Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 13 March 2018
Colombia: Rumors, mistrust hinder

Peace deal backers suffer in elections Brazil yellow fever
vaccine campaign

By SARAH DiLORENZO
Associated Press
SAO PAULO (AP) — Elisangela Santos doesn't under-
stand why everyone in her neighborhood on the out-
skirts of Sao Paulo is being told to get vaccinated for
yellow fever this year. Yellow fever has long been en-
demic in parts of Brazil, and she smells a rat.
"Every year, it's something else," the 44-year-old school
custodian said as she waiting recently outside a health
post in the Jardim Miriam district. "They invent another
thing to make Brazilians spend money."
The vaccine is free at public health posts around the
country, but Santos' suspicion that someone must be
profiting somewhere is typical of the current high lev-
els of mistrust Brazilians hold for officialdom. Flagging
faith in Brazil's institutions amid a series of corruption
Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe, who is running for Senator with the Democratic Center scandals, a chaotic communications campaign pro-
Party, poses for a selfie with supporters as he accompanies his party's presidential candidate Ivan moting the vaccine, and the country's decision to
Duque to a polling station during legislative elections in Bogota, Colombia. Colombia will hold give partial doses to stretch supplies are contributing
presidential elections in May.
(AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) to rumors that the vaccine is a scam, weak or even
dangerous. That misinformation is scaring people
By MANUEL RUEDA gest bloc in the Senate. raise taxes on the rich and away from the campaign that is trying to vaccinate
Associated Press Uribe's hand-picked presi- unseat the country's po- more than 23 million people in areas of Rio de Janeiro,
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — dential candidate, Sen. litical establishment. Petro Sao Paulo and Bahia states that until recently were
Colombian voters turned to Ivan Duque, easily swept won a leftist primary Sun- not considered at risk for yellow fever. Nearly six weeks
right-wing parties critical of an open primary among day in which he got 2.8 mil- into the campaign, the Health Ministry says 76 percent
the country's peace deal three conservative candi- lion votes. It was 1.2 million of the target population has been vaccinated — far
with the main leftist rebels dates in which more than votes less than Duque's to- off its goal of 95 percent. The current atmosphere of
and knocked the current 5.8 million people voted — tal but still made him a top uncertainty and rumors around the vaccine is likely to
president's party down in a bigger haul than either of presidential contender. make the last 20 percent very difficult to reach, ham-
congressional elections, the top two finishers got in "Our results were very posi- pering the efforts of Latin America's biggest nation to
raising questions about the the first round of the 2014 tive," Petro told his follow- contain its largest yellow fever outbreak in more than
future of the accord. presidential election. ers. "The presidential cam- three decades. The reticence could even lead to a
Sunday's vote was seen as President Juan Manuel paign starts today." sustained outbreak in Brazil's megacities. Brazil hasn't
a barometer for a fiercely Santos' coalition, which Duque has said he would had an urban outbreak since 1942. "If we have a
contested presidential supported the peace deal, not "thrash" the peace ac- higher number of infected people with yellow fever
election in May. struggled. His own Party of cord with the FARC, but he and the Aedes aegypti mosquito starts to become
It was also the first time National Unity, which was would attempt to modify infected and transmit yellow fever, it could become
former members of the the biggest political move- certain aspects, like a urban," said Luiz Antonio Teixeira Jr., Rio de Janeiro
Revolutionary Armed ment in the outgoing con- provision that allows the state's health secretary. "Everything we're doing is to
Forces of Colombia, or gress, finished fifth overall. former rebels with drug- ensure we don't have urban yellow fever."
FARC, competed politi- The results are likely to lead trafficking convictions to Yellow fever has long been endemic in large swaths
cally since disarming under to a last-minute scramble participate in politics. He of Brazil, but it has been advancing in recent years
the 2016 peace deal to among presidential candi- has also called for tougher and this is the second outbreak in two years in places
end a half century of con- dates to form coalitions to controls on the FARC's fi- where vaccinations for the disease were not routine.
flict. As expected, support better position themselves nances. During the 2016-2017 outbreak, more than 770 people
for their radical agenda ahead of what is seen as "A true peace is built were infected after nearly a decade during which
was soundly rejected, with a wide-open presidential through the triumph of the Brazil saw fewer than 10 cases each year. In the cur-
FARC candidates getting race. rule of law not through the rent outbreak, there have already been 846 cases
less than 0.5 percent of the Two candidates under relativization of justice," he confirmed, of which 260 have died. The outbreak is
overall vote. That means pressure to join forces are told his followers after elec- stressing the health system just a few years after a ma-
their political party will get Humberto de la Calle, tion results came in. jor outbreak of Zika, which was linked to severe birth
only the 10 seats guaran- who was the government's Sergio Guzman, a politi- defects in babies born to infected mothers.
teed them by the peace chief peace negotiator, cal analyst at Control Risks, While rumors have sometimes swirled around past
accord. and former Gov. Sergio said that while Duque's vaccination campaigns, the rise of the WhatsApp
"The FARC are in a tough Fajardo. Both candidates vote tally was impressive, it messaging service is amplifying misinformation like
spot," said Leon Valencia, have vowed to imple- was too early to tell if he will never before, said Igor Sacramento, a researcher at
a former combatant who ment the peace deal. The win the May 27 presiden- Fiocruz, Brazil's premier public research institute.
now runs the Peace and Green Alliance, one of the tial election. Voters who WhatsApp "is a fundamental characteristic of the way
Reconciliation Foundation, parties supporting Fajardo, are critical of the peace we circulate information, news, etc.," said Sacramen-
a think tank. "A long war doubled its vote tally from deal will be able to choose to, who works in the institute's health communications
has generated lots of fear the last congressional elec- between Duque and Ger- lab. Since WhatsApp messages come from people
and rancor towards them." tions, though it only came man Vargas Lleras, the known by the recipients, they place a high value on
By contrast, many of the in sixth overall this year. conservative leader of the the information shared there, and that means people
accord's critics picked up Another candidate who Radical Change party. The often accept it without checking it, Sacramento said.
seats, with the Democratic has backed the peace pro peace deal vote is cur- One rumor making the rounds on WhastApp, for in-
Center party led by for- deal is Gustavo Petro, a rently split among Gustavo stance, says a mutation in the yellow fever virus has
mer President Alvaro Uribe leftist former mayor of Bo- Petro, Sergio Fajardo and rendered the vaccine ineffective, even citing a study
headed to being the big- gota who has promised to Humberto de la Calle.q published by Fiocruz. q