International
Mexico respects U.S. decision on border militarization

May 2 |
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he respects the deployment of thousands of U.S. military personnel to the common border in view of the expected migratory flow due to the upcoming end of Title 42.
According to the Mexican president, “it is part of their faculties, it is an independent, sovereign government, they make those decisions and we respect them”.
This was López Obrador’s response, after it became known the day before that President Joe Biden’s administration will deploy 1500 soldiers from the US Army to the border with Mexico in order to provide operational support to immigration authorities, in the midst of an increase in the arrival of immigrants and the imminent lifting of Title 42.
The Defense Department stated that the troops will be assigned for an initial 90-day deployment and will not have law enforcement functions, including the detention of immigrants, but rather a support role in logistical, administrative, transportation, data analysis and identification of drug trafficking operations.
The military will be tasked, according to the U.S. side, to supplement what it called “critical gaps” in operational capabilities at the border, especially monitoring, data entry and warehouse support, until Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can fulfill those missions on its own, an official said.
According to Northcomm figures, a total of 2,450 National Guard troops are currently deployed along the border with Mexico, performing detection and monitoring missions, intelligence analysis and air support.
The additional deployment was at the express request of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which projects a sharp increase in the arrival of migrants, especially from Central America, once the public health emergency due to covid and Title 42 is lifted as of May 11.
The region faces an unprecedented migratory flow in the region with more than 2.76 million undocumented immigrants intercepted by the United States at the border with Mexico in fiscal year 2022.
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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