International
Brazil town aspires to be champion of Bolsonaro vote
| By AFP | Anna Pelegri |
On Holy Christ Avenue, in front of Bible Square, Brazilian businessman Gilberto Klais buoyantly hops out of an SUV decorated with a giant decal of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
Smiling in a denim shirt, the 39-year-old head of the local business owners’ association is a man on a mission: “On election day, the town of Nova Santa Rosa will cast more votes for Bolsonaro than anywhere else in Brazil,” he says.
The small town in the southern state of Parana already voted massively for the incumbent in Brazil’s first-round election on October 2, casting 82 percent of its ballots for Bolsonaro — the second-highest percentage in the country.
Now, as the president heads for a runoff Sunday against veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro backers are pushing for an even bigger win.
But this small community of trim little houses surrounded by endless expanses of soy and corn fields has some tough competition, in one of Brazil’s most conservative regions.
The neighboring towns of Quatro Pontes and Mercedes finished third and fifth in the Bolsonaro love fest, voting 80 percent and 78 percent for the former army captain, respectively.
And the town of Nova Padua, in neighboring Rio Grande do Sul state, cast the highest percentage for him with 84 percent.
“Bolsonaro lit our flame for Brazil,” says Klais, who owns a local bakery.
Visitors don’t have to look far for proof: a sea of yellow-and-green Brazilian flags hangs from buildings — a symbol Bolsonaro has adopted as his own — and his smiling face beams from campaign posters all over town.
Opponents’ criticisms of the president — Brazil’s 687 000 deaths from Covid-19, increasing hunger, destruction of the Amazon rainforest — are mute here.
Finding a Lula campaign sign is an impossible task.
Farming is king in these parts, and Bolsonaro, a close ally of Brazil’s powerful agribusiness sector, “has given us security to invest,” promotes “a strong economy,” and upholds God and family “as the supreme good,” says Klais.
“He’s just like us.”
Battle for Brazil’s soul
On his father’s farm, where a feed truck has been turned into a makeshift billboard with Bolsonaro’s slogan — “Brazil above everything, God above everyone” — Ricardo Lorenzatto is on a mission, too: convince at least 200 of the 800 residents who voted for Lula to switch sides in the runoff.
Bolsonaro “promised to visit the city that casts the highest percentage of votes for him,” says the 35-year-old agricultural engineer, his blue eyes alight.
“My heart leaps just thinking about it.”
He is active on WhatsApp message groups rallying the faithful for pro-Bolsonaro events, such as an Independence Day motorcade on September 7, which, he proudly boasts, stretched four kilometers (2.5 miles).
Lorenzatto says ex-president Lula (2003-2010), who the far-right labels a “communist,” is a threat to his children’s future.
If Lula wins, “indigenous tribes could invade our land, force us to share our cattle,” he says.
Holding her one-year-old grandson on her porch, Clarice Radoll agrees.
“I would feel very insecure if Lula won,” says the 60-year-old Evangelical Christian, who has Bolsonaro’s picture proudly displayed on the front of her house.
In this town of a dozen churches and around 6,000 inhabitants, Radoll repeats a line often used by conservative pastors: that Lula represents “moral perversion.”
“It’s every Brazilian mother and father’s fear,” she says.
Agribusiness hero
In Mercedes, just up the road, farmer Andre Fiedler admits Lula’s government also took care of the agribusiness industry during the economic boom of the 2 000s.
“I don’t want to be a hypocrite,” he says.
But Bolsonaro’s administration has backed farming and agricultural exports like no other, “opening new markets for our products,” he says.
He brushes off international criticism over surging Amazon deforestation under Bolsonaro, which experts say is driven by agriculture.
“People say Bolsonaro is damaging Brazil’s image overseas… but that’s just a trade game — protectionism by France, Germany, the United States,” Fiedler says.
“Who’s the biggest soy producer in the world? The biggest poultry exporter? Brazil,” he says.
“There are vested interests trying to hold us back.”
Bolsonaro, who took 43 percent of the vote in the first round to 48 percent for Lula, trails his leftist rival heading into the runoff — but by a narrowing margin, according to opinion polls.
Central America
Mexico and Guatemala launch joint security operation after Agua Zarca border attack
The Government of Mexico announced on Tuesday that it has strengthened coordination with Guatemala following an armed confrontation in the community of Agua Zarca, in Guatemala’s Huehuetenango department, where a soldier was wounded in an attack attributed to organized-crime groups operating on both sides of the border.
The Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, confirmed that Mexico is exchanging information with Guatemalan authorities and that Mexican Army units have been deployed along the border to reinforce surveillance and assist in reconnaissance operations.
The attack, Guatemala’s Defense Ministry stated, reflects the “criminal dynamics” dominating that border region, where different groups compete for drug and arms trafficking routes.
According to Guatemala’s Defense Ministry, the clash left a soldier wounded in the leg after suspected criminals crossed from Mexico and opened fire. The wounded soldier is reportedly in stable condition. Authorities also seized high-caliber weapons, explosives, tactical gear and drones, which were handed over for forensic analysis.
Mexican Defense Secretary General Ricardo Trevilla Trejo announced that a coordinated plan of operations will be launched involving both Mexican and Guatemalan forces along the border to counter these criminal networks.
Harfuch emphasized that the violence is not isolated but symptomatic of the ongoing struggle between criminal organizations for territorial control, and reiterated Mexico’s commitment to bilateral security cooperation and its intention to strengthen institutional presence in vulnerable border zones.
International
Zelensky meets Pope Leo XIV as review of U.S. peace plan continues
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met on Tuesday with Pope Leo XIV in Italy, after pledging to deliver a response to the United States regarding the proposed peace plan aimed at ending the war with Russia.
The meeting with the pontiff took place at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, where Leo XIV “reiterated the need to continue dialogue and renewed his urgent hope that the ongoing diplomatic initiatives may lead to a just and lasting peace,” the Vatican said in a statement.
His visit to Italy follows Monday’s meetings with European leaders in London and Brussels, amid pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to agree to a peace plan that Zelensky said he is still reviewing.
According to Zelensky, the plan presented by Washington—originally consisting of 28 points—was reduced to 20 after discussions between Ukrainian and U.S. representatives over the weekend. “We are going to work on those 20 points. We are not completely satisfied with the proposals from our partners,” Zelensky said during an online press conference on Monday.
International
Japan lifts tsunami alert after strong 7.6-magnitude earthquake hits northern coast
A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck Japan’s northern coast on Monday, triggering several tsunami waves of up to 70 centimeters, authorities said. The tsunami alert was lifted in the early hours of Tuesday.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the quake occurred at 11:15 p.m. local time (14:15 GMT) off the coast of Misawa, at a depth of 53 kilometers. Japan’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) immediately issued a tsunami warning. The first wave reached a port in Aomori Prefecture at 11:43 p.m. (14:43 GMT), followed by others measuring up to 70 centimeters.
Public broadcaster NHK reported that an employee at a hotel in the city of Hachinohe confirmed that several people were injured. Live footage showed shattered glass scattered across roads, while many residents evacuated to the city hall seeking shelter.
The strong tremor was also felt in Sapporo, where emergency alerts were sent to residents’ mobile phones. A reporter in Hokkaido described a horizontal shaking that lasted around 30 seconds, making it difficult to stay standing.
Before the alert was lifted, the JMA had warned of the possibility of tsunami waves up to three meters high along Japan’s Pacific coast. Government spokesperson Minoru Kihara urged residents to remain in safe areas until the warning was officially lifted.
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