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Tag: Mexico

  • Washington supports the opposition march in Mexico in defense of the electoral authority

    Washington supports the opposition march in Mexico in defense of the electoral authority

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    Thousands of people gathered in the center of Mexico City to protest against the electoral reform proposed by the López Obrador party.Isaac Esquivel (EFE)

    “The United States supports independent and well-resourced electoral institutions.” With these ten words, the Department of State has entered into the controversy over the reform of the Mexican electoral authority, the National Electoral Institute, the INE. Washington has issued a statement a day after 100,000 Mexicans took to the streets in various cities to defend the autonomy of the organization in the face of the changes proposed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his party, Morena. “All over the world there have been challenges to democracy that have tested and continue to test the strength of independent electoral and judicial institutions,” said Ned Price, the Foreign Affairs spokesman for the Joe Biden government.

    In this way, Washington recognizes the “intense debate” that is taking place in Mexico between supporters of the government and the opposition, which has found in the defense of the electoral authority the best cause to unite weakened and dissimilar groups. This discussion reflects “a dynamic democracy”, according to the Americans. The State Department, headed by Antony Blinken, indicates that an independent electoral authority and respect for the judiciary are vital to have a healthy democracy. The opposition assures that these are under siege by the Mexican president and the Morena politicians in the Legislative. From the government party, for its part, they have linked the president of the organization, Lorenzo Córdova, with the opposition side.

    This is the second comment that Washington issues in the context of the opposition demonstration. “Today we see a great debate on electoral reforms that test the independence of electoral and judicial institutions,” he wrote on Twitter late afternoon. Sunday Brian Nicholsthe Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, an area where Mexico has great weight as one of the main partners of the United States.

    Although Washington indicates in its communiqués that it respects the sovereignty of Mexico, the issue has strained relations between some of the authorities of both countries. Last week, Ignacio Mier, the leader of Morena in the Chamber of Deputies, asked Americans to “keep their comments” on the electoral reform that his caucus pushed through the Legislature last year, popularly known as Plan B.

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    Last week the legislative process of said reform was consummated. The senators from Morena imposed their majority in the upper house to complete the transformation of the INE, which will see its structure decimated despite the fact that it is in charge of organizing thousands of elections in the country, helping the 32 electoral institutes. Plan B also makes it more difficult to punish public officials who meddle in campaigns. To ensure approval, the majority block, made up of Morena and her political partners, withdrew from the table a clause that allowed the transfer of votes between the parties united in an alliance. This provision, called “eternal life”, was postponed.

    In accordance with The New York Times, Morena’s plan B set off alarm bells among US diplomats. The newspaper assures that the United States embassy in Mexico has sent messages of concern to Washington about the background of the electoral reform. The Biden Administration, however, had remained silent on the issue. Until this week’s messages.

    This morning, during his daily conference, President López Obrador, as expected, charged the protesters. “Strictly speaking, they don’t care about democracy, but what they want is for the predominance of an oligarchy to continue, that is, a government of the rich, of the powerful; They don’t care about the people,” said the president.

    The message issued from Washington not only endorses the role of the electoral authority, a body that ceased to depend on the Executive in 1996, but also recalls the importance of judicial independence. The clash with the judges of the Supreme Court will be the new episode between the fight proposed by López Obrador. It will be the constitutional judges who must analyze the unconstitutionality appeals to which the opposition will appeal to stop Plan B of the electoral reform.

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    #Washington #supports #opposition #march #Mexico #defense #electoral #authority
    ( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )

  • Ovidio Guzmán: The US asks Mexico for the extradition of the son of ‘Chapo’

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    The United States presented Mexico a formal request for the extradition of Ovidio Guzmán, son of drug trafficker Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ GuzmánMexican government sources reported this Monday.

    The United States embassy presented the file with which this man, one of the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, is accused of drug trafficking to the Foreign Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office, detailed a government spokesman who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to to declare.

    Guzmán Jr., known by the alias ‘El Ratón’, was arrested on January 5 in the city of Culiacán (northwest), in an operation that left 10 soldiers and 19 suspected criminals dead.

    Authorities and drug trafficking experts believe that this 32-year-old man, along with three brothers, inherited the leadership of ‘El Chapo’ in the Sinaloa cartel and are known as ‘Los chapitos’.

    Guzmán Sr. was extradited to the United States in 2017 to be tried by a Brooklyn court, where He was found guilty of crimes related to drug transfer and money laundering, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019.

    After his capture, Ovidio Guzmán obtained a judicial suspension to prevent his immediate delivery to US justice, but the judge who granted this appeal gave until March 5 for Washington to present the extradition request.

    The US government claims Ovidio Guzmán and his brother Joaquín for conspiracy to export cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana to that country.

    For each one he offers a five million dollar reward. Mexico, on its side, accuses Guzmán Jr. of crimes against health and possession of firearms, although there are also investigations linked to organized crime.

    AFP

    #Ovidio #Guzmán #asks #Mexico #extradition #son #Chapo

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    ( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )

  • Reform promoted by the left to weaken the electoral body generates indignation in Mexico

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    Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans took to the streets of the capital, Mexico City, and other cities this Sunday (26) to protest against a reform promoted by leftist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known as AMLO) that jeopardizes the functioning of the body that holds elections in the country.

    Last week, the Mexican Legislature approved an electoral reform that, under the justification of cutting costs, will reduce the budget of the National Electoral Institute (INE), which would mean eliminating 85% of its career cadres and 300 district boards from the organ.

    The law will also generate other damages to the autonomous body, such as limiting the monitoring of electoral propaganda on radio and television and the powers of INE to sanction public officials who express support for candidates.

    The mayor of Mexico City informed the newspaper El Universo that around 90,000 people participated in the protest in the capital, but leaders of the National Action Party (PAN, opposition) estimated the presence of more than 500,000 demonstrators.

    Ramón Cossío, former minister of the Mexican Supreme Court, said he hopes the court will respond positively to the actions that have been filed to challenge AMLO’s electoral reform. “We trust them
    [juízes]in their democratic spirit, in the decision they will take to preserve the democratic life of the country”, he said, during Sunday’s demonstration.

    After the protests, AMLO mocked the demonstrators. “They have to mobilize even more people, they have to increase their mobilization capacity”, declared the president, a historical opponent of INE – in 2006, he alleged fraud in the presidential election in which he was defeated by Felipe Calderón.

    “They fill the Zócalo [principal praça da Cidade do México]well, yes, but to get the change we fill [a praça] 60 times, and we didn’t just fill it up, we overflowed it [a capacidade do local]”, he claimed, citing demonstrations of support for the government.

    The opposition repudiated AMLO’s comments. “No more divisions! López Obrador’s systematic attack against millions of people who defend democracy, freedoms and the INE reveals his authoritarianism, his intention to impose his vision as the only truth and his contempt for human rights”, said Marko Cortés, leader of the PAN.

    The fear of critics of the law, called Electoral Plan B because an initial proposal to affect the INE had been rejected by the Mexican Parliament last year, is that it will end independence and fairness in carrying out and monitoring electoral processes in Mexico.

    The country had a long history of fraud in elections until the creation of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) in 1990, which six years later disassociated itself from the Executive Branch. Afterwards, the agency became INE, which also took care of local elections and not just federal ones.

    On Twitter, Ambassador Brian Nichols, Deputy Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the US State Department, expressed concern about the changes proposed by AMLO and approved by the Mexican Legislature.

    “In Mexico, today we see a great debate about electoral reforms that test the independence of electoral and judicial institutions. The United States supports independent electoral institutions that have the resources to strengthen democratic processes and the rule of law,” said Nichols.

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    #Reform #promoted #left #weaken #electoral #body #generates #indignation #Mexico
    ( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )

  • With Congress out of Washington, lawmakers are traveling to global hot spots, including India, Taiwan and Mexico.

    With Congress out of Washington, lawmakers are traveling to global hot spots, including India, Taiwan and Mexico.

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    20230214 schumer 2 francis 1
    That’s in addition to the large group at the Munich Security Conference last week.

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    #Congress #Washington #lawmakers #traveling #global #hot #spots #including #India #Taiwan #Mexico
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Elizabeth Holmes tried to ‘flee’ US with one-way Mexico ticket, prosecutors say

    Elizabeth Holmes tried to ‘flee’ US with one-way Mexico ticket, prosecutors say

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    The disgraced founder of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes, made an “attempt to flee the country” by purchasing a one-way ticket to Mexico after she was found guilty on four counts of fraud last January, according to prosecutors.

    In the new filing on Thursday, prosecutors said that “contrary to defendant’s assertion that she has a ‘flawless record with US Pretrial Services’ and claim that no evidence suggests she will flee while she pursues her appeal … the incentive to flee has never been higher and defendant has the means to act on that incentive.”

    “As an initial matter, defendant’s record with Pretrial Services and the court does not account for her attempt to flee the country shortly after she was convicted. The government became aware on 23 January 2022, that Defendant Holmes booked an international flight to Mexico departing on 26 January 2022 without a scheduled return trip,” it said.

    Once the government became aware of Holmes’ planned trip, prosecutors emailed Holmes’ attorneys. In an email sent from Holmes’ legal team to the government, which ABC News reviewed, Holmes’ attorneys said: “The hope was that the verdict would be different and Ms Holmes would be able to make this trip to attend the wedding of close friends in Mexico.”

    “Given the verdict, she does not plan to take the trip – and therefore did not provide notice, seek permission, or request access to her passport (which the government has) for the trip.

    “But she also had not yet cancelled the trip, amidst everything that has been going on. We will have her do so promptly and will provide you confirmation.”

    Prosecutors in the filing said that “it is difficult to know with certainty what defendant would have done had the government not intervened”.

    They also revealed that Holmes’ partner William Evans departed on the scheduled date with a one-way ticket. Evans did not return until about six weeks later “from a different continent”. Evans’ activities during the trip were not disclosed by prosecutors.

    In November, Holmes was sentenced to over 11 years in prison over her role in Theranos, the blood testing firm she founded which was once valued at over $9bn and was later discovered to be mostly fraudulent. Holmes was convicted on four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

    In a statement prior to the sentencing, federal judge Edward Davila condemned Holmes and Theranos, calling the whole debacle a “fraud case where an exciting venture went forward with great expectations and hope, only to be dashed by misrepresentation, hubris and plain lies”.

    During Holmes’ sentencing, she was ordered to self-surrender to prison on April 27.

    The new filing comes as part of prosecutors’ argument that Holmes, who is currently pregnant with her second child, should start serving her prison sentence instead of living on a California estate with an alleged monthly upkeep of over $13,000, prosecutors claim.

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    #Elizabeth #Holmes #flee #oneway #Mexico #ticket #prosecutors
    ( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )