Democracy
Bolivia Is on Fire. Political Coup Or Popular Uprising? Who Is To Blame?
Thousands of miners, teachers, and indigenous workers — some of whom marched over 1,100 kilometers to La Paz in plastic sandals — have clashed with police outside Bolivia’s presidential palace as dynamite detonates in the streets. The uprising is rooted in documented economic suffering: 14% inflation, collapsed natural gas revenues, fuel shortages so severe that hospitals are running out of oxygen. But former President Evo Morales, facing criminal contempt for refusing to appear in a human trafficking trial, has publicly backed the protests and called for them to continue until the government of President Rodrigo Paz falls — giving a genuine popular revolt a deeply political dimension. The political opposition to Evo Morales has accused the former president of orchestrating a coup.
Democracy
Colombia’s Election Is 13 Days Out. And The Race Just Changed — Again
A new Genesis Crea Foundation poll has Paloma Valencia overtaking Abelardo De la Espriella for second place in Colombia’s presidential race — 25.4% to 21.6% — with front-runner Iván Cepeda holding steady at 35.1%. The shift matters because every major poll shows Cepeda defeating De la Espriella comfortably in a runoff, but losing to Valencia by a far narrower margin. With 13 days until the May 31 first round and the battle for second place now the defining contest, U.S. Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart has publicly warned of a “deterioration of democracy” in Colombia amid documented political violence and the assassination of a Democratic Center senator during the campaign period.
Democracy
Peru’s Runoff Election: Keiko Fujimori vs. Roberto Sánchez on June 7 — A Nation Divided
Here we go again...
Peru’s National Jury of Elections confirmed on Sunday that Keiko Fujimori — running for president for the fourth time — will face center-left economist Roberto Sánchez in a June 7 runoff, after a chaotic first round marked by delays, a disinformation campaign by third-place finisher Rafael López Aliaga, and a 3–2 JNE ruling against annulling the results. The runoff arrives against a backdrop of profound political instability: Peru has cycled through eight presidents since 2016, Sánchez faces a prosecutors’ request for prison time over campaign finance violations, and a former finance minister is already warning the race puts Peru’s famous macroeconomic stability at risk.
