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WORLD NEWS Friday 8 april 2022
Mexicans vote on recall of president, an effort he asked for

By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ and has done away with
Associated Press niceties like environmental
MEXICO CITY (AP) — For impact statements for his
the first time in history, Mexi- pet building projects.
cans will vote Sunday on Meneses sees the vote as
whether their president another, expensive play by
should finish out the rest of López Obrador to put him-
his term. self at center stage. Refer-
It has been a bizarre jour- ring to the government’s
ney to this vote. For one failure to buy enough med-
thing, President Andrés icine for childhood can-
Manuel López Obrador cer treatments, Meneses
himself demanded it. The objected to “stratospheric
president got angry when costs to hold a vote, when
electoral officials set up a children with cancer don’t
limited number of polling have medicine.”
places to save money. The president’s support-
Second, there’s little ers see the vote as equally
chance that the required vital. María Hernández, a
minimum of 40% of vot- 70-year-old homemaker in
ers almost 40 million — will Mexico City’s rough Colo-
show up to make the refer- nia Obrera neighborhood,
endum valid. is all too conscious of the
And third, there’s little A woman, who is marching with relatives of the 43 missing Ayotzinapa students, holds a banner old-age stipend of about
chance López Obrador with a message that reads loosely in Spanish, “In this April 10th referendum vote, he must go,” in $75 per month instituted by
could lose, with current ap- reference to Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s presidential recall referendum to López Obrador.
proval ratings of around revalidate his administration after three years in office, during a march in Mexico City, Saturday, “In good times and bad,
60%. So why is Mexico go- March 26, 2022. Associated Press we have to stick with him,
ing through with the vote, because if he isn’t here,
which will cost almost $80 tives. While some opposition that the people are waking they’ll take away the bene-
million? So he is hoping the get-out- groups have called on up from their slumber.” fits we have,” said Hernán-
Analysts say López Obrador the-vote effort will shore up people to boycott the vote, Like many opponents, Men- dez.
wanted the recall to mobi- his party in state elections some opponents want to eses sees López Obrador’s “They can’t recall the guy
lize and energize his sup- this year, with a possible actually try to win, and say highly personalistic, charis- who has helped us.”
porters; he is a president spill-over effect for the 2024 people should turn out and matic style as weakening Abel Medina, 40, who owns
who has been constantly presidential race. vote to recall the president. democracy. The president a small tortilla ship in Mex-
on the campaign trail since The ballot asks whether Martín Meneses, 58, a for- has bridled at criticism, ver- ico City’s historic down-
2005, and he depicts his López Obrador should con- mal postal worker, says bally attacked journalists, town, said the vote “will be
administration as a twilight tinue as president or be re- such a vote “is important, lashed out at judges whose worth it, to give legitimacy
battle to defeat conserva- placed. so the president can see rulings he disagrees with to the president.” q

Up to 65% of Africans have had COVID, far more than thought

Associated Press reported to WHO during In its new analysis, WHO although there have been deaths fell by about 30%
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — that time period. said the milder COVID-19 some variations in some on the continent. “Despite
The World Health Organiza- “This undercounting is oc- cases seen in Africa were countries and some, in- Africa’s declining infections
tion said that up to 65% of curring worldwide and it’s attributable in part to the cluding South Africa, have and high exposure to the
people in Africa have been no surprise that the num- continent’s much smaller been hit particularly hard virus, we cannot declare
infected with the coronavi- bers are particularly large proportion of people with during successive waves of victory yet against CO-
rus and estimates the num- in Africa where there are underlying risk factors like disease. Last week, WHO VID-19,” said WHO Africa
ber of actual cases may so many cases with no high blood pressure, diabe- said the number of COVID chief Moeti.q
have been nearly 100 times symptoms,” WHO’s Africa tes and heart disease.
more than those reported. director Matshidiso Moeti “Africa’s youthful popula-
In a new analysis released said in a statement. WHO’s tion is also a protective fac-
Thursday, the U.N. health analysis found that a large tor,” the U.N. health agen-
agency reviewed 151 stud- proportion of people with cy said. Some studies have
ies of COVID-19 in Africa COVID-19 67% showed no also suggested that previ-
based on blood samples symptoms when infected ous infection with diseases
taken from people on the with the disease, a higher including malaria, may of-
continent between Janu- percentage than other fer people some protection
ary 2020 and December world regions. against the coronavirus,
2021. WHO said that by last Despite repeated warn- although those hypotheses
September, about 65% of ings from WHO director- have yet to be confirmed.
people tested had some general Tedros Adhanom To date, Africa has report-
exposure to COVID-19, Ghebreysus that the coro- ed 11.5 million COVID-19
translating into about 800 navirus would devastate cases including more than
million infections. In con- Africa, the continent has 250,000 deaths. WHO said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the first woman to lead the the World
trast, only about 8 million been among the least af- the virus has been trending Health Organization’s regional Africa office, sits in her office in
cases had been officially fected by the pandemic. downwards since January, Brazzaville, Congo, Tuesday Feb. 8, 2022.Associated Press
Associated Press