Socialist MAS Party Suffers Loss Before Runoff

Welcome to Foreign policyLatin American summary.

The most prominent events this week: Bolivia elections Run the Socialist Ruler Party, the United States is deployed War ships off the coast of VenezuelaAnd A severe Brazilian song Middle East magic.

Over the past twenty years, the leadership of most democracies in Latin America has been affected by the political and right left. Bolivia was a unique issue: With the exception of the 2019 elections, the former President Evo Morales party won the socialist form (MAS) in all the national leadership competitions during that period.

But Mass’s control over the Bolivian policy ended in a decisively on Sunday. In the general elections, the right -wing legislators invaded the Legislative Council, and the presidential competition advanced to a round of October 19 between a central candidate and a right -wing candidate.

MAS respondents are expected to lose. Bolivia suffers from an economic crisis, with an annual enlargement of more than 20 percent. The party was also divided by fighting: Morales told its followers to spoil their voices instead of voting for the MAS candidate, Eduardo del Castello. Morales tried himself to run despite exceeding the limits of the period and was banned by the court.

On Sunday vote presented a surprise. Several pre -opinion polls suggested that two right -wing candidates will move to the surface flow. In the end, only one of these applicants: former President Jorge Kiruja, who served from 2001 to 2002. It pushed a late increase in support for the most moderate Senator Rodrigo Baz before Quiroga and kept the other right -wing candidate outside the surface flow.

Baz embraced the left and right identities throughout his career. In these elections, he placed himself as a medium. Instead of resonating the Quiroga pledge to search for an international cash funds, for example – which usually means harsh austerity requirements – PAZ has promoted an agenda he calls “capitalism for all”, or cut the red tape of companies and issuing new credit lines for Bolivians.

In the last days before the elections on Sunday, many voters told polls that they were not resolved. It may be an increase in the last minute of Baz of voters who were disappointed with MAS but uncomfortable with the possibility of a candidate to the right.

The selection of the presidential baz also can also help explain his success. His colleague in running, Lara’s addiction, is a former police officer who was expelled from service last year after exposing multiple bribery cases. He obtained a senior Tiktok, follower of his videos condemning corruption in the security forces in Bolivia.

“The institution that represents the corruption of the state in the worst, which the Bolivion trust, at least is the police,” said political analyst Gustavo Pedraza. Bloomberg Linia. Lara “beat voters, above all, not specified.”

Despite the unexpected result, no candidate competed for Sunday’s results. International observers said that the vote was smooth and peaceful in general. It was a sign of the health of Bolivia democracy.

Regardless of those who win the surface flow, it seems that Bolivia is ready to play a more active role on the world stage.

During two decades of MAS dominance, Bolivia generally preferred the efforts to enhance cooperation and balance in South America against the United States by flirting with countries such as Russia and China. But Bolivia has maintained high regulatory barriers in front of foreign investment and left its economy relatively closed.

Both candidates for the surface flow now want to liberate the country – despite its difference in details.

Baz pledged to remove Bolivia from what he calls “international isolation”. He wants to build on the current relations with the Union of customs in South America, which was joined by Bolivia last year, as well as other Latin American neighbors. Meanwhile, Kiruja described “Mercosur” as a “prison.” (A common tariff hitting the goods that enter the mass.)

Baz and Kwirouga called for better economic relations with the United States, which imposed a 15 percent tariff on polyvy goods during President Donald Trump’s era. Both of them also pledged to open the lithium sector in the country. Although Bolivia has the largest known reserves in the world in critical minerals, little has not yet been extracted due to the control of the heavy state in MAS.

Baz says he has plans to develop lithium in partnership with companies from neighboring countries. In contrast, Quiroga pledged to create a free trade zone for international investment companies and focus on partnerships with Chile and Argentina. The candidates both say they will strengthen local treatment and the manufacture of lithium.

Friday, August 22: The summit of the Amazon states is concluded in Colombia.

Monday, September 1: Guyana is a general election contract.

Wednesday, September 3: Jamaica is a general election contract.

American warships near Venezuela. Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro said that he will deploy 4.5 million militia members throughout the country after this week’s reports that Trump had ordered US military ships to send off the coast of Venezuela. Venezuela militia is linked to the army and includes reserve soldiers and volunteer forces.

Although the United States glimpsed during the first period of Trump that it was open to the US military’s use to change the regime in Venezuela, it has never advanced the publication of such a publication, which is said to include many of the destroyed commission.

Trump administration officials said the American mission is designed to combat drug trafficking. This is a political goal by the United States in general in partnership with local armies in Latin America instead of one side. Ships can patrol for several months.

Mourina policies to combat poverty. The country’s statistical agency said last week that 13.4 million people came out of poverty during former Mexican years Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for six years in his post. Lopez Obrador’s efforts help to address poverty in explaining the flexible popularity and protection of the Mourina Party, current President Claudia Shinbom, who took over last year.

One of the main anti -poverty policies in Mexico under the leadership of Lopez Oberrador was a series of dramatic increases to the minimum wage. Many people in the business sector in Mexico initially oppose such changes because they are afraid that this will lead to inflation. Huge world This month.

Mongooya wrote that any inflationary crisis did not occur, partly because the minimum wage in Mexico was very low in the first place. Now, it ranks around the center of Latin American countries when the minimum wage is calculated as part of the average wage.

You are out of context. A Brazilian Brazilian Brazilian song enjoyed a vibrant life in an unexpected location: Middle East and South Asia. International pop artists often try the Brazilian Vanak paths. But they are often very straightforward-so some listeners surprised that the unknown Brazilian path for 2019 became a heresy from Türkiye to Pakistan, and they played at weddings and football playgrounds.

The song “Vidrado Em Você” or “Drug Administration on you”, No. 1, arrived on Spotify this year in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The singer Livinho was invited to Türkiye in May at a party at the Galatasaray Football Club, which includes the largest fan base in Türkiye.

New Livinho fans speak to an unpredictable nature of pop culture in the digital age. When he arrived at the airport, the Turkish police met him because of his music. piauí.

Crafts and containers are seen along the Panama channel in Panama on June 24.Anna Moneymaker/AFP via Getty Images

Its director announced last week that the governmental body that runs the Panama channel wants to enter the port’s work. Panama Channel Authority seeks to build two new perpetrators as part of a seven -year investment plan, with one on the Atlantic side and one on the Pacific Ocean side of the waterway.

This announcement came after two current outlets near the channel were involved in a diplomatic crisis this year. These ports are operated by Hong Kong Company; After Trump criticized the Chinese influence on the channel, the company quickly announced plans to sell it to the US asset manager, Blackrock, in early March.

In the following months, Panama has made her cold and political relations with China. President Jose Raul Molino refrained from meeting with Chinese officials, and sent Panama to low -level envoys to the Chinese Latin America summit in Beijing in May.

Molino’s approach appears to have calmed Trump’s calls to “restore” the Panama channel. But Mulino’s popularity decreased. In May, the Banmeans demonstrated against an agreement to allow the forces to deploy near the channel. By June, more than 73 percent of Peoples told polls that they had refused Molino’s leadership.

Panama’s advertisement for locally owned ports is an alternative response to the American -Chinese competition: to control the infrastructure yourself instead of relying on external power.

At least at the present time, the Panama Channel Authority feels sufficient to plan new investments. As of last month, the waterway was working at full capacity as exporters rushed to obtain goods to the United States before the Trump tariff arrived. The channel’s revenue is expected to slow down in the coming fiscal year, which begins in October.