International

‘Make it stop!’ Brazilians fed up with long, dirty election campaign

Photo: Douglas Magno / AFP

| By AFP | Anna Pelegri, Ramon Sahmkow, with Lujan Scarpinelli in Sao Paulo and Louis Genot in Rio de Janeiro |

Marcelo feels it is making him sick. Alexia has stopped chatting to her neighbors and Luciene is desperate for it to end: Brazil’s lengthy and nasty election duel has left many voters fed up.

Latin America’s largest nation is four days from deciding whether to re-elect far-right President Jair Bolsonaro or leftist former leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is leading a very tight race.

The two men, both tarnished but with fervent supporters, are locked in a fierce battle for the four percent of voters who plan to spoil their vote and the one percent who remain undecided.

The candidates have flooded the media and social media with their presence, and the election has dominated conversation for months.

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“I am getting sick because there is a lot of disagreement,” said 51-year-old Marcelo Brandao Viana, a Bolsonaro supporter who laments a campaign “overloaded” with “fake news” and attacks between the rival parties.

“I am living this 24 hours a day, and it is horrible,” the bank receptionist told AFP. Nevertheless, he cannot resist looking at his WhatsApp groups during his lunch break outside a mall in the capital Brasilia.

Meanwhile, on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, 65-year-old Jose Guilherme Araujo sits on a beach chair in a tight, bright green swimsuit bearing the Brazilian flag as he tries to escape the electoral noise.

“I feel exhausted. I am fed up,” the lawyer told AFP, adding he plans to spoil his ballot.

“The main television channels are only talking about the election. It is horrible. I try to watch cable to escape the subject.”

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Don’t talk about politics

A final showdown between Bolsonaro and Lula had been on the cards since last year when the leftist former president had longstanding corruption charges overturned for procedural reasons, and was freed from prison, without being exonerated.

Many Brazilians feel the election campaign began then, long before voting season, especially because both candidates draw strong measures of adoration and hatred.

In Sao Paulo, Alexia Ebert put her apartment building WhatsApp group on mute after it became an endless thread of political information and disinformation.

“I couldn’t take it anymore,” said the 22-year-old student.

Some, like Aline Tescer, a 35-year-old from Sao Paulo, said that any policy proposals for the next four years are conspicuous by their absence.

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“I see myself the same as in the last election. It is always the same things, the same accusations, and I feel I have no choice in who to vote for.”

Luciene Soares, a businesswoman from Brasilia, feels “disappointed” by the “disrespect” instigated by Bolsonaro.

“People are afraid. I prefer not to say who I am voting for because one is afraid of people’s reactions. I don’t talk about politics because it creates problems,” said the 48-year-old.

“Among friends and family, we say: ‘God! Make it stop.’”

Anesthetised electorate

This fatigue has not shown up in weekly election polls, but experts have picked it up on the streets and online, in this country which has 171.5 million users (80 percent of the population) on social media, according to a study carried out by the Hootsuite and We Are Social agencies.

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The constant bombardment of information “ends up anaesthetizing the electorate” and “tiring them out”, said Amaro Grassi, a sociologist with the Getulio Vargas thinktank.

“The permanent presence of campaign content is not new in this election, but has become much more accentuated,” he added.

Grassi remarks that most Brazilians just want to get back to their normal lives and “turn the page” on the bruising campaign.

“Today, politics has even become a topic of conversation on gossip sites,” said Sao Paulo resident Iamylle Kauane, on a visit to Rio.

This 21-year-old social assistant is waiting for the elections to end “to return to normalcy.”

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Nevertheless, some are indefatigable.

“I don’t feel tired,” said Leandro Albino Oliveira, 36, selling hats on a Rio beach.

“We will not rest until our president is re-elected.”

They have been an advocate for the rights of non-binary people since high school, and paid for a qualification in social work by selling sex.

Today, Cienfuegos is a senior figure at the Organizando Trans Diversidades (Organizing Trans Diversities) advocacy group.

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Over the past decade, Chile has been moving away from the conservatism inherited from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) and the influence of the Catholic Church.

Still, last year, 1,114 complaints of discrimination against LGBTQ+ persons were registered in Chile — 127 from transgender people — according to the Movilh gender activist group.

In 2012, Congress passed the Anti-Discrimination Act, and three years later legalized same-sex civil unions.

In 2018, a law was passed that allows for a sex change from the age of 14, and last year, Chile approved gay marriage and adoption.

In July, an appeals court in Santiago finally recognized Cienfuegos’ non-binary gender.

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But the fight is not over.

Chile still does not legally recognize genders other than male or female and anyone else who would want an “X” on their ID will likely face a legal battle similar to Cienfuegos’.

“The non-binary identity card is a milestone among a range of milestones for the advancement of fundamental rights,” Cienfuegos said.

“But conservatism is about enduring daily discrimination against… sexual diversity,” they added.

In July last year, Chile’s neighbor Argentina became the first country in Latin America to allow a gender other than male or female to be listed on a person’s identity document, following in the footsteps of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States among other countries.

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International

Fire at substation triggers major blackout in San Francisco

The U.S. city of San Francisco was plunged into darkness Saturday night after a power outage left about 130,000 customers without electricity, although the utility company said service was restored to most users within hours.

Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) said in a statement posted on X that nearly 90,000 homes had their power restored by 9:00 p.m. local time (05:00 GMT on Sunday), while the remaining 40,000 customers were expected to have service restored overnight.

Large areas of the city, a major technology hub with a population of around 800,000, were affected by the blackout, which disrupted public transportation and left traffic lights out of service during the busy weekend before Christmas, a crucial period for retail businesses.

“I know it’s been a difficult day,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a video posted on social media from the city’s emergency operations center. “There has been progress, but for those still without power, we want to make sure they are safe and checking in on their neighbors,” he added.

Lurie said police officers and firefighters advised residents to stay home as much as possible. He also noted that officers and traffic inspectors were deployed to manage intersections where traffic lights were not functioning.

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The mayor confirmed that the outage was caused by a fire at an electrical substation. Parts of the city were also covered in fog, further complicating conditions during the incident.

As a result of the blackout, many businesses were forced to close despite it being the weekend before Christmas. The sudden drop in shopper traffic ahead of the holiday is “devastating” for retailers, the manager of home goods store Black & Gold told the San Francisco Chronicle.

International

Cristina Kirchner recovering after appendicitis surgery in Buenos Aires

Former Argentine President Cristina Kirchner underwent surgery on Saturday after being diagnosed with appendicitis and is recovering “without complications,” according to a medical report released by the Otamendi Sanatorium.

Kirchner was admitted to the Buenos Aires medical center on Saturday after experiencing abdominal pain. Doctors performed a laparoscopic procedure that confirmed a diagnosis of “appendicitis with localized peritonitis,” the statement said, adding that her post-operative recovery has been progressing without complications.

The former president was transferred to the clinic with judicial authorization from her apartment in Buenos Aires, where she is serving a six-year sentence under house arrest for corruption.

International

Argentina detects first local cases of Influenza A (H3N2) Subclade K

Argentina’s National Administration of Laboratories and Health Institutes (ANLIS) “Dr. Carlos G. Malbrán” has confirmed the detection of three cases of influenza A (H3N2) corresponding to subclade K in the country. These are the first locally recorded cases of this variant, which has become predominant in several countries in the Northern Hemisphere in recent months and is associated with higher transmissibility.

The cases were identified through the National Network of Laboratories and Sentinel Units and confirmed by the National Reference Laboratory of INEI-ANLIS using genomic sequencing techniques. According to health authorities, the cases involve two adolescents from the province of Santa Cruz, detected as part of the Ambulatory Monitoring Strategy for Acute Respiratory Infections, and a child who had been hospitalized in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.

In all three cases, patients experienced mild illness and recovered without complications. Officials did not specify whether any of the affected individuals had a recent travel history.

The jurisdictions involved have already launched the corresponding epidemiological investigations and are responsible for ensuring timely medical care for the detected cases. According to the latest integrated surveillance report, the circulation of influenza and other respiratory viruses in Argentina remains within expected levels for this time of year.