The opposition candidate for the presidency of Mexico, Xóchitl Gálvez, assured during her campaign closure in Nuevo León (north) that she will be the “bravest” president to face the wave of violence that the country is experiencing and has left 186,000 homicide victims, 50,000 missing and 12,000 minors murdered.

At the event, which was held at the facilities of the Monterrey Arena, the candidate managed to bring together about 17,000 people, supporters of the ‘Strength and Heart for Mexico’ coalition, which is made up of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the National Action Party (PAN) and the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD).

During his message, Gálvez, 61, asked those present if Mexico was better in security, medical care and education.

“I’m going to ask you a few questions, is security better now than ever? Of course not, 186,000 people murdered, 50,000 people missing, you are living it here in Nuevo León; 12,000 children murdered, 40,000 young people murdered, that is the result of a security strategy where hugs have been for criminals and bullets for citizens,” he said.

However, he mentioned that this strategy will be over because Mexicans “will have the bravest president.”
He also noted that under the administration of the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the health system has been deficient.

“lack of medicines, hospitals are falling apart, 50,000,000 Mexicans do not have social security,” he said.

He also questioned education in Mexico and said that more than a million students left school with the current government.

In this sense, he affirmed that Mexico has retreated in educational matters because the Government of Morena, rather than betting on technology, has done so to ideology, and regretted the legacy of division left by López Obrador.

“No divided country is moving forward, that’s why we are all going to work hand in hand,” he said.

He added that Mexico needs to meet the needs of everyone: the countryside, teachers, seeking mothers.

During the event, the batons and cries of support were not long in coming for the candidate and most of those present wore pink that identifies the coalition.

Candidates for the various popularly elected positions of the ‘Fuerza y Corazón por México’ coalition were also present, such as the candidates for mayor’s offices in Nuevo León, local, federal and Senate councils.

The polls place Gálvez behind the ruling candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum, while in a distant third place is the also opposition Jorge Álvarez Máynez, of the Citizen Movement.

Mexico, whose Constitution does not allow presidential re-election, will have the largest elections in its history, since 98 million voters are called to renew more than 20,000 positions, including the Presidency, the 500 deputies, the 128 senators and nine state governments.

The Ombudsman’s Office of Ecuador issued a statement where it reported cases of violent deaths of prisoners in prisons under military control “with signs of alleged torture,” as well as warnings of deaths of prisoners due to malnutrition.

This report was issued by the Ombudsman’s Office after a judge ordered this institution to investigate the allegations of human rights violations filed by non-governmental organizations during the militarization of prisons ordered by the Government of President Daniel Noboa in the framework of the “internal armed conflict” that he declared against organized crime.

According to its report, the Ombudsman’s Office counted 24 deaths of prisoners in various prisons in the country between February 9 and March 7, 2024, “by natural deaths and in other cases by violent deaths, with indications of alleged torture. Likewise, there are alerts of the death of PPL (persons deprived of liberty) with signs of malnutrition.”

That record corresponds to the first of the three months that the state of emergency that Noboa decreed at the national level against criminal gangs lasted, and whose declaration of “internal armed conflict” remains in force, with which the Government has come to name these groups as terrorists and non-state belligerent actors.

“From the information collected by family members, people deprived of liberty, the media and civil society, the increase in deaths in the CPL (centers of deprivation of liberty) was identified, they are in the custody of the Armed Forces,” said the Ombudsman’s Office.

The institution that ensures the fulfillment of fundamental rights in Ecuador pointed out that it is constantly monitoring the prisons of the provinces of Esmeraldas, Santo Domingo, Carchi, Imbabura, Pichincha (whose capital is Quito), Cotopaxi, Sucumbíos and Napo, in which the food service was suspended since May 1.

Likewise, it echoed the journalistic reports that warn that the suspension of the food service will be extended to the province of Guayas, whose capital is Guayaquil, where the largest prison complex in the country is located, which with about 12,000 inmates, approximately a third of the country’s prison population.

“The authorities were aware of the possible risk of incidents in the centers due to food problems,” said the Ombudsman’s Office.

The SOS Cárceles Ecuador platform denounced the alleged death of an inmate from the Latacunga prison, in the province of Cotopaxi, for alleged malnutrition, information that so far has not been confirmed nor denied by the National Service of Integral Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI), the State’s prison agency.

The Government has attributed the suspension of the food service to an alleged link of the supplier company to organized crime, while the company has pointed out in the media that it registers a significant State debt.

In some prisons, the relatives of the prisoners have organized themselves to collect donations and provide food to their imprisoned relatives.

Ecuador’s prisons are one of the epicenters of Ecuador’s violence crisis, as many of them are under the control of criminal gangs, so Noboa went on to militarize them when he decreed a state of emergency at the national level at the beginning of the year.

Between 2020 and 2023, more than 500 prisoners were murdered within them, most of them in a series of bloody prison massacres due to disputes between rival gangs.

These gangs, mainly dedicated to drug trafficking, are credited with the swell of violence that plagues Ecuador and that has led it to be among the first countries in Latin America with the most homicides, with a rate of 47 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023, according to the Ecuadorian Observatory of Organized Crime (OECO).

So far Noboa has closed ranks around state forces in the face of allegations of human rights violations during what the head of state has called a “war” on organized crime.

On Monday, the Deputy Minister of Government, Esteban Torres, rejected the letter sent by the organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) to Noboa in which he expressed to him that his evaluations of that first state of emergency determined that the declaration of “internal armed conflict” is not sufficiently motivated and that that measure contributed to serious human rights violations.

Chinese President Xi Jinping declared on Thursday during a meeting with representatives of Arab countries that the aggravation of the conflict between Palestine and Israel has caused “tremendous suffering” in Gaza and indicated that the “war cannot continue indefinitely.”

The president of China lamented the “drastic deterioration” of the situation in Palestine and Israel in recent months and asked that “the compromise” for the “two-state solution” for the region not be weak.

The Chinese leader pointed out that his country “supports the establishment of a completely sovereign Palestinian state” and its participation as a full member of the United Nations.

Xi also declared that China will donate 500 million yuan (70.3 million dollars, 65.1 million euros) in humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The president of the giant of Asia also advocated during his speech, which inaugurated the X Ministerial Conference of the Cooperation Forum between China and the Arab States, which is held today in Beijing, for the “joint efforts” between China and the Arab countries to “find solutions to the most urgent global issues.”

In addition, Xi expressed his hope that both parties “reinforce their cooperation in areas such as gas, oil, trade and infrastructure.”

In recent months, China has called for “all possible efforts to protect civilians and prevent an even worse humanitarian disaster.”

Beijing has also reiterated its support for the ‘two-state solution’ and its “dismay” over Israel’s attacks on civilians in Gaza, and its officials have held numerous meetings with representatives of Arab and Muslim countries to reaffirm this position or try to advance peace talks.

The conference is attended today by representatives of, in addition to China, Yemen, Morocco, Libya, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Somalia, Sudan, Djibouti, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Comoros, Lebanon, Egypt and Mauritania.