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The future of his candidacy depends on a ruling on the legal status of a party that is part of his movement. Amid the registration of candidates for the August elections, Bolivia’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) suspended the presidential candidacy of Andronico Rodriguez, who is backed by the Popular Alliance.

On May 18, Rodriguez, who serves as president of the Bolivian Senate, was confirmed as a candidate by the Popular Alliance, a leftist coalition made up of the Third System Movement (MTS), the Revolutionary Socialist Party (PSR) and the Autonomous Movement for Work and Hope (MATE). The announcement was made by MTS leader Felix Patzi.

Although the TSE received the Popular Alliance’s list of candidates, electoral authorities suspended the registration of all candidates from this coalition pending a ruling by the First Constitutional Chamber of the Beni department on whether the movement is eligible to participate in the election.

Previously, the Constitutional Chamber admitted a legal challenge filed by a citizen seeking to annul the MTS’s legal status. The plaintiff alleges that MTS is in violation of TSE resolutions amid an internal leadership dispute between Patzi and his ex-wife, Maziel Terrazas.

The chamber is expected to hold a hearing on the matter Thursday, which will determine whether the Popular Alliance can move forward with its registration. Mariana Prado is also part of the leftist coalition as a candidate for vice president.

Amid speculation over a potential political maneuver to disqualify him, Rodriguez called for “a permanent vigil and unity from the popular movement in defense of democracy, free participation, and the people’s right to decide at the ballot box—rights that cannot be subject to a political decision by a chamber or an electoral official.”

On Tuesday, TSE official Tahuichi Quispe warned that Rodriguez may be engaging in political defection and that his original party, the Movement Towards Socialismo (MAS), could claim the Senate seat he currently holds. According to Article 39 of Law 1096 on Political Organizations, the seat belongs to the party, not the individual, Quispe said, noting that the law prohibits candidates from switching parties without following established procedures.

During the swearing-in of new Interior Minister Roberto Rios, Bolivian President Luis Arce warned that certain groups may attempt to destabilize the election process. However, he expressed confidence that the Bolivian people would thwart such efforts.

Former Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo has been registered as MAS’s presidential candidate, alongside Milan Berna as his running mate. It was also confirmed that MAS registered Arce as its lead Senate candidate for the department of La Paz.

Joe St. Clair’s release took place occurred amid ongoing negotiations between Venezuela and the United States. On Tuesday, Venezuelan authorities released Joe St. Clair, a former U.S. Marine who was captured in November 2024 while engaging in activities suspected of terrorism.

His release occurred amid ongoing negotiations between the governments of Venezuela and the United States in Antigua and Barbuda. As a result of the negotiations, Richard Grenell, special envoy of U.S. President Donald Trump, returned from Antigua with the U.S. Air Force veteran.

St. Clair had taken part in covert operations in Afghanistan on four occasions. He also participated in similar missions in Latin American countries, where he was involved in alleged “food aid activities.”

According to the war veteran’s family, St. Clair traveled to Colombia in 2024 to undergo treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from his combat experience. From Colombia, he entered Venezuelan territory in November 2024, when he was arrested on suspicion of espionage.

At the time of his arrest, St. Clair had taken photographs of power towers and facilities belonging to the Venezuelan national electric grid. He also possessed images of Venezuelan military installations and government facilities located in the border region with Colombia.

“Another American citizen we had been tracking was captured. He was arrested here in Caracas. He had been taking photos of electrical, oil, and military facilities,” then-lawmaker Diosdado Cabello said.

St. Clair was handed over by mutual agreement on the island of Antigua, after which Trump’s special envoy, Richard Grenell, confirmed receiving him and later stated that St. Clair is now back on U.S. soil with his family.

St. Clair is one of several American mercenaries who have illegally crossed into Venezuela to carry out actions against the country’s peace and to attempt the violent ousting of the current government.

The former serviceman’s release represents a breakthrough in bilateral talks, which primarily focus on two critical issues: the repatriation flights of Venezuelan citizens from the United States and the status of U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela. In February, the administration of President Nicolas Maduro released six other detained Americans following a meeting with Grenell in Caracas.

The so-called penal reform includes doubling sentences for “particularly severe” violent offenses, increasing penalties for certainremoveds by 50%, and constructing over 2,000 new prison cells. Some younger or lower-risk offenders will be diverted to forced labor in agriculture or manufacturing instead of traditional incarceration. The regime also plans a massive new high-security facility and a second women’s prison. Denmark’s colonial outposts, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, are also slated for new incarceration infrastructure.

Nearly DKK 3 billion (RMB 3.3 billion) will be poured into the carceral system over the next decade. But whether anyone will be left to staff these facilities is another question entirely. The prison service already faces a deep staffing crisis: over 700 guard positions are unfilled, and morale is cratering. Building more cells while bleeding personnel borders on delusion.

Asked whether research supports the harsher penalties, Hummelgaard replied with startling candor:

“I don’t have any research backing it. We do this because we want it politically.”

No data, no proof, just the pure Will to Power. “I’m sure it will work,” he added, brushing aside the scientific consensus that tougher sentencing has little effect on crime rates. “I reject that premise,” he said, dismissing the research as being made “from the perpetrator’s perspective, not the victim’s.” He also issued a thinly veiled warning to academics, stating, “It is not me who awards research grants,” implying that funding should favor those willing to reinforce the far-right myth of a Swedish crime apocalypse.

While Hummelgaard wages war on academic freedom, others warn of the consequences. “It’s not hard to throw people in jail,” said Signe Færch, head of the Social Workers’ Union. “The hard part is helping them out again in a good way.”

Perhaps most surreal was Hummelgaard’s repeated invocation of Sweden—a stable Nordic welfare state—as a cautionary tale of multicultural ruin and migrant-fueled crime.

“We don’t want Denmark to become Sweden in any way,” he declared.

Once the stuff of fringe far-right message boards, the fantasy of migrant-fueled Swedish crime chaos has become an official talking point. According to Hummelgaard, Denamrk must not end up as Sweden whose welfare state has been “undermined” by lenient sentencing and “lax immigration policies.”

As expected, no evidence was provided for these lofty claims. But in the echo chamber of Danish crime politics, vibes matter more than facts—and Swedish vibes, it seems, have been ruined because of woke.

Some gestures — like a limited debt relief scheme for younger former inmates and vague promises of better rehabilitation — earned cautious praise from NGOs. But these are dwarfed by the scale of the punitive turn. The regime’s aim is not safer communities or social repair, but appeasing a reactionary public mood — what ministers call the “sense of justice,” a conveniently nebulous concept unmoored from tangible outcomes, yet endlessly hungry for ever-harsher punishments.

In an era of late capitalist regimes no longer able or willing promise hope, cruelty becomes the currency of power. Borders harden. Prisons grow. The message is clear: we are not going to make your life better, but we will punish the people you hate. The spectacle is the solution and the cruelty is the point.

• Source: Regeringen vil fordoble straf for grov vold og øge fængselspladser, DR (state media), May 22nd 2025