Latin America in Short: La Niña Phenomenon Continues | Ecuador and Mexico Out of the Qatar World Cup

In global news, this week package bombs have been found in Madrid post offices. In friendlier news, homosexuality is decriminalized in Singapore. As for the environment, it was confirmed this week that the La Niña phenomenon will continue over time. And in health news, a cholera outbreak puts Haiti on alarm. Finally, in sports, the teams of Ecuador and Mexico have been left out of the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Here we will tell you with more details.

Bomb packages invade the post offices of important personalities in Madrid

During the week, the Spanish authorities have identified a total of 6 bomb packages that have been sent to important people and positions in Madrid. The first shipment was destined for the Ukrainian embassy in Spain. The mail arrived at its destination, explosives were set off on the property, leaving a guard injured. The package is believed to have contained a letter addressed to the ambassador, but the contents were a homemade explosive device that would have passed through diplomatic security checks undetected.

However, this event was not isolated. The rest of the week, the Spanish authorities have identified other explosive packages that were destined for the President of the Government; the Spanish defense minister, Margarita Robles; to the Torrejón de Ardoz Air Base; to the military company Zaragoza (the only package outside of Madrid); and to the United States Embassy in Madrid.

The investigation shows that the packages had the same letter in the addresses and with similar content. Additionally, they coincide with Robles' visit to Odesa, the third largest city in Ukraine, which could lead to a common thread in the attacks.

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Singapore decriminalizes homosexuality

Despite the fact that in several countries (such as Russia) the rights for the LGBT+ population are diminishing and persecution is increasing, Singapore sends a different message. The small nation in Southeast Asia decriminalized homosexuality. This historical fact was achieved after the national Parliament revoked the law that had existed since the British colony (with 93 votes in favor and 3 against) that penalized male homosexuality.

Despite progress in inclusion, Singapore still maintains and defends the traditional concept of the heterosexual family. Several politicians welcomed the overturn of the ban, but stood up for other conservative values. In this way, Singapore leaves the exclusive list of countries that punish homosexuality with imprisonment and even death. According to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), in 2020, 69 nations persecuted the LGBT+ community and 11 had death sentences.

The phenomenon of "La Niña" will continue

The World Meteorological Organization indicated that there is a high probability (75%) that the La Niña phenomenon will extend until the end of summer, for the southern hemisphere, and until the end of winter, in the northern hemisphere. Likewise, there is a 60% probability that it will be extended until March. With these data, this phenomenon will be repeated for three consecutive years for the first time in this century, since it is something that has not happened since 1950. This is bad news, since it will worsen the droughts, changes in temperatures, floods and rains that already They wreak havoc in various parts of the world.

Haiti fails to control cholera outbreak

Since October, Haiti has been in a delicate public health situation due to a cholera outbreak on the island. As of November 27, the Haitian Ministry of Health reported a total of 12,321 suspected cases, including 1,045 confirmed cases and 241 registered deaths, according to the Pan American Health Organization. In addition, a case has already been detected in its neighbor, the Dominican Republic. Due to the delicate economic and social situation in the country, different humanitarian organizations are calling for international aid and donations to help stop the emergency. "The financing required to support the health response actions in Haiti and the Dominican Republic during the first 12 months of the response (October 2022 to September 2023) is USD16,809,000," says the WHO.

Ecuador and Mexico: out of the World Cup in Qatar 2022

Today the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar 2022 officially ends. Although there have been surprises and the Asian and African teams have sometimes known how to stand out from the Europeans, the tradition is sometimes stronger. The Latin American teams of Ecuador and Mexico were eliminated in this first phase. Ecuador lost 1-0 against Senegal, the team that knocked it out of the Cup. On the Mexican side, although their participation was exciting, it was not enough to advance to the round of 16. Although they beat Saudi Arabia in their last group game, they lost to Poland by number of cards. Thus the panorama, in the round of 16 we will see the traditional teams of Argentina and Brazil play by Latin America.