La familia del abogado Rafael Tudares, yerno del líder opositor Edmundo González Urrutia, —quién reclama la victoria de las elecciones presidenciales del año pasado y ha denunciado un fraude electoral— ha denunciado este martes que fue condenado a 30 años de prisión por “terrorismo” “asociación para delinquir” y “conspiración”.

Junto a Tudares, también fue sentenciado a 20 años de cárcel, con acusaciones similares, Luis Guillermo Istúriz, dirigente del partido Vente Venezuela en el estado Miranda.

Tudares, de 45 años, sin actividad política conocida, está casado con Mariana González, hija de Edmundo González Urrutia. La pareja tiene dos hijos, de seis y siete años. Fue arrestado por la policía política el 7 de enero de este año, mientras los llevaba al colegio. No se supo de su paradero durante 40 días.

“En horas de la noche, he tenido conocimiento de la condena que se le habría impuesto a mi esposo, Rafael Tudares Bracho, a 30 años de prisión”, ha escrito Mariana González, esposa de Tudares, en su cuenta de la red social X. González, que refiere a fuentes “extra-oficiales” denunció que la sentencia se hizo efectiva “en un juicio hecho clandestinamente”. Ha dicho además que la familia lleva 11 meses sin verlo.

Tudares fue sentenciado con mucha rapidez por el Tribunal Tercero de Juicio con competencia especial en materia contra el terrorismo, a cargo de la jueza Alejandra Romero. José Vicente Haro, abogado defensor de Tudares, manifestó no haber tenido acceso al expediente judicial y desconocer los detalles de la sentencia.

El arresto de Tudares, a comienzos de este año, tuvo lugar en medio de las fuertes tensiones políticas entre el gobierno de Nicolás Maduro y el liderazgo opositor venezolano, representado por González Urrutia y María Corina Machado, a causa de la inconformidad existente en amplias capas de la sociedad venezolana sobre la validez del resultado electoral de julio de 2024.

En enero de 2025, cuando Nicolás Maduro estaba a punto de tomar posesión para un tercer período presidencial, las denuncias de fraude de la oposición al gobierno de Maduro, y en general al régimen chavista, estaban en su punto más alto.

Tanto Machado como González Urrutia —que salió al exilio en agosto de 2024— impugnaban la legitimidad de Maduro y llamaron a la población a protestar en las calles, mientras parte importante de la comunidad democrática internacional cuestionaba la limpieza del resultado anunciado por el Consejo Nacional Electoral.

Frente a estas demandas y presiones, el gobierno de Nicolás Maduro respondió con una dura andanada represiva, denunciando el desarrollo de una conspiración para desconocer el resultado electoral, la Constitución y fomentar la anarquía en las calles.

La respuesta del régimen chavista a las demandas de la oposición fue particularmente virulenta, sobre todo, luego de que el comando de campaña de la oposición (llamado Comando con Venezuela), dirigido por María Corina Machado, lograra escanear la casi totalidad de las actas de votación que las autoridades electorales se habían negado a mostrar en medio de aquella polémica.

Las actas, de acuerdo a la versión de la oposición, documentaron una cómoda victoria de González Urrutia sobre Maduro. Más de mil personas fueron llevadas directamente a la cárcel por participar en aquellas protestas.

“Mi abogado y yo estaremos acudiendo ante las autoridades correspondientes a solicitar la información oficial pertinente, a pesar de los grandes obstáculos y barreras que se nos han impuesto para obtener información sobre el caso, y defender los derechos de Rafael”, ha declarado Mariana González.

Before getting into the details, Roberto Ytaysaba, who is from Brazil, wants to make one thing perfectly clear: neither he nor the Anacé Indigenous people, whom he leads, are against progress. “We’re not against progress if it respects the communities, nature, spirituality, the autonomy of [native] peoples and Convention 169,” he clarifies, one recent morning in his village.

They’ve had electricity here since the 1980s. The school teaches ethnomathematics to the children. And, recently, the village inaugurated a clinic specifically for Indigenous people, something that’s the envy of this region in the arid northeast of Brazil.

However, as so often in recent centuries, a threat looms over them. “This project is an invasion, just like the Portuguese invasion in 1500, what they called the ‘discovery,’” this Anacé chief warns. Born in 1976 in a hammock, he’s known as Chief Roberto. He elaborates on his arguments — which are seasoned with history, metaphors and irony — in the communal kitchen, which is the heart of the village. As he speaks, a pleasant breeze tempers the heat.

The traditional lands of the Anacé are located in Caucaia, a municipality which is part of the Fortaleza metropolitan area. After resisting the Portuguese here, between the 17th and 18th centuries — what the colonizers’ chronicles referred to as the “War of the Barbarians” — they now face a formidable 21st-century adversary: TikTok, one of the world’s most popular social media platforms.

This Indigenous community has launched a peaceful battle with the support of lawyers, NGOs and the Public Prosecutor’s Office against the Chinese company. They fear that the mega-data center it plans to build on land which they consider to be their own will negatively impact them. They’re also concerned because no “free, prior and informed consultation” took place, as mandated by the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention of 1989 (an International Labour Organization convention, often referred to as Convention 169). Around the world, this convention is as frequently ignored by investors as it is invoked by Indigenous peoples.

ByteDance, the company that owns the social media network that has captivated hundreds of millions of internet users, has partnered with a Brazilian wind energy company, Casa dos Ventos, to build a 300-megawatt data center that will be the most powerful one in Brazil.

ByteDance “appreciates the license that has been granted [so that] TikTok can operate a data center in Brazil,” according to a statement responding to inquiries made by EL PAÍS. The firm adds: “We [are continuing our discussions] with local partners and look forward to collaborating with local communities in our commitment to sustainability, equity and transparency.”

In another statement, Casa dos Ventos notes that it “complies with all international and national conventions and regulations.”

Chief Roberto recalls that one of the first discoveries he made during this battle against the tech giant is that the cloud — the place for storing data — isn’t actually an ethereal space. Rather, it’s a physical place, one that’s located on Earth.

Like many Indigenous people in Brazil, Roberto Ytaysaba also has a Portuguese surname: Roberto Antonio Marques da Silva. The chief says that, in addition to his leadership roles, he works as a teacher and librarian at the local school, while also doing shifts as a security guard. He mentions that, after meeting his wife, he abandoned his plans to become a Catholic priest.

Chief Roberto grabs his helmet and rides his motorcycle a few miles, until he reaches a crossroads. On the other side, he shows EL PAÍS the field that’s apparently reserved for TikTok. It lies on what the Anacé people consider to be their traditional lands.

The plot is relatively barren, with a couple of small ponds, some trees and bushes, along with white stakes and numerous stones that gleam with silvery flashes. On the way to the site, the chief points out another encroachment… this one of a religious nature, he jokes. It’s a shrine dedicated to Saint Hedwig, erected by a local member of parliament.

Why would the firm want to place this data center in this particular spot, here in the Fortaleza metropolitan area? The answer lies at the bottom of the sea. The capital of the Brazilian state of Ceará is a major hub for the submarine cables that connect Brazil’s internet to the world.

Construction to house TikTok’s supercomputers will begin “this year or in early 2026,” according to the Brazilian company Casa dos Ventos. And “the first phase will be operational in the second half of 2027.” For now, however, nothing on the rocky site indicates that the project, which Brazilian authorities have placed great hopes in, is about to take root at this site. The government has estimated that, should it go through, the center will attract $9 billion in investment.

Brazil is campaigning to attract the growing data center industry. It aspires to become one of the international epicenters of the business. And, to that end, the country offers investors tax breaks, low costs and abundant sun and wind that, thanks to renewable energy, could power these supercomputers that operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “Data centers are now the heart of the digital ecosystem, driving innovation, expanding connectivity and generating jobs worldwide,” Communications Minister Frederico de Siqueira emphasized, at the inauguration of one of these projects back in October. “The expectation is to attract other centers, [in order to] strengthen digital sovereignty and expand our data storage and processing capacity,” he added. Brazil is home to nearly 200 data centers, which, according to the government, employ two million people.

The government’s interest in the TikTok project is at its peak. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva even met with the company’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, at the latter’ request. This 30-minute-long meeting took place back in September, in New York City, where the Brazilian head of state was attending the UN General Assembly.

The traditional lands of the Anacé people still haven’t achieved legal recognition as an Indigenous reserve. Still, the community enjoys tacit recognition, because the authorities provide them with educational and healthcare services that are adapted to their culture.

The lack of formal recognition has been compounded by the effects of a schism, one that has a familial element. The new data center will be part of the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex. Ytaysaba explains that the reason this complex was built in the first place was because a splinter group of the Anacé agreed to cede the land (behind the chiefs’ backs), in exchange for their relocation. For this reason, the remaining Anacé, whom he leads, don’t recognize the agreements made by the dissenting relatives. Instead, they assert their right to these lands. “We want them back,” he demands. After that internal rift, these Indigenous people approved their own 26-page protocol for internal consultations.

The news that TikTok and its Brazilian partners were going to set up shop in Caucaia came to the tribe thanks to an article published by The Intercept Brazil back in May. It revealed the enormous quantities of water and energy that the project would require, while reminding readers that the city had declared a drought emergency in 16 of the last 21 years. The Indigenous people immediately set out to find allies. Natives and activists had to thoroughly research an issue about which they knew almost nothing. They soon began to mobilize in protest.

Letícia Abreu is a 32-year-old lawyer with Instituto Terramar, a local NGO. She advises the Anacé people. Sitting next to the chief, she points out the two issues that she considers to be the most contentious. Firstly, the data center project obtained its environmental license through a simplified process, without any mention of its scale. This procedure is now being investigated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, according to Abreu.

“These data storage facilities are plugged in 24/7,” she emphasizes. “They never unplug them. They require a huge water supply… and while [the firms] say they’ll only use renewable energy, solar and wind power don’t offer a stable supply.” Casa dos Ventos states that the project will operate with “a 100% renewable energy supply.”

The underlying problem, the activist lawyer from the Terramar Institute notes, is that renewable energy projects are often strategically installed in areas inhabited by traditional or Indigenous communities, where land ownership isn’t often legally recognized. This weakens the ability of those affected to defend their rights. Abreu also emphasizes that what they’re fighting against is inequality, not renewable energy. The NGO advocates for a just energy transition.

Chief Roberto confirms that a dialogue has been established with those pushing for the data center. Still, he finds their terms to be unconvincing: “They want to come and explain the project… but for now, we haven’t authorized [this],” he explains.

“First, they violate us. And now, they’re asking us to marry them,” he scoffs.

Like the vast majority of lower-income Brazilians, the Anacé Indigenous people are well aware of their rights. And so, when the project representatives sit down with the chief and offer to improve the electricity supply or internet connection in exchange for the community’s support, he becomes furious and responds sharply: “What kind of promise is that? That’s [our] right!”

They’ve told him the data center will operate with a closed-loop water system, but he fears that the village’s wells will run dry. He’s worried about the water supply, the impact on biodiversity, the heat and noise emanating from the facilities and, above all, that this project seems destined to pave the way for similar ones down the road.

The Anacé chief is using every means at his disposal to publicize his people’s struggle. On the day of his interview with EL PAÍS, he had just returned from the city of Belém. There, he had spoken about his battle against TikTok, in a debate held alongside the UN climate summit, COP30. And that’s precisely why, he says, he has a TikTok account, just like some one hundred million of his compatriots. “I only use it to amplify our voice, not for those silly dances,” he clarifies.

Reflecting on the power of the internet, he links the contemporary addiction to social media with one of the most influential chapters in Brazilian history. “We live in an era of digital slavery. The internet is like a chain that, instead of tightening around the neck, tightens around the brain. The data center is a kind of slave ship, because we’re at the mercy of a minority that manipulates us and encourages us to buy into a false kind of happiness.”

These are the words of the chief: a teacher, librarian, security guard and Indigenous leader in Brazil, in 2025.

Translated by Avik Jain Chatlani.

Article published in collaboration with Luminate

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The family of Alejandro Carranza, the fisherman identified by Colombian President Gustavo Petro as one of the civilians killed in the U.S. strikes against alleged drug-running boats in the Caribbean, has filed a formal complaint against the United States with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The news, first reported by the British newspaper The Guardian and confirmed by EL PAÍS, marks the first complaint filed with an international body in connection with the military campaign launched in September on Donald Trump’s orders, and which has already claimed the lives of over 80 people.

The petition, which this newspaper has seen, was filed by Daniel Kovalik, a human rights lawyer and President Petro’s legal representative in several international cases. The document briefly explains the events in which it alleges Carranza died: “On September 15, 2025, the United States military bombed the boat of Alejandro Andrés Carranza Medina, on which he was sailing in the Caribbean, off the coast of Colombia. He died in the strike. Mr. Carranza was a fisherman and a Colombian citizen.” The man allegedly went out to fish and never returned home.

The complaint directly targets U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, accusing him of being responsible for ordering the strikes against vessels like Alejandro Carranza Medina’s. The document says that Hegseth “was responsible for ordering the bombing of boats like those of Alejandro Carranza Medina and the murder of all those on such boats.” The document also states that Secretary Hegseth’s conduct was “ratified” by Trump.

“By carrying out this extrajudicial killing, the United States has violated the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man,” states the petition signed by Carranza’s wife, Katerine Hernández Bernal. The family accuses the United States of violating the rights to life, equality before the law, recognition of legal personality, a fair trial, and due process. According to the document, there is a witness to the killing: a leader of a fishermen’s association in Santa Marta who has chosen to remain anonymous due to “threats from paramilitaries.”

Petro denounced in late October that Washington’s second attack in the Caribbean Sea against a vessel (on September 15) had targeted a Colombian fisherman and “presumably” occurred in Colombian waters. The Colombian president stated that the man, whom he identified as 42-year-old Carranza, had no connection to drug trafficking. Trump, for his part, reported that three “Venezuelan narco-terrorists” were killed in the operation, allegedly transporting illegal narcotics destined for the United States.

The UN and several human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have labeled the strikes against suspected drug-running boats as “extrajudicial killings.” The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, has said that these actions “violate international law.” The military campaign, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, began with attacks on vessels in the Caribbean Sea, which then spread to the Pacific Ocean, the most common drug trafficking route from South to North America. More than 80 people have died, and only two survivors have been identified: a Colombian and an Ecuadorian, who were aboard a suspected narco-submarine when it was attacked on October 18. Both were released in their respective countries after no charges were filed against them.

The IACHR, based in Washington, D.C., is an organ of the Organization of American States (OAS) and its role is to promote and protect human rights in the Americas. If the IACHR finds that one of the 35 member states is responsible for human rights violations, it issues a report that can include recommendations, reparations, sanctions against perpetrators, and calls for legislative changes. If an amicable solution cannot be reached, cases can be referred to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, whose rulings are binding. The United States is one of the founding members of the OAS.

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