International

Record registration of Latino voters after Harris’ arrival in the presidential race

A record number of eligible Latinos have registered to vote after the arrival of Vice President Kamala Harris to the race for the White House, especially young and female voters, in states considered key to winning the November election, which may tip the balance towards the Democratic candidate.

The organization Voto Latino announced at a press conference that it has exceeded the voter registration goal in five key states: Florida, Texas, Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina by registering 112,035 Latino voters so far this year.

María Teresa Kumar, director of Voto Latino, said that the voter registration of her organization increased by 200% and attributed the unusual increase to the arrival of Harris in the race for the Presidency in the United States.

“All this enthusiasm began to gather and accumulate around July 21, when President Joe Biden decided to step aside and nominate and support Vice President Kamala Harris,” the activist said.

Of the total (112,035) registered this year by the organization, 67,092 voters registered after July 21, an unprecedented figure in the 20 years in which the organization has promoted voter participation.

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Kumar also highlighted the increase achieved with respect to previous elections. And it is that, for the 2016 election, the Latino Vote campaign in favor of Hillary Clinton managed to register 2,252 Hispanic voters in July of that year.

In the same month, but in 2020, 25,156 Latino voters were registered in favor of President Joe Biden, almost half of the 50,111 who registered between July 21 and July 31 of this year, supported by Harris.

Even the mood of voters since Harris entered has exceeded that awakened by the candidacy of former President Barack Obama (2009-2017).

Ameer Patel, a researcher at Voto Latino, said that since the vice president landed in the presidential race, there has been a “disproportionate amount” of young voters and especially young Latinas who registered to vote.

Of the 67,092 voters registered after July 21, 55% are voters between 18 and 29 years old and 86% are between 18 and 39 years old. Of the total, 69.7% are women.

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The enthusiasm of the new voters is not only motivated by the fight for women’s reproductive rights. In fact, the first issue that concerns the voters consulted by Voto Latino is the economy, better wages and income control.

The second issue is the rights to abortion, followed by gun control and security in educational institutions.
In that sense, Kumar highlighted the campaigns advanced by women in South Texas in favor of Harris and his formula, the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, with a wake-up call about school shootings, something that was not seen in 2020.

It is precisely in Texas where the most new Latino voters have registered Voto after the arrival of Harris with 17,000 registered voters, followed by Florida with 13,600, Georgia (11,500), North Carolina (7,500) and Arizona (4,500).

Kumar stressed the importance of these votes especially in states where President Joe Biden won by just over 10,000 votes, such as Georgia and Arizona.

“Harris has been stealing votes from Donald Trump in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada, key states in this battlefield,” the activist said.

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He added that the vice president is not only attractive to independent voters but also to Republicans, a clear disadvantage for former President Trump.

More than 36 million eligible Latinos will be able to vote this year. But of them, only 26 million are registered to vote, and only 16 million voted in the last presidential elections.

Activists’ efforts have focused on encouraging 20 million Latinos who could pay, but they don’t.

Kumar insisted that there is an incredible opportunity to strengthen the political voice of the Hispanic community, which although it is not monolithic has mostly opted for the Democrats.

The message was delivered right in celebration of National Voter Registration Day.

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International

Football Fan Killed in Clashes After Colombian League Match

Fans of Cúcuta Deportivo and their traditional rivals Atlético Bucaramanga clashed outside the stadium following their local league match on Tuesday, leaving one supporter dead and several others injured.

The deceased fan was stabbed, according to a senior police official in Cúcuta who confirmed the cause of death in a video statement. Local media reported that the victim was a supporter of the visiting team, Atlético Bucaramanga.

The match ended in a 2-2 draw. Authorities had banned the entry of Atlético Bucaramanga’s organized supporters into the stadium in an effort to prevent disturbances.

Despite the restrictions, violence broke out in the surrounding areas after the game. Among the injured were three police officers, an institutional source told AFP.

The incident adds to a series of recent violent episodes linked to Colombian football. The most recent occurred in December, when supporters of Atlético Nacional and Independiente Medellín clashed in the stands and on the pitch, leaving 59 people injured.

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International

Missing Spanish Sailor Rescued After 11 Days Adrift in Mediterranean

The man had departed from the port of Gandía, on Spain’s eastern coast, with the intention of reaching the southern Spanish town of Guardamar del Segura, a journey of about 150 kilometers, a spokesperson for Spain’s maritime rescue service told AFP.

Search boats and aircraft were deployed on January 17, but the operation was called off on January 22 after efforts proved unsuccessful. Alerts were then issued to vessels navigating the area in case they spotted any signs of the missing sailor.

As hopes were fading, a surveillance aircraft from the European Union’s border agency Frontex spotted the sailboat on Tuesday, along with a person signaling for help, approximately 53 nautical miles northeast of Bejaia, Algeria.

A nearby vessel, the Singapore-flagged bulk carrier Thor Confidence, carried out the rescue and is expected to bring the man to an end to his ordeal when it arrives on Thursday in the southern Spanish port city of Algeciras.

Maritime rescue services shared images on social media showing a small white sailboat drifting at sea and secured alongside the much larger ship.

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It remains unclear how the sailboat ended up hundreds of kilometers off its intended route or how the man managed to survive for so long alone in open waters.

International

Rubio Says U.S. Could Participate in Follow-Up Russia-Ukraine Talks

The United States could join a new round of talks this week aimed at ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday.

Teams from Kyiv and Moscow met last Friday and Saturday in Abu Dhabi in their first publicly acknowledged direct negotiations to discuss the peace initiative promoted by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

“They are going to hold follow-up talks again this week,” Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “There could be U.S. participation.”

However, Rubio suggested that Washington’s role may be more limited than during last week’s discussions, which included Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

The secretary of state indicated that progress may have already been made on security guarantees for Ukraine, one of Kyiv’s key demands in any agreement with Moscow after nearly four years of Russian invasion.

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“There is one remaining issue that everyone is familiar with, and that is the territorial claim over Donetsk,” Rubio said, referring to the eastern Ukrainian region that Russia wants Ukraine to cede.

“I know that active efforts are underway to see whether the positions of both sides on this issue can be reconciled. It remains a bridge we have not yet crossed,” he added during the hearing.

Rubio acknowledged that the territorial question would be particularly difficult for Ukraine to resolve.