International
Kamala Harris gains strength as a relief if Biden withdraws from the campaign
The vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris, is gaining strength in the last hours as a possible replacement of the US president, Joe Biden, in case he resigned his re-election candidacy due to his fatal performance in the debate against former Republican President Donald Trump.
Harris has carried a low popularity throughout the term and his presidential candidacy did not sound like a realistic option until the failure of Biden last week, who appeared in the aging and disoriented debate, multiplying the voices that believe he is not fit to remain in office at the age of 81.
The vice president, 59, not only has in her favor of being Biden’s natural successor, but the voting intention polls put her ahead of other popular faces of the party and would inherit the entire structure of the campaign.
Harris tried to get out this Wednesday in the wake of rumors by participating with Biden in a call with the re-election campaign staff, thus sending a message that he unconditionally supports the president.
But according to a CNN poll published on Tuesday, Harris would have a better electoral performance against Trump than Biden, although the Republican would prevail in both cases.
In a duel between Biden and Trump, the Republican would win with 49% of the votes compared to 43% of the Democrat. In the event that the candidate was Harris, 47% say they would vote for Trump and 45% for her.
The Democratic campaign has closed ranks around Biden, whose family is encouraging him to continue in the race, but more and more people within the party are privately asking for his withdrawal.
Both The New York Times and CNN published on Wednesday that Biden would have acknowledged before a close ally that his candidacy is in danger if he does not manage to calm the waters in the coming days, an extreme denied by the White House.
Although he has secured his nomination after winning the primaries, Biden is not yet the official Democratic candidate for the November 5 elections and is waiting for the party to make it official before its national convention in August.
Analysts agree that in or for there to be a replacement for Biden, he would have to give up his nomination and, in that case, his running mate would be the favorite to replace him.
“If it were put aside, Harris would be the best alternative for Democrats not to embark on a great internal battle a few weeks before the convention,” Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at Mary Washington University, told EFE.
The current vice president would also have “the key to most of it” of the money raised by the campaign and should not start the search for funds again, according to the CNBC network on Wednesday.
Some already openly advocate for her, such as Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn, key to Biden’s victory in the primaries in 2020, who said he would support Harris in the event of a Biden withdrawal.
The defenders of the vice president, who made history in 2021 as the first woman and the first African-American in office, claim that she is very vocal in the defense of abortion and has a hook between key sectors of the electorate such as women or African Americans.
But Harris has not had a popular step for the Vice Presidency, a position in the shadow of the president without specific functions.
He has often been seen with difficulty finding his place in the Administration, he has faced being ridiculed on social networks by some confusing speeches and has suffered sexist and racist attacks from some Republicans and conservative media.
His weaknesses, Tim Hagle, professor of Political Science at the University of Iowa, told EFE, are that “she is not as well known as Biden,” he has starred in some “shameful” public appearances and has had sounding problems with his office staff.
However, according to the CNN survey, Harris would perform better against Trump than other possible Democratic candidates such as the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, or the governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer.
The next few days, in which Biden has scheduled interviews and events to revitalize his image, will be key to defining the future of the president and his candidacy.
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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Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
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