International
Biden believes that Florida voters will vote in favor of protecting access to abortion
U.S. President Democrat Joe Biden defended women’s reproductive rights in Florida and expressed his confidence that voters in this state will vote in favor of protecting access to abortion in a referendum next November.
During a speech he gave to some 200 guests at an event at Hillsborough Community College, in Tampa, Biden alluded to a new state law that will enter into force on May 1 and that will prohibit abortion from the sixth week of pregnancy, when, he said, many women still do not know that they are in pregnancy.
“This extreme law will affect 4 million Florida women,” lamented the president, who added that access to the termination of pregnancy should not depend on the state in which a person lives.
“It’s about women’s rights,” she said, which should be protected at the federal level. To then warn that a new mandate from Donald Trump will bring with it a national ban on abortion.
With the restrictions of Florida, where a ban is in force from the fifteenth week, there are 21 states, or one in three women, who are under some kind of restriction on access to abortion, as Biden’s campaign team highlighted on Monday.
“It is not inevitable, we can stop it when they vote,” said the Democrat, who in the elections next November aspires to re-election.
He warned that a new mandate of Trump (2017-2021), the virtual Republican candidate, carries the risk of a ban on this practice of national scope. He added that if he maintains power, he will veto any initiative sent to him by Congress in this regard.
Biden insisted on the cases of women who are forced to travel “thousands of miles” in order to have access to “basic care.” Or doctors threatened with their prosecution if they go against state anti-abortion laws. As is the case in Arizona, where a law of 1864 was re-established that does not allow abortion in almost any circumstances.
In June 2022, the Conservative-majority Supreme Court of the United States ended the federal protections established by the Roe vs. Wade case and that prevented states from legislating on the matter, from which a cascading effect was generated in conservative states.
Since then, abortion has become a protagonist of the current electoral campaign, in which Democrats hope to attract voters to the polls of key states such as Florida, where voters will have to decide whether to approve a constitutional amendment that protects access to this practice.
In Florida, the inclusion of a referendum on the voting card issued in the state Supreme Court, after the campaign against the state governor, Republican and former presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, and prosecutor Ashley Moody, with a result in favor of the civil organizations promoting the amendment.
Florida media have echoed different polls about this referendum. Which reflect that the percentages of undecided about the question are not scarce, and that it could explain the presence of the president in this southern state.
After the event, held on the Dale Mabry campus of Hillsborough Community College, the president was part of a more informal event with Nikki Fried, the head of the Florida Democratic Party, and 50 other people, in which he said that Florida is still “at stake” in the November elections.
“These are basic and old-fashioned choices,” where the key is to get people to go out to vote, he said.
In the last electoral cycles, Republicans have won in Florida, a state that was considered “hinge” or ambivalent.
International
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement to comply with current water obligations affecting U.S. farmers and ranchers and for Mexico to cover its water deficit to Texas under the 1944 Water Treaty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement.
The department уточified that the agreement applies to both the current cycle and the water deficit from the previous cycle.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Mexico of failing to comply with the water-sharing treaty between the two countries, which requires the United States to deliver 1.85 billion cubic meters of water from the Colorado River, while Mexico must supply 432 million cubic meters from the Rio Grande.
Mexico is behind on its commitments. According to Washington, the country has accumulated a deficit of more than one billion cubic meters of water over the past five years.
“This violation is severely harming our beautiful crops and our livestock in Texas,” Trump wrote on Monday.
The Department of Agriculture said on Friday that Mexico had agreed to supply 250 million cubic meters of water starting next week and to work toward closing the shortfall.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, quoted in the statement, said Mexico delivered more water in a single year than it had over the previous four years combined.
Trump has said that if Mexico continues to fall short of its obligations, the United States reserves the right to impose 5% tariffs on imported Mexican products.
Mexico’s Deputy Foreign Minister for North America, Roberto Velasco, said that a severe drought in 2022 and 2023prevented the country from meeting its commitments.
International
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
Several people were shot on Saturday in an attack on the campus of Brown University, in the northeastern United States, local police reported.
“Shelter in place and avoid the area until further notice,” the Providence Police Department urged in a post on X. Brown University is located in Providence, the capital of the state of Rhode Island.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that he had been briefed on the situation and that the FBI was on the scene.
At 5:52 p.m. local time (11:52 p.m. GMT), Brown University said the situation was still “ongoing” and instructed students to remain sheltered until further notice.
After initially stating that the suspect had been taken into custody, Trump later posted a second message clarifying that local police had walked back that information. “The suspect has NOT been apprehended,” the U.S. president said.
International
Colombia says it would not reject Maduro asylum request as regional tensions escalate
The Colombian government stated on Thursday that it would have no reason to reject a potential asylum request from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro should he leave office, as regional tensions persist over the deployment of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean since August.
“In the current climate of tension, negotiations are necessary, and if the United States demands a transition or political change, that is something to be assessed. If such a transition results in him (Maduro) needing to live elsewhere or seek protection, Colombia would have no reason to deny it,” said Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio in an interview with Caracol Radio.
However, Villavicencio noted that it is unlikely Maduro would choose Colombia as a refuge. “I believe he would opt for someplace more distant and calmer,” she added.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro also commented on Venezuela’s situation on Wednesday, arguing that the country needs a “democratic revolution” rather than “inefficient repression.” His remarks followed the recent detention and passport cancellation of Cardinal Baltazar Porras at the Caracas airport.
“The Maduro government must understand that responding to external aggression requires more than military preparations; it requires a democratic revolution. A country is defended with more democracy, not more inefficient repression,” Petro wrote on X (formerly Twitter), in a rare public criticism of the Venezuelan leader.
Petro also called for a general amnesty for political opponents and reiterated his call for forming a broad transitional government to address Venezuela’s prolonged crisis.
Since September, U.S. military forces have destroyed more than 20 vessels allegedly carrying drugs in Caribbean and Pacific waters near Venezuela and Colombia, resulting in over 80 deaths.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that attacks “inside Venezuela” will begin “soon,” while Maduro has urged Venezuelans to prepare for what he describes as an impending external aggression.
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