Ernesto Castañeda

On the U.S. – Argentina Currency Swap By Dr. Susana Nudelsman Central Bank of Argentina (Banco Central de la República Argentina)(Source: Wikimedia Commons) In October of this year, the United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ratified the signing of a US$20 billion currency swap with the Central Bank of Argentina as part of an “economic stabilization agreement” (Buenos Aires Herald, 2025). Moreover, the U.S. Treasury announced its intention to provide an additional US$20 billion to the country (La Nación, 2025).

On the U.S. – Argentina Currency Swap

By Dr. Susana Nudelsman Central Bank of Argentina (Banco Central de la República Argentina)(Source: Wikimedia Commons) In October of this year, the United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ratified the signing of a US$20 billion currency swap with the…

Bernie Sanders spoke at the #NoKings rally on October 18th in DC about the causes for the government shutdown and called on Republicans to "end their vacation," support healthcare, and reopen the government.

Read more of this story here: https://f.mtr.cool/urmwnazexk

Also, I think Madam Secretary [Night Watch S4 E22] had a very good episode on the topic.

President Petro should get the benefit of the doubt because this admin used to say that people sent to CECOT in El Salvador were members of El Tren de Aragua; therefore terrorists. Both claims were proven untrue. Likewise, Venezuela is not sending prisoners, criminals, nor drugs as part of an attack

Noticias Caracol Ahora

Colombian President condemned U.S. gov. for extrajudicial killings of Colombian citizens on boats of its coast. A few days later he was added to a list used to combat money laundering. But this doesn't mean that he is guilty, it could be the admin playing politics with perceived enemies & critics.

Frena EU que crucen 400 armas por Laredo Agentes de EU detienen a un padre y su hijo en Puente Internacional Laredo II, por intentar cruzar a México un camión con 400 armas ocultas.

www.reforma.com/frena-eu-que...

In good new, U.S. agents stopped arm trafficking to Mexico, an interdiction that rarely happens.
"U.S. agents secured 400 weapons and thousands of cartridges when they sought to be illegally interned to Mexico by the International Bridge II of Laredo, Texas a border city."

Thank you to all who joined my talks to better "Understand Immigration Realities;" I appreciated our dive into the trends and data about international migration. Let’s keep the conversation going!  
Be on the lookout for a recording of the talk out soon on our podcast: "Immigration Realities."

"For every meal that a food bank provides, the SNAP program provides nine. There's no way we can meet that gap. There's no way we can replace every single one of those meals. It is not sustainable for food banks to fill this gap. We were not built to do this."

On point, 2 of the survivors from one of the US missile strikes on boats of South America were sent back to their countries, one to Ecuador, one to Colombia. Not even tried. So probably not really dangerous enemies of the U.S.

[Rs in] Congress Stand Up to Trump, Do Your Job!

You are not the state

Oct 18, 2025. Photos by me.

The Greenbergs co-organizers

Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent

Last weekend No Kings in Washington, DC.

Debate about the wisdom of attacking Venezuela to reduce fentanyl overdoses: overkill. Medicine would be worse than the ailment.
w @sanho.bsky.social Adrian Finighan #InsideStory
Video here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE8e...

Immigration in Focus: Policy Shifts and the Power of Journalism Join us for a discussion on recent immigration policies, their impacts, and reporting with Priscilla Alvarez, Immigration & Policy, CNN

www.eventbrite.com/e/1696031639...

On November 5 I will be interviewing Priscila Alvarez from CNN.
Join us at American University.

I will be in conversation with @caitlindickerson.bsky.social this coming Tuesday October 28 to celebrate "National Immigrant Day," join us if in DC. #KennedyPoliticalUnion @theimmigrationlab.bsky.social

a photograph of the interior of a church. Several people are visible sitting in pews. In the pew immediately in front of the photographer, a black human-sized cardboard cutout in the outline of a woman is visible, as though a shadow is sitting in the pew in front of you.

Went to a prayer service tonight at St. Mary of the Lake, where they have cardboard cutouts throughout the church representing parishioners afraid to come to Mass because of ICE.

Fentanyl and the U.S. Opioid Epidemic Opioid addiction has become one of the United States’ biggest killers, endangering public health, the economy, and national security. But closing the floodgates on fentanyl poses a significant foreig…

Big public health issue but different from terrorism.
Venezuela is not currently a big player on this market.

www.cfr.org/backgrounder...

Overdoses involving synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, are the leading cause of U.S. deaths in people ages eighteen to forty-five. In 2022, deaths from all types of opioids surged to 81,806, more than ten times the number of U.S. military servicemembers killed in the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A study by researchers at the Mayo Clinic and Yale University found that deaths from fentanyl alone nearly tripled from 2016 to 2021. However, 2023 marked the first year in which fentanyl-related deaths began to decline, and they’ve continued to drop by at least 21 percent since then.

"Fentanyl was legally manufactured and prescribed as an intravenous anesthetic beginning in the 1960s. While it remains an important drug in health-care settings, its illegal manufacture and distribution has become an extraordinary threat to public health.” Lucrative business that results in deaths.

Not only has Leader Jeffries not heard personally from Republican Leaders, but many of them have not denounced this direct threat of political violence against him, and the person who made the credible threat is out on bail! He was one of the people pardoned by DJT for the Jan 6 Capitol attacks!

-Immigration / drug trafficking are independent issues
-Addiction & overdoses are a public health issue
-Traffickers aren't terrorists
-Can’t think of a successful example of armies ending Transnational Crime
-LatAm needs US cooperation to address narco violence not impositions or unilateral strikes

-Government shutdown continues over subsidies to ACA health plans. Otherwise everyone's health primes are going up
-This isn't about undocumented immigrants or asylum seekers
-The ballroom costs will keep going up
-Gov. workers should all be paid not fired by political discretion.
Presser 10/23-25

There is disenchantment across the board, but especially among many of the Latinos who voted for him. Along the immigration policy disaster, the economy situation is getting worse, the government closure and other adventures in misgoverning clearly negatively affect Latino voters.

ICE fails to distinguish between people with criminal records and immigrants; much worse, the racial profiling that the Supreme Court has allowed to continue in the Los Angeles metropolitan area impacts citizens and non-citizens alike, whether they voted for Trump or not.

By the majority of his actions, words and behaviors, it is clear that Trump does not care about losing the gains with Latino voters that he had in 2024. Republicans will lose some Latino voters because like most Americans, they think that the deportation and immigration policies have “gone too far.”

Vicissitudes of Global Inequality

By Dr Susana Nudelsman Global map of high inequality countries, 2022 (Source: Wikimedia Commons) Global inequality is composed of two components: between-country inequality and within-country inequality. The between-country component assesses disparities in per…

Rose Garden before being paved by the Trumps.

East Wing and Rose Garden among what Trump physically destroyed at the White House.