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Received today — 6 May 2026 El País in English

TikTok helped Trump win the 2024 election as the platform’s future in the US hung in the balance

6 May 2026 at 15:44

TikTok’s survival in the United States was at stake in 2024. Then-president Joe Biden had passed a law requiring TikTok to separate from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, if it wanted to continue operating in the U.S. After Donald Trump won the election, the U.S. reached an agreement with TikTok. Today, the platform remains in the country, and Trump is capitalizing on it: “I like TikTok. It helped get me elected,” Trump said after winning the election.

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© Associated Press/LaPresse (APN)

Donald Trump holds a bag of pretzels while speaking with business leaders at the White House on Monday.
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  • The Abidjan African Performing Arts Market: A stage for African music, theater and dance Ángeles Lucas
    Against the backdrop of Abidjan’s skyscrapers, the magnetic rhythm of zouglou fills the air. Two dancers weave multi-rhythmic choreography on stage, the brilliant voices of three women accompany the singer, and the percussion sets your heartbeat. Spotlights, grilled fish, fried plantains, and the reflections of the lights on the Ébrié Lagoon, which borders Ivory Coast’s economic capital, complete the spectacle at one of the nights of the 14th edition of the Abidjan African Performing Arts Market
     

The Abidjan African Performing Arts Market: A stage for African music, theater and dance

6 May 2026 at 15:08
A scene from the contemporary dance piece 'How Art Began' by Mounir Saeed, at the 14th edition of the Abidjan Performing Arts Market.

Against the backdrop of Abidjan’s skyscrapers, the magnetic rhythm of zouglou fills the air. Two dancers weave multi-rhythmic choreography on stage, the brilliant voices of three women accompany the singer, and the percussion sets your heartbeat. Spotlights, grilled fish, fried plantains, and the reflections of the lights on the Ébrié Lagoon, which borders Ivory Coast’s economic capital, complete the spectacle at one of the nights of the 14th edition of the Abidjan African Performing Arts Markets (MASA), a biennial event that has attracted more than 570,000 visitors and this year broke records with the presence of 320 programmers from 72 countries; in 2024, there were 115 from 40 countries.

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A dancer from the show “Zo! Mute” by Gregory Maqoma and Vincent Mantsoe at MASA in April.Anuang'a's creation in the 'Heritage Music and Dance' show, at MASA in Abidjan.

Pedro Alonso bids farewell to Berlin: ‘The character allowed me to soar, and the best way to honor this was to let it go’

6 May 2026 at 15:08
Actor Pedro Alonso, in an image provided by Netflix.

Pedro Alonso, 54, woke up this Monday with renewed energy. He had slept well. He went out for a coffee in the streets of A Coruña, where he is filming his new movie, and walked through the Old Town. It was then that he began to realize this wouldn’t be just any ordinary week.

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Pedro Alonso in the first episode of 'Berlin and the Lady with the Ermine.'The second season of 'Berlin,' starring Pedro Alonso, takes the band of thieves to Seville.The actor Pedro Alonso says goodbye to the character of Berlin, whom he has portrayed in Money Heist and in his own series.

Bukele invokes the Nuremberg trials to justify mass trials against gang leaders accused of 29,000 homicides

6 May 2026 at 14:21

The Salvadoran government has launched a mass trial against 486 alleged gang leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha‑13 (MS-13), including 22 supposed members of the group’s top echelon, known as the Ranfla Nacional, whom authorities accuse of ordering 29,000 homicides committed between 2012 and 2022.

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© Rodrigo Sura (EFE)

Nayib Bukele in San Salvador on January 30.

Spanish passenger on the ‘Hondius’: ‘There are 23 people who got off on Saint Helena and have been wandering around’

6 May 2026 at 13:37

Twenty‑three passengers from the MV Hondius have been on land for more than two weeks. They disembarked on April 21 on the island of Saint Helena, 10 days after the first death on board, and began their journeys home. That is what a Spanish passenger still on the ship told EL PAÍS. “Twenty‑three people got off in Saint Helena. There are 23 people wandering around there, and until three days ago, no one had contacted them,” said the passenger, who asked to remain anonymous.

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© Misper Apawu (AP)

Medical personnel in protective gear transfer patients from the cruise ship 'MV Hondius' to an ambulance at the port of Praia, Cape Verde, this Wednesday.

Hantavirus case triggers political friction in Spain as Canary Islands resist WHO‑mandated port call

6 May 2026 at 13:33

The arrival in the Canary Islands in the coming days of the ship where a Hantavirus outbreak occurred has quickly sparked a political battle in Spain. The premier of Spain’s Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, from the Canary Coalition, sparked tension Wednesday morning during a series of interviews with various media outlets. He stated that his government has not received detailed information on how the operation will be carried out and speculated that it might be a highly contagious variant.

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© Reuters TV (via REUTERS)

An aerial view of the cruise ship ‘MV Hondius.’
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  • Investors land in Caracas while mothers continue searching for their children in prisons Florantonia Singer
    José Perozo, a 24-year-old Venezuelan, is behind bars again. In 2024, he was arrested during the crackdown on protests against the presidential election results. This time, he had gone out to fill some water jugs at a reservoir near his home in Mariara, Carabobo state, when a patrol car pulled up beside him. They arrested him, put a hood over his head, and took him away. His mother has searched every police station in town without finding him. “How long will this go on? We can’t even go out on t
     

Investors land in Caracas while mothers continue searching for their children in prisons

6 May 2026 at 11:19

José Perozo, a 24-year-old Venezuelan, is behind bars again. In 2024, he was arrested during the crackdown on protests against the presidential election results. This time, he had gone out to fill some water jugs at a reservoir near his home in Mariara, Carabobo state, when a patrol car pulled up beside him. They arrested him, put a hood over his head, and took him away. His mother has searched every police station in town without finding him. “How long will this go on? We can’t even go out on the street!” pleads Yuraima Piñero.

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© Miguel Gutiérrez (EFE)

Protesters demonstrate for the release of political prisoners in Caracas, Venezuela, on May 3.

The story of the Bling Ring, the Hollywood thieves who inspired a movie and Sabrina Carpenter’s latest music video

6 May 2026 at 10:58

Sabrina Carpenter directs the heist. The Espresso singer, along with actresses Margaret Qualley and Madelyn Cline, breaks into a Hollywood mansion to steal jewelry, clothes, and even a Grammy. This is the plot of the music video for House Tour, one of the tracks from Carpenter’s latest album Man’s Best Friend. Music videos produced by the pop singer have become popular for including actresses and movie references: in Taste, featuring Jenna Ortega, she hides clues to Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Kill Bill; Tears features Colman Domingo and is inspired by The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And in her latest video, which she released in early April, she references Sofia Coppola’s film The Bling Ring. The latter is based on a true story popularized by a Vanity Fair article titled “The Suspects Wore Louboutins”: between 2008 and 2009, a group of wealthy, fame-obsessed young people burglarized the homes of celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Rachel Bilson, Brian Austin Green, Megan Fox, and Orlando Bloom.

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© MERRICK MORTON / EVERETT COLLECTION / CORDON PRESS.

From left to right, Taissa Farmiga, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson, Katie Chang and Claire Julien in the film 'The Bling Ring.'
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  • US investigation of Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya stems directly from Los Chapitos case Carlos Carabaña
    The allegations that Mexican politician Rubén Rocha Moya collaborated with the Sinaloa Cartel — an unprecedented case involving a sitting governor that is straining relations between the two countries to an as-yet-unknown degree — stems directly from the criminal case against Los Chapitos. This faction of the criminal organization, comprised of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s sons and their loyalists, has been on trial in the United States since April 2023. The 10 individuals indicted last week — Ro
     

US investigation of Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya stems directly from Los Chapitos case

6 May 2026 at 10:15

The allegations that Mexican politician Rubén Rocha Moya collaborated with the Sinaloa Cartel — an unprecedented case involving a sitting governor that is straining relations between the two countries to an as-yet-unknown degree — stems directly from the criminal case against Los Chapitos. This faction of the criminal organization, comprised of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s sons and their loyalists, has been on trial in the United States since April 2023. The 10 individuals indicted last week — Rocha Moya, Senator Enrique Inzunza Cázerez, and a significant portion of Sinaloa’s security apparatus — share the case with brothers Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, who remain at large, and 24 other individuals linked to the group, who are accused of providing political protection in exchange for money and electoral victories.

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© Gobierno de Sinaloa

Rubén Rocha Moya in Culiacán, Sinaloa, on March 12, 2025.

The desert kingdom is cutting off the tap: Saudi Arabia’s new plans for its petrodollars

6 May 2026 at 10:07

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has established itself as one of the world’s most active and ambitious investors. From financing the futuristic city of Neom on coast of the Red Sea to signing Cristiano Ronaldo for Al-Nassr and hosting a Formula 1 Grand Prix in Jeddah, not forgetting its investments in Western companies like SoftBank, Uber and Telefónica, Riyadh’s financial resources have left virtually no sector unexplored.

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© Yasser Bakhsh (GETTY IMAGES) (EL PAÍS)

Cristiano Ronaldo (left) plays a Saudi league match on January 21 in Abha, Saudi Arabia.

Logbook of the ‘MV Hondius’: From Ushuaia to the Canary Islands, chronology of a hantavirus outbreak

6 May 2026 at 09:45

Scientific vessels, icebreakers, and cruise ships like the Grand Princess, one of the largest in the world, congregate in the port of Ushuaia. In this context, the MV Hondius wouldn’t stand out. It’s an ice-strengthened expedition ship, 107 meters long, with a capacity for about 170 people. On March 20, 149 people boarded: 88 passengers and 59 crew members. They represent 23 nationalities, and 14 are Spanish: five from Catalonia, three from Madrid, one from Galicia, and one from Valencia. The latter, oceanographer Aitana Forcén-Vázquez, is also part of the crew, acting as a guide for the tourists. There’s also an elderly Dutch couple who traveled to various locations in Chile and Argentina before arriving here, at the southernmost point of the continent. The MV Hondius advertises numerous amenities and a luxurious atmosphere on its website. Fares for this voyage range from $17,600 to $29,400. There are scheduled stops at some of the most remote islands on the planet, visiting diverse ecosystems and ending in Cape Verde, known as the “African Caribbean.” This is the logbook of their journey.

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© ELTON MONTEIRO (EFE)

The Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius, anchored off the coast of the city of Praia on the island of Santiago, Cape Verde, on Monday.

The US ramps up pressure on Mexico and Colombia in its new drug control strategy

6 May 2026 at 09:30

The Trump administration, determined to relaunch the war on drugs, will increase pressure on Mexico and Colombia to implement tougher and more effective policies, according to its recently published National Drug Control Strategy 2026. The 100+-page document outlines a more aggressive approach to tackle the global drug production, transit, and distribution chains, with several references to these Latin American countries as well as China, India and Canada. The strategy, which Washington describes as a “relentless offense,” calls for stricter measures, particularly in key sectors such as transportation, the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, and logistics.

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© JUAN HERNÁNDEZ (Cuartoscuro)

A drug lab discovered in Mexicali, Baja California (Mexico), on March 25.
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