International

Record registration of Latino voters after Harris’ arrival in the presidential race

A record number of eligible Latinos have registered to vote after the arrival of Vice President Kamala Harris to the race for the White House, especially young and female voters, in states considered key to winning the November election, which may tip the balance towards the Democratic candidate.

The organization Voto Latino announced at a press conference that it has exceeded the voter registration goal in five key states: Florida, Texas, Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina by registering 112,035 Latino voters so far this year.

María Teresa Kumar, director of Voto Latino, said that the voter registration of her organization increased by 200% and attributed the unusual increase to the arrival of Harris in the race for the Presidency in the United States.

“All this enthusiasm began to gather and accumulate around July 21, when President Joe Biden decided to step aside and nominate and support Vice President Kamala Harris,” the activist said.

Of the total (112,035) registered this year by the organization, 67,092 voters registered after July 21, an unprecedented figure in the 20 years in which the organization has promoted voter participation.

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Kumar also highlighted the increase achieved with respect to previous elections. And it is that, for the 2016 election, the Latino Vote campaign in favor of Hillary Clinton managed to register 2,252 Hispanic voters in July of that year.

In the same month, but in 2020, 25,156 Latino voters were registered in favor of President Joe Biden, almost half of the 50,111 who registered between July 21 and July 31 of this year, supported by Harris.

Even the mood of voters since Harris entered has exceeded that awakened by the candidacy of former President Barack Obama (2009-2017).

Ameer Patel, a researcher at Voto Latino, said that since the vice president landed in the presidential race, there has been a “disproportionate amount” of young voters and especially young Latinas who registered to vote.

Of the 67,092 voters registered after July 21, 55% are voters between 18 and 29 years old and 86% are between 18 and 39 years old. Of the total, 69.7% are women.

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The enthusiasm of the new voters is not only motivated by the fight for women’s reproductive rights. In fact, the first issue that concerns the voters consulted by Voto Latino is the economy, better wages and income control.

The second issue is the rights to abortion, followed by gun control and security in educational institutions.
In that sense, Kumar highlighted the campaigns advanced by women in South Texas in favor of Harris and his formula, the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, with a wake-up call about school shootings, something that was not seen in 2020.

It is precisely in Texas where the most new Latino voters have registered Voto after the arrival of Harris with 17,000 registered voters, followed by Florida with 13,600, Georgia (11,500), North Carolina (7,500) and Arizona (4,500).

Kumar stressed the importance of these votes especially in states where President Joe Biden won by just over 10,000 votes, such as Georgia and Arizona.

“Harris has been stealing votes from Donald Trump in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada, key states in this battlefield,” the activist said.

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He added that the vice president is not only attractive to independent voters but also to Republicans, a clear disadvantage for former President Trump.

More than 36 million eligible Latinos will be able to vote this year. But of them, only 26 million are registered to vote, and only 16 million voted in the last presidential elections.

Activists’ efforts have focused on encouraging 20 million Latinos who could pay, but they don’t.

Kumar insisted that there is an incredible opportunity to strengthen the political voice of the Hispanic community, which although it is not monolithic has mostly opted for the Democrats.

The message was delivered right in celebration of National Voter Registration Day.

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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”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

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.”