Las Notis is a daily news column that gets you up to speed on the political, media + other going ons in Latin America and the diaspora—all in one quick digest.
Here’s your glimpse at what’s going on today:
- Trump’s defense team continued trying to shift the blame for the insurrection at the Capitol from the former president, calling the arguments House prosecutors have leveled against him a “preposterous and monstrous lie.” They also attempted to falsely equate the actual violence that occurred after Trump speeches to Democrats using combative rhetoric while talking about Republicans. [NYT]
- According to data from the COVID Tracking Project, hospitalizations as a result of the virus in the U.S. are down to their lowest levels in three months. The group’s data points to approximately 74,225 hospitalizations as of Thursday, which marks the third straight day the number of hospitalizations has remained below 80,000. [The Hill]
- As part of its immigration policies, the Biden administration announced that it plans to allow the first of an estimated 25,000 asylum-seekers in Mexico with active cases into the U.S. so that their cases can proceed. They will begin to process people in limited numbers a day at border crossings but have not named the locations out of fear that people might rush to those areas. [AP]
- New records obtained by media indicate that more than 9,000 patients recovering from coronavirus in New York State were released from hospital systems and taken into nursing homes early in the pandemic, accelerating infection dates in elderly centers. The directive was eventually scrapped but has sparked questions about the leadership of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration. [Time]
- A new provisional list published on Wednesday contains 124 activities that the Cuban government has decided remain forbidden to private enterprise. While a few things, including some bed-and-breakfast options, are now allowed to be run in Cuba’s small private sector, businesses such as car dealerships, book publishing, and hedge funds are not. [NYT]
- Ricky Martin has partnered with the non-profit organization onePulse Foundation to help build a memorial for the individuals killed at the 2016 shooting in Florida’s Pulse nightclub. They are launching a campaign to raise $49 million and Martin will appear in several public service announcements promoting tolerance to combat violence against LGBTQAI communities. [NBC Latino]