International

President of Brazil to be the first speaker at the 78th UN General Assembly

Photo: EFE

September 19 |

The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, confirmed that this Tuesday he will be the first speaker at the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations (UN), at its headquarters in the U.S. city of New York.

“Tomorrow (this Tuesday) Brazil inaugurates the 78th UN General Assembly. I will speak 20 years after my first assembly and 14 years after my last speech as president of Brazil,” wrote the head of state of the South American nation on his official account on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

As usual, the session of the General Assembly, the main deliberative, policy-making and representative body of the UN, will be opened by its president, who on this occasion is Trinidadian diplomat Dennis Francis.

Brazil is the first country to take the podium since 1955, in a custom established during the tenth General Assembly.

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Next, it is the turn of the President of the United States (U.S.), as host country, to speak, followed by all the members of the Assembly, according to the order in which the request to speak was registered.

By protocol, each speaker should not make a speech longer than 15 minutes, however, there have been cases in which world leaders have exceeded that limit, as happened in 1960 with the president of Cuba, Fidel Castro, who spoke for four and a half hours.

On this occasion, the seventy-eighth session of the UN is being held under the motto: “Rebuilding trust and reviving global solidarity”: Accelerating actions within the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards the achievement of peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all.

International

White House says Cuba policy unchanged despite sanctioned fuel shipment

The White House said Monday that it has not changed its policy toward Cuba, despite allowing a sanctioned Russian oil tanker to deliver fuel to the island on humanitarian grounds.

U.S. officials emphasized that the decision was made as an exception and does not signal a broader shift in policy.

The administration added that similar decisions would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, depending on humanitarian considerations.

The clarification comes amid ongoing restrictions related to U.S. sanctions policy, which continue to limit trade and financial flows involving Cuba.

International

Spain to grant citizenship to Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López

The Spanish government is expected to grant citizenship this Tuesday to Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lópezthrough an extraordinary procedure known as “carta de naturaleza.”

The decision will be approved by royal decree, an exceptional legal mechanism used in special cases that require expedited resolution due to specific circumstances.

López has been living in Madrid since 2020, after leaving Venezuela following a prolonged political and legal conflict with the government of Nicolás Maduro.

According to government sources, López currently does not have a valid Venezuelan passport and faces difficulties in having his nationality fully recognized in his home country.

As a result, he applied for Spanish citizenship via a fast-track process at the end of 2025, after previously attempting to obtain it through regular procedures.

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The Spanish government justified the move based on López’s international relevance and foreign policy considerations.

López is the leader of the Voluntad Popular party and co-founder of the World Liberty Congress, an initiative launched in 2022 alongside figures such as Garry Kasparov and Masih Alinejad.

International

ICE to remain at airports amid DHS shutdown, Homan says

The U.S. “border czar,” Tom Homan, said Sunday that agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will remain deployed at airports until operations return to “100% normal,” as the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues.

“We will maintain ICE presence until airports feel they are fully back to normal operations,” Homan said during an interview on Face the Nation on CBS.

Homan justified the deployment on security grounds, noting that the measure was ordered by President Donald Trumpamid widespread absenteeism among agents of the Transportation Security Administration, who have gone without pay for over six weeks due to the DHS shutdown.

According to acting TSA administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill, at least 460 TSA agents have resigned during the shutdown, while daily absenteeism has averaged 11%, exceeding 50% at some airports.

Homan warned that if TSA staffing levels do not recover after the shutdown, ICE agents will continue filling the gap. “ICE is there to support our TSA brothers and sisters. We will remain as long as needed to ensure airport security,” he said.

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The DHS shutdown reached 44 days on Sunday, making it the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The impasse stems from disagreements between Democrats and Republicans over ICE funding.

A recent bipartisan Senate proposal to fund DHS without including ICE failed after being blocked by House Republicans, who insist on full funding for the agency.

Amid the deadlock, Trump signed an executive order directing Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to immediately pay TSA agents to address what he called an “emergency situation” and restore order at airports, with payments expected to begin Monday.