By Carlos Mendoza-\u00c1lvarez<\/p>\n
We began the new year 2026 with the deployment of US military might very close to us in the Caribbean Sea. This was the setup for the extraction in Caracas of the illegitimate president Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife, kidnapped in the name of foreign justice to be taken to a court in New York where they are accused of criminal conspiracy related to drug trafficking.<\/p>\n
This new expression of warfare in today's tripolar world, created after the pandemic by the United States, China, and Russia, was already foreseeable. Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China's threat to Taiwan, and the genocide of the Palestinian people by the state of Israel with the tactical support of the United States are all part of this new geopolitical strategy.<\/p>\n
But we ignored these signs in the Western Hemisphere. We thought that Latin America and the Caribbean would be safe from Uncle Sam's neocolonialism because they had overcome his political and military interventionism during the era of the military dictatorships of the last century. We believed in party-based democracies, which took the reins of left-wing and right-wing governments throughout the region. Under the illusion of these party-based systems, we were unable to see how networks of corruption were being woven between political parties, business groups, governments in power, increasingly sophisticated criminal organizations, and transnational corporations, forming the very fabric of the extractive society<\/em> of which we are part as unrestrained consumers of superfluous goods, indifferent to "the political" as everyone's task.<\/p>\n Today it is necessary to recognize that we are also part of the problem of this neocolonial war with various fronts that has already reached our territories and entered our homes.<\/p>\n On social media, hateful phrases are increasingly circulating, used to criticize anyone who comments on the corruption occurring in Mexico under the Fourth Transformation, or in Venezuela denouncing Chavismo, or in the United States pointing out the ICE executions in Minneapolis and Chicago as a mercenary power serving the ideology of [the regime\/the regime]. Make America Great Again<\/em> (Maga). It seems that it's all the same to insult someone with a single phrase on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and then justify a deranged mercenary shooting a woman point-blank in the head for driving a car that failed to stop despite police threats on a street in her neighborhood, which was being raided by immigration police. Even in our closest digital conversations, this practice of resolving differences with a single phrase and a click, blocking those who disagree with us as if it were a virtual gunshot, is growing.<\/p>\n Differences worth confronting in a face-to-face dialogue, which we avoid as much as possible because it makes us uncomfortable. Why does this proximity frighten us so much? It seems as if the world of war has been encapsulated within the screens of our cell phones, tablets, or computers, only to then spill out onto the streets with the same necrophilic clinical precision, using pepper spray or an AK-47 rifle. The time of war has already entered those "black mirrors" that devour us mercilessly, shifting from praise to insult with the same speed with which our thumb swipes wildly across the screen. scrolling<\/em> or swiping on the cell phone screen.<\/p>\n Time of territorial and digital warfare.<\/p>\n \u2202<\/p>\n \u201cEverything has its time,\u201d says the book of Ecclesiastes<\/a>. This beautiful biblical wisdom text is a contemplative meditation on war and peace, addressed to a people seeking their place in the Hellenistic world of their time. \u201cA time to throw stones into the river, and a time to gather them up.\u201d Thus the Qohelet, or Hebrew sage, expresses the inexorable law of life, lived in the ebb and flow of love and hate, a law celebrated by poets of so many cultures. \u201cA time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,\u201d he continues, in a more personal tone, speaking of love and heartbreak. And to complete this realism, bordering on self-denial in the face of the inevitable, he concludes with a laconic ending: \u201cA time for war and a time for peace.\u201d.<\/p>\n Will we have to resign ourselves to the imperial military violence that stunned us a few days ago, and at the same time be trapped in the solitude of social media, which exalts and lynches with a click those who dare to dissent in a chat with friends, family, or a digital community? Times of war.<\/p>\n The realism of face-to-face confrontation is perhaps the opportunity to \u201cstop the virtual and territorial war\u201d by recovering the intimate space<\/em> from the encounter of vulnerable body with vulnerable body, as masterfully presented Emmanuel Levinas<\/a>. This vital opening immediately places us in a different perspective: the range of the voice with its intonations and accents, movements and pauses, emphasis and irony, glances and silences. It opens another door for us. Perhaps the refuge of peace lies precisely there. In that realm of pause, silence, shadow, the waiting period. A time of peace.<\/p>\n Could that be the narrow gate through which the messiah passes?<\/p>\n These past few weeks I've been discovering new facets of the urban indigenous culture of the Chiapas Highlands, very different from what I knew in past decades. I've had to learn to pause, for example, to interpret a look when a woman addresses me in Tsotsil, a Mayan language I don't understand, during a prayer and reconciliation meeting. But she and I managed to connect by looking into each other's eyes: hers bathed in tears that flowed accompanied by the whisper of her voice, imploring a heavenly blessing to ease her pain. Mine, responding to her gaze with tears that mirrored hers. Even though we don't "understand" each other in terms of phonemes and the signifiers of language, a communication of sense<\/em> Through gestures and symbols, when we both bow our heads and my hands brush against her hair to communicate human and divine energy, and her hands embrace mine in gratitude and bless me. In that silence that gives way to the wordless embrace, a spark of eternity arises, enveloping us both.<\/p>\n Is that the peace he speaks of? Qohelet<\/a> in the times of the dominant Hellenism of his era?<\/p>\n Times of peace in the face-to-face experience.<\/p>\n \u2202<\/p>\n The first week of the year leaves me with a very clear challenge: to learn to break free from the times of war in a world driven mad by threatening empires, as a gift of times of peace lived in face-to-face encounters. proximity<\/em>, so dear to Jesus of Nazareth, recovered by Gustavo Guti\u00e9rrez<\/a> e Ivan Illich<\/a> in our time.<\/p>\n In this way we can move from resignation to the overwhelming military power of our times, reinforced by self-denial in the face of the digital lynchings we experience in a frenzied way, towards the peace of face-to-face encounters, in the discreet but real meeting with the face, body, and soul of the other, however different they may be, when we experience them as a gift.<\/p>\n There is always the possibility of a haven of peace that arises like a spark when we allow our vulnerable condition to touch and be touched by the other person, with their own ways of life.<\/p>\n And indeed, our violent world is in need of that peace more than ever.<\/p>\n Jobel, January 10, 2026<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We began the new year of 2026 with the deployment of US military might very close to us in the Caribbean Sea. But we ignored these warnings in the Western Hemisphere. We thought that Latin America and the Caribbean would be safe from Uncle Sam's neocolonialism because we had overcome his political and military interventionism during the era of the military dictatorships of the last century. Today, it is necessary to recognize that we too are part of the problem of this multi-fronted neocolonial war that has already reached our territories and entered our homes. Will we have to resign ourselves to the imperial military violence that left us stunned a few days ago and, at the same time, remain trapped in the isolation of social media, which, with a single click, both exalts and lynches those who dare to dissent in a chat room with friends, family, or in a digital community? This is a time of war. The realism of face-to-face encounters is perhaps the opportunity to "stop the war"\u2014both virtual and territorial\u2014by reclaiming the intimate space of vulnerable body encounters, as Emmanuel Levinas so masterfully proposed. A time of peace. The first week of the year leaves me with a very clear challenge: to learn to break free from the warlike rhythms of a world driven mad by threatening empires, as a gift of peace experienced in the face-to-face encounters of closeness, so dear to Jesus of Nazareth, and rediscovered by Gustavo Guti\u00e9rrez and Ivan Illich in our time.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":266113673,"featured_media":1551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"postBodyCss":"","postBodyMargin":[],"postBodyPadding":[],"postBodyBackground":{"backgroundType":"classic","gradient":""},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[780850243,780850242,780850240,780850241],"tags":[780850244,780850248,780850245,780850249,780849765,780850246,780850247],"class_list":["post-1546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-neocolonialismo","category-cara-a-cara","category-guerra","category-proximidad","tag-etica-de-alteridad","tag-espiral-violenta","tag-guerra-global","tag-mundo-tripolar","tag-paz","tag-puerta-estrecha-del-mesias","tag-violencia-digital"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Absolution-2026.webp?fit=1280%2C1450&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgx1jY-oW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":948,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2025\/06\/21\/el-cuerpo-del-mesias-entre-incertidumbre-y-alerta\/","url_meta":{"origin":1546,"position":0},"title":"The body of the Messiah: between uncertainty and alert","author":"mendocinomx","date":"21 de June de 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A collective emotion of panic is sweeping humanity from all four corners of the earth at the present time due to the war in the Middle East unleashed by Israel and Hamas, which is now spreading from Lebanon and Syria to the ancient land of Iran. A fire that is being fanned by...","rel":"","context":"In "Espiritualidad liberadora"","block_context":{"text":"Espiritualidad liberadora","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/espiritualidad-liberadora\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"a collage of a woman with flowers on her head","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Exoce-Kasongo-Last-Punk-impresion-bajo-demanda-2021.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Exoce-Kasongo-Last-Punk-impresion-bajo-demanda-2021.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Exoce-Kasongo-Last-Punk-impresion-bajo-demanda-2021.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Exoce-Kasongo-Last-Punk-impresion-bajo-demanda-2021.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Exoce-Kasongo-Last-Punk-impresion-bajo-demanda-2021.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1483,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2025\/12\/13\/alegrate-humanidad-desolada\/","url_meta":{"origin":1546,"position":1},"title":"Rejoice, desolate humanity","author":"mendocinomx","date":"13 de December de 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Carlos Mendoza \u00c1lvarez. In the era of Monroe Doctrine 2.0, launched last week for the \u201cWestern Hemisphere\u201d by the global despot as the United States' National Security Strategy, it seems foolish to speak of joy. Some analysts, like Michel Ignatieff, predict the end of the West along with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adviento"","block_context":{"text":"Adviento","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/adviento\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Copia-de-Kojtom-Guardian-de-espejos-2017.jpg?fit=574%2C1000&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Copia-de-Kojtom-Guardian-de-espejos-2017.jpg?fit=574%2C1000&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Copia-de-Kojtom-Guardian-de-espejos-2017.jpg?fit=574%2C1000&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1411,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2025\/11\/22\/marchar-o-no-marchar-esa-es-la-cuestion\/","url_meta":{"origin":1546,"position":2},"title":"To march or not to march, that is the question","author":"mendocinomx","date":"22 de November de 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In recent weeks, Mexico has been the scene of social unrest stemming from public frustration with the violence of drug cartels, which increasingly control more and more territory. The state of Michoac\u00e1n has become...","rel":"","context":"In "Violencias contempor\u00e1neas"","block_context":{"text":"Violencias contempor\u00e1neas","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/violencias-contemporaneas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Ghandis-Dandi-Salt-March-2012.jpeg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Ghandis-Dandi-Salt-March-2012.jpeg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Ghandis-Dandi-Salt-March-2012.jpeg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Ghandis-Dandi-Salt-March-2012.jpeg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Ghandis-Dandi-Salt-March-2012.jpeg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1858,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2026\/05\/08\/la-otra-europa\/","url_meta":{"origin":1546,"position":3},"title":"The other Europe","author":"mendocinomx","date":"8 de May de 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A narrative of his stay in Germany and Poland where the author recounts his encounters and reflections on other faces of Europe, especially the Baltic Sea and its current inhabitants, with a memory of their Gothic past and the ancient and new invasions they have faced.","rel":"","context":"In "Alteridad"","block_context":{"text":"Alteridad","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/alteridad\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Carlos-Mendoza-Castillo-de-Malbork-Pomerania-Polonia-2026.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Carlos-Mendoza-Castillo-de-Malbork-Pomerania-Polonia-2026.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Carlos-Mendoza-Castillo-de-Malbork-Pomerania-Polonia-2026.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Carlos-Mendoza-Castillo-de-Malbork-Pomerania-Polonia-2026.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Carlos-Mendoza-Castillo-de-Malbork-Pomerania-Polonia-2026.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1327,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2025\/10\/19\/las-paces-desde-abajo\/","url_meta":{"origin":1546,"position":4},"title":"Peace from below","author":"mendocinomx","date":"19 de October de 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Two years after the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Trump recently "decreed" his peace plan for Palestine, with the submissive presence of an international "negotiation" group comprised of Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, with the complicity of...","rel":"","context":"In "Palestina"","block_context":{"text":"Palestina","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/palestina\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Tings-Chak-Palestine-Will-Be-Free-2023-courtesy-of-the-artist.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Tings-Chak-Palestine-Will-Be-Free-2023-courtesy-of-the-artist.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Tings-Chak-Palestine-Will-Be-Free-2023-courtesy-of-the-artist.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Tings-Chak-Palestine-Will-Be-Free-2023-courtesy-of-the-artist.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Tings-Chak-Palestine-Will-Be-Free-2023-courtesy-of-the-artist.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1516,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2025\/12\/27\/navidad-en-lo-secreto\/","url_meta":{"origin":1546,"position":5},"title":"Secret Christmas","author":"mendocinomx","date":"27 de December de 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Christmas Eve was shaping up to be different this year due to the change from Boston's frigid weather to the cold but sunny days of the Chiapas Highlands. Of course, it wasn't just a difference in climate, but above all, a difference in cultural worlds.","rel":"","context":"In "Navidad"","block_context":{"text":"Navidad","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/navidad\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Carlos-Mendoza-Nacimiento-tsotsil-Nachig-Chiapas-2025.jpg?fit=1200%2C904&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Carlos-Mendoza-Nacimiento-tsotsil-Nachig-Chiapas-2025.jpg?fit=1200%2C904&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Carlos-Mendoza-Nacimiento-tsotsil-Nachig-Chiapas-2025.jpg?fit=1200%2C904&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Carlos-Mendoza-Nacimiento-tsotsil-Nachig-Chiapas-2025.jpg?fit=1200%2C904&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Carlos-Mendoza-Nacimiento-tsotsil-Nachig-Chiapas-2025.jpg?fit=1200%2C904&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/266113673"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1546"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1561,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546\/revisions\/1561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}