International
Biden campaigns in Pennsylvania, ground zero for midterms
| By AFP | Sebastian Smith |
US President Joe Biden touted the rebirth of American infrastructure and manufacturing Thursday in a Pennsylvania trip aimed at boosting Senate hopeful John Fetterman, whose closely watched race could be key to avoiding a Democratic wipeout in the midterms.
Biden touched down first in Pittsburgh, where he plugged his signature infrastructure package with a tour of a newly repaired bridge, ahead of an evening fundraiser with Fetterman in Philadelphia.
The national spending spree that Biden’s Democrats got through the divided Congress is “the most significant investment” in US history, Biden said on a makeshift podium at the edge of Fern Hollow Bridge, which collapsed eight months ago on a day that Biden happened to be visiting. Now, it has now almost been rebuilt, serving as a poster child for the White House’s policies.
“There’s no better place to talk about rebuilding the backbone of America, the middle class,” Biden said.
“I want you to feel the way I do — pride, pride in what we can do when we work together,” he said, referring to the pieces of heavy construction equipment lined up around the build.
The speech aimed to buoy Democrats in the final run-up to the midterms in three weeks, with Fetterman in one of the key races to holding the Senate.
Fetterman, who greeted Biden on the tarmac in Pittsburgh, is known for his multiple tattoos and a love of hoodies and cargo shorts.
He was once a runaway favorite in the battle against Republican candidate Mehmet Oz, a celebrity TV doctor — but the race has tightened, reflecting sinking Democratic hopes of maintaining the party’s already fragile control of Congress.
The Democrat suffered a stroke in May and the Oz campaign has made his health a major campaign issue, arguing he is medically unfit for office.
Fetterman’s doctor released a letter this week stating that he could work “full duty” in public office. Fetterman’s performance will be scrutinized for any signs of physical or cognitive weakness when the two candidates meet for a debate October 25.
The latest average of polls shows Fetterman’s nearly 11-point lead in mid-September whittled down to about five points.
With Biden hampered by approval ratings in the low 40 percent range, some campaigning Democratic candidates have even asked him to keep away.
He has avoided large-scale rallies in favor of smaller policy announcements that he hopes can shift the momentum. Just this week, Biden gave speeches vowing to protect abortion access and explaining his attempts to tamp down high energy costs.
But three weeks from voting day, Americans appear to be veering toward the Republican message that Democrats are failing on the economy.
That raises the likelihood of Republicans taking control of at least the House and quite possibly the Senate — ushering in two years of political trench warfare for the White House.
Even just the House would give the increasingly far-right Republican Party the ability to shut down Biden’s agenda and — as prominent figures are already threatening — attempt impeachment.
Numbers don’t add up
A New York Times/Siena poll this week showed that, of likely voters, 26 percent named worries over the economy as their top issue, while 18 percent listed inflation, at its highest rate in four decades.
Even on issues where Biden feels he has a winning hand, there are limits.
During his impassioned speech on abortion, the president tapped into widespread anger over the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the half-century-old Roe v. Wade ruling that enshrined national abortion rights.
Predicting a revolt by women voters at the ballot box, Biden said Republicans “ain’t seen nothing yet.”
But the Siena poll showed just five percent of likely voters named abortion as their top issue.
Analysts with Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball election newsletter at the University of Virginia said that after giddy hopes of defying expectations to win this fall, the Democrats seem to be coming back to earth.
“It’s just tough for a party to thrive with an unpopular president and with the public having significant concerns about issues, like the economy and inflation,” they said Wednesday.
“This is why the House remains very likely to flip to the Republicans and why, despite the aforementioned challenges, Republican chances to win the Senate remain no worse than a coin flip.”
International
Colombian President Gustavo Petro announces talks with clan del Golfo outside country
Colombian President Gustavo Petro stated on Friday that his government has begun talks outside the country with the Clan del Golfo, Colombia’s main criminal group also known as the Gaitanist Army.
“We have started conversations outside Colombia with the self-called Gaitanist Army,” the president said during the handover of 6,500 hectares of land to farmers in the Caribbean department of Córdoba.
The president noted that his administration “has seized more cocaine than any other government” because it seeks to “cut off the finances (of criminal groups) that fuel violence in many regions of Colombia.”
“A bill has been introduced that I hope the Congress studies thoroughly, because it essentially elevates restorative justice even for serious crimes,” Petro said.
The initiative he referred to was presented by his Minister of Justice, Eduardo Montealegre, aimed at “the consolidation of total peace.”
According to the Ministry of Justice, the bill seeks to provide the government with clear regulations to achieve the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of illegal armed groups.
For groups such as the Clan del Golfo, a judicial submission process will be applied, which could bring possible legal benefits if they genuinely cooperate, surrender weapons, and dismantle their groups.
International
María Corina Machado thanks OAS allies for condemning Venezuela’s growing repression
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado expressed her gratitude on Thursday to the “allied” countries that spoke out at the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) regarding the increasing repression in Venezuela. Through her X account, she highlighted that “our regional allies took a firm stand in favor of democracy and the freedom of Venezuelans.”
The statement came a day after Gloria de Mees, rapporteur of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for Venezuela, presented before the OAS the worsening situation in the country, just over a year after the elections in which President Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner over opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, who denounced electoral fraud.
Machado, who shared videos of speeches by representatives from Canada, the United States, Paraguay, Chile, and Panama, insisted that “Venezuela is the most urgent conflict in the Western Hemisphere and its definitive resolution is everyone’s responsibility.” She affirmed that “silence and inaction” are forms of “complicity” and urged international justice to act with “greater speed and firmness.”
Before her participation at the OAS, De Mees told EFE that the repression “is not new, but now it is systematic” and has intensified, affecting not only human rights defenders, journalists, and dissidents but “everyone, because there is fear of retaliation.”
International
Over 240 guatemalans detained at Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz await deportation
At least 249 Guatemalans are currently detained at the Alligator Alcatraz detention center in Florida, United States, awaiting deportation, the Guatemalan government reported this Friday.
The Guatemalan Ministry of Foreign Affairs detailed that the figure was confirmed by U.S. authorities to Guatemalan diplomats in Miami, Florida, during a visit to the center where they had the opportunity to interview 37 of their compatriots.
“The Guatemalans we spoke with said they have been at the detention center for only a few days and have been able to communicate with family members and lawyers. Most of them were detained due to their irregular immigration status,” the Ministry stated.
According to the same source, another visit by Guatemalan diplomats has been authorized soon to meet with other nationals held at the detention center in Florida.
Alligator Alcatraz, opened just over a month ago, was built in only one week on an abandoned airport in the Everglades, a natural area west of Miami, surrounded by alligators and swamps. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sees it as a model for other centers, while activists consider it a symbol of human rights violations.
Democratic lawmakers reported the presence of 750 migrants “in cages” after entering the site on July 12. The facility currently has a capacity for 2,000 people, which could increase to 4,000, according to the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), which manages the site.
Every year, thousands of Guatemalans leave the Central American country to migrate irregularly to the United States in search of better living conditions and to escape the poverty and violence that plague Guatemala.
Nicaragua’s Telica volcano erupts four times, no damages reported
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