Latin America: Week in Review, Venezuela
Hugo Chavez Wins Venezuela Elections
October 8, 2012 By Staff
Top Story — Hugo Chávez won the presidential election on Sunday, defeating his opponent Henrique Capriles by over 1 million votes, with 54% of the vote. This will be Chávez’s third re-election after almost 14 years in office.
The elections saw a high turnout and voting was extended past the closing time of polling stations. The electoral council president said that stations where voters hadn’t been able to cast their ballots would remain open.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- The U.S Border Patrol agent killed last week in a shooting in Arizona apparently opened fire on fellow agents and was killed by returned fire, the Border Patrol agents’ union said on Sunday.
- Rising gold prices in Latin America are attracting foreign investment and causing social discontent due to pollution, lack of jobs, and environmental devastation.
- Latino Voters in Florida don’t feel represented by the government, the Guardian reports.
Caribbean
- Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez was detained by Cuban police on Thusday, and released after 30 hours on Saturday.
Central America
- A civic leader in Guatemala said on Sunday that 8 indigenous protesters were killed last week in a shooting that she attributed to the Army, contradicting the government’s 6 claimed deaths.
- Nicaragua is moving to privatize expanding mega-projects it can’t afford, says presidential economic advisor Bayardo Arce.
Andes
- The United States and Peru renegotiated a 60-year old defense cooperation agreement to tighten security ties in Latin America on Saturday.
- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was discharged from the hospital on Saturday after undergoing prostate cancer surgery last week.
- Mudslides in southwestern Colombia left 4 people dead and 11 people missing on Saturday, and searches for missing persons resumed Sunday.
Southern Cone
- Argentina and Chile are considering building a 3.5 billion private railway through the Andes mountains to speed up trade.
- Brazil held the first nationwide municipal election under the new “Clean Record” law on Sunday, which bans previously convicted individuals from serving political office.
Image: ¡Que comunismo! @Flickr.
Subscribe to Today in Latin America by Email
1 Comment
Dear Brothers and Sisters. First I would like to congratulate President Chavez and the people of Venezuela on the election.
I would also like to give honor and praise to President Evo Morales on his UN presenta
tion.
Then I would like to say that as an American- please DONOT trust representatives from the US government- the US corporations wish to steal and exploit
Your resources, dominate your countries, turn brother against brother and export it’s violence to you.
Comments are closed.