Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Friday 27 July 2018

5 more parties back conservative in Brazil’s president race

By MAURICIO SAVARESE Far-right former military offi-
Associated Press cer Jair Bolsonaro, environ-
SAO PAULO (AP) — Five mentalist Marina Silva and
allied political parties en- left-leaning Ciro Gomes
dorsed the presidential also lead Alckmin in the
nominee of the bigger polls.
right-leaning Brazilian So- The Big Center group had
cial Democracy Party on earlier negotiated to en-
Thursday, giving a boost dorse Gomes, but Alckmin
to the man seen as the es- prevailed after convincing
tablishment candidate in leaders of the five parties
Brazil’s fractured political that his candidacy is viable.
landscape. Political analyst Alberto
The candidate, conserva- Almeida, who has written
tive former Sao Paulo Gov. several books on Brazil-
Geraldo Alckmin, has been ian elections, said Alckmin
struggling to top 10 percent probably can thank un-
in opinion polls ahead of popular President Michel
the October elections. But Temer for the coalition’s
with the group’s endorse- endorsement.
ment, he will get more “It is clear that Temer wants
free air time on TV and ra- Alckmin to win and carry
dio during the presidential Presidential hopeful, former governor of Sao Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin, speaks during the “Mobility on with his austerity mea-
campaign plus the support Forum ANPTrilhos” in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, July 18, 2018. sures. All those five parties
of more than 1,000 mayors Associated Press also support Temer in Con-
nationwide. The five parties five have been caught up said Alckmin’s running Inacio Lula da Silva has gress,” Almeida said.
make up the “Big Center” in Brazil’s sprawling “Car mate will come from one of been leading in the polls, Almeida said the endorse-
coalition in Congress, hold- Wash” corruption investiga- the five parties. His favorite but he is likely to be barred ment could help Alckmin
ing 164 of 513 seats in the tion, which has jailed politi- for the role, textile business from running and substi- in competing with Bolson-
Chamber of Deputies and cians and business execu- mogul Josue Gomes, re- tuted by another member aro, who polls second now
17 of 81 seats in the Sen- tives across Latin America. fused it earlier Thursday. of his left-leaning Workers’ thanks to a hard-line rightist
ate. Many members of the Leaders of the coalition Jailed former President Luiz Party. political base.q

Cabinet minister, 3 others die in

Paraguay plane crash

Associated Press went down in a marshy Ramirez and the pilot and
ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) area shortly after taking off co-pilot. Aguilar says inves-
— Paraguay’s agriculture Wednesday night from the tigators will begin trying to
minister and three other airport in Ayolas, some 235 determine the cause of the
people have died in the miles (380 kilometers) south crash and the reason by an
crash of a small plane. of the capital, Asuncion. emergency beacon failed
Civil Aeronautics official Ru- The dead included Agri- to activate — a factor that
Rescue workers search the crash site of a twin-engine Beechcraft
Baron in Ayolas, Paraguay, Thursday, July 26, 2018. ben Aguilar says the twin- culture Minister Luis Gneit- apparently slowed rescue
Associated Press engine Beechcraft Baron ing, Vice Minister Vicente efforts.q

Rights group updates death toll in Nicaragua unrest to 448

Associated Press and broadened in scope gua. That was followed by
MANAGUA, Nicaragua to accuse the president of 55 in Masaya, southeast of
(AP) — A rights group on being an authoritarian and the capital.
Thursday raised by nearly include a demand for early Attacks attributed to Nica-
100 to 448 the number of elections. raguan security forces and
dead from more than three Ortega has denied any re- armed supporters of Orte-
months of political upheav- sponsibility for the killings ga’s Sandinista movement
al and protests demanding and accuses those seeking have also recently begun
President Daniel Ortega his exit of being coup plot- squarely targeting the Ro-
leave office. ters. man Catholic Church, in-
Alvaro Leiva, director of the He also rejected the idea of cluding church buildings,
Nicaraguan Pro-Human moving up the presidential priests and even the cardi-
Rights Association, said vote scheduled for 2021, nal.
399 of the dead had been something that domestic At an event on religious
identified and there were Armed police stand after taking control of the streets in Jinotega, critics, the Organization of freedom held Thursday at
photographs, news reports Nicaragua, Tuesday, July 24, 2018. American States, the Unit- the U.S. State Department,
and other evidence to Associated Press ed States and other nations Vice President Mike Pence
document the other cases. social security cuts, which by security forces and al- have called for. accused Ortega of “vir-
The unrest began in April as were later scrapped. Fol- lied armed civilian groups, Leiva said the most deaths, tually waging war on the
protests against proposed lowing a violent crackdown the demonstrations grew 189, took place in Mana- Catholic Church.”q