Uruguayan voters backed the leftist Frente Amplio in yesterday’s general elections, but will choose their next president in a runoff election in November. Frente Amplio’s Yamandú Orsi obtained 44 percent of votes yesterday, less than the 50 plus one needed to win outright. He will face off against the governing coalition candidate, Álvaro Delgado, who obtained 27 percent. The right-wing Partido Colorado candidate, Andrés Ojeda came in third, but with a strong showing: 17 percent. Ojeda will throw his weight behind Delgado in the runoff, which will be held on Nov. 24.
Exit polls show that Uruguayans rejected both plebiscites they voted on yesterday: one which would have drastically reformed the pension system, and another that would permit nighttime police raids.
While the Frente Amplio won the most seats in Congress, but will not have a majority in the lower chamber in the next term, notes Facundo Cruz.
Voter turnout was 89%, data from Uruguay’s Electoral Court showed. Voting is obligatory in Uruguay.
(Associated Press, El Observador, Buenos Aires Herald, Guardian)
Morales Attacked
Former Bolivian President Evo Morales’ car was struck by bullets in an early-morning ambush on Sunday. Morales said the Bolivian government, led by his former political ally Luis Arce, is responsible for the attack, saying it was part of a coordinated campaign by the Bolivian authorities to sideline him from politics, reports AFP.
Arce condemned any use of violence in politics and called for an immediate and thorough investigation. Officials said they were investigating a theory that Morales had conducted “a possible self-attack."
The accusations threaten to ignite a full-on political crisis, reports Reuters. The incident comes in the midst of a political battle between the former allies. Morales supporters have blocked key highways for two weeks, impeding delivery of food and fuel around the country.
Under pressure to clear the highways, Arce’s government on Friday deployed thousands of security officers in a failed attempt to break up the blockades by force, reports the Associated Press.
Brazil
Right-wing incumbent São Paulo mayor Ricardo Nunes won reelection yesterday, part of a general rightward swing in this year’s local elections, reports the Financial Times.
Voters cast ballots in mayoral runoff elections in 51 cities, including 15 state capitals, yesterday. The right and center-right won 14 mayoral races in the capitals - though former President Jair Bolsonaro's Liberal Party did not do as well as expected, reports Reuters.
The governing leftist Workers Party won mayoral races in only one of Brazil’s 26 state capitals — Fortaleza — and in none of the larger cities, such as Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte or Porto Alegre.
Indeed the big winner is the Big Center “Centrão” parties, a transigent, and ideologically fluid group that shows the country is tilting conservative, according to the Brazilian Report.
Ecuador
A criminal prosecutor in Ecuador was killed by armed assailants on Friday along with his police escort. Vasconez served as part of the attorney general's transnational organized crime unit, according to local media reports. His apparent assassination marks at least the ninth local prosecutor killed since 2019, reports Reuters.
Haiti
A gang attack forced residents of Port-au-Prince’s Solino neighborhood to flee their homes on Saturday, the latest in ramping up attacks. Many of the affected people have already been previously displaced, reports Reuters.
“As morning broke on Saturday, images from social media showed the neighborhood engulfed in smoke and flames. Many people were seen leaving the area with whatever they could carry. Security forces and armed individuals exchanged fire not far from Solino’s police base,” reports the Associated Press.
Regional Relations
Neither of the U.S. presidential candidates is likely to please Venezuela’s opposition, writes James Bosworth at Latin America Risk Report. “Neither candidate represents a bold pro-democracy shift in the country.”
Migration
Despite a restrictionist turn in rhetoric from Democrats, vice president Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump hold “fundamentally opposed views on the value immigrants bring to American society and radically different approaches to confronting unlawful migration,” says Julia Preston at Foreign Affairs. (Via Americas Migration Brief)
An uptick in Venezuelan migration across the Darién Gap is directly related to their country’s challenged July election, and threatens to fuel a new wave of migration just as the U.S. holds its presidential election, reports the Financial Times.
Panama is looking for a third country to accept Venezuelan deportees from the Darien Gap, reports EFE, with one US official saying that such a move could come “in the coming days, weeks at the latest.” These deportations would occur under the US-Panama framework in which the US funds the operation. (Via Americas Migration Brief)
Venezuela
Nelin Escalante, a veteran journalist in Venezuela has not been heard from since Friday, Venezuelan press advocates said yesterday, alleging he had been detained by government authorities in Caracas. (Reuters)
Brazil
Brazil's environmental protection agency imposed $64 million in fines on cattle ranches and meat packers, including the world's largest JBS SA, for raising or buying cattle on illegally deforested land in the Amazon, reports Reuters.
Cuba
After a series of massive blackouts, Cuba’s electricity “has returned to the status quo ante with regular power cuts of up to 20 hours a day. But the crisis has left a deep, melancholy dread about the future,” reports the Guardian.
Colombia
“From brilliantly colored orchids to tiger-striped frogs, scientists have uncovered a wealth of new animal and plant species in the years since a 2016 peace deal” with the FARC made it safe to enter many parts of the country, reports Reuters.
But new criminal dynamics in Colombia pose different environmental concerns, as is the case with the FARC dissident group the EMC, which can control deforestation in areas of the Colombian Amazon and does so responding to its own political goals — I spoke with Bram Ebus for this piece in Cenital.
Indeed, there is a direct link between conflict in Colombia and environmental destruction, writes Joshua Collins in Pirate Wire Services. “Violence in Cauca has left thousands of victims in the form of deaths, forced recruitments, displacements, and forced confinements. But it has also victimized ecosystems themselves.”
Mexico
Mexico’s government is seeking to constitutionally ban e-cigarettes and vapes. Critics fear the public-health oriented move would boost a thriving black market controlled by organized crime groups, reports the Guardian.
A cargo truck collided with a passenger bus in northern Mexico on Saturday, leaving at least 19 people dead and six injured, reports AFP.
Critter Corner
How jaguars are surviving the Brazilian Pantanal’s devastating fires - Reuters.