Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 17 May 2018
Independent candidate, ex-1st lady Zavala leaves Mexico race

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexi- ment was made public,
can independent can- Anaya described her in his
didate and former first Twitter account as "a brave
lady Margarita Zavala an- woman with principles."
nounced Wednesday she is "Her contributions to the
dropping out of the coun- country, and this race in
try's July 1 presidential race. particular, have been very
Zavala had broken her valuable," Anaya wrote.
longtime affiliation with the "All my recognition to her
conservative National Ac- and all her team."
tion Party and qualified for However, bad blood be-
the ballot as an indepen- tween Zavala and Anaya
dent. make it doubtful whether
But she has been polling in all, or even most of her sup-
the single digits, far behind porters, would transfer their
the three leading candi- votes to Anaya.
dates. Zavala made the Anaya used his position as
announcement in a pro- party leader — a post tradi-
gram taped for broadcast tionally seen as an impartial
later Wednesday, but did referee among presidential
not endorse any other can- contenders — to capture
didate. the candidacy for himself,
"I am withdrawing my can- something Zavala publicly
didacy on the principle In this April 22, 2018 file photo, former first lady and independent presidential candidate Mar- complained about.
of political honesty and a garita Zavala waves to the press before the first of three debates among Mexico’s presidential Zavala's husband, Felipe
sense of congruency, but candidates in Mexico City. Calderon, was president
also to free up those peo- from 2006 to 2012.
ple who have so gener- with the Televisa network. main on the ballot. coalition candidate Ricar- Four other candidates re-
ously supported me so that The country's electoral in- Zavala split with National do Anaya. Anaya, who is main on the ballot. Polls
they can make the deci- stitute has already started Action in part because it running second in the polls, indicate that left-leaning
sion they need to make in printing voting material for joined in a right-left alli- had been courting Zavala's candidate Andres Manuel
this difficult race," Zavala the July 1 race, so Zavala's ance with the Democratic supporters. Lopez holds a comfortable
said in a taped interview name will apparently re- Revolution Party to support After Zavala's announce- lead in the race.q

Macri says Argentina's currency crisis is over

and to tighten the fiscal to boost growth and curb
deficit target to try to halt Argentina's high inflation.
the devaluation of its cur- Macri's government has
rency, which has lost about requested a "high-access
25 percent of its value in stand-by arrangement"
recent weeks. The peso hit from the IMF to meet its
a new all-time low of 25.30 debt obligations without
to the U.S. dollar Monday. risking a disruption of eco-
But it rose at 24.8 per dollar nomic growth.
Wednesday and Argentine "With this deal, we will po-
stocks and bonds rose. tentialize the future of Ar-
Macri said his government gentines," Macri said.
thinks it has "overcome" the The crisis 17 years ago re-
turbulence over the curren- sulted in one of every five
cy. He also said he will de- Argentines being unem-
mand "an intelligent" deal ployed and millions slid-
with the IMF. ing into poverty. The peso,
"It's important to recognize which had been tied to the
the moment of nervous- dollar, lost nearly 70 per-
ness and anguish lived by cent of its value.
a sector of the population," Many Argentines have
Macri told reporters at the blamed the IMF since then

People hold cutouts that look like light bulbs with signs that read in Spanish "no to the price hike" presidential palace. for its role in Argentina's re-
during a protest against the economic policies of of Argentina's President Mauricio Macri in Bue- "There was fear and an- cord debt default of more
nos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, May 16, 2018. guish. Today, we have a than $100 billion.
different climate, but we A survey by Argentine poll-
By DEBORA REY somewhat and prices for its The decision brought back must take a balance of sters D'Alessio Irol/Berensz-
Associated Press stocks and bonds rose. haunting memories for Ar- what happened." tein said 75 percent of Ar-
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina Macri announced last gentines who blame the The economic turbulence gentines feel that seeking
(AP) — President Mauricio week that Argentina was IMF for introducing policies highlighted the frailty of assistance from the IMF is
Macri said Wednesday that seeking a financing deal that led to the country's Argentina's economy de- a bad move. The survey of
Argentina's currency crisis is with the International 2001 economic implosion. spite austerity measures 1,077 people in early May
over, speaking as the coun- Monetary Fund following Argentina was forced to imposed by Macri, a con- had a margin of error of
try's currency rebounded a sharp drop in the peso. impose interest rate hikes servative who has vowed three percentage points.q