Magnicidio (Continuación)

Prigozhin, Rubiales, Puigdemont: el triple rasero

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La muerte con visos de asesinato del líder del grupo Wagner, Yevgueni Prigozhin, me ha remitido de manera fulminante a la obra teatral Patriots que vi hace tres semanas en Londres. Su autor Peter Morgan, guionista y creador de The Crown, reconstruye, con su habitual maestría para dramatizar la realidad, el ascenso y consolidación en el poder de Putin, a través de su relación con su primero protector y después víctima, el oligarca Boris Berezovsky.

Toda la función es trepidante, pero se me quedó grabada la discusión de Putin con su entonces jefe de gabinete Alexander Volóshin sobre qué hacer con Berezovsky, tras su viraje hostil a través del canal de televisión que controlaba.…  Seguir leyendo »

A view of the site where a private jet, allegedly carrying Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin and other passengers crashed in Russia's northwestern Tver region. (Photo by Wagner Telegram Account/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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Retribution against Yevgeniy Prigozhin, leader of Wagner’s failed coup attempt in June, was inevitable.

Prigozhin knew President Vladimir Putin’s methods well enough to take precautions. It is known that multiple individuals have changed their name to Yevgeniy Prigozhin as part of the mercenary leader’s efforts to obfuscate his travels.

Therefore it may never be established for certain that he died in the private jet. Even President Putin, in his first comment on the incident, delivered a stilted obituary but stopped short of saying Prigozhin was definitely among the dead. And the crash is so politically significant that there is no chance of a transparent or credible investigation.…  Seguir leyendo »

Una mujer enciende una vela frente a un retrato del jefe de los mercenarios de Wagner, Yevgueni Prigozhin, en un monumento improvisado en Moscú, este jueves.STRINGER (REUTERS)

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No sabemos todavía cuál ha sido la causa de la caída del avión. Tampoco sabemos si Yevgueni Prigozhin está realmente entre los dirigentes fallecidos del grupo mercenario Wagner (solo hay información de fuentes rusas). Pero lo que sí podemos dar ya por hecho es que, aunque su desaparición se confirme finalmente, hay algunas realidades rusas que no van a cambiar en nada sustancial.

Así ocurre, en primer lugar, con la realidad de una privatización de la seguridad que, como también enseñan estadounidenses y británicos, se ha normalizado irreversiblemente. Hace años que Vladímir Putin lleva recurriendo a grupos privados armados, a los que encarga tareas que van desde la desinformación y la propaganda hasta acciones de combate, abarcando todo el espectro de lo que comúnmente se considera “guerra sucia”, sin olvidar el control y represión de críticos y disidentes de todo tipo.…  Seguir leyendo »

A Wagner soldier pays tribute to Yevgeny Prigozhin and the military group’s reported founder, Dmitry Utkin, at the Wagner office in Novosibirsk, Russia, on Wednesday. Photograph: Vladimir Nikolayev/AFP/Getty Images

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“We will all go to hell. But in hell we will be the best”, commented Yevgeny Prigozhin, discussing his attitude to death in an undated interview that was published last night on the pro-Wagner Grey Zone Telegram channel. In the absence of any remarkable developments, it is looking increasingly likely that, as per Russian reports, the Wagner boss was killed on Wednesday afternoon in a plane crash in the Russian region of Tver, on his way from Moscow to St Petersburg.

Prigozhin shot to international notoriety almost a year ago, when a video of him recruiting convicts in Russian prisons to fight in Ukraine for his Wagner private military company established him as one of the most important Russian players in the war in Ukraine.…  Seguir leyendo »

What Prigozhin Did in Putin’s Russia Was the Ultimate Betrayal

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Russians have always had a penchant for rumor and conspiracies, underpinned by the presumption that official news is deeply doctored by the Kremlin. So it is not surprising that within hours of the first reports of a plane crashing with somebody as notorious as Yevgeny Prigozhin listed as a passenger, speculation spread like a Siberian wildfire. Perhaps he was not on the plane and had staged his death to disappear. Or maybe President Vladimir Putin now had Mr. Prigozhin in a secret dungeon. Or the Ukrainians on whom he unleashed his mercenaries blew the plane up.

Nothing seemed impossible with Mr.…  Seguir leyendo »

Yevgeniy Prigozhin in Moscow on July 4, 2017. (Sergei Ilnitsky/AP)

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The most fitting epitaph for Wagner Group founder Yevgeniy Prigozhin was delivered by the shotgun-wielding hit man Omar Little on “The Wire”: “You come at the king, you best not miss”. There’s still much we don’t know for certain (and might never know), but that pearl of wisdom was confirmed by Prigozhin’s apparent death Wednesday after a private plane he was on reportedly crashed north of Moscow.

Prigozhin came for “the king” in the Kremlin — Vladimir Putin — exactly two months before his death. In late June, Prigozhin claimed his mercenaries were only marching on Moscow to oust Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen.…  Seguir leyendo »

El candidato presidencial Fernando Villavicencio ondeando una bandera ecuatoriana durante un acto de campaña en una escuela minutos antes de ser asesinado en Quito, Ecuador, el 9 de agosto. API vía Associated Press

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Pedro Briones, candidato al Congreso y líder político en Ecuador, fue asesinado el lunes. El ataque se produjo a unos días de que Fernando Villavicencio, candidato presidencial y firme crítico de la corrupción, fuera asesinado al salir de un mitin de campaña en Quito, la capital del país. Las muertes, tan cercanas a las elecciones generales de Ecuador previstas para el domingo, han conmocionado a los ecuatorianos y han suscitado la condena mundial. La ola de violencia demuestra que nadie, ni siquiera un candidato presidencial, está a salvo en Ecuador.

Christian Zurita, periodista de investigación, excolega y amigo cercano de Villavicencio, será su reemplazo en la contienda.…  Seguir leyendo »

The presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio waving a national flag during a campaign event at a school minutes before he was shot to death outside the same school, in Quito, Ecuador, on Aug. 9. API, via Associated Press

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On Aug. 14, Pedro Briones, a congressional candidate and local political leader in Ecuador, was shot down. The assassination came less than a week after Fernando Villavicencio, a presidential candidate and vocal critic of corruption, was shot dead as he left a campaign rally in the country’s capital, Quito. The killings so close to Ecuador’s general election, scheduled for Sunday, have shocked Ecuadoreans and drawn global condemnation. The slayings show that no one — not even a presidential candidate — is safe in Ecuador.

Christian Zurita, an investigative journalist and a former colleague and close friend of Mr. Villavicencio, was chosen by their political party to run in his place.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Sinaloa y Ecuador tienen dos cosas en común: el camarón y las drogas. El primero es motivo de controversia comercial pues los pescadores y acuicultores sinaloenses se oponen a que el camarón ecuatoriano entre al país tanto legal como ilegalmente. En el caso de las segundas, y en específico la cocaína, representa un negocio multimillonario cuya disputa ha sumido al país sudamericano en una ola de violencia creciente y brutal.

El episodio relacionado más reciente es el asesinato del candidato presidencial Fernando Villavicencio tras salir de un evento de campaña. Villavicencio, antes periodista, había denunciado amenazas del líder de Los Choneros, José Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias Fito.…  Seguir leyendo »

Ecuadoran presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio attends a rally on Wednesday in Quito, where he was assassinated. (Karen Toro/Reuters)

MundoAmérica,

The assassination of Ecuadoran presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Quito on Wednesday is the latest escalation of the ongoing war between the anarchic world of gangs and what former president Rafael Correa defined after the killing as a “failed state”.

Villavicencio, shot multiple times while exiting a political rally, is one more victim in a country where extreme violence has become the criminal organizations’ way of not just settling scores but also communicating with society. Their aim has been to tame an entire nation through terror.

Homicide rates soared to more than 25 per 100,000 in 2022, and might rise even higher this year, experts say.…  Seguir leyendo »

Supporters of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio run for cover after he was shot to death while at a campaign rally outside a school in Quito, Ecuador, 9 August 2023. Photograph: Juan Ruiz Condor/AP

MundoAmérica,

Wednesday’s assassination of a presidential candidate is the second high-profile political killing in less than a month in Ecuador. Fernando Villavicencio was killed as he left a political rally – and popular city mayor Agustín Intriago was shot dead while attending a public event only two weeks ago. During Guillermo Lasso’s presidency, eight public officials or candidates for office have been killed and several have survived murder attempts.

How can we understand the spiral of political violence in Ecuador? How did Ecuador go from being one of the safest countries in Latin America to being one the most violent countries in the region?…  Seguir leyendo »

A demonstrator holds a poster with a picture of journalist Jamal Khashoggi outside the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, 2018. Photograph: Osman Örsal/Reuters

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On this day four years ago, the world lost a brilliant thought leader, journalist, husband, father and grandfather: Jamal Khashoggi. As his widow, my loss was compounded by the obfuscation of exactly what happened in the days and weeks leading up to his premeditated murder.

Key pieces of evidence that hold these answers rest in Jamal’s personal devices: two mobile telephones, a laptop and a tablet. I believe those devices will reveal previously undisclosed details about Jamal’s murder that are critical to knowing the full truth and advancing the cause of justice. Those devices are in the possession of the government of Turkey.…  Seguir leyendo »

Investigators work at the site of a car bombing that killed Daria Dugina, daughter of Russian hard-liner Alexander Dugin, outside Moscow. (Investigative Committee of Russia/AFP)

Europa,

On Saturday, a car bomb killed the daughter of one of Russia’s most notorious nationalist ideologues. Alexander Dugin was supposed to join his 29-year-old daughter, Daria, in their car for a ride home after an event outside of Moscow; his decision to take a different vehicle at the last minute appears to have spared his life — leading to speculation that the bomb was actually aimed at him. His daughter died instantly.

The Russian government is blaming Kyiv for the killing. The accusation implies that the Ukrainians targeted Dugin out of revenge, since he was a fanatical advocate of the notion that Moscow should place reconquering Ukraine at the heart of a new Russian empire.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa,

Al contrario de lo que se suele creer fuera de Rusia, Duguin no es ni asesor ni cerebro de Putin. No es alguien con acceso al Kremlin ni tampoco una figura con peso político propio en Rusia. Pero eso no significa que sea irrelevante. No lo es. Y el asesinato de su hija Daria, en un atentado probablemente dirigido contra el propio Duguin, augura tiempos agitados en Moscú.

No hay, de momento, ninguna certeza sobre la autoría del ataque. Pero, dada la proyección mediática de Duguin, han circulado todo tipo de hipótesis desde el mismo momento de producirse. Ninguna de ellas es, en mi opinión, particularmente tranquilizadora para el Kremlin.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

EL asesinato de Shinzo Abe, el pasado 8 de julio, aureola con la gloria del martirio a este ex primer ministro que, de hecho, aún ejercía el poder entre bambalinas. Abe, por supuesto, no es el primer líder político víctima de un asesinato; la lista es muy larga, desde la década de 1920. Pero estos atentados, en general, eran perpetrados por militantes de extrema derecha o de extrema izquierda. Esta vez, falta el mensaje; el asesino no tenía motivo, un signo de los tiempos: los videojuegos violentos han reemplazado a las ideologías. Sin embargo, no faltaban razones para estar resentido con Abe.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

In the past 50 years, three Japanese leaders have become global leaders in their own right: Nakasone Yasuhiro (in office from 1982-87); Koizumi Junichiro (from 2001-06) and Abe Shinzo (from 2006-07 and 2012-20). Of these, history will view Abe as the most consequential. He transformed Japan’s post-war political identity, foreign policy role and strategic mission. Nowhere has this been more evident than in Abe’s response to the rise of China, whose challenge arguably became the organising principle of his prime ministership.

Abe led the creation of the concept of a “free and open Indo-Pacific”, subsequently adopted as the mantra of both the Trump and Biden administrations.…  Seguir leyendo »

Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe with Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) candidate Keiichiro Asao after delivering a campaign speech in Yokohama, Tokyo just two days before he was assassinated. Photo by YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP via Getty Images.

MundoAsia,

While direct attacks on politicians are not unknown in postwar Japan, they are comparatively rare – it has been decades since politicians with a national standing as prominent as Abe have been the subject of such assassination attempts.

Just two days on from the tragic shooting of Japan’s former prime minister, the country’s Upper House elections delivered a decisive victory for the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) which, together with its coalition partner Komeito, now has 146 seats in the 245 seat House of Councillors.

Together with two smaller conservative parties – the Japan Innovation Party and Democratic Party for the People (DPF) – the government has more than two-thirds of the seats required for constitutional revision, a policy priority long-favoured by Abe, although it is too early to know whether this result represents a public endorsement of his approach.…  Seguir leyendo »

Santuario de Yasukuni en Tokio. Sean Pavone/Alamy

MundoAsia,

Nuestra reacción al conocer la noticia del atentado contra el exprimer ministro japonés Shinzo Abe fue de conmoción e incredulidad a partes iguales. Lo que siguió fue un frenesí al intentar reconstruir las noticias y los rumores para dar sentido a los acontecimientos, hasta que se anunció su muerte unas horas más tarde.

A primera vista, el magnicidio de Abe nos traslada a las décadas de 1920 y 1930, cuando los asesinatos de primeros ministros y exprimeros ministros (Hara Kei, Hamaguchi Osachi, Inukai Tsuyoshi, Takahashi Korekiyo, Saitō Makoto) eran una característica de la política japonesa. No asociamos fácilmente el asesinato político y la violencia con el Japón democrático y pacifista de la posguerra mundial.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

Japón está en estado de shock tras el asesinato de Shinzo Abe. En un país en el que la posesión de armas de fuego está fuertemente controlada, su uso para cometer cualquier tipo de crimen es una rareza. El asesinato de Abe seguramente no haga sino cimentar el legado del primer ministro más longevo en la historia de Japón.

Abe sirvió como primer ministro entre 2006 y 2007 y de nuevo entre 2012 y 2020. Durante su segundo mandato, impulsó tres políticas de gran calado para entender el presente y el futuro de Japón.

En primer lugar, Abe lanzó Abenomics, una estrategia para impulsar el crecimiento económico basado en las llamadas tres flechas: expansión monetaria, estímulo fiscal y reformas estructurales.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Postwar Japan That Shinzo Abe Built

MundoAsia,

In January 2007, only a few months after he was elected, at 52, as Japan’s youngest prime minister of the postwar era, Shinzo Abe delivered a speech outlining his policy priorities after the opening ceremony of the 166th session of Japan’s Diet, the country’s parliamentary body.

Most of the speech was a mundane laundry list of proposals, but one line proved especially revealing about the character of the man. “My mission is none other than to draw a new vision of a nation that can withstand the raging waves for the next 50 to 100 years”, Mr. Abe said.

I have regularly returned to this line — over the course of my writing about the former prime minister and as I reflected on his assassination on Friday — because it provided insight into what animated Mr.…  Seguir leyendo »