International
One million people displaced in Lebanon in recent days by Israeli attacks
About a million people have left their homes in recent days in Lebanon due to the campaign of unprecedented attacks that Israel maintains against the south and east of the country, and the suburbs of Beirut, announced the Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati.
“The number is large, it is estimated that one million people were forced to move from one place to another during the last few days. It is considered the largest displacement operation in Lebanon in all of history,” the leader said at a press conference.
“The management of this displacement not only depends on finding shelter and food for these people, but there are other things such as guaranteeing a health service in these reception centers to prevent the spread of diseases or the problem of garbage accumulation,” Mikati explained.
Lebanon, with an estimated population of less than 6 million inhabitants, has been forced to open hundreds of shelters for displaced people since last Monday Israel began to intensely bomb the main strongholds of the Shiite group Hezbula.
According to the latest situation report published this Sunday by the presidency of the Council of Ministers, 116,100 of the internally displaced are housed in 777 centers and schools enabled by the authorities, of which more than 500 have reached their maximum capacity.
Various NGOs have denounced the lack of basic services in the shelters and a lack of space that in some cases forces several families to be accommodated in the same classroom.
Mikati explained that they have ordered the customs department to raise taxes on humanitarian aid and donations from abroad so that the supplies “reach directly to the State,” and facilitate the entry of much-needed products.
Mikati: “We have no choice but diplomacy”
The Lebanese Prime Minister considers that diplomacy is the only way out amid the unprecedented Israeli attacks against Lebanon and advocated seeking solutions to the conflict through international forums.
“We have no other option than diplomacy, from the beginning we have asked for the full implementation of resolution 1701 (of the UN Security Council) and the Government is committed to it (…) If the war is prolonged in the end we will return to resolution 1701,” he said at a press conference.
“Lebanon has faith in the international community, in international legitimacy and in the UN, and does not believe in the law of the strongest,” he added.
More than a thousand dead and 6,000 injured
In the last two weeks, Israel has launched a series of unprecedented attacks against the main strongholds of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbula, which have already left more than a thousand dead, 6,000 injured and about a million internally displaced, according to official data.
One of them killed the top leader of the formation, Hassan Nasrala, on Friday on the outskirts of Beirut.
Mikati recalled that his government has been calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon for “seven or eight months”, since long before the clashes that began almost a year ago between Hezbula and Israel recently led to a wave of violence unprecedented in decades.
“The ceasefire in Gaza would lead to a ceasefire in Lebanon and the inhabitants would return to their homes in northern Israel, and everything would return to normal while we take time to implement resolution 1701,” the prime minister reiterated.
Hezbula insisted in recent months that he would only stop his fight against the Jewish state when the Gaza war ended, while the international community advocated the implementation of the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war between the parties.
International
Mexico requests extradition of ‘Mini Lic’ for murder of journalist Javier Valdez
The Mexican government has requested the extradition of Dámaso López Serrano, a former high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel, who is accused of masterminding the 2017 murder of Mexican journalist Javier Valdez, the Attorney General’s Office announced on Tuesday.
López Serrano, known as “Mini Lic,” was arrested last Friday in Virginia, United States, on charges of fentanyl trafficking, a crime he committed while on parole.
“This is the key issue for us, he [López Serrano] is the mastermind of this murder. The rest of the perpetrators are already processed and in jail, he was the one missing,” said Attorney General Alejandro Gertz.
“We immediately made the extradition request,” the official added during the routine morning press conference of President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Valdez, an award-winning reporter specializing in drug trafficking and correspondent for AFP and the newspaper La Jornada, was murdered on May 15, 2017, in front of the office of his magazine Riodoce in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa state.
“Mini Lic” was originally arrested in 2017 when he voluntarily turned himself in to U.S. authorities and pleaded guilty to trafficking methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine. In 2022, he was released on parole.
Gertz confirmed that the Mexican Attorney General’s Office had requested López Serrano’s extradition “countless times,” but Washington had declined to act on the request because he had become a “protected witness” for the U.S. government and “was providing a lot of information.”
“Now, with this situation where they themselves are acknowledging that this individual is still committing crimes, I think there are more than enough reasons for them to support us,” the prosecutor added.
The Sinaloa Cartel is one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in Mexico and was founded by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who is serving a life sentence in the United States.
Culiacán has been shaken by a wave of murders since the arrest of Ismael “Mayo” Zambada, another key leader of the cartel alongside Guzmán, on July 25 in New Mexico, United States.
International
Cuba’s government stresses openness to serious, respectful U.S. relations
Cuba reiterated on Tuesday its willingness to engage in dialogue with the United States, just weeks before Republican President Donald Trump assumes office. During his first term, Trump halted the historic rapprochement between the two countries, which had been initiated just ten years earlier by Democrat Barack Obama.
“It will not be Cuba that proposes or takes the initiative to suspend the existing dialogues, to suspend the existing cooperation. Not even the discreet exchanges on some sensitive issues,” said Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernández de Cossío at a press conference in Havana.
“We will be attentive to the attitude of the new government, but Cuba’s stance will remain the same as it has been for the last 64 years. We are willing to develop a serious, respectful relationship with the United States, one that protects the sovereign interests of both countries,” he added.
His statements come on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the historic rapprochement announcement between Washington and Havana.
On December 17, 2014, Cuban leader Raúl Castro (2006-2021) and Barack Obama (2008-2016) announced the beginning of a thaw in relations, which led to the restoration of diplomatic ties in 2015, after more than half a century of confrontation.
This process of thawing bilateral relations was later halted by businessman Donald Trump, who significantly reinforced economic sanctions against the communist-ruled country. The Republican will return to the White House on January 20.
Cuba, under a U.S. trade embargo since 1962, was re-listed in 2021 on the “blacklist of countries supporting terrorism,” blocking financial and economic flows to the island of 10 million inhabitants.
Subsequently, the administration of current Democratic President Joe Biden made only slight adjustments to the sanctions and also kept Cuba on this list. However, his administration resumed bilateral contacts with Havana on migration issues and the fight against terrorism.
International
Mexican government to use church atriums for gun surrender program to combat violence
The atriums of Mexican Catholic churches will be used for the voluntary surrender of weapons in exchange for economic and legal incentives as part of a plan announced on Tuesday by the government to reduce violence.
According to the Mexican government, there is a link between the illegal trafficking of weapons—almost entirely coming from the United States—and the spiral of criminal violence that has plagued the country since late 2006, when a controversial military anti-drug offensive was launched.
“The idea is to set up areas in the church atriums where people can voluntarily surrender their weapons, and in return, they will receive financial resources based on the weapon they are turning in,” explained President Claudia Sheinbaum during her regular press conference.
The left-wing leader emphasized that the program, called “Yes to Disarmament, Yes to Peace,” guarantees that those who surrender their weapons will not face any “investigation.”
“What we want is to disarm. This will be implemented next year. We also did it in Mexico City, and it had significant results,” added the former mayor of the capital, with a population of 9.2 million.
The disarmament plan is part of the government’s “comprehensive security strategy,” one of whose pillars is promoting a culture of peace, especially in regions severely affected by organized crime violence, Sheinbaum pointed out.
More than 450,000 people have been murdered in Mexico since the government launched its military-led anti-drug operation, alongside about 100,000 people who have gone missing.
Despite being a secular state, the Mexican Catholic Church has played a key role in efforts to contain violence, with priests acting as mediators between citizens and criminals. Several clergy members have been killed for this cause.
Just last week, the Catholic hierarchy called on cartels to declare a truce in their violent actions during the celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe on December 12 and the upcoming Christmas holidays.
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