In echo of Trump, Ecuador announces tariff on Mexican imports
Ecuador is now entering the tariff fray. Its president announced that it is levying a 27% fee on Mexican goods entering the country.
The two countries have been at odds, diplomatically, since the arrest of an Ecuadorian official last year, inside the Mexican Embassy.
The president of Ecuador is an ally of Donald Trump who attended the inauguration and is now up for reelection himself on Sunday.
The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, entered the tariff fray on Monday, Feb. 3. He announced that his country is slapping a 27% levy on Mexican goods coming into the South American country.
Why is Ecuador targeting Mexico?
Noboa said the move is aimed at boosting local manufacturers. However, some believe it might be an attempt to curry favor with the Trump administration.
On Monday, President Trump announced a 30-day pause on tariffs with Mexico after it agreed to send an additional 10,000 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, helping to stop the flow of migrants crossing into the United States illegally.
What is the connection to the Trump administration?
Noboa attended the Trump inauguration last month in Washington and called Trump’s election win a victory for Latin America.
Why are relations between Ecuador and Mexico strained?
Ecuador is currently locked in a diplomatic dispute with Mexico, stemming from the arrest of former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas last year. Police broke into the Mexican Embassy to take him into custody.
Ecuador says he’s wanted for fraud and that Mexico illegitimately granted him political asylum. Critics accused Ecuador of breaking international law.
Will the tariffs have a big impact?
Trade between the countries is now reportedly very low. The Mexican central bank indicates that exports to Ecuador amount to less than 1% of the country’s total exports.
Noboa is running in the national election on Sunday, Feb. 9, hoping to win a full term after he took over 18 months ago for former President Guillermo Lasso.
“Ongoing security council discussions about international engagement in Haiti’s security and stability to succeed the MSS highlight the need of the government of Haiti and the international community to have a long-term vision.” Miroslav Jenca, the U.N. assistant secretary general, said.
Haitian leaders have continually asked the partially deployed and under-resourced multinational security force to be transformed into a peacekeeping effort to enhance funding.
If approved, a lengthy process would begin. The U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres would then be required to file a report of recommendations.
The United States and Ecuador presented a proposal for the transition in September. However, it failed after resistance from China and Russia. Both countries have veto powers within the U.N.
Moscow and Beijing are still refusing to get on board, despite most diplomats supporting the idea.
Russia and China argue a pause in violence is needed to rationalize sending a peacekeeping mission. They’ve also signaled a distrust of Haiti’s government.
Violence on the island nation rose dramatically this month as gangs opened fire on three commercial planes. The shootings caused the U.S. to pause flights into the country.
Just this past week, at least 150 people were reportedly killed in gang-related violence. After the violence, the charity Doctors without Borders suspended operations in Haiti.
“We are deeply concerned about the safety, basic needs and human rights of people residing in gang-controlled areas, in particular those of women and children,” Jenca said. “Predatory gangs systematically attack communities using extreme forms of violence including sexual violence as a weapon to subjugate them.”
A Haitian health official, whose son was reportedly kidnapped, warned if more isn’t done by the international community, “the alternative will be a massive genocide that has already started.” He said only the U.N. has the power to stop it.
Louisiana law requires public classrooms to display Ten Commandments
Louisiana becomes the first state to require the Ten Commandments be displayed in public classrooms. And the prehistoric landmark Stonehenge was defaced by climate activists. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Thursday, June 20, 2024.
Louisiana law requires public classrooms to display Ten Commandments
Louisiana’s governor has signed a law that makes the state the first in the nation to require all public classrooms to display a copy of the Ten Commandments. That legislation is already getting pushback from several civil rights groups.
The law says all public classrooms from kindergarten to college must display the Ten Commandments on a poster or framed document by the start of 2025. The displays must also feature a statement on how the Ten Commandments have been a “prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.”
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry said the law is aimed to bring “drastic reform” to the education system and “common sense back” to the classroom.
“This bill mandates the display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom in public, elementary, secondary, and post education schools in the state of Louisiana,” Landry said. “Because if you want to respect the rule of law, you got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.”
Critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, have vowed to sue, calling the law “unconstitutional.”
In its criticism of the law, the ACLU cited a 1980 Supreme Court decision where the justices ruled a similar law in Kansas violated the First Amendment’s “establishment clause.” That clause is intended to prevent government from preferring one religion over others.
3 dead in Mexico; Texas issues disaster declaration due to tropical storm
The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season has already turned deadly. Mexican authorities reported three deaths from Tropical Storm Alberto’s rains.
Alberto — which is bringing strong winds, heavy rainfall and some flooding along the coasts of Texas and Mexico — is expected to make landfall in northern Mexico early Thursday. Once it does, forecasters expect it to weaken rapidly before moving inland.
Parts of Mexico are expected to see up to 20 inches of rain with this storm and Texas’ coast could see up to 15 inches. Flooding has already become a problem for coastal areas like Corpus Christi.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, R, has issued a disaster declaration in 51 counties to ensure “at-risk regions have the resources and personnel needed to respond to this storm.”
95% of power restored in Ecuador after nationwide blackout
Power has been almost fully restored in Ecuador after a nationwide blackout left millions in the dark Wednesday, June 19. The blackout affected hospitals, homes and a major subway system.
The country’s public infrastructure minister said in a post on X Wednesday, June 19, the outage was caused by maintenance and transmission issues in the country’s electrical system. The minister stressed the outage could have been avoided if the country had invested more in its infrastructure.
Ecuador has been struggling with an energy crisis for years. In April, the president declared an energy emergency, ordering eight-hour nationwide electricity cuts.
Deal reached to allow Dali crew members to go home
A deal has been reached with the City of Baltimore and the owner of the Dali cargo ship that would allow crew members who remain on the ship to leave the U.S. and go home, according to court documents. They’ve been stuck on the ship since March 26, when it lost power leaving Baltimore Harbor and crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse and killing six people.
Eight of the crew members, all from India and Sri Lanka, had been cleared to go home as early as Thursday, June 20. But on Tuesday, June 18, attorneys for the City of Baltimore filed a lawsuit looking to keep them in the U.S. amid ongoing investigations into what led up to the deadly collapse.
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A hearing on the matter had been scheduled for Thursday morning, but Wednesday night, June 19, the city’s attorneys sent a letter to the judge saying all sides reached a compromise and the Dali’s owner and managing company have agreed to make sure the crew members return for deposition if needed.
Climate activists target Taylor Swift’s private jets Stonehenge
Climate activists with the group “Just Stop Oil” targeted the private jets of Taylor Swift in a British airport Thursday, June 20, spraying them with orange paint as the pop superstar is set to perform in London this weekend. Swift has been criticized in the past for her use of private jets.
The two activists were arrested — just a day after a similar protest by the group at Britain’s iconic landmark Stonehenge, where visitors to the site jumped in to try to stop them.
The protesters in both instances are calling on the British government to take action on climate change. They’re demanding Britain’s next government phase out fossil fuels by 2030.
The group said the paint used was made of an “orange cornflour” and washes away in the rain.
English Heritage, the charity that manages Stonehenge, told The BBC the paint has been cleaned off and there appears to be no lasting damage.
The protest came as thousands were expected to visit the site to witness the sunrise on the first day of summer.
Snapchat Inc. agrees to pay $15M to settle discrimination lawsuit
The parent company of the popular social media app Snapchat has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit claiming it discriminated against female employees. A three-year investigation by the California Civil Rights Department found Snapchat discouraged women from applying for promotions, failed to prevent sexual harassment in the office and retaliated against those who spoke out through negative performance reviews and termination.
The settlement covers employees who worked for the California company from 2014 to this year.
Snapchat said while it disagrees with the claims, it decided to settle to avoid costly and lengthy litigation.
Netflix to open brick-and-mortar entertainment venues
Netflix is moving away from the digital space for its next venture. The company has announced it is planning to open two brick-and-mortar entertainment destinations in the U.S.
Called Netflix House, the venues will feature various in-person experiences catered to fans of the streaming platform. Netflix says visitors will be able to walk through a replica of the “Bridgerton” set, compete in a challenge from “Squid Game,” and eat at a restaurant with food inspired by its shows.
The two Netflix houses will be located at shopping malls in Dallas, Texas and King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia.
Chinese online forum gives step-by-step guide on how to cross US border
The number of migrants coming across the U.S. southern border has increased in recent years. However, it’s not only migrants from Mexico and Latin America. The number of people coming from China has also spiked.
In 2023, around 37,000 Chinese citizens were apprehended at the border. That is 50 times more than in 2021.
These Chinese citizens are using Ecuador as their corridor into the United States. Ecuador did not require people from China to have a visa in order to fly there, however, that changed on June 18.
Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility suspended its “visa waiver” into the country for Chinese nationals. It attributed the policy change to a “worrying increase” in numbers of people coming from China and not leaving.
“Approximately 50% of these entries have not left through regular routes and within the time established by law,” the ministry said in a statement. “For this reason, they would be in the country in an irregular migration situation or would have left through irregular routes to other destinations in the Hemisphere.”
One of the “other destinations” referred to in the statement is the U.S.
Newly discovered materials on a social network revealed a Chinese government agency helping Chinese nationals map their way to “Destination USA.”
The Daily Caller was first to report on the “American Self-Guided Tour Channel,” a Chinese-language group on the messaging platform Telegram. The platform provided a complete list of documents detailing routes from China to the U.S., largely with the first step being a flight to Ecuador and ending in California.
The Daily Caller said it discovered the social network group when it found an immigrant’s abandoned cellphone at the California-Mexico border earlier in 2024.
The network’s channel provided various resources, including what migrants should carry and Google Map screenshots of the journey. It showed locations of border wall gaps, including 12 in California as well as crossing points in Arizona and New Mexico.
It also provided a guide on how to respond to questions from Border Patrol agents and scripts on what to say for requesting asylum.
“When I’ve been out at the border, most of my interactions have been with Chinese people,” the mayor of El Cajon, California, told The Daily Caller. “I’ve come across migrant encampments, where there’s 100 or so Chinese people waiting to move on to the next stage. You would think that something of such major importance to not only the nation, but to municipalities, you would have somebody from the government calling you and saying, ‘Hey, this is what we know. This is what’s going on.’ We have no idea.”
Italy and Greece strongly deny CBS report on US shipping migrants overseas
The latest solution to address the surge of migrants at the U.S. southern border could involve shipping hundreds of Latin Americans overseas. However, Greece and Italy are denying a CBS report on Thursday, May 30, that claimed the Biden administration was working with the countries on a plan to send migrants over.
The CBS report detailed a new initiative that would target a portion of Latin American migrants. Under the plan, Greece and Italy would accept migrants processed at select immigration offices in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Guatemala. However, the countries would not accept many migrants. CBS News reported that the countries would only accept 500 or fewer each.
According to Reuters, a source at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office said that the story was “completely misleading,” but also confirmed that Italy and the U.S. were in the early stages of discussing a very small-scale migrant exchange program.
The source said that the U.S. would take some migrants from Libya while “some European Mediterranean states would host a few dozen” asylum seekers from Latin America. The source added that Italy would take “around 20 Venezuelans of Italian origin.”
However, a separate source at the Italian Interior Ministry told Reuters that “Italy would never agree to relocate hundreds of people on its territory given the already very considerable efforts it is making in terms of welcoming migrants.”
While the validity of the report remains in question, there is a broader effort by the White House to curb illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Biden administration has already offered some potential migrants legal immigration opportunities. Additionally, the administration has issued a rule that presumes migrants are ineligible for asylum if they do not seek protection in a third country.
President Joe Biden is also reportedly considering an executive order that would allow him to temporarily shut down the southern border if the number of migrant encounters jumps.
High-speed boat chase leads to seizure of nearly 4 tons of cocaine
Planes and military ships chased down a speedboat off the coast of Colombia on Tuesday, March 26. The speedboat was reportedly carrying 3.7 tons of cocaine, worth an estimated $113 million. The cocaine seizure is reported to be the largest along the Colombian Caribbean Sea this year.
The Colombian navy released video showing the speedboat’s crew tossing packages overboard, then maneuvering the boat erratically to shake authorities. The high-speed water chase reportedly went on for several miles until authorities could intercept the boat. Eventually, authorities said they detained three Colombians, one Honduran and one Venezuelan, according to CBS News.
Just days before this most recent chase, officials announced that an American patrol aircraft and a British warship pursued another speedboat. The crew reportedly threw drugs into the water near the U.S. Virgin Islands. The smugglers were allegedly carrying 3 tons of cocaine and other drugs, according to U.K. officials.
In February, a joint search-and-rescue mission by the Colombian and Ecuadorian navies for two missing fishermen off Colombia’s coast led to the discovery of a so-called narco-sub. The sub was loaded with more than 4 tons of cocaine with a cash value of more than $200 million.
Colombia has a rich supply of cocaine. The country accounts for 70%-80% of the world’s cocaine supply, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. Additionally, a United Nations report in September shows potential coca production in Colombia has risen 24% since 2021.
Ecuador President Noboa declares state of emergency amid wave of violence
A wave of violence is sweeping Ecuador. President Daniel Noboa has declared a state of emergency amid civil unrest and widespread chaos. In the port city of Guayaquil, the notorious gang leader nicknamed “Fito,” of The Choneros, escaped prison, inciting days of terror. He had been serving a 34-year sentence for murder, organized crime and drug trafficking.
Prison uprisings occurred nationwide, with inmates and gang members taking more than 130 prison guards and more than 12 staff members as hostages.
Masked gunmen stormed a television studio, ordering employees to lie down, resulting in chaos captured live on TV. After 15 minutes the signal cut out.
Officers with guns drawn rushed inside the studio, releasing the hostages and arresting the 13 gang members. Witnesses reported injuries, including a cameraman shot and another person with a broken arm.
Explosions and car fires erupted in several cities in the South American country. In several videos, armed men were seen roaming streets in what authorities called a “takeover.” At least 11 people died during the violence.
President Noboa attributed the attacks to the government’s measures against the gangs as officials vow to build new high-security prisons for gang leaders.
Noboa described the gangs as “terrorists” and ordered the military to “neutralize” them, emphasizing the need for decisive action.
“We are practically living in a state of war against terrorism,” he declared during a news conference, highlighting their involvement in drug trafficking, human trafficking and arms trading.
Elected in October with promises of restoring peace and regaining control of prisons, President Noboa is now facing a crisis early in his tenure. Counter-narcotics experts underlined Ecuador’s crucial role in the supply chain economics of cocaine, which is usually sourced in Colombia and Peru and travels through Ecuador before being funneled up through Mexico to the United States.
American officials condemned the attacks and expressed willingness to offer non-military support to Ecuador.
“We are monitoring the situation and willing to take concrete steps to improve cooperation with the government of Ecuador as they deal with the violence and its impact on the population,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
In fiscal year 2023, border agents encountered over 117,487 Ecuadorians at the U.S. southern Border, a significant increase from 24,936 in fiscal year 2022.
In October, the Biden administration introduced a new legal pathway to citizenship for Ecuadorians fleeing violence, allowing family reunification with consideration for parole on a case-by-case basis for up to three years.
