International
Migrant workers boosted cash transfers home in 2021

AFP
Migrants have continued to provide a strong financial boost to their home countries this year, increasing cash sent to their families, the World Bank said Wednesday.
Driven by a desire to help relatives dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, migrants ramped up money transfers to low- and middle-income countries, and remittances overall are expected to rebound 7.3 percent to $589 billion in 2021, far higher than previously estimated, according to a new report.
That comes after a modest 1.7 percent drop in 2020, and, excluding China, remittances have exceeded foreign aid and direct investment in low- and middle-income countries for the past two years, the Washington-based development lender said.
Those flows are expected to rise to $605 billion in 2022, “providing a critical lifeline” for households in the countries, especially during times of economic hardship.
In 2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, remittances fell 5.1 percent, but over the past two years they have been supported by government stimulus payments during the pandemic.
“Facilitating the flow of remittances to provide relief to strained household budgets should be a key component of government policies to support a global recovery from the pandemic,” said Michal Rutkowski, World Bank global director for Social Protection and Jobs.
Latin America is expected to see the biggest gain, rising 21.6 percent to a new high of $126 billion, followed by the Middle East and North Africa and South Asia, according to the report.
Flows to Sub-Saharan Africa should increase 6.2 percent to $45 billion, the bank estimated.
However, the bank warned that a resurgence of Covid-19 cases and the end of government aid payments could undermine remittances.
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”

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.”
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