CNN
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The governing party called it a ceremonial passing of the baton. But the opposition lambasted it as a “passing of the scepter.”

Constitutionally barred from running for reelection, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sought to show last month, in a very public way, that presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum has his blessing. So he handed his hoped-for successor an actual baton, in a ceremony outside a Mexico City restaurant not far from the National Palace – the seat of the country’s executive power.

Sheinbaum, a 61-year-old former Mexico City mayor and longtime political ally of Lopez Obrador, hit all the right notes in thanking him. Accepting the baton along with the leftist Morena party’s presidential nomination, Sheinbaum said she would assume “the full responsibility of continuing the course marked by our people, that of the transformation initiated by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.”

When Mexicans go to the polls next June, they will choose between two women for president – a first in the country’s history. Only four days before Morena nominated Sheinbaum, Mexico’s opposition coalition Broad Front chose another formidable female candidate, former senator Xochitl Gálvez from the conservative PAN party.

It’s not the first time Mexico sees women running for the presidency; before Sheinbaum and Gálvez, were six other female presidential candidates. But with the two major political sides nominating women, this is the first time that it’s practically a given that starting in December 2024, Mexico, a country previously known for machismo, will be run by a woman.

Still, some critics say the outgoing Lopez Obrador’s shadow looms over the contest.

Meet the candidates: Sheinbaum and Galvez

Gálvez’s rise in Mexican politics has been meteoric; this spring, she said she wasn’t even the favorite of the PRI, PAN and PRD, the parties that now form the Broad Front coalition. It was a public spat with Lopez Obrador himself – who regularly attacked her as a “wimp,” “puppet,” and “employee of the oligarchy” in news conferences – that ultimately rocketed her into the spotlight.

In June, Gálvez went viral when she attempted to enter the National Palace with a judicial order that granted her the right to reply to the president, after successfully suing López Obrador. “This is not a show,” she told reporters at the doors of the National Palace. “The law is the law, period.”

The daughter of an indigenous father and a mixed-race mother, Gálvez served as the top official for indigenous affairs under former President Vicente Fox before becoming a senator. Unfiltered and irreverent, she described herself in an interview with CNN en Español as “an all-terrain, 4-by-4, kind of woman.”

In some respects, she appears progressive. Gálvez has advocated in the Mexican Congress for the rights and welfare of indigenous groups and Afro-Mexicans, and in a regional forum earlier this year in Monterrey, said that oil-rich Mexico should shift to renewable energy. “We haven’t done it because we are dumbasses,” Gálvez unapologetically said.

She has also said leftist Lopez Obrador’s pension for all senior citizens should continue, and proposes what she calls a “universal social protection system” of welfare programs for a large portion of the middle and lower classes.

But when it comes to security and the fight against organized crime, Gálvez’s three-pronged plan is muscular, based on what she describes as “intelligence, heart and a firm-hand”: strengthening local and state police and giving them access to intelligence, advocating for and protecting victims, and respecting the rule of law.

Macario Schettino, a political analyst and Social Science professor at ITESM, a renowned Mexican university, describes Gálvez’s political momentum as impressive, considering that only a few months ago, she wasn’t even considered a candidate with a national profile. “She barely begun to register in political terms, and she’s already had great growth. Many people in Mexico still don’t know her. She is going to grow [..] in popularity,” Schettino said, “While Claudia Sheinbaum can no longer move from where she is because she is already known by most Mexicans.”

Sheinbaum, a physicist with a doctorate in environmental engineering, would also be the first president with Jewish heritage if she wins, although she rarely speaks publicly about her personal background and has governed as a secular leftist.

She is currently ahead in most polls, and will be a formidable opponent to beat. Not only does Sheinbaum have the full support of the governing party, she has also long enjoyed the spotlight as mayor of Mexico’s most important city for the last five years until her resignation in June to run for the presidency.

On policy, Sheinbaum has vowed to continue many of Lopez Obrador’s policies and programs, including a pension for all senior citizens, scholarships for more than 12 million students and free fertilizers for small farm owners. But the high-profile ex-mayor rejects criticism of her close political alignment with the president. “Of course we’re not a copy (of the president),” she said in July.

Still, she does not shy away from touting the principles they share: “For everybody’s good, let’s put the poor first. There cannot be a rich government if the people are poor. Power is only a virtue when it’s used to serve the people,” Sheinbaum said, repeating the same campaign slogans Lopez Obrador has used for years.

Schettino believes the immensely popularly Lopez Obrador views Sheinbaum as his extension in power. He points to their party Morena’s roots in the authoritarian Institutional Revolutionary Party that governed Mexico for more than seven decades until 2000, which came to be known as “The Dinosaur,” and the Party of Democratic Revolution that branched off from it.

In 2012, Lopez Obrador created Morena as a political party. Schettino describes the party today as a “tyrannosaurus” under Lopez Obrador’s influence – representing what he says is the current leader’s desire for a successor to hew closely to his own agenda. “President López Obrador, a dinosaur who not only is a dinosaur, but also has the vocation of a tyrant. He doesn’t want to go. He wants to stay in power,” Schettino said.

“I believe that he built Claudia’s candidacy,” Schettino said.

López Obrador however has repeatedly dismissed accusations of authoritarian leanings or that he favors a candidate he will be able to control. Earlier this year, Lopez Obrador denied he had any favorites among his party’s hopefuls or that he was pushing for one candidate or another behind the scenes.

He has also said that he is going “retire completely” after his six-year term in office comes to an end. “I am retiring, I will not participate in any public event again, of course. I am not going to accept any position, I do not want to be anyone’s advisor, much less am I going to act as a chief. I am not going to have relations with politicians. I am not going to talk about politics,” the president told press in February.

CNN
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The United Nations Security Council has greenlit the deployment of an armed multinational force to Haiti, as the Caribbean nation wrestles with rampant gang violence and political paralysis.

The decision follows repeated calls for military assistance by Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the United States have also strongly urged the international community to back such a mission.

Thirteen members of the council voted in favor of the resolution, with Russia and China abstaining.

Though approved by the powerful UN Security Council, the force would not formally be under UN control. It is expected to be led by Kenya, which has pledged 1000 police to spearhead the mission. Several of Haiti’s Caribbean neighbors – Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, and Jamaica – have also offered support to the mission.

The “multinational security support” force will have a 12-month mandate in Haiti. The timing of its arrival is not set yet and more countries have been invited to participate. The resolution also calls for a global stop to arms sales to Haiti, except for approved security purposes.

An adviser to Haitian Prime Minister Henry, Jean-Junior Joseph, told CNN that the government welcomed the vote, adding, “We await with impatience the mission to combat general insecurity.”

Warring gangs control much of Port-au-Prince – Haiti’s capital city and main port – choking off vital supply lines to the rest of the country. Gang members have also terrorized the metropolitan population, forcing some 200,000 people to flee their homes amid waves of indiscriminate killing, kidnapping, arson and rape.

The mission is expected to strengthen local security and to reinforce the Haitian National Police in its pursuit of the gangs. Haiti’s security forces already receive some international support but remain understaffed and outgunned.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22, Prime Minister Henry told fellow nations that it was “urgent” that the Security Council approve a military mission to reestablish order. Violence has exacerbated broader instability across the country, Henry said, noting that inflation has soared past 50%, leaving 4.9 million Haitians struggling to eat – a dismal new record for the country.

In a statement the same day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the international community to support the plan and to provide assistance, including personnel, and said Washington was ready to provide “robust” financial and logistical assistance.

The Security Council has found itself in repeated deadlock in recent years amid deepening geopolitical rivalries. A statement by the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, described Monday’s decision on Haiti as “historic” and said the mission “speaks to the UN’s ability to galvanize collective action.”

Speaking in the Security Council after the vote, China’s UN ambassador Zhang Jun said his country had “a cautious and responsible approach” toward authorizing the use of force – but that in the case of Haiti, China’s abstention represented a “constructive position” toward the resolution.

Russia’s UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia criticized the move in remarks to the council, saying “that sending the armed forces of another state to any country even upon its request is an extreme measure that must be thoroughly thought through,” but noted “some positive elements” to the approved resolution.

Both Russia and China expressed approval of the resolution’s arms embargo.

Critics of the mission have previously pointed to scandals associated with UN peacekeeping missions in Haiti, including allegations of sexual abuse and the introduction of a deadly cholera epidemic, which killed nearly 10,000 people. Some Haitians also question the mandate of Prime Minister Henry, who took leadership of the country after President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in 2021.

Henry has said that Haiti’s long-overdue elections cannot be held until the country reaches a basic level of security.

The United Nations’ special representative in Haiti, Maria Isabel Salvador, said her office would support the mission “within the limits of its mandate,” while emphasizing that “unlike recent international missions deployed in Haiti, the MSS mission is not a UN mission.”

CNN
 — 

At least 11 people were killed and two people seriously injured on Sunday after the roof of a church in northern Mexico collapsed, officials said.

Preliminary reports indicate that about 100 people were inside the building in Ciudad Madero at the time of the incident, according to a statement from security services in the state of Tamaulipas. Thirty people were believed to be buried in the rubble, Reuters reported.

At least 60 people were injured, with two people sustaining serious injuries, Tamaulipas security spokesperson said.

Units from the National Guard, State Guard, Civil Protection and the Red Cross were assisting in the rescue operation.

Bishop Jose Armando Alvarez, from the diocese of Tampico, said the roof of the church collapsed while worshipers were taking communion, Reuters reported. He urged other members of the community to pray for survivors.

“In this moment the necessary work is being carried out to pull out the people who are still under the rubble,” Bishop Armando said in a recorded message shared on social media, according to Reuters.

CNN
 — 

Two people are dead after a suspected grizzly bear attack in Canada’s Banff National Park, officials said.

Rescuers were first alerted to the incident around 8 p.m. Friday after receiving “an alert from an inReach/GPS device indicating a bear attack,” the national park said in a statement.

The alert said the incident happened in the Red Deer River Valley area of the park, which is in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

“Parks Canada immediately mobilized a Wildlife Human Attack Response Team whose members are specially trained in responding to wildlife attacks,” Banff National Park said in the statement. “Weather conditions at the time did not allow for helicopter use, and the response team travelled through the night to the location by ground.”

The response team arrived at the site around 1 a.m. Saturday and found two people dead and a grizzly bear displaying aggressive behavior, the statement said.

Parks Canada staff euthanized the bear “to ensure public safety,” and Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers arrived at the scene to assist in transporting the victims to Sundre, Alberta, about 75 miles northwest of Calgary, officials said.

“This is a tragic incident, and Parks Canada wishes to express its sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims,” the statement said.

The deadly suspected grizzly attack in Canada happened just weeks a grizzly bear linked to the death of a woman in July near West Yellowstone was euthanized in Montana after breaking into a home through a window with a cub and taking a container of dog food.

In 2020, the same bear was also involved in an encounter that injured a person near Henrys Lake State Park in Idaho, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks said in a news release.

The male cub who was near the adult grizzly was captured and was being held in Helena at the agency’s wildlife rehabilitation center before it was set to be transferred to a zoo, officials said.

And last month, portions of Custer Gallatin National Forest near Big Sky, Montana, were closed after a person was attacked by a grizzly bear while hunting, officials said.

Banff National Park, Canada’s first national park, is a popular attraction for tourists, known for its picturesque turquoise waters. Parks Canada notes the park is “home to hundreds of species, including grizzly bears, wolves, elk and more.”

Mexico City
CNN
 — 

At least 10 Cuban migrants died and 17 others were injured when the truck they were traveling in overturned in southern Mexico on Sunday, Mexican authorities say.

The truck was “irregularly” transporting 27 Cuban nationals on the Pijijiapan-Tonalá highway in the southern state of Chiapas when the accident occurred, Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) said in a statement.

Officials said initial reports suggested the driver had been speeding and lost control of the unit, fleeing the scene after it overturned.

The 10 victims were female and included a minor, authorities said. All the injured are being treated in hospital.

“The INM will establish communication with the consular authorities to initiate the administrative process for the repatriation of the bodies to their country of origin and is aware of the evolution of the health status of those seriously injured,” the statement said.

Migrants from Central America and the Caribbean sometimes travel through Mexico in trucks and trailers in the hope of reaching the United States.

In 2021, 55 people were killed and more than 100 injured when a truck also believed to be carrying migrants overturned in Chiapas state, which borders Guatemala.

CNN
 — 

Center-right candidate Daniel Noboa, the 35-year-old son of a banana tycoon, will become Ecuador’s next president, following an election driven by concerns over rising violence and a worsening security situation in the Latin American nation.

More than 10 million people have voted in the presidential election, and data from the National Electoral Council of Ecuador (CNE) shows Noboa obtained 52.3% of the votes (4,829,130).

His main political rival, leftist candidate and first round front-runner Luisa González, obtained 47.7% of votes (4,404,014), the CNE said.

Noboa was a lawmaker before outgoing President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the legislature and called for early elections.

The Acción Democrática Nacional party’s candidate, he has pledged to create more work opportunities for the young, bring in more foreign investment, using technology to fight crime, and has suggested several anti-corruption measures including sentences for tax evasion.

Speaking to reporters after the result, Noboa thanked his wife, parents, and God for allowing him to serve his country.

“I also thank all those people who have been part of a new, young, improbable political project, a political project whose purpose was to give back a smile to the country,” he said.

“Starting tomorrow, Daniel Noboa, your president of the republic, starts working.”

His rival, González of the Movimiento Revolución Ciudadana party, a protégé of former leftist President Rafael Correa, ran on a promise to enhance public spending and social programs and wants to address the security crisis by fixing the root causes of violence, such as poverty and inequality.

González was the frontrunner in the first round of voting.

She conceded to Noboa after the result was announced, saying she would congratulate him on his victory.

“To the candidate now president-elect, we offer deep congratulations because it’s a democracy; we have never called for a city to be set on fire, we have never come out to shout fraud,” she said.

Security was tight throughout Sunday’s vote with tens of thousands of police officers and army personnel stationed at polling stations across the country.

Crime remained at the forefront of Ecuador’s run-off vote, months after the high-profile assassination of another presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, who was slain days before the August 20 first-round poll.

The killing became a tragic symbol of the country’s worsening security situation, where rival criminal organizations have been meting out brutal and often public shows of violence in the country’s streets and prisons in their battle to control drug trafficking routes.

Voter turnout was “historic” at 82.33% despite initial security concerns, CNE president Diana Atamaint said after polls closed Sunday.

“The transmission of the results has been fluid and constant; the Ecuadorians have permanently followed the votes obtained by each of the candidates, which are the result of the popular will expressed at the polls,” she Atamaint after the results came out.

“We have complied with a historic electoral process. The country gave us this mission, and today, we say to Ecuador and the entire world, ‘task accomplished;’ today democracy won, today Ecuador won.”

Before Ecuador, a nation of nearly 17 million, was transformed into one of the most dangerous countries in the region, it was known as a relatively peaceful place that was nestled between two of the world’s largest narcotics producers, Peru and Colombia.

Its deep ports, dollarized economy, and corruption have since made it a key transit point for drugs making its way to consumers in the US and Europe. The mounting violence, paired with a lack of economic prospects, have also compelled many Ecuadorians to leave the country.

“We are not sure [what] will put an end to this because we cannot live with that fear” of crime, small business owner César Ortiz told CNN en Español in Quito ahead of the poll.

Ortiz said he hopes the new president will focus not just on security but on the economy because “there are so many people who are unemployed, that is why crime [is] abound.”

Whoever wins on Sunday may gain a cursed chalice, say analysts covering the region. “Governing Ecuador right now is hell – this presidency is designed to eliminate you from political life,” Freeman said.

The new president will have relatively little time to work on a solution to the country’s woes. They will hold office only until 2025, which would have been the end of Lasso’s term – a short window for even the most seasoned politician to turn things around in the country.