BA Guatemalan lawmaker and three police officers were killed in an armed attack on Friday — Reuters posted the confirmation on X.
BIn broad daylight, near Río Hondo in Zacapa.
BCongressman Julio César Portillo Paz was hospitalized and later died from his wounds.
BThat's a public official and three national police officers, targeted and killed. That is not random street crime.
BNo, that's a message. Somebody wanted him gone.
BAnd the message reaches Washington faster than most people think.
BHere we go.
BI mean it. Guatemala is one of the main countries sending migrants north.
BSo every killing in Central America becomes a U.S. border story? That's a stretch.
BNot every killing. A sitting congressman is a different case from a street robbery.
BBut the immediate story is four public servants were murdered. We shouldn't skip past that.
BWe won't. But Washington will watch what this does to an already fragile country.
BAnd the next fight out of Europe is just as heated.
BAl Jazeera English posted on X about a march in Berlin.
BMarking 109 years since the Balfour Declaration.
BHundreds of protesters, with three demands.
BEnd the war. Halt German arms exports to Israel. Release Palestinian prisoners.
BThe Balfour Declaration is the 1917 British statement supporting a Jewish national home in Palestine.
BLoaded history. But today's march is really about present policy.
BThey're using the anniversary to pressure Germany over weapons and prisoners.
BAnd I think the arms demand is a serious mistake.
BWhy? Germany is a major arms exporter to Israel. If people believe those weapons are used in Gaza, they can protest.
BBecause Germany sells mostly defensive systems, while Iran is widely reported to arm Hamas and Hezbollah.
BYou can't call it all defensive with the destruction people are watching in Gaza.
BA blanket halt to arms for Israel while Tehran pours missiles into the region is incoherent. It's not a peace plan.
BIt's not meant to be a peace plan. It's a demand that Berlin stop being part of the war.
BBerlin is part of Israel's security. If Germany stops, Hamas doesn't release hostages.
BThen what's Europe's leverage? You keep saying pressure shouldn't fall on Israel.
BI didn't say no pressure on Israel. I said a total arms embargo is the wrong pressure.
BThe protesters would say German weapons enable the Israeli government's war policy.
BBut that's exactly backward! The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October seventh, 2023.
BI know the history. The question is what stops it now.
BYou stop Hamas and Hezbollah. You don't disarm the country they're trying to destroy.
BAnd when the bombing kills civilians by the thousands, do you tell Berliners they can't object?
BThey can object. I'm objecting to their solution. 'Halt all arms exports' is not a policy, it's a slogan.
BIt's a slogan with a real policy lever behind it. Germany can stop sending weapons.
BSo the concrete plan is to weaken Israel while its enemies rearm? That's not morality, Bella, that's neglect.
BI'm not saying I agree with the full demand. I'm saying it's a legitimate position, not something to wave off.
BThen I'll say it plainly: the protest gets the present half right, but blaming Berlin first gets the order wrong.
BBerliners have a right to ask hard questions of their own government before anyone else's.
BThat's fair. We don't agree on the answer, but the question is worth asking.