International
“Will they replace Biden?”, the big question after a black night for the president of the United States
“Will they replace Joe Biden?” was the big question that invaded the atmosphere after a black night for the president of the United States in Atlanta, where he clearly lost the first presidential debate against his rival, former Republican president Donald Trump.
All eyes were on the vigorousness of Biden, who at 81 years old is the oldest president in history, and the worst omens were fulfilled.
Despite having locked himself up for almost a week with his team to prepare for a historic day, he appeared with a hoarse, slow, tired voice and with difficulty concluding some sentences.
Trump, only three years younger, repeated many of the hoaxes that characterize him and avoided answering the most uncomfortable questions of the moderators, but he was seen more content than expected and much more energetic than his rival.
In a lapidary final shot of the debate, the first lady, Jill Biden, was shown, helping her husband, who had a lot of difficulty going down the stairs of the stage and saying goodbye to the moderators.
Panic had taken over Biden’s campaign in the middle of the debate and his team hurried to justify that the president suffered the flu during the week, but the damage was already done.
The Republicans did not take long to make firewood from the fallen tree and several of Trump’s allies quickly went out to sing victory in the ‘spin room’, a press room installed in a stadium adjacent to the CNN studios where the face-to-face was broadcast.
“This man cannot continue as president of the United States, I am very worried about this country. I don’t think he can continue even for the six months he has left in office,” said Vivek Ramaswamy, who faced Trump in the Republican primaries and is now one of his greatest acolytes.
Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Tim Scott walked through the room repeating that it was a crushing victory for Trump, of whom both aspire to be vice presidents in a second term.
Matt Gaetz, congressman of the most radical wing of the Republicans, soon verbalized to the press what many were thinking. He opined that in a few days an internal battle will be opened in the Democratic Party to replace the president.
The proof of disbelief within the Democratic ranks is that it took several minutes for Biden’s allies to appear together before the press in the ‘spin room’, where they tried to convey an optimistic message that contrasted with their long faces.
Among them were Senator Raphael Warnock and Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, but all eyes were on the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, one of the most prominent faces of the Democratic Party.
The press asked him several times if he is ready to replace Biden but categorically denied that he was going to take the step: “He has my support. We are with him,” he said seriously.
The official vision of the Democratic campaign, according to a statement, is that the president presented “a positive and winning vision for the future of the United States” in the face of a Trump who wants to end democracy and the right to abortion.
This debate, unusually early given that the campaigns have not yet started formally, was especially decisive since it came at a time when both candidates were tied in the polls and knew that any mistake could make the balance decant.
According to a first CNN poll published at the end of the match, Trump was the clear winner for 67% of those surveyed.
The truth is that the Democratic Party still has to hold its national convention next August in Chicago to formally nominate its candidate. Technically there would be time for a replacement, but it would be something never seen before.
International
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
A 65-year-old Austrian citizen was arrested at a border checkpoint in Croatia after attempting to enter the country in his car with a deceased woman sitting as a passenger, police announced on Tuesday.
The man was detained in a routine check in late November in Gunja, a border area separating Bosnia from Croatia, the police told AFP. Suspicious because they saw “no consciousness or movement” from the passenger, Croatian officers called a doctor, who confirmed the death of the 83-year-old woman, also Austrian, according to her identification.
The woman’s relationship to the suspect is unknown. She had died in Bosnia, and the man intended to repatriate her body to Austria to “avoid the formalities related to transporting a corpse,” according to the police. Croatian media reported that the man was her legal guardian.
Once her death was confirmed, a funeral service took charge of the body.
International
Colombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
Colombian authorities arrested two nationals accused of the illegal trafficking of migrants to the United States and of endangering lives due to the disappearance of a boat with 40 people aboard, U.S. Department of Justice officials reported on Tuesday.
Hernando Manuel de la Cruz Rivera Orjuela, 52, and Luis Enrique Linero Pinto, 40, both Colombian citizens, were arrested on December 13 in Colombia at the request of the United States for their alleged involvement in a “transnational human trafficking operation,” the department said in a statement.
According to the charges, the detainees were transporting migrants to San Andrés Island in the Caribbean, where they would then be taken by boat to Nicaragua. The goal was to reach the United States through Central America and Mexico.
The accused are said to have advised the migrants on how to reach San Andrés Island, where they personally received them, arranged accommodations, and “took them to the boats that transported them to Nicaragua so they could enter the United States illegally,” the statement reads.
“These defendants put several migrants on the boat that disappeared off the coast of Nicaragua in 2023,” said Deputy Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, as cited in the statement.
Both men are “directly and personally responsible for the illicit trafficking of migrants on that vessel,” according to the indictment dated October 23.
International
Homemade landmine explosion in Michoacán kills two soldiers, injures five
Two soldiers were killed and five others were injured by the explosion of homemade landmines planted by a criminal group in a mountainous area of the Mexican state of Michoacán (west), the Secretary of Defense reported on Tuesday.
The attack occurred on Monday morning in the municipality of Cotija, a border area between Michoacán and the state of Jalisco, when the military was conducting a reconnaissance mission after receiving information about an armed camp in the area, explained Secretary General Ricardo Trevilla.
“At that moment, an improvised explosive device detonated. Unfortunately, two soldiers lost their lives, and five others were injured,” the military leader detailed. The affected soldiers were airlifted to hospitals in the region by a military helicopter, while the rest of the team continued with the reconnaissance of the area.
Trevilla stated that before the explosion, the military unit had located the dismembered bodies of three people, and upon continuing the mission, they confirmed the camp was abandoned.
Asked about the individuals responsible for placing the explosives, the general suggested they could be criminals linked to the local group Cárteles Unidos, which operates in Michoacán and uses these tactics in their territorial dispute with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the country.
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