Published on :
4 mins
New Year’s Eve festivities in Times Square, New York, saw hundreds of thousands of people flock to watch the traditional “Ball Drop” spectacle that accompanies the last seconds of the year. All under high security. As in several capitals, the “ metal detectors were out, (…) nothing to discourage the crowds who came to attend the concerts of rappers Megan Thee Stallion or Flo Rida », says the New York Times. Further away, a pro-Palestine demonstration brought together thousands of people, some praying in the street, others singing Christmas carols with revised lyrics to demand a cease-fire in Gaza, according to the newspaper.
At the same time, President Biden and his wife Jill offered their wishes on television with a message that was intended “ optimistic “. “ Be positive and be good to others “, the First Lady allowed herself to say in an interview recorded from the couple’s vacation spot: the United States Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean Sea. Interviewed, her husband, candidate for re-election in 2024, whispered to reporters “ his resolution for this year : come back next year », reports The Hill. But 2024 will not just be an American election year, “ it will be election year », headlines the Washington Post which invites us to look at the world. Dozens of countries, including the most populous such as India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Mexico, eight NATO members, and 18 of the 54 African states will also go to the polls. “ The impact should not be underestimated », Underlines the online daily.
Read alsoUnited States: controversy surrounding Republican Nikki Haley after her ambiguous comments on slavery
Election with or without the opposition in Venezuela?
Will Venezuela be part of it? Very smart is the one who will be able to say what shape this vote expected for 2024 will have. We do not know if the one who was inducted by the opposition, María Corina Machado, will be able to participate. And even after reading the wild interview given by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to the Mexican newspaper The Daywe will not even know if the outgoing president is a candidate.
It must be said that the journalist who questions him, the former director of Diplomatic world Ignacio Ramonet doesn’t push him around much. Nicolás Maduro unfolds without the slightest contradiction what is presented as his economic achievements, his diplomatic successes against China or in Washington’s release of diplomat Alex Saab just before Christmas. As for the opposition, the Venezuelan president assures in this interview that if one party is corrupt, he will continue the dialogue with it, as he has always done, in order to organize a vote that he anticipates as a ” electoral victory “.
Read alsoVenezuela: several members of the opposition prosecuted for “treason” and “conspiracy”
30 years of the Zapatista movement in Mexico
Mexico spent New Year’s Eve remembering the uprising of the Zapatista army for national liberation. Thirty years ago, in Chiapas, in the south of Mexico, on the border with Guatemala, Subcomandante Marcos rose up with the indigenous populations against the entry into force of the free trade treaty with the United States , NAFTA. “ Festivities lasting several days, bringing together thousands of people from all over the country and even Europe, were held at the “Caracol” in the village of Dolores Hidalgo, one of the autonomous Zapatista communities, inaugurated three years ago », reports The Day.
Welcome messages for visitors extol on signs the virtues of land without property rights, companies or public authorities, the daily continues. And yet, if there is a state where the public force is present in Mexico, it is Chiapas. “ It is the most militarized in Mexico; for one doctor, there are two soldiers “, remember The Process. This does not prevent organized crime from prospering thanks to traditional drug and arms trafficking or the more recent migrant trade. What to do with the area subject to frantic competition from armed groups “ real chaos “. This observation is the successor of Subcomandante Marcos, “Moses”, who draws it up in the newspaper The Process.
Read alsoMexico: the Zapatista movement EZLN celebrates its thirtieth anniversary