Democracycast

Reports from independent journalists and interviews with knowledgeable people covering the topics of independent journalists, democracy, human rights, press freedom, and journalism.

Ecuador and Mexico A Break in Relations and a Propaganda Strategy 06/23/2024

Ecuador and Mexico A Break in Relations and a Propaganda Strategy Roberto Diaz &@ on X, reports about the break of international relations between Mexico and Ecuador, and the effect it had in the Latin American region and internal politics struggles in both countries. #LatinAmerica #Mexico #Ecuador #LatinAmerican #Democracy #DanielNoboa #AMLO #America #Geopolitics Recorded April 27th 2024.Duration 7:19 On the night of Friday, April 5th, the Mexican embassy in Quito was raided by the Ecuadorian police, after Mexico granted political asylum to former Ecuadorian vice-president Jorge Glas. This action by the Mexican embassy was made after the Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared Mexican ambassador Raquel Serur , Ecuador’s government urged her to leave the country in the quickest time possible. The Mexican embassy was left under control of chief of mission Roberto Canseco, who by Ecuadorian police forces during the raid. Consequently, Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador ordered the of relations with the South American nation. In response to this event, several countries came out in support of Mexico and condemned President Noboa's actions, which openly violated the Vienna Convention, where diplomatic missions of any country are declared as extensions of the respective countries and are granted immunity from the host country laws. The list of supporting nations includes , , , , , and ; the latter had already severed diplomatic relations with Mexico in 2023. Additionally, there was a formal rupture of diplomatic relations with and . In the northern hemisphere, the and also spoke out against the raid on the Mexican embassy, as did the , the , , and . What reason did President Noboa have for raiding the embassy? , as outlined in Article 3, states that the granting country cannot provide asylum to an individual who is being prosecuted for common crimes in the requesting country. —That would be the legal justification for the raid. —However, the same article states that the evaluation of charges against the asylum seeker is the exclusive responsibility of the granting state. Therefore, the raid could not be justified, and on April 11th, the Mexican government formally filed a lawsuit against the Ecuadorian government in the . Meanwhile, in Ecuador, the majority party in parliament, the RC party Citizen Revolution distanced itself from agreements with the ruling coalition regarding security matters, following the attacks by criminal gangs in Quito, where criminals seized a television station and the University of Quito. As a result, Noboa's government lost its majority in the National Assembly. The arrest has sparked speculation on social media and among various analysts, suggesting that the event was used as a political maneuver to sway the outcome of the held on Sunday, April 22nd. Voter turnout reached 73% of the population, with a 60% approval rating for security reforms; 9 out of the 11 reforms proposed. Reforms regarding arbitration and hourly hiring were rejected by the population. In 2025, Ecuador will have a new electoral process, where President Daniel Noboa will seek his reelection. He was elected only to cover the remaining term of his predecessor Guillermo Lasso's, after Lasso dissolved the congress and called for extraordinary elections. In a movement called as “Muerte Cruzada” In Mexico, on the other hand, Ecuador's blow against Mexican diplomacy was favorably received by the Mexican opposition, such as Senator from the PAN party, who posted a statement on X, expressing her standing on Ecuador’s side. Also was opposed by Mexican politicians such as Gerardo , who filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office against Daniel Noboa for the crime of kidnapping. President Lopez Obrador also stated in his daily press conference against Ecuador 's Minister of Government, Mónica Palencia, who holds Mexican nationality, for the crime of treason. Although the economic impact is minimal for Ecuador and Mexico, paints a bleak picture for migrants who may not have access to consular representation or defense in Mexico until bilateral relations are restored once again, further complicating the passage of migrants through Mexican territory. /episode/index/show/democracycast/id/31857782

Mexican President Vs The Media 03/11/2024

Mexican President Vs The Media Roberto Díaz reports . On February 22, 2024, during the presidential morning conference, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known as AMLO, The New York Times. In the letter, the president was asked to respond to a series of questions sent by the newspaper's editor, Natalie Krittoef, with the intention of clarifying alleged illicit financing in his 2018 campaign. During the press conference, the Mexican president read the letter containing the editor's phone number, which could be considered a violation of Mexico's journalist data protection law. It is worth mentioning that in recent weeks, there have been four attempts to link AMLO to organized crime—a report by , another by , another by , and another by —all just four months before the presidential elections in Mexico, where all polls indicate the candidate from his political party, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, as the winner. It should be noted that all investigations have resulted in no substantiation. On February 23, there was an from Univisión correspondent Jésica Zermeño, who, when questioned about the leak of an editor's phone number that was not private and was already publicly available on LinkedIn, the president's response about a "higher moral law" superior to the law established in the Mexican constitution was enough, fueling an already polarized relationship between his administration and the media. Even though in 2023, according to the NGO four journalists were killed and 34 disappeared, making Mexico the second most dangerous country for journalism outside of Gaza, the media has tried to link López Obrador's presidency to the killings. Mainly denouncing "La Mañanera," the morning press conferences, to denigrate often biased work, as was the case with the misinformation spread by Diario de Yucatan about a supposed heart attack suffered by the president, further diminishing a critical stance on the search for evidence to justify the editorial lines pursued by different media outlets which supported the desinformation. "If she has so much of a problem, she should change her number," was the response given by President AMLO regarding the issue, ignoring that things were only going to get more complicated from there on. Communication experts, analysts, and national and international journalists, came to the defense of editor Natalie Krittoef due to the phone number leak. It should be noted that while the case of editor Natalie Krittoef went viral and at the same time generated sympathy, a occurred of phone numbers linked to journalists attending "La Mañanera." These were later exploited by trolls and bots on social media to increase hate speech and threats against independent journalists who weren’t antagonistic with the AMLO’s administration.The inaction of organizations such as Article 19 in these cases was already expected. While the organization expressed concern about data leaking from more than 300 journalists attending "La Mañanera," an incident that was revealed on January 26 of this year, for the second leak, they stood silently. Finally, the propaganda campaign a campaign carried out by female journalists and actresses very active in the Mexican opposition such as Areli Paz, Paula Ordorica, Azucena Uresti, Lourdes Mendoza, and Denisse Dresser, where through a message on social networks, the journalist said, they were going to leak her number so that people could call them. For those who called expecting to get in touch with the journalists, they only found a pre-recorded message about the number of journalists killed in Mexico. Additionally, two of the profiles of the journalists who promoted this campaign, Denisse Dresser, and Azucena Uresti, in the debates that will be held to choose the next president of Mexico, both women with a biased position towards the interests of the Frente Amplio; the coalition of parties consisting of PRI, PAN, and PRD. the current opposition to the AMLO’s government. In a Mexico where there have been 169 journalist murdered, because of investigating links between organized crime and different levels of government, from federal to state and municipal levels, so, reducing the issue to AMLO's statements and responses as the cause of this increase of violence towards journalist seems a little bit reductive, instead of not holding the judicial power accountable for failing to initiate effective investigation lines to clarify the journalist’s murders in Mexico. Duration: 8 minutes Recorded: 2024-03-09 #LatinAmerica #Mexico #Repression #Disinformation Our published content is on our podcast host Send Listener feedback by sending an email to: [email protected] More Social Media Links for Democracy Watch News Account Suspended We also augment the news on Twitter globally Augments/covers news for West Asia, North Africa & Central Asia #democracy #HumanRights #PressFreedom #environment #OpenGov Augments/covers news for South & SE Asia, & The Pacific Augments/covers news throughout Europe Augments/covers news for more than 190 countries each month. An independent-global news-service, Democracy Watch News covers #democracy #HumanRights #NonviolentConflict #PressFreedom #journalism #mediaEthics #Environment. Augments/covers news for Latin America & South Atlantic. #HumanRights #OpenGov #PressFreedom #NonviolentConflict #Environment in #SouthAmerica #Caribbean #CentralAmerica. Augments/covers news for USA Canada Mexico and the North Pacific. #Mexico #Canada #USA stories/events affecting #democracy #humanRights #journalism #opengov #environment. Augments/covers news for Sub Saharan Africa Democracy Watch News is currently produced by volunteers. Please , we are now a 501c3 charitable nonprofit in the USA. Donations are tax deductible. Please share with your networks. Spanish Credits Nuestro contenido publicado en nuestro host de podcast Envíe los comentarios de los oyentes enviando un correo electrónico a: [email protected] Nuestro equipo de producción y tema musical: Actualmente, Democracy Watch News es producido por voluntarios. Por favor, done en Ahora somos una organización benéfica sin fines de lucro 501c3. Las donaciones son deducibles de impuestos. Por favor comparte con tus redes. /episode/index/show/democracycast/id/30315488

End Veteran Medical Debt 03/11/2024

End Veteran Medical Debt It is a misconception that our veterans receive free or affordable healthcare. As much as $6 Billion in veteran and military medical debt is burdening our bravest. is the parent initiative Jerry Ashton’s group of several campaigns to mitigate the harms that can impact veterans including risk of suicide, unemployment, addiction, and poor health. . One campaign that this report focuses on is the campaign to . Ways you can support this campaign are detailed. They include Signing a petition, contacting your congressperson, and following on Facebook and Twitter. Jerry’s group has been also working for years on retiring medical debt for the general public with . To date, that initiative has retired about $10 Billion in medical debt; erasing that burden from the lives of 7 million americans. Duration:13:35 Recorded 2023-11-09 Our published content is on our podcast host Send Listener feedback by sending an email to: [email protected] More Social Media Links for Democracy Watch News Account Suspended We also augment the news on Twitter globally Augments/covers news for West Asia, North Africa & Central Asia #democracy #HumanRights #PressFreedom #environment #OpenGov Augments/covers news for South & SE Asia, & The Pacific Augments/covers news throughout Europe Augments/covers news for more than 190 countries each month. An independent-global news-service, Democracy Watch News covers #democracy #HumanRights #NonviolentConflict #PressFreedom #journalism #mediaEthics #Environment. Augments/covers news for Latin America & South Atlantic. #HumanRights #OpenGov #PressFreedom #NonviolentConflict #Environment in #SouthAmerica #Caribbean #CentralAmerica. Augments/covers news for USA Canada Mexico and the North Pacific. #Mexico #Canada #USA stories/events affecting #democracy #humanrights #journalism #opengov #environment. Augments/covers news for Sub Saharan Africa Democracy Watch News is currently produced by volunteers. Please , we are now a 501c3 charitable nonprofit in the USA. Donations are tax deductible. Please share with your networks. Spanish Credits Nuestro contenido publicado en nuestro host de podcast Envíe los comentarios de los oyentes enviando un correo electrónico a: [email protected] Nuestro equipo de producción y tema musical Actualmente, Democracy Watch News es producido por voluntarios. Por favor, done en Ahora somos una organización benéfica sin fines de lucro 501c3. Las donaciones son deducibles de impuestos. Por favor comparte con tus redes. /episode/index/show/democracycast/id/30314033

Genocide in Balochistan part 4 of 4 01/26/2024

Genocide in Balochistan part 4 of 4 This concludes our four part report on the genocide in Balochistan. The Baloch problem started in 1833 when the British basically wanted to expand their imperial empire to Afghanistan. And there are two routes to Afghanistan. One is through Balochistan, one is through the Khyber Pass. And they tried it through that route, the other route, and they faced basically drastic humiliation. So the British played the game of basically, I want to lay a railway line, I want to lay a telegraph line along what is now the border between Pakistan and Iran, which was inside Balochistan. And then in 1928, basically Iran took that part and made it part of Iran. And In 1967, Pakistan was formed. Then the other part of Balochistan, in 1947, March 1948, Pakistan mobilized troops, backed fully by the British at the time, and occupied us. Genocide, a term that evokes images of immense human suffering and the darkest chapters in history, has been an ongoing tragedy in the region of Balochistan. Balochistan, a vast and resource-rich province straddling the borders of Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, has been plagued by a long-standing conflict marked by human rights violations and systematic targeting of its Baloch population. Several members of the Baloch community describe what is happening to people in Balochistan now. “Pakistan is currently engaged in a sinister war against killing Baloch people; that is understandable, because Baloch people are asking for their party to be independent.” The capital of Pakistan, Karachi, is in the . The deep sea port in Karachi on the Arabian Sea is crucial to the Pakistan economy. China’s completion of its Silk Road project needs this port. Balochistan predates the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Journalism is a , particularly in Balochistan. According to a report by Freedom Network, an independent national media watchdog, at least 53 journalists were murdered in Pakistan from 2012 to 2022. Only in two cases have convictions been obtained. Most journalists concede that “We write what the authorities want us to write. We can’t present the real facts.” Some examples of this violence are detailed in this report. #Balochistan #Genocide #Pakistan #Iran Recorded 2023-08-08 Duration 52:26 Our published content is on our podcast host Send Listener feedback by sending an email to: More Social Media Links for Democracy Watch News We also augment the news on Twitter globally Augments/covers news for West Asia, North Africa & Central Asia #democracy #HumanRights #PressFreedom #environment #OpenGov Augments/covers news for South & SE Asia, & The Pacific Augments/covers news throughout Europe Augments/covers news for Latin America & South Atlantic. #HumanRights #OpenGov #PressFreedom #NonviolentConflict #Environment in #SouthAmerica #Caribbean #CentralAmerica. Augments/covers news for USA Canada Mexico and the North Pacific. #Mexico #Canada #USA stories/events affecting #democracy #humanrights #journalism #opengov #environment. Augments/covers news for Sub Saharan Africa Democracy Watch News is currently produced by volunteers. Please , we are now a 501c3 charitable nonprofit in the USA. Donations are tax deductible. Please share with your networks. /episode/index/show/democracycast/id/29658423

Genocide in Balochistan part 3 of 4 01/01/2024

Genocide in Balochistan part 3 of 4 This part 3 of 4 begins with a recounting of threats for journalists. The Baloch problem started in 1833 when the British basically wanted to expand their imperial empire to Afghanistan. And there are two routes to Afghanistan. One is through Balochistan, one is through the Khyber Pass. And they tried it through that route, the other route, and they faced basically drastic humiliation. So the British played the game of basically, I want to lay a railway line, I want to lay a telegraph line along what is now the border between Pakistan and Iran, which was inside Balochistan. And then in 1928, basically Iran took that part and made it part of Iran. And In 1967, Pakistan was formed. Then the other part of Balochistan, in 1947, March 1948, Pakistan mobilized troops, backed fully by the British at the time, and occupied us. Genocide, a term that evokes images of immense human suffering and the darkest chapters in history, has been an ongoing tragedy in the region of Balochistan. Balochistan, a vast and resource-rich province straddling the borders of Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, has been plagued by a long-standing conflict marked by human rights violations and systematic targeting of its Baloch population. Several members of the Baloch community describe what is happening to people in Balochistan now. “Pakistan is currently engaged in a sinister war against killing Baloch people; that is understandable, because Baloch people are asking for their party to be independent.” The capital of Pakistan, Karachi, is in the . The deep sea port in Karachi on the Arabian Sea is crucial to the Pakistan economy. China’s completion of its Silk Road project needs this port. Balochistan predates the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Journalism is a , particularly in Balochistan. According to a report by Freedom Network, an independent national media watchdog, at least 53 journalists were murdered in Pakistan from 2012 to 2022. Only in two cases have convictions been obtained. Most journalists concede that “We write what the authorities want us to write. We can’t present the real facts.” Some examples of this violence are detailed in this report. #Balochistan #Genocide #Pakistan #Iran #HumanRights Recorded 2023-08-08 Duration 43:46 Our published content is on our podcast host Send Listener feedback by sending an email to: More Social Media Links for Democracy Watch News We also augment the news on Twitter globally Augments/covers news for West Asia, North Africa & Central Asia #democracy #HumanRights #PressFreedom #environment #OpenGov Augments/covers news for South & SE Asia, & The Pacific Augments/covers news throughout Europe Augments/covers news for Latin America & South Atlantic. #HumanRights #OpenGov #PressFreedom #NonviolentConflict #Environment in #SouthAmerica #Caribbean #CentralAmerica. Augments/covers news for USA Canada Mexico and the North Pacific. #Mexico #Canada #USA stories/events affecting #democracy #humanrights #journalism #opengov #environment. Augments/covers news for Sub Saharan Africa Democracy Watch News is currently produced by volunteers. Please , we are now a 501c3 charitable nonprofit in the USA. Donations are tax deductible. Please share with your networks. /episode/index/show/democracycast/id/29291778

Genocide in Balochistan part 2 of 4 11/20/2023

Genocide in Balochistan part 2 of 4 Genocide, a term that evokes images of immense human suffering and the darkest chapters in history, has been an ongoing tragedy in the region of Balochistan. Balochistan, a vast and resource-rich province straddling the borders of Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, has been plagued by a long-standing conflict marked by human rights violations and systematic targeting of its Baloch population. Several members of the Baloch community describe what is happening to people in Balochistan now. “Pakistan is currently engaged in a sinister war against killing Baloch people; that is understandable, because Baloch people are asking for their party to be independent.” The capital of Pakistan, Karachi, is in the . The deep sea port in Karachi on the Arabian Sea is crucial to the Pakistan economy. China’s completion of its Silk Road project needs this port. Balochistan predates the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Journalism is a , particularly in Balochistan. According to a report by Freedom Network, an independent national media watchdog, at least 53 journalists were murdered in Pakistan from 2012 to 2022. Only in two cases have convictions been obtained. Most journalists concede that “We write what the authorities want us to write. We can’t present the real facts.” Some examples of this violence are detailed in this report. #Baluchistan #Genocide #Pakistan #Iran #BritishImperialism #HumanRights Recorded 2023-08-08 Duration 36:34 Our published content is on our podcast host Send Listener feedback by sending an email to: More Social Media Links for Democracy Watch News We also augment the news on Twitter globally Augments/covers news for West Asia, North Africa & Central Asia #democracy #HumanRights #PressFreedom #environment #OpenGov Augments/covers news for South & SE Asia, & The Pacific Augments/covers news throughout Europe Augments/covers news for Latin America & South Atlantic. #HumanRights #OpenGov #PressFreedom #NonviolentConflict #Environment in #SouthAmerica #Caribbean #CentralAmerica. Augments/covers news for USA Canada Mexico and the North Pacific. #Mexico #Canada #USA stories/events affecting #democracy #humanrights #journalism #opengov #environment. Augments/covers news for Sub Saharan Africa Democracy Watch News is currently produced by volunteers. Please , we are now a 501c3 charitable nonprofit in the USA. Donations are tax deductible. Please share with your networks. /episode/index/show/democracycast/id/28715473

The First Female President of Mexico 10/30/2023

The First Female President of Mexico I'm Roberto Diaz. I'm the coordinator editor for Democracy Watch News Latin America with a new report about the upcoming Mexican election on June 2nd of 2024 that will elect for the first time a female president of Mexico. This is something without precedent and can help to develop what is going to be the Mexican internal and external policy during the coming six years. So this is something great. This is something good. We have to understand that 2024 will be a definitive year for Mexico's political life. The first candidate comes from the Morena party. It is the party that was launched by the current president Andres Manuel Obrador or AMLO, as he is famously known here in Mexico. She is , who became the first female governor of Mexico City. She is a physicist with a specialization in green energy development and the founder of social justice efforts, especially crimes against women. She recently won Morena's internal poll to become their next candidate. If the USA wants to keep the New Green Deal, she is the best for the Democrats in Washington. Claudia Sheinbaum has developed a close relationship with the Energy Secretary of Mexico, Rocío Nález. to strengthen the position of green energies in Mexicano. She shows herself as a progressivist, a social democrat, and part of Mexico's left wing. Claudia Sheinbaum started in 2000 as the Secretary of Environment of the Federal District during the government of Lopez Obrador and as the Mexico City mayor. From there, in 2015, she became the delegation chief of Tlalpan, a city of neighborhoods in Mexico City. It's similar to the mayoralty down in the US. Then, unfortunately, in 2017, a private school collapsed during the Mexico City earthquake, killing 26 people in total. 19 of them were children. As a member of the Tlalpan delegation,Sheinbaum was accused of being responsible for this incident. Although the school director was sent to prison, after it was revealed that the school didn't have permission to build more floors. Nonetheless, Claudia Sheinbaum won the election for the Mexico City Regency in 2018. During her administration, the Mexico City Cable Bus was built and launched for Mexico City citizens. Also in close work with the governor of Mexico state, Alfredo del Mazo-Mazza, they created a strategy to put COVID-19 detection centers in every delegation and neighborhood. Unfortunately, in 2021, the Mexico City light train Linea 12 collapsed. The political opposition blamed Claudia for that, although a thorough investigation showed that the problems of the line weren't because of lack of maintenance, as the media pointed out, but because of construction deficiencies. The line was built in 2012 by a series of construction companies owned by Mexico's rich man, Carlos Slim Tesis. Twenty-two people died in the event, and the millionaire decided to make reparations to the families and rebuild the old structure for free. The investigations are still in process. During the presidential visit to a welfare bank branch in Mexico City, AMLO was seen with Claudia. And to the eyes of all watchers, the president raises her hand into the sky. Political analysts like Denis Dresdner and Sergio Sarmiento still believe that was the definitive moment in which Claudia Sheinbaum was picked by AMLO to be his successor. In 2021, Claudia started to walk Mexico City streets in what was expected to be, what we call here in Mexico, an advanced campaign act. These are illegal, I have to say. In 2022 and 2023, she started to support Morena candidates for the governor election. And so she visited those states, building support from the Morena party members, at the same time she painted walls with the legend "Es Claudia" in several states, as well as plenty of banners. The other candidate is , or Xochiti Galvez as she likes to be known, labeling herself as an indigenous heritage, well, she has indigenous heritage candidate. She's an indigenous heritage candidate. Xochiti has become a recent social media phenomenon. Her simple speech tries to appeal to major sectors of the Mexican population, although with some elitist remarks, as she quotes, for example, infamously, that southern Mexicans don't like to work eight hours shift because it isn't part of their culture, as well as putting an end to some of the welfare programs, like the for young students. So, she'll appear as the reaction of the Mexican political opposition bloc, an alliance of three different parties. The National Action Party, or FAN in Spanish. This party is conservative and right-wing. And then we have the Institutional Revolution Party, or PRI in Spanish. The PRI used to be a center party or a nationality. Nationalist Party, but right now it's a neoliberal party, and the Revolutionary Institution Party, or PRD in Spanish. This is a center-left party. She came from a poor municipality in the State of Hidalgo. Her grandfather was an Ottoman speaker native. She tells the story of how she used to sell jellies to pay for her studies in computational systems engineering in the UNAM. This is one of the most renowned, let's say the most famous university in Mexico. She was an active member of the Mexican Communist Party and labeled herself as a trustee. Although, she had a 180 degree ideological shift when she was picked by Mexico's president in the year 2000. During her time working in the delegation for development in indigenous settlements, Xochiti used her connections to give some public contracts to her husband. This is illegal in Mexico. We are talking about 17 contracts. In 2015, she became the Miguel Hidalgo delegate in Mexico City. In her administration, the crime in the delegation increased by 30%. She ended the scholarship to young students and sports players. She used her position in the Miguel Hidalgo to once again give public contracts to her company during Enrique Peña Nieto's presidential administration. And then during the first years of the AMLO administration, she reprimanded the president for canceling her contract. In 2018, Xochiti Galvez became a senator for the National Action Party, where she became one of the most antagonistic and vocal against AMLO's administration. Recorded: 2023-09-30 Duration: 25:13 #MexicanFemalePresident #MexicanElection2024 Our published content is on our podcast host Send Listener feedback by sending an email to: We also augment the news on Twitter globally Curates and covers news for West Asia, North Africa & Central Asia #democracy #HumanRights #PressFreedom #environment #OpenGov Curates and covers news for Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Australia, & New Zealand Aotearoa Curates and covers news for West Asia, North Africa & Central Asia on Augments/covers news throughout Europe Curates and covers news for Latin America & South Atlantic. #HumanRights #OpenGov #PressFreedom #NonviolentConflict #Environment in #SouthAmerica #Caribbean #CentralAmerica. Curates and covers news for Mexico, Canada, USA, Greenland. News/events affecting Curates and covers news for Sub Saharan Africa Democracy Watch News is currently produced by volunteers. Please , we are now a 501c3 charitable nonprofit in the USA. Donations are tax deductible. Please share with your networks. /episode/index/show/democracycast/id/28457063

Abortion Decriminalization in Mexico 10/14/2023

Abortion Decriminalization in Mexico Roberto Diaz reports from Mexico City on the abortion decriminalization in Mexico. Since 2021, abortion has no longer been a federal crime in Mexico. The criminal law in Mexico varies by state. On 7 September 2021, the Mexican Supreme Court unanimously ruled that penalizing abortion is unconstitutional, setting an important precedent across the whole country. Before 2019, abortion had been severely restricted outside of Mexico City, where it was legalized on-request in 2007. As of August 2023, abortion is available on request to any woman during the first twelve weeks of a pregnancy in Mexico City and the states of Oaxaca, Hidalgo, Veracruz, Coahuila, Colima, Baja California, Sinaloa, Guerrero, Baja California Sur, Quintana Roo, and Aguascalientes. However, even in states where abortion is legal, there continue to be women in pre-trial detention for murder due to the spontaneous miscarriages of pregnancies. On September 6th of the current year 2023, Mexico's on a federal level. The sentence was passed after the unanimous vote of the three ministers inside the First CourtRoom. A significant advance in the fight for the reproductive rights of Mexican women, since the latest sentence of 2021, in which criminalizing the abortion became unconstitutional in Mexico. Because of the Judicial Power internal division, this decriminalizing measure doesn't mean that abortion became legal in the entire Mexican nation, a declaration given by the Subdirector of the civilian association: Group of Information in Chosen Reproduction or (GIRE) in Spanish, the latest verdict doesn't cover 21 of the 32 states of Mexico, as some states haven't modified their own Criminal Code. Nonetheless, the independent jurist, confirmed that even though this measure won’t protect women in states in which the abortion is considered a crime, the same measure allows the accused to process a legal protection against the state law and be judged in a federal court. The controversial result has generated polarizing opinions in the country, from the official’s senator; , who seconded with animosity the Supremes’ court decision, to conservative activist, from the civilian association "Derechos del Concebido" (Conceived Rights) who repudiated the verdict of the maximum entity of justice in Mexico. The abortion topic is still generating controversy in a country in which considers themselves as catholic. The decriminalizing process for the abortion is still recent, but started to have more impact in the legislative discussions. 1 5 years ago, Mexico City became the first federal entity, where the abortion became legalized and from there, the discussion became stagnated until 2019, when the state of Oaxaca became the first state in decriminalize the abortion in its constitution, then in 2021, a wave of decriminalization processes started in other states, such as Veracruz, Hidalgo, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Colima, Sinaloa, Guerrero and Quintana Roo. Although against the abortion; The state of Mexico is number one on the list of states that have more legal processes against women that have practiced an abortion, in 2021 were reported 149 and in 2021 were 114. The second state is Nuevo Leon with 119 abortion crimes reported in 2021 and 119 in 2022. Before this measure to decriminalize the abortion in the Mexican country, a study from the , estimated that 54% of all unwanted pregnancies ended in abortion, which translated into more than a million procedures yearly. In this estimation legal abortions and clandestine ones, were taken into consideration. In the case of clandestine abortion procedures 36% of all abortions ended with some type of complication, from sterilization to bleeding to death. As Mexican society becomes more polarized, the topic of abortion took major relevance in the common political speech, from figures that boosters Women Rights fight such as federal deputy Andrea Chavez Treviño, and antagonistic postures such as conservative senator Lilly Tellez and more recently far-right first Mexican presidential candidate, Eduardo Verastegui, better known for been the producer of the film, Sound of Freedom. The abortion topic in Mexico, should be taken more seriously as the country is shifting to a more progressivist society, the population becomes more urban and more educated, that in response helps to booster the support for pro-choice movements, evidence of this shift can be seen in the populous annual protest of the Woman's Day, where the green handkerchief is worn by thousands of women looking to take control of their reproductive rights, and decriminalization of abortion takes a relevant part of the spotlight. #Mexico #Abortion #Decriminalization Recorded 2023-09-16. Duration: 00:07:17 Our published content is on our podcast host Send Listener feedback by sending an email to: We also augment the news on Twitter globally Curates and covers news for West Asia, North Africa & Central Asia #democracy #HumanRights #PressFreedom #environment #OpenGov Curates and covers news for Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Australia, & New Zealand Aotearoa Curates and covers news for West Asia, North Africa & Central Asia on Augments/covers news throughout Europe Curates and covers news for Latin America & South Atlantic. #HumanRights #OpenGov #PressFreedom #NonviolentConflict #Environment in #SouthAmerica #Caribbean #CentralAmerica. Curates and covers news for Mexico, Canada, USA, Greenland. News/events affecting Curates and covers news for Sub Saharan Africa Democracy Watch News is currently produced by volunteers. Please , we are now a 501c3 charitable nonprofit in the USA. Donations are tax deductible. Please share with your networks. /episode/index/show/democracycast/id/28313618

Baluchistan Genocide Part 1 of 4 08/24/2023

Baluchistan Genocide Part 1 of 4 The moderator gives a brief introduction. You know, the Baluch problem started in 1833 when the British basically wanted to expand their imperial empire to Afghanistan. And there are two routes to Afghanistan. One is to Baluchistan, one is to NWFP. And they tried it through that route, the other route, and they faced basically drastic humiliation. When the army went in, basically one man was left alive to take the message, don't bother coming to Afghanistan, in a sense. But then they tried to come through Baluchistan and the Baluch people resisted. So the British played the game of basically, I want to lay a railway line, I want to lay a telegraph line. The current border between Pakistan and Iran, which is inside Baluchistan, is the General Gord Smith's telegraph line. Okay. And to cut this story short, basically the British divided us first on this line. It's a long story, I don't wanna go through it. And then in 1928, basically Iran took that part and made it part of Iran. And In 1967, Pakistan was formed. Then the other part of Balochistan, in 1947, March 1948, Pakistan mobilized troops, backed fully by the British at the time, and occupied us. And thus, basically, we're the nutshell of history again. The other part of Ghatia, which was in Afghanistan, the British divided us on that line as well. And also, Afghanistan gave compensation to the British in the second and third Afghan war. So those territories are inside Balochistan, but we regard them as Afghan territories, so we don't regard them as ours. But we will release them. It's not in our control at the moment. When we're an independent Balochistan, obviously we will give Afghanistan their territory back and so on and so forth mutually. With Afghanistan, we always had a very good relationship. It's just that Pakistan and Iran is our problem. Recorded: 2023-08-23 Duration: 01:01:45 #Baluchistan #Genocide #Pakistan #Iran #BritishImperialism #HumanRights Our published content is on our podcast host Send Listener feedback by sending an email to: We also augment the news on Twitter globally Augments/covers news for West Asia, North Africa & Central Asia #democracy #HumanRights #PressFreedom #environment #OpenGov Augments/covers news for South & SE Asia, & The Pacific Augments/covers news throughout Europe Augments/covers news for more than 190 countries each month. An independent-global news-service, Democracy Watch News covers #democracy #HumanRights #NonviolentConflict #PressFreedom #journalism #mediaEthics #Environment. Augments/covers news for Latin America & South Atlantic. #HumanRights #OpenGov #PressFreedom #NonviolentConflict #Environment in #SouthAmerica #Caribbean #CentralAmerica. Augments/covers news for USA Canada Mexico and the North Pacific. #Mexico #Canada #USA stories/events affecting #democracy #humanrights #journalism #opengov #environment. Augments/covers news for Sub Saharan Africa Democracy Watch News is currently produced by volunteers. Please , we are now a 501c3 charitable nonprofit in the USA. Donations are tax deductible. Please share with your networks. /episode/index/show/democracycast/id/27842202

The 2023 Summit between the Latin American Community and the European Union Parliament 07/25/2023

The 2023 Summit between the Latin American Community and the European Union Parliament The 2023 Summit between the Latin American Community and the European Union Parliament Roberto Diaz reports (twitter: / . The third meeting between the Latin American Community and the European Union Parliament was held in Brussels on the 17th and 18th of July 2023. It was an historic occasion to bring together European, Latin American and Caribbean leaders to renew and strengthen relations between the two regions after almost a decade of absence of bi-regional dialogue at the highest political level. After eight years of postponing this meeting because of the isolationist perspective of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. The meeting began in an international landscape filled with uncertainty because of the war in Ukraine, the economical skepticism around the US dollar, the global economy, and the shift in global production chains. The principal topics discussed in this meeting were released by the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metzola. The leaders discussed a broad range of issues to bolster their partnership including: enhanced cooperation for global peace, ecology, human rights protections, secure trade, justice and security for citizens, and investment efforts to combat climate change. In June, a month prior to the meeting, Spain's President Pedro Sanchez invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to assist the Zelac European Union summit as a special guest. Unfortunately, President Zelensky replied days later that his invitation was rejected by some Latin American leaders. The countries that were more inclined to be the ones guilty of him not coming were Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba. But there are also other suspicions about Mexico because of its government efforts to try to establish a peace treaty between Russia and Ukraine. Brazil played the diplomatic equilibrium between its economical allies, the West, the Eastern side of the globe, and of course Bolivia that is looking for Chinese investment and also Russian military support into the development of its army. On July 4th the proposed script for the Brussels meeting which contained about 40 points was approved by both sides. What's interesting is that all the points that were proposed by the European Union about the war of Ukraine were rejected from the final script. Duration: 12:24 Recorded: 2023-07-22 #HumanRights #LatinAmericanSummit #EconomicIntegration #Environment #GreenAgenda Our published content on our podcast host Send Listener feedback by sending an email to: We also augment the news on Twitter globally Augments/covers news for West Asia, North Africa & Central Asia #democracy #HumanRights #PressFreedom #environment #OpenGov Augments/covers news for South & SE Asia, & The Pacific Augments/covers news throughout Europe Augments/covers news for more than 190 countries each month. An independent-global news-service, Democracy Watch News covers #democracy #HumanRights #NonviolentConflict #PressFreedom #journalism #mediaEthics #Environment. Augments/covers news for Latin America & South Atlantic. #HumanRights #OpenGov #PressFreedom #NonviolentConflict #Environment in #SouthAmerica #Caribbean #CentralAmerica. Augments/covers news for USA Canada Mexico and the North Pacific. #Mexico #Canada #USA stories/events affecting #democracy #humanrights #journalism #opengov #environment. Augments/covers news for Sub Saharan Africa Our production team and theme music Democracy Watch News is currently produced by volunteers. Please donate at We are now a 501c3 charitable nonprofit. Donations are tax deductible. Please share with your networks. /episode/index/show/democracycast/id/27558564

El_Tren_Maya_en_México_y_América_Central_Parte_2 06/13/2023

The Mayan Train part 2 05/08/2023

Mayan Train part 1 of 2 by Roberto Diaz 05/04/2023

The Mexican democratic system and recent struggles 04/06/2023

The Mexican democratic system and recent struggles Roberto Diaz (Twitter @dieresis_u & @RRomanen) reports on the problematic democratic transition in Mexico and the problems with the Electoral Institute (National Electoral Institute) that has polarized the Mexican citizens. As well the reformations from the executive power: the “Electoral Reform'' and the “B Plan”. #INE#democracy#MexicanDemocracy#LorenzoCordova#PlanB#ElectoralReformation#ReformaElectoral#Mexico#MexicoPolitics#Politica#AMLO#MexicanPolitics Recorded 2023-03-18. Duration 16:48 Mexico City: March 18, 2023. Roberto Diaz (Twitter @dieresis_u & @RRomanen) reports on the problematic democratic transition in Mexico and the problems with the Electoral Institute (National Electoral Institute) that has polarized the Mexican citizens. As well the reformations from the executive power: the “Electoral Reform'' and the “B Plan”. #INE#democracy#MexicanDemocracy#LorenzoCordova#PlanB#ElectoralReformation#ReformaElectoral#Mexico#MexicoPolitics#Politica#AMLO#MexicanPolitics Recorded 2023-03-18. Duration 16:48 Mexico City: March 18, 2023. In Mexico only two autonomous electoral organizations exist that are authorized to validate elections in Mexico. The first one, the , The instituto Nacional Electoral, which takes care of logistics at the state and federal level for vote counting, and production of voting identification cards which also work as an ID card. The second one, is the Federation Judicial Power of the Electoral Court. The first one, takes care of the logistics and the second validates or impugn the INEs decisions. in which the two different standards of federal and local election institutes were homologated, the National Electoral Institute was born. This institute finally marked a major autonomy from the power in turn. At the dawn of the upcoming resolution of the judicial power for , to the secondary laws of the "National Electoral Institute" (INE). The autonomous institution of the federal government which is in charge of the logistics, vote counting and verification of electoral results in the country. Nonetheless, this odyssey for the reformation of the electoral system is still not easy. This institution was under the presidency of Lorenzo Cordova, a professor and researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, . —the 14 years of Cordova's administration as the former IFE president and then INE's one, weren't easy. —His presidency suffered the backlash of , which tainted the image of his presidency. The 2018 presidential election complicated the situation as the government plan of president (AMLO), sketched in this presidency “ '', foresaw a profound reformation of the electoral institution in his fifth year of government. His reasons were diverse, from a partiality of the INE counselors that stole elections in the country, and therefore lost the credibility to diverse sectors of the Mexican population, the high salaries for their workers and the opacity into their accounts. Made it mistrustful for the AMLO's administration. Especially after the "" was ratified in the congress. With a general salary to cut political parties, and public workers. These measures weren't accepted by the INE and the institution remained keeping the same level of expenses that inevitably were going to crush the federal budget for the upcoming year. The second scandal that took the spotlight was in 2019, the close relationship of Cordova with former president Felipe Calderon Hinojosa. —Famously known for starting the war on drugs, and who had quit, a year prior, the Center-Right party " (PAN) —At the time, he was looking for a ratification of his new political party "Mexico Libre". In the month of November, a journalist spotted him , and from that moment, the INE's president was labeled as "one-sided" —Mexico Libre didn't get its registration later that year. —Unfortunately for Cordova, this was a difficult label to remove. In 2021, the governor elections in 15 federal states, 4 candidates of the MORENA party —AMLO's left political party — i, for supposedly campaign expenses that weren't reported in the budget. —Some of them to the amount of 15,000 pesos or 800 USD. —The one sided decisions the INE counselors took, apparently ignoring MORENA supporters' allegations against the Mexican opposition candidates in 2021, filled the idea of a "one-sided" narrative of the electoral institution. And even after the results were ratified and MORENA victories were accepted. The transcendental event of the incorporation of the referendum figure, only showed the negligence of the counselors and organizers inside the electoral institution. The two referendum celebrated in 2021 and 2022 were the first ones to be organized by the INE, the first one named ; the first referendum celebrated in Mexican history, the advertisement of this transcendental event in Mexican democracy, was a direct responsibility of the INE, prohibiting any external person or organization to generate some kind of propaganda. Unfortunately, the lack of authorized publicity, the problems of low budget and the stubborn choice of not reducing the expenses inside the organization, resulted in a failure of the first Mexican referendum. The second referendum celebrated in 2022, , this time, even when the advertisement was going to be generated by the INE, the political parties and organizations entered in a propagandistic war, some against, some in favor of this referendum. That same year by instructions of the Electoral Court, t —Civilians that had insulted PRI's deputy Paloma Sanchez, were sanctioned with a bill" and with that, the first attack to freedom of speech began from outside the government. At the same time, a series of legal processes of the PRD female deputies —Center Left political party allied with the PAN —against a group of MORENA male and female deputies for "Political gender violence" were approved by the Electoral Court. —One case that took the spotlight was the one against Andrea Chavez, feminist federal deputy of MORENA party, for a supposedly a prejudicial tweet of 2021, although the content of said tweet wasn't enough motive to classified as "gender violence" the first verdict was favorable for the PRD deputy, although after the public backlash, the court rectified its decision. During the second part of 2022, the political landscape was divided by a propagandistic war against Alejandro Moreno Cardenas (The PRI party president) —This campaign was in charge of the new Campeche governess, Layda Sansores. She managed to hack Moreno's cellphone and leaked its content in a series of TV show segments, realized on a weekly basis, known as "Jaguar's Tuesday". The program . —Some of them gave evidence of PRI deputies support in INE's defense budget and in response, Cordova was supposed to accept Moreno's financial secretary inside the INE. — Lorenzo Cordova then, accepted that these conversations were legitimate. At the end of 2022, in which the results showed that 60% of the Mexican citizens wanted a reformation of the Electoral Institute. Nonetheless, the spotlight was taken by , to the Revolution Monument, under the motto. "I defend the INE" from the upcoming Electoral Reformation. Although some fantastic numbers had a participation of 800 thousand protesters, more realistic estimates place them with 70 thousand participants. In 2023, the Electoral Reformation was voted and without a qualified majority, Morena couldn't pass this initiative. —Some of the most controversial points inside this initiative, were the INE's transformation with the responsibility of adding public consults or referendums into their electoral chores, the representatives and counselors were going to be elected by popular vote. The reduction of plurinominal deputies. —Nonetheless, the backup plan to modify the INE was already drafted and ready to be voted on. The B Plan contemplates the elimination of plurinominal deputies, the reduction of 500 federal deputies to 300 deputies, the possibility for citizens to pick their own counselors and magistrates in the Electoral Court and the INE. (As right now, the only method is a knowledge exam). Using a misinformation campaign, the Mexican political opposition organization called "UNIDOS", together with other 50 Nonprofit Organizations, once again took the streets of Mexico City, this time gathering This event was celebrated in the midst of a discussion for an unconstitutional controversy" in the Supreme Court, the judges are analyzing the B Plan, point by point. Finally, the upcoming exit of the President counselor, Lorenzo Cordova, who is leaving the INE's presidency this year, the destitution of the executive secretary of the INE: Jacobo Molina, because the B Plan internal reforming, polarized the Mexican society, for one week, This event could foresee a troubled scenario to the B Plan acceptance and favorable resolution in the supreme court. More Resources: Democracy Watch News Democracy Watch News is currently produced by volunteers. Please if you can. We are now a 501c3 charitable nonprofit. Please share with your networks. /episode/index/show/democracycast/id/26468838

The Arrest of El Chapo's son 01/19/2023

The Pacific Alliance by Roberto Diaz 12/14/2022

Fake Shopping Websites 10/20/2022

Colombia's New President part 2 08/30/2022

Colombia’s New President part 1 08/22/2022

Integrated Media for the Digital Age 07/16/2022

World Press Freedom Day 2022 Journalism Under Siege 06/11/2022

World Press Freedom Day 2022 Journalism Under Siege Mark Taylor-Canfield reporting for summarizes his online attendance at this year's United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s press freedom events hosted by UNESCO. UNESCO is a specialized agency of the United Nations aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. Several goals were advanced during this event. Social media platforms should increase transparency about any actions to stop the spread of disinformation and to promote trustworthy information instead. Human rights-based governance is needed to ensure that internet companies do more to tackle disinformation, online hate speech and potentially harmful content. This must be consistent with international standards on freedom of expression, access to information and the safety of journalists. Privacy standards must be strengthened in regard to threats to the right to privacy by digital technologies and practices such as data retention, artificial intelligence, spyware, and arbitrary surveillance. Legal actions are needed to prevent and prosecute illegal surveillance of journalists, both by public and private parties, while there should be strengthened legal protection for journalists to keep their sources confidential. Platforms and police services must take strong steps to prevent and eliminate online attacks against journalists, orchestrated campaigns of harassment, intimidation, and violations of privacy. Intensified measures need to be taken to protect women journalists, who are especially violently targeted online and offline, such as by increasing responsiveness to their situation and developing tools to identify and fight online violence. Of immediate concern is the economic viability of media, as many outlets continue to bleed advertising revenues to Internet companies, resulting in news deserts and existential threats to media pluralism and independence. Member States, Internet intermediaries and civil society all have a role to play to break the digital siege on journalism, and to find multistakeholder solutions to the challenges. Introductory message from Tawfik Jelassi, UNESCO. World Press Freedom Index from Reporters Without Borders. Recorded 2022-05-19 Duration 05:32 #WorldPressFreedomIndex#ReportersWithoutBorders#RSF#RWB#Press#PressFreedom#FreedomOfThePress#FreePress#USA#CostaRica#Russia#China#Monopoly#CorporateConsolidation#Media#Journalism#UNESCO#United Nations#UN#Hacking#CyberSecurity#Propaganda#Misinformation#SocialNetworks. Listen or Direct download at: Send listener feedback to Our website: Twitter: D Watch News International Twitter: DWatch News North America Facebook: Instagram: LinkedIn: YouTube: Our production team and theme music Democracy Watch News is currently produced by volunteers. Please donate if you can. Please share with your networks. /episode/index/show/democracycast/id/23397101