International
Change course or follow the same line: Uruguay elects its new president on Sunday
Change course or continue on the same path. That is the decision that Uruguayans will have to make on Sunday in elections marked by the parity that the latest polls showed.
28 days after the presidential and parliamentary elections, about 2.7 million people will go to the polls on November 24 to choose between the ruling party Álvaro Delgado and the opposition Yamandú Orsi.
From the ban to the second round to elect president in Uruguay
After none of the eleven candidates who competed in the previous instance exceeded 50% of the votes, the two most voted advanced to the second round.
This will take place between 8:00 and 19:30 local time (11:00 to 22:30 GMT) and it is expected that around 21:30 (00:30 GMT) the consultants will be able to show their first projections.
However, the latest polls presented showed a lot of parity between the candidate of the opposition Frente Amplio and the one who will represent the government coalition, made up of the ruling National Party, the Colorado Party, Cabildo Abierto, the Independent Party and the Constitutional Environmentalist Party.
Five days after Delgado and Orsi came face to face in a mandatory debate in which they presented their main proposals for the period 2025-2030, the South American country began to live the electoral ban.
In this way, the parties will not be able to carry out acts of proselytist propaganda.
An instance that only Tabaré Vázquez eluded
The second round of the Uruguayan presidential elections was held for the first time in 1999.
A plebiscite held in 1996 reformed the Constitution of the South American country and introduced changes such as the creation of primary elections and the ballot on the last Sunday of November.
This puts the two most voted candidates face to face in the presidential and parliamentary elections that are held on the last Sunday of October every five years and are held provided that neither has exceeded 50% of the votes in that instance.
Through that channel, the Colorado Party maintained the Government in the 1999 elections and did so with a historical surname.
Jorge Batlle became the fourth Batlle to be president of the South American country, after his great-grandfather Lorenzo Batlle, his great-uncle José Batlle y Ordóñez and his father, Luis Batlle Berres.
On October 31, 2004, Tabaré Vázquez went again for the Presidency and managed to get the left to win for the first time in Uruguay by obtaining 51.68% of the votes in the presidential and parliamentary elections.
That triumph of the Frente Amplio is so far the only one that got a game without the need for a second round, since it was implemented.
Five years later, José Mujica defeated Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera in the second round and in 2014 Tabaré Vázquez joined the select group of presidents who ruled Uruguay on two occasions by beating Luis Lacalle Pou.
The current president acceded to this instance again in 2019 and on that occasion defeated the Frenteamplista Daniel Martínez.
Delgado and Orsi
Now, Delgado and Orsi will be the ones who will go hand in hand in search of access to the Presidency for the period 2025-2030.
Veterinarian by profession, the first of them will try to keep the chair currently occupied by Lacalle Pou, of whom he was his secretary of the Presidency between 2020 and 2023.
Previously, Delgado was a deputy in the period 2005-2015 and senator between that year and 2020.
For his part, the History professor Orsi will go for the Presidency after having been mayor (head of the local government) of the department (province) of Canelones between 2015 and 2020.
He also held the position of secretary general there between 2005 and 2015.
International
Mexican authorities bust Meth Lab and seize tons of drugs and chemicals in multiple states
Mexican authorities dismantled a clandestine laboratory containing 2.5 tons of methamphetamine in the southeastern state of Chiapas, seized a warehouse with more than four tons of chemical precursors in Guerrero (south), and intercepted a trailer in Tijuana attempting to cross into the United States with 2.7 tons of drugs.
Omar García Harfuch, head of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), reported on Saturday via social media that agents from the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), along with representatives from the Defense Secretariat, Navy (Semar), National Guard (GN), and SSPC, disabled the methamphetamine production lab in Chiapas and confiscated 2.5 tons of the drug.
A statement specified that the agents secured 2.5 tons of methamphetamine, barrels containing substances used to manufacture synthetic drugs, a firearm, and four trucks. In another operation in Guerrero, authorities located over four tons of chemical substances.
The discovery took place on a property in the community of Margarita Maza, Juárez, used to store materials for synthetic drug production. Sufficient evidence was collected and presented to a control judge who authorized the intervention of the property.
In Chiapas, authorities also seized more than 300 barrels and containers with chemicals for making synthetic drugs, as well as various metal containers and devices.
International
Maduro gains support from Venezuelan Assembly amid U.S. drug trafficking accusations
The National Assembly of Venezuela expressed its support this Saturday for President Nicolás Maduro, condemning the United States’ increase in the reward offered for his capture as an “act of aggression.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday that Washington had doubled the reward to $50 million for Maduro’s capture, labeling him as one of the “world’s largest drug traffickers.”
“We reject the absurd and desperate actions announced by the U.S. Attorney General’s Office, which are clearly illegal and lack any real basis, beyond being a delirious attempt of aggression against the president (…) and against our rebellious and brave people,” said the Assembly leader, Jorge Rodríguez, while reading a letter he said was unanimously approved by the deputies.
“It is precisely President Nicolás Maduro (…) the protector of the strong democracy that shelters us and the leader who firmly upholds the rule of law and justice,” Rodríguez continued. He is also Venezuela’s chief negotiator in talks with Washington.
Bondi accused Maduro of using “terrorist organizations like the Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa cartel, and the Cartel of the Suns to introduce lethal drugs and violence” into the United States.
“In 25 years of revolution, we have resisted and advanced despite constant imperialist aggressions. They have not succeeded, and will not succeed, with crude sanctions, criminal blockades, or senseless threats in diverting the noble path the Venezuelan people charted in the free elections of July 28, 2024, in which Nicolás Maduro was elected President of the Republic,” the statement read.
The Venezuelan opposition alleges fraud in those elections and claims victory, and as a result, has boycotted the 2025 legislative, regional, and municipal elections.
International
U.S. doubles bounty on Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro to $50 million
In February, the United States designated eight Latin American criminal organizations as “global terrorist” groups, including Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, and the MS-13 gang. In July, it added the Cartel of the Suns to the list — a group Washington claims is led by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Last Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest, raising it from $25 million to $50 million, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on social media platform X.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained that labeling the Cartel of the Suns as a terrorist organization allows for a strategic shift in dealing with the Venezuelan regime, as it is now also considered a direct threat to U.S. national security, according to El Espectador.
In an interview with The World Over on EWTN, Rubio said the designation enables the U.S. to “use intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, or any other element of American power to go after them.” He stressed this is no longer just a law enforcement matter, but a national security operation.
When asked at the White House whether he believes it is worth sending the military to combat Latin American drug cartels, Trump responded:
“Latin America has many cartels, a lot of drug trafficking, so, you know, we want to protect our country. We have to protect it.”
Mexican authorities bust Meth Lab and seize tons of drugs and chemicals in multiple states
Maduro gains support from Venezuelan Assembly amid U.S. drug trafficking accusations
U.S. doubles bounty on Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro to $50 million
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
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