International
Even in the Nido de las Águilas, a section without a wall, border crossings in the United States go down
The crossing of asylum-seeking migrants has been reduced in recent weeks on the border of California (USA) with Mexico, even by the popular Nido de las Águilas, a stretch of about 500 meters without a wall and one of the favorites of coyotes or human traffickers in decades.
The Border Patrol recognizes that the area, just 5 kilometers east of the urbanized area of San Diego, where the Otay mountains begin to be steep, is still one of the resources of migrants to enter the country. “There are migrants who still continue to cross in that area, as in others of the San Diego Sector of the Border Patrol,” said officer Gerardo Gutiérrez.
However, the Patrol says it does not know how many people have crossed there since President Donald Trump took office on January 20. Throughout San Diego County, civilian groups and the Coast Guard have reported a total of 77 detainees, but now most, 63, have arrived by sea, and there are no reports of arrests in the area without walls.
Residents of the place told EFE that although they still hear nocturnal noises of people passing by, now it is minimal. “I would tell you that at the end of 2023 large groups of people passed by, from about 30 to 40 people every now and then. One group was on right now and in minutes the other. Now I only have to see a small group of four people and stop counting, that was all, about two weeks ago,” Ventura, a resident of the area in Tijuana (Mexico) told EFE.
“I see that they continue to arrive, but it can no longer be compared,” said another resident of the Nido de las Águilas neighborhood, a highly populated neighborhood in Tijuana where the border wall about 9 meters high is interrupted.
The resident whose window has a direct view of the border said that now “very few people are seen crossing. Nothing as it was until a few months ago.”
Without wanting to say his name or accepting that photos be taken “for safety”, he said that “before they were groups every now and then: last year still sometimes in an hour I could see groups one after another.”
‘El Nido’ became one of the most frequented corridors since the 1990s, when the construction of the wall with Mexico began for the first time on the San Diego border and the Border Patrol deployed for the first time a larger operation, Operation Guardian.
The wall was then a closed metal obstacle ten feet (about 3 meters) high with a sharp finish that often cut fingers or caused injuries to migrants.
But unlike San Diego, with the largest and most populated urban area on the US border, ‘El nido’ has constantly had less surveillance and still has no wall, on top of a hill.
From the homes of the people who live in Mexico you can see the two interrupted parallel walls, and also if there is surveillance of the Border Patrol. For those ‘adventages’, it became known as a neighborhood of coyotes.
However, the mountain and open field area on the side of the United States, represents much less obstacle than, for example, San Ysidro, about 10 kilometers to the west, where there is not only a double wall and greater surveillance of patrol boats, but also teams of military engineers reinforced with barbed wire.
Another of the sections where migrants still arrive is to an area between parallel border walls to the west of the San Ysidro checkpoint, where in previous years thousands of people came to camp in search of asylum.
The director of the American Friends Committee, Pedro Ríos, who has headed a permanent post of assistance to migrants who arrive at that point reports only two groups so far this month: eight people from the Middle East and Africa, and a family of six people from Uzbekistan.
The other resource, more frequented since last January 20, is the sea, which has led the Coast Guard to take charge for the first time of intercepting boats with migrants, a task that CBP previously carried out in the Pacific with the support of the Border Patrol.
The Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported on Tuesday an 85% reduction in crossings along the southern border with Mexico during the first eleven days of the Trump administration, compared to the same period in 2024.
Since former President Joe Biden (2021-2025) decreed greater restrictions on asylum in June 2024, border crossings have been decreasing.
International
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Ecuador’s Armed Forces carried out an operation on Monday — including airstrikes — against illegal mining in the town of Buenos Aires, in the country’s north, Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo reported.
The mountainous, gold-rich area has been a hotspot for illegal mining since 2017, located in the Andean province of Imbabura.
In 2019, former president Lenín Moreno deployed around 2,400 soldiers to the region in an attempt to curb the illegal activity. “The operation began with mortar fire, followed by gunfire and bombing runs by Supertucano aircraft,” Loffredo said in a video released by the Defense Ministry.
He added that the operation would continue on Tuesday with patrols across the area to locate possible members of “irregular armed groups that may have crossed from the Colombian border.”
The Armed Forces stated on X that the intervention focused on the “complete elimination of multiple illegal mining tunnels” in the areas known as Mina Nueva and Mina Vieja.
The operation coincided with the deployment of a military and police convoy into Imbabura, which has been the epicenter of protests against President Daniel Noboa since September 22, following his decision to scrap the diesel subsidy.
International
Caracas shuts embassy in Oslo without explanation following Machado’s Nobel win
Venezuela has announced the closure of its embassy in Norway, just days after opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Venezuelan diplomatic mission provided no explanation for its decision on Monday.
“It is regrettable,” a ministry spokesperson said. “Despite our differences on several issues, Norway wishes to keep the dialogue with Venezuela open and will continue to work in that direction.” The ministry also emphasized that the Nobel Committee operates entirely independently from the Norwegian government.
In its announcement, the Nobel Committee stated that Machado met the criteria established by Alfred Nobel, “embodying the hope for a different future, where the fundamental rights of Venezuelans are heard.”
International
Sheinbaum: Urgent to restore access to towns cut off by heavy rains
Thousands of military personnel and civilians in Mexico worked tirelessly on Tuesday to clear roads blocked by the torrential rains of recent days, which have left more than 300 communities cut off across central and eastern regions of the country. Authorities also launched mass fumigation efforts in several affected areas to prevent the spread of dengue fever.
The official death toll remains at 64, though dozens of people are still missing. President Claudia Sheinbaumacknowledged that the government does not yet know the full situation in many of the isolated villages, which range in population from 500 to 1,000 inhabitants.
“The reopening of roads is one of the greatest urgencies,” Sheinbaum said. “It’s essential to guarantee air bridges, food supplies, clean water, and a proper census of the isolated communities so we can determine the condition of every person living there.”
Private construction companies are also assisting the effort with heavy machinery and technical support to help reopen highways and reconnect rural areas.
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
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