caracas with the presentation of the candidates for
05:58Young Queen, Godmother and Godfather of the Carnivals 2025.
06:03The program will also include a children's caravan on February 26th from Plaza Morelos
06:09to Plaza de la Juventud, as well as recreational activities and parades organized by 190 bases
06:16of socialist missions from that day until March 1st.
06:21The concert Retumba Caracas or Caracas Rumble is another event within the carnivals to be
06:26held in different parishes on February 28th, March 1st and March 2nd.
06:32On this day, there will be two races, the Caracas 5K and Caracas Rueda Libre or Caracas
06:38Free Round.
06:39The program will end with the Octavita Carnival featuring a mountain bike race and a concert
06:45in the capital's Youth Square.
06:56And now we have a short break coming up, but first remember you can join us on TikTok at
07:00TELUS or English, where you'll find news in different formats, news updates and more.
07:04We'll be right back, stay with us.
07:09Welcome back to From the South.
07:11The Mexican government rejected the arguments used by the United States to justify the 25%
07:17increase in tariffs on steel and aluminium.
07:19Mexico's Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard denied the claims made by Washington that
07:24steel and aluminium exports from his country had increased by more than 1,600%.
07:31The government official described the US tariffs increase as unfair, while assuring that the
07:36trade balance is favourable to the United States, since that country exports more to
07:41Mexico than it imports from Mexico.
07:43Ebrard pointed out that the tariffs could affect the markets of Canada, the United States
07:48and Mexico by increasing the price of the products made jointly by the three North American nations.
08:03It doesn't make sense.
08:04So I would firstly say that if we import more steel and aluminium from the United States
08:08than they do from us, the argument to impose tariffs is not logical, because they have
08:14a trade surplus with us.
08:16But secondly, these tariffs are a bad idea, because as I have already shown you right
08:21now, only in the case of pistons we are integrated with the three countries for the production
08:26and smelting of aluminium.
08:29How this piston is finished, how it crosses borders, how it is assembled again in Wisconsin,
08:34imagine eight times for only one piston.
08:37So we have to take care of that production.
08:44The results of Ecuador's first round of voting on Sunday showed that a greater number of
08:48cantons voted for presidential candidate Luisa González than for candidate Daniel Novoa.
08:54According to the National Electoral Council, CNE, González won 117 cantons, mostly in
09:01the coast and north of the country, while President Novoa's support was concentrated
09:06in the central highlands and two-thirds of the Amazon, for a total of 97 cantons.
09:12The Citizens' Revolution obtained more than 60% of the votes in 46 cantons, its greatest
09:19victory being in the province of ManabÃ, in the city of Jaramillo, where they obtained
09:2483% of endorsements.
09:26On the other hand, candidate Leonid Asitsa, representative of Paxacutic, won in seven
09:31cantons of his native Cotopaxi, Chimborazo, Cañar and Zamora, in the province of Loja,
09:37in spite of being in third place.
09:44In this sense, the head of state and presidential candidate Daniel Novoa denounced Tuesday
09:49irregularities in the scrutiny of the first presidential round in Ecuador.
09:53Novoa assured to have evidence of a possible fraud that prevented him from winning with
09:58a higher number of votes and explained the reasons why he did not celebrate nor made
10:02statements at the end of the election day on Sunday.
10:06The presidential candidate pointed out that according to his count, there have been data
10:10registered in several provinces of the country that contradict the preliminary results by
10:15the Organization of American States.
10:19Panama's National Assembly will resume the second debate of the bill that seeks to amend
10:29the organic law of the Social Security Fund.
10:32The bills also contemplate the allocation of special funds under the pretext of paying
10:36the pensions for the month of February.
10:39The Panamanian workers warned that with the approval of these projects, the resources
10:43of the insurance fund will be handed over to the banks and the pensions administrators.
10:50The General Secretary of the Construction Workers, Aul Mendes, said that the bill intends
10:54to approve the initiative promoted by the government, in spite of being rejected by
10:58several organizations and unions.
11:01Today is February the 10th.
11:15The information that we have is that the Assembly intends to declare itself in permanent session.
11:20Dana Castaneda, the RN representatives, Vamos and others intend to take this discussion
11:25with flying colors, a real coup against the people.
11:29They intend, as we have already said, to declare a permanent session, not allowing
11:33any room for debate, to prevent society from addressing this issue in the second debate,
11:39to impose their will, to steal the money from the insurance fund and give it to the banks,
11:43to the private pension funds' administrators, to increase the retirement age, to lower the
11:48pension to 40% and less, that is to say, it is the robbery of the century.
11:53We cannot allow that to happen.
11:55We must declare a state of alert all the workers of the country and the Panamanian people to
12:00face this robbery.
12:22In Uruguay, strong winds and storms cause power outages in large parts of the country.
12:28According to the state-owned energy supply company, more than 27,000 customers are without
12:32power.
12:33The rains and wind dust fell trees and damaged the power lines in the cities.
12:38The electric company has not provided details on the restoration of services, but authorities
12:44warn that the most affected departments are those of Colonia, Soriano, Flores and San Jose.
12:59Welcome back to From the South.
13:01On Tuesday, the Carabinieri police force of Palermo carried out a major anti-mafia operation
13:06that led to the issuing of restrictive measures for 183 people, 36 of whom were already in
13:13prison and other charges.
13:15Those arrested are held responsible for criminal association of a mafia nature, attempted murder,
13:21extortion aggravated by the mafia method and association for the purpose of drug trafficking.
13:28The investigation coordinated by the public prosecutor's office of Palermo and the district
13:32anti-mafia directorate brought to light an encrypted communication system that the mafia
13:39clans used to communicate with each other in a secure manner.
13:50The investigation clearly shows what many other investigations in Calabria, Puglia,
13:55Campania and northern Italy have revealed, namely, that the high security prison circuit
14:08is a circuit that is subject to the domination of criminal organizations in which detained
14:12mobsters enjoy an intact ability to communicate and to spread criminal directives.
14:20Two things are important, one is that the organization knows that in order to become
14:24strong again it needs a central direction, a commission, and it can't achieve this.
14:29The other is that it has adapted to this difficulty by connecting the areas controlled by a mafia
14:33family or its affiliates through the technological tools we've talked about so far.
14:41Pope Francis sent a letter to the US bishops rejecting President Donald Trump's actions
14:46on mass deportations.
14:48The Pope said that Washington faces a crisis due to the mass deportations of migrants and
14:52refugees.
14:53The head of the Catholic Church denounced that the act of deporting people who left
14:58their homelands for reasons of poverty, insecurity or persecution hurts human dignity.
15:03Pope Francis calls on the Trump administration to implement policies that regulate orderly
15:09and legal migration and ask Catholics not to fall into discriminatory propaganda.
15:23On Tuesday, the United Arab Emirates hosted the 12th World Government Summit, a meeting
15:28to discuss economic stability, digital transformation and public-private cooperation.
15:33The summit brings together more than 6,600 people, including heads of state, ministers
15:39and international organizations.
15:41Until February 13th, participants will seek to promote initiatives to address the accelerated
15:46technological evolution and geopolitical transformations.
15:50In this edition, the World Government Summit promotes dialogue on the changes and challenges
15:54facing society, with the aim of assessing the process and strengthening future generations.
16:21On Tuesday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA,
16:26said that Israel has displaced about 40,000 residents from refugee camps in the northern
16:31West Bank.
16:32UNRWA stressed that the forced displacement of Palestinian communities is escalating and
16:37at an alarming rate.
16:39The United Nations Agency added that displacement operations began in Jenin three weeks ago
16:44and have since then extended to Tul Karem, Nur Shams and Fara'a camps.
16:49UNRWA pointed out that forced displacement in the West Bank is a result of an increasingly
16:54dangerous and coercive environment, where at least 38 airstrikes were carried out in
17:002025 alone.
17:07The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas postponed the release of Israeli detainees
17:11scheduled for next February 15th due to non-compliance with the terms of the ceasefire by Israel.
17:18The spokesman of the movement declared that the delivery of the detainees was postponed
17:22until the Zionist forces assume their commitments and compensate for the damage caused recently.
17:28Among the violations committed by Israel, the spokesman highlighted the delay in allowing
17:33the entry of Gazans to the north of the coastal enclave and the problems with the delivery
17:38of humanitarian aid.
17:40Meanwhile, delegations from both sides and mediating countries are in Qatar to begin
17:45official negotiations for the second phase of the agreement and a definitive ceasefire.
17:57US President Donald Trump has again threatened to unleash hell on the Gaza Strip if Hamas
18:02does not resume the release of Israeli hostages by February 15th.
18:06The president said that if Hamas does not resume the exchange of hostages for Palestinian
18:10prisoners by Saturday, all hell will break loose on the resistance movement in the Gaza Strip.
18:17Trump said that if the movement does not comply with the release of the hostages, he would
18:21tell Israel to cancel the agreement and to do what it deems necessary without ruling
18:26out a possible US involvement in the response to Hamas.
18:30Meanwhile, the resistance movement said Monday that the doors remain open for the exchange
18:35of Israeli hostages for Palestinians as long as Israel complies with the deadlines and
18:40requirements of the ceasefire agreement.
18:47In Yemen, the art industry begins its revival with a new exhibition by prominent artist
18:52Majed Al-Hamadi.
18:54The show, located in the Gallery of Sana'a, features over 120 pieces reflecting resilience
19:00through themes such as homeland identity and humanity.
19:04The artist explores everything from realism to surrealism, capturing pain and hope.
19:10The exhibition also addresses the suffering of the Palestinian people, turning art into
19:15a medium for expressing emotions and connecting cultures.
19:19Visitors and artists describe this initiative as a significant change after years of conflict,
19:25highlighting the power of art as a bridge of communication in difficult times.
19:35And like this, we have come to the end of this newsbrief, but you can find this and
19:39many other stories on our website at www.tellasseryenglish.net and join us on social media.
19:44We are on Facebook, X, Instagram, Telegram and TikTok as well.
19:48For Teller's City English, I'm Alejandra GarcÃa.