Headlines:

• Tens of Thousands Celebrate Fifth Anniversary of Mexican President AMLO’s Victory
• Police in Argentina’s Jujuy Province Raid Home of Indigenous Activist Milagro Sala
• Rishi Sunak’s Long-term Health Workforce Plan Fails to Address Workers’ Grievances
• BRICS Summit Will Go on as Planned, Confirms Host South Africa

Tens of Thousands Celebrate Fifth Anniversary of Mexican President AMLO’s Victory

On Saturday, July 1, around 250,000 people gathered at Zócalo Square in Mexico City to celebrate five years since the presidential victory of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). They celebrated the AMLO government’s performance as “the triumph of the people,” and expressed support for the Fourth Transformation of the country, led by the ruling Morena party. This rally comes as the Morena Party is in the process of selecting a new candidate for the upcoming presidential elections.

Since assuming office, AMLO has taken significant steps in strengthening Mexico’s sovereignty and challenging the hegemony of the United States. The president nationalized the country’s lithium and promised energy self-sufficiency by 2024. AMLO also led the charge in boycotting U.S. President Joe Biden’s Summit of the Americas over the exclusion of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Mexico under AMLO has also been a fierce opponent of the U.S. blockade of Cuba and has materially supported the socialist island nation in times of disaster.

AMLO’s administration has also made enormous strides in uplifting poor and working people in Mexico. “Currently, at least 30 million households directly benefit from a Welfare Program or a portion, however small, of the national budget. And the remaining five million households that live in better conditions have also benefited because our economic policy has improved the purchasing power of families and strengthened the domestic market,” AMLO declared at Zócalo Square. Under AMLO’s presidency, unemployment reached a historic low.

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Police in Argentina’s Jujuy Province Raid Home of Indigenous Activist Milagro Sala

On June 29, police in the Jujuy province of Argentina raided the home of Indigenous and social leader Milagro Sala, who has been imprisoned since January 2016. Human rights and social activists allege that the charges that led to the raid are politically motivated.

In recent days, the Morales government has accused Sala of being linked to mobilizations that began on June 5. This is despite the fact that she is under house arrest and has no way of communicating with anyone outside without the authorities’ prior knowledge.

The warrant to search the property of Sala, the leader of the Tupac Amaru Neighborhood Organization, was issued by Federal Judge Rodolfo Fernández, as part of an investigation into alleged public disturbances in recent days during the protests rejecting the reforms to the provincial Constitution. The reforms, promoted by conservative Governor Gerardo Morales of the state’s right-wing Radical Civic Union party, have been widely opposed in the province. The warrant was requested by Prosecutor Diego Funes after a defendant, whose identity has been kept confidential, alleged that Sala had played a role in instigating the events.

Alejandro Coco Garfagnini, a leader of the Tupac Amaru, told Página 12 that the officers seized money, personal computers, and mobile phones, among other valuables, and turned the whole house upside down. Garfagnini also reported that the police personnel carried out the raid violently, even in the room where Sala’s terminally ill husband, journalist Raúl Noro was resting after returning from a hospital in mid-2023.

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Rishi Sunak’s Long-Term Health Workforce Plan Fails to Address Workers’ Grievances

The British government announced a “historic” health workforce plan on June 30, aiming to address the chronic shortage of health workers over the next 15 years. The plan foresees an investment of £2.4 billion (over $3 billion) in the next five years, to boost apprenticeships and medical education in England. However, health workers’ organizations and activists have criticized the plan for neglecting workers’ rights.

Activists say the plan doesn’t address the demands of health workers’ trade unions, such as salary increases to meet cuts and freezes implemented over past years. These grievances were what led to the wave of strikes that spread throughout the National Health Service (NHS) in the past months.

Health workers’ organizations agree that improving working conditions and ensuring fair raises for workers is essential to tackle the ongoing health workforce shortage. According to the latest NHS data, there are over 112,000 vacancies in the health system in England. This number could rise to as much as 360,000 unless decisive action is taken immediately. Activists warn that any plan must include a fair salary increase and investment in existing workplaces to retain both old and new workers.

The United Kingdom is not the only country in the Global North that has recently faced the consequences of ignoring health workers’ needs. For example, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that without significant policy changes, the country. will experience a yearly deficit of 203,000 nurses through 2026.

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BRICS Summit Will Go on as Planned, Confirms Host South Africa

South Africa confirmed on June 29 that the upcoming BRICS summit will be held as proposed on August 22 to 24 in Johannesburg, putting to rest the uncertainty which arose after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

South Africa, being a signatory to the Rome Statute of the ICC, is duty-bound to execute the arrest warrant against Putin if he lands in the country.

The ICC had issued an arrest warrant against Putin in March over allegations of illegal deportation of children from Ukraine as well as other war crimes committed there. Putin has denied these allegations.

Reuters quoted South Africa’s Minister of International Relations Naledi Pandor as saying that Putin has not yet confirmed whether he will attend the summit in person, and he may join in virtual mode.

South Africa has been pressured by the U.S. and other Western countries to abandon its stance of neutrality with respect to the war in Ukraine and abide by the sanctions imposed by them on Russia. The U.S. had also accused South Africa of supplying weapons to Russia. South Africa has denied the U.S. allegations and refused to take sides in the war, maintaining that economic and political relations with both the West and Russia are significant for the African nation.

In June, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa led an African delegation to both Ukraine and Russia to push for a negotiated settlement of the conflict.