International
Evo Morales celebrates the anniversary of the MAS and reiterates that he will be a presidential candidate in 2025
Former Bolivian president Evo Morales (2006-2019) led a massive celebration for the 29 years of the founding of the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) reaffirming that he is qualified to be a candidate in the 2025 presidential elections.
The event was the counterpoint to the rally organized on Thursday by the Government of President Luis Arce, which brought together a crowd of followers, under the slogan of commemorating a new anniversary of the creation of the MAS, with Morales absent.
The celebration of the groups related to Evo Morales or ‘evistas’, took place in the stadium of the town of Yapacaní, in the department of Santa Cruz, between typical dances and slogans of unity around who is also the leader of the MAS.
The attendees, most of them members of indigenous and peasant groups, exhibited hundreds of MAS flags, blue, black and white, also shouted that ‘Evo is not alone!’ constantly.
Ramiro Cucho, who is the main leader of the National Council of Ayllus and Markas del Qullasuyu (Conamaq) warned that they “want to disable” Morales as a candidate and also the MAS and that if that occurs there will be “an uprising” of the Bolivian people.
“If blood has to flow on the roads, we are going to do it (…) we will see each other in the streets,” the leader said vehemently.
On Wednesday, in an interview with EFE, Morales said that if he is disqualified for the 2025 elections, there will be “a convulsion” that will be the responsibility of the Government.
In the celebration of the MAS in Yapacaní, the followers insisted that they are the “true militancy” of that political party and reiterated that Morales is the “only candidate” of that organization.
Morales said that the Government and the opposition maintain that he is disabled from being a candidate “to demoralize, scare and make cry” the people, but that several “national and international experts” have said that: “Evo is qualified as a candidate.”
At the end of December, the Constitutional Court issued a resolution establishing that indefinite re-election is not a human right and that in Bolivia a continuous or discontinuous “only” is applied.
This affects the former governor who ruled Bolivia three times between 2006 and 2019 and who assures that the opinion of the Constitutional does not address his specific case and is only a consideration.
In his speech, Evo Morales spoke about planning the “program” for 2025 and raised proposals such as the delivery of a “second ease” for the elderly, state funding so that those who study can access postgraduate courses or install an electric vehicle assembly plant to reduce the public subsidy to fuels.
The former head of state also said that for this Tuesday an “emergency meeting” was called to analyze a recent resolution of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) that urges the MAS to hold in “consensus” a new party congress at the end of 25 days.
The request of the electoral authority comes after the annulment of the MAS congress that in 2023 re-elected Morales as leader of that party and the recent call of the “archist” bloc, afin to the Government, which ignored that appointment and called a meeting in early May.
Morales and Arce, both from the MAS, have been distanced since the end of 2021, while the followers of each leader have raised them as possible candidates for the Presidency.
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.
International
NASA delays return of two astronauts stranded on ISS until at least March
Two U.S. astronauts stranded since June on the International Space Station (ISS) will not return to Earth until at least “the end of March,” NASA announced.
Originally planned as an eight-day mission, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have already been on the ISS for six months due to issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft that transported them in June.
After several weeks of testing on the Starliner, the U.S. space agency decided during the Northern Hemisphere summer to return the spacecraft without crew members and bring the two stranded astronauts back with SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission.
The Crew-9 mission launched at the end of September with two passengers aboard—rather than the four originally planned—leaving two seats empty, and it docked with the ISS, where it now awaits its replacement with the Crew-10 mission.
However, NASA announced on Tuesday that the Crew-10 launch, scheduled for February, would be delayed until at least “the end of March” to allow NASA and SpaceX teams to complete the development of a new Dragon spacecraft.
This delay also postponed the return of the two astronauts to Earth, as well as the Crew-9 crew’s return.
If they return in March, Wilmore and Williams will have spent more than nine months in space instead of the planned eight days.
They were conducting the first test flight of Boeing’s Starliner when propulsion system issues arose.
Cuba’s government stresses openness to serious, respectful U.S. relations
Amnesty International condemns Nicaragua’s unprecedented repression of dissent
Mexican government to use church atriums for gun surrender program to combat violence
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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