Elections

Subterms

    More stories

    • 75 Shares99 Views

      in Elections

      Jay Inslee Sees Greener Pastures Ahead

      by

      After nearly 30 years in elected office, Washington’s governor plans to shift his focus to climate solutions and clean energy, underscoring the need for “a sense of optimism and confidence.”Jay Inslee has been in elected office so long that he served in Congress during the tail end of the George H.W. Bush administration.On Monday Mr. Inslee, 72, announced that he would not seek a fourth term as Washington State’s governor, ending a nearly 30-year career in elected office. He went to Congress as a centrist Democrat and evolved into a fierce critic of the Iraq war and later of President Donald J. Trump. He will leave the State Capitol after the 2024 elections as one of America’s leading climate hawks.Mr. Inslee ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination by arguing that the country would have to radically reshape its relationship with fossil fuels and promote renewable energy. While Mr. Inslee’s candidacy never caught fire, his goals later became the blueprint for the climate spending in the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Biden signed into law last year.When I interviewed Mr. Inslee in 2017, he said the only other job he would want was to be the quarterback of his hometown Seattle Seahawks. When I reminded him of this as we spoke Monday afternoon, he replied, “Now I want to be the next goalie for the Seattle Kraken,” the city’s hockey team. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.Why did you make this decision now?There comes a time to pass the torch, and to everything there is a season, and for a variety of reasons, I decided it was the right season. But I’ve got another year and a half to put the pedal to the metal. My dad was a track coach, and he always said run through the tape, so I’ll be running through the tape. Have you spoken with President Biden about your decision?I have not, but he has a few other things on his mind, so I’m happy that he’s up and running in his race. I’m glad he’s in his race.How would you grade him on climate policy?I’ve never liked grades because I always thought it was a bit presumptuous, but I can just tell you I was so delighted at him pulling a rabbit out of the hat to get the Inflation Reduction Act through. Its prospects were so dim. And for him to get that $360 billion in clean energy investment is so pivotal for us to have even a fighting chance to deal with climate.I just came from an unveiling of the world’s largest commercial hydrogen fuel cell plane that represents a potential for sustainable aviation. Last week, I signed a permit for a solar farm in Yakima County. These are the things that his accomplishment is going to accelerate, and I could not be more excited about that. So, you know, there’s always things on siting and permitting that are contentious.You mentioned the siting and permitting. I take it you’re referring to his approving the Willow oil drilling project in Alaska. I imagine you don’t agree with his decisions on that front.I don’t, but he won the presidency, and I did not. So we should point that out.What’s your level of interest in serving in his administration at some point?It isn’t something I’ve thought about. I really am so focused on the next 20 months. I think he’s done a real crackerjack job as president. I’m glad he’s running. I feel good about him winning the next election. I just haven’t thought about what happens after this term of office, except it’s going to be involved in something that will push the climate agenda and the clean energy economic development. I’ll find some way to be productive in that realm.It sounds like you’d listen if the president were to call and talk to you about something.Of course I would listen, but it’s just not something that’s on my agenda to consider at the moment.We talked a lot when you were running for president about the urgency of the climate moment. Do you think the country and the planet are beyond a state of no return?One of the most important things we need to do at this moment is to establish a sense of optimism and confidence in what you might call a can-do attitude when it comes to the development of clean energy. It is necessary to keep people from the despair, which leads to inactivity and passivity. And the antidote for despair is action. It is also just healthy for us from a mental health standpoint.The rate of change is so dramatic that it legitimately should give us optimism in our ability to transform this economy much faster than we believe. In 2007, I said we’re going to be driving electric cars. People thought I was smoking the cheap stuff. Well, now we’re buying them so fast that production can’t even keep up.Obviously, we are going to be suffering some changes that to some degree are baked into the climatic system. But we don’t need to focus on despair, we need to focus on action and a can-do spirit. More

    • 100 Shares159 Views

      in Elections

      Your Tuesday Briefing: Marcos at the White House

      by

      Also, Russian attacks across Ukraine.President Biden greeted President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines at the White House.Doug Mills/The New York TimesMarcos at the White HouseThe president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., began a four-day visit to the U.S. with a meeting with President Biden in Washington yesterday. The trip is intended to send a message to China that Marcos plans to deepen his country’s relationship with the U.S.“We are facing new challenges and I couldn’t think of a better partner to have than you,” Biden told Marcos in the Oval Office. Biden added that the U.S. will “continue to support the Philippines’ military modernization.”Marcos’s trip comes days after the U.S. and the Philippines held their largest joint military exercises yet in the South China Sea, aimed at curbing China’s influence. The two countries signed a deal in February to allow the U.S. military to expand its presence in the Philippines. “It is only natural,” Marcos said in the Oval Office, that the Philippines “look to its sole treaty partner in the world to strengthen, to redefine, the relationship that we have and the roles that we play in the face of those rising tensions that we see now around the South China Sea and Asia Pacific.”U.S. outlook: The White House has been focusing on cultivating Marcos, the son of a dictator, as a regional ally since he took office 10 months ago. His predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, was more conciliatory toward China than his predecessors, and, at times, more confrontational with the U.S. Taiwan: The Philippines’ northernmost island is less than 100 miles from the self-governed island. An increased U.S. military presence could allow for a quick troop response in a war with China.China’s position: When the Chinese foreign minister visited the Philippines last month, he had a stern message: It was vital that the government in Manila, the capital, “properly handle issues” related to Taiwan and the South China Sea, and follow through on its earlier commitment not to choose sides.A tank near the front line of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region on Sunday.David Guttenfelder for The New York TimesFighting intensifies in UkraineBoth Russia and Ukraine reported escalating attacks in recent days, a sign that fighting was intensifying ahead of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive. Russia launched a broad, predawn aerial assault across Ukraine yesterday, its second wide-ranging attack in just four days. Two people were killed and 40 wounded in Russian strikes on the central city of Pavlograd, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address.Ukraine said yesterday that it had launched four strikes on concentrations of Russian troops over the preceding 24 hours. Yesterday, a blast derailed a freight train in Russia, near the border, though a Russian official did not say who was responsible. Over the weekend, a series of explosions also occurred behind Russian lines.Timing: Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said on national television that the military was “reaching the finish line” in counteroffensive preparations.One complicating factor: Mud. It’s been raining for weeks in the region, and the ground is unusually wet. Ukraine’s new advanced weaponry is no match for the black, soupy soil.Alireza Akbari was lured from London to Iran in 2019 by a close friend.Khabar Online News AgencyA British spy in IranHe was a senior official in Iran, a trusted keeper of its defense secrets — and a British spy. A Times investigation shows how information shared by the official, Alireza Akbari, upended the world’s view of Iran’s nuclear program and led to his execution in January.Akbari, who was a senior military commander of the Revolutionary Guards, had open access to Iran’s inner circles of power and advised on key state policies. He also spied for Britain for nearly 16 years, according to Western intelligence officials. Intelligence sources told my colleagues Ronen Bergman and Farnaz Fassihi that Akbari revealed, among other things, the existence of Fordo, a uranium enrichment site hidden near Tehran.The revelations, which Britain shared with Israel and other Western intelligence agencies, shocked even those who closely monitored Iran. Fordo’s discovery proved critical in eliminating any doubt that Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons and redrew the West’s military and cyber plans for countering the program. It also proved critical in persuading the world to impose sweeping sanctions against Iran.Details: Akbari was an unlikely spy. He displayed a fanatical allegiance to the ideals of the Islamic Republic and an unwavering support of Iran’s leaders, according to interviews with people who knew him. Other revelations: Iran also said he disclosed the identities of over 100 officials, most significantly Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the chief nuclear scientist whom Israel assassinated in 2020.THE LATEST NEWSAsia PacificA photo made available by the Royal Thai Police shows officers escorting the accused woman to a court in Bangkok.Royal Thai Police, via EPA, via ShutterstockThe police in Thailand charged a woman with nine murders. They found her with a bottle of cyanide after the sudden death of a traveling companion.Chris Hipkins, the prime minister of New Zealand, said that the country would “ideally” become independent one day — but that it had no plans to separate from the monarchy, The Guardian reported.Around the WorldProtestors in Marseille yesterday.Clement Mahoudeau/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesOn May Day, some 800,000 French workers took to the streets across the country to protest the new pension plan.Paraguay elected Santiago Peña, a conservative economist, as president, resisting Latin America’s recent leftward shift.Thousands of people fleeing the war in Sudan have overwhelmed Port Sudan, a city on the Red Sea, in their efforts to get to Saudi Arabia.Other Big StoriesU.S. regulators seized First Republic Bank and sold it to JPMorgan Chase. The sale has echoes of the recent banking crisis, but First Republic’s problems seem to be contained.“The Godfather of A.I.” left Google and warned of the technology’s risks: “It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things.”A bronze sculpture was erected in Oslo’s harbor to honor Freya, the walrus who was killed there last year.A Morning ReadJessica Chou for The New York TimesMore young men are getting perms. The hairstyle has changed since its 1980s heyday: Instead of ringlets and hair spray, the modern male perm — inspired by K-pop and TikTok — is tender and softer.ARTS AND IDEASKim Kardashian at the Met Gala last year.Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesA Met Gala previewCelebrities are lining up to walk the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York. (It is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. in New York, which is 5:30 a.m. in Hong Kong; 7:30 a.m. in Sydney.) The party is usually themed to the annual blockbuster show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. This year’s show, “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” pays homage to the imagination and creativity of the longtime designer of Chanel, Fendi and his namesake line. (Lagerfeld died in 2019.)Given the theme, you can expect to see a lot of vintage designer dresses on the runway this year, which could make this the most sustainable Met Gala ever. Vanessa Friedman, our fashion editor, told us that she hoped it would be “a return to more toned-down elegance after years when guests’ clothes have gotten more and more costumey, the better to go more and more viral.”Among the many celebrities attending the celebration, Gala watchers will be on the lookout for one in particular: There’s speculation that Lagerfeld’s white Birman cat (and rumored heir), Choupette, who has her own nanny and Instagram account, may make an appearance.For more: Take our Lagerfeld quiz.PLAY, WATCH, EATWhat to CookArmando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.Air-fryer sweet potatoes are faster and less oily than their deep-fried counterparts.What to ReadThe first issue of “It Happened Online,” our new newsletter about the internet, looks at the fate of Twitter’s check marks.What to Watch“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” which adapts Judy Blume’s groundbreaking novel about puberty, is a Times critics pick.Now Time to PlayPlay the Mini Crossword, and a clue: Very (five letters).Here are the Wordle and the Spelling Bee.You can find all our puzzles here.That’s it for today’s briefing. See you next time. — AmeliaP.S. My colleagues won the top environmental journalism prize in the Fetisov Journalism Awards for coverage of Congo’s peatlands.“The Daily” is on the fight over the U.S. debt ceiling.I always love hearing from you. Please write to me at briefing@nytimes.com with any thoughts. More

    • 113 Shares129 Views

      in Elections

      This Is Why Politicians Like to Change the Subject

      by

      Bret Stephens: Hi, Gail. You know I’m no fan of Kevin McCarthy’s. But the House speaker did succeed in getting a bill through Congress with a debt-ceiling increase, and now the Biden administration needs 60 votes in the Senate — meaning 51 Democrats and independents plus 9 Republicans — to get the limit increase to the president’s desk for a signature.So, shouldn’t Joe, you know, negotiate?Gail Collins: Bret, with your strong feelings about fiscal responsibility, you of all people should be offended by McCarthy’s ploy. The debt ceiling needs to be raised in order to avoid an unprecedented, messy, horrible moment when the country’s credit goes bad and economic collapse spreads around the globe.Everybody knows that has to be done. But McCarthy now wants to use it as a hostage — attaching his wish list of spending cuts (weaken the I.R.S.!) and prosecuting the G.O.P. war on environmentalism.Bret: I don’t think anyone wants Uncle Sam to default on his debts — except, well, the nuttier Republicans who hold the balance of power in the House. McCarthy had to pass a bill that could garner their support. That’s just political reality, and we can’t wish it away.Gail: President Biden’s right, though. We have to go ahead and do the thing we have to do. It’s the government equivalent of paying the mortgage. Then we can fight about regular spending, like a family debating whether to get a second car.Bret: Biden’s budget request was the largest in history — $6.8 trillion — which is far more than the $3.7 trillion President Barack Obama asked for just 10 years ago. Is that the right thing to do? We’ve got a federal debt that surpasses $30 trillion. Democrats show little interest in fiscal restraint, but they have maximum appetite for tax increases they know all Republicans will oppose. So of course the G.O.P. is going to play hardball. It’s not much different from the mid-1980s, when Biden, as a senator, linked his own support for an increase in the debt ceiling with a freeze on federal spending.But here’s a question, Gail: Let’s say you got your way and Republicans magically agreed to a “clean” raising of the debt ceiling. What sort of spending cuts would you endorse?Gail: Bret, as you know, my top priority for fixing government finances is to get the rich to pay their fair share of Social Security taxes.Bret: Don’t usually think of a tax increase as a spending cut, but go on.Gail: Right now, the Social Security tax cap is so low that anybody who’s made a million dollars or more this year has already maxed out. You and I are getting taxed right now, but Elon Musk isn’t.Bret: Give the guy a break: He’s been busy blowing up rockets, launchpads, Twitter, the S.E.C., not to mention his reputation ….Gail: On the spending-cut side, while I concede we’ll inevitably spend a ton on defense, there are plenty of obvious saving targets. For instance, military bases that exist only because some powerful House or Senate member is defending them.Bret: If it were up to me, I’d do away with nearly all agriculture subsidies, starting with biofuels, which are environmentally destructive and contribute to global food scarcity by diverting corn and sugar and soybean fields for fuel production. I’d get rid of the Department of Education, which was not Jimmy Carter’s best idea and which has presided over 43 years of persistent and worsening educational failure in this country. I’d eliminate the National Flood Insurance Program; we are encouraging people to build irresponsibly in the face of climate change.Gail: Want to jump in and agree about the flood insurance. But go on …Bret: I’d stop subsidizing rich people who want to buy Teslas. Electric vehicles can compete in the market on their own merits. I’d terminate the Space Force; the Air Force was doing just fine before Donald Trump decided to add another layer of Pentagon bureaucracy. I’d claw back unspent Covid funds. The pandemic is over; we’ve spent enough. I’d … I’m really getting into this, aren’t I?Gail: I’m with you on Covid funds and the Space Force. But we do need to encourage the production and sale of electric vehicles. If we have to spend money to push back on global warming, so be it.Bret: Switching gears, Gail, our colleague Tom Friedman wrote a powerful column last week making the case that Biden needs to think hard about the wisdom of keeping Kamala Harris on the ticket. I gather you think that ship has already sailed?Gail: Tom is a great columnist and great friend — he once took me on a tour of Israel and the West Bank that was one of the most enlightening weeks of my life.Bret: Oy vey!Gail: And a year or two ago, I would definitely have agreed with him about Harris. But I’ve come around to believing that she’s grown in the job despite being saddled with a lousy agenda early on. (Kamala, would you please go solve the Mexican border situation?) Lately she’s been the administration’s fierce advocate for abortion rights.Practical bottom line — you have here a Black woman who’s been, at minimum, a perfectly adequate vice president. I just can’t see any way Biden could toss her off the ticket. Even if there’s a good chance at his age that he’ll die in office. Which is, of course, not a train of thought he wants to take us on.Your opinion?Bret: Remember all those independents who might have voted for John McCain in 2008 save for Sarah Palin? Well, Kamala Harris is gonna be another deal breaker for some of those same independents.Gail: One of the happier factoids of the world today is that a huge proportion of it has forgotten who Sarah Palin even is. What’s worse than being both terrible and forgettable?But go on about Kamala …Bret: Her approval rating is the lowest for any vice president in the last 30 years at this point in the administration — and that includes Mike Pence and Dick Cheney. It’s an open secret in Washington that she runs the most dysfunctional office of any major office holder. Nobody thought she’d “solve” the Mexican border situation, but it would have been nice if she showed a basic command of facts. Because of Biden’s age, the chances of her taking the top job are substantial, and many voters will judge the Biden-Harris ticket on how confident they feel about Harris. How would I feel about President Harris dealing with a nuclear crisis in Korea or a Chinese invasion of Taiwan or another global financial crisis? Not good.Democrats need to get over their fear of offending her. There are plenty of qualified replacements.Gail: We used to be in agreement here, but I do think she’s grown in the job. And when it comes to being terrified about somebody dealing with a nuclear crisis — how would you feel about, say, Ron DeSantis? Or of course Donald Trump?Bret: You’re sort of making my point. If you think, as Tom and I do, that she’s a major political liability for Biden, it’s that much more of an incentive to get a stronger running mate. Surely the U.N. secretary general can be cajoled into early retirement so Harris can get an office with a nice view of the East River?Gail: You just brought me back to an old fantasy about finding a job for Biden so great it would tempt him to leave office after one term. Guess secretary general wouldn’t do it. But I do keep wishing he’d announced last week that he wasn’t running again. He has plenty of major accomplishments to point to, and the nation would have a good long time to watch and appraise the many promising Democratic candidates to replace him. Including his vice president.Bret: Frank Bruni was really on the money on this subject: There really is no better job than the presidency. The perks, the pomp and the power are all irresistible, particularly to guys like Biden who have been chasing the office their whole adult lives and now finally have it. We were fools to imagine he might be tempted not to run again — even though he’s tempting fate, and second terms rarely exceed the quality of first terms.Gail: OK, Bret — that’s enough politics for today. Always count on you to finish with something more profound.Bret: One of the delights of our conversation, Gail, is being able to point our readers toward some of the very best work of our colleagues. This week, they really shouldn’t miss Mike Baker’s beautifully written, heartbreaking story about Craig Coyner, a brilliant public defender who served as mayor of Bend, Ore., in the 1980s — only to die there earlier this year as a homeless man, broken by mental illness.We all need stories that uplift us. But we also need those that remind us of the adage that “there but for the grace of God go I.” May Coyner’s memory be for a blessing.The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram. More

    • 88 Shares99 Views

      in Elections

      Paraguay Voters Elect Conservative Economist as President

      by

      The election of Santiago Peña keeps the right-wing Colorado Party in control of Paraguay, which it has run for all but five of the past 76 years.POZO COLORADO, Paraguay — Paraguayans elected Santiago Peña, a 44-year-old conservative economist, as their new president on Sunday, keeping the South American nation in the control of the right-wing Colorado Party that has run the country for all but five of the past 76 years.The result means that Paraguay, a landlocked nation of seven million people, has resisted the leftward shift across Latin America in recent years. Instead, Paraguayans delivered victory to a right-wing candidate who made vague promises to add jobs, lower energy prices and clear drug addicts from the street.Mr. Peña had 43 percent of the vote with 99 percent of the ballots counted, defeating two challengers who split the opposition vote.His election could complicate Paraguay’s relationship with the United States, a close ally.Mr. Peña is a political protégé of a former Paraguayan president, Horacio Cartes, who is one of its richest men and the president of the Colorado Party. In January, the American Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Mr. Cartes over accusations that he had doled out millions of dollars in bribes to pave his way to power and that he had built ties to the Islamist militant group Hezbollah.In his victory speech Sunday night, Mr. Peña stood next to Mr. Cartes, hugged him and thanked him first. “Your contribution, president, can only be paid with the currency of respect, of appreciation and approval,” Mr. Peña said. “Thank you for this Colorado victory.”Mr. Peña’s victory shows that his party has retained a firm grip on Paraguayan society decades after the fall of the dictatorship of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, a Colorado Party regime that ruled from 1954 to 1989.The Colorado Party’s powerful political machine was on display on Election Day, with a dense network of political operators fanned out across the country. They monitored voting stations, bused Indigenous people to the polls and pressed voters to elect Mr. Peña.A polling station at a school in Remansito on Sunday.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York TimesThat organization appeared to make up for the difficult sales pitch Mr. Peña had to make to voters. During the campaign, he presented himself as a fresh face — despite being Paraguay’s former finance minister and a prominent figure in the nation’s dominant political party, which was founded in 1887.Mr. Peña also tried to distance himself from Paraguay’s current leader, President Mario Abdo Benítez, who is also from the Colorado Party. Mr. Benítez, who cannot run again because of term limits, is one of Latin America’s most unpopular leaders because of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to opinion surveys.But Mr. Peña’s trickiest challenge was his close ties to Mr. Cartes. The U.S. government has accused Mr. Cartes of “a concerted pattern of corruption,” alleging that he paid up to $50,000 a month to lawmakers while president and that he conducted some of his illicit business at events held by Hezbollah.Mr. Cartes has denied the accusations, dismissing them as politically motivated. He declined requests for an interview.One political opponent, Efraín Alegre, who finished second on Sunday with 27 percent, seized on the allegations during the campaign, calling Mr. Cartes the “Paraguayan Pablo Escobar” and saying that Mr. Peña was Mr. Cartes’s “secretary.”Mr. Peña said in an interview on Friday that he believed Mr. Cartes was innocent and that he could not understand how the United States could have gotten it so wrong.“I think this is going to be one of the great mysteries, along with: Could it be that man reached the moon? Or who assassinated President Kennedy?” he said. “Those unsolved mysteries that we can never know.”On Sunday night, as he stood next to his mentor, Mr. Peña led his victory party in a chant of “Beloved Horacio, the people are with you.”President-elect Peña and Colorado Party leader Horacio Cartes with supporters.Maria Magdalena ArrellagaMr. Peña’s ties to Mr. Cartes were on the minds of some voters.“He’s a good leader, but if he wins, it won’t be him that governs, sadly,” said Mariano Ovelar, 39, who waits tables and plays the keyboard in a truck-stop restaurant in Paraguay’s rural north.Mr. Peña, a former International Monetary Fund economist in Washington, largely focused his campaign on the economy, promising to create 500,000 jobs, offer free kindergarten, decrease fuel and energy prices, and get more police officers on the street.His only explanation for how he would pay for those promises was to expand the economy by eliminating red tape and keeping taxes among the lowest in the world. “Paraguayans understand that we can be the most developed nation in the world,” Mr. Peña said.Paraguay is one of South America’s poorest nations. A quarter of its population lives in poverty, schools are rated among the worst in the region and hospitals are short on basic medicines.Mr. Peña attributed Paraguay’s underdevelopment to its crushing defeat in a war against its neighbors that ended in 1870 and wiped out most of its male population. “The conflict made us miss the train of development,” he said.Colorado Party supporters celebrating after Sunday’s election.Maria Magdalena ArrellagaHis answer to those problems is to streamline the government and make Paraguay more welcoming to businesses.Mr. Peña appears to be aiming to appease the United States, most notably by pledging to keep Paraguay among the club of 13 countries — mostly small island nations — that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than China. Paraguay and Taiwan sealed ties in 1957, when both were led by dictators, and Taiwan has since paid for Paraguay’s modernist congressional building and donated its presidential jet.But as a result, Paraguay’s farmers face obstacles in exporting soybeans and beef to China. Mr. Peña said in an interview that close economic ties with Taiwan would leave Paraguay in a better long-term position than building its economy around selling commodities to China.Cristaldo Tabares, 65, a builder who lives in a riverside suburb of the capital, Asunción, said he voted for Mr. Peña on Sunday, but reluctantly. “I like Efraín more than Peña,” he said, referring to the No. 2 finisher.Mr. Tabares wanted to cast his ballot for Mr. Alegre because he represented change, he said, “but I couldn’t.” That was because the Colorado Party had employed him as a polling station official and he felt he should vote for his employer.Asked what he thought of Paraguay’s potential future under Mr. Peña, he shrugged and laughed: “Nobody knows what’s going to happen.”A campaign ad for Colorado Party candidates in downtown Asunción.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York Times More

    • 138 Shares159 Views

      in Elections

      Paraguay elige como presidente a Santiago Peña, economista del Partido Colorado

      by

      El triunfo del exministro de Hacienda mantiene a Paraguay bajo el dominio del partido que ha gobernado la nación durante todos menos cinco de los últimos 76 años.POZO COLORADO, Paraguay — Los paraguayos eligieron este domingo a Santiago Peña, un economista conservador de 44 años, como su nuevo presidente, manteniendo así a la nación sudamericana bajo el control del Partido Colorado, de derecha, el cual ha gobernado el país durante todos menos cinco de los últimos 76 años.Este resultado se traduce en que Paraguay, un país sin salida al mar con siete millones de habitantes, ha resistido el viraje hacia la izquierda que ha experimentado América Latina en los últimos años. En cambio, los paraguayos le han otorgado la victoria a un candidato de derecha que realizó promesas vagas sobre crear nuevos empleos, reducir los precios de combustible y energía y sacar a los drogadictos de las calles.Peña obtuvo el 43 por ciento de los votos, con el 99 por ciento de los votos contados, con lo que superó a dos contendientes que dividieron el voto de la oposición.Su elección podría hacer que la relación entre Paraguay y Estados Unidos, un aliado cercano, se haga más compleja.Peña es un protegido político del expresidente paraguayo Horacio Cartes, uno de los hombres más ricos del país y líder del Partido Colorado. En enero, el Departamento del Tesoro de Estados Unidos impuso sanciones a Cartes al acusarlo de dar millones de dólares en sobornos para asegurar su llegada al poder y por establecer vínculos con Hezbolá, el grupo militante islamista.En su discurso de victoria el domingo por la noche, Peña estuvo junto a Cartes, lo abrazó y le agradeció. “Su aporte, presidente, no se paga sino con la moneda del respeto, del aprecio y la valoración”, dijo Peña. “Gracias por esta victoria colorada”.La victoria de Peña muestra que su partido ha mantenido un control firme de la sociedad paraguaya décadas después de la caída de la dictadura del general Alfredo Stroessner, un régimen del Partido Colorado que gobernó al país de 1954 a 1989.La poderosa maquinaria política del Partido Colorado se reveló el día de las elecciones, con una densa red de operadores políticos repartidos por todo Paraguay. Supervisaron las mesas de votación, trasladaron a personas de comunidades indígenas a las urnas e impulsaron a los electores para votar por Peña.Un centro de votación en una escuela en Remansito el domingo.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga para The New York TimesEsa organización, al parecer, compensó el complicado discurso que Peña tuvo que ofrecerle a los votantes. Durante la campaña, Peña se presentó como un rostro nuevo, a pesar de ser exministro de Hacienda de Paraguay y una figura destacada del partido político dominante, el cual fue fundado en 1887.Peña también intentó distanciarse del presidente actual de Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez, quien también pertenece al Partido Colorado. Benítez, quien no pudo volver a postularse debido a los límites del mandato, es uno de los líderes más impopulares de América Latina debido a su manejo de la pandemia de coronavirus, según algunas encuestas de opinión.Pero el desafío más complicado de Peña fue su estrecho vínculo con Cartes. El gobierno de Estados Unidos acusó a Cartes de tener “un patrón coordinado de corrupción”, y alegó que le pagó hasta 50.000 dólares al mes a los legisladores durante su presidencia y que realizó algunos de sus negocios ilícitos en eventos organizados por Hezbolá.Cartes ha negado las acusaciones, de las cuales ha dicho que tienen motivaciones políticas. El expresidente rechazó las solicitudes de entrevista.Un opositor político, Efraín Alegre, quien terminó en el segundo lugar en las elecciones del domingo con un 27 por ciento de los votos, aprovechó las acusaciones durante la campaña y calificó a Cartes como el “Pablo Escobar paraguayo”, además de afirmar que Peña era el “secretario” de Cartes.Peña dijo en una entrevista el viernes que creía que Cartes era inocente y que no podía entender cómo Estados Unidos pudo haberse equivocado tanto.“Creo que este va a ser uno de los grandes misterios junto con: ¿será que el hombre llegó a la Luna? O ¿quién asesinó al presidente Kennedy? Son los misterios sin resolver que nunca podremos saber”.El domingo por la noche, de pie junto a su mentor, Peña lideró en su celebración de la victoria un canto de “Horacio, querido, el pueblo está contigo”.Horacio Cartes, expresidente de Paraguay y uno de los hombres más ricos del país, junto a Peña en un acto de campaña.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga para The New York TimesLos vínculos de Peña con Cartes estuvieron en la mente de algunos votantes.“Tiene buen liderazgo pero si gana no va a ser él quien gobierna, lastimosamente”, dijo Mariano Ovelar, de 39 años, quien atiende mesas y toca el teclado en un restaurante en una parada de camiones en el norte rural de Paraguay.Peña, execonomista del Fondo Monetario Internacional en Washington, centró su campaña en gran medida en la economía. Prometió crear 500.000 puestos de trabajo, ofrecer jardín de infancia gratuito, bajar los precios del combustible y energía y desplegar más oficiales de policía en las calles.Su única explicación sobre cómo iba a financiar estas promesas fue que iba a extender la economía a través de la eliminación de las trabas burocráticas y manteniendo los impuestos entre los más bajos del mundo. “Los paraguayos comprenden que podemos ser la nación más desarrollada del mundo”, dijo Peña.Paraguay es una de las naciones más pobres de Sudamérica. Una cuarta parte de su población vive en pobreza, sus escuelas se encuentran entre las peores de la región y los hospitales carecen de medicamentos básicos.Peña atribuyó el subdesarrollo de Paraguay a su aplastante derrota en una guerra contra sus vecinos que terminó en 1870 y que acabó con la mayor parte de su población masculina. Es “un conflicto” que “hizo que perdamos el tren del desarrollo”, aseguró.Simpatizantes de Peña celebran en la sede del Partido Colorado, en Asunción.Agustin Marcarian/ReutersSu respuesta para esos problemas es hacer más eficiente al gobierno y hacer que Paraguay sea más atractivo para las empresas.Peña parece tener como objetivo apaciguar a Estados Unidos, sobre todo al comprometerse a mantener a Paraguay entre el club de 13 países —en su mayoría pequeñas naciones insulares— que mantienen relaciones diplomáticas con Taiwán en lugar de con China. Paraguay y Taiwán sellaron lazos en 1957, cuando ambas naciones estaban gobernadas por dictadores. Desde entonces, Taiwán financió el edificio modernista del Congreso de Paraguay y donó su avión presidencial.Pero debido a esto, los agricultores paraguayos enfrentan obstáculos para exportar granos de soya y carne a China. Peña dijo en una entrevista que los estrechos lazos económicos con Taiwán dejarían a Paraguay en una mejor posición a largo plazo que construir su economía en torno a la venta de productos básicos a China.Cristaldo Tabares, un constructor de 65 años que vive en un suburbio ribereño de la capital, Asunción, dijo que votó por Peña el domingo, pero con reservas. “A mí me gusta Efraín más que Peña”, dijo, refiriéndose al candidato que llegó de segundo en la contienda.Tabares quería darle su voto a Alegre porque representaba el cambio, dijo, “pero no podía”. ¿La razón? El Partido Colorado lo había contratado como funcionario de una mesa electoral y sintió que debía votar por su empleador.Cuando se le preguntó qué pensaba del posible futuro de Paraguay bajo el liderazgo de Peña, Tabares se encogió de hombros y se rio: “Nadie sabe lo que va a pasar después”.Un anuncio de campaña de candidatos del Partido Colorado en el centro de Asunción.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga para The New York TimesJack Nicas es el jefe de la corresponsalía en Brasil, que abarca Brasil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay y Uruguay. Anteriormente reportó sobre tecnología desde San Francisco y, antes de integrarse al Times en 2018, trabajó siete años en The Wall Street Journal. @jacknicas • Facebook More

    • 125 Shares129 Views

      in Elections

      Elecciones en Paraguay: esto es lo que hay que saber

      by

      El país sudamericano elige a su presidente entre un candidato del arraigado partido oficialista y dos contendientes de oposición, una figura anticorrupción y un alborotador de ultraderecha.Paraguay, el país sin salida al mar de 7 millones de habitantes en el centro de Sudamérica, elige presidente el domingo. La votación pondrá a prueba la fuerza del viraje latinoamericano a la izquierda de los últimos años.En la región, los contendientes de oposición han ganado 16 elecciones presidenciales organizadas libremente y seis de los siete países más grandes de la región han elegido líderes izquierdistas desde 2018.Ahora está por verse si la tendencia se sostiene en Paraguay, acaso el país más conservador a ultranza de Sudamérica, que enfrenta una pobreza profunda, una economía inestable y una corrupción muy arraigada.El conservador Partido Colorado busca mantener su control del país, que ha gobernado en los últimos 76 años excepto cinco, incluidas cuatro décadas de dictadura militar.El centro de Asunción. Paraguay ha estado lidiando con la pobreza, una economía en crisis y una corrupción profundamente arraigada.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga para The New York TimesPero, ahora, ese dominio parece estar en riesgo. El presidente en funciones del Colorado, Mario Abdo Benítez, no puede volver a postularse debido a los límites al mandato y las encuestas muestran que es uno de los líderes más impopulares de América Latino debido a su manejo de la pandemia. Por el Partido Colorado contiende un exministro de Hacienda de Paraguay.En enero, el gobierno de EE. UU. impuso sanciones económicas al líder del Partido Colorado, el expresidente Horacio Cartes, al acusarlo de llegar al poder con sobornos. Las sanciones han puesto en jaque la financiación del partido.Algunas encuestas recientes han mostrado que el candidato favorito de oposición —un conservador que se ubica a la izquierda del candidato del Partido Colorado— cuenta con una ventaja estrecha.Las elecciones, en las que se disputan cargos legislativos, regionales y locales, han despertado debates por las relaciones diplomáticas con China y Taiwán, motivado promesas de un penal construido especialmente para políticos corruptos y presenciado el impulso de último momento de un candidato de ultraderecha que ha prometido disolver el Congreso e instaurar un gobierno militar.Las urnas abren el domingo de las 7 a. m. a las 4 p. m., y se espera que los resultados se den a conocer a unas horas del cierre de las mesas de votación. Se requiere que un candidato consiga la mayoría simple para adjudicarse la elección.Esto es lo que hay que saber.¿Quiénes son los candidatos?El candidato del Colorado, Santiago Peña, de 44 años, es un exministro de Hacienda de Paraguay, otrora economista del Fondo Monetario Internacional en Washington y protegido de Cartes, el expresidente sancionado.Si bien el Partido Colorado a menudo se ha hecho de apoyo por sus políticas socialmente conservadoras, Peña se ha presentado como la nueva generación del partido, una más enfocada en la economía. Ha prometido crear 500.000 empleados, ofrecer jardín de infancia gratuito, bajar los precios de combustible y energía y poner más oficiales de policía en las calles.Santiago Peña, el candidato presidencial por el Partido Colorado, se ha presentado como la nueva generación del partido conservador, una más enfocada en la economía.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga para The New York TimesEn una entrevista dijo que financiaría esas promesas al ampliar la economía, y por ende los ingresos fiscales, al eliminar las trabas burocráticas.El principal candidato de la oposición, Efraín Alegre, de 60 años, es un abogado conservador y excongresista que lidera una amplia coalición de partidos políticos, que abarca desde la extrema izquierda a la derecha religiosa, que se han unido para desbancar a los colorados. El domingo será su tercer intento de llegar al cargo más alto del país. En 2018 se quedó a solo 96.000 votos —4 por ciento del total— de alcanzar la presidencia.Hijo de un conductor de ómnibus y una catequista del campo paraguayo, Alegre ha buscado presentarse como un hombre común y corriente y ha prometido renunciar a la residencia presidencial de ser electo.Ha sustentado su campaña en la promesa de erradicar a la “mafia” que, asegura, controló Paraguay. También ha prometido desterrar a los políticos corruptos a una nueva prisión en una región árida y remota en el norte del país y financiar medicamentos gratuitos con la recuperación del dinero malversado por los colorados que afirma, asciende a 2000 millones de dólares cada año.El principal candidato de la oposición, Efraín Alegre, ha construido su campaña en la promesa de erradicar la corrupción en el país.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga para The New York Times“No pasa solamente por hacer el cambio, pasa por recuperar lo robado y devolverlo al pueblo”, dijo en una entrevista el viernes.Si bien Peña y Alegre han liderado en las encuestas, en los sondeos recientes ha ganado impulso Paraguayo Cubas, de 61 años, excéntrico agitador anticorrupción.Cubas es un exsenador de ultraderecha que fue expulsado del Congreso luego de forcejear con otros legisladores y patear una patrulla de la policía. Antes había llegado a los titulares porque golpeó con su cinturón a un juez y luego defecó en su despacho. Ha llevado a cabo su campaña principalmente en las redes sociales, tildando al Congreso de una “cueva de ladrones” e insinuando que gobernaría como dictador.Los analistas dudan de que Cubas tenga forma de llegar a la presidencia. Más bien, dijeron, podría quitarle votos a Alegre y darle la victoria al Partido Colorado.¿Por qué tiene tanto peso un expresidente?Cartes, de 66 años, dejó la presidencia en 2018, pero sigue siendo posiblemente el hombre más poderoso de Paraguay. Además de liderar el Partido Colorado, tiene intereses en fábricas cigarreras, bancos, farmacias, canales de televisión, periódicos y un club de fútbol.En enero, el Departamento del Tesoro de EE. UU. prohibió que él y sus empresas participen en el sistema financiero estadounidense, al asegurar que cuenta con vínculos al grupo militante islamista libanés Hezbolá y ha repartido millones de dólares para asegurarse el control del gobierno. Cartes ha negado las acusaciones.Horacio Cartes, expresidente de Paraguay y líder del Partido Colorado, con Peña en un acto de campaña en Asunción.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga para The New York TimesLas sanciones económicas han dificultado que el Partido Colorado recaude fondos y plantean un dilema político para Peña.En una entrevista, Peña dijo que las acusaciones eran “responsabilidad personal” de Cartes y que no lo reflejaban a él o a su partido. “Soy mi propia persona”, dijo. Esta semana ambos aparecieron juntos en un escenario.Alegre se ha apalancado de las acusaciones contra Cartes, llamándolo el “Pablo Escobar paraguayo”.¿Qué otros temas se discuten?La delincuencia: Paraguay, que ha sido refugio histórico de narcotraficantes, ha sido remecido por una serie de asesinatos de alto perfil. En uno de los casos, un fiscal federal que investigaba a los carteles de la droga fue asesinado a tiros por sicarios a bordo de un jet ski mientras estaba de luna de miel en una playa colombiana con su esposa embarazada.La economía: Paraguay fue una de las naciones más golpeadas por la pandemia en América Latina y su economía se contrajo el año pasado. Una cuarta parte de la población vive en pobreza, muchas carreteras están sin pavimentar y en los hospitales escasean medicamentos básicos. Las tasas de impuestos son de las más bajas de la región.Familias a orillas del río Paraguay en Asunción. Una cuarta parte de la población vive en la pobreza.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga para The New York TimesTaiwán: Paraguay forma parte de un club que se reduce rápidamente conformado por 13 países, en su mayoría naciones insulares, que aún mantienen relaciones diplomáticas con Taiwán en lugar de con China. La amistad entre Paraguay y Taiwán —firmada por sus dictadores en 1957— sigue sólida. Taiwán financió el recinto congresal modernista de Paraguay y brindó su avión presidencial. Pero debido a esto los agricultores paraguayos enfrentan obstáculos al exportar granos de soya y carne. Alegre ha dicho que reevaluará la relación, lo que inquietaría a las autoridades en Washington. Peña ha prometido mantener el statu quo.La presa: Quienquiera que lleve la banda presidencial el 15 de agosto deberá encargarse de una negociación fundamental a causa de Itaipú, una presa hidroeléctrica colosal que se comparte con Brasil. Según lo previsto en un tratado de 1973, Paraguay vende la energía que le sobra a la presa a Brasil a precios mínimos. Pero el tratado prescribe en agosto, y abre la puerta a un acuerdo que podría ser transformacional para el país más pobre.¿Cómo va la contienda?Las encuestas muestran una contienda ajustada entre Peña y Alegre y cada uno va a la cabeza en algunos sondeos. (Históricamente, las encuestadoras paraguayas han sido imprecisas. En 2018, los sondeos sobreestimaron por mucho el apoyo del candidato del Colorado).AtlasIntel, una encuestadora brasileña dijo que según un sondeo reciente en línea entre 2320 paraguayos, Alegre lideraba con 34 por ciento, Peña contaba con 33 por ciento y Cubas 23 por ciento. El margen de error era de 2 puntos porcentuales. La mayor sorpresa del sondeo fue el nivel de sorpresa para Cubas.Un acto de campaña de Alegre en Capiatá. Según una reciente encuesta en línea, Alegre tiene una ligera ventaja.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga para The New York TimesEn entrevistas realizadas el viernes en Asunción, la capital, los paraguayos expresaron frustración con la corrupción y el rumbo del país, pero no había acuerdo en quién era la persona adecuada para cambiar la situación.Juana Salinas, de 74 años, esperaba un bus afuera de un mercado, con un bastón negro y una bolsa de basura llena de recipientes de comida en venta. Dijo que apoyaba a Peña porque siempre había votado por el Colorado, al igual que sus padres, ya fallecidos. “Siempre, porque no voy a deshonrar a mi padre y a mi madre”, dijo. “Mi padre es Colorado, mi madre es Colorado”.En el mercado, Cynthia Acosta, de 29, estaba embolsando granos de maíz seco que los clientes suelen usar para hacer chipa guasú, el pan de elote paraguayo. Dijo que planeaba votar por Alegre otra vez porque le gustaban sus planes de creación de empleo juvenil.“Hay muchas cosas que deben cambiar”, dijo. “No es una tarea fácil para ninguno”.Cynthia Acosta dijo que pensaba votar por Alegre una vez más, porque le gustaban sus planes para crear empleos para los jóvenes.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga para The New York Times More

    • 125 Shares149 Views

      in Elections

      Paraguay Picks a New President: What You Need to Know

      by

      The South American nation is deciding between a candidate from the entrenched conservative party and two opposition candidates —an anti-corruption crusader and a far-right firebrand.Paraguay, the landlocked nation of 7 million people in the center of South America, picks a new president on Sunday. The vote will test the strength of Latin America’s leftward shift in recent years.Opposition challengers have won the last 16 freely held presidential elections in Latin America, and six of the region’s seven largest countries have elected leftist leaders since 2018.Now it will be seen whether that trend can hold with Paraguay, perhaps South America’s most staunchly conservative nation, as it grapples with deep poverty, a sputtering economy and deeply rooted corruption.The conservative Colorado Party is seeking to retain its grip on the country, which it has controlled for all but five of the past 76 years, including four decades of military dictatorship.Downtown Asunción. Paraguay has been grappling with deep poverty, a sputtering economy and deeply rooted corruption.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York TimesBut that dominance now appears in jeopardy. The Colorado incumbent, President Mario Abdo Benítez, cannot run again because of term limits — and surveys show he is one of Latin America’s most unpopular leaders because of his handling of the pandemic. Representing the Colorado Party at the polls will be Paraguay’s former finance minister.In January, the U.S. government placed financial sanctions on the Colorado Party’s leader, the former president Horacio Cartes, accusing him of bribing his way to power. The sanctions have complicated the party’s financing.Some recent polls have shown that the leading opposition candidate — a conservative who is still to the left of the Colorado Party’s contender — holds a narrow lead.The election, which also covers congressional, regional and local seats, has featured debate over diplomatic relations with China and Taiwan, promises of a prison built specifically for corrupt politicians and late momentum for a far-right candidate who has pledged to dissolve Congress and enact military rule.Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, with results expected within hours of polls closing. Candidates need a simple majority to be elected.Here’s what you need to know.Who are the candidates?The Colorado candidate, Santiago Peña, 44, is Paraguay’s former finance minister, a former International Monetary Fund economist in Washington and the protégé of Mr. Cartes, the sanctioned ex-president.While the Colorado Party has often built its support on socially conservative policies, Mr. Peña has pitched himself as the party’s new generation, one more focused on the economy. He has promised to create 500,000 jobs, offer free kindergarten, decrease fuel and energy prices, and get more police officers on the street.Santiago Peña, the presidential candidate for the conservative Colorado Party, has pitched himself as the party’s new generation, one more focused on the economy.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York TimesIn an interview, he has said he would pay for those promises by expanding the economy, and thus tax revenue, by eliminating red tape.The leading opposition candidate, Efraín Alegre, 60, is a conservative lawyer and former congressman who leads a broad coalition of dozens of political parties, from the far left to the religious right, that have joined together to oust the Colorados. Sunday is his third try for the nation’s highest office. In 2018, he came within just 96,000 votes — or 4 percent of the total — from the presidency.The son of a bus driver and a preacher from rural Paraguay, Mr. Alegre has sought to present himself as an Everyman, promising to eschew the presidential residence if elected.He has built his campaign on a pledge to root out the “mafia” that he said controlled Paraguay. He also has promised to banish corrupt politicians to a new prison in an arid, remote region in the north and to pay for free medication by recouping what he said was $2 billion embezzled by the Colorados each year.The leading opposition candidate, Efraín Alegre, has built his campaign on a pledge to root out corruption in the country.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York Times“It’s not only about bringing change, it’s about recovering what was stolen and returning it to the people,” he said in an interview on Friday.While Mr. Peña and Mr. Alegre have led the polls, Paraguayo Cubas, 61, an eccentric anti-corruption firebrand, has gained momentum in recent surveys.Mr. Cubas is a far-right former senator who was expelled from Congress after physically grappling with other lawmakers and kicking a police car. He had previously attracted headlines for whipping a judge with his belt and then defecating in the judge’s office. He has run his campaign mainly on social media, branding Congress as a “cave of bandits” and suggesting he would rule as a dictator.Analysts are skeptical that Mr. Cubas has a path to the presidency. Instead, they said, he could take votes from Mr. Alegre and hand the Colorado Party victory.Why is a former president such an important figure?Mr. Cartes, 66, left the presidency in 2018 but is still perhaps Paraguay’s most powerful man. In addition to running the Colorado Party, he has financial interests in cigarette factories, banks, pharmacies, TV channels, newspapers and a soccer club.In January, the U.S. Treasury Department barred him and his companies from the U.S. financial system, claiming he had ties to the Lebanese Islamist militant group Hezbollah and had doled out millions of dollars to cement his control over government. Mr. Cartes has denied the allegations.Horacio Cartes, the former president of Paraguay and leader of the Colorado party, with Mr. Peña at a campaign event in Asunción.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York TimesThe financial sanctions made it more difficult for the Colorado Party to raise money and posed a political dilemma for Mr. Peña.In an interview, Mr. Peña said the allegations were Mr. Cartes’s “personal responsibility” and not reflective of the party or him. “I’m my own person,” he said. The two men still appeared onstage together this week.Mr. Alegre has seized on the allegations against Mr. Cartes, calling him the “Paraguayan Pablo Escobar.”What are the other issues?Crime: Paraguay, which has long been a haven for drug traffickers, has been shaken by a string of high-profile murders. In one case, a federal prosecutor investigating drug cartels was shot dead by jet-ski-riding assassins while on his honeymoon, next to his pregnant wife on a Colombian beach.The economy: Paraguay was one of the Latin American nations most devastated by the pandemic, and its economy shrank last year. A quarter of the population lives in poverty, many roads are still unpaved, and hospitals are short on basic medicines. Tax rates are among the lowest in the region.Families along the Paraguay River in Asunción. A quarter of the population lives in poverty.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York TimesTaiwan: Paraguay is part of a fast-shrinking club of 13 countries, mostly small island nations, that maintain relations with Taiwan rather than China. The Paraguay-Taiwan friendship — inked by their dictators in 1957 — remains strong. Taiwan paid for Paraguay’s modernist congressional building and provided its presidential jet. But Paraguay’s farmers face obstacles in exporting soybeans and beef to China as a result. Mr. Alegre has said he will re-examine the relationship, which would upset U.S. officials. Mr. Peña has pledged to keep the status quo.The dam: Whoever dons the presidential sash on Aug. 15 will also have to handle a pivotal negotiation over Itaipú, a colossal hydroelectric dam shared with Brazil. Per a 1973 treaty, Paraguay sells its spare energy from the dam to Brazil at rock-bottom prices. But the treaty elapses in August, opening the door to a transformational deal for the poorer country.What is the state of the race?Polls show a neck-and-neck race between Mr. Peña and Mr. Alegre, with each candidate leading some surveys. (Paraguayan pollsters have historically been inaccurate. In 2018, polls wildly overestimated the support for the Colorado candidate.)AtlasIntel, a Brazilian pollster, said that according to a recent online poll of 2,320 Paraguayans, Mr. Alegre led with 34 percent, Mr. Peña had 33 percent and Mr. Cubas had 23 percent. The margin of error was 2 percentage points. The poll’s biggest surprise was the level of support for Mr. Cubas.Supporters of Mr. Alegre at a campaign event in Capiatá. According to a recent online poll, Mr. Alegre has a slim lead.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York TimesIn interviews in the capital, Asunción, on Friday, Paraguayans said they were frustrated with corruption and the direction of the country, but they differed about who was the right person to change it.Juana Salinas, 74, was waiting for the bus outside a market, with a black cane and a trash bag full of food containers for sale. She said she supported Mr. Peña because she had always voted Colorado, like her deceased parents. “Always, because I’m not going to dishonor my father and mother,” she said. “My father is Colorado, my mother is Colorado.”Inside the market, Cynthia Acosta, 29, was bagging dried corn kernels that customers typically use to make chipa guasú, or Paraguayan cornbread. She said she planned to vote for Mr. Alegre once again, because she liked his plans to create jobs for young people.“There are a lot of things that need to change,” she said. “It’s not an easy job for anyone.”Cynthia Acosta said she planned to vote for Mr. Alegre once again, because she liked his plans to create jobs for young people.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York Times More

    • 163 Shares189 Views

      in Elections

      Campaign, Interrupted: Pence May Run, but He Can’t Hide From Trump’s Legal Woes

      by

      The former vice president faces many challenges in his potential presidential run, perhaps none bigger than his complicated relationship with his old boss.Former Vice President Mike Pence, seemingly in his element as he addressed a gathering of evangelical Christians in Iowa this month, was speaking of “the greatest honor of my life,” serving in “an administration that turned this country around” by rebuilding the military, securing the southern border, and unleashing “American energy.”“But most importantly, most of all,” he said, building to a crescendo — but at the moment he was about to claim some credit for his administration’s success in overturning the right to an abortion, a booming voice came over the loudspeaker from the sound booth: “Check, check, testing, 1-2-3.”It was a small interruption, but one that exemplified the diversions Mr. Pence continues to face as he considers a run for the Republican presidential nomination against the man who was once his greatest benefactor, but also his cruelest tormentor: Donald J. Trump.On Thursday, however, Mr. Pence faced a much more onerous and grueling intrusion into his potential campaign, and one that he had hoped to avoid, when he was forced to testify for more than five hours before a grand jury in Washington about Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Those efforts put Mr. Pence’s life at risk on Jan. 6, 2021, as a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, chanting “Hang Mike Pence.”Mr. Pence, the would-be candidate with unassailable religious convictions who spent four years a heartbeat away from the presidency, cannot seem to find the space to present those credentials to sympathetic Republican primary voters without interruption — and, in this case, on the biggest stage before a campaign has even begun.After Thursday’s testimony, a highly unusual event involving two of the most prominent U.S. public officials during a nascent presidential campaign in which both are likely to run, he is in the odd and uncomfortable position of being both a potential challenger to his former boss and possibly a key witness for his prosecution.Mr. Pence knows that core voters in the Republican base are in no mood to give such legal proceedings against Mr. Trump, including the current civil suit accusing him of rape and defamation, much credence. Paula Livingston, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, waved off the cases pending against Mr. Trump as “all the same, they’re out to stop him.”Nor is Mr. Trump showing any signs of contrition. On Thursday, while campaigning in New Hampshire, the former president embraced a supporter who had served prison time for her actions during the Capitol attack of Jan. 6, and called her “terrific,” even though she said she wants Mr. Pence executed for treason.But after the former vice president’s efforts to quash the Justice Department’s subpoena for his testimony failed, Mr. Pence had little choice but to lend his voice to the federal prosecution.Former President Donald J. Trump spoke at a campaign event in Manchester, N.H., on April 27. Sophie Park for The New York TimesThe Pence camp is now working to put that testimony within the broader rubric of his potential presidential run: Conservative truth teller. Pence loyalists would like Mr. Pence to be getting more credit for the Trump administration’s successes, especially for helping to choose the nominees that tilted the Supreme Court to the right.But Mr. Pence has to play the hand that he has been dealt, and right now that includes testifying against Mr. Trump.“I don’t know if he has to dislodge” Mr. Trump, Marc Short, a former chief of staff to the vice president, said. “He has to remind voters who he is.”Over his 12 years in Congress, as governor of Indiana and in the Trump White House, Mr. Pence was “the consistent conservative,” Mr. Short said, working for a man who was anything but consistent: “That’s an important contrast for him to draw,” Mr. Short said.A Republican close to the former vice president, who requested anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations, explained on Friday that Mr. Pence has long stuck with conservative constitutional principles, even when that has meant standing up to his party.As a House member, he chastised the administration of President George W. Bush for its failure to adhere to fiscal discipline as federal budget surpluses turned to large deficits. He has embraced changes to Social Security and Medicare that would trim benefits in the name of balancing the budget, changes that Mr. Trump has loudly rejected.He continues to publicly make the case for U.S. military aid to Ukraine, even as some Republican lawmakers and many Republican voters turn against it. He has said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s fight with the Walt Disney Company over social policy has strayed, and become a violation of the Republican Party’s bedrock belief in free enterprise.And he leaned on constitutional arguments, first to avoid the subpoena of federal prosecutors investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and now to comply with it. Earlier this year Mr. Pence argued that the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause, intended to protect the separation of powers between the three branches of government, shielded him from having to speak of Mr. Trump’s campaign to pressure him not to certify the election results in his ceremonial role as vice president.When that failed, he complied with the subpoena rather than search for another rationale for delay, such as the “executive privilege” claims that have been repeatedly rejected.Mr. Pence, in his recent book “So Help Me God,” described in detail Mr. Trump’s efforts to pressure him into blocking congressional certification of President Biden’s victory. Mr. Trump became preoccupied with the idea that Mr. Pence could do something, though Mr. Pence’s chief lawyer had concluded that there was no legal authority for him to act on Mr. Trump’s behalf.But people close to Mr. Pence said that just as he argued that he had to fulfill his constitutional duty on Jan. 6, 2021, he invoked that same Constitution the following day to reject overtures from Democratic leaders to use the Constitution’s 25th amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office.Aides to Mr. Pence showed little worry this week as the former vice president continues his deliberations about a run. Mr. Pence’s attitude, they said, is simple: Let the chips fall where they may.“He feels remarkably blessed to have been able to serve the American people in the roles he has had,” Mr. Short said, “and he hopes to continue that service.” More