Press review of the Americas
In the news: in the United States, the Colorado court disqualifies Donald Trump
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the Trump Organization's civil fraud trial, in the New York State Supreme Court, in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., Dec. 7, 2023. REUTERS - MIKE SEGAR
By: Christophe Paget Follow
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Donald Trump can't run in the Republican primary in Colorado. The decision of the Supreme Court of the western state of the United States is historic, and even "explosive," headlines the New York Times, because of its unprecedented nature. "Many legal experts point out that the decision raises new questions" about U.S. law. The Constitution prohibits access to any public office to a person who has supported an insurrection. But "no one thought that this provision from the end of the American Civil War could be used again," one of these experts points out in the New York Times. While a dozen other state courts have been seized to disqualify Trump, the federal Supreme Court and its mostly conservative justices may well have to settle the debate. "While many expect the decision to be overturned or stayed, the very fact that the case goes all the way to the highest court in the land will automatically produce dramatic repercussions," Politico points out. Starting with the presidential campaign. "The nightmare begins for the teams in charge of organizing Donald Trump's campaign," the online newspaper continues, a campaign that will take place as much in the courts as on the roads.
Donald Trump's recent controversial remarks on migrants continue to be in the news. Critics have not wavered in his speech, which mixes references to Nazi rhetoric. Allusions that the first person concerned considers impossible since he has never read Hitler, Donald Trump defends himself. "It's still fascism... and even worse! The New Republic headline reads on its front page. The progressive newspaper sees in this speech the premises of his immigration policy: the one he will initiate as soon as he arrives at the White House if he succeeds. "An unprecedented show of force against undocumented immigrants with the support of the armed forces at the border," as Rolling Stone magazine recently revealed in an investigation, The New Republic said.
Listen alsoHeadlines: Donald Trump deprived of Republican primaries in Colorado
Mauritania, a new point of departure for America
More and more migrants are pouring in from Africa to the Americas. The Colombian newspaper El Tiempo investigates the fate of those who disembark at Bogotá's El Dorado airport. "Mauritania has become, according to the Colombian authorities, a new point of departure for these migrants who are desperate to get to the United States," the newspaper reported. The migrants would pass through Istanbul before boarding a Turkish Airlines flight, the daily said. Bogotá is only a small stopover for them, but in the absence of Colombian visas, there are now about 300 of them stuck at the airport: "Guineans, Burkinabè, Cameroonians, but also Somalis and Angolans," the daily enumerates. What's next? Another flight to El Salvador and Nicaragua, or the dangerous overland route through the Darién jungle. "A route favoured by the youngest as it is documented on social networks," explains the newspaper. The Colombian authorities, quite overwhelmed, are multiplying exchanges with West African countries to manage this new crisis, according to El Tiempo.
Read alsoImmigration: why the United States and Mexico fear the lifting of "Title 42"
« Dangerous Territory »
In the United States, a new life sentence for a defendant in the assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. Former Senator John Joel Joseph pleaded guilty, as did two others before him. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Miami Herald reports that "the one who wanted to become prime minister" of Jovenel Moïse's successor, swore during the trial that he had only planned to kidnap him. "A contradiction," the newspaper points out with what the defendant had admitted in the plea agreement with prosecutors in October 2023. But this version, the theory of kidnapping alone, nevertheless fits with what Haitian investigators have collected so far as testimony, notably from another important accused, Joseph Felix Badio, continues the Florida daily. For John Joël Joseph's lawyer, quoted in the newspaper, his cooperation with the American authorities should have spared him such a heavy sentence. The accused unsuccessfully asked the judge for leniency yesterday, saying things had gotten out of hand. But the magistrate countered that whatever his plans, John Joel Joseph "had ventured into dangerous territory," the Miami Herald reported.
A "dangerous territory" in which Haiti continues to be plunged. The international security support mission alone will not be enough to get him out of this situation: that is the message from the United States this week. Le Nouvelliste quotes the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas Greenfield, as saying. Addressing the Security Council on Monday, December 18, 2023, the diplomat pleaded to see this mission "not as an end in itself, but as part of a global strategy", the creation of a lasting political solution with free elections that the country has not seen since 2016. This must be at the heart of our efforts, the ambassador stresses. "If there can be no lasting political solution without security, the opposite is also true," Linda Thomas Greenfield pleaded, the day after the umpteenth failure of the Caribbean community (CARICOM) to federate political forces in the country, Le Nouvelliste stresses.
Read alsoHaiti: fourth closure of an MSF health centre in a year in Port-au-Prince
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- Press review of the Americas
- Press review
- Haiti
- United States
- Donald Trump
- Immigration
- International Migration
- Mauritania
- Colombia
- Justice
- Jovenel Moïse
- USA Elections 2024