US allies say no Venezuela war

Lima Group rules out intervention

Washington's Latin American allies will not back any invasion of Venezuela to overthrow its elected government.
Peruvian Foreign Minister Néstor Popolizio insisted on Tuesday that the 'Lima Group' of nations – those hostile to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government – was against “military intervention.”
“As the Lima Group we have said that we do not support any military intervention in Venezuela,” Mr Popolizio said at a meeting of the group in the Canadian capital Ottawa.
The prospect of a US-led invasion to back extremist Venezuelan opposition figure Juan Guadió's claim to the presidency appeared more likely on Tuesday after White House National Security Advisor John Bolton appeared at a press conference holding a notepad scrawled with “5,000 troops to Colombia.”
But Mr Popolizio insisted “we have no information” about a planned invasion.
At Tuesday's pressconference US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the seizure of state oil firm PDVSA's US subsidiary Citgo and putting its assets at Mr Guadó's disposal.
On Wednesday morning Mr Maduro accused neighbouring Colombia of backing and hosting to a Bay of Pigs-style invasion.
“A group of military deserters has become mercenaries of the Colombian oligarchy and conspired from Colombia to divide the national armed forces at my command,” he said.
The Lima Group was established on August 8 2017 in the Peruvian capital, when foreign ministers and other representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru met to plan the “restoration of democracy” in Venezuela – without inviting its elected government.
Guaido travel ban
On Monday, Venezuelan Supreme Justice Tribunal (TSJ) President Maikel Moreno put a travel ban on Mr Guadó and froze his accounts pending a criminal probe into his actions.
That move was in defiance of threats from the US of reprisals if the self-declared president's liberty was restricted.
Mr Guadó is a member of the small but militantly putschist Popular Will (VP) party. He was not the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition's candidate in last May's presidential election, which Mr Maduro won by a landslide.
On January 5 this year Mr Guiadó was elected speaker of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, which the TSJ has declared to be sitting unconstitutionally since it insisted on swearing in three deputies whose elections in December 2015 were under investigation for possible ballot fraud.

The mystery of the Guanches

The origins and language of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands remain a mystery, writes Dr Sabina Goralski Filonov Translation by James Tweedie The guanches, the aboriginals of the Canary Islands whose origin, lost in the mists of time, still arouses intense and passionate debate and great controversy about their origins and the how the seven Canary Islands were populated – which according to some studies occurred between 10,000 and 8,000 years BC. Literally, the word ‘Guan’ means man or person and ‘Chenech’ or ‘Chinet’ is applied to the island of Tenerife, thus meaning a man or inhabitant of Tenerife – although according to Núñez de la Peña, the Spanish named them the Guanchos during the conquest of the islands. But with the passage of time, experts in the subject are questioning whether the word Guanche was used to designate the primitive inhabitants of all the islands in the pre-Hispanic period. The term ‘Guanche’ has also ceased to be applied to the di...

Venezuela condemns MUD silence over terror attack

Venezuela’s foreign minister condemned the opposition and their foreign backers for their silence over Tuesday’s helicopter attack on the capital. At a press conference on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Samuel Moncada said Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition leader Henry Ramos’ only comment on social media was that the attack was “useless.” “Firstly that does not condemn it,” Mr Moncada said. “Secondly it appears he was condemning it because it didn’t have the desired effect, that is to say, that it would blow up the building.” And he asked why fellow Mud leader Henrique Capriles lacked the “moral courage to... repudiate a terrorist act.” The newly-appointed minster and former ambassador to Britain accused fellow members of the Washington-based Organisation of American States of “feigning ignorance” and so protecting the culprits. And he accused sections of the media of portraying the culprit — Police investigator and one-time action film star Oscar Perez — as a “Rambo ...

Ex-pats hail extinction of ‘mammoth’ development

Socialists and conservatives unite to defeat CC plan for Las Teresitas beach Protesters outside the town hall SAN ANDREAS residents are celebrating victory after Santa Cruz council voted to deny permission for a controversial development on Las Teresitas beach. by James Tweedie The Association of Friends of Anaga, Las Teresitas and its Coast (Asociacion de Amigos de la Playa de las Teresitas, Anaga y su Litoral), which includes a number of ex-patriots, mounted a demonstration outside Santa Cruz town hall on Friday September 18 to urge opposition councillors to “keep their word” and support a Socialist Party of the Canaries (PSC) motion against the mammoth development. Some wore long paper ‘noses’ and chanted “concejal Pinocho” – councillor Pinocchio – to express their distrust of local politicians. A coalition of small businesses in Anaga, the Friends of the Port group and environmentalists Ben Magec – Ecologistas en Accion also supported the campaign against the scheme...

Los Gigantes Beach Landslide Tragedy - Three Days of Mourning for Victims

SHATTERED IDYLL: Los Guios beach in Los Gigantes in happier times. SANTIAGO del Teide council declared three days of official mourning after two women were killed in a landslide on Los Gigantes beach on November 1. by James Tweedie The local authority announced the period of mourning following an emergency council meeting on Monday November 2, called in response to the tragic deaths of 57-year old British holidaymaker Marion O’Hara and 34-year old Canarian hotel worker Maria Vanesa Arias Romera. Flags at Santiago del Teide town hall were flown at half mast for the period of mourning, and all official functions observed a minute’s silence in memory of the victims. The two women were killed when 130-foot wide stretch of the cliffs above the tiny Los Guios beach collapsed from a height of about 200 feet, burying them beneath rubble up to 15 feet deep, according to a spokesman for the Guardia Civil which was conducting the investigation into the accident. The landslide occurred about 3pm ...

IN MAGAZINES FRANCHISE WELCOMES NEW TITLE 'INTENERIFE'

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Monday April 5 2010 BRITISH publishing franchise IN Magazines has announced the launch of a bright and dynamic new title InTenerife. The new on-line and print magazine will combine high quality content with striking design for English-speaking residents and visitors to the island along with charging cheap advertising rates to businesses. InTenerife joins IN Magazines' stable of successful franchises in London , Essex, Cornwall and Cannes in the south of France. InTenerife Magazine is supported by Bartercard, the business-to-business cashless trading exchange. InTenerife Editor James Tweedie previously worked as editor of the Canaries Free Trader newspaper – a sister-title of classified advertising paper La Ocasión de Canarias – and as a reporter and foreign editor for the British national daily newspaper the Morning Star. He said: “I am delighted to be at the head of this exciting new venture for this fascinating island. “I can assure our readers that we wi...

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