International
A Mexican-American artist denounces the deportations with a mural on the border
The Mexican-American artist Lizbeth de la Cruz Santana painted a mural on the border between the Mexican Ciudad Juárez and the American El Paso with images of 13 mothers, veterans and ‘dreamers’ who already had a life in the United States but were deported from that country.
His work, installed on pillars and foundations of the Santa Fe international bridge, on the Mexican side of the border, shows the human side of deportation, asylum and what happens with American families disarmed by the immigration system of the United States.
“There are 13 people, different profiles, different nationalities, it is very important to take into account that people from different parts of the world arrive at this point of the border,” the muralist said on Monday in an interview with EFE.
He said that the project in Juárez includes the documentation of the stories of these 13 people, so the mural has QR codes so that people who visit this point know the stories on the artist’s website.
De la Cruz Santana commented that Mexico must have more humane policies to receive the deportees so that they can integrate more easily into society because they suffer a lot of discrimination.
He said that the main audience of the work are the deportees themselves, whose photos have been captured, so that they do not feel that their stories have been forgotten, in addition to being a message for governments, so that they are more human.
“For me, it is very important not to forget the people who have suffered deportation. People or relatives who are left behind or who have to take their children born in the United States to another country like Mexico, remind people that this issue has not been solved,” he remarked.
An example is Any García, who was born in Jalisco, a state in western Mexico, from where her family took her to the United States when she was 4 years old, but the authorities deported her 30 years later.
“My whole family is in the United States, my mom, my sisters, the father of the children, even if we are together, because we are missing those on the other side. In a perfect world, we want the way to return, even if it is not to live, but to be able to be with our loved ones,” Any said.
The woman commented that the border separates thousands of families, so the idea of participating in this project is to make visible what migrants deported by a “very inhuman” system are experiencing.
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.”
International
Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?
This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.
The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.
While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.
Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.
Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.
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