International
‘Make it stop!’ Brazilians fed up with long, dirty election campaign
| 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.
“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.”
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.
“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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
International
Petro accuses top guerrilla leader of bribing officers to evade military strikes
The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, said Saturday that the country’s most wanted guerrilla leader is bribing members of the security forces to obtain advance information and evade military operations.
According to the government, Iván Mordisco, a dissident leader of the now-defunct FARC, is currently on the run in the जंगल following an الجيش bombardment last week that killed six of his closest collaborators in the department of Vaupés.
Authorities believe the guerrilla commander had been at the site shortly before the operation. “He buys off the commanders who are supposed to capture him; that’s how he escapes the bombings, but leaves his own people to die. He is warned before every strike,” Petro wrote on social media platform X.
The six individuals killed in the strike were part of Mordisco’s security ring, according to Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Local media reported that one of those killed was a woman known as “alias Lorena,” who was allegedly Mordisco’s partner and the mother of his child.
After failed attempts to negotiate peace, Petro’s administration has shifted to a more aggressive military strategy against the guerrilla leader. In recent months, three of Mordisco’s brothers have been captured and now face charges including homicide, kidnapping, and arms trafficking.
Central America
Costa Rica urges China to halt actions against Panama-flagged vessels
The government of Costa Rica on Saturday called on China to halt retaliatory actions against vessels flying the Panamaflag, amid escalating tensions over control of two strategic ports linked to the Panama Canal.
In a statement shared on social media, Costa Rica’s Foreign Ministry warned that the situation “puts global trade at risk” and expressed its “deep concern and strongest condemnation” over what it described as “arbitrary and unjustified delays and inspections in Chinese ports.”
The Costa Rican government urged “full respect for international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” while reaffirming its “unconditional support and solidarity” with Panama.
San José’s position aligns with growing international criticism from countries including Honduras, Peru, Paraguay, Israeland Ukraine.
Paraguayan authorities described the detentions as “unacceptable” and pointed to what they called “undue pressure” on the Panamanian government.
International
Mexico leads global cases of enforced disappearances, UN report finds
Mexico accounts for the highest number of urgent actions related to enforced disappearances worldwide, according to the latest report by the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances.
The report, released by I(dh)eas, indicates that Mexico has accumulated 819 cases between 2012 and February 2026, representing 38% of the global total.
In the past five months alone, 40 new urgent requests have been recorded — more than one-third of all such actions worldwide during that period.
The report warns that this trend reflects a structural problem, as the urgent action mechanism — originally intended as an exceptional measure — has become routine in Mexico.
Although the Mexican state formally complies with response deadlines, the Committee identified significant shortcomings in the implementation of these measures. These include the lack of comprehensive search plans, delays in key investigative procedures such as video surveillance and phone data analysis, and insufficient inquiries into possible links involving state agents.
The report also highlights inadequate protection for relatives and individuals involved in search efforts, including cases of reprisals.
Among the most serious incidents documented is the disappearance of a father who had denounced alleged involvement of authorities in his son’s case in the state of Guanajuato.
The accumulation of cases could lead to the application of Article 34 of the Convention, which would allow for the launch of an international investigation into systematic enforced disappearances.
Geographically, the state of Chiapas accounts for 30% of the new urgent actions, many of them linked to collective disappearances of migrants.
Petro accuses top guerrilla leader of bribing officers to evade military strikes
Costa Rica urges China to halt actions against Panama-flagged vessels
Mexico leads global cases of enforced disappearances, UN report finds
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