Page 12 - aruba-today-20171223

A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 23 december 2017

Peru’s president dodges impeachment over Odebrecht scandal

cal parties to secure lucra- while in office. He charac-
tive public works contracts. terized the transactions as
In Ecuador, Vice President part of a legal contract
Jorge Glas has been sen- between two private com-
tenced to six years in prison panies and said his oppo-
for orchestrating an Ode- nents were trying to force
brecht bribery scheme. For- him from power without
mer Brazilian President Luiz due process.
Inacio Lula da Silva is ap- “I am here to look you in
pealing his conviction on the eye, and tell you that I
charges of corruption and am not corrupt and I have
money laundering related not lied,” he said, speaking
to the plot. In Peru, two for- slowly and assertively.
mer presidents stand ac- The vote capped a tu-
cused of accepting money multuous eight days in
from Odebrecht. One is Peru, which is one of South
behind bars and the other America’s most politically
in the U.S. seeking to avoid volatile nations.
extradition. Analysts worried that im-
Kuczynski came under fire peachment could usher in
after an opposition-led a new period of uncertain-
investigative committee ty for Peru, an economic
Peru’s President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski , right, shakes hands with National Congress President Luis revealed documents last bright spot in Latin America
Galarreta in Lima, Peru. week showing Odebrecht that throughout its recent
(AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
made $782,000 in pay- history has vacillated be-
By FRANKLIN BRICENO votes short of impeaching struction of our country,” ments to his private con- tween short spans of de-
CHRISTINE ARMARIO the president following a Kuczynski tweeted after- sulting firm more than a mocracy and autocratic
Associated Press half-day of impassioned ward. decade ago. Some of the rule. “That they would im-
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvian debate in the wood-pan- The impeachment effort payments overlapped with peach the president is not
President Pedro Pablo Kuc- eled chamber where the against Peru’s embattled years that Kuczynski spent an unthinkable thing,” said
zynski defied ardent calls 79-year-old former Wall president was the latest as a high-ranking govern- Steve Levitsky, a Harvard
by opposition lawmakers Street banker himself deliv- chapter in the Odebre- ment minister. University political scientist
demanding his impeach- ered a forceful defense. cht bribery scandal that During his 30-minute tes- who has spent years study-
ment over ties to the Brazil- Applause erupted inside has ended the careers of timony Thursday, Kuczyn- ing Peru. “It’s that they
ian construction giant im- Congress and his support- some of Latin America’s ski showed the contracts would do it in a week with-
plicated in Latin America’s ers cheered and waved most prominent politicians. in question on an over- out serious investigation,
biggest corruption scandal Peruvian flags outside as The company admitted head screen, pointing out without a serious process of
in a late Thursday night it became clear Kuczynski in a 2016 U.S. Justice De- that none contained his public debate.” The vote
vote that his proponents would remain president. partment 2agreement to signature. He said he had was pushed by the oppo-
hailed as a triumph for the “Tomorrow a new chapter paying nearly $800 million no knowledge of the pay- sition Popular Force party
nation’s democracy. in our history begins: the in kickbacks to politicians, ments and that he never led by Keiko Fujimori, who is
Legislators came eight reconciliation and recon- their campaigns and politi- favored any company the daughter of jailed for-
mer President Alberto Fu-
Brazil: Zika, dengue cases down significantly this year jimori. She narrowly lost to
Kuczynski in last year’s pres-
idential election. Lawmak-
SAO PAULO (AP) — Health reported through Nov. 25 aegypti mosquito carries all gan in late 2015. Zika wasn’t ers debated for more than
Ministry data shows that fell 92 percent when com- three diseases. considered a major health 10 hours, delivering fervent
cases of Zika and dengue pared to the same period Officials have attributed threat until that outbreak speeches that touched on
in Brazil this year have fallen in 2016. For dengue, that this year’s decline to in- revealed the virus can lead everything from the mer-
dramatically as compared drop was 83 percent. There creased mosquito-eradi- to severe birth defects. its of neoliberal economic
to last year. was also a 32 percent de- cation efforts. Those efforts Brazil declared an end to policy to a Gabriel Gar-
The ministry said Thursday cline in probable cases of were stepped up during the public health emergen- cia Marquez short story
that probable Zika cases chikungunya. The Aedes the Zika outbreak that be- cy over Zika in May. q reference.q