Page 12 - aruba-today-20180324
P. 12
A12
WORLD NEWSSaturday 24 March 2018
Bolivians demand access to sea at national protests Brazil's top court
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bo- Demonstrators flooded the leave pending problems Chilean government gives temporary
livians staged demonstra- streets of La Paz and other for our children and instead
tions across the country on cities across Bolivia waving look for mutually beneficial spokeswoman Cecilia jail relief for Lula
Friday to demand sea ac- national flags and hold- solutions ... that can close
cess for their landlocked ing banners. It came at a the wounds of the past," Perez said Friday that "Bo- By P. PRENGAMAN
country. time when the International Morales said in a speech in RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Bra-
Bolivia lost its only seacoast Court of Justice is consider- the Bolivian capital. livia has no right to the zil's top court decided nar-
to neighboring Chile dur- ing Bolivia's request to order Morales recently said that rowly this week evening to
ing a war from 1879 to 1883 Chile to negotiate access. he's prepared to discuss Chilean sea or its territory." give former President Luiz
and the nation has de- President Evo Morales options with neighboring Inacio Lula da Silva tempo-
manded ocean access for asked Chile's government Chile for gaining access Chile's representative in rary relief from prison on a
generations. But Chile says on Friday to find a resolu- to the Pacific, but he ar- corruption conviction until
the issue was settled once tion for the benefit of fu- gues that powerful forces The Hague, Claudio Gross- the justices meet again to
and for all in a 1904 treaty. ture generations. "Let's not in Chile do not want talks. decide the future of the
man, said that Chile "will left-leaning leader.
By a 6-5 vote, the court
continue on the path of di- granted da Silva a safe-
conduct that lasts until the
plomacy, but does not feel end of the trial hearing his
petition for habeas corpus.
judicially obliged." That session on the merits
of the case is scheduled for
The court's final and bind- April 4. Lawyers for the for-
mer president sought the
ing decision is expected to temporary relief because
a warrant for the arrest of
take months.q the once hugely popular
politician could be issued
Peru's new president vows to tackle corruption by a lower federal court as
soon as Monday.
By FRANKLIN BRICENO Da Silva, who leads pref-
erence polls for October's
JOSHUA GOODMAN presidential election, was
convicted last year of trad-
Associated Press ing favors with construction
company OAS in return for
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru's the promise of a beach-
front apartment. The con-
new President Martin Viz- viction was upheld by a
group of federal magis-
carra promised to fight cor- trates in January. The mag-
istrates even added to the
ruption head on as he took sentence, ruling that da
Silva should spend 12 years
power Friday and vowed and one month in prison.
According to Brazilian law,
to heal the bitter wounds da Silva could begin serv-
ing his sentence because
left by a vote-buying scan- his conviction was upheld.
He could continue to ap-
dal that abruptly forced his peal to higher courts while
in jail. In an initial 7-4 vote
predecessor from office. Thursday, Brazil's top court
decided that da Silva's pe-
In his first address as presi- tition was acceptable, de-
livering a blow to his adver-
dent, Vizcarra, the relatively saries who had expected
the former president's ha-
unknown former governor beas corpus request to be
denied straight away.
of Peru's second-smallest For weeks, Chief Justice
Carmen Lucia of the Su-
state, appealed for nation- preme Federal Tribunal
had not responded to
al unity and urged young da Silva's petition. But
she changed course and
Peruvians not to succumb scheduled Thursday's vote
amid intense pressure, a
to cynicism. sign of the weight that da
Silva continues to wield de-
"Don't lose faith in our insti- spite a corruption convic-
tion and several other cas-
tutions," he said in remarks es pending against him.q
to congress shortly after be-
ing draped in the red and
white presidential sash. "Let Peru's President Martin Vizcarra waves as he makes his way to the House of Pizarro, the presiden-
tial residence and workplace, also known as Government Palace, in Lima, Peru, Friday, March
us show you that Peru is big- 23, 2018. Vizcarra was sworn in to office Friday taking over from his predecessor, Pedro Pablo
Kuczynski, who resigned over corruption allegations.
ger than its problems."
(AP Photo/Karel Navarro)
Vizcarra's 15-minute
speech was short on spe-
cifics. Other than vowing
to form a completely new when he arrived to Peru ward with the wording he allies of Kuczynski, includ-
from Canada, where he would reverse his decision ing Fujimori's son, allegedly
cabinet, he gave little in- had been serving as am- to quit, forcing congress to attempting to buy the sup-
bassador, amid one of the go forward with plans to try port of an opposition law-
sight into how he would most politically turbulent and impeach him. maker to block the presi-
periods in Peru's recent his- In the end, the language dent's impeachment.
attack Peru's endemic cor- tory. was removed. But con- To stem off an even more
Supporters greeted him gress nonetheless rebuked disgraceful exit, Kuczynski
ruption. at the airport with a large the 79-year-old Kuczynski, delivered a resignation let-
birthday cake in the red scolding him for a "political ter to congress Wednes-
But he received warm ap- and white colors of Peru's crisis that that is the result of day, blaming relentless
flag. A marching band was wrongful acts that the pres- attacks by his opponents
plause from lawmakers on hand and some people ident himself has commit- for making it impossible to
carried signs reading "Peru ted," according to the final govern. Kuczynski’s down-
weary of the months-long is with Vizcarra." text of the resolution. fall was his association
A last-minute hitch Friday Efforts to oust the unpopu- with Odebrecht, the Brazil-
effort to oust Pedro Pablo had threatened to delay lar Kuczynski led by the ian construction giant that
the transition of power. daughter of former strong- has admitted to spreading
Kuczynski, whose resigna- Kuczynski said in a tweet man Alberto Fujimori have some $800 million in bribes
that the proposed lan- been building for months. to officials across Latin
tion was approved over- guage of a congressional But the campaign went America, including $29 mil-
resolution approving his res- into overdrive this week af- lion in Peru. Vizcarra made
whelmingly just a few hours ignation is "unacceptable," ter the emergence of se- no mention of the summit in
and if lawmakers press for- cretly shot videos showed his remarks.q
earlier.
Even the leader of that
campaign, Keiko Fujimori,
whose opposition par-
ty dominates congress,
wished the soft-spoken en-
gineer success in his new
job and echoed his call for
unity and optimism.
Vizcarra received some-
thing of a hero*s welcome
shortly after midnight Friday
