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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, June 2nd 2026 - 12:38 UTC

United States

  • Tuesday, May 19th 2026 - 02:09 UTC

    After CIA director's trip to Havana, Cuba warns of “bloodbath” in case of attack

    “The threats of military aggression against Cuba from the greatest power on the planet are well known,” Díaz-Canel argued

    Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned on Monday that a possible US military attack on the island “will provoke a bloodbath of incalculable consequences,” in the most explicit hardening of Havana's discourse toward Washington since the start of the oil blockade imposed in January. The message, released through the X social media platform, coincided with the public confirmation that the Cuban government has acquired more than 300 drones from China and Iran, a purchase that island authorities framed as part of the exercise of their “legitimate defense.” The rhetorical shift comes just four days after the visit to Havana by the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, John Ratcliffe.

  • Tuesday, May 19th 2026 - 02:06 UTC

    Musk loses USD 150 billion lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman

    The decision clears the way for OpenAI's stock market debut, an operation expected to rank among the largest in financial market history, with a valuation close to one trillion dollars

    A federal jury in Oakland, California, on Monday unanimously rejected the lawsuit that magnate Elon Musk had filed against OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and the company's president, Greg Brockman, in which he sought USD 150 billion in damages and the reversal of the artificial intelligence firm's transformation into a for-profit entity. The verdict, reached by all nine jurors, found that the lawsuit is barred by the statute of limitations and amounts to a sharp setback for the founder of Tesla, who has already announced his intention to appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

  • Tuesday, May 19th 2026 - 01:37 UTC

    Alex Saab appears in Miami charged with money laundering tied to bribery in Chavismo's food programs

    Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello declared that Saab's Venezuelan identity documents are fraudulent and that his nationality was never valid, despite defending him during years

    Colombian-Venezuelan businessman Alex Saab, regarded for years as the main financial frontman of former president Nicolás Maduro, appeared on Monday before a federal court in Miami, where he was formally charged with one count of money laundering linked to a bribery scheme used to enrich himself through contracts of Venezuela's state food import program. The hearing took place two days after acting President Delcy Rodríguez handed him over to the United States in what the Venezuelan government described as a deportation but which, in legal terms, amounts to an extradition.

  • Sunday, May 17th 2026 - 23:13 UTC

    Mid-air collision between two US jets at airshow ends without fatalities in Idaho

    The military base was locked down following the accident, and State Route SH-167 will remain closed for several days between Simco Road and SH-67 while investigators carry out their work

    Two US Navy EA-18G Growler jets collided in mid-air on Sunday during an aerial demonstration at Mountain Home Air Force Base in the state of Idaho, with no fatalities reported. The four crew members aboard the aircraft ejected in time and were evaluated by medical personnel at the scene, said Naval Air Forces Pacific Fleet spokesperson Amelia Umayam. No injuries were reported among base personnel or among spectators of the Gunfighter Skies airshow, during which the incident occurred.

  • Sunday, May 17th 2026 - 05:07 UTC

    Venezuela hands over to the United States former minister and Maduro frontman Alex Saab

    The United States sanctioned him in 2019 for allegedly paying bribes to obtain no-bid contracts with the Venezuelan state

    The Venezuelan government on Saturday deported to the United States the Colombian businessman Alex Saab, considered for years the main financial operator of former president Nicolás Maduro and minister of Industry and National Production until January 2026. The businessman landed at sunset at Opa-locka airport in Miami-Dade County, escorted by agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), bringing to a close a judicial file that had turned Saab into one of the most visible symbols of the economic apparatus of Chavismo and into one of the most wanted figures by US justice over the past decade.

  • Saturday, May 16th 2026 - 03:45 UTC

    Trump claims he will engineer a “turnaround” in Cuba and pull it away from China and Russia

    “I think we are going to turn it around,” Trump replied when asked about the possibility of Cuba leaning toward the United States

    US President Donald Trump on Friday said his administration will bring the Cuban government to align with Washington and pull away from the orbit of China and Russia, in his first public comments on the island since the unprecedented visit by CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Havana on Thursday. The remarks, delivered during an interview with journalist Bret Baier on Fox News, come in a week marked by contradictory US gestures toward the Cuban regime: the humanitarian offer of USD 100 million accepted by Havana, the judicial pressure on former president Raúl Castro, and the opening of a direct channel between US and Cuban intelligence services.

  • Saturday, May 16th 2026 - 03:12 UTC

    Trump closes China visit without substantial agreements but with Xi's offer on Strait of Hormuz

    Xi described the visit as “historic” and “emblematic” and said the two leaders had set a new course based on a “constructive relationship of strategic stability between China and the US”

    US President Donald Trump on Friday concluded his state visit to China of less than 48 hours without substantial announcements on the main points of the bilateral agenda, although he described the encounter as “very successful” and “unforgettable” and said he had reached “fantastic” trade deals whose details were not disclosed. The final day of the trip, held at Zhongnanhai, the residence of the Chinese Communist Party leadership, produced as its most visible outcome an offer by Chinese President Xi Jinping to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, closed by Iran since the start of the war in late February.

  • Friday, May 15th 2026 - 05:08 UTC

    Washington considers prosecuting Raúl Castro over 1996 shootdown of civilian planes

    The incident that would underpin the indictment took place on 24 February 1996

    The US government is weighing a federal indictment against former Cuban president Raúl Castro over the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft operated by the humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue, the CBS network and the Reuters news agency reported on Thursday, citing official sources. The potential charges, which still require grand jury approval, emerge on a day marked by escalating tensions between Washington and Havana and by a confidential visit to the Cuban capital by CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

  • Friday, May 15th 2026 - 02:58 UTC

    Cuba accepts USD 100 million in US humanitarian aid amid energy collapse

    The US energy blockade has aggravated the structural crisis the island has been dragging since the capture of Nicolás Maduro and the resulting interruption of the Venezuelan supply

    The Cuban government on Thursday accepted the United States' offer of USD 100 million in humanitarian aid for food, fuel, and medicines, in a significant political shift after weeks of public rejection and hours after authorities on the island acknowledged the complete exhaustion of their fuel reserves. The aid will be channeled through the Catholic Church, according to the official statement issued by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who only the day before had described the US offer as “inconsequential and paradoxical.”

  • Thursday, May 14th 2026 - 09:21 UTC

    Orsi prepares for Washington visit after months of overtures to the Trump administration

    “I am the president of Uruguay and I do not conduct foreign policy representing a political force. I do it thinking about what suits Uruguay,” the president argued

    Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi will travel to Washington “in the coming months” to meet with his US counterpart Donald Trump, in a meeting that national authorities describe as agreed and awaiting only the coordination of calendars, according to Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin's confirmation on Wednesday before the Senate International Affairs Committee. The summit would crown a series of overtures by the Broad Front government toward the Republican administration, initiated in the early weeks of Orsi's term, which began in March, and which have generated controversy within the ruling coalition itself.