Saturday, October 26, 2019
Bolivia’s Morales claims outright win in presidential vote
CARLOS VALDEZ. AP. October 24, 2019
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia’s Evo Morales declared himself the outright winner of the country’s presidential election Thursday, giving himself a fourth straight term in office following days of protests by both his opponents and supporters over accusations of vote fraud.
With more than 98 percent of the votes counted from Sunday’s election, Bolivia’s first indigenous president said he had the 10 percentage point lead over his nearest rival, former president Carlos Mesa, needed to win outright and avoid a second round runoff.
“We have won in the first round. There are 1.58% (of the votes) left to count but we won with the rural vote,” Morales, the region’s longest ruling president, told a press conference.
Mesa announced that he would form an alliance to “defend the vote” in the streets and alleged that the president had perpetrated “a monumental fraud” to get re-elected.
The Andean nation had been on a knife-edge since the close and bitterly disputed vote. If it had gone to a second round runoff between Morales and Mesa, analysts said a united opposition might have stood a chance of defeating the incumbent president.
As the morning broke, the official vote count moved him to a 10-point lead, with about 1.5% of the votes still to be counted he led Mesa 46.83% to 36.7%.
International vote monitors have expressed concern at an earlier unexplained daylong gap in reporting results before a sudden spurt in Morales’ vote percentage. Opposition backers continued to stage rowdy protests since the vote, while Morales’ backers staged a march in the capital to show their support for the president.
Morales has repeatedly said that he won outright and that his opponents are conspiring to oust him. He earlier said that a quick count of the vote also gave him a first round win.
“I want to denounce to the people and the world that a coup d’etat is underway,” Morales said at a news conference Wednesday. “The right wing has prepared it with international support.”
Morales did not specify where the alleged international support for the coup was coming from, but he regularly rails against U.S. imperialism in Latin America.
He cited the burning by protesters of electoral offices in two cities where votes are being tallied as proof of the coup. Protesters also burned ballots in a third city.
Suspicions of electoral fraud rose when officials abruptly stopped releasing results from the quick count of votes hours after the polls closed Sunday with Morales topping the eight other candidates, but also falling several percentage points short of the percentage needed to avoid the first runoff in his nearly 14 years in power.
Twenty-four hours later, the body suddenly released an updated figure, with 95% of votes counted, showing Morales just 0.7 percentage point short of the 10-percentage point advantage needed to avoid a runoff.
That set off an uproar among the opposition and expressions of concern by international monitors.
The observer mission of the Organization of American States asked for explanations and the European Union and the U.N. expressed concern about the electoral process and called for calm. The United States and Brazil, among others, also expressed concerns.
Michael G. Kozak, acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, warned Wednesday that Bolivian authorities will be held accountable if the process isn’t fair.
“I think you will see pretty strong response from the whole hemisphere, not just the U.S.,” Kozak said during a House hearing.
In Caracas, Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, voiced support for his ally Morales.
“It is a coup d’etat foretold, sung and, one can say, defeated,” he said.
The crisis was aggravated by the resignation of the vice president electoral council, Antonio Costas, who said he disagreed with the decision to interrupt transmission of the vote count.
On Tuesday, the Andean nation saw a second night of violent protests in several cities. Then on Wednesday, a strike that mostly affected transportation erupted in Santa Cruz, the most populous eastern region and an opposition stronghold, while Morales supporters clashed with his foes in one of the city’s slums.
Protesters in other regions announced that they would join to demand respect for the vote.
Russia may send economic advisers to Venezuela: Deputy Finance Minister
Reuters. October 23, 2019
SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Russia is considering sending a permanent delegation of economic advisers to Venezuela to help Caracas resolve issues with foreign creditors, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said on Thursday.
Storchak said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had asked for continued cooperation in terms of consultations after Russian experts previously visited Venezuela. He said the specialists could go on a permanent basis.
“So the economic advisers, as is normally the case, are not just in place for a week, but for a longer period, looking into microeconomic relations and not just macro.”
Uruguay: Leftist 'Broad Front' Leads Polls With 38% of Vote
TeleSUR. October 23, 2019
While there are only a few days left before the October 27 elections, most Uruguayans maintain their firm rejection of right-wing politicians and their proposals.
Less than a week before the presidential elections in Uruguay, citizens' support for the Broad Front, Frente Amplio (FA), a coalition of left-wing organizations which is currently in government, is growing and widening its distance from the opposition led by the center-right National Party (PN).
According to the Uruguayan company Cifra's last monthly survey, the intention to vote for the FA increased from 33 percent to 38 percent, which enhances the chances that this political group can reach its fourth consecutive term after 15 years of government.
If this happens in the October 27 elections, the FA candidate Daniel Mantinez, who is Montevideo's former mayor, will be able to achieve victory and move on to the second round.
Instead, the National Party candidate, Senator Luis Lacalle Pou, maintains a citizen support which fluctuates around 25 percent of voting intentions.
As a political organization, the Broad Front emerged from the confluence of Christian democrats, socialists and former Tupamaro guerrilla fighters, among whom was Jose Mujica, a former political prisoner who ruled this South American country from 2010 to 2015.
The FA's first administration began in 2005 when Tabare Vazquez, who is the country's current president, won the 2004 elections and ended thus 174 years of conservative governments.
Since then, the Uruguayan leftist coalition has managed to maintain three consecutive presidential terms, two from Vazquez and one from Mujica.
Who Are the Main Candidates for Uruguayan Presidency?
EFE. October 23, 2019
MONTEVIDEO – Eleven candidates, among whom Daniel Martinez, with the leftist Broad Front (FA) coalition that has governed since 2005, and Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou, with the opposition center-right National Party (PN), are aspiring to win the Uruguayan presidency in the elections to be held next Sunday.
Martinez and Lacalle are running first and second, respectively, in all the voter surveys, although neither is expected to garner an absolute majority, and thus they are the favorites to make it to the election runoff to be held on Nov. 24.
The candidate who obtains more than 50 percent of the votes in that later contest will become Uruguay’s next president.
Although there are many voter surveys, none give Martinez less than 33 percent support and the Radar survey – which is the one that rates him highest – puts him at around 41 percent among likely voters, while Lacalle Pou is fluctuating between 22 percent and 27 percent.
DANIEL MARTINEZ (BROAD FRONT)
The Broad Front candidate is 62-year-old industrial engineer whose political career includes being president of the state-run Ancap petroleum company from 2005-2008; industry, energy and mining minister from 2008-2009 and mayor of Montevideo, a post he occupied from 2015-2019, when he left that position to run for president.
With the slogan “La Ola Esperanza” (The Wave of Hope), Martinez is seeking to convince voters of the need for the FA to obtain a fourth mandate to govern the country and is placing emphasis on the progress obtained during its 15 years at the helm of the small Atlantic coast nation sandwiched between Brazil to the north and Argentina to the south.
His relationship with the leftist coalition has blossomed since the Socialist Party, which he joined in 1973 (the year that Uruguay’s civilian-military dictatorship came to power, governing until 1985) and within which his candidacy has surged.
LUIS ALBERTO LACALLE POU (NATIONAL PARTY)
The son of former President Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera (1990-1995) and grandson of one of Uruguay’s key political figures of the 20th century, Luis Alberto de Herrera, this 45-year-old attorney is once again seeking the presidency after losing the 2014 election to Tabare Vazquez.
With the slogan “Es Ahora” (The Time Is Now), Lacalle Pou is emphasizing a course change in the way the country is governed to be able – via a coalition – to improve in key areas important to the public such as public safety and economic performance.
The current senator has been involved in politics since 2000, when he first entered parliament as a lawmaker.
ERNESTO TALVI (COLORADO PARTY)
Talvi, a 62-year-old economist, in mid-2018 created the Ciudadanos (Citizens) political sector within the center-right Colorado Party, using that as a springboard to run for president, having defeated former President Julio Maria Sanguinetti, who governed the country from 1985-1990 and 1995-2000, for the party leadership.
After emerging as a surprise contender for the presidency, first in the internal party primaries and later in the national primaries, when he challenged Lacalle Pou for the No. 2 slot among voters nationwide, Talvi has been losing momentum recently and current voter surveys give him between 10 percent and 18 percent of the vote.
The son of Macedonian and Cuban parents, Talvi was born in Montevideo, where between 1990-1995 he worked at the Uruguayan Central Bank as an adviser to the economic team in its relations with the International Monetary Fund.
GUIDO MANINI RIOS (CABILDO ABIERTO)
The 60-year-old served until March 2019 as Uruguay’s army commander in chief, being dismissed by Vazquez at that time for questioning the national judiciary.
A month later he was put forward by the Cabildo Abierto party as its presidential candidate, and he told EFE that he wants to help the country return to the “historic” levels of security it had during the 1950s and up until the early 1990s.
Currently, while facing legal proceedings for rulings by the Army Honor Court for a crime linked to the dictatorship, Manini Rios has between 7 percent and 12 percent of the vote, according to voter surveys.
The other presidential candidates, who have not managed to garner much support at all in the voter surveys, are Pablo Mieres (Partido Independiente); Edgardo Novick (Partido de la Gente); Gonzalo Abella (Unidad Popular); Rafael Fernandez (Partido de los Trabajadores); Daniel Goldman (Partido Digital); Cesar Vega (Partido Ecologista Radical Intransigente) and Gustavo Salle (Partido Verde Animalista).
Protests rage in Chile despite president’s reform promise
EVA VERGARA. AP. October 23, 2019
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Tens of thousands of protesters swarmed Chile’s capital setting up fiery barricades and clashing with riot police Wednesday, as an apology and promises of economic reform from President Sebastián Piñera failed to calm unrest and rioting that has led to at least 18 deaths.
Trade unionists in the world’s top copper-producing country joined demonstrators in a general strike.
The movement started with anger at a small rise in subway fares, but blew up last week into protests demanding improvements in education, health care and wages in one of Latin America’s wealthiest, but most unequal nations.
Many protesters in Santiago waved the national flag and shouted: “Chile has woken up!”
Police responded to stone-throwing demonstrators by spraying water cannons and firing rubber bullets and tear gas. Similar scenes were repeated in towns and cities all along the long, narrow South American country of 18 million people.
Millions of students were still unable to attend classes, several subway stations were shut and long lines wound from gas stations and supermarkets after many stores were torched or destroyed.
The unrest erupted last week when students began to jump subway station turnstiles to protest a 4-cent subway fare rise that the Chilean government said was needed to cope with rising oil prices and a weaker currency.
Most of the protests have been peaceful with demonstrators of all ages banging pots to demand reforms. But the unrest also involved riots, arson and looting that have wracked Chile for six days, nearly paralyzing a country long seen as an oasis of stability.
“Today we’re protesting all of our discontent against these politicians who have been fooling us. The raise in the subway fare was just the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Italo Tarsetti, a taekwondo teacher standing among demonstrators honking horns and banging on pots, a common form of protest in Latin America.
Faced with the mounting unrest, Piñera on Tuesday night announced economic reforms that include increases in the minimum wage and lowest state pensions. But many said the 69-year-old billionaire businessman reacted late and the announcement failed to calm anger in the streets.
“These measures are absurd. It’s handing out crumbs to the people,” said Magdalena Bravo, a demonstrator who said she had lost her job as a school teacher.
“There are many reasons why I have joined these protests,” she said. “The inequality is tremendous. There are families of five, six people living with miserable salaries.”
The protests have divided Chileans. Many want a reduction of Chile’s sharp inequality, a wider distribution of its copper wealth and major changes in taxes and education reform, but they condemn the destruction.
“You don’t know what can happen to you,” said retiree Magaly Munoz. “I understand that people are dissatisfied, but they can’t break into your home and loot businesses. I can’t support that.”
Human rights groups expressed concerns about how security forces have handled the protests after the government declared a state of emergency and a curfew in some areas of the country. It was the first such state of emergency — other than for natural disasters — imposed since Chile returned to democracy in 1990 following a bloody 17-year dictatorship.
“We’re worried,” José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, told The Associated Press. “The images that we’ve received from credible sources, trustworthy sources, show that there has been an excess of force both by police as well as some soldiers.”
About 20,000 soldiers are patrolling the streets, nearly 200 people have been injured and some 5,000 have been arrested.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also criticized what it said is excessive use of force by security forces as well as the “violent acts committed by civilians” in the protests. It called for dialogue to hear “people’s legitimate demands.”
Lawmaker Camila Vallejo, a former leader in mass student protests demanding free education, joined a march to Congress calling for authorities to lift a curfew being enforced by the military.
For many people, the sight of soldiers on the streets brings back bad memories of Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, when about 40,000 people were killed, tortured or imprisoned for political reasons.
Still, many have defied the curfew.
“People are no longer afraid to face the military. They lost the fear,” said Angélica Salazar, who works at a pizzeria.
After the protests erupted, Piñera declared a state of emergency and rolled back the subway hike.
He said Chile is “at war,” but took a more conciliatory tone after being criticized for the comment. He also has apologized for the failures of his and previous governments on the left and right to curb inequality.
The economic agenda he announced Tuesday night calls for increasing the lowest monthly pensions from $151 to $181, raising the monthly minimum wage from $413 to $481 and rescinding a 92% rise in electricity rates scheduled to take effect next month. It would also increase taxes for anyone earning more than $11,000 a month.
Many Chileans feel left out of the country’s economic gains. Education and medicines are costly, water has been privatized since the dictatorship, state pensions are low and many families live on just $550 to $700 a month in earnings.
“Piñera’s more conciliatory tone is a step in the right direction, but the proposal on its own is unlikely to suffice,” said Jenny Pribble, associate professor of political science at the University of Richmond.
She said that while it would boost pensions and set a minimum income, the package doesn’t address the structure of the country’s health and pension systems.
“This is a point of concern for the protesters and the president must signal that he is open to a social dialogue that would, at a minimum, debate the possibility of abandoning the privatized logic,” she said.
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