International
Trump’s annexation threats return to Canada at the end of the 19th century
At the end of the 19th century, Canada was saved from being annexed by the United States thanks, in large part, to Spain. With Donald Trump in the White House, the threat is repeated and Canadians wonder what will happen now.
After winning the presidential election in November 2024, Trump made it clear that as soon as he reached the White House he would impose 25% tariffs on Canada.
Alarmed by the possibility of taxes that would devastate the Canadian economy, which allocates up to 70% of its exports to the neighboring country, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau traveled to Mar-a-Lago, Florida, to have dinner with the then president-elect and try to defuse the threat.
During that dinner in November 2024, Trump told Trudeau that if Canada wanted to avoid tariffs, the country would have to become the 51st state of the United States.
Since then, the Republican has repeated his interest in the annexation of Canada, even using “economic force” to bend his neighbor and ally.
The last time was last Thursday when in the Oval Office, Trump insinuated that Canada as a failed country, unable to defend itself against the threats of Russia or China.
“I think Canada is going to be a very serious candidate to be our 51st state,” Trump explained.
The idea of the US annexing Canada is not new. But for more than a century it had practically disappeared from Washington’s political vocabulary.
After snatching much of its territory from Mexico (from Texas to California) in the first half of the 19th century, in the second half, especially after the end of its civil war in 1865, the United States regularly repeated the idea of taking over the British colonies of North America, what today is Canada.
By then, the United Kingdom considered these colonies a political, economic and military burden. And in a quiet way he had practically decided that his defense was not worth it in case the United States decided to appropriate them.
Paradoxically, as Andrew Johnston, professor of History at Carleton University of Ottawa, pointed out to EFE, it was the American attempts to annex the British colonies that forced their unification in 1867 in the Canadian Confederation.
“The US’ desire to absorb Canada was what actually pushed the British Empire and the inhabitants here to organize themselves into independent colonies and later into an independent nation,” he explained.
The creation of Canada that year, and the expansion of the new country to the west (until 1871 the province of British Columbia was not incorporated into the Confederation), did not stop the American expansionist desires.
This required a change of mentality in Washington. And Spain.
As the authors Gwynne Dyer and Tina Viljoen point out in their book ‘The Defense of Canada’ by the late nineteenth century, the United States had become a more industrial country.
“The old impulse for territorial expansion was ceasing to be a central issue in American life and the new imperialism that soon replaced it was almost no threat to Canada: what Washington now wanted were overseas colonies as the European empires had,” the two authors point out.
So in April 1898, with William McKinley in the Presidency, the United States declared war on Spain and before the end of that year, Washington had its overseas possessions: Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam.
Precisely McKinley is Trump’s idol, who has described him as “the king of tariffs”, for being the main driver of the legislation that at the end of the 19th century imposed tariffs of 50% on imports of goods into the United States.
That parallelism between Trump and McKinley does not escape Professor Johnston. “What Trump is expressing is something that I think has always been present in the minds of Americans, particularly after the revolution: that they have a historical mission,” he said.
But Johnston also believes that as in 1867, when the longings for annexation of the United States forced the creation of Canada, Trump’s threats will provoke another cathartic moment that has already begun with the renewed patriotism that the Canadian population has been demonstrating in recent months.
International
Cuban authorities free salvadoran convicted in 1997 hotel bombing
Salvadoran national Otto René Rodríguez Llerena was released after serving a 30-year prison sentence for his involvement in a terrorist attack at a hotel in Cuba in 1997, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
During his trial, Rodríguez Llerena admitted to placing an explosive device at the Meliá Cohiba Hotel under the orders of anti-Castro exile leaders. He was arrested the following year when he returned to Havana with another load of explosives that failed to detonate.
“The Cuban government reiterates its commitment to combating terrorism, respecting human rights, and the need for the international community to hold accountable those who promote such acts,” the statement read.
He was released on August 15 and is the second Salvadoran to complete his sentence. In December of last year, another Salvadoran, Ernesto Cruz León, was released after planting bombs at tourist centers, one of which killed an Italian tourist identified as Fabio Di Celmo.
A third Salvadoran, Francisco Chávez Abarca, also received a 30-year sentence from Cuban courts in 2010 after being extradited from Venezuela through Interpol for actions against Cuba.
Rodríguez Llerena had requested conditional release in 2016, arguing that his actions had not caused any direct fatalities, but no further information was released about his situation until now.
International
Peruvian woman arrested in Bali for smuggling cocaine in sex toy
A Peruvian woman was arrested on the popular Indonesian tourist island of Bali for allegedly attempting to traffic 1.4 kg of cocaine, part of which was hidden inside a sex toy in her vagina, police announced on Tuesday.
The 42-year-old woman, identified only by her initials N.S., arrived at Bali’s international airport from Qatar on August 12.
“Customs officers became suspicious of her behavior and, after consulting with the police, conducted additional checks,” said Radiant, head of Bali’s narcotics unit, during a press conference.
Authorities discovered 1.4 kg of cocaine, partly concealed in the sex toy. She was also accused of carrying dozens of ecstasy pills.
The Peruvian confessed to the police that she had been hired by a man she met in April on the dark web to transport the drugs to Indonesia in exchange for $20,000.
Indonesia has some of the world’s strictest drug trafficking laws and imposes the death penalty on drug traffickers. Currently, more than 90 foreign nationals are on death row in the country for drug-related offenses, according to the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections.
In July, a court in Bali sentenced an Argentine woman to seven years in prison for attempting to smuggle 244 grams of cocaine into the island in a condom hidden in her vagina.
The last executions for drug trafficking in Indonesia occurred in 2016, when an Indonesian and three Nigerians were executed.
International
Trump says Russia open to security guarantees for Ukraine amid peace talks
U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Monday that Russia is willing to accept security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a potential peace agreement, during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House.
After the talks, Zelensky described the discussions as positive, while Trump took a moment to speak with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and confirmed a trilateral summit between the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia.
Trump expressed optimism about the prospects of ending the Russian invasion.
Zelensky, who also held a separate meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, called the discussions with the U.S. leader “the best to date.” He emphasized the importance of “strong signals” from the United States regarding Western security guarantees.
The atmosphere between the two leaders was reportedly more relaxed than in February, when Trump and his vice president, J.D. Vance, publicly rebuked Zelensky for not appearing “grateful” for U.S. support.
“In one or two weeks, we will know if we are going to resolve this or if this horrible fight will continue,” Trump said at the start of the meeting.
The presence of leaders from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, the European Commission, and NATO highlighted ongoing concerns about Washington’s stance on Ukraine.
Before the meeting, Trump had pressured Kyiv to relinquish Crimea and abandon its NATO membership ambitions, two of Moscow’s main demands. However, he stated that the Alaska summit with Putin had brought progress.
“I like the ceasefire. From another perspective, it immediately stops the killing. But I think a peace agreement at the end of all this is very achievable and could be reached in the near future,” Trump said.
Cuban authorities free salvadoran convicted in 1997 hotel bombing
Peruvian woman arrested in Bali for smuggling cocaine in sex toy
Trump says Russia open to security guarantees for Ukraine amid peace talks
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