About 900,000 fresh flowers hung from walls, columns and ceilings; there were tins of caviar for each guest, Dom Pérignon, three wedding dresses and a 30-piece orchestra. The Waldorf Astoria ballroom in New York hosted a wedding in September that was put together in under three months and cost around $10 million, according to the U.S. media. It was the week of the United Nations General Assembly, with Manhattan full of heads of state and diplomats, and the party drew major figures from U.S. power circles, oligarchs, Congolese politicians, the rapper Nelly on stage, and even former boxer Mike Tyson. But above all the celebration brought together the top ranks of Trumpism: the attorney general Todd Blanche; the FBI director Kash Patel; and White House counsel Will Scharf. It was a MAGA wedding for the glossy magazines.

Seguir leyendo

Unas 900.000 flores frescas colgadas de paredes, columnas y techos, latas de caviar para cada invitado, Dom Pérignon, tres trajes de novia y una orquesta de 30 músicos. El salón de baile del hotel Waldorf Astoria de Nueva York acogió en septiembre una boda montada en menos de tres meses y que costó en torno a 10 millones de dólares, según la prensa estadounidense. Era la semana de la Asamblea General de la ONU, con Manhattan llena de jefes de Estado y diplomáticos, y la fiesta reunió a grandes figuras del poder estadounidense, oligarcas, políticos congoleños, al rapero Nelly sobre el escenario y hasta al exboxeador Mike Tyson. Pero la celebración congregó, sobre todo, a la plana mayor del trumpismo: el fiscal general, Todd Blanche; el director del FBI, Kash Patel, y el asesor legal de la Casa Blanca, Will Scharf. Una boda MAGA de revista.

Seguir leyendo

Colombia’s left took to the streets on Wednesday against President Abelardo de la Espriella and fared better than expected. Despite doubts about its ability to mobilize people, fears of police repression stoked by the president himself, the threat of rain and the fact that the protest fell on a weekday, thousands of Colombians demonstrated peacefully for hours. The marches, seen in the country’s main cities, were the first test of the ability of a battered left to mobilize the grassroots after losing power to a right-wing outsider allied openly with the United States and who embodies everything that progressives abhor.

Seguir leyendo

The government of acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez has handed Álvaro Pulido — Álex Saab’s Colombian-born associate who had been held in Caracas since 2023 — over to the United States. The transfer was announced Sunday on X by U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, while the Venezuelan government has remained silent on the case.

Seguir leyendo

Ten years ago, a 92-foot banner hung from the rooftop of an Art Deco building in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro’s iconic beachfront neighborhood. “Fora Cunha” (“Cunha Out”), it read in white letters against a black background.

Seguir leyendo

The heirs of Oswaldo Cisneros, once one of Venezuela’s richest men, received unusual news last April: strangers were touring their oil fields in the Orinoco Belt. On paper, they remained the legitimate operators of the assets, but it soon became clear that, even as those visits took place in plain sight, a plan was being put in motion to take the fields away from them.

Seguir leyendo