International

Age, health on the ballot in Brazil’s Bolsonaro-Lula runoff

Photo: ERNESTO BENAVIDES, CAIO GUATELLI / AFP

AFP | Pascale Trouillaud

One is a 67-year-old who has been in and out of hospital over the past four years for gastric problems. The other is a 76-year-old ex-smoker and cancer survivor.

But both far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are bending over backwards to project an image of youthful energy as the grueling campaign for Brazil’s October 30 presidential runoff election enters the home stretch.

Battling for every last vote, the current and former presidents both face scrutiny over their age and health.

The issue has gained prominence in a relatively young country — median age: 32.8 — where many voters are frustrated over the lack of new options, given that the clash pits the man who has led Brazil for the past four years against the one who led it for eight in the 2000s.

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A scroll through the candidates’ social media accounts betrays their campaigns’ concern, with numerous pictures and videos of the rivals — both grandfathers — looking vigorous as they straddle horses, a bull, jet skis and motorcycles (Bolsonaro) or hit a punching bag, lift weights, play the drums and pose in a Speedo-style swimsuit (Lula).

‘Spring chicken’

The age issue is most sensitive for Lula, who turns 77 three days before the runoff.

The veteran leftist, who served two terms from 2003 to 2010, has indicated he would not seek a fourth.

“I have four years to get everything done. Everyone knows an 81-year-old can’t possibly want to be re-elected,” he said in September.

But he has simultaneously laughed off the age issue as he runs his sixth presidential campaign.

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“I’m a spring chicken compared to Joe Biden,” who was inaugurated as US president at 78, Lula quipped last year.

Lula, who smoked for five decades before quitting in 2010, was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx in 2011.

The ex-metalworker underwent chemo and radiation therapy, and doctors declared him in “complete remission” the following year.

But his gravelly voice has grown even hoarser on the campaign trail, to the point Brazilians struggle to understand him at times.

“I’m going to have to stop talking (for) a month to recover,” jokes the twice-widowed former president, who married 56-year-old Rosangela “Janja” da Silva in May.

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Smelling blood, opponents have attacked.

“Lula is physically and psychologically weaker by the day,” center-left rival Ciro Gomes posted online in August ahead of the October 2 first-round vote, in which he placed fourth, behind Lula (48 percent) and Bolsonaro (43 percent).

Gomes later backtracked, deleting the post and saying he had been “very harsh.”

Bolsonaro backers have been particularly virulent online questioning the ex-president’s health.

Lula has been at pains to prove his doctor’s assessment that he has “the health of a bull,” crisscrossing the country giving fiery speeches, and hopping up and down at rallies.

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“I wake up every day at 5:30 am to work out,” beams Lula, who says he started running nine kilometers a day when he was controversially jailed in 2018 on corruption charges — since overturned.

“I want to live to be 120.”

Stabbing after-effects

A decade younger, Bolsonaro has had his share of health issues, too.

The ex-army captain, who was stabbed in the abdomen at a rally during the 2018 campaign that won him the presidency, has had recurring problems ever since.

As president, he has been hospitalized multiple times for intestinal obstructions and undergone six surgeries since 2018: four stemming from the attack, one to remove a bladder stone, and a vasectomy.

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When he was last rushed to the hospital, in January, his surgeon, Antonio Luiz Macedo, said the president arrived “crying in pain” and saying, “I’m going to die.”

Macedo said the problem was a shrimp the president swallowed without chewing.

During his hospitalizations, Bolsonaro maintains an active presence on social media, posting pictures of himself flashing a thumbs-up from bed or visiting with First Lady Michelle, 40, the twice-divorced president’s third wife.

His eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, said after the last hospital stay that doctors had told his father he needed a regime of permanent dietary restrictions.

But the president has stuck to unhealthy eating habits, according to media reports.

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(FILES) (COMBO) This file combination of pictures created on October 4, 2022, shows Brazilian former president (2003-2010) and candidate for the leftist Workers Party (PT) Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (top) waving as he leaves the polling station after voting during the legislative and presidential election, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on October 2, 2022, and Brazilian President and re-election candidate Jair Bolsonaro waving during a motorcade on the eve of the presidential election, in Sao Paulo, on October 1, 2022. - But both far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are bending over backwards to project an image of youthful energy as the grueling campaign for Brazil's October 30 presidential runoff election enters the homestretch. One is a 67-year-old who has been in and out of hospital the past four years for gastric problems. The other is a 76-year-old ex-smoker and cancer survivor. (Photo by ERNESTO BENAVIDES and CAIO GUATELLI / AFP)

International

Chile declares state of catastrophe as wildfires rage in Ñuble and Biobío

Wildland firefighting crews are battling 19 forest fires across the country, 12 of them concentrated in the Ñuble and Biobío regions, located about 500 kilometers south of Santiago.

“In light of the severe fires currently underway, I have decided to declare a state of catastrophe in the regions of Ñuble and Biobío. All resources are now available,” the president announced in a post on X.

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In recent years, forest fires have had a severe impact on the country, especially in the central-southern regions.

On February 2, 2024, multiple wildfires broke out simultaneously around the city of Viña del Mar, located 110 kilometers northwest of Santiago. Those fires resulted in 138 deaths, according to updated figures from the public prosecutor’s office, and left approximately 16,000 people affected, based on official data.

International

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The sentence is shorter than the 10-year prison term sought by prosecutors against the 65-year-old conservative former leader, whose move against Parliament triggered a major political crisis that ultimately led to his removal from office.

Yoon, a former prosecutor, is still facing seven additional trials. One of them, on charges of insurrection, could potentially result in the death penalty.

On Friday, the Seoul Central District Court ruled on one of the multiple secondary cases linked to the affair, which plunged the country into months of mass protests and political instability.

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U.S. deportation flight returns venezuelans to Caracas after Maduro’s ouster

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On January 3, U.S. forces bombed the Venezuelan capital during an incursion in which Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured. Both are now facing narcotrafficking charges in New York.

This was the first U.S.-flagged aircraft transporting migrants to land in Venezuela since the military action ordered by President Donald Trump, who has stated that he is now in charge of the country.

The aircraft departed from Phoenix, Arizona, and landed at Maiquetía International Airport, which serves the Venezuelan capital, at around 10:30 a.m. local time (14:30 GMT), according to AFP reporters on the ground.

The deportees arrived in Venezuela under a repatriation program that remained in place even during the height of the crisis between the two countries, when Maduro was still in power. U.S. planes carrying undocumented Venezuelan migrants continued to arrive throughout last year, despite the military deployment ordered by Trump.