International
Costa Rica’s Foreign Minister, Arnoldo André, considers running to lead the OAS
The Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, Arnoldo André, is considering running for secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS) because he does not detect that neither of the two current candidates, from Suriname and Paraguay, has reached an “excited majority” in his favor.
This was stated in an interview with EFE by the Costa Rican diplomat, who attended the Permanent Council of the OAS in Washington on Monday, where the Surinamese Foreign Minister, Albert Ramdin, and the Paraguayan, Rubén Ramírez Lezcano, presented their candidacies.
“We feel, from what other countries have also told us, that neither of the two candidacies has reached an excited majority today that favors them with the necessary 18 votes,” he said.
“Costa Rica has said that if there is a need for a third consensus candidate, we can be willing to occupy that responsibility if the others want it,” he added.
According to André, several member states of the OAS have consulted him “with interest” whether he will take that step, but the chancellor said that there is still time left until the March 10 election.
Regarding the situation in Venezuela, he said that the Government of Costa Rica has been very clear in recognizing “the electoral victory” of the opponent Edmundo González Urrutia and “the defeat of Nicolás Maduro at the polls.”
André recalled that the OAS “is based on a system of democratic government” and remarked that “it is appropriate to insist that all the peoples of the Americas, not only Venezuela, conform to the inter-American system of respect for human rights.”
At the same time, he opined that “dialogue should never be eliminated” with Venezuela and pointed out that “at this time, even if it is not democratic and can be called a de facto government,” the power is held by Nicolás Maduro.
“It is necessary to reopen dialogue and it is necessary for Venezuela to accept the return of its citizens; there are more than seven million Venezuelan citizens who have left their homeland and wish to return,” he said.
The foreign minister concludes his trip to Washington this Wednesday, where he met with officials and congressmen, a few days after Marco Rubio, Secretary of State of the new Donald Trump Administration, visited Costa Rica during his tour of Central America in search of migration cooperation.
“Costa Rica is an ally of the United States,” remarked André, who revealed that Rubio said during his visit that the Costa Rican government has “an adequate migration policy.”
Costa Rica has 5.2 million inhabitants, of which one million are migrants, largely Nicaraguans who left their country, and it is also a land of passage for people heading north.
According to André, his government has been “conversing” for some time with the United States about the possibility of introducing flights to repatriate migrants who are in Costa Rica, as Panama does.
“We have not implemented repatriation flights but we do not rule out that they can be introduced,” said the chancellor, who pointed out that these would be “mainly voluntary” and would never be returned to “politically persecuted.”
Regarding China’s influence in the region, another concern of the Trump Administration, the foreign minister pointed out that Costa Rica has “good and fluid” relations with the Asian giant.
But he also admitted that there is “a big point of discord” about the deployment of the 5G network, since Costa Rica decreed that the suppliers must be from signatory countries of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, which excludes the Chinese Huawei.
The foreign minister stated that Costa Rica sees “with prudence and patience” Trump’s controversial statements about recovering the Panama Canal or annexing Canada and Greenland to the United States.
According to André, they are “spontaneous manifestations” that are part of the Republican’s “transactional style” to negotiate.
“Hapily, in the case of Costa Rica, in none of the issues we discussed with the Secretary of State there was no discord, so they did not raise any explicit request or complaint,” he said.
International
Trump Orders Construction of New ‘Golden Fleet’ to Revitalize U.S. Naval Superiority
President Donald Trump issued an executive order this Monday for the immediate construction of two new warships that will bear his name. These vessels will be the pioneers of what he described as the “Golden Fleet,” a future generation of “Trump-class” battleships that he claimed would be “100 times more powerful” than those currently in service.
The announcement took place at his private residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. The President indicated that following the initial two ships, the administration aims to commission up to 25 additional vessels. He is scheduled to meet with Florida-based contractors next week to expedite production, criticizing existing defense firms for failing to deliver results efficiently.
This naval expansion is a cornerstone of Trump’s goal to revitalized the American shipbuilding industry and address the strategic gap between the U.S. and competitors like China.
The move comes amid heightened geopolitical tension. Just last week, Trump ordered the seizure of all sanctioned tankers involved with Venezuela’s “ghost fleet” to cripple the country’s crude oil industry. Since December 10, the U.S. military—deployed in the Caribbean under the guise of counter-narcotics operations—has already detained two tankers linked to Venezuelan oil transport.
International
U.S. Judge Blocks ICE from Re-detaining Salvadoran Erroneously Deported Under Trump Administration
A U.S. federal judge ruled this Monday, December 22, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is prohibited from re-detaining Salvadoran national Kilmar Ábrego García, who was erroneously deported to El Salvador earlier this year during the administration of President Donald Trump.
During a hearing in Maryland, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ruled that Ábrego García must remain free on bail through the Christmas holidays, concluding that his initial detention lacked a legal basis. The ruling follows a request from his legal team for a temporary restraining order to prevent ICE from carrying out a new arrest.
Earlier this month, on December 11, Judge Xinis ordered his release from a Pennsylvania migrant detention center after determining that the government had detained him without a formal deportation order. In 2019, an immigration judge had already ruled that Ábrego could not be returned to El Salvador because his life was in danger.
Despite that protection, Ábrego García was deported in March 2025 following a raid by the Trump administration. Officials argued at the time that he was a gang member, and he was sent directly to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) in El Salvador. In June, he was returned to the United States to face a new trial for alleged human smuggling—a charge he denies.
On Monday, Judge Xinis also temporarily invalidated a new deportation order issued by an immigration judge following Ábrego’s recent release, granting him legal protection through the coming weeks. His trial is scheduled to begin in Tennessee in January 2026.
International
Fire at substation triggers major blackout in San Francisco
The U.S. city of San Francisco was plunged into darkness Saturday night after a power outage left about 130,000 customers without electricity, although the utility company said service was restored to most users within hours.
Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) said in a statement posted on X that nearly 90,000 homes had their power restored by 9:00 p.m. local time (05:00 GMT on Sunday), while the remaining 40,000 customers were expected to have service restored overnight.
Large areas of the city, a major technology hub with a population of around 800,000, were affected by the blackout, which disrupted public transportation and left traffic lights out of service during the busy weekend before Christmas, a crucial period for retail businesses.
“I know it’s been a difficult day,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a video posted on social media from the city’s emergency operations center. “There has been progress, but for those still without power, we want to make sure they are safe and checking in on their neighbors,” he added.
Lurie said police officers and firefighters advised residents to stay home as much as possible. He also noted that officers and traffic inspectors were deployed to manage intersections where traffic lights were not functioning.
The mayor confirmed that the outage was caused by a fire at an electrical substation. Parts of the city were also covered in fog, further complicating conditions during the incident.
As a result of the blackout, many businesses were forced to close despite it being the weekend before Christmas. The sudden drop in shopper traffic ahead of the holiday is “devastating” for retailers, the manager of home goods store Black & Gold told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Trump Orders Construction of New ‘Golden Fleet’ to Revitalize U.S. Naval Superiority
U.S. Judge Blocks ICE from Re-detaining Salvadoran Erroneously Deported Under Trump Administration
Fire at substation triggers major blackout in San Francisco
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