International
Age, health on the ballot in Brazil’s Bolsonaro-Lula runoff
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.
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.
“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.
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.
“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.
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
Mexican authorities bust Meth Lab and seize tons of drugs and chemicals in multiple states
Mexican authorities dismantled a clandestine laboratory containing 2.5 tons of methamphetamine in the southeastern state of Chiapas, seized a warehouse with more than four tons of chemical precursors in Guerrero (south), and intercepted a trailer in Tijuana attempting to cross into the United States with 2.7 tons of drugs.
Omar García Harfuch, head of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), reported on Saturday via social media that agents from the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), along with representatives from the Defense Secretariat, Navy (Semar), National Guard (GN), and SSPC, disabled the methamphetamine production lab in Chiapas and confiscated 2.5 tons of the drug.
A statement specified that the agents secured 2.5 tons of methamphetamine, barrels containing substances used to manufacture synthetic drugs, a firearm, and four trucks. In another operation in Guerrero, authorities located over four tons of chemical substances.
The discovery took place on a property in the community of Margarita Maza, Juárez, used to store materials for synthetic drug production. Sufficient evidence was collected and presented to a control judge who authorized the intervention of the property.
In Chiapas, authorities also seized more than 300 barrels and containers with chemicals for making synthetic drugs, as well as various metal containers and devices.
International
Maduro gains support from Venezuelan Assembly amid U.S. drug trafficking accusations
The National Assembly of Venezuela expressed its support this Saturday for President Nicolás Maduro, condemning the United States’ increase in the reward offered for his capture as an “act of aggression.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday that Washington had doubled the reward to $50 million for Maduro’s capture, labeling him as one of the “world’s largest drug traffickers.”
“We reject the absurd and desperate actions announced by the U.S. Attorney General’s Office, which are clearly illegal and lack any real basis, beyond being a delirious attempt of aggression against the president (…) and against our rebellious and brave people,” said the Assembly leader, Jorge Rodríguez, while reading a letter he said was unanimously approved by the deputies.
“It is precisely President Nicolás Maduro (…) the protector of the strong democracy that shelters us and the leader who firmly upholds the rule of law and justice,” Rodríguez continued. He is also Venezuela’s chief negotiator in talks with Washington.
Bondi accused Maduro of using “terrorist organizations like the Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa cartel, and the Cartel of the Suns to introduce lethal drugs and violence” into the United States.
“In 25 years of revolution, we have resisted and advanced despite constant imperialist aggressions. They have not succeeded, and will not succeed, with crude sanctions, criminal blockades, or senseless threats in diverting the noble path the Venezuelan people charted in the free elections of July 28, 2024, in which Nicolás Maduro was elected President of the Republic,” the statement read.
The Venezuelan opposition alleges fraud in those elections and claims victory, and as a result, has boycotted the 2025 legislative, regional, and municipal elections.
International
U.S. doubles bounty on Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro to $50 million
In February, the United States designated eight Latin American criminal organizations as “global terrorist” groups, including Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, and the MS-13 gang. In July, it added the Cartel of the Suns to the list — a group Washington claims is led by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Last Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest, raising it from $25 million to $50 million, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on social media platform X.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained that labeling the Cartel of the Suns as a terrorist organization allows for a strategic shift in dealing with the Venezuelan regime, as it is now also considered a direct threat to U.S. national security, according to El Espectador.
In an interview with The World Over on EWTN, Rubio said the designation enables the U.S. to “use intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, or any other element of American power to go after them.” He stressed this is no longer just a law enforcement matter, but a national security operation.
When asked at the White House whether he believes it is worth sending the military to combat Latin American drug cartels, Trump responded:
“Latin America has many cartels, a lot of drug trafficking, so, you know, we want to protect our country. We have to protect it.”
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