International
Sheinbaum forgets the migratory issue on her first visit to the northern border as president
The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, visited the border this Saturday for the first time since she took office, where she practically forgot about people on mobility and the migratory situation in the northern region of the country.
Despite the fact that in recent days various activists, civil organizations and municipal authorities demanded significant changes in migration policies, the president did not mention a word about it and even avoided the meeting with the press.
Sheinbaum visits the border
The president was received by a large group of supporters at the Rosarito Beach Convention Center, located about 25 kilometers from the Tijuana border, where she offered a speech focused on the presentation of her welfare programs.
During her speech, President Sheinbaum limited herself to saying that, with the Fourth Transformation, “we claim Mexican workers and in particular our brothers who live on the other side of the border, who are heroes and heroines of the homeland.”
“(People) who do not abandon their families, who do not abandon our country, because that is how we Mexicans are, we love each other, we help each other, that is the strength of the people of Mexico,” he said.
Continuity of social programs
On other issues, Sheinbaum took advantage of his visit to the border to reaffirm the continuity of the welfare programs promoted by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“Thanks to our senators and deputies, who are also servants of the nation and the people, all the programs will continue; the universal pension, support for young people, pension for people with disabilities,” he said.
In addition, he recalled his campaign promises, and anticipated three new welfare programs, “corresponding to the second floor of the transformation”: support for women between 60 and 64 years old, public school students up to the basic secondary level, which implies all public school students up to secondary level; and the home-to-home health care program for older adults.
In addition, he recalled his commitment to install pharmacies in each Banco del Bienestar branch from the second quarter of next year, so that “people can go there to pick up their free medicines.”
“Those are the three main programs, but we are also going to build a million homes throughout the country, in addition to bookkeeping,” he said.
Judicial reform is not authoritarianism
Regarding judicial reform, Sheinbaum said that “on June 1st of next year we will elect the judges, magistrates and ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, because now they say that we are authoritarian, but how are we going to be authoritarian, if what we want is for the people to elect the Judiciary.”
“It is the mandate of the people and the president of the Republic is to fulfill that mandate,” he insisted, amid suspensions by judges, accusations for attacking judicial independence and Sheinbaum’s argument that it is impossible to stop the application of the most recent judicial reform to elect judges
International
U.S. Senate holds emergency session as shutdown threatens economy
The U.S. Senate is convening on Sunday in an extraordinary session to try to put an end to the 39-day government shutdown, which threatens to shrink GDP in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to Kevin Hassett, Director of the White House National Economic Council.
In an interview with CBS, Hassett noted that U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs had previously estimated that the partial shutdown would cost the country around 1.5% of GDP. However, he warned that “this figure will likely fall short” if the impasse continues “for a couple more weeks.” The suspension of flights due to a shortage of air traffic controllers and major disruptions in food assistance distribution are among the difficulties the government is facing as operations stall over disagreements between Democrats and Republicans, including on healthcare spending.
Throughout Sunday, Donald Trump has continued to blame former President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan and the pandemic-era subsidies paid to insurance companies. On Friday, Democrats proposed reopening the government in exchange for a one-year extension of medical tax credits — an offer quickly rejected by Republicans.
“The Obamacare scam directly benefits their allies in the insurance industry. They are getting richer at the expense of the American people, while healthcare coverage worsens. If Democrats get their way again, they will score yet another big win at the people’s expense,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
As he did on Saturday, Trump has demanded that Senate Republicans redirect subsidies directly to U.S. citizens. “Republicans should allocate these funds straight into their health savings accounts,” he argued.
Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced Sunday that the chamber will remain in session until the government reopens in what is expected to be a marathon negotiation.
Senators are working on the final version of a package of three long-term appropriations bills that form part of the Republican plan to break the deadlock. Thune is pushing a strategy that would start by approving the temporary funding resolution previously passed by the House of Representatives and amending it to include the appropriations package — known as a “minibus” — with the ultimate goal of extending funding for a longer term.
International
Four dead, 44 injured in riot at Ecuador prison as gang violence intensifies
At least four people were killed and 44 others injured on Sunday during a violent clash involving firearms and explosives at a prison in southwestern Ecuador, where deadly riots have become common in recent months, the country’s prison authority reported.
Ecuador’s prisons have increasingly become operational hubs for drug trafficking gangs. In their struggle for control of the lucrative trade, violent confrontations have erupted, leaving nearly 500 inmates dead since 2021.
Around 3:00 a.m. local time Sunday, residents near the city of Machala, in the El Oro province, recorded sounds of gunfire, explosions, and cries for help coming from inside the detention facility.
The National Service for Comprehensive Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty (SNAI) said in a statement Sunday morning that four people were killed in the clashes, without specifying whether all of them were inmates. Another 43 prisoners and one police officer were injured.
Elite police units entered the prison “immediately” and regained control after the uprising, according to SNAI.
In late September, another armed confrontation in the same facility left 14 people dead, including a prison staff member.
Prison authorities said the latest violence was triggered by “a reorganization” of some inmates “in the new maximum-security prison” being built by the administration of President Daniel Noboa in the coastal province of Santa Elena. The facility is expected to be inaugurated later this month.
Internacionales
U.S. to restore ambassador-level relations with Bolivia after 17 years
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau announced on Saturday that the United States will restore ambassador-level diplomatic relations with Bolivia after 17 years. The statement came during his visit to La Paz to attend the inauguration of Bolivia’s new president, Rodrigo Paz Pereira.
In a brief appearance before the media, Landau noted that in recent weeks Washington had maintained “very close relations with the president-elect.”
“And now that he is officially president, we will restore relations at the ambassador level, as it should have always been,” he said, speaking alongside President Paz.
Landau described it as “highly unusual” and “very unfortunate” that the two nations have spent years without ambassadors in each other’s capitals — Washington, D.C., and La Paz.
“Diplomacy is ultimately about communication. Without an ambassador in the other country’s capital, that becomes more difficult,” the U.S. official emphasized, expressing hopes that the appointment of new ambassadors will be announced “very soon.”
He also recalled that President Paz has expressed his interest in maintaining a strong bilateral relationship, adding that the United States “reciprocally wants to establish a good relationship with this new Bolivian government.”
For his part, President Paz thanked the U.S. delegation led by Landau for attending his inauguration and asked him to “convey a message of cordiality and friendship” to President Donald Trump and all levels of the U.S. government.
U.S. Senate holds emergency session as shutdown threatens economy
Four dead, 44 injured in riot at Ecuador prison as gang violence intensifies
U.S. to restore ambassador-level relations with Bolivia after 17 years
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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