Tag: Latin America

China’s Digital Strategy: Cyber-Espionage and Biometric Surveillance in Global Technological Expansion

RealClearWire
Agriculture Robot

by J.V. Caro   China’s infiltration into agricultural IoT (Internet of Things) networks represents a critical yet underexplored dimension of its global technological strategy. Through key players such as Huawei and Alibaba Cloud, Beijing has embedded IoT technologies into agricultural systems in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. These initiatives, often framed as development partnerships aimed at improving food production and supply chain resilience, concurrently enable the collection of extensive agricultural and environmental data with profound strategic and geopolitical implications. Agricultural IoT systems are revolutionizing farming practices by collecting real-time, high-resolution data on variables such as soil moisture, nutrient levels, weather conditions, pest infestations, irrigation patterns, crop growth rates, and logistical movements. Chinese companies like Huawei and Alibaba are at the forefront of this technological advancement, designing platforms that support precision agriculture through the integration of advanced sensors, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence to optimize farm management. In Kenya, Huawei has actively collaborated with local partners and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization to implement smart farming solutions aimed at enhancing agricultural productivity and sustainability. By deploying IoT sensors that monitor critical agricultural parameters and transmitting this data to cloud platforms where AI algorithms provide actionable insights, farmers have reportedly…

Read the full story

New Illegal Alien Caravan Heading for U.S. Ahead of Election

American Greatness

Yet another caravan of illegal aliens is currently making its way towards the southern border of the United States, hoping to cross the border before a possible victory by former President Donald Trump in the November election.

As Breitbart reports, the caravan consists of about 1,000 illegals, and started at Mexico’s southern border; it is currently en route to Mexico City, at which point it will disband and scatter as it makes its way to the border. It is the second major illegal caravan to start in Mexico since October 1st, following the inauguration of the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum.

Read the full story

Immigration Expert Todd Bensman: A Kamala Harris Presidency Would Open a ‘Superhighway’ for Illegal Aliens into the U.S.

Kaitlin Housler
Todd Bensman, Michael Patrick Leahy

Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, said the Biden administration is attempting to direct attention away from record-high illegal land border crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border by offering a multitude of other avenues to migrants who intend to enter the country.

Read the full story

Experts Warn of Iran’s Expansion in Latin America

ADN America
Iranian Flag

Iran’s strategic expansion in Latin America, by aligning itself with regimes that could represent a threat to democracy and regional stability, has become a concern for the region, according to a Tuesday report published by the Southern Command’s Diálogo Americas magazine. .

While Iran’s influence already extends to Brazil, where on November 8, 2023, Brazilian authorities thwarted a Hezbollah terrorist plot against Jewish targets, the seriousness of Iran’s presence in the region became apparent again on April 14. , when, after an Iranian attack on Israel with more than 300 drones and missiles, the Argentine government raised its terrorist alert level to “high.” As a consequence, Argentina intensified its security measures, especially around Jewish institutions, airports and border areas.

Read the full story

Feds Shell Out Thousands on Computer Lessons for LGBT Refugees, Fostering ‘Economic Inclusion’ in Latin America

Admin
LGBTQ Flags

The federal government has used taxpayer dollars to fund services for LGBT refugees in Latin America over the past couple of years, federal grants show.

The State Department and the Inter-American Foundation, an independent federal agency, funded a trio of grants between August 2021 and October 2023 aimed at bolstering Costa Rica’s status as a haven for LGBT asylum seekers, funding a project to help LGBT refugee entrepreneurs as well as teaching gay and trans refugees how to use computers. The three programs collectively received almost $300,000 in federal funds.

Read the full story

China Has Operated Spy Facilities in Cuba Since at Least 2019, White House Says

Admin

The White House clarified Saturday that China has operated a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019, according to The Wall Street Journal, following reporting that Beijing reached a tentative agreement to set up a new operation somewhere on the island country.

The White House on Friday had characterized as “inaccurate” the WSJ’s first report of a planned Chinese surveillance outpost in Cuba focused on intercepting electronic communications, including emails and radio transmissions, in the southeast U.S. However, White House officials told the outlet Saturday that the Biden administration has worked to tamp down on China’s repeated attempts to spy on the U.S. since Biden took office, and said China has had a surveillance operation in Cuba since at least 2019.

Read the full story

Venezuela, Cuba, and Argentina Have the Highest Inflation in Latin America

ADN America

Venezuela, Cuba and Argentina registered the highest inflation in 2022 compared to other Latin American countries, according to figures from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and BCC reports .

The report covers the period between October 2021 and October 2022, where the highest growth of the index is led by the Caribbean country, which accumulates an increase in inflation of 146%, exceeding that of Argentina by more than 50 percentage points (87 8%), the second on the list, and Cuba, which ranked third with 34.2%.

Read the full story

Mark Green Commentary: Nearshoring Is a Win for Latin America

Admin

In just the short span of three decades, China has risen from a populous backwater to become the world’s dominant industrial economy. Western leaders, lured by the promise of profits and the naïve belief that investment would lead the Chinese Communist regime to change its ways, promoted economic integration with China, shipped millions of manufacturing jobs to China, and collaborated with China as it engaged in economic warfare against the rest of the world.

Read the full story

Commentary: The U.S. Might Lose the Tech War in Its Own Hemisphere

RealClearWire

South America has sat within the U.S. sphere of interest since the Monroe Doctrine was enunciated in 1823. Now that may be changing, thanks to the inroads that Chinese telecom companies such as Huawei are making in the region’s economies. The advent of 5G networks is showcasing Beijing’s growing ability to rival Washington in South America.

That rivalry isn’t discussed too much in the region itself. Governments in Latin America mostly take a pragmatic approach, waiting for the lowest bidder while trying to remain as friendly as possible with each side. These tendencies hold true for most facets of U.S.-China competition in Latin America, but especially in South America, which is home to several major economies that are more politically and economically independent from the United States than closer neighbors such as Mexico.

Read the full story

‘Conquering Latin America with a Smile’: Chinese Influence Met with Inadequate U.S. Resistance

Admin

China’s campaign to grow its presence in Latin America has brought the country’s influence dangerously close to the U.S., but experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation that America’s efforts to combat it fall short.

The communist goliath has become the number one trading partner for several countries in the region, with Cuba becoming the latest country to sign onto Xi Jinping’s Belt And Road Initiative (BRI), a massive global project launched in 2013, in October.

Read the full story

Commentary: Immigration by the Numbers

Admin

by Christopher Roach   Democrats have renewed their vows to unwavering support of open borders. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tussled last week with former Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Thomas Homan. After she described fence-hoppers as asylum seekers, Homan reminded her that they all have the option of presenting their asylum claims at the ports of entry. Her attempt at “gotcha” backfired. Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) got tongue tied on “The View,” saying that she didn’t want to “decriminalize” illegal immigration, but that “we’re not going to treat people who are undocumented [and] cross the borders as criminals, that is correct.” Most dramatically, the entire lot of Democrats running for president raised their hands in support of giving free healthcare to anyone who makes it into the country, legally or otherwise. Is There a Crisis on the Border? Only a few short months ago, the Democrats mocked Trump for suggesting there was a crisis on the border. Now they agree there is a crisis, but they’re chiefly concerned with the conditions of the detainees. While kids every day are separated from parents who are caught with a bag of weed, and our prisons are chaotic nightmare worlds for nonviolent offenders,…

Read the full story

Mexico Begins Its Own Road to Perdition with the Election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador

Admin
ALMO

by Victor Mata   All Latin-Americans at some point ask themselves: Why is no Latin American country as well-developed as the United States? The answer is probably not related to our weather or a lesser disposition to work, as many have tried to claim. The answer is probably simpler: A socialist culture and a strong attachment to the left. Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Argentina are all countries that suffered or are suffering devastating economic, political, and social crises. They are all examples of countries that built their own road to the hell through socialism. This past Sunday was a chance for Mexico to change that trend. Mexico is a country where many people don’t have access to school, where the public health system is extremely deficient, and where it is not safe to walk in the street after 10 p.m. because drug cartels have taken control of some cities. It seems that their citizens took the worst option available to change that reality; they decided to have as a president for the next six years a socialist with damaging populist appeal. His name is Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and is known as AMLO. He is usually described as a nationalist and revolutionary linked with the Party…

Read the full story