International
Change course or follow the same line: Uruguay elects its new president on Sunday
Change course or continue on the same path. That is the decision that Uruguayans will have to make on Sunday in elections marked by the parity that the latest polls showed.
28 days after the presidential and parliamentary elections, about 2.7 million people will go to the polls on November 24 to choose between the ruling party Álvaro Delgado and the opposition Yamandú Orsi.
From the ban to the second round to elect president in Uruguay
After none of the eleven candidates who competed in the previous instance exceeded 50% of the votes, the two most voted advanced to the second round.
This will take place between 8:00 and 19:30 local time (11:00 to 22:30 GMT) and it is expected that around 21:30 (00:30 GMT) the consultants will be able to show their first projections.
However, the latest polls presented showed a lot of parity between the candidate of the opposition Frente Amplio and the one who will represent the government coalition, made up of the ruling National Party, the Colorado Party, Cabildo Abierto, the Independent Party and the Constitutional Environmentalist Party.
Five days after Delgado and Orsi came face to face in a mandatory debate in which they presented their main proposals for the period 2025-2030, the South American country began to live the electoral ban.
In this way, the parties will not be able to carry out acts of proselytist propaganda.
An instance that only Tabaré Vázquez eluded
The second round of the Uruguayan presidential elections was held for the first time in 1999.
A plebiscite held in 1996 reformed the Constitution of the South American country and introduced changes such as the creation of primary elections and the ballot on the last Sunday of November.
This puts the two most voted candidates face to face in the presidential and parliamentary elections that are held on the last Sunday of October every five years and are held provided that neither has exceeded 50% of the votes in that instance.
Through that channel, the Colorado Party maintained the Government in the 1999 elections and did so with a historical surname.
Jorge Batlle became the fourth Batlle to be president of the South American country, after his great-grandfather Lorenzo Batlle, his great-uncle José Batlle y Ordóñez and his father, Luis Batlle Berres.
On October 31, 2004, Tabaré Vázquez went again for the Presidency and managed to get the left to win for the first time in Uruguay by obtaining 51.68% of the votes in the presidential and parliamentary elections.
That triumph of the Frente Amplio is so far the only one that got a game without the need for a second round, since it was implemented.
Five years later, José Mujica defeated Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera in the second round and in 2014 Tabaré Vázquez joined the select group of presidents who ruled Uruguay on two occasions by beating Luis Lacalle Pou.
The current president acceded to this instance again in 2019 and on that occasion defeated the Frenteamplista Daniel Martínez.
Delgado and Orsi
Now, Delgado and Orsi will be the ones who will go hand in hand in search of access to the Presidency for the period 2025-2030.
Veterinarian by profession, the first of them will try to keep the chair currently occupied by Lacalle Pou, of whom he was his secretary of the Presidency between 2020 and 2023.
Previously, Delgado was a deputy in the period 2005-2015 and senator between that year and 2020.
For his part, the History professor Orsi will go for the Presidency after having been mayor (head of the local government) of the department (province) of Canelones between 2015 and 2020.
He also held the position of secretary general there between 2005 and 2015.
International
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Ecuador’s Armed Forces carried out an operation on Monday — including airstrikes — against illegal mining in the town of Buenos Aires, in the country’s north, Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo reported.
The mountainous, gold-rich area has been a hotspot for illegal mining since 2017, located in the Andean province of Imbabura.
In 2019, former president Lenín Moreno deployed around 2,400 soldiers to the region in an attempt to curb the illegal activity. “The operation began with mortar fire, followed by gunfire and bombing runs by Supertucano aircraft,” Loffredo said in a video released by the Defense Ministry.
He added that the operation would continue on Tuesday with patrols across the area to locate possible members of “irregular armed groups that may have crossed from the Colombian border.”
The Armed Forces stated on X that the intervention focused on the “complete elimination of multiple illegal mining tunnels” in the areas known as Mina Nueva and Mina Vieja.
The operation coincided with the deployment of a military and police convoy into Imbabura, which has been the epicenter of protests against President Daniel Noboa since September 22, following his decision to scrap the diesel subsidy.
International
Caracas shuts embassy in Oslo without explanation following Machado’s Nobel win
Venezuela has announced the closure of its embassy in Norway, just days after opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Venezuelan diplomatic mission provided no explanation for its decision on Monday.
“It is regrettable,” a ministry spokesperson said. “Despite our differences on several issues, Norway wishes to keep the dialogue with Venezuela open and will continue to work in that direction.” The ministry also emphasized that the Nobel Committee operates entirely independently from the Norwegian government.
In its announcement, the Nobel Committee stated that Machado met the criteria established by Alfred Nobel, “embodying the hope for a different future, where the fundamental rights of Venezuelans are heard.”
International
Sheinbaum: Urgent to restore access to towns cut off by heavy rains
Thousands of military personnel and civilians in Mexico worked tirelessly on Tuesday to clear roads blocked by the torrential rains of recent days, which have left more than 300 communities cut off across central and eastern regions of the country. Authorities also launched mass fumigation efforts in several affected areas to prevent the spread of dengue fever.
The official death toll remains at 64, though dozens of people are still missing. President Claudia Sheinbaumacknowledged that the government does not yet know the full situation in many of the isolated villages, which range in population from 500 to 1,000 inhabitants.
“The reopening of roads is one of the greatest urgencies,” Sheinbaum said. “It’s essential to guarantee air bridges, food supplies, clean water, and a proper census of the isolated communities so we can determine the condition of every person living there.”
Private construction companies are also assisting the effort with heavy machinery and technical support to help reopen highways and reconnect rural areas.
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Caracas shuts embassy in Oslo without explanation following Machado’s Nobel win
Sheinbaum: Urgent to restore access to towns cut off by heavy rains
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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