International
Bolsonaro says will accept defeat if ‘nothing abnormal’ in Brazil vote
| By AFP |
Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro said Friday he would accept possible defeat in the second round of the presidential election on October 30 provided “nothing abnormal” occurs during the vote.
“Today, everyone says that my acceptance (among the people) is much greater than that of my opponent (ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva). But let’s leave it to the polls … let’s leave this question with the electoral transparency commission,” Bolsonaro said in an interview on SBT when asked if he would accept the result in the event of a defeat.
“If the transparency commission, in which the armed forces also participate, shows nothing abnormal, there is no reason to doubt the outcome of the elections,” said the former army captain who has on several occasions and without proof raised the possibility of “fraud” at the electronic ballot box.
He had gone so far as to threaten not to recognize the results if he lost to his leftwing rival.
Lula was for months the big favorite in opinion polls, with a 21-point lead over Bolsonaro in May, according to the Datafolha institute.
But Bolsonaro surprised in the first round on October 2, winning 43 percent of the vote, only five points behind Lula, a much smaller gap than polls had predicted.
In the final stretch of the campaign, Bolsonaro has reduced his attacks on electronic voting and turned on polling firms, which he accused of “lying” to favor his main opponent.
The polls still put Lula in the lead, with 49 percent against 45 percent for Bolsonaro, according to Datafolha, with one percent undecided and four percent indicating they will cast blank votes.
Bolsonaro’s interview replaced what should have been the second face-to-face debate between the two candidates, after Lula decided not to take part because of “incompatibility with his campaign agenda,” according to the organizers.
International
Colombian President Gustavo Petro announces talks with clan del Golfo outside country
Colombian President Gustavo Petro stated on Friday that his government has begun talks outside the country with the Clan del Golfo, Colombia’s main criminal group also known as the Gaitanist Army.
“We have started conversations outside Colombia with the self-called Gaitanist Army,” the president said during the handover of 6,500 hectares of land to farmers in the Caribbean department of Córdoba.
The president noted that his administration “has seized more cocaine than any other government” because it seeks to “cut off the finances (of criminal groups) that fuel violence in many regions of Colombia.”
“A bill has been introduced that I hope the Congress studies thoroughly, because it essentially elevates restorative justice even for serious crimes,” Petro said.
The initiative he referred to was presented by his Minister of Justice, Eduardo Montealegre, aimed at “the consolidation of total peace.”
According to the Ministry of Justice, the bill seeks to provide the government with clear regulations to achieve the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of illegal armed groups.
For groups such as the Clan del Golfo, a judicial submission process will be applied, which could bring possible legal benefits if they genuinely cooperate, surrender weapons, and dismantle their groups.
International
María Corina Machado thanks OAS allies for condemning Venezuela’s growing repression
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado expressed her gratitude on Thursday to the “allied” countries that spoke out at the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) regarding the increasing repression in Venezuela. Through her X account, she highlighted that “our regional allies took a firm stand in favor of democracy and the freedom of Venezuelans.”
The statement came a day after Gloria de Mees, rapporteur of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for Venezuela, presented before the OAS the worsening situation in the country, just over a year after the elections in which President Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner over opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, who denounced electoral fraud.
Machado, who shared videos of speeches by representatives from Canada, the United States, Paraguay, Chile, and Panama, insisted that “Venezuela is the most urgent conflict in the Western Hemisphere and its definitive resolution is everyone’s responsibility.” She affirmed that “silence and inaction” are forms of “complicity” and urged international justice to act with “greater speed and firmness.”
Before her participation at the OAS, De Mees told EFE that the repression “is not new, but now it is systematic” and has intensified, affecting not only human rights defenders, journalists, and dissidents but “everyone, because there is fear of retaliation.”
International
Over 240 guatemalans detained at Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz await deportation
At least 249 Guatemalans are currently detained at the Alligator Alcatraz detention center in Florida, United States, awaiting deportation, the Guatemalan government reported this Friday.
The Guatemalan Ministry of Foreign Affairs detailed that the figure was confirmed by U.S. authorities to Guatemalan diplomats in Miami, Florida, during a visit to the center where they had the opportunity to interview 37 of their compatriots.
“The Guatemalans we spoke with said they have been at the detention center for only a few days and have been able to communicate with family members and lawyers. Most of them were detained due to their irregular immigration status,” the Ministry stated.
According to the same source, another visit by Guatemalan diplomats has been authorized soon to meet with other nationals held at the detention center in Florida.
Alligator Alcatraz, opened just over a month ago, was built in only one week on an abandoned airport in the Everglades, a natural area west of Miami, surrounded by alligators and swamps. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sees it as a model for other centers, while activists consider it a symbol of human rights violations.
Democratic lawmakers reported the presence of 750 migrants “in cages” after entering the site on July 12. The facility currently has a capacity for 2,000 people, which could increase to 4,000, according to the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), which manages the site.
Every year, thousands of Guatemalans leave the Central American country to migrate irregularly to the United States in search of better living conditions and to escape the poverty and violence that plague Guatemala.
Nicaragua’s Telica volcano erupts four times, no damages reported
Colombian President Gustavo Petro announces talks with clan del Golfo outside country
María Corina Machado thanks OAS allies for condemning Venezuela’s growing repression
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
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