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WORLD NEWSTuesday 12 April 2016

Venezuela’s cellphone providers suspend international calls

HANNAH DREIER they would be cutting inter- didn’t say when long dis- ated what amount to subsi- have said they are tens of
Associated Press national service because tance calling will resume. dized rates for hard curren- millions of dollars in debt to
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) of issues related to Venezu- Venezuelans will still be cy and requires companies foreign providers and have
— Venezuela’s two main ela’s byzantine currency able to make international to get approval for con- unsuccessfully asked the
cellphone service provid- controls. Digitel ended that calls from some landlines. verting local bolivars into government to increase
ers are suspending long dis- service on Saturday while Currency rationing is in- dollars. With the administra- rates for international calls.
tance calling as the South Movistar will do so Friday. creasingly cutting Venezu- tion running low on dollars Those rates have failed to
American country struggles The companies had al- ela’s global trade. Many itself amid a general eco- keep up with Venezuela’s
to pay its bills. ready dramatically re- airline companies have nomic collapse, officials triple-digit inflation, with a
Movistar, a subsidiary of duced the list of countries abandoned the country, are increasingly reluctant four-hour call to Hong Kong
the Spain-based Telefon- Venezuelans could call. and mail delivery is also lim- to part with any foreign cur- costing less than 50 cents
ica, and Digitel both an- Movistar said the change ited. rency. at the black market ex-
nounced last week that will be temporary, but The government has cre- The phone companies change rate. q

Peru markets rally as runoff vote dominated by conservatives

FRANKLIN BRICENO President Alberto Fujimori woman Veronika Men- The Lima stock exchange one associated with the
Associated Press and a conservative econo- doza, who had made a surged more than 12 per- former leader. Thousands
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Investors mist beloved by Wall Street. late surge in pre-election cent Monday and the took to the streets a week
are celebrating the appar- With two-thirds of polling polls, was in third at 17 per- country’s currency also ral- ago to warn that Keiko Fu-
ent elimination of a leftist stations counted Monday, cent. lied. Two quick counts, a jimori’s election could bring
candidate in Peru’s presi- Keiko Fujimori had 39 per- The partial results heart- reliable gauge of results in back authoritarian rule.
past elections, also showed But picking up the anti-
Presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori waves at supporters at a rally in Lima, Peru. Investors are Kuczynski holding on firmly Fujimori votes won’t be
celebrating the apparent elimination of a leftist candidate in Peru’s presidential elections as the to the No. 2 spot. automatic, either. Just this
country gears up for a tight June runoff between Fujimori and a conservative economist beloved Fujimori has been the run- month, Kuczynski told US
by Wall Street. away favorite for months television network Univision
and looked poised to out- that if elected, he would
(AP Photo/Martin Mejia) do even the most optimistic sign a law allowing Alberto
first-round scenarios in polls Fujimori to go home to fin-
dential elections as the cent of the vote, while for- ened investors who had published before the vote. ish a 25-year sentence for
country gears up for a tight mer World Bank economist dumped shares in the run- But she faces an uphill bat- corruption and authorizing
June runoff between the Pedro Kuczynski held 24 up to Sunday’s election, tle in the second round be- death squads during his
daughter of jailed former percent. Leftist congress- fearing Mendoza’s rise. cause her father remains 1990-2000 presidency.
a deeply polarizing figure Furthermore, he lacks the
among Peruvians. A poll well-oiled ground game
taken in late March gave of Fujimori’s Popular Force
Kucyznki a slight lead in an party, which won the larg-
eventual head-to-head est number of seats in
contest between the two. Congress. Kucyznki won in
Alberto Fujimori is remem- just one of Peru’s 24 elec-
bered fondly by many, toral districts, according
especially in the long-ne- to a quick count by local
glected countryside, for pollster Ipsos. With an elite
defeating Maoist-inspired pedigree, heavily accent-
Shining Path rebels and ed Spanish from more than
taming hyperinflation. But a decade living abroad
he is detested by large seg- — and until recently a U.S.
ments of the urban middle passport — he’ll also face
class for human rights abus- a hard time appealing to
es and his order for the mili- regular Peruvians in the
tary to shut down Congress. same way Keiko Fujimori
Almost half of Peruvians re- adroitly plays up her Japa-
cently surveyed said they nese ancestry to connect
would never vote for any- with Peru’s poor masses.q

Brazil congressional commission to vote on impeachment

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Ef- day, for impeachment on jections show the outcome lower house, it goes to the Michel Temer, who would
forts to remove Brazilian too close to call. Brazil’s Senate, which would de- take over if Rousseff were
President Dilma Rousseff allegations Rousseff violat- biggest party, the Brazilian cide whether to open a suspended. The audio,
from office advanced Democratic Movement trial. which the newspaper said
Monday, with a congres- ed fiscal laws. Party, or PMDB, pulled out was sent to members of Te-
sional commission nearing of Rousseff’s governing If that happens, Rousseff mer’s PMDB party, appears
a vote on whether it should However, the vote is largely coalition late last month, would be suspended from to be a draft of an address
recommend impeach- forcing the government office for up to 180 days that Temer would make
ment to the full lower house symbolic: Whatever the to scramble to secure the during a trial. to the Brazilian people if
of Congress. support of other, smaller In yet another twist in the the impeachment process
The 65-member commis- outcome, the measure will parties to help block the months-long saga, the Fol- were to move forward fol-
sion is widely expected to impeachment process. ha de S. Paulo newspaper lowing a vote in the full
vote, as early as late Mon- go to the full lower house If the measure passes the released the audio of an Congress.q
address by Vice President
for a crucial vote expected

at week’s end.

With 342 votes in the

513-member Congress

needed for the process to

move forward, current pro-