International
Antony Blinken assures that the Panamanian sovereignty of the Panama Canal “will not change”
The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, assured this Thursday that Panamanian sovereignty over the Panama Canal “will not change,” despite the threat of President-elect Donald Trump to regain US control of the interoceanic route.
“We have a treaty and a policy in force for many years and that is not going to change. As I said before, it’s not worth spending time on this,” he said at his last press conference before leaving office.
His answer was similar to the one he gave last week in Paris when he was questioned by Trump’s plan to annex Greenland to the United States.
“It’s not worth spending time on that issue because that’s not going to happen,” he said at the time.
Blinken’s statements come a day after the nominee to succeed him, Marco Rubio, suggested that China’s influence on the Panama Canal is a violation of the terms of the delivery of the road to the Panamanians.
Rubio, next Secretary of State in the Trump Administration, warned during his confirmation hearing in the Senate that this is “a very legitimate issue” for the United States, although it opened the door to dialogue with the Panamanian authorities.
“Panama is a great partner in many other matters, and I hope we can solve this issue of the channel and its security,” Blinken said.
“Although technically sovereignty over the canal has not been handed over to a foreign power, in reality a foreign power today possesses, through its companies, which are not independent, the ability to turn the channel into a bottleneck at a time of conflict,” he added.
Blinken was convinced that the agreement for a truce in the Gaza Strip and the release of the hostages will take effect on Sunday as planned, despite the fact that Israel and Hamas accuse each other of delaying it.
“I am confident and fully hope that the implementation will begin as we said on Sunday,” the head of US diplomacy said at his last press conference before leaving office.
On Thursday, the Israeli government accused Hamas of introducing new conditions in the ceasefire and hostage release agreement announced last night, while the Islamist group recriminated the Israelis for trying to “create tension at a critical moment.”
The relatives of the hostages who still remain in Gaza attend with anguish to the rifirrafe, less than three days before the agreed date for the departure of the first kidnapped.
The announced ceasefire should come into force next Sunday and would allow the release of Israeli hostages – alive and dead – and access to humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave, where more than 46,700 people have died since October 7, 2023.
The team of outgoing President of the United States, Joe Biden, and President-elect Donald Trump, participated in the final stretch of the negotiations, which also had the mediation of Qatar and Egypt.
The Secretary of State urged the next Donald Trump Administration to ensure that the ceasefire agreement that the next president wants to achieve in Ukraine is truly “lasting.”
“One of the most important things here is that if there is a ceasefire, that it is durable and that it is maintained,” said the head of US diplomacy in his last press conference.
For Blinken, this is key, because, as he warned, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, “will want to take weight off him” and “attack when he feels it’s time.”
“A ceasefire agreement must be reached with the effective deterrence necessary so that Russia does not attack again,” he warned.
Trump, who will assume power on January 20, has criticized the constant sending of weapons to Ukraine by the Joe Biden Administration and has made it a priority to end the war started by the Russian invasion of February 2022.
Blinken defended that the strategy of the outgoing government, focused on sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia, sought to put Ukraine “in a position of power” against the Kremlin.
“That I could continue fighting, if necessary, or sit down to negotiate, if that’s what they wanted, but do it from a strong position,” he added.
He also claimed that this plan has caused “unimaginable” losses for Russia: “We see the impact on its economy, on its future and on its inability to invest in critical infrastructure for the future.”
Marco Rubio, Blinken’s successor, declared on Wednesday that the policy of the new US government will be to end the war and asked for “concessions” to both Ukraine and Russia.
The next Secretary of State said that Russia will not be able to invade all of Ukraine, but he also described it as “unrealistic” to think that Ukraine will be able to recover the pre-invasion borders.
Internacionales
Jalisco’s grim discovery: drug cartel mass grave found in construction site
A mass grave was discovered in a residential area under construction in the municipality of Zapopan, part of the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco.
“After analyzing the recovered remains, they correspond to 34 individuals,” said a state official during a press conference. Jalisco has one of the highest numbers of missing persons in Mexico, largely due to the activity of drug cartels.
As of May 31, official data shows that Jalisco has recorded 15,683 missing persons, according to the state prosecutor’s office. Authorities attribute most of these cases to criminal organizations, which often bury or cremate their victims clandestinely.
“The construction company notified us at the end of February after discovering some remains,” explained the official, González, adding that excavation efforts have been ongoing since then.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) operates in the region and was designated as a foreign terrorist organization earlier this year by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Washington has accused CJNG and the Sinaloa cartel of being the main sources of fentanyl trafficking, a synthetic opioid responsible for tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the U.S.
Mexico has accumulated more than 127,000 missing persons, most of them since 2006, when the federal government launched a heavily criticized military-led anti-drug offensive.
International
U.S. targets families of sanctioned drug traffickers with new Visa restrictions
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday a new visa restriction policy targeting the family members and close associates of individuals sanctioned for drug trafficking, as part of efforts to combat the spread of fentanyl.
Overdoses from this synthetic opioid remain the leading cause of death among Americans aged 18 to 44. According to official sources, more than 220 overdose deaths are reported daily in 2024, and over 40% of Americans know someone who has died from opioid-related causes.
“Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy (…) which will apply to close family members and personal or business associates of individuals sanctioned for drug trafficking,” Rubio said in a statement.
International
White House claims challenged as most ICE arrests in LA involve non-criminals
Nearly seven out of ten people arrested during immigration raids in Los Angeles from June 1 to June 10 had no criminal record, contradicting White House claims that the raids targeted “criminals,” according to an analysis published Wednesday by the Los Angeles Times.
Around 722 individuals were detained in the Los Angeles metropolitan area during the first ten days of June, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) initiated the raids, according to data obtained by the Deportation Data Project of the University of California Berkeley School of Law.
The Los Angeles Times analysis found that 69% of those arrested during this period had no criminal record, and 58% had never been charged with any crime.
These figures contradict the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which said in a statement Tuesday that since June 6, ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) launched an operation “to remove the worst criminal illegal aliens.”
DHS Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin warned that the arrests are part of President Donald Trump’s promise to secure the border by deporting criminals, including drug traffickers in Los Angeles, without providing further details.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass criticized last week in a CNN interview that although the White House said it would target violent criminals, the raids had focused on workers.
“This wasn’t a drug den, it was a Home Depot,” Bass said, questioning the locations where raids were conducted.
Activists have also denounced the raids for targeting vulnerable workers who are easy to detain.
The Los Angeles Times analysis found that the average age of those arrested was 38, mostly men. Nearly 48% were Mexican, 16% Guatemalan, and 8% Salvadoran.
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