Buenos Aires, Feb 11 (EFE) - The protest against the labor reform being debated this Wednesday in the Argentine Senate began with protesters throwing stones and police using tear gas, causing great tension in the Plaza del Congreso in Buenos Aires

The unions have called for a protest against the labor reform project proposed by the government of President Javier Milei, and by early afternoon hundreds of people were already gathering in the center of the capital.

Meanwhile, senators are debating a law within the legislature that will radically change working conditions in Argentina. EFE

Some Army civilian employees who were supposed to be furloughed during the recent shutdown went to work anyway, then were instructed to fill out time cards stating that they had not. Now the workers fear that this violated standard procedures and forced them to break the law. When a shutdown looms, government agencies typically tell each employee whether they are “excepted/exempted”—that is, allowed to work during the lapse in annual appropriations—or “non-excepted,” and therefore barred from working. In an email to staff on Monday, Feb. 2—the first weekday of the four-day shutdown—the Army’s Installation Management Command told its employees via email to proceed with “normal operations,” adding that “all command battle rhythm events will occur as scheduled.” The email said that Army headquarters had issued no formal guidance for the shutdown, and therefore employees should continue conducting their normal work. That struck at least some staff as a violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act, the law that restricts federal spending to only what Congress appropriates. “I don’t know how anyone in the Army can have non-excepted employees currently work with no appropriation,” said one IMCOM employee who was slated to be furloughed but who was told to work anyway. “Someone needs to be held accountable.”

Later on the evening of Feb. 2, IMCOM officials again emailed the command’s civilians, instructing them to report to work on Tuesday, Feb. 3. They did. But late on the morning of Feb. 3, workers deemed non-exempted received furlough notices, and consequently stopped working. Later that day, command leaders sent an email instructing non-exempt workers to code their timesheets as having been on furlough all day on Feb. 2 and Feb. 3. Government Executive and Defense One reviewed copies of the emails. The IMCOM employee noted that federal workers must certify their timesheets are true and accurate before submitting them. “This is neither true or accurate,” the employee said of the timesheet they were told to submit. They suggested the directive was a “CYA,” or cover your ass, move by the command’s leaders after having employees work who were not supposed to do so. Nicole Wieman, an IMCOM spokesperson, declined to comment and directed questions to the Army. Asked about the matter, Army spokesperson Christopher Surridge sent this statement: “The U.S. Army shutdown [sic] when directed by the Department of War.” Spokespeople for the Defense Department declined to comment.

Something similar happened at a different Army office. An email sent on the morning of Feb. 3 advised civilian employees to “ensure their time and attendance is recorded for Feb. 3-6, 2026, with furlough time” even if they worked when they weren’t supposed to be. An Army civilian who received that email said no shutdown guidance was provided to the office during regular work hours on Feb. 2. “It’s very frustrating,” the civilian said. “We’re all just sitting on the edge of our seats, waiting. Are we going to get sent home? Are we not going to be sent home?” The shutdown ended on the evening of Feb. 3, when President Trump signed a spending bill. The following day, employees were back to their normal duties. Just before the shutdown began, Defense Department officials released guidance that around 55 percent of its 740,000-plus civilian employees would work through the funding lapses, while the rest would be placed on furlough. The guidance made clear that federal employees were not permitted to work once they completed their “orderly shutdown activities,” which, per the Office of Personnel Management, can take “up to four hours.” “Federal agencies generally may not accept services from employees, whose salaries are set by law, without the obligation of appropriations for their compensation, except for emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property,” the guidance stated.

The furloughed employees were, by definition, not excepted for the protection of life or property and were therefore ineligible to continuing working all day on Feb. 2 and into Feb. 3. The Anti-Deficiency Act is enforced by the Government Accountability Office, which noted violations during the first Trump administration. On Thursday, GAO spokesperson Jessica Baxer said that the law prohibits agencies from accepting “voluntary services” from its employees. “As such, when a shutdown occurs, the act requires agencies to generally stop their operations,” Baxter said. “While there are exceptions, we have noted that the ongoing, regular functions of government may not continue during a lapse in appropriation.”

Nearly 200 more miles of the U.S. border with Mexico have been placed under Air Force supervision, enabling wider use of military force and heftier charges against people crossing illegally into the country. But experts wonder why the step is being taken as crossings plummet and heightened charges are thrown out by judges. Last June, Pentagon leaders announced that they would take charge of land along the final 250 miles of the Rio Grande, which had been administered by State Department employees on the International Boundary and Water Commission. Designated National Defense Area 3, the land was placed under the control of Joint Base San Antonio, which is operated by the Air Force. As with similar zones established last year, the NDA designation effectively turned the land into a military base that can be patrolled by troops. As well, trespassers are subject to misdemeanor charges related to illegally entering Defense Department property. On Friday, Air Force leaders announced that they have militarized two new swaths of land along the Rio Grande. One adds about 40 miles to the existing NDA 3, extending the zone upriver to Roma, Texas. The other is a 150-mile stretch from Falcon Dam to Del Rio that has been dubbed NDA 6. A press release from the office of Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said that the moves were intended to “strengthen interagency coordination and bolster security operations along the U.S. southern border.” It said the Department of the Air Force and U.S. Northern Command “will coordinate closely to support operational requirements and ensure effective installation management” and that Joint Task Force Southern Border troops are tasked with “temporarily detaining trespassers until they are transferred to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.”

Last month, the military began launching the Seasats Lightfish, a long-endurance autonomous surface vessel, into its portion of the Rio Grande to watch for border crossings. Other assets deployed to the southern border include UH-72 Lakota helicopters, C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster transports, Stryker armored vehicles, the destroyer Cole, and thousands of U.S. troops. Since April, the Trump administration has created NDAs in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas as extensions of Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps bases. By July, they covered roughly one-third of the U.S.-Mexico border. Defense experts have questioned the expansion of the newest Air Force-controlled border zones, especially as administration officials boast that crossings have sunk to record-low levels. There were roughly 444,000 southwest border crossings by land last year, down from 2.1 million in 2024, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. “If you believe the administration’s line that there’s basically no more illegal immigration, it seems that the step is probably unnecessary. I can’t really see a rationale for doing it,” said Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow and director of military analysis at the Defense Priorities think tank. “The only reason to really do it is this continuing press to militarize Trump’s foreign policy and Trump’s approach to border security.”

Since the creation of the first militarized border zones last year, dozens of cases against people accused of crossing into the NDAs were thrown out by federal judges. Some magistrates argued the government hadn’t established enough probable cause that migrants had willingly intended to cross onto Defense Department property; others criticized the placement of the warning signs. As well, the militarization of the lands mean some communities are “effectively cut off from access to public lands,” the American Civil Liberties Union said in a September news release. The ACLU also warned that U.S. citizens may unexpectedly face federal trespassing charges as the NDAs grow. “For immigrant communities, the stakes are especially high: crossing into an NDA now means risking federal trespassing charges in addition to immigration charges,” the ACLU said in the release. “U.S. citizens, too, may face prosecution if they enter poorly marked areas while traveling, hiking, hunting, or working near the border.”

land of the free baybee

In its policy paper, “Strategic Attack: Maintaining the Air Force’s Capacity to Deny Enemy Sanctuaries,” experts from the Mitchell Institute argue that the Air Force needs at least 300 next-generation F-47 fighters and at least 200 B-21 Raider stealth bombers to counter China. The Air Force has previously signaled it plans to buy at least 185 F-47s from Boeing and at least 100 Northrop Grumman-made B-21s. In an online discussion about the paper, former F-16 pilot and Mitchell Institute director of research Heather Penney warned that past U.S. wars such as Korea and Vietnam, and Ukraine’s current war against Russia’s invasion, have showed that militaries who can’t or won’t hit enemy bases and other sanctuaries from the air risk falling into grueling wars of attrition, akin to trench warfare. And without a significantly boosted combat fleet able to project long-range air power in force, Penney said, the United States could find itself in a similar danger against China. “China is deliberately building the capabilities and the posture to effectively make the entire western Pacific their sanctuary,” Penney said. “But we know from history that allowing an adversary that kind of sanctuary allows them to win, and it’s a recipe for our own defeat.”

The Air Force has carried out recent strike operations such as Midnight Hammer, which bombed Iran’s nuclear sites, exceptionally well. But Midnight Hammer employed the service’s entire fleet of available B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, Penney said, some in the strike portion of the operation and some as decoys. And if Iran shot down any of those B-2s, Penney said, the Air Force couldn’t replace them — nor could the Air Force carry out a similar mission the next day if a second strike was needed. And if the U.S. found itself in a conflict with China or other major regional power, Penney said, the Air Force would have to deal with a threat far more dangerous than Iran, with significantly better air defenses. Without a great enough combat aircraft reserve, Penney said, the Air Force might have to stay outside China’s air defenses and refrain from more daring strikes to avoid losing irreplaceable planes — but a conservative strategy like that might not be enough to win, or deter China from a first strike against Taiwan. “The inability to hold [Chinese] targets at risk really provides a singular reward to a first mover, to an aggressor,” Penney said. “So if China doesn’t see any risk to their homeland, to their population, to their infrastructure, they can afford to lose some of those assets on the edge, because they know that they can hold us at bay. So it really erodes our ability to keep them from taking that kind of aggressive action.”

Penney and the Mitchell Institute argued that the Air Force also must take interim steps to maintain its combat airpower until the B-21 and F-47 come online in significant numbers. That means refraining from retiring any legacy B-1 Lancer or B-2 bombers until the Air Force has at least 100 B-21s on hand, the Mitchell Institute report said. And the institute called for Congress and the Pentagon to provide the Air Force enough funding to speed up the acquisition of the B-21. And the Air Force needs to boost its procurement of the fifth-generation F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, the F-15EX Eagle II and autonomous drone wingmen the service calls collaborative combat aircraft, Penney said. This means buying 74 F-35As and 24 F-15EXs each year to start to turn around decades of cuts to the force, she said. “The Air Force must reverse its fighter crisis and procure F-35s and F-15EXs at maximum rates: No more ‘divest to invest,’” Penney said, referring to an Air Force strategy of retiring older air frames to free up funds to develop new aircraft. “The Air Force must recapitalize its fighters with at least a one-for-one rate [replacing each retired jet with a newly procured tail], while also augmenting its force with collaborative combat aircraft.” The Mitchell Institute also argues that the Air Force should have a bomber force of at least 300 aircraft. With 76 Cold War-era B-52 Stratofortresses in the Air Force’s fleet and slated for massive upgrades, that would mean the Air Force would have to buy at least 224 B-21s to meet Mitchell’s goal. The Air Force is planning to retire all B-1s and B-2s in the next decade and fly a two-bomber fleet.

Mexico City, Feb 11 (Prensa Latina) President Claudia Sheinbaum announced today that material aid from Mexico will arrive in Cuba tomorrow and mentioned upcoming shipments, in a context marked by the strengthening of the US blockade.

“The supplies will arrive tomorrow. The ship will return and a second shipment will be made, and that’s how it will continue to be sent,” the head of the Executive Branch stated in response to a question on the subject during her usual meeting with the media at the National Palace.

Last Sunday, more than 800 tons of basic food supplies and personal hygiene items left for the Caribbean country from the port of Veracruz on the logistics support ships Papaloapan and Isla Holbox, of the Navy.

Sheinbaum also mentioned that groups within society are organizing to collect food supplies for Cuba, and stated that if they can deliver it, it will also be sent.

“There are organizations calling for this collection. We are not doing so yet because we are sending what we already had, in addition to the support that is normally given through Amexcid (Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation),” she added.

He asked the Ministry of the Interior to facilitate a link so that these groups can communicate with the government in case there is space in what is sent by the federal administration, so that this other shipment can also be sent.

US President Donald Trump signed the executive order on January 29 declaring a supposed national emergency and establishing a process to impose tariffs on goods from countries that supply crude oil to Cuba.

This decree, another turn of the screw in the economic embargo imposed on Cuba for more than 60 years, is part of Washington’s current maximum pressure policy against the island, and attempts to justify it with the interests of US national security and foreign policy.

Sheinbaum emphasized this Wednesday that Mexican flights to the Caribbean nation have not been suspended.

“They load their jet fuel here in the country. That’s important to know,” she pointed out.

The president on Monday called the United States’ energy blockade against Cuba unfair and stressed that the measures affect the population.

“You can’t put the Cuban people in a situation like the one they’re in, regardless of whether you agree with the Cuban government or not. It’s not right. They don’t have fuel for the hospitals, for the schools. So, the people are suffering,” she denounced.

Various voices in Mexico, from parliamentarians to social organizations and political parties such as the ruling Morena or the Labor Party, have spoken out in support of the Caribbean nation in the face of the United States’ energy blockade, which has also been described as cruel and anachronistic.

Colombian Senator Ivan Cepeda files a criminal complaint against ex-President Andres Pastrana over Epstein files. Colombian Senator Ivan Cepeda announced a criminal complaint against former President Andres Pastrana, whose name appeared in newly declassified documents from the Jeffrey Epstein case.

This decision follows the emergence of Pastrana’s name in recently declassified documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased U.S. financier accused of orchestrating a vast child sex trafficking network. Cepeda utilized his social media platforms to inform the public that the Colombian Prosecutor’s Office must launch an investigation into potential criminal conduct by the former head of state, based on the information unveiled by U.S. authorities.

“I announce that I will criminally denounce Andres Pastrana: In recent days, the media have reported that the former President of the Republic, Andres Pastrana Arango, appears in the files related to the pederast and sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, that they account for the relationship he had with him and his partner and accomplice Ghisleine Maxwell, as well as the fact that, with the latter, he would have used property for the exclusive use of the public force. Therefore, I announce that I will file a criminal complaint against you, to investigate the possible punishable behavior you may have committed.”

This significant development comes on the heels of a massive declassification effort by the U.S. Department of Justice, which on January 30, made public nearly three million documents, two thousand videos, and 180,000 images linked to Epstein’s extensive network.

Official documents indicate that Andres Pastrana is referenced in at least 37 files. These include email exchanges from 2003 to 2004 with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former partner and primary accomplice, as well as references to personal meetings and air travel.

Files Link Pastrana

Among the disclosed material, a photograph particularly stands out, depicting the former Colombian President alongside Maxwell, both embracing and dressed in uniforms of the Colombian Aerospace Force.

Furthermore, one of the revealed emails details a conversation concerning a purported trip to a U.S. city on a Continental Airlines flight.

Pastrana himself has publicly acknowledged traveling on Epstein’s private jet, infamously known as the “Lolita Express.” However, he has consistently maintained that at the time of these travels, the businessman “was not publicly recognized as a pedophile,” but rather as an investor with connections to diplomatic activities.

Investigation Escalates

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed the authenticity of the declassification, though she clarified that much of the material had already been leaked in prior years. Nevertheless, Bondi emphasized the critical importance of this publication, given that it constitutes officially validated information.

She further demanded that the FBI provide thousands of additional files as part of a projected second phase of the disclosure process, signaling that more revelations are anticipated. Bondi also clarified that the list of names does not represent a registry of “clients” but rather contacts and individuals associated with meetings, communications, or travel, with various personal data points appropriately censored to protect privacy where necessary.

The criminal complaint against Andres Pastrana initiates a new and highly controversial chapter in both judicial and political spheres, directly implicating a former president in one of the most profound scandals of sexual abuse and power of recent decades, compelling a closer look at accountability at the highest levels.