International
Migrants at the border suffer post-traumatic stress after the violence in Mexico
Citizen associations warn of an increase in post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) in migrants stranded on the northern border of Mexico in the face of cases of kidnapping, abuse and exploitation they experience when crossing Mexican territory.
Migrants present this psychological disorder that arises in response to extremely stressful events, and is characterized by symptoms such as retrospective sequences or flashbacks, nightmares, intense anxiety and difficulties in sleeping or concentrating.
The biggest trigger is kidnappings, Sara Villegas Torres, a lawyer for the Jesuit Refugee Service in Ciudad Juárez, one of the epicenters of migration on the border of Mexico with the United States, told EFE.
“What we have mostly detected is the issue of kidnappings, not only here in the entity (Chihuahua) but throughout Mexico, it is inevitable to encounter these stories because it is something that happens to most of the people with whom we have contact,” he described.
In July alone, there were two massive kidnappings of a total of 36 migrants in Chihuahua, according to the organization Alto al Secuestro, which documented a total of 196 foreigners kidnapped in the seventh month of the year, a monthly increase of more than 20%.
This organization reported 772 kidnappings of migrants in 2023, representing about a third of the total national victims of this crime.
This leaves sequelae in people like Cindy Vázquez, from Honduras, who told EFE how a crime cartel kidnapped the group with which she was traveling in Mexico.
“They told us ‘drem down’. But we thought it was the Police or Migration, because we had no problems with migration. But when they got us down and got us up, I lost all my belongings, I lost everything because I didn’t have time to take anything out of the lower part of the bus. And when they got us into a car, even then I knew we were kidnapped,” he said.
They were transferred to a warehouse, 15 minutes away before reaching the state of Chihuahua, where there were also many people kidnapped, according to him, and his family had to give a rescue.
“They told us that we were deprived of our freedom and that we were going to be there as long as our family paid a ransom. Our family had to pay a lot of money,” he said.
He mentioned that the kidnappers were wearing a uniform, brown pants and a navy blue shirt with a shotgun on the back, but without official logos.
In the end they were able to leave with a payment of 10,000 dollars for her and her family, so she warned her compatriots that it is very dangerous to go through Mexico.
“We just wanted to get to a better place, that we could work, that we could start from scratch, but no, the truth is that I wouldn’t stay living in Mexico,” Cindy said.
Another case is that of Roxana Yamilet Velázquez, originally from El Salvador, who described the difficult road she and two other relatives, her cousins Diego José and Adriana Elizabeth, who died in the desert of the northern border of Mexico.
“It gave him like a heat respiratory arrest and from there we were transferred, well, Migration grabbed them and took us to a hospital because we were dehydrated,” he said.
He said that the sand was very hot to the point of burning his skin, and the water they carried in bottles boiled after a short time due to temperatures that reached 40 degrees.
“It was boiling, already very hot, we couldn’t drink or anything and my cousin started fighting about halfway. Even me too, and she couldn’t resist, because she was the one who fought the most,” Roxana recalled about how her cousin’s life was going.
These events occur in the midst of a 193% year-on-year increase in irregular migration through Mexico in the first half of the year to over 712,000 people, according to the Government’s Migration Policy Unit.
International
Chile declares state of catastrophe as wildfires rage in Ñuble and Biobío
Wildland firefighting crews are battling 19 forest fires across the country, 12 of them concentrated in the Ñuble and Biobío regions, located about 500 kilometers south of Santiago.
“In light of the severe fires currently underway, I have decided to declare a state of catastrophe in the regions of Ñuble and Biobío. All resources are now available,” the president announced in a post on X.
Authorities have not yet released an official report on possible casualties or damage to homes.
According to images broadcast by local television, the fires have reached populated areas, particularly in the municipalities of Penco and Lirquén, in the Biobío region, which together are home to nearly 60,000 people. Burned vehicles were also reported on several streets.
“The Penco area and the entire Lirquén sector are the most critical zones and where the largest number of evacuations have taken place. We estimate that around 20,000 people have been evacuated,” said Alicia Cebrián, director of the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred), in an interview with Mega TV.
In recent years, forest fires have had a severe impact on the country, especially in the central-southern regions.
On February 2, 2024, multiple wildfires broke out simultaneously around the city of Viña del Mar, located 110 kilometers northwest of Santiago. Those fires resulted in 138 deaths, according to updated figures from the public prosecutor’s office, and left approximately 16,000 people affected, based on official data.
International
Former South Korean President Yoon sentenced to five years in prison
Former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison for obstruction of justice and other charges, concluding the first in a series of trials stemming from his failed attempt to impose martial law in December 2024.
The sentence is shorter than the 10-year prison term sought by prosecutors against the 65-year-old conservative former leader, whose move against Parliament triggered a major political crisis that ultimately led to his removal from office.
Yoon, a former prosecutor, is still facing seven additional trials. One of them, on charges of insurrection, could potentially result in the death penalty.
On Friday, the Seoul Central District Court ruled on one of the multiple secondary cases linked to the affair, which plunged the country into months of mass protests and political instability.
International
U.S. deportation flight returns venezuelans to Caracas after Maduro’s ouster
A new flight carrying 231 Venezuelans deported from the United States arrived on Friday at the airport serving Caracas, marking the first such arrival since the military operation that ousted and captured President Nicolás Maduro.
On January 3, U.S. forces bombed the Venezuelan capital during an incursion in which Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured. Both are now facing narcotrafficking charges in New York.
This was the first U.S.-flagged aircraft transporting migrants to land in Venezuela since the military action ordered by President Donald Trump, who has stated that he is now in charge of the country.
The aircraft departed from Phoenix, Arizona, and landed at Maiquetía International Airport, which serves the Venezuelan capital, at around 10:30 a.m. local time (14:30 GMT), according to AFP reporters on the ground.
The deportees arrived in Venezuela under a repatriation program that remained in place even during the height of the crisis between the two countries, when Maduro was still in power. U.S. planes carrying undocumented Venezuelan migrants continued to arrive throughout last year, despite the military deployment ordered by Trump.
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