Internacionales
Agreement to promote regional development to address migration
October 23 |
Latin American countries participating in the Palenque Summit on migration, held this Sunday in the Mexican state of Chiapas (southwest), agreed to develop and implement an action plan for development to address the structural causes of migration in the region.
The meeting was attended by leaders and high-level representatives from Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Panama and Venezuela.
Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Alicia Bárcena, read the communiqué-declaration of the “Palenque Meeting: for a fraternal neighborhood with well-being”, which defined that the main causes of the growing irregular migratory flow faced by the region are structural and of economic, political and social origin, in addition to factors linked to climate change.
The participants considered that the current exodus is also caused by external factors, such as unilateral restrictive measures of a criminal nature applied by third countries, which affect entire communities and, to a greater extent, the most vulnerable population groups.
In addition, they warned of the need to address irregular migration from a human rights (HR) perspective, in order to address its structural causes and regulate migratory flows jointly.
In light of this diagnosis, the heads of state and high-level representatives of the 11 countries agreed to develop a development action plan to address the structural causes of irregular migration in the region, which will be based on priority objectives and an understanding of the realities of each country.
Priority areas were defined as: food production and recovery of the agricultural sector, environmental preservation, employment generation, energy security (including migration to clean energy and decarbonization processes), health self-sufficiency, intra-regional trade and investment, and combating organized crime, corruption and human trafficking.
The heads of state and government, as well as high-level representatives attending Chiapas, urged an end to unilateral coercive measures and emphasized that they are contrary to international law.
The plan of action included the promotion of intra-regional trade and preferential tariffs for basic goods and services; the call for countries of origin, transit and destination to respect the right to migrate, safeguard the lives of migrants and create regularization options; and a call for destination countries to adopt migration policies in line with the regional reality and abandon selective policies, such as those that allow the regularization of certain nationalities.
It also called for a decisive contribution to Haiti’s sustainable development, the reestablishment of its human security environment and the normalization of its economic, political and social situation.
Other actions that make up this plan are to propose in a coordinated manner that the international financial debt architecture be rethought so that lower income countries achieve a higher level of development and reduce the intention to emigrate, and to request destination countries to expand regular, orderly and safe channels for emigration, with an emphasis on labor migration.
The participants in the Palenque Summit agreed to hold dialogues at the highest level on these issues through a working group to be created by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs. It was made clear that these agreements will be linked to the High Level Meeting on Migration and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, proposed by Colombia and Mexico, which will take place in the first quarter of 2024.
In addition, they proposed to the governments of Cuba and the United States to hold a comprehensive dialogue on their bilateral relations as soon as possible.
Referring to the meeting, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, recalled that the country has faced more than 930 unilateral coercive measures and that during the “Palenque Meeting: for a fraternal neighborhood with well-being” it was demanded that the U.S. and other nations put an end to them.
He expressed that Venezuela will fully support the approved action plan. He highlighted the unity expressed by the participants to adopt a development model and their own path that would result in integration, as the Liberator Simón Bolívar would have wished.
Internacionales
Rubén Gallego says U.S. policy may push for Cuba regime change under Trump administration
Democratic Senator Rubén Gallego said on Friday in Madrid that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has an “obsession” with Cuba and suggested that the administration of President Donald Trump is determined to change the Cuban government by any means necessary.
Speaking in Spanish during a meeting with journalists at the Elcano Royal Institute for International and Strategic Studies, Gallego said he believes there could be an attempt to alter the Cuban government, potentially through military or other non-democratic means.
“I think there will be an attempt to change the government of Cuba, it could be through the military or in another way,” said Gallego, who is of Mexican-Colombian origin.
The Arizona senator argued that Cuba does not represent a threat to the United States, describing it as “a very poor island of nine million people.” However, he acknowledged the significant political influence of Cuban-Americans and of Secretary of State Marco Rubio within the current Trump administration.
Gallego also expressed opposition to U.S. military interventions aimed at overthrowing foreign governments, stating that such actions are unacceptable, particularly when their objective is regime change.
He noted that “almost 99% of Democrats” oppose any military intervention in Cuba.
The senator also referred to the U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, stating that although Maduro is “a horrible and very corrupt man,” this does not justify overthrowing governments through force.
“If we start arguing that a president is a criminal, what prevents China from saying the same about Taiwan or other nations?” he warned.
Gallego further described the political transition process in Venezuela as a “failure,” arguing that little has changed in terms of governance outcomes.
“We went from one dictator to another, so from a geopolitical and strategic point of view it has been a failure, until we see whether Venezuela achieves a real democratic transition,” he said, referring to Maduro’s replacement by Delcy Rodríguez.
Internacionales
Ecuador extends state of emergency amid escalating violence and crime crackdown
Since taking office in November 2023, Ecuador’s president Daniel Noboa has repeatedly declared states of emergency as part of his campaign against organized crime groups, which have turned Ecuador into one of the most violent nations in Latin America, with a homicide rate of 54 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2025, according to official data.
In response to rising insecurity, Noboa declared an “internal armed conflict” in 2024, allowing the military to be deployed on the streets. The move has drawn criticism from human rights organizations, which have raised concerns over alleged abuses by security forces.
Through a decree issued on Thursday, the president extended the state of emergency in several coastal provinces — Guayas, Manabí, Esmeraldas, Santa Elena, and El Oro — key transit routes along the Pacific where around 70% of cocaine shipments from Colombia and Peru pass through.
The measure also applies to nine provinces in total, including Pichincha, home to the capital Quito, as well as four additional areas where violence remains concentrated.
Under the decree, the government has suspended certain constitutional rights, including the inviolability of the home and private correspondence.
Earlier this week, a nighttime curfew imposed in Guayas, Los Ríos, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, and El Oro came to an end. The curfew had been part of a broader offensive against organized crime, supported by United States.
Internacionales
Major winter storm threatens “catastrophic” ice and snow across much of the U.S.
A major winter storm is threatening to blanket large portions of the United States with a dangerous mix of freezing rain and heavy snowfall, potentially creating “catastrophic” conditions across areas home to nearly 160 million people.
Several U.S. states have declared a state of emergency as the Arctic blast advances from the California coast across much of the continental United States, affecting central regions, including the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains, according to forecasts.
The National Weather Service warned the storm could cause a “catastrophic accumulation of ice,” leading to prolonged power outages, widespread tree damage, and extremely dangerous or impassable travel conditions.
Meteorologist Ryan Maue cautioned that “the next 10 days of winter will be the worst in 40 years in the United States.”
“Think about where you can go, what you can do, and who may need even more help to survive the coming week. This is not an exaggeration or a joke,” Maue said.
He urged residents to prepare for temperatures dropping below -18°C (0°F).
More than 1,500 weekend flights had already been canceled, according to flight tracker FlightAware, including numerous flights in Texas.
In the southern state, many residents still recall the devastation caused by a similar storm in February 2021, which resulted in more than 200 deaths linked to hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning, and traffic accidents.
Texas authorities have assured the public that the power grid, which suffered widespread failures during that storm and left millions without electricity, is better prepared to withstand the extreme weather this time.
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