International
The president-elect of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, promises repatriation of migrants crossing the Darién
José Raúl Mulino promised during his proclamation act as president-elect of Panama repatriations for migrants crossing the Darién, the border jungle with Colombia. He will do it with international help and “respecting” human rights.
“Panama and our Darién is not a transit route. No, sir, that’s our border. The concept of closure that I have outlined implies a philosophical concept that is related to closing the border on the basis that we will start, with international help, a repatriation process with all respect for human rights,” Mulino said in his speech.
“So that those there and those who would like to come know that the one who arrives here will be returned to their country of origin,” he added.
The National Scrutiny Board made Mulino official as the new president for the period 2024 – 2029 and gave him the credentials during an event in Panama City.
However, the new Government officially begins on July 1, after a staggered transition process that will begin on June 3.
Panama has become the epicenter of an unprecedented migration crisis. So far this year, more than 130,000 people, mostly Venezuelans, have already passed through the Darién on their way to North America, a number that could exceed the historic figure of 520,000 migrants in 2023.
“Not only do we finish a cycle in the democratic life of our country, but we end that cycle peacefully. Everything is left behind as far as I’m concerned, everything that happened in this election that was unprecedented. Those facts and circumstances are unprecedented,” Mulino said.
And he added: “That for me is part of a memory that I don’t want anyone to live. I will make every effort within 5 years so that by this time the new president assumes power in a peaceful transfer in free elections.”
Mulino, a politician with a trajectory and a strong character, won the Presidency of Panama last Sunday with 34.2% of the votes, supported by the Realizing Goals (RM) and Alianza parties, according to 100% of the minutes already scrutinized.
He accidentally became a presidential candidate, two months before the elections, since he was the running mate of former President Ricardo Martinelli (2009 – 2014) until the former governor was politically disqualified after being sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for laundering. Case that led him to take asylum at the Embassy of Nicaragua in Panama.
Mulino, 64, acknowledged during his speech that the elections were “unique” and “unpublished”, with a high turnout (77.64%).
He applauded the triumph of the independent candidacies, led by young people who won 20 of the 71 seats in Parliament. Thus becoming the first force within the Legislature and displacing traditional parties to a second place.
He reiterated his intention to govern alongside the opposition, extending his hand to that independent bench.
“The most important thing is the message of Sunday, May 5, that the political renewal of the country began (…) the number of (independent) deputies in the National Assembly was impressive and I sent a clear message, that you have to do things right thinking that everything is final,” he said.
Mulino spoke of working for maximum economic efficiency: “there is no money to continue in the francachela that we came with the borrowed money.”
International
China shows at the UN its “condemnation” of Israel for the “violation of Iran’s sovereignty”
The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, showed the “condemnation” of his country against the “violation of the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Iran” after the air attack launched by Israel against multiple targets in that country, the official newspaper Diario del Pueblo reports this Saturday.
That media echoes Fu’s speech to the UN Security Council on Friday, in which he demanded that Israel “immediately stop all its military actions.”
“China (…) opposes the expansion of conflicts, and is deeply concerned about the serious consequences that may arise from Israel’s actions. The intensification of regional tensions does not interest any of the parties involved,” said the Chinese emissary.
Beijing called on Tel Aviv and Tehran to “resolve their disputes through political and diplomatic means, and maintain peace and stability at the regional level jointly.”
In Fu’s view, the Israeli attack will have a “negative impact” on the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program: “China has always been committed to the peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and consultations, and opposes the use of force, illegal unilateral sanctions and armed attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities.”
This Friday, China had already expressed its willingness to “play a constructive role” to curb the escalation of tensions and facilitate conciliation, in line with its traditional position of active neutrality in the region’s conflicts.
The Israeli attack, which according to Tehran caused dozens of deaths, including senior military commanders and at least six nuclear scientists, targeted key facilities such as the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Numerous civilian casualties were also reported.
Israel justified the offensive by claiming that the Iranian regime is secretly developing a program to manufacture nuclear weapons.
For his part, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, promised a “severe response” and assured that the attack would reveal the “evil nature” of Israel.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also expressed concern about the bombing, at a time when Iran and the US The United States is holding talks about the Iranian nuclear program.
International
Donald Trump’s government pauses its program of indiscriminate raides against migrants
The government of US President Donald Trump has decided to pause its campaign of discretionary roundings against migrants in certain areas due to its apparent concern about the growing unpopularity of these methods, according to The New York Times newspaper on Friday.
According to an email to which the newspaper has had access and the confirmation of US officials, the Executive has ordered the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) to pause the beatings that affect the agricultural industry and the hospitality industry.
The spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed in a statement that “the president’s instructions” will be obeyed and the portfolio will also continue to “work to get the worst illegal foreign criminals out of the streets of the United States.”
The decision points out that this campaign of discretionary arrests to try to deport large-scale immigrants is harming industries and electoral constituencies whose support Trump wants to retain for next year’s legislative elections.
The new instructions were transmitted to ICE in an email sent last Thursday asking that “all investigations/law enforcement operations be suspended in work centers in the agricultural sector (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and hotels.”
These new guidelines come in turn after more than a week of intense protests in Los Angeles against this immigration policy and that Trump himself admitted that the raids seem to be affecting the agricultural sector, which in states like California, where beatings have intensified, depend almost exclusively on immigrant labor.
Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has implemented an aggressive policy of hard hand against immigration and as a sample of his Cabinet officials recently held a meeting with the ICE leadership to order them to carry out 3,000 arrests a day, a mandate that seems to be behind the intensification of the raids.
International
Trump says he knew “everything” about the attack on Iran and assures that the dialogue remains open
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington “known everything” about the Israeli attack on Iran and that the dialogue on Tehran’s nuclear program “is not dead.”
“We knew everything and I tried to avoid Iran all this humiliation and death. I tried hard to avoid it because I would have loved to see an agreement,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters.
The US president insisted on what he wrote today about the attack on social networks, where he said he gave an ultimatum of 60 days to Tehran to reach an agreement.
“We knew practically everything. We knew enough to give Iran 60 days to reach an agreement and today it is already 61 days,” he explained in the interview, in which he said he did not know what the current situation of the Iranian nuclear program is after the attack launched by Israel, which also ended the lives of key military leaders of the Persian country.
Regarding the dialogue between the US and Iran about the nuclear program of the ayatollahs, Trump assured that “he is not dead”, that “an agreement is still possible” and also recalled that on Sunday a sixth round of dialogue is scheduled in Muscat (Oman) that they consider is now in the air.
“We have a meeting with them on Sunday. Now, I’m not sure if that meeting will take place, but we have a meeting with them on Sunday,” he said.
The United States and Iran have held five rounds of talks on the Iranian nuclear program since April, with Washington demanding that Tehran discard its capabilities both to manufacture an atomic bomb and to enrich uranium, something that the ayatollahs considered unacceptable.
Both Israel and Trump himself had warned of possible preventive attacks on the Persian country due to this refusal by Iran.
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