The International Committee of the Red Cross could not have been more timely. On the 4th, it published eight rules for civilian hackers regarding the use of the Internet as a weapon of war and four for the States that host these hackers.. In practice, er
All posts by Carmen Gomaro
Latin American leaders blame the migration crisis on the sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela
The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), met this Sunday in Palenque with his counterparts from Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, from Colombia, Gustavo Petro, from Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, from Haiti, Paul Henry, and from Honduras, Xiomara Castro, to try to offer a joint response to the migration crisis that the region is going through, with more than three million undocumented immigrants registered at the US border during the 2023 fiscal period, which closed on September 30. The meeting was attended by representatives from up to 11 Latin American and Caribbean countries, but excluded the United States and Canada, the main recipients of this flow, in an attempt to find a solution to the origin of the problem.
“We cannot wait for substantive initiatives to be taken by the United States Government.”. We have to act, and we can do it, we can help each other,” López Obrador explained shortly after participating, along with his counterparts, in a guided tour of the Mayan ruins of Palenque.. After the tour, the leaders held a two and a half hour work meeting in which a document of 'regional commitments' was signed.. Among other points, the 'Palenque Agreement' includes the promotion of interregional trade, the elimination of tariffs, the fight against transnational organized crime and human trafficking, strengthening the protection of women and children on the route, expanding regular migration routes and the creation of a Latin American medicines agency.
The signatories have also aligned themselves with Nicolás Maduro and Miguel Díaz Canel, demanding that the US end the economic sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela since, in their opinion, “they are contrary to international law and have serious repercussions beyond the target countries.”. Likewise, they have called on Joe Biden's government to sit down with the Castro authorities to “hold a comprehensive dialogue on their bilateral relations in the shortest possible time.”. In statements to the media, the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, has denounced that the economic blockade “is expressly aimed at depressing income, generating poverty, hunger, and trying to generate political change, and naturally that causes a stimulus to immigration”.
For his part, the Venezuelan president has thanked his Latin American counterparts for the support received to end “more than 930 illegal sanctions, misnamed sanctions, coercive, extortionist, torturous and unilateral measures” and has committed that, if they are lifted, “permanently, totally and completely, without extortion, without blackmail (…) in less than a year all the causes and this situation are being reversed”. More than 334,000 undocumented Venezuelans arrived in the United States during fiscal year 2023, according to figures from the Customs and Border Protection Office, being the largest nationality of all.. Between August and September alone, more than 60,000 were registered, a figure that doubles that documented in June and July.
The 'countersummit' of migrants in Tapachula
Coinciding with the meeting that Latin American leaders were holding in Palenque, a group of around 200 migrants participated this Sunday in a symbolic summit in the Bicentenario park in the Mexican city of Tapachula, next to the border with Guatemala, where they explained the causes that They took them to leave their countries, they criticized the actions of their rulers and burned piñatas with the faces of Nicolás Maduro, Miguel Díaz-Canel and Daniel Ortega.. A Venezuelan migrant who was traveling with his wife and four children lamented that “we are human beings, but Maduro does not see that, that does not matter to him, he only cares about greed and money, I am looking for a better future for my children, a security that I cannot find in my country”.
Tapachula is one of the best thermometers to measure the pulse of the flow in the region, since all migrants who enter through southern Mexico, after crossing the Suchiate River (natural border with Guatemala), must pass through this point to formalize their transit and asylum permits, in a process that can take several months. The saturation of the shelters in the border city has forced hundreds of migrants to spend the night outdoors, in parks and public squares, where they are exposed to high temperatures, recurring rains, hunger and thirst, and harassment from authorities. corrupt companies and criminal groups that profit from their transit.
Irineo Mújica, spokesperson for the NGO 'Pueblos Sin Fronteras', describes the 'Palenque Summit' as “the most hypocritical and corrupt I have seen”, and regrets that the attendees “are the ones who are creating migration and we should not reward them with money as López Obrador intends”. This activist is one of the most recognized voices in Mexico on immigration matters, as he usually travels through the main points of the route documenting the vulnerability of migrants and calling for acts of protest and mobilizations to draw the attention of the authorities.. The saturation of the shelters in Tapachula has pushed Mújica to call for the departure of a 'migrant caravan' for next October 30 and, as he explains to EL MUNDO, “it has all the ingredients to be one of the largest and most difficult. The situation here is terrible and it is necessary to make the problem visible and protect the migrant community.”.
Sergio Massa, the traitor who saved Peronism
For years, Sergio Massa's ears must have burned: the word “traitor” was the only one they pronounced in Kirchnerism when they remembered him. But that is history, after the surprising victory he achieved this Sunday, the “traitor” became the savior of all Peronism. And he now has a good part of the ballot to be the next president.
Massa, 51, was almost everything one could be in politics, both in positions and ideology.. As a young man he embraced the liberal faith as a member of the Democratic Center Union, as a young adult he was a bishop of Néstor and Cristina Kirchner, to become in 2013 the brake on the president's ambitions for political eternity.. Ten years later it became Cristina's resigned bet and an unexpected winner of this Sunday's presidential elections.
It is true that Massa still has to win the second round, also that his was the worst presidential election in the history of Peronism. But the ability of the former president of the Chamber of Deputies is undeniable. It was he who inflated Milei's candidacy behind the scenes, giving him political support and electoral oversight.. It was believed that the experiment had gotten out of hand, but the truth is that Milei helped Massa to break Together for Change, which until a couple of months ago he believed he had won the election..
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Argentina. Peronism gives the big surprise: it wins the elections and will play for the presidency in a second round with Milei
Peronism gives the big surprise: it wins the elections and will play for the presidency in a second round with Milei
Handball goalkeeper in his youth, Massa grew up knowing how to deflect the multiple attacks that any politician suffers on the front line. First as mayor of Tigre, then as head of the pension system, head of the Cabinet of Ministers and third authority of the State since the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies.
“Massa would make a mistake if he believed that the votes he received were his.”. Most of them are out of fear,” said analyst Alejandro Catterberg.. The fear, the fear of Milei, will undoubtedly be the axis of the campaign that begins ahead of the second round on November 19.
If one adjective is applicable to Massa, it is sinuous.. When he assumed the Ministry of Economy in August 2022 -Massa is a lawyer-, the question was whether he was not betting on an impossible mission. What profit could assuming control of precisely that which Argentina has not been able to control for decades, the economy, bring?
Amazingly, it paid off. Massa advanced the government structure to become de facto president, while Alberto Fernández was diluted personally and politically.. And the astonishment was even greater when it was observed that all the economic numbers worsened with Massa as minister. Inflation doubled to almost 140 percent annually and the Central Bank's reserves are negative by 8 billion dollars.
But Massa and his campaign team achieved the miracle of turning him into two people in one, but two antithetical people.. There was Economy Minister Massa who spent money that does not exist and for whom inflation was getting out of hand. And there was the candidate Massa who promised to solve everything that doesn't work, among other things, Massa's inflation.
The ministry, however, gave him centrality and the appearance of a statesman.. He insisted again and again that he accepted “a hot iron” when he could have avoided the tough challenge of taking on the economy and intervened in multiple issues unrelated to his ministry.. The strategy paid off.
The winner of the first round is probably the best friend that the government and the political establishment of the United States have.. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cannot say the same, which once released a payment of 7.5 billion dollars for Argentina, saw how Massa forgot all the commitments made, making the Income Tax of the companies almost non-existent. Individuals (Income Tax, in Argentina) and distributed money by turning the machines at the Mint red hot. It was an essential part of his campaign towards the Casa Rosada.
Massa is not alone, the “pack” includes Malena Galmarini, his wife, president of the state drinking water company and frustrated candidate for mayor of Tigre. Those who know them assure that the Massas' ambition is even higher than that of Néstor and Cristina Kirchner. And that, you know, is saying a lot.
France, from trained to 'low cost' terrorism: "Anyone can take action"
France has been at the maximum level of terrorist alert since last Friday, after the Islamist attack in which a teacher died in Arras, in the north of the country. The Government has deployed 7,000 soldiers, has armored schools and in the streets of the country there are r
Israel, on the verge of a "devastating" regional conflict
With 120,000 Israelis evacuated from their homes to flee shells and infiltrations, Israel faces its biggest and most diversified challenge since the '73 war.. The fronts of the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen – all of them supported by Iran – are burning with the fuse lit by the massive Israeli military offensive against the fundamentalist group Hamas. This weekend's attacks and warnings in areas more or less remote from the Jewish State could lead to a regional war as the imminent ground incursion into the Gaza Strip progresses.
The trauma of 7-O 23 in Israel, caused by the largest attack in its history (1,400 dead, 213 kidnapped and 100 missing) is much greater than that of 6-O 73, which explains the unprecedented military retaliation that It has caused more than 4,600 deaths in territory controlled by Hamas and inhabited by more than 2.2 million people.
Today Iran sees its dream of a confrontation closer from its proxies that surround its great enemy without the need for a direct clash and its nightmare of the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia further away.
Loop
It is the epicenter of war and suffering. Unlike previous escalations, the Israeli authorities do not intend to “hit Hamas” but rather eliminate it. “The Air Force is hitting many terrorists, but the only way to put an end to Hamas as a regime and with its armed capacity is a ground intervention,” a former senior Israeli Defense official explains to EL MUNDO, adding: “No country that has suffered such carnage can remain idly by. Hamas, which we tried to calm down with money and work permits for Gazans, can no longer be our neighbor.”
But the path to this Israeli goal has become hell for the Palestinians in the Strip, especially in the north, who do not remember such lethal and intense bombings.
While Israel spoke this Sunday of the “death of dozens of terrorists killed” in the latest attacks, as well as of a soldier in a confrontation during a specific raid, the Hamas Government denounced that 55 people died in the bombings of the previous night alone.. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) indicates that 29 workers in Gaza have died in a war that appears to be long. The Air Force uses more and more force with the stated objective of facilitating the entry of its soldiers. However, Washington prefers to extend the wait for the invasion given the possibility of the release of more kidnapped people.
“I would like to warn the United States and the Israeli puppet regime that if they do not immediately put an end to the crimes against humanity and the genocide in Gaza, anything is possible at any moment and the region would become uncontrollable,” warned the Iranian minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
For the second consecutive day, the Rafah border crossing was opened to receive the humanitarian convoy. The 17 trucks with water, food and medicine entered Gaza territory at dusk hours after some clashes between the military and militiamen in a nearby area in the south of the Strip.. Insufficient aid to meet the needs of an enclave that has been under siege and bombs for 16 days.
“During the ongoing clashes in the Gaza Strip, one of the Egyptian border guard towers was accidentally hit by fragments of an Israeli tank shell,” Egyptian military spokesman Gharib Abdelhafez explained of an error admitted by Israel in the area. border of Keren Shalom and which caused nine minor injuries.
West Bank
For the first time since the Second Intifada 20 years ago, Israel used a fighter jet against militias in the West Bank. The motive, according to Israel, was to destroy an underground complex in the Al Ansar mosque, in the Jenin refugee camp, to dismantle a Hamas and Islamic Jihad commando.. According to Channel 12, they were going to carry out a suicide attack or an infiltration.
Before 7-O, the West Bank seemed the most conducive place for a large-scale confrontation after more than a year of attacks, raids and armed clashes, while Gaza remained relatively calm.. Hamas preferred to preserve its regime and encourage attacks from Jenin or Nablus. That at least was what Israel believed in an error that has paid lethally.
Hamas's “success” in 7-O was highly applauded by its supporters in the West Bank under the watchful eye of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Since then, at least 90 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have been killed in clashes, foiled attacks, operations and riots.
Lebanon
If fully activated, the second hottest front will become the largest. The powerful Hezbollah group supported the Hamas attack with words and blows (basically anti-tank guided missiles) with the aim of “distracting” the common enemy in its campaign in Gaza. Israel responded forcefully but in a limited manner in an exchange of blows that at any other time would have provoked a war like the one in 2006.. This date was remembered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to warn the head of the militia, Hassan Nasrallah: “I don't know right now if Hezbollah will decide to intervene completely in the war, but if it does, it will miss the 2006 war.. “He will be making the mistake of his life.”. He also sent a message to the Lebanese people that the intervention of the pro-Iran movement would cause Israel to hit the group in such a way that “the meaning for it and for Lebanon would be devastating.”
Hezbollah has a dilemma. If it intervenes directly, its troops and Lebanon may end up suffering even more than in the 2006 war.. If he does not do so, he will leave his Sunni ally alone in the Iranian axis. The decision is in the hands of Nasrallah and Iran. So far, it has managed to disrupt the lives of 60,000 evacuated Israelis and has caused the Israeli armed forces to divide into two fronts.
Syria
For the second time since the start of the war with Hamas, an airstrike attributed to Israel hit the airports of Aleppo and Damascus, leaving their landing strips out of service.. As it has done in recent years after launching missiles against weapons convoys sent from Tehran to its militias in Syria or Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel did not make public comments, but believes Iran wants to take advantage of the crisis to accelerate the supply of military material.
Syria is a fundamental piece in the ring designed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard around Israel, either with missiles fired or as a platform to send sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Yemen
The twenty missiles and drones fired by the Houthis against Israel and intercepted by the United States have set off alarms in Kyria (Tel Aviv) and the Pentagon (Washington). The pro-Iran militia warned this Sunday that “Zionist ships” will be hit in the Red Sea if the bombings in Gaza continue. Its possible participation in the war conflict is one of the reasons for the US military reinforcement in the region.
Iraq
Several pro-Iran militias revealed that they are in contact with Hamas and promise not to sit idly if the war continues. In his telephone conversation with the Islamist leader Ismail Haniyah, the general secretary of the Shiite movement Al Nujaba, Akram Al-Kaabi, promised help. For the moment, the United States has ordered the evacuation of non-essential personnel from its embassy in Baghdad and its consulate in Erbil.
Countdown for Siemens Gamesa: six years of power struggle, 20 dismissals of key positions and the last SOS to the Government
Siemens Gamesa faces its countdown before a new restructuring, perhaps the definitive one. The world's third largest manufacturer of wind turbines and the spearhead of this industry in Spain is experiencing a dramatic contrast. On the one hand, the European commitment to the energy transition places the company in a sector that is the subject of multi-million dollar investments.
On the other hand, the workers of the nine Spanish factories that are still under the umbrella of the wind giant (eight of them for sale) are holding their breath after last week Jochen Eickholt, CEO of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, internally admitted to the unions that the company had renounced contracts for 1,000 million euros and that it expected to close the year with 4,500 million losses, according to sources from the social agents. The announcement disconcerted the market more than it did a staff that has been suffering a power war between Berlin and Vizcaya for six years.. The first one won the match a long time ago.
The Basque Gamesa debuted on the stock market in 2000, almost 24 years after beginning its journey.. A year later it made a place for itself on the Ibex 35. Since its jump to the market and until 2016, just before the arrival of the German giant Siemens, it obtained profits every year, with the exception of 2012, when it closed with 659 million euros of losses before the only restructuring that the firm had carried out until then. .
It was in 2017 when the wedding between Siemens and Gamesa took place, through a merger by absorption by which the Spanish company was integrated into the renewable subsidiary of the German company and adopted the name Siemens Gamesa.. The operation was sealed with the approval of Iberdrola, then a reference shareholder of Gamesa.. The capital of the resulting company was distributed 59% to the German group and 8% to Iberdrola.. The company closed the year with a profit of 118 million.
The merger was turbulent from the beginning. Soon the trickle of dismissals of managers who had held key positions at the former Gamesa began.. To date, union sources estimate that there are more than twenty key profiles that left the national division in a context of continuous tensions between the German and Spanish leadership.. Names such as Xabier Etxeberría, then executive general director, or Ignacio Artazcoz, general financial director, made headlines at the time of their departure, in 2017, when the merged company suffered its first stock market crash.
The most famous case was that of Rosa García who, after seven years at the head of the company of which she was then president, left Siemens Gamesa in 2018.. Today, the board presides over the energy company Exolum and sits on the Board of Directors of leaders such as EDPR, Mapfre or Sener.. The loss has not only been of managers. During this time, the company has closed four of its industrial centers in Spain, with the relocation of blade manufacturing to Portugal.
Restructuring
The German company already reported last fall of its intention to eliminate 2,900 jobs, 475 of them in Spain, where today the workforce amounts to 4,800 employees.. The group had closed the year with losses amounting to 1,226 million euros. With this background, the recent announcement by Jochen Eickholt, CEO of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, has set off alarm bells among the Spanish workforce, where they expect office and plant closures.. In fact, according to market sources, the German group held advanced negotiations for the sale of eight of its factories, with some 1,200 employees, an operation that the company put on hold a few months ago, when a new obstacle stirred the waters even more.
This summer, the energy company discounted to the market an impact of more than 1,000 million (which it later raised to around 2,000) due to technical problems with some of its machines.. According to industry sources, these deficiencies would prevent the company from meeting the efficiency commitments signed with its clients, which guarantee for its products between 95% and 97% activity during windy hours.. This percentage would be reduced due to these technical problems, which will force the company to compensate its clients.
This is what Eickholt's announcement regarding the multimillion-dollar loss of contracts is blamed for.. “If I, as CEO, announce that I have given up that volume of orders, they will fire me the next day,” says the CEO of another renewable multinational. “No one in the market has understood this movement.”
Spokespersons for UGT FICA, the majority union in the group's corporate offices, held a meeting a few days ago with the acting Minister of Industry, Héctor Gómez. This was the first contact between the union and the head of the department who replaced Reyes Maroto at the head of the Ministry in March.. In this face to face, the union informed the minister of the seriousness of the situation. Gómez, according to sources present at the meeting, indicated the ministry's willingness to collaborate as necessary, although, within the framework of a functioning Government, few significant actions are expected.
Aside from its particular via crucis, the serious financial tensions faced by Siemens Gamesa are part of a complex situation that has put European mill manufacturers in check.. Namely, a delay in administrative permits that prevent projects from starting, manufacturing costs triggered by inflation and bottlenecks in supply chains.
All this is making red the most widespread color among the results of the main wind companies in the European Union, such as Vestas or Nordex.. In the case of Siemens Energy, the company will publish its annual results on November 15 with the latest forecast of 4.5 billion losses as a prelude.. A week later, on the 21st, it will celebrate its Capital Markets Day, where it will announce the pertinent restructuring. In Spain, the unions are already preparing to take to the streets.
The caution of the markets leaves investment in startups stagnant
South Summit is the reference fair in Spain when it comes to taking the pulse of startups. Your Entrepreneurship Map is always a moment awaited by the ecosystem. The 2023 edition, presented last Tuesday in Madrid, had to be confirmed
The Spain that cannot face unforeseen expenses: "Either you pay or you eat"
In Spain there are 12.3 million people – 26% of the population – who are at risk of poverty and social exclusion (AROPE), according to the annual report The State of Poverty, presented this week by the European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN). ). The highest figure
Feijóo predicts that Sánchez will form "a broken Government" and that the amnesty "will be the end"
The second act of the PP against the possible amnesty for the crimes of the process was not intended as a display of force, like the one that exceeded expectations in Madrid, on September 24, with more than 60,000 attendees, but as a flying goal on the road to the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. Unlike the previous street mobilization, this was a rally.
Specifically, a pre-campaign rally, with harangues of demands and calls to the polls to vote “amnesty yes or amnesty no”. In the Plaza del Ayuntamiento of Toledo – punished by a freezing wind – 1,000 people were expected and about 1,300 have attended.
As there is no date yet for the investiture (it depends on PSOE and Junts reaching an agreement), the popular people have decided to hold an event in the street every Sunday to denounce the bankruptcy of the “equality” of all citizens: Toledo ( today), Malaga (October 29) and Valencia (November 5), for now.
“We are in the streets because we are the majority, the calm, optimistic majority, who believes in Spain,” stressed Alberto Núñez Feijóo.. “This is much more than a rally. Here we are summoned by 45 years of democracy that we are not willing to let anyone take away from us.. The right to progress in freedom and equal opportunities is inalienable,” the Galician leader emphasized.
In the central part of his speech, Feijóo has accused Pedro Sánchez of “disturbing democracy” with his concessions to the independence movement: “They get into an office to agree against the Spanish. They are the ones who have cornered themselves in offices, private rooms and furtive meetings” to seek “the benefit of a few,” he exclaimed.
“They have completely neglected the country; it is not a functioning Government, but a dysfunctional Government,” he stressed, to contrast it with “the Spain of free and equals” that the PP represents, in his opinion.. “History will judge him, the polls will judge him and that will be his final point,” he said about the acting president of the Executive.
Feijóo's rallying and pre-electoral tone is due to the fact that he believes that there may be a repeat election, but also because he considers that, if there is an investiture, the legislature would be short and diabolical for Sánchez. “Perhaps I can form a Government, but that Government will be born broken. He will assume the presidency as a resigned president, because he will have failed to fulfill his main duty in office, which is the equality of all Spaniards,” he noted.
“He, him and him”
For the leader of the PP, all transfers to Junts are due to the fact that “Pedro Sánchez only loves himself” and looks after his personal interests rather than the equality of all Spaniards.. “Him, him and him,” he stressed.
Again without citing Emiliano García-Page (he never does so when he visits his community), Feijóo has disgraced the PSOE barons for not attending the event in the Senate on Thursday. “Their presidents have not gone to the Senate because they have nothing good to say on behalf of their party.”. That's why they talk a lot and do nothing,” he noted.
“If the PSOE were sure that it had the support of the Spanish people, we would go to elections to vote if we agreed with the amnesty,” he claimed, “but the PSOE has no self-respect left.”. “If he had any self-respect left he would not have to go through the embarrassment of going back on everything he said” about the amnesty nor would he be “silent and servile” before Junts and ERC, he added.
“Invade the legislative branch”
“And it would not have ministers who were equidistant, ambiguous and even condescending to acts of terrorism” in Israel. “And if the PSOE had self-respect it would not shake hands with Bildu,” he insisted. “Someday the PSOE will look back and be ashamed of all this,” he closed the argument.
Finally, Feijóo has accused the Government of “invading the legislative power” and “controlling the Judiciary”. “We want a Spain in which Justice is not at the discretion of those who commit crimes,” he maintained.
“They close Congress from time to time,” he said, “because they can't stand the fact that we are the majority group.”. Faced with this, he pointed out that “of course we are going to open the Senate”, and has revealed that the proposals of the PP barons in the Upper House, on Thursday, will become an initiative that the popular people will take to the plenary session so that than to vote on amnesty.
France, from trained to 'low cost' terrorism: "Anyone can take action"
France has been at the maximum level of terrorist alert since last Friday, after the Islamist attack in which a teacher died in Arras, in the north of the country. The Government has deployed 7,000 soldiers, has armored schools and in the streets of the country there are r