If I told you I started this post back in February of 2024, you probably would not believe me. I had just returned from a wonderful adult spring break in the Mexican Carribean where many American music fans danced and sang along to their favorite artists on the beaches of the Riviera Maya. I really did begin this post that long ago, then as 2024 continued:
- 2024 election season ramped up in the US and Mexico.
- In the US one Presidential candidate ramped up his immigration talk.
- In Mexico the people elected a Woman as President.
- In Venezuela the election was rigged and the elected President went into exhile.
- In the US one Presidential candidate was almost killed in Butler.
- The Haitian people living in the US the Mexican
Mexico
After 71 years of rule, the incumbent PRI lost the 2000 presidential election to Vicente Fox of the opposing conservative National Action Party (PAN). In the 2006 presidential election, Felipe Calderón from the PAN was declared the winner, with a very narrow margin (0.58%) over leftist politician Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).[91] López Obrador, however, contested the election and pledged to create an “alternative government”.[92]
After twelve years, in the 2012 presidential election, the PRI again won the presidency with the election of Enrique Peña Nieto. However, he won with a plurality of around 38% and did not have a legislative majority.[93]
During the twenty-first century, Mexico has contended with high crime rates, bureaucratic corruption, narcotrafficking, and a stagnant economy. Many state-owned industrial enterprises were privatized starting in the 1990s with neoliberal reforms, but Pemex, the state-owned petroleum company is only slowly being privatized, with exploration licenses being issued.[94] In a push against government corruption, the ex-CEO of Pemex, Emilio Lozoya Austin, was arrested in 2020.[95]
After founding the new political party MORENA, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (commonly known as AMLO) won the 2018 presidential election with over 50% of the vote. His political coalition, led by his left-wing party founded after the 2012 elections, included parties and politicians from across the political spectrum. The coalition also won a majority in both the upper and lower Congress chambers. His success is attributed to the country’s opposing political forces exhausting their chances as well as AMLO’s adoption of a moderate discourse with a focus on reconciliation.[96] The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Mexico occurred on 28 February 2020. The COVID-19 vaccination in Mexico began in December 2020.
Claudia Sheinbaum, López Obrador’s political successor, won the 2024 presidential election in a landslide and upon taking office in October became the first woman to lead the country in Mexico’s history.[97] She was sworn in as Mexico’s president on 1 October 2024.[98]
e foreign relations of Mexico are directed by the President of Mexico[123] and managed through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[124] The principles of the foreign policy are constitutionally recognized in the Article 89, Section 10, which include: respect for international law and legal equality of states, their sovereignty and independence, trend to non-interventionism in the domestic affairs of other countries, peaceful resolution of conflicts, and promotion of collective security through active participation in international organizations.[123] Since the 1930s, the Estrada Doctrine has served as a crucial complement to these principles.[125]
Mexico is a founding member of several international organizations, most notably the United Nations,[126] the Organization of American States,[127] the Organization of Ibero-American States,[128] the OPANAL[129] and the CELAC.[130] In 2008, Mexico contributed over 40 million dollars to the United Nations regular budget.[131] In addition, it was the only Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development since it joined in 1994 until Chile gained full membership in 2010.[132][133]
Mexico is considered a regional power[134][135] hence its presence in major economic groups such as the G8+5 and the G-20. Since the 1990s Mexico has sought a reform of the United Nations Security Council and its working methods[136] with the support of Canada, Italy, Pakistan and other nine countries, which form a group informally called the Coffee Club.[137]
he Mexican Armed Forces maintain significant infrastructure, including facilities for the design, research, and testing of weapons, vehicles, aircraft, naval vessels, defense systems and electronics; military industry manufacturing centers for building such systems; and advanced naval dockyards that build heavy military vessels and advanced missile technologies. Since the 1990s, when the military escalated its role in the war on drugs, increasing importance has been placed on acquiring airborne surveillance platforms, aircraft, helicopters, digital war-fighting technologies,[141] urban warfare equipment and rapid troop transport.[142] Mexico has the capabilities to manufacture nuclear weapons, but abandoned this possibility with the Treaty of Tlatelolco in 1968, pledging to use its nuclear technology only for peaceful purposes.[143] Mexico signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.[144]
Historically, Mexico has remained neutral in international conflicts,[145] with the exception of World War II. However, in recent years some political parties have proposed an amendment of the Constitution to allow the Mexican Army, Air Force or Navy to collaborate with the United Nations in peacekeeping missions, or to provide military help to countries that officially ask for it.[146]
Mexico has fully recognised same-sex marriage since 2022,[152] and anti-discrimination laws regarding sexual orientation have existed in the nation since 2003.[153] However, hate crimes towards the LGBT community remain an issue in Mexico.[154][155] Other crime and human rights violations in Mexico have been criticized, including enforced disappearances (kidnappings), abuses against migrants, extrajudicial killings, gender-based violence, especially femicide, and attacks on journalists and human rights advocates.[156] A 2020 report by the BBC gives statistics on crime in Mexico, with 10.7 million households with at least one victim of crime.[157] As of May 2022, 100,000 people are officially listed as missing, most since 2007 when President Calderón attempted to stop the drug cartels.[158] Drug cartels remain a major issue in Mexico, with a proliferation of smaller cartels when larger ones are broken up and increasingly the use of more sophisticated military equipment and tactics.[159][160]
Mexico’s drug war, ongoing since 2006, has left over 120,000 dead and perhaps another 37,000 missing.[161] Mexico’s National Geography and Statistics Institute estimated that in 2014, one-fifth of Mexicans were victims of some sort of crime.[162] The mass kidnapping of 43 students in Iguala on 26 September 2014 triggered nationwide protests against the government’s weak response to the disappearances and widespread corruption that gives free rein to criminal organizations.[163] More than 100 journalists and media workers have been killed or disappeared since 2000, and most of these crimes remained unsolved, improperly investigated, and with few perpetrators arrested and convicted.[164][165]
exico produces the most automobiles of any North American nation.[175] The industry produces technologically complex components and engages in some research and development activities.[176] The “Big Three” (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) have been operating in Mexico since the 1930s, while Volkswagen and Nissan built their plants in the 1960s.[177] In Puebla alone, 70 industrial part-makers cluster around Volkswagen.[176] In the 2010s expansion of the sector was surging. In September 2016 Kia opened a $1 billion factory in Nuevo León,[178] with Audi also opening an assembling plant in Puebla the same year.[179] BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan currently have plants in construction.[180] The domestic car industry is represented by DINA S.A., which has built buses and trucks since 1962,[181] and the new Mastretta company that builds the high-performance Mastretta MXT sports car.[182] In 2006, trade with the United States and Canada accounted for almost 50% of Mexico’s exports and 45% of its imports.[12]
Main article: Mass media in Mexico
The telecommunications industry is mostly dominated by Telmex (Teléfonos de México), previously a government monopoly privatized in 1990. By 2006, Telmex had expanded its operations to Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and the United States. Other players in the domestic industry are Axtel, Maxcom, Alestra, Marcatel, AT&T Mexico.[202] Because of Mexican orography, providing a landline telephone service at remote mountainous areas is expensive, and the penetration of line-phones per capita is low compared to other Latin American countries, at 51.8% percent; however, 81.2% of Mexican households have an internet connection and 81.4% of Mexicans over the age of 6 have a mobile phone.[203] Mobile telephony has the advantage of reaching all areas at a lower cost, and the total number of mobile lines is almost two times that of landlines, with an estimation of 97.2 million lines.[203] The telecommunication industry is regulated by the government through Cofetel (Comisión Federal de Telecomunicaciones).
The Mexican satellite system is domestic and operates 120 earth stations. There is also extensive microwave radio relay network and considerable use of fiber-optic and coaxial cable.[204] Mexican satellites are operated by Satélites Mexicanos (Satmex), a private company, leader in Latin America and servicing both North and South America.[205] It offers broadcast, telephone, and telecommunication services to 37 countries in the Americas, from Canada to Argentina. Through business partnerships Satmex provides high-speed connectivity to ISPs and Digital Broadcast Services.[206] Satmex maintains its satellite fleet with most of the fleet being designed and built in Mexico. Major players in the broadcasting industry are Televisa, the largest Mexican media company in the Spanish-speaking world,[207] TV Azteca and Imagen Televisión.
As of 2017, Mexico was the 6th most visited country in the world and had the 15th highest income from tourism in the world which is also the highest in Latin America.[234] The vast majority of tourists come to Mexico from the United States and Canada followed by Europe and Asia. A smaller number also come from other Latin American countries.[235] In the 2017 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, Mexico was ranked 22nd in the world, which was 3rd in the Americas.[236]
The coastlines of Mexico are rich in sunny beach stretches. According to the Constitution of Mexico Article 27, the entirety of the coastlines is under federal ownership. On the Yucatán peninsula, one of the most popular beach destinations is the resort town of Cancún, especially among university students during spring break. To the south of Cancun is the coastal strip called Riviera Maya which includes the beach town of Playa del Carmen and the ecological parks of Xcaret and Xel-Há. To the south of Cancún is the town of Tulum, notable for its ruins of Maya civilization. Other notable tourist destinations include Acapulco with crowded beaches and multi-story hotels on the shores. At the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula is the resort town of Cabo San Lucas, noted for its marlin fishing.[237] Closer to the United States border is the weekend draw of San Felipe, Baja California.[238]
Cuba
The Cuban state asserts its adherence to socialist principles in organizing its largely state-controlled planned economy. Most of the means of production are owned and run by the government and most of the labor force is employed by the state. Recent years have seen a trend toward more private sector employment. By 2006, public sector employment was 78% and private sector 22%, compared to 91.8% to 8.2% in 1981.[259] Government spending is 78.1% of GDP.[260] Since the early 2010s, following the initial market reforms, it has become popular to describe the economy as being, or moving toward, market socialism.[261][262][263] Any firm that hires a Cuban must pay the Cuban government, which in turn pays the employee in Cuban pesos.[264] The average monthly wage as of July 2013 was 466 Cuban pesos—about US$19.[265] However, after a reform in January 2021, the minimum wage is about 2100 CUP (US$18) and the median wage is about 4000 CUP (US$33).[citation needed]
Cuba had Cuban pesos (CUP) set at par with the US dollar before 1959.[265] Every Cuban household has a ration book (known as libreta) entitling it to a monthly supply of food and other staples, which are provided at nominal cost.[266]
According to the Havana Consulting Group, in 2014, remittances to Cuba amounted to US$3,129 million, the seventh highest in Latin America.[267] In 2019, remittances had grown to US$6,616 million, but dropped down to US$1,967 million in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[268] The pandemic has also devastated Cuba’s tourist industry, which along with a tightening of U.S. sanctions, has led to large increase in emigration among younger working-age Cubans. It has been described as a crisis that is “threatening the stability” of Cuba, which “already has one of the hemisphere’s oldest populations”.[269] According to a controversial 2023 report by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), 88% of Cuban citizens live in extreme poverty. The report stated that Cubans were concerned about food security and the difficulty in acquiring basic goods.[270]
According to the World Bank, Cuba’s GDP per capita was $9,500 as of 2020.[271] But according to the CIA World Factbook, it was $12,300 as of 2016.[272] The United Nations Development Programme gave Cuba a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.764 in 2021.[273] The same United Nations agency estimated the country’s Multidimensional Poverty Index of 0.003 in 2023.[274]
In 2005, Cuba had exports of US$2.4 billion, ranking 114 of 226 world countries, and imports of US$6.9 billion, ranking 87 of 226 countries.[275] Its major export partners are Canada 17.7%, China 16.9%, Venezuela 12.5%, Netherlands 9%, and Spain 5.9% (2012).[276] Cuba’s major exports are sugar, nickel, tobacco, fish, medical products, citrus fruits, and coffee;[276] imports include food, fuel, clothing, and machinery. Cuba presently holds debt in an amount estimated at $13 billion,[277] approximately 38% of GDP.[278]
According to The Heritage Foundation, Cuba is dependent on credit accounts that rotate from country to country.[279] Cuba’s prior 35% supply of the world’s export market for sugar has declined to 10% due to a variety of factors, including a global sugar commodity price drop that made Cuba less competitive on world markets.[280] It was announced in 2008 that wage caps would be abandoned to improve the nation’s productivity.[281]
Cuba’s leadership has called for reforms in the country’s agricultural system. In 2008, Raúl Castro began enacting agrarian reforms to boost food production, as at that time 80% of food was imported. The reforms aim to expand land use and increase efficiency.[282] Venezuela supplies Cuba with an estimated 110,000 barrels (17,000 m3) of oil per day in exchange for money and the services of some 44,000 Cubans, most of them medical personnel, in Venezuela.[283][284]
In 2010, Cubans were allowed to build their own houses. According to Raúl Castro, they could now improve their houses, but the government would not endorse these new houses or improvements.[285] There is virtually no homelessness in Cuba,[286][287] and 85% of Cubans own their homes[288] and pay no property taxes or mortgage interest. Mortgage payments may not exceed 10% of a household’s combined income.[citation needed].
n 2010, the Pew Forum estimated that religious affiliation in Cuba is 59.2% Christian, 23% unaffiliated, 17.4% folk religion (such as santería), and the remaining 0.4% consisting of other religions.[346] In a 2015 survey sponsored by Univision, 44% of Cubans said they were not religious and 9% did not give an answer while only 34% said they were Christian.[347]
Cuba is officially a secular state. Religious freedom increased through the 1980s,[348] with the government amending the constitution in 1992 to drop the state’s characterization as atheistic.[349]
Roman Catholicism is the largest religion, with its origins in Spanish colonization. Despite less than half of the population identifying as Catholics in 2006, it nonetheless remains the dominant faith.[279] Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI visited Cuba in 1998 and 2011, respectively, and Pope Francis visited Cuba in September 2015.[350][351] Prior to each papal visit, the Cuban government pardoned prisoners as a humanitarian gesture.[352][353]
The government’s relaxation of restrictions on house churches in the 1990s led to an explosion of Pentecostalism, with some groups claiming as many as 100,000 members. However, Evangelical Protestant denominations, organized into the umbrella Cuban Council of Churches, remain much more vibrant and powerful.[354]
Haiti – is a country in distress- politically, environmentally and historically because of the various global powers that have taken advantage of the Haitian government over the last 200 plus years (France, Germany, United States). The country has over 11 million people. The government is non-existent as the military has taken over the country at this moment. Poverty is rampant due to the previously named nations exploitation of people and the resources of the country. Haiti and the Dominican Republic may be on the same island in the Carribean, but the disparity between the two countries is great. French and French Creole are the main languages. The economy is very informal. So why are so many refugees coming to the United States? People want to work. People want an opportunity for a better life.
Which brings us to modern day Charleroi. While my family may have been the 1900s immigrants who don’t speak English but knew how to build streets and structures, they left Europe for a new life.
If you walk through downtown Magic City you will notice new storefronts that resemble Queens as in the borough in New York with a diverse population. You will see stores that wire money out of Charleroi. Why?
Remittances from Haitians living abroad are the primary source of foreign exchange, equaling one-fifth (20%) of GDP and more than five times the earnings from exports as of 2012.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti
DHS extended and redesignated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians already residing in the United States as of November 6, 2022, TPS does not apply to individuals without legal basis to enter or remain in the United States. DHS continues to regularly repatriate Haitians who attempt to enter the United States illegally.
Our other hometown was featured this week in the news because of the influx of immigrants into the school system. This highlights the disparity in how the commonwealth funds public education.
Every child deserves a chance and needs the right tools in their tool-belt.
After the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore due to the container ship losing control and taking out the support pier, we are reminded how important immigrants are to building our infrastructure. Why are these people coming to the United States? What are these people sending back to their homelands?
Venezuela
The last three American presidents have been united on one policy: hitting the Venezuelan government with tough sanctions in response to corruption, anti-democratic moves and human rights abuses.
Migration was promoted from Washington,” Venezuela’s foreign minister, Yván Gil Pinto, told The Intercept last month. “Those who created those conditions, they must assume their responsibility, the responsibility of hurting our economy, and of creating a migrant attraction towards the United States.’’
(U.S. data show that since 2021, more than 800,000 Venezuelan migrants entered the United States, including 114,695 in the first six months of this year.)
Mr. Gil also blamed what he called Venezuela’s “far right” opposition for conspiring w
Guatemala
His rise to power — six months after his victory at the polls delivered a stunning rebuke to Guatemala’s conservative political establishment — amounts to a sea change in Central America’s most populous country. His landslide election reflected broad support for his proposals to curb graft and revive a teetering democracy.
But as Mr. Arévalo prepares to govern, he must assert control while facing off against an alliance of conservative prosecutors, members of Congress and other political figures who have gutted Guatemala’s governing institutions in recent years.
The power struggle playing out in Guatemala, a nation of 18 million, is being closely followed throughout Central America, a region on edge over the expanding sway of drug cartels, the exodus of migrants and the use of authoritarian tactics in neighboring countries like El Salvador and Nicaragua.
Washington’s support for reform stands in contrast to the role it played in Guatemala decades ago. The United States backed the Guatemalan military during a long, brutal civil war; one military dictator during the 1980s was later convicted of genocide for trying to exterminate the Ixil, a Mayan Indian people. In 1954, the C.I.A. engineered a coup that toppled a popular, democratically elected president, Jacobo Arbenz.
After that coup, Mr. Arévalo’s father, Juan José Arévalo, a former president who is still admired in Guatemala for allowing freedom of speech and creating the social security system, spent years in exile around Latin America.
Belize
The Maya civilization spread into the area of Belize between 1500 BC and AD 300 and flourished until about 1200.[10] European contact began in 1502–04 when Christopher Columbus sailed along the Gulf of Honduras.[11] European exploration was begun by English settlers in 1638. Spain and Britain both laid claim to the land until Britain defeated the Spanish in the Battle of St. George’s Caye (1798).[12] It became a British colony in 1840, and a Crown colony in 1862. Belize achieved its independence from the United Kingdom on 21 September 1981.[13] It is the only mainland Central American country which is a Commonwealth realm, with King Charles III as its monarch and head of state, represented by a governor-general.[14]
Belize’s abundance of terrestrial and marine plants and animals and its diversity of ecosystems, including extensive coral reefs, give it a key place in the globally significant Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.[15] It is considered a Central American and Caribbean nation with strong ties to both the American and Caribbean regions.[16
Belize was granted independence on 21 September 1981. Guatemala refused to recognize the new nation because of its longstanding territorial dispute, claiming that Belize belonged to Guatemala. After independence about 1,500 British troops remained in Belize to deter any possible Guatemalan incursions.[39]
With George Cadle Price at the helm, the PUP won all national elections until 1984. In that election, the first national election after independence, the PUP was defeated by the United Democratic Party (UDP). UDP leader Manuel Esquivel replaced Price as prime minister, with Price himself unexpectedly losing his own House seat to a UDP challenger. The PUP under Price returned to power after elections in 1989. The following year the United Kingdom announced that it would end its military involvement in Belize, and the RAF Harrier detachment was withdrawn the same year, having remained stationed in the country continuously since its deployment had become permanent there in 1980. British soldiers were withdrawn in 1994, but the United Kingdom left behind a military training unit to assist with the newly created Belize Defence Force.
The UDP regained power in the 1993 national election, and Esquivel became prime minister for a second time. Soon afterwards, Esquivel announced the suspension of a pact reached with Guatemala during Price’s tenure, claiming Price had made too many concessions to gain Guatemalan recognition. The pact may have curtailed the 130-year-old border dispute between the two countries. Border tensions continued into the early 2000s, although the two countries cooperated in other areas.
In 1996, the Belize Barrier Reef, one of the Western Hemisphere’s most pristine ecosystems, was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The PUP won a landslide victory in the 1998 national elections, and PUP leader Said Musa was sworn in as prime minister. In the 2003 elections the PUP maintained its majority, and Musa continued as prime minister. He pledged to improve conditions in the underdeveloped and largely inaccessible southern part of Belize.
In 2005, Belize was the site of unrest caused by discontent with the PUP government, including tax increases in the national budget. On 8 February 2008, Dean Barrow was sworn in as prime minister after his UDP won a landslide victory in general elections. Barrow and the UDP were re-elected in 2012 with a considerably smaller majority. Barrow led the UDP to a third consecutive general election victory in November 2015, increasing the party’s number of seats from 17 to 19. He said the election would be his last as party leader and preparations are under way for the party to elect his successor.
On 11 November 2020, the People’s United Party (PUP), led by Johnny Briceño, defeated the United Democratic Party (UDP) for the first time since 2003, having won 26 seats out of 31 to form the new government of Belize. Briceño took office as Prime Minister on 12 November.[40]
In 2023, Belize became the second Central American country to be awarded certification for the elimination of malaria by the WHO.
The largest integrated electric utility and the principal distributor in Belize is Belize Electricity Limited. BEL was approximately 70% owned by Fortis Inc., a Canadian investor-owned distribution utility. Fortis took over the management of BEL in 1999, at the invitation of the government of Belize in an attempt to mitigate prior financial problems with the locally managed utility. In addition to its regulated investment in BEL, Fortis owns Belize Electric Company Limited (BECOL), a non-regulated hydroelectric generation business that operates three hydroelectric generating facilities on the Macal River.
On 14 June 2011, the government of Belize nationalized the ownership interest of Fortis Inc. in Belize Electricity Ltd. The utility encountered serious financial problems after the country’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in 2008 “disallowed the recovery of previously incurred fuel and purchased power costs in customer rates and set customer rates at a level that does not allow BEL to earn a fair and reasonable return”, Fortis said in a June 2011 statement.[111] BEL appealed this judgement to the Court of Appeal, with a hearing expected in 2012. In May 2011, the Supreme Court of Belize granted BEL’s application to prevent the PUC from taking any enforcement actions pending the appeal. The Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry issued a statement saying the government had acted in haste and expressed concern over the message it sent to investors.
In August 2009, the government of Belize nationalized Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL), which now competes directly with Speednet. As a result of the nationalization process, the interconnection agreements are again subject to negotiations. Both BTL and Speednet sell basic telephone services, national and international calls, prepaid services, cellular services via GSM 1900 megahertz (MHz) and 4G LTE respectively, international cellular roaming, fixed wireless, fibre-to-the-home internet service, and national and international data networks.[112]
I wanted to post this before these sites get an update under #47. https://www.state.gov/report-to-congress-on-proposed-refugee-admissions-for-fiscal-year-2023