International

Pope Francis is “very interested” in visiting the Dominican Republic, according to Abinader

The President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, said that Pope Francis was very interested in visiting the Caribbean country, as the pontiff would have told him last week during a private hearing in the Vatican.

“We invited him” to visit the country “and I saw him very interested in coming and we are following up on that invitation,” Abinader said during his weekly press conference, dedicated this Monday to the trip made last week to Europe, which took him to Italy and Portugal.

The conversation with the pontiff was “quite fluid, I found him in very good health, with some difficulties walking but totally lucid and in a very good mood, in a very good mood.” “That meeting was very cordial and very pleasant,” said Abinader, who during the meeting with the pope also addressed issues such as the situation in Ukraine or Haiti.

In addition, the president met with the Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, and with the Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations of the Holy See, Monsignor Richard Gallagher.

On the other hand, as for the meeting he had with the president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Abinader pointed to the success of the European country in aspects “of great interest to the Dominican Republic, it is an eminently tourist country, they have a population similar to the Dominican one, but they receive 30 million tourists, and they have made a lot of progress in the digital transformation part “and they are collaborating with us” in that matter.

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In that sense, Abinader mentioned the Simplex program, equivalent in Portugal to the Dominican “Zero Bureaucracy”, which will be addressed in a virtual meeting and later a Portuguese delegation will visit the Dominican Republic to make an exchange of experiences and “see the cases that we can replicate in the country.”

The Dominican president also visited the Portuguese Navy, the oldest in the world, an institution with which the acquisition of several patrol ships was addressed, vessels that are not very old, but that are changing them for a series of requirements and that are destined for the fight against drug trafficking from North Africa.

Abinader also referred to his intention to be present at the Ukrainian peace conference in mid-June in Switzerland and in which about 160 States will participate: “I think that. the more countries we are present advocating for world peace (…), it will help peace and that is what we are looking for,” he said.

International

Bolsonaro diagnosed with skin cancer amid coup conviction

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been diagnosed with skin cancer while serving a historic sentence for attempting a coup d’état. His medical team confirmed that the lesions have been removed and that, for now, he does not require further procedures, though he will need regular monitoring.

On Wednesday, September 17, Bolsonaro’s doctors confirmed the diagnosis. The announcement comes shortly after the former leader was convicted of orchestrating an attempted coup.

According to his physician, Claudio Birolini, Bolsonaro has “squamous cell carcinoma, which is neither the most benign nor the most aggressive form — it is intermediate.” Birolini warned, however, that this type of skin cancer “can carry more serious consequences.”

International

Milei praises Paraguay’s growth, calls Argentina’s last 20 years a ‘decline’

Argentine President Javier Milei praised Paraguay’s economic growth over the past two decades during a speech before the Paraguayan Congress on Wednesday (Sept. 17, 2025), crediting it to incentives that favored capitalism. At the same time, he contrasted that progress with what he described as Argentina’s deepening “decline” during the same period.

“If we compare the last 20 years of Paraguay with those of the Argentine Republic, we will find almost diametrically opposite results,” Milei told lawmakers during a special session of Parliament on the second and final day of his official visit to Asunción.

“While you have not stopped growing, we have deepened our decline. If we understand incentives as the engine of capitalism, Paraguay focused on preserving and strengthening them, while Argentina dedicated itself to chaining, directing, and suffocating them,” the right-wing leader stated.

International

Trump administration launches large-scale immigration operation in Chicago

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump intensified a large-scale immigration operation in the Chicago area with the arrival of additional Border Patrol agents on Tuesday and the presence of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem during a raid.

Noem posted a video on her X account showing the immigration operation, in which DHS reportedly removed “violent criminals” from the streets. The footage shows Noem observing the arrest of a man taken into custody at his home early Tuesday morning at an undisclosed location.

“I was in Chicago today to make it clear that we will not back down,” the secretary wrote. “Our work is just beginning,” she added.

The warning from Noem was echoed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Chief Gregory Bovino, who posted a video on X Tuesday showing multiple Border Patrol vehicles arriving in the city with the caption: “Chicago, we are here!”

Bovino, who led the immigration crackdown in Los Angeles implemented since last June, said the team will remain in Chicago to continue the mission they started in California.

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Operation “Midway Blitz” is currently focused on the Chicago metropolitan area and its suburbs. Activists and residents have reported sightings of masked agents and unmarked vehicles in predominantly Latino neighborhoods.