International
The campaign for the municipal elections in Brazil leaves a trace of violence not yet clarified
The campaign for the municipal elections that Brazil celebrates this Sunday has left a trail of violence with the murder of up to fourteen candidates since the beginning of the year, although the political nature of those attacks is not yet fully clarified.
The data is contained in a report prepared by the Tierra de Derechos institute, a non-governmental organization that studies political violence in Brazil and that, during this year, identified 145 cases of attacks, threats and aggressions directly or indirectly associated with the electoral process.
Among them is the blow with a chair that the center-right candidate José Luiz Datena instold to the far-right Pablo Marçal in an electoral debate in São Paulo, which had a great media impact because it was the largest city in the country and the aggression was broadcast live on television.
But there is also the murder of Marcelo Oliveira, mayor of João Dias, who aspired to re-election in that municipality of 2,000 inhabitants in the interior of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, shot dead in the middle of the street with his father in August.
Oliveira was one of the fourteen candidates for mayor or councilor murdered since the beginning of this year for alleged political reasons, although the police authorities have not yet reached conclusions in any of those cases.
Corruption and organized crime add to violence
According to the Federal Police, the campaign has also left some 2,200 investigations open for suspected electoral crimes, which include attempts to “buy votes” and possible corruption cases, among many others.
The cases of violence have not been directly linked to the polarization that dominates the country between the progressivism embodied by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the far right led by his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.
According to the authorities, they have been associated with local disputes, which are more acute in the small municipalities of the interior, where organized crime has more penetration.
Among the groups suspected of financing candidacies is the First Command of the Capital (PCC), which emerged three decades ago in the prisons of São Paulo and whose tentacles are now expanding throughout the national territory and reach some neighboring countries.
The numbers of the municipal elections in Brazil
The elections will be held in 5,569 cities, in which 500,183 tables are installed to elect the new mayors and members of the municipal assemblies.
The only one of the 27 regional capitals that will not go to the polls is Brasilia, which is part of the Federal District and has a differentiated administrative regime.
In the 103 municipalities with more than 200,000 voters, there will be a second round on October 27 if none of the mayoral candidates exceeds 50% of the support.
There will be a total of 155,912,680 voters, represented by 52% by women.
Throughout the country there are 15,452 candidates for mayor, but with minimal female participation, since there are 13,128 men and 2,324 women.
Gender disparity also appears in the candidates for councilors. There are 277,869 men and 150,773 women.
The largest polling stations are the cities of São Paulo, with 9.3 million voters, Rio de Janeiro (5,009,373) and Belo Horizonte (1,992,984).
To ensure peace of mind, all state security forces will be mobilized, as well as 23,000 members of the Armed Forces, who will also participate in the custody of the 571,024 electronic ballot boxes that voters will use.
International
Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.
“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.
“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.
Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links
A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
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