Sin categoría
The US will ask for the first time in a UN resolution “an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza
The United States will present in the coming days, probably tomorrow, a resolution in which for the first time it will specifically ask for “an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, after having opposed three resolutions of other countries that requested it.
It was Secretary of State Antony Blinken who announced a few hours ago in Cairo that the resolution had been presented to the Council, but there is no certainty that it will be voted on tomorrow.
Blinken made it clear that the ceasefire would be “linked to the release of the hostages” in the hands of Hamas, although that release is no longer a precondition, as appeared in the first versions of the text circulated by the American diplomats.
The United States needed to present six different versions for more than a month until it reached what seems like a consensus text. It remains to be seen if it gets the support of nine nations and does not receive a veto by any permanent member country (in this case Russia or China). Two necessary conditions to approve any resolution.
The key paragraph of the Washington resolution says that “an immediate and sustained ceasefire is imperative to protect civilians on both sides, allow the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance, alleviate human suffering (…) and support diplomatic efforts to guarantee that ceasefire in connection with the release of all hostages.”
Last Monday’s publication of a UN report that warned that 1.1 million Gazans face the most serious levels of famine and food insecurity in a matter of days seems to have accelerated U.S. diplomatic efforts.
The French ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Rivière, went out that same Monday to ask for urgent action from the Council to stop the war “now, not next week,” he said graphically.
In the previous resolutions vetoed by the United States, American diplomacy criticized several details: that they did not reflect Israel’s right to defend itself, that they did not condemn Hamas as a “terrorist” and that if a ceasefire was declared, that would allow the rearmament of Hamas.
Therefore, in this resolution that Washington now promotes, those same ideas appear in some way but in a more lowered tone, in order to win the support of member countries such as Russia, China or Algeria, which have harshly criticized on the past occasions the American attitude of seamless support for Israel.
The new resolution makes precise allusions to the protection of civilians, access to humanitarian aid, opposition to altering the map of Gaza with ‘security runners’ and the rejection of the forced displacement of civilians, arguments that can garner unanimous support from all countries.
However, it also contains phrases that are more difficult to achieve consensus, such as the request to Member States to “intensify their efforts to suppress the financing of terrorism, including restrictions on the financing of Hamas.”
In any case, the calls for a ceasefire already come from all UN agencies, from Muslim, African and Asian countries. And now also from the majority of the Western world, including countries that in the first weeks of the war had a more pro-Israeli attitude as in the case of France and the United Kingdom.
International
Electoral abstention, the route to which the majority opposition in Venezuela clung again
The majority opposition of Venezuela resumed the route of abstention by deciding not to participate in the regional and legislative elections of last May 25, as it did 20 years ago, when it withdrew from the contest to elect deputies, although this time in a scenario in which it questions the legitimacy of President Nicolás Maduro.
“When the adversary withdraws from the field, from the field, one advances and takes the ground and exercises it,” Maduro said after the votes a week ago, in which only a group of opponents participated who ignored the guideline of the anti-Chavista majority, sheltered by the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), headed by María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia.
Maduro brought up what happened in 2005, when, he said, the opposition called for “total abstention.”
“And well,” added the Chavista leader, “they gave us the National Assembly (AN, Parliament) and the National Assembly 2005-2010 was the most fruitful there was.”
20 years ago, Chavismo took the 167 seats of Parliament before the complete withdrawal of the main opposition parties, which expressed distrust in the voting system.
This time, the PUD refused to attend these elections by denouncing fraud in the presidential elections of July last year, in which the National Electoral Council (CNE) proclaimed the victory of the president, of which the disaggregated results have not yet been disseminated. The anti-chavismo insists that the winner was its candidate, González Urrutia.
Machado and González Urrutia see the abstention of May 25 as an “act of dignity”.
The former deputy considered the abstention as a fourth “victory” of the opposition, after the 2023 primaries, of which she described as “crushing” the election of González Urrutia as – she said – “president” in 2024 and of the so-called ‘Operation Guacamaya’, in allusion to the departure from the country this month of five anti-Chavistas who were refugees, since March last year, in the residence of the Argentine Embassy in Caracas.
Despite the majority call, an opposition group detached itself from the PUD and ran in the May 25 votes, in which it achieved 11 deputies to Parliament compared to 253 of 285 with which the ruling party remained.
In this regard, the political scientist and deputy director of the Gumilla Center, Piero Trepiccione, told EFE that the 2005-2025 scenarios are “very different.”
“At that time, the forces that politically supported those in power in Venezuela had a lot of popular support, they controlled Venezuelan public opinion, they had superior support, even 60%, the polarization environment was much greater, more tense, harder,” he described.
In his opinion, the country was in the process of consolidating the “hyper-leadership” of then-President Hugo Chávez (1999-2013) and the opposition “was trying to understand that dynamic, those new power dynamics that emerged in the country from 1999, with the electoral victory of Hugo Chávez”.
“Of course,” said this expert, “that it was a decision that (with) time proved to be a mistake, because it was effectively not possible to obtain a minimum participation that would have been important at that time and that would have served as a tribune for the necessary institutional counterweights.”
And that wasn’t the only time. Anti-Chavism also withdrew from the 2018 presidential elections and the 2020 parliamentary elections, with which the ruling party regained the majority of the House after having lost it in 2015.
For the five-year period 2026-2031, Chavismo ensured, in addition to the parliamentary majority, 23 of 24 governors in the country.
Trepiccione considers that the majority anti-Chavism has, in terms of leadership, a “great reference” in the figure of Machado, but “it has again fallen into a rather serious process of fragmentation and dispersion.”
Therefore, he believes that a process of reorganization, restructuring and reunion is necessary “in terms of recovering positioning in the territory” and taking advantage of “those great expectations that there are in the country”.
“If the opposition manages to articulate forces, realign itself with that desire for change, give political directionality to that desire for change; without a doubt, it can quickly become an important counterweight in the political process that is being lived in the country,” he added.
The political scientist clarifies that the discussion must go beyond an election. “Here the issue is how to unify a strategy, how to build a joint strategy and how not to fall into the provocation of fragmentation,” he reflected.
Sin categoría
Pope Francis donated Popemobile transformed into mobile clinic for Gaza’s children
Before his death, Pope Francis donated one of his popemobiles to be converted into a mobile medical unit for children in Gaza, officials confirmed on Monday.
The Jerusalem and Sweden branches of Caritas, the Vatican’s charitable federation, released photos of the repurposed vehicle on Monday. However, there is no set date yet for when it will be operational. The donation was announced the same day Israel approved plans to take over the Gaza Strip and remain in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified period.
“When the humanitarian corridor to Gaza reopens, it will be ready to provide primary medical care to children in Gaza,” Caritas Jerusalem said in a statement.
The mobile clinic will be outfitted with diagnostic, examination, and treatment supplies, including testing equipment, suture kits, syringes and needles, oxygen supplies, vaccines, and a medical-grade refrigerator, according to Caritas.
International
India asks to identify Pakistani citizens in the country to ensure their departure before Sunday
The Indian government asked regional executives on Friday to identify all Pakistani citizens in their territories to ensure that they leave India once the deadline granted by the authorities to leave expires on April 27.
This measure was transmitted today to the heads of government of the different Indian states by the Minister of the Interior, Amit Shah, according to official sources cited by several media in the country.
Pakistani citizens must leave the country before April 27, following the order issued yesterday by the Indian Government, in which it indicated that all visas issued to nationals of the neighboring country will be revoked from that moment on.
He only made an exception with medical visa holders, to whom he granted until April 29 to leave India.
The order has increased transit at the only land crossing between India and Pakistan, known as the Attari-Wagah border, to where Pakistani citizens have traveled today to leave the country.
The suspension of visas is part of a series of measures ordered last Wednesday by New Delhi, in response to the terrorist attack perpetrated the day earlier in Indian-run Kashmir, in which 26 people died.
The Indian government said it had indications that the attackers had the support of Pakistan, which New Delhi accuses of sponsoring the insurgency in Kashmir, which has caused a serious diplomatic crisis between the two nations.
In response to India’s measures, Pakistan suspended some visas for Indians and closed its side of the border – in reciprocity with New Delhi. It also closed its airspace to Indian airlines and announced the suspension of all bilateral agreements with India.
First woman elected president in the Americas, Violeta Chamorro, dead at 95
Nicaraguan exile coalition urges Costa Rica to receive U.S. deportees fleeing Ortega regime
China shows at the UN its “condemnation” of Israel for the “violation of Iran’s sovereignty”
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
-
International4 days agoDefense Secretary: National Guard deployment aims to preempt unrest nationwide
-
Central America4 days agoPanama begins reverse migration by sea for 109 stranded migrants
-
International4 days agoOne survivor confirmed after Air India flight crashes with 242 on board
-
International4 days agoMexico apologizes to Guatemala for police incursion after armed clash
-
International4 days agoShark attacks child in Florida
-
International4 days agoMiguel Uribe remains critical but shows progress following assassination attempt
-
International4 days agoOver 200 dead after London-Bound plane crashes in India
-
International4 days agoProposed U.S. tax threatens Mexico’s record remittance inflows
-
International4 days agoUncle Sam used in DHS poster calling for public to report immigrants
-
International2 days agoICE under fire for detaining undocumented teen from Florida foster care
-
International4 days agoAt least five others involved in attack on Miguel Uribe Turbay
-
International4 days agoHegseth dodges lawmakers’ questions on potential U.S. invasion plans for Greenland, Panama
-
International4 days agoMexico sees 13.5% increase in international tourists in April 2025
-
International2 days agoChina shows at the UN its “condemnation” of Israel for the “violation of Iran’s sovereignty”
-
International4 days agoArgentine government says Cristina Fernández sentence was fair and free of political influence
-
International4 days agoNoboa extends emergency rule—but prisons and mining hub excluded by court
-
International2 days agoIsrael warns of retaliation after iranian missiles hit civilian areas
-
International2 days agoTrump says he knew “everything” about the attack on Iran and assures that the dialogue remains open
-
International2 days agoRight and far right leaders aspire to win the next elections in Latin America
-
International4 days agoEight Killed in Gaza as Hamas allegedly attacks Israel-Backed aid group
-
International2 days agoDonald Trump’s government pauses its program of indiscriminate raides against migrants
-
International4 days agoCuban and chinese officials agree to expand cooperation amid official visit
-
International2 days agoCalifornia sues Trump over deployment of military forces in immigration arrests
-
International2 days agoCriticism of ICE in Florida for arresting a minor from Honduras and taking him away from a foster family
-
International2 days agoMore than 2,000 protests in the US will condemn Donald Trump’s “authoritarianism” this Saturday
-
Central America3 hours agoNicaraguan exile coalition urges Costa Rica to receive U.S. deportees fleeing Ortega regime
-
Central America3 hours agoFirst woman elected president in the Americas, Violeta Chamorro, dead at 95