00:00Now we are going to retake one of the main highlights of the week, the midterm elections.
00:05To do so and to go deeper into the analysis of everything that is at stake,
00:09we go live now to Washington with our special envoy, Jorge Gestoso.
00:13He's there and he has the latest information right from the ground.
00:16Hello, Gestoso. Welcome to From the South.
00:21Thank you very much.
00:22We are leading the countdown regarding the midterm selection here in the U.S.
00:28In my background, the Capitol is going to probably be a very interesting result.
00:37It could be a change of power given the fact that it may be possible that the Democrats recover the
00:46House of Representatives
00:47and the Senate remains to be seen.
00:51But nothing better than to keep us to put things in perspective that our political analyst, Gabriela Romo,
01:00that I have the pleasure to have her next to us.
01:04Gabriela, thanks very much for joining us.
01:06Thank you very much.
01:07What is the issue that concerns the most the American voter, electoral?
01:14Because it's not necessarily that I want to be voting everybody.
01:17That's true. It is the economy.
01:20The economy definitely is what it keeps us like awake.
01:24We see that the, you know, the prices have increased.
01:30The cost of living overall has increased.
01:33Not only compared to what we saw in the Biden administration,
01:37but it has come like to numbers that are unsustainable.
01:41So for example, the gas, that we see that it has increased 39%, which is very, very high.
01:48And it really affects everybody's pockets.
01:52So think about like people going to work, people, you know, the producers that they need to distribute their goods.
02:00That has become very expensive.
02:03The cost of traveling, all that is people see that.
02:07But also in the groceries, when you go to the supermarket, you see that the food, it is more expensive.
02:12When we had the Biden administration, we saw the cost of eggs that were soaring, basically.
02:18And everybody was thinking about the eggs.
02:20Now the eggs definitely decreased, like the bird flu, like that stopped.
02:24But overall, we see that everything is more expensive.
02:28And with the tariffs, that it became crazy as well.
02:31And so even if there are products that are made here in the United States,
02:36the input, like all the other parts, are from other countries.
02:41And so at the end, the consumers have to pay that.
02:44So I think that this time of elections will be more about the economy,
02:50what people feel in their pockets, like how they feed their families.
02:53And it's more the day-to-day how they're affected.
02:56And the electoral, it seems, are very, very much concerned and committed to vote.
03:02We have seen over 50 million voters voting in an anticipated way, in presence or via mail.
03:13In that sense, part of that enormous amount of people that are going to vote are Hispanics.
03:21About 70 million people, officially, are Hispanics in the U.S.
03:26We're talking about one every four people in the U.S. is a Hispanic.
03:32What do you think that is going to be the vote?
03:34What are going to be the concerns of the Hispanics regarding this election
03:37versus two years ago with the presidential election?
03:41Yeah, I think that the economy continues to be the priority for the Hispanic vote.
03:47And I think that that was what we saw also two years ago.
03:50So people continue feeling that in a personal way.
03:54However, immigration, that's the other topic that is important.
03:58And that has become something that even people who didn't feel that they were going to be affected
04:05because they are now, you know, citizens as well, and actually they can vote,
04:10they see the violence that has happened and how the immigration policies,
04:15that they were okay with that, but they were not okay like how they have been implemented.
04:20The violence that we've seen, and it's not only that we have seen that it's not only against criminals
04:26or people who don't have documents.
04:28We've seen in the news as well that people, even with papers or having a process going on,
04:35they've been detained with no criminal background.
04:38So suddenly it's like, oh, maybe I could be detained as well,
04:41or I don't like what I see in my community.
04:43And so people who were not even like feeling that Latino now, definitely that has strengthened.
04:49And so the Latino vote, I think that that will also have that in mind as well.
04:54They believe that they could, they meaning the authorities,
04:57believe that the Hispanic vote could represent about 15-1-5, 15% of the total vote.
05:06So 15% could have an impact in this election.
05:09I think it's still very important.
05:12You know, probably we don't see like, oh my God, like that's about 20, 25.
05:17But 15% is still very important, particularly because the Latino, people participate in the economy.
05:25People, you know, they like to consume.
05:28The Latinos, like, send their kids, they have kids, number one.
05:32And second, they send them to school.
05:34And so the Latinos are still very important and very relevant.
05:37And I think that's the other layer as well, is that I got the Latino vote, right?
05:42That is the sense of crowd, because the Latino vote has, like, you know, swing it.
05:47Exactly.
05:47And so who is going to attract the Latino vote?
05:50I think that that also will be something important.
05:52So, finally, Gabriela, do you think that by the end of the night, tomorrow, we're going to have a clear
05:58picture,
05:58or there are going to be results that are going to be, if I want, pending of official approval?
06:04So I think that it can be contested.
06:07It's very likely.
06:08We have seen that even President Trump has mentioned that.
06:11And it is very likely that there could be some fraud.
06:14And so I think that that will continue, although, I mean, there is still a very good system in counting
06:21the votes.
06:22So hopefully we'll have some results, but I think that we'll have some turmoil afterwards.
06:27And what happened with Latin America?
06:30Latin America is following this election closely?
06:34Oh, yes, absolutely.
06:36What happens in United States affects Latin America.
06:40Mexico being a neighbor, a number one partner, a commercial partner.
06:46Absolutely, the commercial partner above China.
06:48So Mexico is looking at what happens in the United States, how policies might be approved by the Congress.
06:55So certain states as well, where we have a large community of migrants.
07:02But it's not only Mexico, also the rest of the world of Latin America, Venezuela, Argentina, Central America.
07:10Because, you know, immigration comes from a lot of these countries coming to the United States.
07:16And also the policies will affect not only their immigration communities, but also the tariffs, like, you know, commercial agreements,
07:24and, you know, alliances, the right, the left, all that, I think it is right now at play.
07:31And Latin America is looking at the results.
07:34And, of course, it's totally speculative.
07:37But if the balance of power changes and the Congress, just behind us, the Congress turns to be in the
07:46hands of Democrats,
07:48could have an impact, for example, in Latin America?
07:52You know, I think that it may stop certain policies that have affected Latin America.
07:59But I don't think that we're going to see a radical change.
08:03For that, a lot of things need to happen.
08:06So I think that it may help to slow down, to put a break on what we've seen.
08:12But honestly, I don't think that we're going to have our lives changed overall.
08:17And even, you know, Latin America will see those changes.
08:21Maybe that craziness of the tariffs that have been up and down and the uncertainty,
08:26maybe that we'll see, like, finally some stability.
08:30But that takes time as well.
08:32Gabriela Romo, thanks very much for joining us.
08:34Thank you very much.
08:36We were talking with our political analyst, Gabriela Romo,
08:41very clear knowledge of what to expect tomorrow when most of Americans available to vote are going to drop the
08:52vote.
08:53They have already made that by mail and in person over 52 million Americans have already voted.
09:01And we're going to be bringing to you every detail as soon as we are going to follow what's taking
09:08place in the next hours.
09:11We'll get back to you now.
09:13Thank you. Thank you, Gestoso, very much for the analysis at this hour.
09:16We'll be in contact with you throughout the day.
