International
Mexico gives $110 a month to Venezuelans deported in the face of an agreement with Maduro
The Mexican Government grants 110 dollars a month for six months to Venezuelan migrants returned to their country under social programs before an agreement signed with President Nicolás Maduro, as revealed on Thursday by Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena.
“It is very important, we have just signed an agreement with Venezuela, with the president, Nicolás Maduro, which is called ‘Return to the Homeland’. We are sending Venezuelans back to their country because we really can’t with these amounts,” Bárcena said at the morning government conference.
The Secretary of Foreign Affairs mentioned that the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, “has instructed that every migrant” returned to Venezuela “have a support like the one given here” in Mexico, from the Young People Building the Future programs, of professional apprentices, and Sembrando Vida, for peasants.
“So we already have an amount that we are already giving to the migrants who return to Venezuela, we actually give them a card, so that they can join a program,” he said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already announced in December the resumption of the repatriations of Venezuelans in Mexico with support under these Mexican programs linked to ‘Vuelta a la patria’.
But now, Bárcena detailed that there are agreements with the Venezuelan Companies Polar and Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), as well as Mexican companies in that country, such as Bimbo and Femsa, to accome returned migrants as apprentices.
“We give them six months of a stipend, it is more or less than 110 dollars a month, which is wonderful for them, and then there is an incentive for them to return, we have already managed to repatriate a very significant amount of Venezuelans,” described the diplomat.
The agreement occurs in the face of the growth of irregular migration through Mexico, which rose by 77.2% in 2023 to exceed 782,000 people, of which the main country of origin was Venezuela, with almost 223,000, an annual increase of 131.81%, according to the statistics of the Government’s Migration Policy Unit.
“We have relations with all governments and in this we try to have cooperation because everyone passes through our territory,” López Obrador defended.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
International
Seven inmates dead, 11 injured after violent riot in Veracruz prison
Seven inmates were killed and eleven others injured in a violent riot and clash inside a penitentiary in the Mexican state of Veracruz, local authorities reported on Sunday.
The disturbance began on Saturday afternoon at the Social Reintegration Center in the port city of Tuxpan, in northern Veracruz, when inmates staged a protest over extortion and assaults allegedly carried out by members of the criminal group known as Grupo Sombra.
The protesting prisoners clashed with another group of inmates and set fires inside and outside the facility, seizing control of the prison for more than 12 hours.
During the takeover, the rioters released several videos, including one showing four prisoners —believed to be members of Grupo Sombra— accusing them of being behind the violence and extortion inside the prison.
It wasn’t until Sunday morning that elements of the Mexican Army, the National Guard, and local police forces managed to enter the prison and regain control. The state’s Public Security Secretariat confirmed that around 9:00 a.m. local time a coordinated operation restored full order and reestablished control of the facility.
Authorities also reported that the fires set by inmates were fully extinguished.
Official figures confirmed the “tragic” deaths of seven inmates and injuries to eleven people, who are now receiving medical treatment in various regional hospitals.
This is the second deadliest riot in Veracruz in the past eight years. In 2018, a violent uprising at the La Toma medium-security prison left seven people dead (six police officers and one unidentified man) and at least 22 injured (15 officers and seven inmates).
The riot follows the kidnapping and killing of retired teacher and taxi driver Irma Hernández, a case that shocked the entire country and was attributed to Grupo Sombra. Images of Hernández kneeling, surrounded by armed men in the municipality of Álamo, sparked nationwide outrage. She was murdered after refusing to pay extortion demands from the criminal organization.
Despite these incidents, Veracruz has not seen a spike in the daily homicide average. In fact, there has been a 1.6% decrease in homicides in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, according to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System.
In 2023, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) reported 3,094 incidents in Mexican prisons —an 18.5% increase from the previous year— resulting in 100 deaths and 892 injuries.
International
Study finds COVID-19 vaccines prevented 2.5 million deaths worldwide
COVID-19 vaccines prevented an estimated 2,533,000 deaths worldwide between 2020 and 2024, according to an international study led by Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Italy and Stanford University in the United States, published in the journal JAMA Health Forum. Researchers calculated that one death was prevented for every 5,400 doses administered.
The analysis also found that the vaccines saved 14.8 million years of life, equivalent to one year of life gained for every 900 doses given.
The study, coordinated by Professor Stefania Boccia, revealed that 82% of the lives saved were people vaccinated before becoming infected with the virus, and 57% of deaths avoided occurred during the Omicron wave. In addition, 90% of the beneficiaries were adults over 60 years old.
“This is the most comprehensive analysis to date, based on global data and fewer assumptions about the evolution of the pandemic,” explained Boccia and researcher Angelo Maria Pezzullo.
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
Seven inmates dead, 11 injured after violent riot in Veracruz prison
Study finds COVID-19 vaccines prevented 2.5 million deaths worldwide
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