All posts by Carmen Gomaro

Carmen Gomaro - leading international news and investigative reporter. Worked at various media outlets in Spain, Argentina and Colombia, including Diario de Cádiz, CNN+, Telemadrid and EFE.

A path of thorns for Spain: Croatia, Italy and Albania, rivals in Group B

Spain will have no respite in the Euro Cup. The brilliant classification as first in the group has not translated into a friendly draw for Luis de la Fuente's team, which will face Croatia, Italy and Albania in Group B, the most complicated. The first two classified will go to the round of 16 and even the third, if it is among the four best of the entire first phase. A path of thorns that will force you to perform from the start of the championship.

Luck has wanted to pair the team with two of its last three rivals in the Euro Cup. It will debut on Saturday, June 15 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin against Luka Modric's Croatia, a team that suffered to qualify, but has just been a semi-finalist in the Qatar World Cup.. It was the ball that had to be avoided in the third group and they couldn't do it. Spain crossed paths with the Balkans in 2012, when they were eliminated in the group stage with a goal from Jesús Navas. The revenge came four years later, sending La Roja on a path that led to elimination and in 2020, the last precedent, they needed an extension in the round of 16 to come back at the Parken in Copenhagen.

The equality was also noted in the final of the Nations League last June, which ended with a Spanish victory on penalties. This is a team in transition, led by incombustibles such as Ivan Perisic, Marcelo Brozovic and Mateo Kovacic, who Josko Gvardiol and Lovro Majer have joined, plus veterans Bruno Petkovic and Ante Budimir.

June 20 in Gelsenkirchen

The next rival will be Italy. It was the devilish ball of the fourth bass drum. He suffered to reach the final phase after the setback of not going to Qatar, but he always wakes up in the big championships. Spain will play against the Azzurri on Thursday, June 20 in Gelsenkirchen with the memory of the 2020 semifinal at Wembley resolved on penalties in favor of Roberto Mancini's team. They got their revenge in the semifinals of the Nations League and they will meet again with the team formed by Luciano Spalletti, with Federico Chiesa, Giacomo Raspadori and Nicolo Zaniolo at the helm.

The last rival, supposedly the weakest, is called Albania, which will be measured in Düsseldorf on Monday, June 24. It is their second participation after leading their group with 15 points, ahead of rivals such as the Czech Republic or Poland, whom they have sent to the play-offs.. With Sylvinho on the bench, he has LaLiga players such as Ivan Balliu, the parakeet Keidi Bare and the Granada striker Mirko Uzuni. “You have to be very focused from the beginning because it is a very difficult group,” said the Brazilian coach.. In the memory of the previous confrontations, that 9-0 in 1990, with four goals from Emilio Butrageño.

Group B in Spain is undoubtedly the most complicated due to the power of the rivals it concentrates.. The hosts, Germany, have been paired in Group A with Scotland, Hungary and Switzerland.. The opening match, June 14 (9:00 p.m.), will pit Julian Nagelsmann's team against the British in Berlin. In Group C, England was placed alongside Jan Oblak's Slovenia, Denmark and Serbia, which will compete in this competition for the first time since its independence with players such as Dusan Vlahovic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Nemanja Gudelj. In any case, Gareth Southgate will have to endure the favorite sign.

Waiting for the playoffs

A rival has emerged for France, one of the big favorites, in Group D. The Netherlands, under the direction of Ronald Koeman, will seek qualification in the company of Austria and the winner of play-off A, which must be resolved between Poland. Estonia, Wales or Finland. Belgium, another of the seeds, will face them in Group E with Slovakia and Romania and the winner of the second play-off between Israel, Iceland, Bosnia or Ukraine, the favorite after putting Italy on the ropes.

In Group D, another big favorite emerges, Portugal. Resurrected by Roberto Martínez and with an incombustible Cristiano Ronaldo at the helm, the championship will start with the Czech Republic to later receive Turkey and the last of the teams that grab the last ticket in play in March, which will be decided between Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan or Luxembourg .

Laporta goes down to the locker room and Xavi appeals to Joao Félix

And Joan Laporta went down to the locker room. This time to the first team, to avoid misunderstandings. It was on the eve of Barcelona's key match in LaLiga, after qualifying for the Champions League round of 16.. “We need the support of the fans,” said the Barça president, although from his visit it is deduced that the main need lies in his own team, in the locker room.. «The Barça-Atlético matches are very intense, electric matches. “They are coming strong, both teams are doing well and we have to take the three points,” he said..

Laporta insisted that the players are “super motivated”, but pointed out that “they need, as always and in this match more than ever, the support of the fans.”. In that sense, he called for people to come en masse to the party.. “You have an appointment with the players, who are looking forward to offering a great football exercise and victory,” he added.. For the president, Barça is at “a turning point, but we are getting better and better”.

Xavi Hernández normalized this visit, after the one Laporta made to the subsidiary's locker room, led by Rafa Márquez, aroused some suspicions. The coach reiterated that the support for the president's team is total. He also referred to the pressure that Joao Félix may feel, and even more so after the statements of those who were his teammates at Atlético. «Joao is from Benfica and that motivated him against Porto. Tomorrow it has to be extra motivation to play against the team you belong to,” he predicted.. And he did not hesitate to reaffirm that the former colchonero “is happy and happy” in Barcelona, and highlighted that “he is contributing a lot, with important goals.”.

The coach still cannot count on Ter Stegen, still with lower back pain, so Iñaki Peña is expected to make his third consecutive start under the sticks.. «It has been tried and there are discomforts. We'll see next week,” he lamented.. Finally, I do not hesitate to praise Joao Cancelo's performance against Porto, when the full-back moved to the left lane. “It gives us many alternatives, it is a key variant.”

Israel intensifies attacks in Gaza as negotiations for a new truce stall

While the mediation for a new ceasefire suffered a serious blow this Saturday, the Israeli Air Force hit the southern Gaza Strip in its offensive against Hamas in what could be the beginning of preparation for a ground operation in Khan Younis .

After failing to extend this Friday the truce that began a week earlier, the efforts of Egypt, Qatar and the United States have entered a complex labyrinth due to the discrepancies between Israel and the fundamentalist group regarding the new lists of kidnapped people to be released.

“As a result of the stalemate in the negotiations and following the instructions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of Mossad, David Barnea, ordered his team in Doha to return to Israel,” said the statement from the Israeli secret service.. After thanking the head of the CIA, the minister in charge of Intelligence in Egypt and the Qatari prime minister for their mediation that achieved the release of 84 Israeli children and women and 24 foreigners in the last week, Israel accused Hamas of ” to have failed to fulfill their part of the agreement which included the release of all children and women according to a list sent to and approved by Hamas.

Yahia Sinwar's group accuses Israel of failing to extend the pause and denounces that “it had already decided to resume the war”. One of the Islamist leaders, Saleh Al Arouri, warned in Al Jazeera that the “Zionist prisoners” will not be released without the release of Palestinian prisoners and a definitive ceasefire.. However, like the truce itself, the blockade to resume it is not definitive either.

While Hamas resumed firing projectiles at the Tel Aviv area at night (most were intercepted and four fell into the sea), signals are accumulating for an upcoming military incursion into the south of the Gaza Strip: intense attacks air strikes, approved operational plans, a call for evacuation to more southern areas and a warning from the US that the offensive to end Hamas cannot and should not be as long as Israel wants.

The resumption of the Israeli offensive has caused the death of almost 200 people, according to the Ministry of Health of the Hamas Government. Many in Khan Younis displaced from northern Gaza following offensive. Like Yamen, who asks: “Where will I go after Deir Al-Balah, after Khan Yunis? I don't know where I will take my wife and six children.”. Also to Reuters, Palestinian Samira tells that Friday night was “horror” due to the bombings. “It was one of the worst nights we've had in the last six weeks since we got here. We are very afraid that they will enter Khan Yunis,” he admitted.

The unrest in Gaza towards Israel is widespread due to the number of deaths and houses destroyed in the massive retaliation after the Hamas attacks on October 7. At the same time, more and more Gazans dare to publicly accuse Hamas and the countries that support it for the dramatic situation.. After denouncing “a massacre against innocent civilians and children” in an interview with Al Jazeera, a Palestinian was interrupted when he added: “God will settle scores with Qatar and Turkey!” This is not the first time that the Qatari network has silenced live voices against the group that has controlled the Palestinian enclave since 2007.

“We are acting in places we have not been before. “We are going to completely put an end to Hamas,” declared Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, after the Army reported that it had attacked “400 terrorist targets” and denounced with images the presence of Grad rockets and missiles hidden under UNRWA boxes ( the UN agency for Palestinian refugees) in a residence.

International agencies in Gaza demand a ceasefire while denouncing the decrease in humanitarian aid compared to the 200 trucks of food, water and medicine, four of fuel and another four of gas that entered daily during the truce.. After not doing so on Friday, assistance returned this Saturday with 50 assistance trucks and another two with fuel.

It was a demand from the US, which also asks Israel that the offensive in the South be carried out differently from that in the North, with more selective attacks and with fewer displaced people.. Hence perhaps the Army is not asking these days for a generalized transfer as it did before and during the land incursion into the north of the Strip but rather with maps indicating districts to be evacuated in an area where 1.7 million of the 2.2 million live. million inhabitants of the Strip.

Regarding a new ceasefire, Israel demands from Hamas the last batch of the agreed category of kidnapped people (16 women and children). This event and the projectiles minutes before and after 7:00 a.m. on Friday led Israel to resume the attacks. Hamas, which accused Israel of not accepting its lists with the aim of resuming “aggressions”, asks to move on to the next phase and negotiate the release of those over 65 years of age (it is believed that there are 13).

Faced with growing internal pressure to promote new agreements that return more citizens home – reflected in a massive demonstration this Saturday afternoon in Tel Aviv – Gallant is convinced that military pressure led and will lead Hamas to relax its positions on the kidnapped people.

Having already achieved “victory” on the first day of the war by surprising, killing and terrorizing the Israelis in his attack 57 days ago, Sinwar knows that only a truce can prevent or, at least postpone, the dismantling of his group to armed and control level of Gaza. The key to this is the one that locks the 137 kidnapped people.

Sinwar is aware that this issue is very sensitive in Israeli society, which during the week of the truce caused two theoretically opposite effects.. On the one hand, the release of hostages increased the pressure to continue the ceasefire until everyone returned despite the fact that it was psychological torture for their families to wait every night for the Hamas lists.. On the other hand, the very harsh testimonies of children and women about the psychological and physical abuse suffered and the hostile attitude of the Gazans reinforced the desire to put an end to Hamas.. “If there is no calm (in Israel), then all our friends who were brutally murdered will have gone in vain,” young Ziv told Channel 12, who survived the attack in which her nephew and his partner were murdered while her boyfriend it was kidnapped.

Russia launches raids on gay venues hours after banning the LGBTi movement

Hours after the international LGBTI movement was banned in Russia, police have carried out several raids on gay clubs in Moscow. During the night from Friday to Saturday, according to local media, the agents went to at least four premises. One of them is the Mono bar on Pokrovsky Boulevard, perhaps the most famous gay nightclub in the city.. In all places, the police carried out raids under the pretext of searching for drugs. The common pattern is that they are all primarily gay clientele.

Last Thursday, the Supreme Court of Russia banned the LGTBi movement, which it considers “extremist”, a ruling that has unleashed a wave of indignation among sexual minorities and also in areas that have remained silent after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.. Presenter Ksenia Sobchak posted a photo of herself with a badge with the gay flag: “This is the most repressive and cruel law in recent years,” she said on Instagram, a social network banned in Russia since the repression escalated in 2022.. Several public figures made similar gestures before and after Sobchak.

Russia prohibits both “homosexual propaganda and advertising” and “generating interest and encouraging joining the ranks” of this group. But by classifying the “international LGTBi movement” as “extremist” – which officially does not exist in Russia – the change already lies in the fact that fines are no longer at stake, but rather imprisonment.. The charge of “extremism” has already been used against Navalny Foundation activists, resulting in multiple arrest warrants.

SAUNA RAIDS

The agents arrived at the premises and asked those present for their identity documents.. According to the Telegram channel Ostorozhno Moskva, the police photographed the documents and then let the people who were in the clubs go after breaking into several saunas claiming to be looking for drugs.

“Everything is carried out under the excuse of a regular raid against drug trafficking.”. No irregularities were detected, but they spoiled the party,” says the channel, which denounces that in the sauna the agents behaved in a disrespectful manner, burst in, stopping the music and forced people to lie face down on the floor.. There were also foreign citizens at the party.

“This is a hackneyed scheme, this is how similar clubs in St. Petersburg were closed,” commented a witness quoted by the Sota channel.. People fear being identified, they stop coming, the site closes and thus saves the Government the trouble of closing it.

At a gay club in Moscow, the owner warned customers of the imminent visit of security forces. “In 20 minutes the dance floor began to empty,” witnesses told local media.. Representatives of the venue reported that a singer refused to perform there after what happened.

Russian President Vladimir Putin seems determined to turn his country into a moral reserve against what he considers Western relativism. Although he recently assured that homosexuals “are also part of society,” he criticized the obsession with the equality of sexual minorities.. Recently, Putin mocked these minorities by calling transgenders transformers and asserted that the West should not impose on Russia “its new trends, quite strange, in my opinion, such as the existence of dozens of genders and homosexual parades.”

Many homosexual activists and jurists have reacted these days by remembering that, according to the Constitution, Russia is a secular State. They accuse the Kremlin of wanting to “control” the consciences of Russians.

AGAINST THE PRIVATE SPHERE

Until now, the repression against gays was mainly in its political dimension. But the hardening of the focus is already beginning to be noticed even in areas that were overlooked, such as nightlife.. Moscow is not an isolated case. The St. Petersburg Central Station nightclub announced that it would close because the venue's owners refused to renew the lease contract with the club.. A court in Saint Petersburg fined a television channel for showing a video of singer Sergei Lazarev because in it they found “LGBTI propaganda” when two women appeared “interacting” with their hands. Justice represses, education instructs and healthcare will promote birth rates with new formulas. Next year, mandatory medical examination will be introduced at your workplace, and the program will include a study of the reproductive function of women and men. Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova recalled that President Putin declared 2024 as the year of the family and noted that healthcare must take care of “every family and every member of this family.” But in the meantime, some couples fear ending up in jail if they claim to be a family.

Boris Johnson prepares his apology for his mistakes in the face of the coronavirus

Boris Johnson will apologize for the mistakes made in the management of the coronavirus pandemic during his leadership of the British Government in the sworn statement he will give next week before the independent commission supervising the health crisis.. It will be a gesture of partial contrition that the former Conservative prime minister will compensate with a resounding defense of the success of the vaccination program and other “crucial decisions” taken in the fight to stop the spread of the virus and contain deaths.

From mea culpa to an unconditional approval of his work in controlling the situation will frame the position of the controversial and popular former deputy during his long-awaited appearance before the investigative panel, according to what his entourage has leaked to the media.. Johnson will take the stand on Wednesday and Thursday, during some 10 hours of questioning, with absolute determination to purge his reputation after the discredit of the covid parties in Downing Street and accusations of chaos, toxicity, ignorance, insecurity and other deficiencies in his exercise of power throughout the viral catastrophe pointed out by advisors, officials, scientists and former ministers.

The former head of government will admit that he was “too complacent” and optimistic about the threat of the new coronavirus, which has disrupted the lives of almost seven million people worldwide.. Data from the Worldometer platform place the United Kingdom in an intermediate position in the Western ranking of deaths in absolute terms, but near the top in relative figures, with an average of 3,389 per million inhabitants, compared to 3,536 in the United States. United, the 3,205 in Italy, 2,606 in Spain or the 2,556 in France.

Johnson will defend the decision to impose confinement on March 23, 2020, several weeks late compared to other countries in the European Union and against the criteria accepted at the time or with the benefit of perspective from witnesses who have already testified. before the same commission. On the contrary, it will point to the national clinical picture, with high rates of obesity and cardiopulmonary diseases, among the factors that placed the United Kingdom at an apparent disadvantage compared to other countries.

The official investigation is revealing the poor opinion that some and others had of the prime minister, who resigned in July 2022 in the midst of an internal rebellion of distrust in his character and his government management.. Chief scientist Patrick Vallance observed that Johnson felt “overwhelmed” by scientific data, a senior civil servant denounced the “toxic” environment in Downing Street, then communications director Lee Cain admitted it was a “misguided crisis” for the “skills” of the premier and his always controversial strategic advisor, Dominic Cummings, described him as “a shopping cart” that alters course at every hallway crossing.

Johnson will try to put to rest the barrage of criticism by declaring that the tension between the different departments and ministries served as an incentive to work effectively and will justify the reported changes in strategy in the flow of data and scientific advice that he received every minute of the pandemic.

His circle also assures that he will downplay electronic messages in which he apparently mocks the critical situation.. “We risk confusing sarcasm or jokes with serious analysis,” The Times excerpts from the former president's written statement, more than 200 pages long.. He will deny, according to the same sources, that he ever told his Downing Street team a phrase that the covid victims do not forgive him for: “Let the corpses pile up high.”

Chile: preventive detention is issued for the former army officer accused of killing singer-songwriter Víctor Jara

A former Chilean army officer accused of torturing and murdering folk singer-songwriter Víctor Jara during the bloody 1973 coup in Chile was remanded in preventive detention after being extradited from the United States on Friday, according to the Chilean Judiciary.

Pedro Barrientos has been notified of the prosecution against him for his participation “as the author of the aggravated homicides and simple kidnappings” of Jara and the then director of prisons, Littré Quiroga, committed in September 1973.

Chilean judge Guillermo de la Barra notified Barrientos of the procedures issued in 2012, 2014 and 2016 by other Chilean judges, determining his preventive detention and leaving him incommunicado in military facilities “pending proceedings” to clarify his participation in the events.

In 2016, a US court found him guilty of charges of Jara's death and torture and demanded compensation.

Barrientos arrived in Chile on Friday afternoon guarded by US agents to comply with his extradition after more than three decades living in the United States.. His extradition request had been made in 2013, the Chilean Foreign Ministry reported.

Barrientos had been arrested in Florida at the beginning of October and also tried in the United States for providing false information in his US nationalization process, which led to the cancellation of his citizenship in July of this year and allowed his extradition.

“This is perhaps the last link that we had left in this case,” Nelson Caucoto, lawyer for the Jara family, in charge of the cases in Chile, explained to the Chilean media.. “We will have to see the final result with the Supreme Court ruling, but we are optimistic.”

Other people have already been convicted in the country for the murder of the singer-songwriter, five decades after his murder.

At the end of August, the Chilean Supreme Court firmly ratified the 25-year prison sentence against six former members of the army for the kidnapping and murder of Jara, and a seventh former soldier for cover-up.

“For us, the regrettable thing is that his life partner Joan Jara is not alive to see the outcome of this case and the final conviction of a crime that shocked our entire country and internationally because Víctor Jara has global recognition for the legacy he left, the Government's spokesperson, Camila Vallejo, told the press.

“Justice has indeed taken a while, but it is better late than never and it is good news that Barrientos is already in Chile and that we can see as soon as possible what really happened, their responsibilities and the respective sentences,” he added.

The murders of Jara and Littré Quiroga, director of prisons, occurred just a few days after Augusto Pinochet's military coup against the government of socialist president Salvador Allende, on September 11, 1973.

Jara was arrested at the university after the military coup and taken to the National Stadium, while Quiroga was arrested in his office and, after being tortured in a regiment, he was transferred to the sports venue.. The bodies of both were found near a cemetery in the Chilean capital along with two other people, according to the Court of Appeals.

The judicial investigations established that Jara's body had one bullet in the back of the head and another 43 in different parts of the body, in addition to 56 fractures, while Quiroga had 23 shots.. The bodies of both were dumped in a street far from the stadium, which immediately after the military coup was used as a detention facility.

Jara was one of the most popular folklorists, recognized for the protest song and favorable to Allende (1970-1973). He had studied law at the University of Chile, for which the Supreme Court awarded him the posthumous title of lawyer.

Barrientos' extradition occurs a few weeks after the death of the singer-songwriter's widow, who dedicated an important part of her life to seeking justice for the murder of her husband and requesting that Barrientos be extradited.

The Spain of post-pandemic bars refuses to bow to the escalation of prices: "Today I go out, tomorrow I don't know if I will be able to"

“We are practically 100% booked for the month of December, but customers are finding ways to spend less”. The situation described by Roberto Gil Ramos, owner of the Abanto restaurant, in the surroundings of the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, would explain the incongruity that hovers over many current debates about the situation of consumption in Spain.. It is assumed that the escalation of inflation has reduced the purchasing power of families, but bars and restaurants are full and reserving a table has become an impossible mission in the run-up to the Christmas holidays.

The president of the Spanish Hospitality Business Confederation, José Luis Yzuel, sheds some light on this paradox: “The establishments are full, but there is a certain containment in spending,” he explains to EL MUNDO. What is happening is that “the average ticket is going down, because cheaper products are consumed or some dishes are given up, such as dessert, or ordering another bottle of wine, but people don't stop going out.”. On the contrary, for Yzuel, the consequences that the pandemic has left on society lead Spaniards to want to go out at all costs, without giving in to the escalation of prices: “Today I go out, tomorrow I don't know if I will be able to,” is the new social mood.

The first-hand experience that Roberto relates certifies this: “The client is looking for a way to make the menu cheaper, reducing the number of dishes or the wine cellar and even opting for lower-grade raw materials.”. The reality is that, with the arrival of the cold and, above all, in anticipation of the extra expense that Christmas entails, already around the corner, “the customer has put on the handbrake and has reduced consumption on the day every day,” he says. The rise in prices in the hospitality industry is also behind the slowdown. In the case of Abanto, the Christmas menu is 10% more expensive than last year. “It is the increase corresponding to the CPI and the cost of living, neither more nor less,” Roberto justifies.

All in all, the hospitality sector expects to surpass all billing records this year, driven precisely by the increase in sales prices.. This is what Yzuel advances, who projects an increase in the income of bars and restaurants of between 5% and 7% compared to 2022, when they had a turnover of around 90,000 million euros (if hotels are added, they reached 130,000 million ). However, the president of Hospitality of Spain admits that the summer was not as good as expected, especially due to adverse weather conditions due to successive heat waves, which reduced consumption on the terraces, and that at the end of September it grew concern about a possible collapse in annual turnover.

Concern among brewers

It is a concern shared at the time by brewers, who remain on alert at this time of year.. The data handled internally in the beer sector, one of the best thermometers to measure the mood of consumption in our country, is less promising than one would, in principle, expect.. Brewery sales suffered a drop of 1.5% in the third quarter compared to the previous year, in line with the data from the Fedishoreca distributors federation, which has reported negative figures in the summer compared to 2022, with decreases of 1.1% in August and 5.5% in September.

These are data from Cerveceros de España, where they also confirm a decline in consumption occasions, both inside and outside the home, in the first half of the year of more than 3%.. Likewise, they remember that beer consumption in the hospitality industry is still far from pre-pandemic levels.. Specifically, 8% below the 2019 volume. This lower consumption of beer is also felt in tax collection, which recorded a decrease in the excise tax on this drink of 4.2% in July, 2.4% in August and up to 7.4%. % in September compared to the previous year. In October it recovered 7.1%, coinciding with a much warmer than usual period.

Faced with this scenario, the general director of Cerveceros de España, Jacobo Olalla, demands “stability in the taxes that levy consumption in the hospitality industry and on products that maintain a greater weight in their economic viability, such as beer (which accounts for between 20% and 40% of the turnover of bars), as well as measures to boost the hospitality and tourism sector, boosting the economy and employment, to avoid a decline in growth indicators.”

The Government does not currently have any plan on the table to address these taxes, but, in any case, the hospitality sector remains on guard.. “Do not change the fiscal status quo,” demands Yzuel, who also warns of the impact that measures such as the new increase in the minimum wage or the reduction of the working day, which Vice President Yolanda Díaz has in her portfolio, will have on the accounts. of company results.

"The revolution in anti-HIV therapies contrasts with negative attitudes about people with the infection"

“I am very aware that if this had happened to me not so many years ago I would be dead today”. Miguel looks back at the reality of HIV in the 80s and 90s – “the day before yesterday actually” – and lets out a sigh.

He, who came to see the harshest side of the infection in his own body, feels lucky for the place in the world and the time in which he has lived; a space in which having the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has long ceased to be a death sentence.

Today, this 52-year-old Sevillian doesn't even feel sick. The only thing that reminds him of the virus is the pill he takes “without fail, every night” before going to sleep.

But he knows well what HIV is capable of. The damage that could be caused if antiretroviral therapy did not keep him on the ropes.

“I was diagnosed in 2013, when I was already very bad,” he recalls.. “In just over six months, I started to lose a lot of weight and some spots appeared on my body.. I was very weak. I looked in the mirror and what I saw was the same image I had seen in the movies.. Like the protagonist of 'Philadelpia'. I had a suspicion deep inside that I might have it, but at first I didn't want to admit it.. Until I started having a lot of difficulty breathing, I was choking and they had to admit me.. He had a very serious pneumonia and everything came out from there. “It was a blow.”

The analyses, which revealed that Miguel's defenses were “practically at zero”, also showed that it was most likely that this businessman had been living with the virus for approximately 10 years without knowing it.. “I was a late diagnosis. The infection appeared in 2013, in just a few months, but doctors estimated that he may have contracted it in 2003.. Fortunately I have had few relationships and I have always been very cautious, so I am calm because I know that in that time I have not transmitted it to anyone,” he says.

According to the latest report on the HIV situation in Europe, published just a few days ago jointly by the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) and the European Office of the World Health Organization (WHO), almost half of The cases reported on the continent in 2022 were diagnosed late, which “represents a challenge” for the current fight against the epidemic, as Andrea Ammon, director of the ECDC, noted during the presentation of the document.

With the diagnosis, in 2013, came the medication and the improvement of all the health problems that Miguel suffered.. “I was admitted for a month for pneumonia at the Valme Hospital. They had to give me oxygen although luckily I did not need to be admitted to the ICU.. And immediately everything started to get better.”

At first, he was very scared, he admits. “Not only because of how bad I looked, because of how serious I became. Also for accepting the infection and what it could mean. Dr.'s words reassured me a lot.. Lozano, an entire institution in Seville and a person with a lot of humanity. He told me that I wasn't going to die from this.. that was going to move forward. And that gave me a lot of hope.”

“They even offered me psychological support, but I didn't need it.”. “I am a very believing person and that helped me, but I appreciate the offer, because I understand that it can be very important for other people,” he points out.

Currently, in addition to the medical check-ups he undergoes every six months, Miguel goes to the hospital pharmacy service at the Valme Hospital (Seville) every three months, which supplies him with the necessary medication and monitors his progress.

“They don't just give me the pills. They are interested in whether I have been sick, if I have had to take other medication and they always remind me that I can call them with any questions, so I don't hesitate to ask them.”

CMO Strategy

As in other Spanish centers, the Hospital Pharmacy service at Hospital de Valme follows the CMO strategy in the care of its patients with HIV.. Explains the details of the model Ramón Morillo, responsible for the service and member of the Spanish Society of Hospital Pharmacy (SEFH).

“Some time ago at the SEFH we did an analysis of the criteria to which we had to respond if we wanted HIV hospital pharmacy care to have added value.”. We saw that we had to respond to three things that patients demanded: care based on the needs of each patient, which went beyond merely pharmacotherapeutic needs; an integrated approach within multidisciplinary teams; and longitudinal follow-up, the possibility of permanent contact that was not limited solely to professional action at the time the patient came to the hospital.”. This became the CMO (Capacity, Motivation, Opportunity) care model that allows patients to be stratified based on their complexity and individualize their care; work comprehensively, focusing on patient motivation and establishing sustained contact with the patient, incorporating new technologies or telepharmacy in the approach.

“Different studies have evaluated the model and have confirmed that it offers better results, for example improving adherence to treatment. The SEFH has just published a guide with the methodology and experience of this way of working, which is already beginning to be replicated in other types of pathologies, such as oncohematological patients or immune-mediated diseases, among others,” explains Morillo.

Miguel has nothing but good words for the professionals who follow his case. “I feel very well treated and the monitoring they do gives me great peace of mind,” he emphasizes, remembering that his virus levels have remained undetectable for a long time.

“I know that to get to that it is essential that I not forget a single day of the treatment. For me it is a routine, always at night and I never neglect it. The first pills I took made me have very vivid dreams, I didn't know what movie I was going to find myself dreaming about every night.. Then, the other pills I have taken have not had any type of side effect. But I have always taken them, because I know that it is essential,” he points out.. Now, the Sevillian aspires to be a candidate to receive injectable therapy that allows him to forget about medication for two months.

“It is tremendous what progress has been made in these decades in HIV therapies. A true revolution,” he celebrates.

Unfortunately, what has barely changed in these years is the stigma, denounces Miguel, who does not want his last name to appear in this report or to be recognized in a photo for fear of the “rejection that continues to exist.”

“There is still a great lack of knowledge about HIV. In general, people do not know that if you have the undetectable virus in your body, you cannot transmit it.. That message has not penetrated,” he laments.

Furthermore, “there continue to be negative attitudes and assumptions about people with HIV. That's why many of us remain silent and have only told our closest circle,” he reflects.

“The other day an acquaintance told me about a case of a person with HIV that he had learned about. He told me alarmed, with fear. And I could only tell him not to worry, that nowadays if you are on medication you cannot transmit it.. But I didn't tell him that at that moment I was talking to another positive person.”

We need to move forward in that direction, claims Miguel. “We need more campaigns, a series, films that show the reality of HIV, that show that you can lead a normal life, that overthrow prejudices, that end misinformation. In bars, in restaurants, at the fair, at work…. People with HIV are everywhere. And we would like to not have to be silent.”

The Arab Emirates planned to take advantage of COP28 to reach oil and gas agreements with 15 countries

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) planned to use climate change COP28 to reach secret oil and gas deals with 15 countries, according to internal documents leaked to the Center for Climate Reporting and the BBC.. A spokesperson for COP28, which starts on November 30 in Dubai under the presidency of Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, assured that the documents in question are “incorrect” and were not used in meetings related to the climate summit.

The UN has been forced, however, to emphasize that the “fundamental principle” of the Cops is “the obligation of impartiality”, and that its presidents must act “without bias, prejudice, favoritism, self-interest or preferences, using strictly their independent and sound judgment”.

The news has once again put Sultan Al-Jaber's controversial dual role in the spotlight, as president of COP28 and as executive director of Adnoc, the fourth largest fossil fuel company in the world.. Al Jaber also serves as UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and is his country's official representative on climate change.

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According to the BBC, the documents in question (verified as “authentic” by British public television) were prepared by the COP28 team for supposed meetings with representatives of at least 27 countries such as China, Mozambique, Canada and Australia (the latter for examine the opportunities of “liquefied natural gas”).

The 150 pages also mention Adnoc's “availability” to support Colombia's “development of its fossil fuel resources” (despite President Gustavo Petro's commitment to accelerate his country's energy transition).. Germany and Egypt are other countries specifically mentioned in the fossil energy chapter.

The documents also reveal the UAE's alleged intention to take advantage of the climate summit to boost its “commercial opportunities” for the state renewable energy company, Masdar, in around twenty countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, China. , Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Kenya.

The objectives of tripling the installed capacity of renewable energies in 2030 and the “progressive elimination of fossil fuels without capture” are two of the hot points that will be debated by the 167 countries that will send their delegations to the COP28 in Dubai, which will foreseeably have the intervention of Pope Francis and King Charles III.

Despite Sultan Al-Jaber's commitment to make COP28 “the turning point” in action on climate change, criticism of his country's double standards threatens to tarnish the summit. According to The Guardian, the United Arab Emirates currently has the largest oil and gas exploration expansion plans in the world in the coming years, despite its commitment to zero emissions by 2050.

“This is exactly the kind of conflict of interest we feared,” said Kaisa Kosonen, a climate change expert at Greenpeace.. “If the presidency wants to have any credibility, it can only do so by reaching a global agreement for the fair and equitable phase-out of all fossil fuels.”

“The host country of the Cops assumes a deep responsibility before the global community and must be an example of integrity,” warned Tasneem Essop, executive director of Climate Action Network.. Other organizations, such as Amnesty International, have called for Al-Jaber to resign as executive director of Adnoc in order to serve as president of Cop28.