5500
In El Salvador, it is very interesting the decline in popularity of President Nayib Bukele, who seems to have reached a ceiling in the growth of the market cap of his "token". Since October 2024, the Bitcoin president has lost about 0.7 points in the average score that citizens assign to his administration, needing urgent political capital to get out of the dip, the worst since he arrived at 5500 Alameda Manuel Enrique Araujo. After hitting hard the gang phenomenon during his first term—a crucial victory that granted him staying—, the economy emerged as his top priority for his second season guiding the destiny of Salvadorans. An initiative of his to reactivate metallic mining in the country—approved in December by the legislature—is one of the elements that are most associated with his relative loss of momentum with the masses. Some 70% of citizens have doubts or disagree with the measure, widely criticized for its potentially harmful environmental impact. The government claims that the mining to be developed is green-type using cutting-edge technology, but its promise has not resonated with the population.
🇺🇸 US: President Trump and pro-Bitcoin President Nayib Bukele discussed working together to stop illegal immigration and crack down on transnational gangs in their call.
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) January 24, 2025
No mention of crypto was made during the call. pic.twitter.com/1GnhqLXdh3
Brazil
From the Planalto Palace, the scrutiny of social media continues, in the manifestation of the resentment with which Lula da Silva's government looks at the sector for the alleged manipulation of information in the context of the past elections, and the stance towards investigations and judicial decisions of specific businesses such as X. Changes introduced by Meta recently to Facebook's fact-checking process have overheated the discussion about freedom and accountability in the digital space there. “We want a safer and more peaceful society for all Brazilians,” the country's attorney general said this week. The government argues in principle that the proposed changes to Zuckerberg's platform are not in line with local legislation, compromising citizens' rights. “We are very concerned about the expansion of racism, misogyny, and prejudice that we can find in society, and we want to be able to advance in the construction of safe, protective digital environments that defend human rights,” said Brazil's Minister of Human Rights.
I talked about the topic below 👇 back in 2023.
Brazil bans Sam Altman’s Tools for Humanity from paying for iris scans #FMTNews #FMTLifestyle https://t.co/6QxTyNnwza
— Free Malaysia Today (@fmtoday) January 25, 2025
Trump/LATAM
The possibility that the Trump administration will initiate removal proceedings against—and in general review the legal status of—immigrants who entered the country thanks to two controversial programs introduced by the Biden administration resounded loudly on this side of the world yesterday. We are talking about the humanitarian parole ad hoc initiative that benefited close to 531,700 sponsored Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who flew directly to the United States, and the CBP One mobile app-based, which allowed more than 936,500 individuals—most from Venezuela, Cuba, and Mexico—to schedule appointments from certain Aztec states to present themselves at authorized ports of entry on the southwest border, enter the United States and so from inside defend potential political asylum cases. As for the beneficiaries of the humanitarian parole, the Biden administration had already warned that they should seek some adjustment to their legal status to remain in the country when the two-year period for which it was effective expires.
Cubans are in the best position thanks to a Cold War-era act that allows them to apply for residency within a year of being in the United States. Many of the individuals—including Cubans—who entered through these programs cannot make a strong case for political asylum, and rather qualify as economic migrants or those fleeing general contexts of violence in search of the so-called “American dream”. Waiting to cross at some point were thousands of migrants who were already in Mexico and who even had confirmed appointments for these days, and many others who were on their way or waiting to collect the money needed to pay the criminal networks that manage the migration business. The first ones are now debating whether to go ahead and sneak through at any cost, wait for the application of the so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy, apply for refuge on Aztec soil, or return to their countries.
Mexico refuses US military flight deporting migrants, sources say
— The Kathmandu Post (@kathmandupost) January 25, 2025
The use of US military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is part of the Pentagon’s response to Trump’s national emergency declaration on Monday.https://t.co/7JtYVFaBv0
Just days into the new Trump administration, worries spike amid a show of force on immigration https://t.co/SLlj5tNVZ0 pic.twitter.com/2m7fjLwaiX
— Derek Karikari (@news_scout) January 25, 2025
And this is all for our report today. I have referenced the sources dynamically in the text, and remember you can learn how and where to follow the LATAM trail news by reading my work here. Have a nice day.
