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Mamdani in the hot seat after first veto derails bipartisan effort to combat antisemitism: ‘Disappointed’

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is sparking backlash after using his first veto to derail a bipartisan bill aimed at combating antisemitism by expanding protest security safeguards for places of education.

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«This could impact workers protesting ICE or college students demanding their school divest from fossil fuels or demonstrating in support of Palestinian rights,» Mamdani said in a statement Friday.

«It is a piece of legislation that has alarmed much of the labor movement, reproductive rights groups and immigration advocates, among others, across this city.»

New York’s former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent against Mamdani in the mayoral race last year, slammed Mamdani’s decision on X, saying he «chose the whims of his radical, extreme-left DSA base over the safety of students and Jewish New Yorkers at a time of rising antisemitism.»

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MAMDANI IS AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO JEWISH NEW YORKERS

Zohran Mamdani announces new members of his team at the Brooklyn Public Library Greenpoint Branch in Brooklyn Dec. 17, 2025. (Shawn Inglima/ New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

«Instead of governing for all NYers, Mamdani has repealed the very definition of antisemitism from the city’s books, changed how antisemitic crimes are counted and now vetoed these commonsense security measures when they are needed most,» Cuomo continued. 

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«I proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with my Jewish brothers and sisters — just as the Cuomos always have, and always will.»

The bill, Int. 175-B, requires New York law enforcement to develop a plan to contain the risk of physical obstruction, physical injury, intimidation and interference at educational facilities while still allowing for freedom of assembly and First-Amendment events. The plan would then apply to «any building, structure, or place where educational programming takes place.»

Julie Menin, the speaker of the New York City Council, had framed the bill as key to warding off threats of antisemitism.

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«The legislation is part of the Council-led Five-Point Action Plan to Combat Antisemitism,» Menin said in March.

ELITE UNIVERSITY ATTENDED BY TRUMP’S SON CRACKS DOWN ON LEFT-WING STUDENT AGITATORS

Julie Menin speaking during an announcement in Brooklyn, New York City.

Julie Menin, speaker of the New York City Council, speaks during an announcement in the Brooklyn borough of New York City Jan. 12, 2026. (John Lamparski/Bloomberg)

«According to the NYPD, antisemitic incidents accounted for 57% of reported hate crimes in 2025, although only approximately 10% of New York City residents are Jewish. Jewish New Yorkers were the targets of hate crimes more than all other groups combined.»

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The bill passed the New York City Council by a 30-19 vote late last month.

Commentators online criticized the veto, citing a need for enhanced protections. 

«We are deeply disappointed by Mayor Mamdani’s veto of legislation designed to help protect students from intimidation and disruption outside schools,» the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a pro-Jewish group, said in a post to X. 

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«The right to protest and the right to an education can and must coexist. We urge the City Council to override this veto and reaffirm a basic principle: protecting students is not politics; it is a civic responsibility.» 

«Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D- HAMAS) vetoed a bill for buffer zones around schools because it ‘could impact workers protesting ICE, or college students demanding their school divest from fossil fuels, or demonstrating in support of Palestinian rights,’» Ari Hoffman, a political commentator, wrote in his own post.

«All the bill would have done was require clear safety plans around schools with law enforcement.»

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Mamdani approved a similar bill that applied to religious sites. He explained that he was concerned by the expansive range of what the second bill meant by «educational facilities.»

«The problem is how widely this bill defines an educational institution and the constitutional concerns it raises regarding New Yorkers’ fundamental right to protest. As the bill is written, everywhere from universities to museums to teaching hospitals could face restrictions,» Mamdani said in a statement.

NYC RABBI WARNS ZOHRAN MAMDANI ‘POSES A DANGER’ TO JEWISH COMMUNITY’S SAFETY

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The Empire State Building and midtown Manhattan skyline at sunset in New York City

The sun sets on the skyline of midtown Manhattan and the Empire State Building in New York City Nov. 15, 2024. (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)

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The city council could override a mayoral veto with a two-thirds vote, according to New York City’s charter. Doing so would require votes from 33 of the chamber’s 50 members.

Assuming the bill retains the support of the legislators that originally advanced it out of the council, it would require just three more votes to secure its implementation over Mamdani’s objection.

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first amendment elections, new york, new york city, bills, zohran mamdani

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Del tractor al buey: el campo de Cuba se adapta a la falta de combustible

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Alexander Quesada recibió un tractor como premio por convertir un vertedero en una granja en Cuba, pero ahora ha tenido que volver a arar con bueyes en momentos en que una crisis energética, agravada por el bloqueo de Estados Unidos, paraliza la producción de alimentos.

Los altibajos de la finca «La Bugambilia», en la provincia de Artemisa, vecina de La Habana y considerada el granero de la capital, reflejan la evolución de las relaciones entre Cuba y Estados Unidos durante la última década.

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Quesada, de 52 años, recuerda con nostalgia «los años de Obama», hace una década, cuando un histórico deshielo entre Washington y La Habana impulsó un auge turístico en la isla comunista.

Cuando los turistas comenzaron a desembarcar de los cruceros en La Habana, los dueños de restaurantes empezaron a acudir en masa a la finca, que debe su nombre a la planta que adorna su entrada, en busca de verduras de mayor valor comercial, como la rúcula, prácticamente desconocida en el país.

Las ventas a los restaurantes impulsaron las finanzas de la finca de ocho hectáreas, lo que permitió a Quesada invertir en nuevos proyectos, como la producción de miel orgánica.

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«Vendíamos un kilo de rúcula y con eso subsidiábamos 100 kilos tal vez de lechuga, y entonces eso nos mantenía en equilibrio y podíamos ir desarrollando», dijo este padre de dos hijos.

Quesada trabajó sin descanso para convertir un terreno abandonado en una finca productiva: retiró rocas, construyó bancales para sembrar hortalizas y cavó un canal de riego.

Sin embargo, desde que el presidente Donald Trump impuso en enero un bloqueo petrolero a Cuba y asestó un duro golpe a su ya debilitada industria turística, Quesada lucha por sostener su finca.

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«En retroceso»

El bloqueo petrolero agudizó la crisis energética que ya enfrentaba el país, sumiendo a hogares y negocios en la oscuridad durante periodos de hasta 70 horas consecutivas en algunas zonas.

Con un litro de diésel que ronda los tres dólares, equivalentes a casi la mitad del salario mensual en el sector público, el tractor rojo que Quesada recibió del gobierno mexicano como reconocimiento a su rendimiento agrícola permanece inactivo en el cobertizo.

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Ahora, un par de bueyes tiran del arado.

Y la rúcula fue sustituida por tubérculos baratos como la yuca y el boniato, que los lugareños pueden permitirse, pero con los que Quesada apenas cubre sus gastos.

«Ya estamos detenidos y más bien en retroceso», admitió Quesada, que tiene su finca en Caimito, un pequeño pueblo de Artemisa.

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El exuberante paisaje verde de la zona estuvo cubierto de plantaciones de caña de azúcar hasta la década de 1990, cuando colapsó la Unión Soviética, entonces el principal aliado de Cuba.

Los «años de ‘Período Especial (nombre oficial de la crisis económica de los años 1990) fueron fuertes, pero no como esto», explicó Raúl Castillo (52), que trabaja como jornalero para Quesada.

Al disminuir los ingresos del azúcar, el gobierno comenzó a entregar tierras estatales en usufructo.

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José Joaquín Rodríguez, de 29 años, cuya familia lleva tres generaciones labrando la tierra, acusó a las autoridades de frenar toda iniciativa.

«Está la traba del municipio, de la provincia, de la nación, y está la traba del Ministerio de Agricultura para darte un pedazo de tierra», enumeró.

«Los reyes de las tierras»

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Cuba importa casi todos los alimentos que consume, incluso los huevos. Pero ante la escasez de fondos estatales para traer los productos y venderlos a precios altamente subsidiados, la malnutrición acecha.

Bajo fuerte presión de Washington, el gobierno presentó en junio un amplio programa de reformas para privatizar sectores de la economía.

Si bien la tierra seguirá siendo mayoritariamente propiedad pública, los agricultores podrán cultivar áreas mucho más extensas y crear empresas. Las cooperativas tendrán derecho a importar y exportar directamente, y se eliminarán los controles de precios.

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Los agricultores, al igual que la mayoría de los cubanos, han depositado sus esperanzas en las reformas, pero no avizoran un alivio real mientras persistan las sanciones estadounidenses.

El economista cubano Ricardo Torres, investigador de la Universidad Americana de Washington, advierte sobre un panorama «incierto» en el sector.

«Quienes cuenten con capital y capacidad organizativa se beneficiarán; quienes no, se enfrentarán a una transición más difícil», explicó Torres a la AFP.

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Esta perspectiva inquieta al agricultor Rodríguez: «No tenemos el coeficiente (poder) económico para importar un contenedor de fertilizante», se lamentó.

«Ahora va a venir cualquiera, lo va a importar y van a ser los reyes de las tierras», concluyó.

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WATCH: GOP senators tear into former Biden pardon attorney over push to spare ‘mass murderers’ from death row

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Several Republican senators challenged the credibility of the testimony of a former Biden Justice Department official during the second day of the Todd Blanche confirmation hearing, pointing to the part she played in the clemency granted to 37 death row inmates.

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Democrats called Elizabeth Oyer, the former U.S. pardon attorney at the Department of Justice, a nonpolitical position she served from April 2022 until March 2025 when then-Deputy Attorney General Blanche fired her, which she argued was politically motivated.

While Democrats cast the former pardon attorney as evidence Blanche had politicized the Justice Department, Republicans argued her recommendations to commute the sentences of federal death row inmates undermined her credibility.

Blanche, who has served as acting attorney general since April 2, did not publicly disclose the reasoning for Oyer’s firing, but she claimed it was because she refused to recommend that actor Mel Gibson, who serves as a special envoy to Hollywood for President Donald Trump, have his gun rights restored. The Justice Department denied this as the cause for her firing.

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TRUMP’S AG NOMINEE RACKS UP MASSIVE SUPPORT AHEAD OF CONFIRMATION HEARING: ‘REAL RESULTS’

In her opening testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, Oyer mentioned Blanche’s handling of the Epstein files and Ghislaine Maxwell’s reassignment to a lower security prison as among the main reasons Blanche should not become attorney general.

«At the end of the day, the priority of this DOJ is protecting powerful men, even when it comes at the expense of vulnerable women,» Oyer testified Thursday.

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But Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Eric Schmitt, R-Mo.; and Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, hammered Oyer over an internal memo from Nov. 4, 2024, in which she recommended that Attorney General Merrick Garland advise President Joe Biden to consider commuting the 40 remaining federal death sentences. Biden went on to commute the death sentences of 37 of those recommended.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and former Department of Justice pardon attorney Liz Oyer  (Ken Cedeno/AFP via Getty Images; Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

«You have no credibility to talk about Todd Blanche. You have none,» Schmitt said. «You’ve come here, you deny basic facts. You recommended the commutation of murderers. You gave no quarter at all or any time to the victims of these brutal murders. So, again, I can’t believe you’ve been called here by the other side. But I’m glad we’ve had an opportunity to expose your hypocrisy.»

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A report from the Justice Department found that Oyer’s 73-page memorandum only dedicated three paragraphs to address the grievances of the victims’ families.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES IT’S READOPTING THE FIRING SQUAD AS A MEANS OF EXECUTION

Earlier in the hearing, Hawley pointed out some of the notorious federal death row inmates whose death sentences Oyer recommended be commuted to life in prison. Among them was Dylan Roof, who was convicted in the June 17, 2015, mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where he killed nine Black parishioners during a Bible study. Biden ultimately declined to pardon him.

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Josh Hawley speaking and pointing to a sign during a Senate committee hearing.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks while pointing to a sign during the second day of acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be attorney general on Capitol Hill in Washington July 16, 2026. (Ken Cedeno/AFP via Getty Images)

«You said that actually Roof is not a compelling candidate for clemency, but you recommended it anyway,» Hawley said, referring to Oyer’s memorandum. «Why? Because he suffered from anxiety. You said, ‘Right, he suffered from anxiety’. Did it ever occur to you that maybe the family of his victims might suffer a little bit of anxiety because he marched into their church and murdered them in cold blood, because he was an incredible racist and he wanted to get on TV?»

Hawley then turned to Oyer’s recommendation to commute the death sentence of Robert Bowers, who was convicted of 63 federal charges stemming from the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting, which killed 11 Jewish worshipers. Biden also did not commute Bowers’ sentence.

«This guy killed people just because they’re Jews,» Hawley said. «A jury recommended that he be sentenced to death, and you substituted your judgment for theirs, and now he’s going to live. Are you proud of that?»

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«Sir, what I am proud of is the fact that I took my job as pardon attorney extremely seriously,» Oyer said in response.

«I think your judgment is astoundingly terrible. I’m amazed that this side of the aisle has called you.» Hawley responded.

SENATOR TIM SHEEHY: SOFT-ON-CRIME JUDGES NEED CONSEQUENCES. THE JAIL ACT DELIVERS

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But Grassley pointed out that Oyer also recommended commuting the death sentence of Jorge Avila-Torrez. Torrez was on federal death row for convictions for the stabbing deaths of two young girls in Illinois, the murder of Navy Petty Officer Amanda Snell at a Virginia military base and the abduction and rape of a University of Maryland graduate student.

He pressed Oyer on the pardon recommendations she made. Oyer refused to answer, invoking the president’s executive privilege.

«You can’t even tell me if you contacted the victim’s family?» Grassley asked. «You can’t say yes or no to that?»

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Oyer said that all the death row inmates who received clemency will spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

Liz Oyer standing with her right hand raised to take an oath during a Senate hearing.

Former Department of Justice Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer is sworn in during the second day of acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be attorney general on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., July 16, 2026. (Ken Cedeno/AFP via Getty Images)

«These are absolutely horrific cases,» Oyer said. «And every one of the individuals you mentioned will remain incarcerated for the rest of their lives, most likely in a maximum security prison facility.»

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., condemned his Republican colleagues’ line of questioning with Oyer later in the hearing.

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«I just want to start off by saying, Miss Oyer, I hold you in the highest esteem and respect, especially what you’re doing now as a private citizen,» Booker said. «You use a platform to educate people about the law. 

«It is technical, but yet accessible. And the badgering you just endured, it should be completely unacceptable. You were asked to comment on things you didn’t have before you. The treatment here, to me, is just outrageous. And I apologize on behalf of the United States Senate.»

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Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office and Oyer for comment.

todd blanche, justice department, cory booker, senate elections, attorney general

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A menos de tres meses de las elecciones entre Lula y Bolsonaro, Trump anunció nuevos aranceles sobre importaciones brasileñas

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Estados Unidos anunció un nuevo arancel del 25% sobre ciertas importaciones procedentes de Brasil, cuyo gobierno condenó la medida y anunció la activación de una ley de reciprocidad aprobada el año pasado.

Este gravamen, que entrará en vigor el 22 de julio, responde a una investigación de un año de la Oficina del Representante Comercial de Estados Unidos (USTR) sobre las políticas comerciales brasileñas, informó un funcionario estadounidense.

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Este arancel adicional afectará a exportaciones brasileñas por cerca de 11.200 millones de dólares, según cálculos de la Cámara Americana de Comercio para Brasil (Amcham Brasil).

El valor represente cerca del 29,7% de los 37.700 millones de dólares en exportaciones brasileñas a Estados Unidos el año pasado.

La medida se conoce a menos de tres meses de las elecciones presidenciales del 4 de octubre en Brasil, en las que el mandatario Lula da Silva buscará su reelección. Su colega estadounidense, Donald Trump, respalda a su rival de derecha, Flávio Bolsonaro.

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Qué productos brasileños estarán afectados por los aranceles estadounidenses

Una serie de productos, entre ellos la carne vacuna, el café y ciertas piezas de aeronaves, quedarán exentos, además de otros bienes que Estados Unidos no produce, añadió esa fuente.

“Las prácticas comerciales desleales de Brasil han impedido que los trabajadores y productores estadounidenses accedan a este importante mercado”, justificó luego en un comunicado el representante comercial estadounidense, Jamieson Greer.

El presidente Donald Trump habla en una academia militar en Carlisle, Pensilvania, el 15 de julio del 2026. (AP foto/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

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“Seguimos abiertos a continuar las negociaciones con Brasil para lograr los cambios necesarios”, añadió.

Condena del gobierno brasileño

El gobierno del presidente brasileño, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, repudió el nuevo arancel y dijo que “no reconoce la legitimidad de investigaciones sin respaldo en las reglas multilaterales de comercio”, en referencia al proceso adelantado por la USTR.

“No hay justificación para medidas unilaterales contra nuestro país. Según estadísticas del propio gobierno norteamericano, Estados Unidos acumuló en los últimos 15 años 424.500 millones de dólares en superávit de bienes y servicios con Brasil”, se lee en un comunicado compartido por el mandatario en la red social X.

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Leé también: “Lindo día para ahogar penas”: el rey Carlos III tomó cerveza y bromeó sobre la derrota de Inglaterra contra Argentina

El texto también precisa que Brasilia “iniciará de inmediato los trámites para activar los instrumentos previstos en la Ley de Reciprocidad”, aprobada por unanimidad en abril de 2025 por el Congreso en medio de la ofensiva arancelaria que el gobierno de Donald Trump inició ese año contra decenas de países.

La presidencia brasileña anunció, igualmente, que “retomará el tema en el marco del mecanismo de solución de controversias de la OMC (Organización Mundial del Comercio)”, sin dar más detalles.

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“El precio que se debe pagar”

Las pesquisas estadounidenses ya habían determinado que ciertas prácticas de Brasil eran “irrazonables o discriminatorias y suponían una carga o restricción al comercio estadounidense”.

Poco después de conocerse el nuevo gravamen, el secretario de Estado estadounidense, Marco Rubio, afirmó que Lula y su gobierno “no han negociado con Estados Unidos de buena fe”.

“Lula ha antepuesto su propio ego a llegar a un acuerdo por el bienestar del pueblo brasileño, y estos aranceles son el precio que debe pagar por ello”, señaló el jefe de la diplomacia en una publicación en la red social X.

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Este nuevo arancel llega cuando el presidente Trump impulsa una reforma de su agenda económica, después de que la Corte Suprema de Estados Unidos anulara en febrero gran parte de sus aranceles globales.

Funcionarios estadounidenses han propuesto nuevos gravámenes dirigidos a decenas de sus socios comerciales por sus supuestos incumplimientos a la hora de actuar contra el trabajo forzoso, según investigaciones del USTR.

(Con información de EFE y AFP)

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