International
Brazilian voters wear loyalty on their sleeves
AFP
Brazilians wore their loyalty on their sleeves, literally, as they turned out in large numbers Sunday dressed to flaunt their political preference in a polarized presidential election.
Many were decked out from head to toe in the red of leftist front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party, others in the yellow-and-green Brazilian colors far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro has claimed as his own.
It is a reflection of the tribalized nature of Brazilian politics, and made for colorful scenes at voting stations in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Brasilia with bandanas, flags, shirts, stickers, even lipstick and colored sunglasses chosen to match a voter’s political leaning.
“There is no secret vote… it’s all in plain sight,” Debora Mattos, 45, told AFP after casting her vote near Rio’s famous Copacabana tourist beach.
She wore a T-shirt with an image of the Brazilian flag; a white top with the words “Bolsonaro president” and the incumbent’s face tied around her waist.
Brazilian law allows individual voters to wear clothing or paraphernalia advertising their political allegiance, as long as they do not distribute party political material or engage in campaigning.
As red- and yellow-clad voters mixed in thousands of voting queues around Latin America’s biggest democracy, there were no reports of disagreements half-way into the eight hours of voting.
Bolsonaro himself voted in Rio de Janeiro in a T-shirt of yellow and green.
Lula opted for a more statesmanly look: casting his ballot in Sao Paulo state in a dark suit and a blue button-up shirt.
Unlike Bolsonaro, who had urged his supporters to turn out in the national colors as he had, Lula told his fans to come any which way they liked. Just come.
In the capital, Brasilia, 32-year-old policeman Andre Ribeiro took the bold step of draping himself in a Worker’s Party flag in a Bolsonaro-majority area where he was a red speck in a sea of yellow and green.
He complained of followers of Bolsonaro “stealing” the national colors.
At a polling station in Rio, Marcio Lessa, 59, opted for white.
“I’m afraid of being attacked,” he told AFP, flashing an “L” with his right thumb and forefinger while silently mouthing “Lula.”
Some chose their outfit to make a different point: about unity.
One of them, 32-year-old Juliana Trevisan, 32, wore a green-and-yellow shirt… with Lula’s image, voting in Rio.
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People queue to vote during the legislative and presidential election, in Brasilia, Brazil, on October 2, 2022. - Voting began early Sunday in South America's biggest economy, plagued by gaping inequalities and violence, where voters ar expected to choose between far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and leftist front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, any of which must garner 50 percent of valid votes, plus one, to win in the first round. (Photo by Sergio Lima / AFP)
International
Court sends Keiko Fujimori to trial for money laundering in Peru
December 3 |
Judge Víctor Zúñiga issued on Friday an order to prosecute former Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori for money laundering to the detriment of the State.
“The Fourth Court of National Preparatory Investigation issued an indictment against Keiko Fujimori, 38 natural persons and two legal entities: Fuerza Popular political party and MVV Bienes Raíces, for money laundering to the detriment of the State,” the entity said.
In 2021, the Peruvian Public Prosecutor’s Office requested more than 30 years in prison for Fujimori in the Cocktails case.
The entity pointed out that the former presidential candidate used cocktail parties, raffles and voluntary contributions to finance electoral campaigns.
Vicente Silva Checa and Pier Figari will also attend the trial as defendants, according to the magistrate.
Fujimori has not yet made any statements regarding the judge’s decision to send her to trial for money laundering.
International
President Lula calls Israel’s attacks on Gaza genocide
December 3 |
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva on Friday described Israel’s continuous aggressions against Gaza as genocide.
Before the media Al Jazeera, Lula stressed that this is not a conventional war, but a genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The South American president denounced the murder of more than 15,000 civilians, including 7,000 Palestinian children.
On the other hand, Lula affirmed that the operation carried out by Hamas against Israel did not give the latter the right to kill thousands of innocent people.
In addition, the president singled out the United States for complicity in Israel’s ongoing crimes.
It is worth mentioning that Hamas indicated in a communiqué that Washington gave Israel the green light to continue the attacks against Gaza, following the visit of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
International
Fire reduction trend noted in Brazilian Amazonia
December 2 |
The Brazilian Amazon recorded 13,943 forest fires in November 2023, a figure 26 percent higher than the same period in 2022 and the highest for this month in the last six years, although with a tendency to a gradual decrease compared to indicators of last September and October.
According to a report issued this Friday by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), the number of hot spots measured by satellites was not so high for this month since the 14,105 measured in November 2017.
The agency specified that they decreased compared to October this year (22,061 hot spots) and were almost half of those of September (26,452) However, they remain at a high level.
According to INPE experts, this annual increase is due to a severe drought in the Amazon which, according to the Center for Monitoring Natural Disasters and Alerts (Cemaden), could be historic.
This situation is a consequence of the El Niño phenomenon, which generates abundant rainfall in some parts of the planet and strong droughts in others. This year was more intense than in 2015 and 2016, when the biome experienced its worst water crisis.
Despite this, thanks to the efforts made by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government to stop the devastation, the number of fires accumulated in the Brazilian Amazon between January and November this year (93,945) was down 16.3 percent compared to the data for the first 11 months of 2022 (112,077).
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