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Venezuela and Jordan have more than 67 years of diplomatic relations.

Jordan’s King Abdallah Il bin al Hussein sent a message of appreciation and congratulations on the re-election of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro.

Through a letter, Abdallah II emphasizes his willingness to strengthen the relations between the two countries “for the prosperity of our peoples”. On the other hand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela, Yvan Gil, thanked Abdallah II on behalf of all Venezuelans.

The two countries expressed their willingness to raise the level of relations and strengthen their ties.

Meanwhile, the Bolivarian nation advocates the establishment of a physical headquarters with official representation of the Kingdom of Jordan on national soil. The two nations signed a bilateral cultural cooperation agreement in April 2022.

Statements by the U.S. ambassador to Honduras fueled divisions in the Army. On Thursday morning, Honduran Foreign Affairs Minister Enrique Reina warned of an attempt to sow division within the Armed Forces following comments made by the U.S. Ambassador, Laura Dogu.

Honduran intelligence detected a plan to execute a “barracks coup” involving certain factions seeking to remove Chief of Staff Gen. Roosevelt Hernandez. The operation might have involved some military personnel organizing to challenge Hernandez’s authority, whom Dogu had linked to an alleged “narcotrafficker.”

Amid these tensions, Honduran President Xiomara Castro has intensified her efforts to preserve the unity and stability of the Armed Forces. She faces the challenge of maintaining cohesion at a critical moment, as the campaign for the primary elections, scheduled for April 2025, approaches.

Ambassador Dogu’s comments have also sparked a debate over the U.S.-Honduras extradition treaty, which could be used as a political tool to influence this Central American country’s internal affairs.

Specifically, there is fear that the treaty could be invoked to bring Gen. Hernandez or former President Manuel Zelaya Rosales to trial in the United States in an attempt to weaken the Free Party (LIBRE Party, a party made up by Zelaya supporters and former right-wings turned far-left), a leftist organization that brought Castro to the presidency in 2022 and is the favorite to win the next presidential elections on November 30, 2025.

Foreign interference from United States and its regional allies could be aimed at influencing the electoral process by using unfounded accusations to create uncertainty and undermine confidence in Honduran institutions.

“The U.S. interference and interventionism, as well as its intention to direct the politics of Honduras through its Embassy and other representatives, is intolerable,” President Castro wrote on social media.

“They attack, ignore and violate with impunity the principles and practices of international law, which promote respect for the sovereignty and self-determination of peoples, non-intervention and universal peace. Enough! Based on our Constitution and international treaties, I have ordered FM Reina to denounce the extradition treaty with the U.S.,” she added.

The brutal repression caused injuries to several elderly people, some of them severe as head blows and fractures.

On Wednesday, the Argentine police attacked with sticks and tear gas against a concentration of pensioners who were protesting in front of the Congress against the intention of Javier Milei to eliminate the law of assets.

The brutal repression caused injuries to several elderly people, some of them severe as head blows and fractures. Several pensioners have declared to local media the reminiscences of the events to the dictatorial era, in turn denounce the excessive violence of the repressive forces.

“We don’t have enough to live. They want to kill the old people because, for them, we don’t serve, but we made Argentina great. Milei says that for us there is no silver, but for the rich yes. He is a traitor and delivers our nation”, said a retired protester.

The law that seeks to eliminate President Milei, increases pensions to retirees by 17 thousand pesos (almost 17 dollars), this amount, according to several pensioners, is not a significant increase or improves the living situation of the elderly, However, protesters have said that “we must prevent it from being removed”.

It also provides that the minimum retirement pension should not be less than the value of a basic basket for an older adult. Among the groups supporting the protest are the Meeting of Retirees and Neighborhood Assemblies, the Frente Grande, Independientes and the Asociación Trabajadores del Estado.

With France, another key country supports Morocco's claim on the disputed region. What are the consequences for the local Sahrawi people, neighboring Algeria and the volatile region as a whole? https://p.dw.com/p/4jngW Copy link United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) personnel disembark from a helicopter Morocco is increasingly successful in claiming the phosphate-rich Western Sahara region with its access to the Atlantic Ocean. Image: Fadel Senna/AFP

For Morocco's King Mohammed VI, this summer could go down in history. For five decades, the Western Sahara, a territory to the south of the country, has been at the center of a conflict which might now end.

The phosphate-rich region with direct access to the Atlantic Ocean is home to the around 160,000 local Sahrawi people who have been seeking autonomy ever since Spain withdrew from the area in 1975.

The Sahrawis are represented by the Polisario Front, which is backed by neighboring Algeria. But Rabat claims the territory belongs to Morocco.

As a consequence of this on-going dispute, Morocco and Algeria have clashed repeatedly, and have cut ties in 2020, even though Algeria does not seek control of the Western Sahara itself.

Over the past years, Morocco has gained more and more support for its claim on the region and this summer, France changed its diplomatic stance, too.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the coronation of King Mohammed VI, the 61-year-old monarch received a congratulatory letter

by French President Emmanuel Macron in which he said that from now on, France will be supporting Morocco's plan for the Western Sahara.

This plan, which was initially proposed by Rabat in 2007, includes creating autonomous political institutions in the region as well as pushing economic development including a port at the Atlantic Ocean. However, Morocco will be holding control over foreign affairs, defence and currency.

"France's recognition is an extremely symbolic move that might seal the fate of the Western Sahara conflict," Sarah Zaaimi, a researcher and the deputy director for communications at the Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council, told DW.

Thomas M. Hill, director of North Africa Programs at the Washington-based think tank United States Institute of Peace concluded

in an op-ed this month that the Western Sahara conflict "is over" and that the indigenous Sahrawi independence movement is left with no choice but to eventually settle for some form of autonomy within Morocco. Prime Minister of Morocco Aziz Akhannouch next to French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte MacronPrime Minister of Morocco Aziz Akhannouch next to French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron After the letter to King Mohammed VI, French President Emmanuel Macron met the Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch in Paris. Image: Antonin Burat/Le Pictorium/MAXPPP/picture alliance France acts with an eye on migration

France is only the latest state to recognize the Western Sahara region as Moroccan territory. Spain did so in 2022, as did the United States as part of a "quid pro quo" for Rabat's normalization of diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020.

The Gulf countries and various African and Latin American countries regard the Western Sahara as Moroccan, too.

About the same number of countries support the Polisario Front and the quest for independence by the Sahrawis. However, support for this side has been stalling.

The UN neither recognizes the sovereignty claims of Morocco nor those of the Polisario Front. The international body endorses a UN-led referendum for the local Sahrawis instead.

This is also the position of the European Union, despite first Spain's and now France's changed stances.

Alice Gower, director of geopolitics and security at the London-based consulting firm Azure Strategy, highlights that France's diplomatic turnaround after years of keeping neutral on the topic is less driven by the desire to end the actual dispute over the Western Sahara.

"France's recognition has little practical effect on the ground," she told DW.

"Macron's move has undoubtedly been in part motivated by transactional politics as migration is a fiercely contested issue in France," she said. The Western Sahara has become one of the most frequented departure points for aspiring migrants and France hopes that Mohammed VI will help curb migration to Europe.

In addition, France also has a high level of interest in avoiding a power vacuum in the increasingly volatile region that includes unstable and warring countries like Libya and Sudan.

"Macron desires to prop up the Moroccan monarchy, which has been suffering a crisis of legitimacy in recent years amid rising Russian and Iranian influence in neighboring Algeria and broader security concerns across the Sahel," Gower said. Polisario Front soldiers celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Polisario Front Polisario Front soldiers celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Polisario Front Morocco has been pushing for control over the Western Sahara region, with growing support from France, Spain and the US. Image: Guidoum Fateh/AP/picture alliance Algeria's political pressure

However, France's decision also has the potential to "throw Algeria more in the arms of the Russian Iranian axis, and push Algeria into a counter move, particularly in light of its upcoming presidential elections in early September," Atlantic Council's Zaaimi told DW.

Zine Labidine Ghebouli, a political analyst on Algeria and postgraduate scholar at the University of Glasgow, is therefore worried that "the region may be heading towards the moment when the Polisario Front decides that it is more appropriate and more useful to intensify its military campaign rather than waiting for a diplomatic solution that may not come."

So far, however, the Sahrawi news agency only reported that the "Polisario Front has asserted that resolving the situation in occupied Western Sahara necessitates the 'strict and firm implementation' of international legitimacy resolutions affirming the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination."

An autonomous region is also envisioned by the around 173,600 Sahrawi refugees

who have been living in Algerian refugee camps for the past 50 years. According to recent numbers by the UN, they have been bearing the world's second longest-standing refugee situation. Graffiti of a Saharawi Refugee CampGraffiti of a Saharawi Refugee Camp The Sahrawi population in Algeria has been bearing the world's second longest refugee situation, according to the UN. Image: Noe Falk Nielsen/NurPhoto/picture alliance

Meanwhile, Algeria has stepped up its diplomatic pressure. Algier recalled its ambassador to Paris and started to refuse Algerian nationals deported from France.

For Ghebuli, there is no doubt that this is in reaction to France's Morocco support.

"The Western Sahara has become an extension of Algeria's national security domain," he told DW.