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The pro-Palestinian student movement in the United States looks at itself in history to continue

Opposition to the war in Gaza has triggered a student movement in the United States not seen since the protests against apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s and in rejection of the Vietnam War in the 60s, although the difference is the strong police reaction to more peaceful rallies.

The one that has already been called by historians such as Robert Cohen, of New York University, as the largest university movement in the United States in the 21st century has parallels with the uprisings of the past, but is also unique in forcing Washington to “be more careful with what it does with its military help.”

For Juan González, who was one of the leaders of the 1968 protests at Columbia University (New York), today’s demonstrations are much more peaceful but are facing more immediate repression.

“Never in the history of student protests has a protest been suppressed for so little violation of the law,” said Cohen, an expert in social movements, in a recent interview.

“Basically they are setting up camps in public spaces, they are not interfering with classes (…) we took several buildings in a single day,” he said in an interview with EFE González, 76, who considers that the police response is being much more severe on this occasion, with eviction of peaceful camps and more than 2,000 arrested.

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Authorities from both New York City in the United States and the university were willing to negotiate with González and the other student leaders, he explained, something that has only happened in a handful of educational centers during the current movement.

In educational centers such as the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Texas in Austin or the University of South Florida in Tampa in the United States, state and local law enforcement agencies have entered to evict the camps and forcibly expel the students shortly after they congregated with the approval of the university authorities.

Another of the main differences is the historical context: the student protests of 1968 against the Vietnam War were included in a much larger movement that transcended the campuses and that included other causes such as the rejection of racial discrimination.

“Our strike in Columbia began only a couple of weeks after Martin Luther King was killed (…) there were riots and riots in more than 100 cities across the country,” explained González, who recalls that the worst moment of police repression was when in 1970 the Ohio National Guard killed four students at Kent State University.

The students’ requests, however, have similarities. Currently, university students ask educational centers to cut all kinds of ties with Israel and its military industry, while in 1968 they asked the institution to cut ties with the IDA, a center that was investigating weapons to be used in Vietnam.

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The protests of now are also loaded with an “internationalist perspective” something that for the historian of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Tanalís Padilla did not happen years ago in the United States.

“Within the empire, the country’s actions are rarely taken aware of,” Padilla said of these protests against injustices that are happening “in another part of the world.”

The author of “After Zapata” indicated that this student movement has similarities with the fight against the Vietnam war in the 70s and the civil rights claims in the 60s, but contrary to the first case, “U.S. soldiers are not dying” and, in the second, there was no internationalist vision and solidarity with the suffering of the people of Palestine.

“It is a movement of international solidarity that has not been seen in a long time, which gives hope and it is very important that it happens in the most powerful country in the world,” said the teacher, a Jewish descendant of victims of the Holocaust and who has participated in the MIT student camp.

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International

IICA to strengthen prevention efforts against cattle tick disease with $250K investment

The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) announced on Friday that it will allocate $250,000 to deepen and strengthen actions for the prevention, control, and eradication of the cattle tick in Central America.

IICA’s Director-General, Manuel Otero, explained that the funds will support the strategy to combat the disease in 2025, focusing on two key areas: strengthening communication campaigns, awareness, and health education; and improving case reporting, notification, and the purchase of sampling kits and authorized healing products to ensure a more effective response in the region.

“It is an endemic disease present across the continent and requires more investment, more surveillance, more training, and more institutional support. It is a very strong enemy that affects the quality of life for our cattle producers and threatens our exports,” Otero said during a meeting with Agriculture Ministers from the region.

The initiative is carried out in collaboration with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and aims to enhance the understanding and knowledge of the disease among various stakeholders.

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International

Milei: Social justice promotes hostility, incompatible with progress

President Javier Milei spoke on Friday at the headquarters of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington, D.C., United States. In the first part of his speech, he stated that “social justice is an abomination.” His address, delivered amidst the crypto scandal and titled “The Argentine Economic Model,” came after the libertarian leader visited the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the second time this year, where he met with Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to finalize details of the new program through which the government hopes to accelerate economic recovery and ease currency controls.

Throughout his speech, the president praised his ministers, particularly Economy Minister Luis Caputo and the head of the Ministry of Transformation, Federico Sturzenegger, whom he highlighted for his “Chainsaw 2.0” plan, referring to budget cuts within the state. Additionally, Milei forecasted further deregulation and criticized an economic group that “benefited” from the ban on exporting scrap metal.

As he began his address, the President claimed that “he avoided hyperinflation of 17,000% per year” due to the strong fiscal adjustment he implemented at the start of his administration. He highlighted several key indicators of his government’s performance while continuing to praise his ministers. He then turned his attention to the concept of social justice. “Because if the wealth creator is punished and the complainer is given money, the incentive is to complain and not work, which creates an incentive system incompatible with progress,” he argued.

“It has consequences on the quality of life in society, but not due to its economic damage, but because of the relationship between people. Promoting a society of envy makes society hostile, where there is constant conflict over a supposed class struggle because one person generates wealth and it is stolen. It is as if one is living in a permanent war,” he insisted.

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International

Trump says Zelensky’s presence in peace talks makes it “difficult” to reach agreements

U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Friday that his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, “is not that important” to be present in meetings aimed at ending the conflict, arguing that his participation makes it “very difficult to finalize agreements.”

“I don’t think it’s important for him to be in the meetings,” emphasized the magnate during a radio interview with TV host Brian Kilmeade on the Fox News channel, adding that Zelensky had been present in negotiations “for three years” without any results.

The president called last week’s visit by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Kyiv a “waste of time,” as he tried to secure an agreement on the exploitation of Ukraine’s natural resources. Zelensky rejected the offer presented by Bessent, which would have granted the U.S. access to 50% of Ukraine’s strategic minerals in exchange for American support during the war, as well as future assistance for Kyiv.

In return, Zelensky offered to open the door to U.S. “investments.” In a media interview, Secretary of State Marco Rubio explicitly included this rejection of Bessent’s plan as one of the main reasons for Trump’s frustration with Zelensky.

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