International
Former Presidents Alberto Fernández and Evo Morales lead the electoral mission in Mexico
Former presidents Alberto Fernández, from Argentina, and Evo Morales, from Bolivia, lead the electoral observation mission for the Mexican elections this Sunday, June 2, of the Puebla Group, a laboratory of ideas of the Latin American left.
This was announced by the organization through a statement, where it also highlighted the presence of Spanish deputy Gerardo Pisarello, as well as Argentine researcher Silvina Romano.
“The entourage will be led by former Argentine president Alberto Fernández; former Bolivian president Evo Morales; former Chilean presidential candidate Marco Enríquez-Ominami, and former Secretary of Climate Change and Argentine Mercosur parliamentarian Cecilia Nicolini,” the text explained.
In addition, the former president of the Upper House of Bolivia Adriana Salvatierra and the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador Ricardo Patiño, among other personalities, will be part of the observation mission, which arrived in Mexico on Thursday.
This entourage is part of the more than 23,000 national and international observers who will be present during election day, as announced on Wednesday by the president of the National Electoral Institute (INE), Guadalupe Taddei.
“The participation of national observers and foreign visitors in the elections on June 2 not only guarantees the transparency and integrity of the electoral process, but also strengthens our democracy,” he celebrated.
Sunday’s elections will be the largest in the history of Mexico, since more than 97 million people are called to the polls to renew, at the federal level alone, more than 20,000 positions, including the Presidency of the Republic, the 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and the 128 seats in the Senate.
At the regional level, Mexico City, the states of Chiapas (south), Guanajuato (center), Jalisco (west), Morelos (center), Puebla (center), Tabasco (south), Veracruz (south) and Yucatán (south) will renew the heads of their Governorships and, all municipalities, their agencies.
These elections will also go down in history as the most violent, with at least 30 candidates murdered and more than 200 political homicides, while the opposition denounces that organized crime puts votes at risk in almost 30% of the territory.
“During the stay, we will have the important mission of being able to observe the electoral process and, in this way, guarantee the transparency and freedom of the Mexican people,” the statement concluded.
International
Pope Francis meets former Gaza hostages
Pope Francis met on Thursday at the Vatican with 16 Israelis who had been held hostage in Gaza for months by the Islamist group Hamas, according to the official Vatican news website.
The group consisted of ten women, four men, and two children, as reported by the same source. Several of the former hostages showed the Argentine pontiff banners or photos of their loved ones who remain in captivity.
Francis had previously met with the families of hostages in April this year and November 2023, but this was the first time he had met with individuals who had personally endured captivity.
Since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began, the pope has repeatedly called for the immediate release of Israeli hostages, while also condemning the suffering of the Palestinian population.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023, when Islamist militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,206 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages who died in captivity.
Of the kidnapped, 97 are still being held in Gaza, but the Israeli military estimates that 34 of them have died.
The military offensive launched by Israel in response has killed at least 43,736 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-governed territory.
International
Israeli airstrikes on Damascus kill 15 and injure 16, including women and children
Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on residential buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and its surroundings on Thursday, resulting in at least 15 deaths and 16 injuries, according to Syria’s Ministry of Defense and state television.
The ministry stated that around 3:20 p.m. local time (12:20 GMT), the Israeli military launched an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, targeting several residential buildings in the Mazzeh neighborhood in western Damascus and the Qudsaya suburb to the northwest of the capital.
The airstrikes “resulted in the death of 15 people and injuries to 16 others, including women and children,” based on initial estimates, in addition to significant damage to private property and civilian buildings, the ministry added.
Meanwhile, state television reported Israeli airstrikes on three buildings in Mazzeh and another on a building in an educational complex located in a residential area of Qudsaya.
Following the strikes, loud explosions were heard throughout the city, and thick plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the targeted locations. Ambulances and emergency services rushed to the scene to attend to the victims.
International
Drug trafficker dies after boat collision with Guardia Civil Vessel in Sanlúca
Three people were on the boat that collided with a Guardia Civil vessel around midnight at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near the Andalusian city of Cádiz, a spokesperson for the Civil Guard reported.
Two officers sustained “contusions,” the spokesperson explained.
The drug traffickers managed to bring the boat to shore, where one of them was “abandoned” severely injured. The other two fled.
The Civil Guard officers attempted to resuscitate the victim before transporting him to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, but he ultimately died early in the morning.
The other two suspects took advantage of the officers’ absence while they were taking the victim and returned to set their boat on fire.
The collision occurred very close to the site of another accident on September 1, where a drug trafficker died following a Guardia Civil pursuit.
The suspects’ boat traveled “400 meters” before crashing head-on and “at full speed” into the riverbank, where a hundred bundles of hashish were found.
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