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Biden tries to heal Democrats’ divide on his spending plans

AFP

US President Joe Biden was to meet Wednesday with the warring wings of his Democratic Party in an effort to save his troubled economic plans.

The White House said Biden would hold three meetings with two dozen members of Congress as he dives in to try and settle an internal party squabble threatening to sink his ambitious social spending and infrastructure agenda.

One meeting will feature the two most powerful Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Both are close Biden allies but are struggling to get their ranks in line behind the economic plans.

Biden was then scheduled to meet with a group of moderate Democrats, including senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who have got cold feet about the huge price tag.

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Pointedly, the president was then to meet separately with Congress members on the left of the party, such as Senator Bernie Sanders. There was apparently no plan to bring the two sides around the same table.

Biden and the leftist legislators back quick passage of a $3.5 trillion package addressing climate change, child care and education. The vast proposals would fundamentally improve the lives of ordinary Americans left behind in an increasingly unequal economy, Biden says.

However, Manchin is among those calling the price too high, instead backing something far less than half the total.

Republicans are in no mood to help on the social spending plan, although they could vote for a separate smaller bill funding transport and other traditional infrastructure.

With the Democrats having only a razor-thin majority in Congress, the disunity threatens to bring down the entire agenda, sucking the energy out of Biden’s presidency.

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The clock is also running out as Congress simultaneously squabbles on a vote to increase the government’s borrowing limit, an impasse that could trigger a US debt default and deliver a bad shock to markets.

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International

Migrants in Ciudad Juárez brave subzero temperatures with donations of warm clothing

Several jackets, gloves, hats, and scarves are helping migrants on the streets of Ciudad Juárez, a border town in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, to withstand the subzero temperatures recorded in the past days in northern Mexico.

“We wear three or four jackets to be able to walk like this, face masks, ear covers, we put on three or four sweatshirts,” said Jorge Peñalver, a 28-year-old Venezuelan, on Friday to AFP.

Northern Mexico is suffering from its second winter storm. Thermometers dropped to -3°C in Ciudad Juárez on Wednesday, where migrants are waiting to enter the United States legally.

In addition to the cold, there is the “uncertainty” ahead of the inauguration of the next U.S. president, Donald Trump, who has promised to use the military to carry out a mass deportation of migrants, added Carlos Mayorga, a pastor and volunteer with the group Ángeles Mensajeros. The organization provides clothing, food, and coffee to migrants, mostly from Venezuela and Central America, where they are “not used to” freezing temperatures.

“Thank God the people here in Ciudad Juárez see us working and give us coats,” added Peñalver, who cleans windshields and car windows.

The National Weather Service predicted that subzero temperatures will continue in northern Mexico, reaching -15°C in mountainous areas of Chihuahua and Durango states.

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International

Álvaro Uribe calls for international military intervention to oust Maduro

Former President Álvaro Uribe, one of the most popular politicians in Colombia, called on Saturday for an international military intervention in Venezuela “to oust” Nicolás Maduro from power following his controversial swearing-in for a third consecutive term on Friday.

“Let that fraud know that what we advocate for is an international military intervention with the Venezuelan army to remove the dictatorship,” said the right-wing former president from the Colombian side of the border in Cúcuta.

In front of dozens of people on the streets of the city, Uribe led his announced “protest for the freedom of Colombia and Venezuela,” in support of Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado, the leaders of the Venezuelan opposition.

“We are calling for an international intervention, preferably endorsed by the United Nations, to remove those tyrants from power and immediately call for free elections,” he insisted amid applause.

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International

Venezuela’s Interior Ministry confirms arrest of María Corina Machado’s driver

Venezuela’s Ministry of the Interior confirmed on Monday the arrest of the motorcyclist who transported María Corina Machado after the opposition protest last Thursday, and stated that he will be charged with the alleged crimes of conspiracy and simulating a criminal act.

As Machado had reported, the motorcyclist, identified as Roalmi Alberto Cabeza, was arrested after being shot in the leg, a claim that the Ministry denies, asserting that he was apprehended at a well-known hotel in Caracas “without injuries,” and that the charge of simulation will be pressed against him.

In a statement shared on Instagram, the Ministry stated that, in response to Machado’s “serious accusations,” the Public Prosecutor’s Office and state security agencies conducted “a thorough investigation to clarify the events.”

The Ministry explained in the statement that Cabeza stated, at the time of his arrest at the hotel, that he was “under protection by Machado’s order.”

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