International
Collectives predict that Mexico will not regulate cannabis until the US does so at the federal level
Different pro-cannabis groups predicted that Mexico will not regulate its consumption or production until the United States does so at the federal level, during the presentation of the Cannabis Encounter that will take place in the Mexican capital on April 27 and 28.
“As long as there is no federal regulation in the United States, we believe that federal regulation will not be allowed in Mexico,” said Julio Zenil, the director of the event, which brings together the leader of the international cannabis industry.
Zenil explained that, in Mexico, “the steps that have been taken” in this area at the federal level, which places the country in a “more advanced” position than US legislation, which depends on each state.
“There are rumors that the industry will not be regulated in the United States, they will not declassify cannabis, until the pharmaceutical industry is not in control,” he added, so he warned of the presence of “interests that go a little beyond” Mexico’s legislative capacities.
In 2021, the Supreme Court of Justice declared the ban on recreational marijuana consumption in the country unconstitutional, although the Government of the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and his party in Congress have refused to regulate it.
While Congress has approved since 2017, in the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), the use of marijuana for health purposes, a regulation that depends on the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks.
Lawyer Manolo Castro, who will give a thematic talk at the Cannabis Encounter, reiterated the implications of these “issues of supranational interests” and removed the possibility of regulating the use of marijuana and its derivatives in the short term.
“I don’t think it’s going to happen either in these months or in the next three years,” he said, especially because of the electoral period that Mexico is currently experiencing. Even so, both he and Zenil recognized the birth of “different models of self-regulation” among citizens, which could be a “source of law.”
“If the Government puts its hands in taxes and all this, I don’t think it will end well for anyone,” said the artist Muelas de Gallo because, in his opinion, it would mean an increase in the price of the product, which would become a “privilege” for those who can afford it.
The Cannabis Event, which reaches its sixth edition and is organized by the magazine Cáñamo, offers the public conferences on both the recreational and therapeutic use of marijuana and its derivatives, as well as recreational activities and competitions.
“The backbone (…), sharing information so that people have tools for debate and decision,” Zenil said.
International
Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.
“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.
“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.
Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links
A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
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