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Geopolitics

European Elections: EU's Latinos Launch Political Movement

Spaniards born of Latin American families are running for the first time in the European Parliament elections. They have a unique agenda.

MIEL movement Jose Cordeiro with EU-Venezuelan supporters
MIEL movement Jose Cordeiro with EU-Venezuelan supporters
Héctor Casanueva

-Analysis-

MADRID — A new movement of Latin Americans has emerged in Spain ahead of the EU parliamentary elections, to be held this month. The Independent Euro Latino Movement, or MIEL ("Movimiento Independiente Euro Latino"), is made up of Latin Americans with double citizenship or residing in Europe and it seeks to represent more than 2.5 million Spanish Latin Americans or Latin American Spaniards with the right to vote. They have 52 candidates for the EU parliamentary elections.

The movement will add diversity to the intense debate on the future of Europe at a crucial moment for Spain and the European Union. Spain's emerging European Latinos or Latin Europeans want to keep their identities and original cultures, while becoming more involved within Europe, contributing work and ideas. The movement is also seen as a way of helping Latin America from the EU.

The idea is to reach Brussels to strengthen cooperation with Latin America, and defend the rights of Spanish and European Latinos within the EU. The list of candidates is multicultural and includes Venezuelans, Ecuadorians, Colombians, Peruvians, Cubans, Bolivians, Dominicans and Spaniards.

It is a new coalition and is yet to become familiar to Spanish Latino voters.

The movement will put forward proposals regarding specific concerns of European Latinos, like visas for the Schengen zone, migratory restrictions for relatives and family members, detention in migrant centers, remittances or recognition of university and professional qualifications.

The movement's founder is José Luis Cordeiro, a Spanish-Venezuelan engineer and graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has written several books on the economy and technology, and is particularly known for contributions in the fields of AI and new technologies. His proposals include seeking research and development funds for a European Anti-Aging Agency. Cordeiro favors boosting EU-Latin American cooperation in nanotechnology, biotechnology and academic exchanges beyond the existing EU-Latin America and Caribbean pact in the sector.

The group's success in the coming EU elections remains to be seen, since it is a new coalition and is yet to become familiar to Spanish Latino voters. The EU election campaign is very brief and coincides with elections for municipal districts and autonomous or regional communities. There are signs however that the new Latin Europeans might win the 300,000 votes needed in these polls. In any case, their emergence is remarkable, and there is no reason why the movement should not mature and become a permanent fixture of EU politics in the future.

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eyes on the U.S.

The Weight Of Trump's Indictment Will Test The Strength Of American Democracy

The U.S. legal system cannot simply run its course in a vacuum. Presidential politics, and democracy itself, are at stake in the coming weeks and months.

The Weight Of Trump's Indictment Will Test The Strength Of American Democracy

File photo of former U.S. President Donald Trump in Clyde, Ohio, in 2020.

Emma Shortis*

-Analysis-

Events often seem inevitable in hindsight. The indictment of former U.S. President Donald Trump on criminal charges has been a possibility since the start of his presidency – arguably, since close to the beginning of his career in New York real estate.

But until now, the potential consequences of such a cataclysmic development in American politics have been purely theoretical.

Today, after much build-up in the media, The New York Times reported that a Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict Trump and the Manhattan district attorney will now likely attempt to negotiate Trump’s surrender.

The indictment stems from a criminal investigation by the district attorney’s office into “hush money” payments made to the adult film star Stormy Daniels (through Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen), and whether they contravened electoral laws.

Trump also faces a swathe of other criminal investigations and civil suits, some of which may also result in state or federal charges. As he pursues another run for the presidency, Trump could simultaneously be dealing with multiple criminal cases and all the court appearances and frenzied media attention that will come with that.

These investigations and possible charges won’t prevent Trump from running or even serving as president again (though, as with everything in the U.S. legal system, it’s complicated).

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