SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Former Chile international Jorge Valdivia was detained Tuesday after local authorities confirmed an allegation of sexual assault against him.
A woman reported the alleged assault to the country’s legal medical service Monday morning after having spent time with the 41-year-old Valdivia the night before at a restaurant in the Chilean capital.
Valdivia said he had a consensual relationship with the woman.
“I do not know the motivations for this action, but I categorically deny having sexually assaulted any person,” Valdivia told local media.
Chile's prosecutors' office confirmed to journalists that the former player of local giant Colo Colo and other foreign soccer clubs had been detained.
Valdivia also played for Brazil's Palmeiras and UAE's Al Ain before he returned to Chile. He was a regular starter for Chile between 2004 and 2007, and took part in the 2015 Copa America title campaign.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Former Chilean soccer player Jorge Valdivia, far right, is presented to the judge in handcuffs during his preliminary hearing for alleged sexual assault at a court in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Former Chilean soccer player Jorge Valdivia is presented to the judge in handcuffs during his preliminary hearing for alleged sexual assault at a court in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
HAVANA (AP) — A small town in far eastern Cuba was recovering Tuesday from flooding that killed at least six people after Oscar crossed the island’s eastern coast as a tropical storm with winds and heavy rain.
Cuba's capital was partially illuminated after a large-scale blackout generated a handful of protests and a stern government warning that any unrest would be punished.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on state television that rescue and recovery work continued in the town of San Antonio del Sur and officials hadn't yet entered some flooded areas.
People in Havana collected subsidized food Tuesday and said the country faced an intensive recovery period.
“There are lines everywhere you go,” city resident Carlos López said. “You get to a place and there are obstacles and obstacles.”
Tropical Storm Oscar disintegrated as it headed toward the Bahamas after making landfall in Cuba as a Category 1 hurricane. The remnants were expected to drop up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain across the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Modesto Hernández, who lived in central Havana, said Tuesday that “we don’t know anything about what is going on.”
“These problems need to be solved now,” he said. "We are in bad shape.”
Díaz-Canel warned on national television Sunday that “we're not going to allow any vandalism, or let anyone disturb people's tranquility."
The prolonged nationwide blackout that followed a massive outage Thursday night was part of countrywide energy problems that led to the largest protests in Cuba in almost 30 years, in July 2021. Those were followed by smaller local protests in October 2022 and March 2024.
All are part of a deep economic crisis that has prompted the exodus of more than half a million Cubans to the U.S., with thousands more heading to Europe.
The Cuban government and its allies blame the United States' 62-year-old trade embargo on the island for its economic problems but White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that the Cuban government’s “long-term mismanagement of its economic policy and resources has certainly increased the hardship of people in Cuba.”
Power remains relatively cheap but increasingly unavailable. The Cuban government on state television Monday night said that it’s producing 1300 megawatts when peak demand can hit 3 gigawatts. Authorities said by Monday afternoon that about 80 percent of Havana had intermittent power but people remained fearful.
Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said in a news conference he hoped that more reliable electricity would be restored by Tuesday morning but classes remained closed through at least Thursday.
He said that Oscar would bring “an additional inconvenience” to Cuba's recovery since it would affect key Cuban power plants, such as Felton in the city of Holguín, and Renté in Santiago de Cuba.
Many of Havana's 2 million people resorted to cooking with improvised wood stoves on the streets before their food went bad in refrigerators. People lined up to buy subsidized food and few gas stations were open.
The failure of the Antonio Guiteras plant on Friday was the latest problem with energy distribution in a country where electricity has been restricted and rotated among different regions at different times.
The blackout was considered to be Cuba’s worst since Hurricane Ian hit the island as a Category 3 storm in 2022 and damaged power installations. It took days for the government to fix them.
Local authorities initially said the outage stemmed from increased demand from small- and medium-sized companies and residential air conditioners. Later, the blackout got worse because of breakdowns in old thermoelectric plants that haven’t been properly maintained, and the lack of fuel to operate some facilities.
Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
A cook looks in on a resident during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A man walks down the street holding slices of pizza during a massive blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A person fishes along the boardwalk as waves crash during a power outage in Havana, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents pass the time at the malecon during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
People play dominoes on the street during a power outage in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents stand outside their homes to avoid the heat indoors during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A woman buys soup from a street vendor during a power outage in Havana, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
