Brasil-Deaf, Dumb, and Blind

 

BRAZIL

Deaf, Dumb and Blind

The United Nations urged Brazil’s government to investigate the deadly beating of a black man by white security guards in the southern city of Porto Alegre, which sparked days of protests last week, Agence France-Presse reported Tuesday.

The Brazilian city was gripped by unrest after video footage showed 40-year-old welder Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas being punched in the face and head by a supermarket security guard while another guard held him.

UN spokeswoman Ravina Shamsadani noted that the incident was “an extreme but sadly all too common example of the violence suffered by Black people in Brazil.”

She said that President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration should conduct an independent investigation and reform the country’s laws, institutions and policies to address “deeply engrained racial stereotypes.”

Bolsonaro has downplayed the role of structural racism in Brazil while Vice President Hamilton Mourao declared Friday that “there is no racism” in Brazil.

More than 50 percent of Brazil’s 212 million people identify as Black or mixed-race with Shamsadani pointing out that the number of Afro-Brazilian homicide victims is “disproportionately higher than other groups.”

Peru Has Had Three Presidents In One Week

 

PERU

Too Many Chefs

Recently, Peru had three presidents in one week.

Congress voted to oust popular President Martin Vizcarra on Nov. 9 on corruption charges that he denies. Vizcarra’s replacement, Interim President Manuel Merino, resigned after mass protests against what many Peruvians saw as a parliamentary coup – and the police brutality that followed it, reported CNN. A great photo essay of the protests in the Guardian shows the intensity of Peru’s biggest political crisis in a decade.

Meanwhile, the South American country didn’t have a president for 24 hours. Without a vice president, the top job went to the head of Congress, Francisco Sagasti, 76, who is now the Peruvian head of state. An engineer, Sagasti was among those taken hostage by Tupac Amaru rebels in 1996 at the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima.

Sagasti’s job is to bring stability to the country. But he might not last long, either. The next presidential election is now scheduled for April 2021.

Still, he’s trying. After his quick inauguration, President Sagasti sought to address the anger of protesters, paying respect to the two young men who had died in the demonstrations. “We can’t bring them back to life,” he said. “But we can stop this from happening again.”

Protester Paloma Carpio, who was marching in Lima for a new constitution and justice for the victims of government brutality, sounded conciliatory. “I think that Sagasti is someone that gives democratic guarantees, who can (be) a transition toward a new government that will be okay,” Carpio told Al Jazeera.

Peruvian politics is rife with corruption, the New York Times wrote. Amid the coronavirus pandemic and consequent economic crisis, lawmakers who ousted Vizcarra are pushing for narrow special interests while fending off separate corruption investigations into their business.

Last year, former Peruvian President Alan García shot and killed himself as authorities arrived at his home to arrest him on bribery charges.

Also, security forces have few checks on their power. Peru’s constitutional court, for example, has ordered police to release more than 40 people who “disappeared” in custody during the recent protests, wrote National Public Radio.

The coronavirus has exposed how Peruvian leaders are not only corrupt but incompetent, wrote Independent Institute Fellow Álvaro Vargas Llosa in the Washington Post. Around 70 percent of the country’s economy is on the black market, where face-to-face interactions are common, driving up infection rates. Healthcare infrastructure is poor. Long, hard shutdowns don’t appear to be tackling the spread: Peru has one of the highest – if not the highest – per capita death rates from Covid-19 in the world.

Some think Sagasti should immediately focus on solving his country’s massive problems. Unfortunately, he will first need to spend time stabilizing his own position to do that.

Guatemala: Let Them Eat Cake

 

GUATEMALA

Let Them Eat Cake

Guatemalan protesters set fire to their congress over the weekend due to outrage over a controversial budget bill passed last week, the New York Times reported.

On Wednesday, Guatemalan legislators passed a bill that would cut funding for education and health – in favor of increasing lawmakers’ meal stipends. The legislation would also slash funding for the judiciary and for combatting malnutrition.

Meanwhile, the country is reeling from back-to-back hurricanes that have displaced thousands of people, destroyed homes and ruined vital infrastructure.

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei denounced the arson but said he would examine possible changes to the budget.

Protesters are also furious over rampant corruption, claiming that “neither a president nor a Congress” are truly representing them. They called on all lawmakers to resign.

Last year, former President Jimmy Morales expelled a United Nations-backed commission that attempted to launch high-profile graft probes. He was criticized for attempting to protect officials charged with abusing their positions for personal enrichment.

A Referendum On Jair

 

BRAZIL

Thumbs Down

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took a hit in Brazil’s municipal elections after the candidates he endorsed either lost or will face tough races in run-off elections later this month, Bloomberg reported Monday.

Centrist parties performed well in Sunday’s vote while leftist parties – which were shunned a few years ago – are on track to regain some key cities in the second round.

Bolsonaro, a far-right leader without a party, backed dozens of candidates across the nation and gave his backing to allies in six capitals – four were trounced in the vote. For example, in Sao Paolo, Bolsonaro-backed Celso Russomanno won about 10 percent of the vote while Rio de Janeiro Mayor Marcelo Crivella trailed former Mayor Eduardo Paes and won only 22 percent of the vote.

Analysts called the election results a referendum on Bolsonaro: The far-right leader, who has long minimized the coronavirus, has antagonized numerous mayors over his handling of the pandemic.

“Bolsonaro’s power hadn’t been tested since he became president,” Deysi Cioccari, a political science professor at the Catholic University of Sao Paulo told Bloomberg. “He looks weaker after these elections.”

The nation of more than 200 million chose about 5,500 mayors and 57,000 city councilors in elections that took place without major problems, despite the pandemic and also an unsuccessful cyberattack against the electoral court’s systems.

Peru-Dissolving A Coup

 

PERU

A Dissolving Coup

The interim president of Peru, Manuel Merino, stepped down Sunday amid nationwide fury over the killing of two protesters in a brutally heavy-handed police crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations over the weekend, the Guardian reported.

In a televised address to the nation, Merino resigned even as he said he acted within the law. He was sworn in Tuesday.

News of the resignation was met by the sound of honking car horns, pot banging and cheers across Lima.

Two young men in their 20s died and more than 30 were wounded in Lima Saturday during mass demonstrations over the controversial impeachment of Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra last week, seen by many as a coup. Peruvian lawmakers impeached Vizcarra over unproven bribery allegations and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. He was removed from office.

Former Parliament Speaker Merino, a little-known politician with a questionable track record, replaced the popular president, causing an uproar that sparked some of the largest demonstrations in more than a decade.

Protesters wanted Merino’s resignation. Human rights organizations have condemned the government’s heavy-handed tactics, which included the use of batons, teargas and water cannons, and the firing of buckshot at peaceful demonstrators.

Peru’s human rights coordinator reported that more than 40 people were missing following Saturday’s march. The health ministry reported that more than 90 people were being treated for injuries.

Mexico Moves To Legalize Marijuana

 

MEXICO

Legalize It

Mexican lawmakers are creating legislation to legalize marijuana before a mid-December deadline imposed by Mexico’s Supreme Court, the Washington Post reported.

The bill would allow private companies to cultivate and sell marijuana to the public. It also allows an individual to own up to six plants. Consumers are required to register for government licenses to grow the plant.

Advocates for the measure have long argued that legalization would put a dent in the black market, create jobs and decrease crime from gangs and cartels.

However, they warn that the proposed law favors large corporations over small businesses and family-owned farms while doing the bare minimum to address the roots of Mexico’s illegal drug trade.

Marijuana has long been a controversial issue in the conservative country: Polls show that about 60 percent of Mexicans believe that the drug should stay illegal. Its cultivation has been funding many of the drug cartels responsible for the high homicide rates in the country.

Mexico banned the drug in the early 20th century but more than a decade ago, lawmakers decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Subsequent court rulings helped to loosen regulations, culminating in a 2018 Supreme Court decision which found that banning cannabis violated the constitutional rights of Mexicans.

Peru Impeached Its President

 

PERU

Love, Hate and Bribery

Peruvian lawmakers voted to impeach President Martin Vizcarra this week, citing his poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic and allegations of corruption, NPR reported Tuesday.

Lawmakers have blamed the president for the severe shortage of therapeutic oxygen and the government’s strategy of tracking infections through antibody tests – which do not detect the disease in its early stages.

Peru has one of the highest deaths per capita in the world due to the virus: The country of 32 million is approaching one million confirmed cases and nearly 35,000 dead.

Vizcarra has also been accused of taking bribes from construction companies during his term as a regional governor nearly a decade ago.

The president has denied the allegations. Still, he said that he respected the decision of parliament and would not contest it. His supporters, meanwhile, rallied in the capital, Lima, to protest the parliamentary decision.

Vizcarra became president in 2018 following the resignation of then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski over allegations of corruption. He ran on an anti-corruption platform and remains far more popular than Peru’s legislature.

U

More Is Revealed About Allende and The US Government

 https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2020-11-06/allende-inauguration-50th-anniversary?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=2290b9c9-3892-4cc2-bcc3-5ccd08e791f8

Jair's Son Arrested!!

 

BRAZIL

Hitting Close To Home

Brazilian prosecutors filed graft charges against the son of President Jair Bolsonaro, a move that complicates the populist leader’s vow to stamp out corruption in Brazil, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Flavio Bolsonaro, a senator and the president’s eldest son, as well as 16 others, have been accused of money laundering, embezzlement and running a criminal empire.

Authorities have been investigating the 39-year-old senator over allegations that he took part in a scheme to siphon off taxpayer money in his former job as a state deputy in Rio de Janeiro. He has denied the charges and said the accusations are part of a conspiracy against his father.

Meanwhile, the case has raised political tensions in Brazil and has pitted Bolsonaro’s family against the judiciary and the media.

Bolsonaro was elected in 2018 on the promise of ending Brazil’s endemic corruption exposed by Operation Car Wash, an investigation that uncovered a graft scheme largely orchestrated by members of the opposition leftist Workers’ Party.

However, Sergio Moro, a former Car Wash judge and also a former justice minister in Bolsonaro’s cabinet, accused the president of trying to interfere in federal criminal investigations and failing to support anti-graft legislation.