International

Right and far right leaders aspire to win the next elections in Latin America

The members of the Madrid Forum, an international alliance of conservative parties, leaders and organizations, right and far-right organizations of Spain and Ibero-America, said today that their goal is to win the seven general elections planned in Latin America for this year and next, as they proclaimed at the closing of the meeting held yesterday and today in Asunción.

Participants in the IV Regional Meeting of the Madrid Forum, inaugurated this Thursday by Paraguayan President Santiago Peña, assured that conservative and ultra-conservative options have a great opportunity to win the elections that will take place between now and the end of 2026.

“For the first time in many decades there is a real possibility of opening a new era of freedom and prosperity with the defeat of socialism in the region and throughout the West,” said the project coordinator of Foro Madrid, Edmaly Maucó, when reading the declaration approved at the end of the meeting held this Thursday and Friday in Asunción.

This year there will be general elections in August in Bolivia, and in Honduras and Chile in November, while in 2026 elections will be held in Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru and Brazil.

According to the final declaration of the meeting, the countries of the region have suffered “in their own flesh the ravages” of left-wing governments, and “have understood that socialism corrupts societies, destroys the economy, destroys freedoms.”

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“From Asunción we send to the entire region and the world a message of optimism and hope: the triumph of freedoms, democracy and the rule of law in Ibero-America is possible and is within the reach of all our peoples,” says the text.

They also announced that they will continue to “denounce and strengthen the political struggle” against what they considered “dictators of Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, as well as against all those who support them.”

The Madrid Forum is promoted by the Disenso Foundation, the laboratory of ideas of the Spanish far-right party Vox, whose leader, Santiago Abascal, participated yesterday, Thursday, in the opening of the meeting, together with the president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña.

The director of Foro Madrid, Eduardo Cader, said this Friday that the right-wing forces can return to power unless, according to him, “the left resorts to fraud” or the disqualifications of the adversary candidacies.

“Every choice will be a battle, and every victory will require courage, strategy and, above all, unity,” he emphasized.

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Cader charged against what he called “soft right”, to which he attributed the claim of “managing what the left built”, avoiding conflict and not offering resistance.

The forum praised the figures of Argentine President Javier Milei; Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

MEPs of the right-wing group ‘Patriots for Europe’ participating in the meeting questioned the role of the European Commission, chaired by Ursula von der Leyen, which they called a “mega-state” that makes decisions on issues such as immigration, placing itself, in their opinion, above the will of European countries.

Hungarian MEP Enikó Gyóri said that “there is clearly a turn to the right in Europe” and stressed that in the last elections to the European Parliament, held on June 9 last year, the far-right parties reached approximately 22% of the vote, which is equivalent to about forty million people.

Those voters are “those who think that the European Union would have to be as the founding fathers founded it, and not this new Europe that wants to exist above the nations, dictating things that perhaps they do not even want to do,” said the Hungarian MEP.

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Also MEP Jorge Martín Frías, director of the Dissenso foundation, said that everyone supports the European Union, but criticizes the role of the European Commission, he considered that “it has made a misrepresentation and has distanced itself from the initial European project”.

The members of the Madrid Forum, which has also been held in Bogotá (2022), Lima (2023) and Buenos Aires (2024), promised to intensify “political cooperation to achieve electoral victories,” with special emphasis on “the seven electoral appointments that are coming”, to – as they said – “reach a continent free of socialism.”

International

Luigi Mangione Pleads Guilty to Killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson

Luigi Mangione admitted Friday to fatally shooting Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest health insurance group in the United States, during an appearance before a federal judge.

The case shocked the U.S. business community and dates back to December 2024, when Mangione opened fire on Thompson, 50, on a Manhattan street. Prosecutors have described the attack as being motivated by Mangione’s opposition to the U.S. health insurance system.

“On the morning of December 4, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died,” Mangione said as he pleaded guilty to a federal stalking charge related to his pursuit of the executive.

Mangione, 28, is scheduled to be sentenced on December 18, and prosecutors have indicated that they will seek a life sentence.

In addition to the federal charges related to stalking Thompson, Mangione also faces a murder case brought by the state of New York.

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Following his guilty plea in federal court, Mangione’s defense asked a state court to dismiss the state charges, arguing that prosecuting him again for the same conduct would violate protections against double jeopardy.

“We have just filed our motion in state court to explain why the charges should be dismissed under New York’s protections against double jeopardy,” Mangione’s attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said Friday.

Both the federal and state cases could result in a life sentence. Two other federal charges that initially carried the possibility of the death penalty were dismissed by a judge earlier this year.

International

ICE Plan to Equip Agents With Electric Shock Gloves Raises Abuse Concerns

Plans to equip U.S. immigration agents with gloves capable of delivering electric shocks are raising concerns over potential abuses by a law enforcement agency that critics accuse of using excessive force and providing inadequate training to its personnel.

The plan involves the potential purchase of electric-shock gloves for agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency primarily responsible for carrying out President Donald Trump’s campaign to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

Democratic Representative Maxwell Frost criticized the proposal on X, arguing that the agency has already faced accusations of excessive force during immigration enforcement operations.

“As if assaulting and shooting people in the streets wasn’t enough,” Frost wrote. He also criticized the reported $20 million potential expenditure on the devices and called for greater restrictions on ICE.

The agency has faced growing scrutiny following a series of deadly shootings during immigration enforcement operations. Among the incidents were the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota in January who were participating in protests against the agency.

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Critics have focused on the tactics used by ICE agents when detaining immigrants, as well as allegations that training standards for newly recruited personnel have been lowered.

According to a procurement plan first reported by the Associated Press, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, could spend between $10 million and $20 million on the devices.

The gloves are described by the agency as tools intended for “distraction and de-escalation,” rather than lethal weapons. The system, known as GLOVE, stands for “Generated Low-Output Voltage Emitter.”

The device is manufactured by Compliant Technologies, a Kentucky-based company that describes its products as advanced non-lethal tools designed to protect and assist law enforcement and other personnel.

The proposal comes amid an intensifying national debate over ICE’s enforcement methods and the use of force during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

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International

Three U.S. Executions Set for Same Day as Trump Pushes to Expand Death Penalty

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 U.S. states, while three others —California, Oregon and Pennsylvania— currently have moratoriums in place.

The United States is set to carry out three executions on the same day, a rare occurrence that has not happened since 2010, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.

President Donald Trump has sought to expand the use of capital punishment for what he describes as “the most heinous crimes.” In April, the Department of Justice proposed expanding execution methods to include firing squads, lethal gas and electrocution.

Tennessee is scheduled to execute Anthony Darrell Dugard Hines, 66, on Thursday. He was sentenced to death for the 1985 murder of a woman, according to local media.

In Oklahoma, Carlos Cuesta-Rodríguez, 70, is scheduled to be executed for a 2003 murder.

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Meanwhile, Alabama plans to execute Jeremy Williams, 42, who was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl.

The United States carried out 47 executions in 2025, the highest number since 2009, when 52 executions were recorded.

Florida conducted the largest number of executions last year, with 19, followed by Alabama, South Carolina and Texas, with five each.

Of the executions carried out in 2025, 39 were conducted by lethal injection. Three were carried out by firing squad and five through nitrogen hypoxia, a method that involves forcing nitrogen gas into a face mask, depriving the prisoner of oxygen.

The United Nations has condemned nitrogen gas as a cruel and inhumane method of capital punishment.