International
Migrants on the Mexican border accuse Texan guards of firing rubber and gas bullets
Migrants waiting at the northern border of Mexico to cross to the United States denounced on Monday that the attacks of the Texas National Guard (USA) are on the rise, which they accuse of shooting rubber and pepper spray bullets, even if they are on the Mexican side.
Foreigners stranded in Ciudad Juárez told EFE that they feel “cornered” because on the US side the Texas National Guard shoots them, while on the Mexican side they face the risk that organized crime will kidnap them or that the National Institute of Migration (INM) will stop them.
Among them is the Venezuelan Francisco Galicia, who has been working in Juárez for a year, but has not gotten an appointment with the US authorities to apply for asylum, so he decided to cross the Rio Bravo at gate 40, where Texan agents have attacked him with pepper spray bullets.
“The policemen from around El Paso (USA) have guns with pepper spray, right now they also gave it to the Army (the Texas National Guard) and right now we can’t get there because they shoot us. They are balls that if they burst into one’s body, it stings his face burns, one drowns, the children drown,” Galicia said.
The Venezuelan indicated that Texan agents “even threar tear gas bombs,” but they still prefer to take risks because migrants are also afraid of kidnappers in Mexico.
“They ask for up to $2,000 or $3,000. Even one’s mother can sell her house so that they can release it to one, to be able to pay for freedom,” said the South American.
The actions of the Texas authorities occur despite the fact that the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said last week that the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has been “moderate” recently because he previously had a “very aggressive” policy against migrants and Mexicans.
They also happen in the midst of growing operations to stop migrants in the United States and Mexico, where in the first quarter of 2024 alone, irregular migration intercepted by the Mexican Government grew by about 200% per year to almost 360,000.
López Obrador and the president of the United States, Joe Biden, agreed at the end of April to “work together to immediately implement concrete measures in order to significantly reduce irregular border crossings and at the same time protect human rights.”
Elizaul Campos, from Venezuela, denounced that he has also been the victim of aggressions by the Texan authorities, who are also hostile to minors.
“It doesn’t matter if they have children, they shoot them, they beat women. Here you can see everything, many desperate mothers, many people beaten, you can see everything. The train was turning over, some people were kidnapped, you can see everything, but well (you have to go) forward,” the man said.
He said that, after walking from the homonymous capital of the state of Chihuahua to Ciudad Juárez, they have been in the Rio Bravo for five or six days waiting to pass, they eat once every two days and with limited rations of water due to the risk involved in returning to Mexican stores near the border.
“They insult us, they tell us things, but there is one without being able to say anything, we are here illegally, they say every little while they shoot us, there are many children crying. One was beaten around here and that’s what you don’t want, you tell them to calm down, but they have no compassion for any migrant,” he lamented.
International
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump criticized what he described as unfair fees imposed on American ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand that Washington take back control of the strategic waterway.
“Our Navy and commerce have been threatened in a very unjust and reckless way. The rates that Panama charges are ridiculous,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The president-elect also denounced the growing influence of China in the canal, a situation he called concerning as U.S. businesses depend on the waterway to transport goods between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
“This complete scam against our country will end immediately,” he stated.
The Panama Canal, completed by the United States in 1914, was handed over to Panama under the 1977 treaty signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Panama took full control of the commercial passage in 1999.
“It was exclusively for Panama to manage, not China or anyone else,” Trump said. “We would never allow it to fall into the wrong hands!”
“If Panama cannot guarantee a ‘safe, efficient, and reliable’ operation of the canal, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in its entirety, without a doubt,” the Republican added.
Panamanian authorities did not immediately respond to Trump’s statements. While he will assume office on January 20, Trump has been exerting his political influence in the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Five percent of global maritime trade passes through the Panama Canal, which allows vessels traveling from Asia to the U.S. East Coast to avoid the long and dangerous route around the southern tip of South America.
The countries that use the Panama Canal the most are the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea.
In October, the Panama Canal Authority reported earnings of nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year.
International
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised more “destruction” in Ukraine on Sunday, in response to a drone strike that hit a residential building in the city of Kazan, located in central Russia, on Saturday.
Russia accused Ukraine of launching a “massive” drone attack, which struck a luxury apartment block in Kazan, about 1,000 kilometers from the border.
Videos shared on Russian social media show drones hitting a high-rise glass building. No casualties have been reported as a result of the attack.
In his statements, Putin addressed the local leader of Tatarstan, the region where Kazan is located, during a virtual ceremony marking the opening of a road.
The attack in Kazan is the latest in a series of increasingly frequent bombings in this nearly three-year-old conflict. Ukraine has not commented on the attack.
Putin had previously threatened to strike the center of Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities were retaliation for Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied missiles to target Russian territory.
International
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
At least nine people were killed on Sunday after a small aircraft crashed in a commercial area of the tourist city of Gramado, in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, authorities confirmed.
“There are nine confirmed deaths according to Civil Defense services, and there are no survivors from the plane,” said Cléber dos Santos Lima, director of the Interior Police Department of the Civil Police of the state, in a statement to AFP.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number of passengers and crew aboard the aircraft, a turbo-prop Piper Cheyenne 400. However, Civil Defense had previously stated that “preliminarily, the plane was carrying ten people.”
The plane crashed on Sunday morning “into the chimney of a building, then onto the second floor of a house, and finally fell onto a furniture store,” according to a statement from the Rio Grande do Sul Public Security Secretariat.
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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