Petro punished in regional elections
Oct. 30, 2023
Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s Historical Pact coalition was trounced in regional elections yesterday, widely seen as a referendum on the government.
The elections are a return to the political status quo after a wave of alternative candidates rode to victory in 2019, according to El País. “The main mayoralties and governorships were won by politicians from different sides of the political spectrum, but they had one thing in common: they came from traditional political parties or had the majority support of them.”
Opposition candidates largely swept elections for mayors, governors and regional lawmakers. Yesterday’s outcome is expected to influence the 2026 presidential election, reports Reuters.
The ruling coalition’s candidate came in third in Bogotá, and voters in Colombia's other two biggest cities, Medellin and Cali, elected to the mayorality politicians who are strong critics of Petro.
“The astonishing degree of success of Colombia’s traditional political machinery and the familial political clans that have long dominated the country,” writes Joshua Collins in Pirate Wire Services, ”could be a public expression of frustration with a lack of progress in Petro’s “Total Peace” plan for the country.”
Acapulco looting in Otis wreckage
At least 43 people were killed by Hurricane Otis in Mexico last week. The storm pounded Acapulco in Guerrero state on Wednesday, flooding the city, tearing roofs from homes, stores and hotels, submerging vehicles and severing communications as well as road and air connections, reports Reuters. The city of nearly 900,000 inhabitants was left basically incommunicado.
Desperate Acapulco residents were looting grocery stores for supplies over the weekend amid chaos and destruction — many said the government’s response was insufficient, reports the New York Times. Others point to disparate resources deployed in tourist areas and in the poor hillside neighborhoods hit by landslides, reports the Associated Press.
A security force of some 17,000 was deployed yesterday, reports AFP. And President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and several members of his cabinet were scheduled to visit, reports Reuters.
Venezuela
Important advances in Venezuela — primaries carried out with higher-than-expected participation and advances in negotiations between the government and the opposition — “there is a pervasive narrative — both abroad and in Venezuela — that Mr. Maduro will inevitably hang on to power,” writes activist Roberto Patiño in a New York Times op-ed- “I have seen and experienced how flawed that perspective is. In fact, the presidential election next year offers the best opportunity yet to defeat Chavismo … since it came to power over two decades ago.”
Migration
Managua is the new springboard for migrants seeking asylum in the United States — Nicaragua’s Ortega government offers Haitian migrants “a complete package,” including transportation and lodging, to get them to Honduras, the next stop on the way to the U.S., deploying migration as a bargaining chip with the United States, reports the Miami Herald.
“Rising maritime migration has been overshadowed by events at the U.S.-Mexico border, but is presenting a formidable challenge of its own to the U.S. government, one unseen in decades. Cubans and Haitians in particular have been taking to the sea in numbers not witnessed in a generation, and the Haitian numbers could surge as that country spirals closer to collapse,” according to MPI. (Via Americas Migration Brief)
“Migrants who cross the Darien jungle often face traumatic situations, from the reasons that forced them to flee their countries to the difficulties experienced during migration, which leave physical and psychological traces… Although the visible consequences are the first to be addressed, mental health is gradually becoming a priority in the treatment of migrants,” reports Eco. (Via Americas Migration Brief)
Regional
“Caribbean countries are taking new steps to try to slow the traffic of illegal weapons, many of which come from the United States. The average rate of violent deaths in the Caribbean Community (Caricom) region is nearly triple the global average,” report Khalea Robertson and Brian Ellsworth in Americas Quarterly. “Gun violence is particularly acute in Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica—the latter now has one of the highest murder rates in the world.”
Argentina
Argentine libertarian presidential candidate Javier Milei’s campaign got a boost this weekend from fuel shortages that provoked hours-long lines at gas stations. Economy Minister and presidential candidate Sergio Massa warned oil companies that export ships will be barred from leaving the country if the supply chain doesn’t return to normal by tomorrow at midnight. (Buenos Aires Herald)
Former President Mauricio Macri is defending Milei’s bid¡: “With Milei we have all the uncertainties, because we do not know him, he never governed, but what I can say is that whenever I saw him and the eight or nine times I spoke to him he never lied to me.” (Infobae)
Macri’s spirited defense of the libertarian candidate continued to fan the schism within his Juntos por el Cambio coalition, with some internal critics noting that he failed to support his own candidate, Patricia Bullrich, with such vehemence in the general election. (Infobae)
About 1,000 people gathered in Spider-Man costumes at the Buenos Aires obelik aiming to break a world record. (Reuters)
Ecuador
Ecuadorean president-elect Daniel Noboa will need to learn from the mistakes of his predecessor, argues James Bosworth in World Politics Review. “He needs a security strategy, and one that the public believes has a chance of succeeding.” And, on the economics side, “he must find a way to boost Ecuador’s economy while also meeting the needs of its population. He cannot assume that benefits directed toward wealthy elites and large businesses will trickle down to the population in a way that will maintain his popularity.”
Haiti
A retired Colombian army officer has been sentenced to life in prison in the United States for his role in the 2021 assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse. Germán Alejandro Rivera García is the second of 11 suspects detained and charged in Miami to be sentenced “in what US prosecutors have described as a conspiracy hatched in both Haiti and Florida to hire mercenaries to kidnap or kill Moïse,” reports the Associated Press.
Grenada
Grenada revolutionary leader Maurice Bishop was executed in 1983 alongside seven others. The whereabouts of their remains are unknown. A new Washington Post podcast investigates the mystery, including the role the U.S. government played in shaping the Caribbean nation’s fate.
Feminismos
Seed work was practiced for centuries in Antigua and Barbuda, with roots in the country’s enslaved African women who used the work as a source of income after emancipation. With few practitioners remaining, some officials are trying to revitalize the dying art, reports the Guardian.
Las Amazonas of Yaxunah an Indigenous women’s softball team in Mexico’s Yucatán has become known for challenging chauvinist taboos — they play barefoot in uniforms that honor their traditional heritage — Guardian photoessay.
Las Amazonas of Yaxunah could probably produce a pretty high-quality sexy calendar using the women on their team. I'm not saying they will but I think we can all agree that they should. If you want to REALLY resist chauvinism sell photos of yourself in a bikini.