U.S. citizens are deciding today who will lead the nation in the upcoming for years, and to offer more context on this key event, we contact Ivonne Téllez, international law expert.
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00:00U.S. citizens are deciding who will lead the nation in the upcoming four years.
00:05And to offer more context on this key event, we contact Yvonne Tellez, international law
00:09expert.
00:10Hi, Yvonne.
00:11Welcome to From the South.
00:12Hello.
00:13Good afternoon.
00:14Happy to be here.
00:17Thank you for your time.
00:18So businesses near the White House are boarding up store windows and putting up security fences
00:24in preparation for possible unrest around the election.
00:27Do you think the U.S. is on the wake of another violent power transition?
00:32Well, it is true that we are facing some different elections in the United States due to different
00:44factors.
00:45However, I don't think that the country will go to some violent riots.
00:52There's a vague and evident polarization between the population.
00:58But I don't think that we can actually talk about violent riots.
01:04I think it's just that this is the result of the conflict or maybe, as I said before,
01:15the polarized atmosphere, the polarized scenario that United States citizens are facing at
01:24the moment.
01:25But I am positive that this will not end in violent manifestations in the end.
01:31Just the normal manifestations of people supporting their candidate.
01:41As you mentioned, this election day has been marked by a high polarization at this hour.
01:46The winner remains being a big question mark.
01:50Why are the U.S. citizens so divided?
01:53Well, there's some very strong events and some very important events that we have to
02:04take into account and that those do not just belong to the current election.
02:10I'm talking about the 2024 election, but what we have faced before.
02:15Remember, for example, that Donald Trump has been racing for these elections since the
02:21moment he dropped out or he ended his period in office back four years ago.
02:29Then we have, for example, these just 170 days of Kamala Harris running for president
02:36when Biden dropped out from his election, from his candidacy.
02:47We have Ukraine war.
02:48We have the Gaza genocide.
02:51We have China.
02:54We have some very strong topics, also climate change, the abortion that has been on the
03:00main tabloids and on the principal line, also immigration issues.
03:07This, of course, Kamala and Trump reflect a very strong and different point of view
03:16regarding those topics.
03:18That means that even you're in or you're out, you're in favor, you're against, because the
03:27flags regarding these topics are completely different.
03:31I think that reflects a very strong opposition between ideas supporting each of the candidates.
03:41Also because they are reflecting their discourse, their campaign lemmas, their discourses, their
03:51public discourses.
03:52Of course, what we've seen from them, talking about Kamala in office and talking about Donald
03:57Trump during this whole time, has been completely different.
04:03They have opposed each other very strongly.
04:06That means that I think the United States citizen has been facing very strong lines
04:15that do not, that differ, that differ very evidently.
04:20That means that that could be one of the answers why they are facing this strong polarization.
04:28The whole world has its eyes upon the U.S.
04:30Why is the general elections a key moment, not just for the U.S. society, but also for
04:35the rest of the world, the entire international community, especially for Latin American countries?
04:40Yes, of course, because we have to take into account that the United States still holds
04:48one of the main roles in the international scenario, just to begin with.
04:56Second, we're talking about, for example, one of the strongest polarizations between,
05:02or the strongest, in a way, cold war between the economic system.
05:07Right now I'm talking about China, I'm talking about Russia, and I'm talking about the United
05:11States.
05:12Also because what happens in the United States has a strong impact because that has to do
05:17with the foreign policy, with economy, with, I mean, those key elections we're talking
05:25about, also the country's global alliances, and even those existential questions, for
05:31example, just for the future of the American democracy, and also for the entire planet
05:38I'm talking about.
05:39For example, the policies regarding the climate change mitigation processes that countries
05:46are supposed to go in favor of.
05:49So that means that we're talking about, for example, how the United States is going to
05:55face, in this case, the strong raise of the BRICS block.
06:01How is the United States going to assume how the dollar and the inflation that they have
06:09been facing during this last years, how are they going to manage and how this is going
06:18to impact?
06:19Also, another big, big topic that has a very great impact in worldwide, it's immigration,
06:26because we're seeing that as far as Trump has said and has stated, he will go back to
06:34this strong, very anti-human rights measures regarding, for example, immigration and banning
06:42some countries and banning some citizens from different countries.
06:46So that means that that will be, it will have an impact not just on the regular migration
06:52processes, but also on the economy, and not just the economy of the United States, but
06:57the economy back home where people and immigrants go work in the U.S. and send back their money
07:04to their home country.
07:05So there's a lot, a lot of topics that depend on the United States' will.
07:16Also another, I think the two main conflicts that we're seeing right now, and I'm talking
07:21about Ukraine and Russia, and the support and the role that the United States is going
07:26to play by supporting or not Ukraine and Ukraine's weapons, in this case, just to defend from
07:34Russia, or a more, not just so clear position that what Trump reflects regarding Russia
07:43and Ukraine, and also, of course, the Gaza and Palestine and Israel conflict that it's
07:51escalating right now and is now involving more countries.
07:58So that means that either we see how the United States is going to support Israel, because
08:04if this strong support from the United States continues to Israel, that means that the Palestinians
08:11and the whole region will probably see an escalating of the conflict, even a more tragic
08:17one, a more dangerous one, a more serious one, as we've seen right now.
08:22So it has a great impact what is happening today in the United States.
08:29Thank you, Yvonne, for your time here in From the South.
08:31We were talking to Yvonne Tellez, international law expert in the framework of the U.S. general
08:37elections.
08:38And with this interview, let's go to the...