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Geopolitics

Uruguayan President Calls Kirchner "Old Bat" And Her Husband "Cross-Eyed"

EL OBSERVADOR (Uruguay), LA NACION (Argentina)

Worldcrunch

MONTEVIDEO - Latin American diplomacy is buzzing after Uruguayan President José Mujica -- apparently unaware that his microphone was still on -- made nasty comments about his Argentinian counterpart, and her late husband.

At the end of an online broadcast about relations between Uruguay and surrounding countries, Mujica offered up some personal views on Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner and her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, who died in 2010.

“That old bat is worse than the cross-eyed one,” he said to his colleague Carlos Enciso. “He was more political; she’s just stubborn.” Mujica also said that 77-year-old Argentinian-born Pope Francis was going to rein in Kirchner.

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Nestor and Cristina Kirchner in 2007. Photo by Presidencia de la Nación Argentina

El Observador writes that President Mujica had no idea that the microphones were still on, nor that his comments would be broadcast live from the web page of the President of the Republic.

Argentina's Foreign Ministry released a statement on Thursday, saying it was "profoundly upset" about the statement, especially from someone the President considered her friend.

Argentinian newspaper La Nación remembered that a similar episode happened with former Uruguayan President Jorge Batlle in 2002, when he said: “Argentinians are a bunch of thieves, from the first to the very last one of them”.

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FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

Palestinian Olive Trees Are Also Under Israeli Occupation — And That's Not A Joke

In the West Bank, a quieter form of oppression has been plaguing Palestinians for a long time. Their olive groves are surrounded by soldiers, and it's forbidden to harvest the olives – this economic and social violence has gotten far worse since Oct. 7.

A Palestinian woman holds olives in her hands

In a file photo, Um Ahmed, 74, collects olives in the village of Sarra on the southwest of the West Bank city of Nablus.

Mohammed Turabi/ZUMA
Francesca Mannocchi

HEBRON – It was after Friday prayers on October 13th of last year, and Zakaria al-Arda was walking along the road that crosses his property's hillside to return home – but he never made it.

A settler from Havat Ma'on — an outpost bordering Al-Tuwani that the United Nations International Law and Israeli law considers illegal — descended from the hill with his rifle in hand.

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After kicking al-Arda, who tried to defend himself, the settler shot him in the abdomen. The bullet pierced through his stomach, a few centimeters below the lungs. Since then, al-Arda has been in the hospital in intensive care. A video of those moments clearly shows that neither al-Arda nor the other worshippers leaving the mosque were carrying any weapons.

The victim's cousin, Hafez Hureini, still lives in the town of Al-Tuwani. He is a farmer, and their house on the slope of the town is surrounded by olive trees — and Israeli soldiers. On the pine tree at the edge of his property, settlers have planted an Israeli flag. Today, Hafez lives, like everyone else, as an occupied individual.

He cannot work in his greenhouse, cannot sow his fields, and cannot harvest the olives from his precious olive trees.

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