International

“Not one less”: feminists blame Milei for the lack of policies to protect women

Feminist organizations in Argentina carried out this Monday the annual “Not a less” march, the first under the Government of Javier Milei, who is responsible for promoting hatred towards women and “dissidence” through discourses and adjustment policies.

“The arrival of Javier Milei and Victoria Villarruel (vice president), their economic, political, social, material and symbolic measures constitute an attack on the entire Argentine people and in particular they express their denial of gender violence, hatred of women and sexogeneric disssidents,” said the organization Women of Latin American Matria (Mumalá), in a statement.

The marches were held in several cities of the country, with an epicenter in Buenos Aires, where thousands of people met in front of the National Congress to demand the declaration of a “national emergency” in terms of sexist violence and show their repudiation of Milei’s reforms.

“Because fundamental public policies were dismantled to prevent violence, while femicides do not stop growing. Approving the ‘base law’ deprives us of the right to retire and transforms us into a colony for transnational corporations. Because with hatred and hunger there is no freedom and because hunger is violence ‘Not One Less’,” the feminist collective remarked in a document.

So far this year, Argentina has registered 127 victims of sexist violence, one every 35 hours, of which 114 were femicides, three lesbicides, one trans/travesticide and nine linked femicides of adult men and children, according to the femicide observatory ‘Adriana Marisel Zambrano’, which runs the NGO La Casa del Encuentro.

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The numbers of women’s deaths are stable in a decade, since the National Registry of Femicides of the Supreme Court of Justice, which has been recording data since 2014, gave the figures of a total of 2,446 direct victims of femicide in the country with an average of almost 245 murders per year.

“The statistics do not go down with an absent State that shows no interest in developing public policies for the approach, assistance and prevention of gender violence and with an Undersecretariat for Protection against Gender Violence that seems to have no voice,” the NGO explained.

One of Milei’s first measures, after assuming as president on December 10, was the dissolution of the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity, which now became an undersecretary under the orbit of the Ministry of Justice without a declared action plan or budget.

The first “Not one less” was on June 3, 2015, after the case of Chiara Páez, a 14-year-old pregnant woman, who was beaten to death by her 17-year-old boyfriend because she refused to have an abortion.

After nine years, for the organizations the calls are still in force because the claims continue to be unfulfilled.

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International

Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.

During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.

“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.

“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”

Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.

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On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.

International

Vatican releases special “Sede Vacante” stamps ahead of papal transition

he Vatican’s post offices and select collector shops began selling special edition stamps this week to mark the period between the death of Pope Francis and the election of his successor.

Known as “Sede Vacante” stamps, they feature an image used on official Vatican documents during the interregnum between popes — two crossed keys without the papal tiara. These stamps went on sale Monday and will remain valid for postal use only until the new pontiff appears at the window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

Until then, they can be used to send letters, postcards, and parcels. “Once the new pope is elected, the stamps lose their postal validity, but their collectible value rises,” said Francesco Santarossa, who runs a collectors’ shop across from St. Peter’s Square.

The Vatican has issued the stamps in four denominations: €1.25, €1.30, €2.45, and €3.20. Each is inscribed with “Città del Vaticano” and “Sede Vacante MMXXV” — Latin for “Vacant See 2025.”

International

Conclave to choose pope Francis’ successor could begin in early may

The conclave, which in the coming weeks must choose the successor to Pope Francis, will strictly follow a precise protocol refined over centuries.

The 135 cardinal electors, all under the age of 80, will cast their votes four times a day — except on the first day — until one candidate secures a two-thirds majority. The result will be announced to the world through the burning of the ballots with a chemical that produces the eagerly awaited white smoke, accompanied by the traditional cry of “Habemus Papam.”

The start date for the conclave could be announced today, as the cardinals are set to hold their fifth meeting since the pope’s passing. Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich suggested it could begin on May 5 or 6, following the traditional nine days of mourning. According to German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the conclave could last only “a few days.”

Although the late Argentine pontiff appointed the majority of the cardinal electors, this does not necessarily ensure the selection of a like-minded successor. Francis’ leadership style differed significantly from that of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, a German theologian who was less fond of large public gatherings. It also marked a contrast with the popular Polish pope, John Paul II.

The Argentine Jesuit’s reformist papacy drew strong criticism from more conservative sectors of the Church, who are hoping for a doctrinally focused shift. His tenure was marked by efforts to combat clerical sexual abuse, elevate the role of women and laypeople, and advocate for the poor and migrants, among other causes.