Many in Mexico were reeling on Sunday from revelations that a shooting that killed 20 people in the border town of El Paso, Texas, appears to have been aimed at Hispanics — and Mexicans in particular.
Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard labeled the shooting “an act of terrorism” against Mexicans and urged the US to establish a “clear and convincing position against hate crimes.”
Six Mexicans were killed and another seven of the country’s citizens were among the dozens wounded, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Sunday.
“Mexico is outraged,” Ebrard said, calling the shooting an “act of barbarism.”
Just minutes before the rampage, US investigators believe that the shooter posted a rambling online manifesto in which he railed against a perceived “invasion” of Hispanics coming into the US.
The gunman then allegedly targeted a shopping area in El Paso that is about 8km from the main border checkpoint with Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Tens of thousands of Mexicans cross the border legally each day to work and shop in the city of 680,000 full-time residents, and El Paso County is more than 80 percent Latino, according to the latest census data.
“In spite of the pain, the outrage” that Mexicans are feeling, Lopez Obrador said, the US is headed toward elections and Mexico does not want to interfere in the “internal affairs” of other countries.
He also said that the events in Texas reaffirmed his conviction that “social problems shouldn’t be confronted with the use of force and by inciting hate.”
Amatza Gutierrez, a student from the Mexican capital, said that the idea of a shooter targeting Mexicans because of their ethnicity gives her goose bumps.
“I don’t understand why anyone would go to that extreme,” the 24-year-old said.
Her friend, Carlos Franco, who recently graduated from college with a degree in international business, said that the shooting has made him not want to travel to the US anymore.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was