Mexico opens its doors to Putin’s diplomats
The AMLO government is violating what the Europeans are doing, which is expelling Russian diplomats on suspicion of espionage expulsion. More than 400 Kremlin employees in European embassies have already been sent back to their country, more than half. Germany kicked out 60 players, Poland 45, the Netherlands 17, Sweden 5, Austria 4, Finland 9, etc. AMLO instead accredited the entry of 36 new diplomats into the country, adding to the 49 already in place before the invasion of the Ukraine existed, so there are a total of 85 diplomats on Mexican soil. A large number of “political affairs advisers”, “honorary consuls”, “military attachés” and “commercial offices” with a 60% increase in recent months. Today, the Russian embassy in the Mexican capital is the embassy with the most staffers of all time, far surpassing the embassy of the United States, its most important trading partner and neighbor to the United States.
Guatemala will elect a new president today
Around 9.4 million Guatemalans are electing Alejandro Giammattei’s successor, which according to polls is rejected by 75% of citizens in a country with high rates of violence, corruption and poverty. Former Social Democrat first lady Sandra Torres leads the vote intention (21.3%), followed by former centrist diplomat Edmond Mulet (13.4%). In third place (9.1%) is the right-wing party Zury Ríos, daughter of the late former military dictator Efraín Ríos Montt (1982-1983). There will be a runoff on August 20th as no candidate gets more than 50% plus one vote to win the first ballot. 160 MPs, 340 mayors and 20 representatives of the Central American Parliament will also be elected today. In Guatemala, 10.3 million of the 17.6 million inhabitants live in poverty and every second child under five suffers from chronic malnutrition, the homicide rate is 17.3 per 100,000 inhabitants (in Italy 1). Remittances from migrants to the US, €18 billion in 2022, account for 19% of GDP.
Paolo Manzo, June 25, 2023
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