MEXICO CITY: Gunmen on Tuesday abducted around 20 migrants, mostly Haitians and Venezuelans, from a hotel in central Mexico, authorities said.
“A search was immediately launched to find out what happened and to locate the whereabouts of these people,” the prosecutor’s office in the state of San Luis Potosi said.
Armed men traveling in three vehicles arrived at the hotel in the city of Matehuala in the early morning and took the men and women, it said in a statement.
Migrants fleeing violence and poverty in their countries risk exploitation at the hands of criminal gangs while crossing Mexico on the way to the US border.
Mexico has seen increased arrivals of migrants since US President Joe Biden took up residence in the White House with a promise of a more humane approach.
Mexican security forces have recently broken up several migrant caravans heading north, prompting accusations of excessive use of force.
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Gunmen snatch migrants from Mexican hotel
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Gunmen snatch migrants from Mexican hotel
- Those kidnapped were mostly Haitians and Venezuelans
Spain unveils public investment fund to tackle housing crisis
- The Spanish PM said the fund would raise 120 billion euros ($142 billion)
MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday presented a new public investment fund that he said would raise 120 billion euros ($142 billion) and help tackle the country’s persistent housing crisis.
Scarce and unaffordable housing is consistently a top concern for Spaniards and represents a stubborn challenge in one of the world’s most dynamic developed economies.
The new “Spain Grows” fund, first announced in January, aims to replace the tens of billions of EU post-Covid recovery aid that helped drive Spain’s strong growth in recent years.
Sanchez said the headline figure — representing seven percent of Spain’s annual economic output — would come through public and private sources, with an initial contribution of 10.5 billion euros of EU money.
The fund would “mobilize up to 23 billion euros in public and private funding to dynamise the housing supply” and help build 15,000 homes per year, Sanchez added, without specifying a timeframe for the planned investment.
Energy, digitalization, artificial intelligence and security industries would also benefit from the money, the Socialist leader said at a presentation in Madrid.
Tourism is a key component of Spain’s economy, with the country welcoming a record 97 million foreign visitors last year, when GDP growth reached 2.8 percent — almost double the eurozone average.
But locals complain that short-term tourist accommodation has driven up housing prices and dried up supply.
The average price of a square meter for rent has doubled in 10 years, according to online real estate portal Idealista.
According to the Bank of Spain, the net creation of new households and a lag in housing construction created a deficit of 700,000 homes between 2021 and 2025.
Scarce and unaffordable housing is consistently a top concern for Spaniards and represents a stubborn challenge in one of the world’s most dynamic developed economies.
The new “Spain Grows” fund, first announced in January, aims to replace the tens of billions of EU post-Covid recovery aid that helped drive Spain’s strong growth in recent years.
Sanchez said the headline figure — representing seven percent of Spain’s annual economic output — would come through public and private sources, with an initial contribution of 10.5 billion euros of EU money.
The fund would “mobilize up to 23 billion euros in public and private funding to dynamise the housing supply” and help build 15,000 homes per year, Sanchez added, without specifying a timeframe for the planned investment.
Energy, digitalization, artificial intelligence and security industries would also benefit from the money, the Socialist leader said at a presentation in Madrid.
Tourism is a key component of Spain’s economy, with the country welcoming a record 97 million foreign visitors last year, when GDP growth reached 2.8 percent — almost double the eurozone average.
But locals complain that short-term tourist accommodation has driven up housing prices and dried up supply.
The average price of a square meter for rent has doubled in 10 years, according to online real estate portal Idealista.
According to the Bank of Spain, the net creation of new households and a lag in housing construction created a deficit of 700,000 homes between 2021 and 2025.
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