Brazil goes to elections with Bolsonaro and Lula in a statistical tie
Brazil’s goes to the polls on Sunday for the first round of a high-stakes presidential election between incumbent left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party.
Flávio is picking up the political movement of his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, was barred from running and placed under house arrest for an attempted coup.
Flávio is echoing a common refrain in recent LATAM election: aggressive security tactics, mass incarceration, lowering the minimum age of criminals than can be tried as adults, and privatizations of nationally owned entities.
In many ways, it also a referendum on whether Brazil will be subservient to US interests. We wrote about that in detail for this week’s PWS feature story. You can read that below!
Brazilian elections could determine the shape of US hegemony in South America
Brazil goes to the ballot boxes for the first round of presidential elections this week on Sunday, October 4. The two front-runners are Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula), from the Workers’ Party (PT), and Flávio Bolsonaro (Liberal Party, PL), son of disgraced ex-president Jair Bolsonaro.
After Delcy’s glamour-tour at the United Nations, Venezuelans protest for elections
Interim President Delcy Rodriguez met with a host of world leaders, including US President Donald Trump at the UN General Assembly in New York City last week.
The two leaders had nothing but positive words for one another. In comments to the press, Rodriguez assured that Venezuela will hold elections “soon.” She did not specify a date, nor clarify whether those elections would be local, national, or presidential.
While Rodriguez shook hands at photo ops in the US, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado revealed to Spanish media that she has attempted to re-enter Venezuela seven times since leaving the country last year.
During all of her attempts, she was turned away before she reached Venezuelan airspace. She did blame the US for the aborted attempts, but it is clear who is responsible.
Machado has been sidelined by the Trump administration, and her popularity has slipped at home, though she still remains the most popular political figure in Venezuela.
Her supporters staged rallies on Friday demanding elections and her return.
Uncle Sam is making a love nest in Ecuador
US military personnel, aircraft, trainers, drones, and engineers are flooding into Ecuador to support the “iron fist” policies of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.
Noboa has stationed most of them at the Taura airforce base, where US officials have effective control. Foreign military bases are prohibited by the Ecuadorian Constitution.
Naboa has justified the move, however, under laws that allow temporary cooperation with foreign militaries. We broke it down as part of our new video explainers this week.
The story is important because Ecuador is increasingly becoming the test-case for US actions in Latin America.
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Hasta pronto, piratas!
