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

White House says Cuba policy unchanged despite sanctioned fuel shipment

The White House said Monday that it has not changed its policy toward Cuba, despite allowing a sanctioned Russian oil tanker to deliver fuel to the island on humanitarian grounds.

U.S. officials emphasized that the decision was made as an exception and does not signal a broader shift in policy.

The administration added that similar decisions would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, depending on humanitarian considerations.

The clarification comes amid ongoing restrictions related to U.S. sanctions policy, which continue to limit trade and financial flows involving Cuba.

International

Spain to grant citizenship to Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López

The Spanish government is expected to grant citizenship this Tuesday to Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lópezthrough an extraordinary procedure known as “carta de naturaleza.”

The decision will be approved by royal decree, an exceptional legal mechanism used in special cases that require expedited resolution due to specific circumstances.

López has been living in Madrid since 2020, after leaving Venezuela following a prolonged political and legal conflict with the government of Nicolás Maduro.

According to government sources, López currently does not have a valid Venezuelan passport and faces difficulties in having his nationality fully recognized in his home country.

As a result, he applied for Spanish citizenship via a fast-track process at the end of 2025, after previously attempting to obtain it through regular procedures.

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The Spanish government justified the move based on López’s international relevance and foreign policy considerations.

López is the leader of the Voluntad Popular party and co-founder of the World Liberty Congress, an initiative launched in 2022 alongside figures such as Garry Kasparov and Masih Alinejad.

International

ICE to remain at airports amid DHS shutdown, Homan says

The U.S. “border czar,” Tom Homan, said Sunday that agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will remain deployed at airports until operations return to “100% normal,” as the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues.

“We will maintain ICE presence until airports feel they are fully back to normal operations,” Homan said during an interview on Face the Nation on CBS.

Homan justified the deployment on security grounds, noting that the measure was ordered by President Donald Trumpamid widespread absenteeism among agents of the Transportation Security Administration, who have gone without pay for over six weeks due to the DHS shutdown.

According to acting TSA administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill, at least 460 TSA agents have resigned during the shutdown, while daily absenteeism has averaged 11%, exceeding 50% at some airports.

Homan warned that if TSA staffing levels do not recover after the shutdown, ICE agents will continue filling the gap. “ICE is there to support our TSA brothers and sisters. We will remain as long as needed to ensure airport security,” he said.

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The DHS shutdown reached 44 days on Sunday, making it the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The impasse stems from disagreements between Democrats and Republicans over ICE funding.

A recent bipartisan Senate proposal to fund DHS without including ICE failed after being blocked by House Republicans, who insist on full funding for the agency.

Amid the deadlock, Trump signed an executive order directing Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to immediately pay TSA agents to address what he called an “emergency situation” and restore order at airports, with payments expected to begin Monday.