International

The “trainer Walz”, a candidate for vice president who was untunged

The governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, has gone through a vortex in these four months: from being an unknown at the national level to becoming a critic of the viral Donald Trump, and shortly after blurring with the passage of the campaign until he was relegated to a stereotypical role, that of the eternal sixty-year-old white who covers American politics.

Walz has been in politics for almost 20 years but until recently he was practically unknown, a simple man who appeared at the campaign events with a flannel shirt and hiking boots and who represents the familiar man of the rural Midwest.

The vice presidential candidate, accused by Trump of being a radical leftist, has been celebrated by US progressivism for approving aid for families with children, promoting affordable housing and guaranteeing the right to abortion, after the Supreme Court eliminated protections against termination of pregnancy at the federal level.

Kamala Harris’ unusual selection placed this governor and former congressman at the center of the campaign, who emphasized his past as a high school soccer teacher and coach, although his profile blurred over the days.

Walz appeared in an interview with Harris on CNN in August gravitating on Kamala Harris’ shoulder without contributing much and in the only debate against his Republican vice-presidential rival, Senator JD Vance, he appeared doubtful, not very assertive and his profile was moving from the center of attention.

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The career of ‘Coach Walz’

‘Coach Walz’ or ‘coach Walz’ has become the first name of this governor who combines several qualities difficult to find in a single politician: he is a former soldier, a simple man from the crucial Midwest, a teacher, a father who has gone viral for his father things and a politician favored by the most progressive factions of the Democratic Party.

At 60 years old, Walz lacks one thing: he is the first candidate of a Democratic presidential formula who has not studied Law since 1980 and who, on the contrary, has spent much of his professional life as a simple teacher, teaching geography, history or sport in a way that marked many of the students who went through his classes.

Walz was born in a rural community in Nebraska and enlisted in the National Guard as a plain soldier to be able to pay for his higher education, a path to the educational improvement used by the middle class in the United States.

The governor was a school teacher where he met his wife, Gwen Whipple, with whom he later moved to Minnesota to continue his work in a high school as a geography teacher and American football coach, he managed to get his team to win the 1999 state championship.

During his years as an educator, Walz taught in China and with his wife organized study trips for teenagers to the Asian country, a cultural exchange experience that could serve him if he ends up reaching the White House, despite the fact that this closeness was criticized by the Republicans.

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Harris’s campaign and Governor Walz

In 2006, he ran for a seat in Congress and managed to renew the trust of his constituents for 12 years, in which he was a member of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Agriculture and Veterans Affairs.

Walz would seem destined to win and in 2018 he was elected governor of Minnesota, a state that has voted Democratic in the last general elections, but whose rural population is mostly republican and conservative. In 2022, he was re-elected for another four years.

The governor is an unusual politician also because of his presence on social networks, in which, for example, he gives advice on the fuses of his vehicle and then continues: “I give you another pro advice: go out and vote.”

Walz, nicknamed by some as the ‘Father of America’, has been able to promote on his networks his profile as an affable father and joker and to be a member of the “boomer” generation he was able to find without a large communication team an effective message against Donald Trump and could be a key squire for Harris to attract more voters in the blue belt of Wisconsin and Michigan.

Harris chose him because in the selection meetings there was a special “chemistry” between them, according to sources from his team.

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Republicans have tried to discredit his profile by claiming that he left his position in the National Guard shortly before his unit was sent to Iraq (something that coincided with the beginning of his first campaign to be a congressman) or by exaggerating that he was in the Tiananmen massacre in 1989.

International

German president warns Iran war could spread and disrupt Strait of Hormuz

The president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, warned Monday that the war involving Iran could expand and further disrupt shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz. He urged a swift end to hostilities between Iran, United States and Israel.

Speaking in Panama City during a joint appearance with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, Steinmeier said available information suggests Iran has significant capacity to disrupt maritime traffic through the key oil route.

“Iran has considerable potential to interfere with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz,” Steinmeier said through an interpreter. “We should therefore reach an end to the hostilities as soon as possible and call on all parties involved to make that happen.”

The remarks came during Steinmeier’s visit to Panama, the first by a German president to the Central American nation.

The German leader described the possibility of the conflict spreading as “very dangerous,” saying recent developments indicate that such a scenario cannot be ruled out.

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Over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump urged allied nations to help ensure safe passage for ships through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran moved to block the waterway in response to U.S. strikes. However, several allies—particularly in Europe—have shown little support for the proposal.

“Some are very enthusiastic, others are not, and some are countries we have helped for many years,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We have protected them from terrible external threats, and they’re not that enthusiastic. And the level of enthusiasm is important to me.”

Meanwhile, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, said the Strait of Hormuz falls “outside NATO’s scope” and stressed that “the war involving Iran is not Europe’s war.”

International

Mexico security chief meets DEA director in Washington to boost anti-drug cooperation

Mexico’s Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, met in Washington with the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Terrance Cole, to discuss cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking and illegal arms flows.

The Mexican official said Monday on social media that he attended the meeting in representation of the Mexican government’s Security Cabinet.

“In Washington, D.C., I represented the Security Cabinet to hold talks with DEA Director Terrance Cole on the importance of strengthening bilateral cooperation to combat drug trafficking, curb the flow of weapons into our country, and reduce violence in Mexico through significant arrests,” García Harfuch wrote.

He added that, following instructions from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, the government will continue strengthening international cooperation on security matters.

For his part, Cole said the meeting focused on cross-border collaboration to tackle drug trafficking and to build safer communities on both sides of the border.

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The meeting comes as Mexico and the United States begin a new round of dialogue on economic and security issues.

Earlier Monday, President Claudia Sheinbaum said she will look for the “best moment” to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, adding that maintaining a good relationship with Washington is a priority for her administration.

International

Venezuela’s foreign minister accuses UN rights chief of “immoral bias”

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil criticized the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, accusing him of having an “immoral bias” and acting as an “echo chamber for falsehoods” regarding the situation in Venezuela.

Gil’s remarks came after Türk stated that his office had not received an official list from Venezuelan authorities detailing the release of political prisoners, nor authorization to carry out visits related to the issue.

“The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights insists on a narrative biased against our country, repeating unfounded accusations while deliberately omitting the impact of unilateral coercive measures on the rights of the Venezuelan people,” Gil said in a message posted on his Telegram channel.

Without directly addressing the question of prisoner releases, the Venezuelan foreign minister also accused Türk of aligning with what he described as the “agenda of extremism in Venezuela.”

Gil added that, despite serious human rights violations occurring in other parts of the world, the UN official has chosen to maintain what he described as an “immoral bias” against Venezuela.

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The criticism is part of a broader dispute between the Venezuelan government and the UN human rights office over reports and investigations concerning the human rights situation in the country.