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They also expressed their deepest condolences for the deaths of the Cuban guards who sacrificed their lives to save President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas.

“The lives of these brave revolutionary comrades will occupy a prominent place in contemporary history,” both organizations stated in a joint declaration.

Likewise, they reaffirmed their sincere solidarity with the President of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel.

The Bangladeshi groups indicated that they are mobilized in support of Venezuela.

“We continue to organize peasant demonstrations in Barisal and, simultaneously, nationwide protests against the US attack and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro, organized by various left-wing political parties,” they added.

They also mentioned organizing a meeting to commemorate the 67th anniversary of the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution at the Cuban consulate in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

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The joint call indicates that the march will take place on January 10 from the Esquilino Square to the US Embassy in this capital.

Among the organizations that launched this initiative are the Power to the People party, the Socialist Homeland party, the Communist Network party, the Cambiare Rotta youth organizations, the Alternative Student Opposition (OSA), the Historical Pact of Italy, and the Latin American Progressive Platform.

“Hands off the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela!, Stop US imperialism and Zionism!, and Freedom for Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores!” are the slogans of this call to action, to which the social organizations ARCI and CRED, the Palestinian Student Movement, and the La Villetta per Cuba Association, among others, also joined.

“We firmly condemn the expansion of war as a tool for resolving conflicts between States and the latest and extremely serious escalation of hostilities caused by the Trump administration’s military attack on the Republic of Venezuela and the kidnapping of its president,” they reaffirmed in a proclamation read during the rally.

Protests against this aggression began in the country on January 3.

Marches took place over the last weekend in major cities such as Rome, Milan, Bologna, Naples, and Turin, as well as in Rimini, Cuneo, Salerno, Savona, Imperia, and Empoli, in which thousands of citizens participated.

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A statement issued by this organization, along with the Italian branch, an organization that brings together farmers, agri-food companies, and distribution chains, points out that producers exporting to the EU should be subject to the same rules imposed on those in this regional community.

This principle, they state, should be applied to all agreements and all imported agricultural and agri-food products, to prohibit the entry into this region “of food produced with substances and techniques banned for years in our fields and farms.”

In this regard, Coldiretti and Filiera Italia emphasize in the document that the increase in border controls proposed last Wednesday by the European Commission to facilitate the signing of the agreement next week is insufficient.

They point out that currently, controls represent an average of approximately 3,0% of incoming goods, and that the proposed increase would raise them to only about 4,0 percentage points, “with risks to consumer health and compliance with production standards imposed on European farmers.”

Both organizations reiterated their demand that Rome be recognized as the headquarters of the European Customs Authority, considering that Italy “holds the European record in food safety.”

They reiterate their call to the Italian government to “immediately implement 100% controls on food originating from Mercosur and high-risk areas, in order to guarantee the full protection of citizens’ health and regulatory reciprocity with respect to European standards.”

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This article by Jessica Xantomila originally appeared in the January 7, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

The National Union of Workers of Nacional Monte de Piedad and the company met again yesterday at the Federal Conciliation Center, but without progress in ending the strike that broke out on October 1st.

Arturo Zayún González, general secretary of the union organization, stated that “we have not reached any conclusion,” so a new meeting was agreed for next Thursday.

“We filed a lawsuit for violations of the contract and they (the company) want to negotiate other things that are not a factor… such as the consolidation of positions and new multifunctional and multiskilled positions,” he explained in a brief interview.

He indicated that the meeting was attended by administrative directors of Nacional Monte de Piedad and federal officials.

More than three months after the strike affecting 300 pawnshop branches, Zayún reminded users “that they have the alternative of filing a complaint with Profeco (Federal Consumer Protection Agency) so that their pawn contract is respected and their items are secured.”

• 

  Labor | News Briefs

  Monte de Piedad Strike: 3 Months In Without Resolution

  January 8, 2026

  This article by Jessica Xantomila originally appeared in the January 7, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper. The National Union of Workers of Nacional Monte de Piedad and the company met again yesterday at the Federal Conciliation Center, but without progress in ending the strike that broke out on October…

• 

  News Briefs

  Mexico’s Afro-Descendant Communities Fight Racism & Inequality

  January 8, 2026January 8, 2026

  Discrimination is compounded by a structural vulnerability exposing Afro-Descendants to systematic violence perpetrated by various powerful groups associated with capital.

• 

  Analysis

  Let’s Talk About Migration: 2025, A Year Under Siege

  January 7, 2026January 7, 2026

  Trump’s danger lies not only in the harm he inflicts on migrants in the US, but also in the possibility that his xenophobic model will be replicated in other countries.

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This article by Darylh Rodriguez originally appeared in the January 4, 2026 edition of Revista Contralínea.

The inequalities faced by Afro-Mexican peoples – in economic, political, educational, cultural and health matters – have deep roots in slavery, invisibility and social exclusion; which, to this day, have marked their development.

Added to this is the logic of so-called “multicultural neoliberalism,” which increased the gaps of inequality by capitalizing on their culture as a commodity and reducing their recognition to a merely symbolic level, without guaranteeing effective rights in education, health, political representation or access to justice, says J Jesús María Serno, PhD in Latin American studies from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and specialist in ethnicities, culture and nation in Latin America.

Poet Aleida Violeta Vázquez

“Yes. There is something that we Afro-Mexican people face collectively, and that is invisibility. It is the invisibility of our contributions to the construction of this country,” warns poet Aleida Violeta Vázquez, activist and member of the Colectiva de Mujeres Afromexicanas en Movimiento (MUAFRO).

In an interview with this publication, the writer points out that the invisibility faced by Afro-Mexican people for generations is the primary trigger for their inequality, stigmatization, and racism. She explains that this invisibility has not only denied the existence of their bodies but has also erased the contribution of their worldviews to the construction of the Mexican state.

“There is a stigma that relegates us to places where we Black women are ‘sexually available all the time’; where ‘we endure more during childbirth than a white, mixed-race, or even Indigenous person’; where ‘Black women and men endure more work.’ All these stereotypes impact our ability to exercise our rights. […] This leads to us being subjected to constant verbal, physical, emotional, mental, and psychological violence in the streets. There is also a violent, very violent, bombardment of our bodies, because these stereotypes also stem from this invisibility, which is linked to an idea of ​​foreignness that places us in disadvantaged positions, where we are easily violated and murdered,” says Aleida Violeta Vázquez.

Among the main problems identified by Afro-Mexican communities are discrimination based on their appearance, lack of employment, a scarcity of social programs, and little respect for their traditions, customs, and practices, according to the National Survey on Discrimination (ENADIS), conducted in 2022 by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). The results of this survey show that, despite some legislative and institutional progress, Afro-Mexican people still face prejudice from society.

Data from the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED) indicates that almost a quarter of the Mexican population said they were not willing to rent an apartment with an Afro-descendant person, while one in four people would like little or not at all for someone from the Afro community to hold public office such as the Presidency of the Republic.

“The fight against racism has always been a political and ideological stance for the Black movement, because I think those of us who have experienced it the most are Afro-Mexicans, Black people, or people of African descent. And it has a lot to do with our skin color. That’s why our skin is always being challenged, always subjected to many stereotypes because this country is a racist country,” explains legislator Rosa María Castro Salinas, Secretary of the Commission on Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Peoples in the Chamber of Deputies, in an interview with Contralínea.

The racism experienced by Afro-Mexicans is not limited to social interactions; it permeates institutions and is reproduced in public spaces. The harm caused by racism goes far beyond that. According to the National Survey on Discrimination (ENADIS), conducted in 2022, more than half of Afro-Mexicans reported feeling discriminated against when visiting government offices, courts, or tribunals. The same perception was repeated when applying for jobs, seeking medical care, or entering schools and businesses.

According to writer Aleida Violeta Vázquez, the violence, inequality, and racism suffered by the Afro-Mexican community have historically been “territorialized”; that is, the territories where the Black or Afro-Mexican people live have always been among the poorest and most marginalized areas of the country.

“The Costa Chica region of Guerrero or Oaxaca are territories that are disconnected from the centrality of a city; that is, there is no road infrastructure, no electricity infrastructure, no access to communication because there is a very serious digital divide in these territories of ours,” the activist points out.

Costa Chica, Guerrero Photo: Kau Sirenio

With this, the poet indicates that structural inequalities impact every aspect of the daily lives of Afro-descendant people, even attempting to strip them of their humanity. “We see how this racism, but also how these structural inequalities, permeate everything. They affect our entire existence, our entire way of life, our daily lives in our territories.”

This reality is reflected in official indicators. According to statistics from the now-defunct National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL), the areas with the highest concentration of poverty coincide with the territories where the country’s most vulnerable groups converge (children, adolescents, indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples, agricultural day laborers, and rural communities).

Indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples, the Poorest

In Mexico, Indigenous and Afro-Mexican communities are the poorest population groups. According to INEGI, in 2024, 29.6 percent of the Mexican population—equivalent to 38.5 million people—lived in multidimensional poverty. However, inequality was even more pronounced among Indigenous and Afro-Mexican communities.

According to the now-defunct autonomous agency, 32.2 percent of the Afro-Mexican population and 66.3 percent of the Indigenous population reported living in poverty. These figures demonstrate that both communities continue to suffer the devastating effects of a system marked by marginalization and racial, economic, and territorial exclusion.

In particular, the Afro-Mexican population, estimated at more than 3.1 million people, still faces structural disadvantages in the territories where they live, marked by poverty and exclusion.

Added to the inequalities faced by Afro-Mexicans is the logic of multicultural neoliberalism, which capitalizes on their culture as a commodity, reducing their recognition to a merely symbolic level, without guaranteeing effective rights.

This structural order, explains ethnic specialist J. Jesús María Serna, originates in a process called “Afro-Indianness”, a concept used to understand the historical relationship between Afro-descendant and indigenous peoples, which resulted in cultural, social and symbolic exchanges, and which placed them in shared conditions of marginalization.

According to the doctor in Latin American studies, this link produced a particular type of mestizaje –different from that commonly recognized in official discourse– that has been ignored by colonizing history, and whose consequences are visible today in territorial inequality, precarity and the scarcity of policies.

In 2024, Chiapas, Guerrero, and Oaxaca—two of the five states with the highest concentration of Afro-descendant populations—reached the highest percentages of multidimensional poverty levels, at 66, 58.1, and 51.6 percent, respectively. Similarly, these states registered the highest percentages of their population living in extreme poverty, at 27.1, 21.3, and 16.3 percent, according to data from INEGI (the Mexican National Institute of Statistics and Geography).

Photo: MUAFRO

For the Colectiva de Mujeres Afromexicanas en Movimiento (MUAFRO), studying the regions with the largest Afro-Mexican populations not only allows for the geolocation of these communities but also helps to understand the territorialization of inequality. The organization points out that, historically, these areas have been the scene of structural racism, discrimination, and institutional invisibility, processes that have left a deep mark manifested in gaps in access to rights, infrastructure, and public services.

To demonstrate how inequality is territorialized, the collective conducted an analysis using data from the INEGI (National Institute of Statistics and Geography) in 2021 – which included variables related to access to basic rights, such as drinking water, as well as drainage and energy services – and found that access to piped water strongly reflects the structural gap faced by Afro-Mexican communities.

This is because, while at the national level 77.6 percent of homes have piped water, in municipalities where 40 percent of the population is Afro-Mexican, the number of households with access to this service drops to 24.1 percent.

The situation is even more critical in municipalities with over 70 percent Afro-descendant population, where only 13.2 percent of homes have access to this basic service. These figures demonstrate that inequality is reflected in infrastructure, quality of life, and the persistent institutional neglect by neoliberal governments.

The situation becomes even more significant when considering the geographical distribution of the Afro-descendant population. More than half, or 53.2 percent, are concentrated in six states: the State of Mexico with 19.2 percent; Guerrero, 11 percent; Nuevo León, 6.6 percent; Chiapas, 5.8 percent; Jalisco, 5.7 percent; and Oaxaca, with 4.9 percent. These states, for the most part, exhibit significant gaps in access to basic rights and services. This is according to the latest update from INEGI, presented on August 28, 2024.

Faced with this situation, Afro-Mexican communities are demanding historical justice. “What does the Black community need? Everything. We need everything,” says activist Rosa María Hernández Fitta, president of the Afro-Veracruz Council and advisor to the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI), in an interview with Contralínea.

The national advisor points out that the lack of public policies has perpetuated the precariousness of basic services, such as education, infrastructure, and access to cultural programs, and has also left them in economic hardship that has yet to be remedied. Therefore, she suggests developing programs tailored to each region inhabited by Black communities.

“When people ask us what the Black community needs, I say: everything, because we haven’t had absolutely anything. We need everything. We need access to programs to preserve our culture, services, education. For example, we need the history of our communities to be told in textbooks, so we are no longer made invisible. The Ministry of Education itself could tell the story of our forced migration, the migration of our ancestors, so the truth is told,” says Rosa María Hernández Fitta.

Photo: MUAFRO

Black and Indigenous Communities, Victims of the Most Violence

The reality of Afro-descendant communities lies in their diasporic formation; that is, they do not share a homogeneous identity, but rather an experience resulting from the displacement, dispossession, and redefinition of their members. This trajectory could explain the multiple forms of violence they face in the country.

This, coupled with the historical invisibility suffered by Afro-Mexican people, has facilitated the systematic violation of their rights and freedoms. This situation has increased their vulnerability, perpetuated their exclusion, and fueled discriminatory practices that hinder their access to opportunities, basic services, and justice, warns the National Human Rights Commission.

Today, the Afro-Mexican community continues to be the target of racist expressions where imported stereotypes and prejudices intertwine. This discrimination is compounded by a structural vulnerability that exposes them to systematic violence perpetrated by various powerful groups associated with capital, ranging from transnational corporations with extractive projects to organized crime networks.

Dr. J. Jesús María Serno, a specialist in Latin American studies, tells this weekly magazine that in the regions where Afro-descendant peoples settled, there persist “especially complex and delicate” scenarios, marked by dispossession and territorial disputes by political and de facto powers.

Photo: Carlos Alberto Carbajal

“The areas where Afro-descendants live have been very complex in their way of life. Historically, there has been a situation of violence, which is not abstract violence, but violence against these peoples that comes from different power groups; obviously, these are diverse and range from large transnational corporations, capital in general, and businesspeople who have a lot of very predatory policies that go against the very life of the communities,” the expert explains.

Studies by international organizations – such as the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) – indicate that territorialized violence is one of the factors that triggers phenomena such as forced internal displacement, a process that is the result of high-impact victimizing events, such as armed conflicts, generalized violence, the presence of organized crime, territorial disputes or even projects that involve dispossession; which forces entire communities to abandon their places of origin.

And although internal displacement is not a new phenomenon in Mexico, its configuration has changed in recent decades; that is, from political and religious conflicts and land dispossession it has shifted to an increasing association with high-impact violence, linked to drug trafficking and organized crime, researchers María Cristina Díaz Pérez and Raúl Romo Viramontes point out in their book La violencia como causa de desplazamiento interno forzado: Aproximaciones a su análisis en México.

“Internal displacement caused by violence does not occur in the abstract, but rather from concrete events such as extortion, kidnapping, ‘protection’ payments, identity theft, assaults, the disappearance of family members, links created with criminality –voluntarily or involuntarily–, among many other situations,” the document by Díaz and Romo points out.

Both researchers indicate that forced internal displacement also manifests itself as a result of competition for the exploitation of natural resources, disasters, emergencies of anthropogenic origin such as industrial pollution, or situations arising from criminal organizations fighting for specific sites.

For Naty Poob Picky Jiménez Vázquez, the congresswoman who chairs the Commission on Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Peoples, the 1994 armed uprising of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in Chiapas marked a turning point in the history of modern internal displacement in Mexico. “The counterinsurgency deployed, characterized by encirclement operations and a massive military presence in communities, acted as a powerful secondary trigger, forcing thousands of people to flee to escape state and paramilitary violence. Thus, the phenomenon became more complex, shifting from being a direct result of the conflict to also being a consequence of the security strategies implemented, establishing a worrying precedent of multiple victimization,” she states in her proposed General Law for the Prevention, Care, and Comprehensive Reparation of Persons in Situations of Internal Forced Displacement.

Photo: Xavi Silva

In 2024 alone, at least 28,900 people were forced to flee their homes in 72 internal displacement events recorded in 13 states across the country. Chiapas, Sinaloa, Michoacán, Chihuahua, Guerrero, Sonora, and Oaxaca accounted for the majority of these cases, according to the report Travesías forzadas: Desplazamiento interno en México presented on June 26 by the Human Rights Program (PDH) of the Ibero-American University in collaboration with UNHCR.

In this context, researcher J. Jesús María Serno explains that, for decades, political powers have joined the ranks of oppressive groups that have violated the rights of populations living in these rural areas, largely due to the natural resources they possess. One example of this is mining, which generates severe socio-environmental impacts such as water, soil, and air pollution; public health problems; loss of biodiversity; and, at the social level, internal conflicts, land and resource dispossession, as well as widespread poverty and violence.

“The story of the most vulnerable is a tremendous one, and it has been experienced by the indigenous population, but also by Afro-Mexican and Afro-coastal communities. These are very delicate problems, but they exist […] And there are a whole series of situations that are still unresolved and will not be resolved because they are very complex, very difficult to address or tackle,” the researcher tells Contralínea.

Photo: Denisse Hernández

• 

  Labor | News Briefs

  Monte de Piedad Strike: 3 Months In Without Resolution

  January 8, 2026

  This article by Jessica Xantomila originally appeared in the January 7, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper. The National Union of Workers of Nacional Monte de Piedad and the company met again yesterday at the Federal Conciliation Center, but without progress in ending the strike that broke out on October…

• 

  News Briefs

  Mexico’s Afro-Descendant Communities Fight Racism & Inequality

  January 8, 2026January 8, 2026

  Discrimination is compounded by a structural vulnerability exposing Afro-Descendants to systematic violence perpetrated by various powerful groups associated with capital.

• 

  Analysis

  Let’s Talk About Migration: 2025, A Year Under Siege

  January 7, 2026January 7, 2026

  Trump’s danger lies not only in the harm he inflicts on migrants in the US, but also in the possibility that his xenophobic model will be replicated in other countries.

The post Mexico’s Afro-Descendant Communities Fight Racism & Inequality appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.

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The working session, chaired by General Secretary Xi Jinping, emphasized the implementation of the Party’s centralized leadership in all areas of national governance.

It was noted that over the past year, state organs and the Secretariat acted under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, strengthened the CPC’s authority, and made progress in policy implementation, economic development, and domestic governance.

The meeting emphasized that 2026 marks the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) and the 105th anniversary of the Party.

Therefore, state organs must consolidate political unity, strictly adhere to the decisions of the CPC, and coordinate efforts to ensure a solid start to the five-year strategic objectives.

The meeting stressed the need to properly implement concentrated education within the Party, improve internal policy development, strengthen the work of mass organizations, combat formalism, and alleviate burdens at the local level, thereby ensuring the comprehensive implementation of the tasks assigned by the central leadership.

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On the occasion of the third anniversary this Thursday of the coup attempts against the headquarters of the three branches of government in the capital, the UOL news portal reports that nine of those convicted are under house arrest and three remain homeless.

Less than half of the 34 initially charged remain in closed facilities. Some were detained even before exhausting all appeals.

The court tried four of the five groups denounced by the Attorney General’s Office last year.

Only four defendants were imprisoned after the Supreme Federal Court concluded the case. These are retired generals Augusto Heleno and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, former Navy commander Almir Garnier, and former Justice Minister Anderson Torres. Therefore, only Heleno was placed under house arrest due to his health condition.

The complaint filed by businessman Paulo Figueiredo was not reviewed. Since he resides in the United States, his case was separated, and the conclusion of his trial has not yet been determined.

With a sentence of 27 years and three months in prison, Bolsonaro was incarcerated in a closed regime in November, before the conclusion of his criminal trial.

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The NGO stated in a release that the Israeli Army has killed more than 270 Palestinian athletes in the Gaza Strip, which has been under attack since October 2023.

The organization added that the Army has destroyed 31 sports facilities, including gyms, training halls, and stadiums, representing 80 percent of the estimated in the coastal enclave.

As an example, the NGO highlighted that the military forces converted Yarmouk Stadium, located in Gaza City, into a detention center to hold and humiliate hundreds of Palestinians.

The Euro-Med Monitor accused Israel of preventing hundreds of athletes from the Gaza Strip from exercising their right to move freely and travel to represent Palestine in several international tournaments.

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Addressing the annual meeting of Spanish ambassadors around the world, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stressed that there is no room for “half-measures or lukewarm condemnation” of the Pentagon operation to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas.

“We are going to help (…) and we are going to do so actively, drawing on the value that our country’s historical experience gives us, so that the future of Venezuela is decided by Venezuelans, not by a foreign country, not by outside interests,” the Prime Minister emphasized in his remarks at the Spanish Foreign Ministry.

“The violation of international law is always a defeat, fundamentally for democracies, even where they don’t exist, and it sets a dangerous precedent for global peace and security,” he argued.

Sanchez pointed out that “those who must decide the future of Venezuela are the Venezuelans, and that is what Spain will defend when that transition begins.”

The Prime Minister emphasized that Spain’s response is to redouble its commitment to multilateralism, defend the rules-based international order, and reaffirm the values ​​and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

In other news, Sanchez admitted that he is “crossing his fingers for the imminent signing of the agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur,” which, he considered, would be a “giant step” in strengthening relations with Latin America.

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The new platform, designed to analyze the intersection of science, technology, and diplomacy, is the result of a partnership between the Office of the Chief Science Adviser of the Government of India (OPSA) and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

At a meeting where the potential topics and overall agenda of the initiative were discussed in detail, the Chief Science Adviser of the Government of India, Ajay Kumar Sood, emphasized the fundamental role of science and technology in shaping global policies and diplomatic engagements, especially given the evolving imperatives, options, and opportunities for the South Asian nation.

Participants at the meeting concluded that the platform will focus on key dimensions in an era of strategic autonomy, as well as on the governance of disruptive and emerging technologies, and the management of the changing realities of scientific and technological partnerships in a multipolar world.

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Fattouh criticized in a release the E1 Corridor settlement project, which will isolate East Jerusalem from the West Bank, splitting it in two.

The PNC chairman warned that it is part of a strategic colonial plan aimed at eliminating the Palestinian presence in the territory and undermining the legal and political foundations of any solution based on the two-state solution.

The Palestinian leader emphasized that the E1 area’s colonization is a central point through which Israel seeks to isolate Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings.

He also added that it attempts to “sever the geographical connection between the northern and southern parts of the West Bank, which practically leads to its dismantling and conversion into isolated enclaves.”

The Jerusalem Governorate also criticized the project approved by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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According to the provincial health director, Munir Al-Muhammad, attacks carried out by the self-proclaimed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against residential neighborhoods of the city resulted in five deaths and 44 injuries.

For its part, the Kurdish SDF militia reported that air and ground bombardments by Syrian government forces in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud caused a total of eight deaths and at least 55 injuries.

In response to attacks by the Kurdish group, the Syrian Arab Army’s Operations Command launched a series of concentrated attacks against SDF positions in the Ashrafieh, Sheikh Maqsoud, and Bani Zeid neighborhoods.

As a security measure, Syrian authorities imposed a curfew in the three areas until further notice and urged civilians to stay away from SDF positions to avoid further casualties.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) confirmed that nearly 30,000 people have been displaced due to the fighting in Aleppo. More than 2,000 families have sought refuge in Afrin, while approximately 1,100 people are being housed in nine collective shelters.

OCHA also noted that at least three key hospitals in the city have been rendered inoperable due to airstrikes and the escalating insecurity in the area.

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National Defense Ministry Spokesperson, Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, stated that the international community, including Southeast Asian countries, has consistently criticized Japan’s military security trends.

Zhang pointed out that, far from moderating, Tokyo increases its military spending, boosts the export of lethal weapons, and openly advocates for acquiring nuclear weapons.

The spokesperson underscored that these actions reveal the Japanese right-wing forces’ intention to move toward remilitarization and revive militarism.

In this context, Zhang called on countries and peoples who defend peace to identify these aims and safeguard the international order established after World War II.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning, in turn, referred this Thursday to an academic report that warns of the nuclear ambitions of the Japanese right wing.

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Dozens of tractors managed since early Thursday to break the police cordon and position themselves in sites such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Elysees, defying the ban issued by the Paris Prefecture.

Protests have also taken place in other cities, such as southern Bordeaux, against the agreement, which the European Commission hopes to sign “very soon” with MERCOSUR, an economic bloc comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Pressed by farmers, the French government currently represents the leading and almost only obstacle to the implementation of the initiative, conditioning its support on the inclusion of reciprocal measures, safeguard clauses, and customs controls, to protect European agriculture from alleged unfair competition.

The Rural Coordination (RC), one of France’s agricultural unions, is leading the mobilization of dozens of tractors in Paris this Thursday, where many of these vehicles were stranded on the outskirts, unable to enter the city.

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The arrival in Havana of the “bearded men,” as the guerrilla fighters were known, confirmed the triumph of the liberation movement on January 1, 1959, amid political maneuvers to steal their victory.

This historic event will be remembered in several sites of this capital by the people, particularly the young members of the Caravan of Freedom, who have already traveled more than 1,000 kilometers across the island, from the eastern Santiago de Cuba province.

During the journey, they participated in tributes to the heroes and martyrs of the liberation struggle. They spoke with local people about the importance of that tour, just as Fidel Castro did in January 1959.

This time, they also condemned the attack conducted by US military forces on Venezuela and the kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, which, among other victims, resulted in the deaths of 32 Cuban combatants.

As usual, the Caravan’s first stop in Havana is in Cotorro, and, after traveling through other municipalities, it concludes at the former Columbia military headquarters, now a school complex called Ciudad Libertad (Liberty City) in Marianao municipality.

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The traditional political and cultural gathering, convened by the Communist Party and sponsored by the Delia del Carril Foundation, will take place on January 10 and 11 at the Leonel Sanchez Stadium in the Recoleta district of Santiago.

This celebration began during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), when party members, then operating underground, would meet and embrace each other as a sign of joy at knowing they were alive and free.

The first edition was held in 1988 at Los Marianistas Stadium, still under the military regime, and was later held in other venues such as Santa Laura Stadium and O’Higgins Park, the latter being its location from 1992 to 2024.

Now it moves to the north of the capital this weekend, and organizers expect the participation of delegations and representatives from political, social, and cultural groups, both national and international.

The 2026 Festival of Embraces will take place in a context marked by the recent US aggression against Venezuela and the kidnapping of its president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores.

In statements to Prensa Latina, the president of the Communist Party of Chile, Lautaro Carmona, condemned the attack against the South American country and denounced that imperialism has endangered international coexistence.

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Professor Pan Deng, of the China University of Political Science and Law, told Prensa Latina that the US action challenges the sovereign equality of States and the United Nations’ collective security mechanism by using force without authorization from the Security Council or justification of self-defense.

Pan Deng underscored that this operation weakens the central role of the Security Council and increases the risk that major powers will resort to unilateral actions outside the multilateral system.

The expert expressed that using US domestic law as a legal basis for intervening in another country undermines the international rule of law and turns global regulations into instruments applied selectively.

The professor noted that the cross-border detention of a head of State is a direct denial of the principle of sovereignty and sends a signal of insecurity to small and medium-sized countries.

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Looking ahead to the 2029 general elections, the initiative, debated as part of the process to amend the Electoral Code, aims at strengthening representativeness and informed voting, especially in the election of members of parliament and local authorities.

Civic groups maintain that eliminating straight-party voting would help reduce clientelism and partisan influence, and promote greater individual responsibility among candidates, while political parties express reservations, considering that the change could impact the dynamics of the political organization system.

The Electoral Tribunal (TE) reported that the proposals are part of a consultation process with social organizations, citizen groups, and political actors, with the aim of reaching a consensus on adjustments that address the demands that arose after the last elections.

The debate will continue in the coming weeks, in a context marked by calls for greater transparency and institutional strengthening of Panamanian democracy.

According to the proposal, citizens will be able to vote by marking their preferred candidates with a checkmark or a cross, without exceeding the number of seats being elected in their district.

Although the option to support all candidates on a single list remains, the ballot will not include a special box for voting for a party list, which would require voters to mark each candidate individually.

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The agreement was reached during a meeting between the Indonesian Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Stella Christie, and the Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to Jakarta, Sudqi Atallah Abd Alkader Al Omoush.

Both parties agreed to create a joint working group tasked with developing a roadmap, defining priority programs, and ensuring the participation of public and private universities from both countries.

The cooperation will encompass student and faculty exchanges, joint research projects, and strengthening institutional capacities in medical education, as well as training opportunities for healthcare personnel.

Indonesian authorities highlighted Jordan’s experience as a regional center for high-level medical training, while the Jordanian side expressed the full willingness of its universities to expand academic partnerships.

The initiative strengthens bilateral relations between Indonesia and Jordan, established in 1950, and aligns with the Indonesian government’s efforts to improve the quality of its human capital.

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A release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office informs that seven agreements were signed on Wednesday in Ankara, in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Anwar Ibrahim.

The Joint Declaration on the Establishment of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council was among the documents signed at the Presidential Palace.

The Malaysian head of government expressed, through his social media, his gratitude for the warm, sincere, and friendly hospitality extended by Erdogan during his three-day visit.

The Communications and Multimedia Commission of Malaysia and the Information and Communications Technology Authority of the Republic of Turkiye signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

The Malaysian Institute for Strategic and International Studies and the Foundation for Political, Economic, and Social Research (SETA Foundation) also signed a MoU on research cooperation in the political, economic, and social fields.

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In its regular report, the military body published that as a result of vigorous operations, units of the Eastern Troops Group occupied the town of Bratskoe in the province of Dnipropetrovsk.

The military ministry also reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces suffered approximately 1,180 casualties during the last 24 hours.

The Central Troops Group inflicted the highest number of casualties on the enemy, with more than 410 troops killed, followed by the Eastern Group, with more than 220.

Meanwhile, the Southern Group caused more than 200 casualties, while on the Western Group’s line of operations, Ukraine lost more than 180 soldiers; on the Northern Group’s, up to 120. and in the Dnieper Group, up to 50.

The Ukrainian Army also lost one tank, 15 armored fighting vehicles, 59 cars, five artillery pieces, and 10 ammunition depots. In addition, Russian air defenses intercepted 142 drones.

In total, since the start of the special military operation, Russia has destroyed 670 warplanes, 283 helicopters, 108,177 unmanned aerial vehicles, 644 missile launchers, and 26,992 tanks and other armored vehicles.

It has also disabled 1,637 multiple rocket launchers, 32,445 pieces of field artillery and mortars, as well as 51,197 specialized military vehicles.

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Trump says the US will oversee Venezuela and its oil indefinitely, boasts of profiting from seized resources.

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The US says it will exercise indefinite control over Venezuela’s oil sales and proceeds after kidnapping its president.

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South Koreans are concerned that the US actions in Venezuela could set a dangerous precedent for other nations, warning that any sovereign nation could be next.

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Thousands of Colombians hold rallies nationwide to denounce Trump’s threats of a Venezuela-style military attack against their country.

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