Dawn breaks in Havana. It’s May Day – Labor Day – and people begin gathering early at four strategic points in the city, in order to march with signs and banners to the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Platform. In the year 2000, Fidel Castro ordered that the public event venue be built across from the United States Embassy, in order for him to speak directly to the U.S. and demand the return of Elián González, the six-year-old boy whom Cuba turned into a political trophy in the eyes of Washington.

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Not so long ago, in the final decades of the 20th century, the United Nations was the arbiter of international law, and its secretary-general was almost a full‑time peacemaker. Today, negotiations to resolve wars and conflicts fall to businesspeople friendly with U.S. President Donald Trump or to third-party countries, often emerging powers (Qatar as mediator in Gaza, or Pakistan in the war against Iran), which have co-opted the organization’s historic role as interlocutor. On the eve of electing its next secretary-general, the U.N.’s peacemaking dimension takes on particular significance after the organization’s paralysis in recent conflicts: Ukraine, Sudan, Gaza, Iran, Lebanon...

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Mexican capital is changing hands and hence its destiny. As the largest wealth transfer in recent history gains momentum, younger heirs are diversifying and moving away from the industrial model that built their grandparents’ fortunes, instead directing their investments towards international markets. This silent but sustained shift occurs in parallel with the loss of confidence and the economic slowdown in the country, and threatens to accelerate the lack of productive domestic investment.

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Kim Rivers, 48, founder and CEO of the cannabis company Trulieve, will never forget December 18, 2025. The Florida entrepreneur was among the guests in the Oval Office when U.S. President Donald Trump signed the historic order to reclassify marijuana in the United States as a lower‑risk drug, moving it from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. The president’s order, which recently took effect, does not legalize recreational marijuana nationwide, but it allows companies like Trulieve to operate with far better tax treatment and opens the door to scientific and medical research in an industry valued at more than $30 billion.

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Political favors and a legal scandal

Kim Rivers’s husband, John “J.T.” Burnette, was sentenced in 2021 to three years in prison and a $1.25‑million fine on corruption charges involving bribes to Tallahassee officials and efforts to influence public decisions affecting real‑estate projects and state regulations. He was also accused of attempting to shape state legislation — including rules related to the cannabis sector — by pushing for regulatory requirements that would benefit certain actors and make it harder for competitors to enter the market. Rivers was neither investigated nor implicated. She received immediate backing from Trulieve’s board of directors, which helped her remain insulated from the scandal and preserve her position without damage to her professional reputation.

Astrochemist Ewine van Dishoeck’s laboratory is the universe, where chemical reactions take place that would be impossible on Earth. She calls herself a fan of interstellar dust and believes that as a woman, college was easier for her because “the professors noticed you.” Among her other honors, Van Dishoek won the Kavli Prize in astrophysics in 2018 “for her combined contributions to observational, theoretical, and laboratory astrochemistry, elucidating the life cycle of interstellar clouds and the formation of stars and planets.”

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“I don’t give a shit about radio or sales or anything. I’m only trying do something great,” says Jack Antonoff. Despite what it may seem, the tone isn’t aggressive. The New Jersey native is direct and elaborates on his answers, but he’s a nice, polite guy. And the day of the interview, March 31, happened to be his birthday. The busiest man in the music industry was turning 42, and instead of celebrating with his wife, the actress Margaret Qualley, he was at the Rosewood Hotel in London granting this interview to EL PAÍS’ fashion supplement ICON under heart-shaped balloons brought by his team. “Don’t worry, this isn’t a part of the job I dislike,” he replies to apologies for spoiling such a special day.

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A year after staying in a nice hotel, you’ll have forgotten almost everything except the smell. That fragrance, designed to make you feel, for a while, slightly superior to the rest of humanity, will have been stored somewhere in your hippocampus with 65% accuracy, according to some studies. The day you return, you’ll immediately recognize the feeling: you’ve arrived at a place that smells expensive.

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The day after Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 election, legendary and feared editor-in-chief of Vogue Anna Wintour arrived early to work, as always, and called an emergency meeting. While addressing her team, something unprecedented took place: she broke down in tears. The episode opens Anna: The Biography, a new release from journalist Amy Odell that focuses on the powerful editor who for decades has decided what’s hot and what’s not.

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Iris Rodríguez remembers sleeping on a bed made out of sacks. Her grandfather put it together for her; she slept on it while her family processed coffee in the early hours of the morning, during harvest time. “That’s one of the memories that made me feel like I belonged and that I was loved by my family,” she recalls.

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One of the main tools the Trump administration is using in its campaign against immigration is the collection of personal data. The line between citizens’ right to privacy regarding sensitive information and the Department of Homeland Security’s acquisition of data collected by private companies has become blurred in recent months, due to the sharing of personal information between government agencies and the proliferation of opaque contracts with companies like Palantir. This U.S.-based software company, specializing in big data analytics and artificial intelligence, has designed specific programs to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in its efforts to identify and locate both undocumented immigrants and anyone critical of the agency’s operations.

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For Donald J. Trump, 2026 was a year full of promise. It began in the early hours of January 3 with a spectacular barrage of fire over Caracas. After months of anticipation surrounding the deployment of the fleet in the Caribbean, the capture of Nicolás Maduro scored a point for him, demonstrating his military’s ability to succeed in complex missions. That same day, he announced a new era of the Monroe Doctrine. Hard power was back. But there was something more important: the prospect of starting an election year on the right foot, carefully managing that success, and trying, in the meantime, to stabilize the economy in the lead-up to the midterm elections in November.

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The adults in María Zenaida Puliche’s house struggle to hold back tears in front of Sofía, who is turning nine. They take turns approaching her and posing for a picture with the strawberry cake. The little girl smiles and hugs her father, her aunts, and her cousins. But not her mother. Daniela Valencia was one of the 22 victims killed in an attack perpetrated by dissidents of the now-defunct FARC on April 25 in Cauca, a region in southwestern Colombia where armed groups have cornered the state and violence lurks every hour of the day. It was the deadliest terrorist attack on civilians in the country since 2003, just a month before the presidential elections.

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