International
Luisa González, Correa’s bishop who seeks revenge against Noboa
Luisa González, the bishop of the former president of Ecuador Rafael Correa (2007-2017), once again personifies the hope of the correismo to return to govern the country after eight years away from power and to be the first Ecuadorian woman to win a presidential election.
González (Quito, 1977), a lawyer with peasant roots on the Ecuadorian coast, was on the verge of achieving it in 2023, when she was surpassed in the second round of the extraordinary elections by the current president, Daniel Noboa, who now seeks his re-election and once again profiles himself as the greatest rival of the correísmo.
This 47-year-old single mother with two children, a woman of Correa’s absolute confidence, accepted the challenge of seeking her particular revenge and returning to being the candidate of the Citizen Revolution led by the former president, who is disqualified from being a candidate for the sentence of eight years in prison for bribery he received in 2020 and he considers “lawfare”.
Although he was born circumstantially in Quito when his parents visited the capital, González defines himself as an “authentic manaba”, originally from the coastal province of Manabí, where he grew up in Canuto, a lavish agricultural land where the “montubios” the tough peasants of the coast are also forged.
He worked in the field with his grandfather, who taught him to temper his character, to ride a horse, to handle the machete and perform the hard tasks entrusted to the mountaineer. Emerging from that rural and challenging environment, González proudly claims to be a woman who has managed to make herself and get her children ahead.
With a strong Catholic conviction, a crucifix hangs from González’ neck and on her skin she has tattooed pink paths since she was a twenty-year-old that symbolize her commitment to the Lord, one with a stem formed by the words of a fragment of the Bible.
His positions against the total decriminalization of abortion have also cost him criticism from leftist groups in his time as an assemblyman.
González studied at the International University of Ecuador, where she received a lawyer’s degree, but also has a master’s degree in Economics and Development at the Complutense University of Madrid.
He is a lover of Manabita cuisine, one of the most precious in Ecuador, as well as sports and animals, to the point that he has two dogs at home.
He was linked to Correísmo from the beginning, when Rafael Correa began his political life and quickly reached the Presidency of the Republic in 2007. She is faithful to the former president, of whom she was his coordinator of Strategic Agenda (2010), a key and close position that allowed her to understand the twists and turns of power.
She also served as Deputy Minister of Tourism Management (2014), Secretary General of the Presidential Office (2015) and National Secretary of Public Administration (2017).
She served as vice-consul of Ecuador in Madrid (2011) and consul in Alicante (Spain) in 2017, as well as general secretary of the Intendencia de Compañías de Quito.
After concluding Correa’s mandate in 2017, she launched into active political life and in 2021 she was elected as a member of the National Assembly (Parliament), where she held a strong critical position against the Government of conservative President Guillermo Lasso (2021-2023), whose early departure led to the extraordinary elections of 2023.
His name began to sound just after Lasso invoked the so-called “cross death”, a constitutional mechanism that allowed him to dissolve Parliament and call new elections to complete the period that did not end (2021-2025).
After the 2023 elections, she remained as the president of the Citizen Revolution, which gave her strength to be the presidential candidate again against other possible candidates of the Correísmo such as Paola Pabón, Augusto Verduga and Gustavo Jalkh.
On this occasion he accompanies González as a candidate for vice president Diego Borja, instead of Andrés Arauz, who was the presidential candidate of the correísmo in 2021.
The Citizen Revolution appeals to the stability enjoyed by Ecuador during the decade that Correa ruled the country, which the presidential candidate wants to “revive”, as she repeatedly mentions in her campaign interventions, which happens to a large extent by appeasing the crisis of violence that affects the country due to the rise of organized crime gangs.
International
Mexico’s Sheinbaum urges U.S. to target cartels on its own soil
Under orders from U.S. President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice has directed the “total elimination” of drug cartels.
Newly appointed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has made the “complete eradication” of organized crime cartels a top priority. In response, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum urged Washington on Friday to begin operations against these groups within U.S. territory.
On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department released a memorandum in which Bondi called for a review of national security and anti-narcotics strategies to achieve the swift dismantling of all cartels and transnational criminal organizations.
“This public policy requires a fundamental shift in mindset and approach.
We must do more than just try to mitigate the enormous harm these groups cause in the United States. It is not enough to stop the wave of deadly poisons, such as fentanyl, that these organizations distribute in our country,” the memo states.
International
Trump strips Biden of classified briefings: ‘Joe, you’re fired’
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will revoke his predecessor Joe Biden’s authorization to receive classified intelligence briefings, a privilege typically extended to former presidents even after leaving office.
“There is no reason for Joe Biden to continue having access to classified information,” Trump stated on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“We will immediately revoke Joe Biden’s security clearances and stop his daily intelligence briefings,” he declared, before adding in capital letters: “JOE, YOU’RE FIRED.”
Trump claims he made the decision in response to Biden’s actions in 2020 when the then-president stripped him of security clearance after winning the election. At the time, Biden cited Trump’s “erratic behavior” both before and after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when protesters attempted to block Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.
On Friday, Trump argued that Biden “cannot be trusted” with intelligence reports, referencing a special counsel’s findings on classified documents found at Biden’s home, which concluded that the 82-year-old Democrat has “poor memory.”
International
Florida Governor announces Highway Patrol to perform Immigration tasks
The personnel of a Florida security agency will be able to carry out tasks against irregular immigration in this US state, after an agreement signed with the government Department of Homeland Security (DHS), state governor Ron DeSantis reported on Friday.
At a press conference, the Republican announced the agreement signed with this federal agency through which the members of the Florida Highway Patrol will be able to interrogate and arrest people suspected of being illegal immigrants, as well as prosecute those who re-entered the country after a deportation.
“Now is the last chance to end illegal immigration once and for all,” said DeSantis, after announcing this agreement that grants “migration authority” to the state Highway Police, dependent on the Florida Department of Road Safety and Motor Vehicles.
Under this agreement with DHS, the troops of the Florida Highway Patrol will also be able to arrest undocumented people who arrive in this southern state by sea and hand them over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE).
DeSantis explained that being an agreement with the Government of US President Donald Trump, what was announced this Friday does not require approval by the state legislature, with whom the governor maintains a struggle.
The state Congress has approved in an extraordinary session convened by DeSantis a migration project that ignores proposals made by the governor, who has replied that he plans to veto the initiative once it reaches his desk for signature.
The fight against irregular immigration has been one of DeSantis’ workhorses, especially when he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential elections, from which he withdrew before the advance of current President Trump.
Since then and to date, he has harshly criticized what he describes as an “open border policy”, in force during the mandate of former President Joe Biden (2021-2025).
Mexico’s Sheinbaum urges U.S. to target cartels on its own soil
Trump strips Biden of classified briefings: ‘Joe, you’re fired’
Florida Governor announces Highway Patrol to perform Immigration tasks
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