Chile president signs off on constitutional change referendum

Yahoo – AFP, December 23, 2019

A demonstrator in front of the presidential palace during a protest against Chilean
President Sebastian Pinera's government on December 20, 2019 (AFP Photo/
Martin BERNETTI)

Santiago (AFP) - Chile President Sebastian Pinera enacted a law on Monday that will allow the South American country to hold a referendum on April 26 to change its military dictatorship era constitution.

Changing the constitution enacted under former dictator Augusto Pinochet, who ruled from 1973-90, was one of the main demands made of Pinera as he bids to end two months of protests against his government and inequality.

"This reform opens the doors and defines a path to achieve a great constitutional agreement," said Pinera in signing into law a bill approved last week by Congress.

Many Chileans believe the constitution to be a source of many inequalities affecting them.

They will be asked two questions on April 26: do they want a new constitution and who should draft it.

The second question refers to whether or not those tasked with the redrafting should be specifically elected by the public to do so, for example in the formation of a new constitution assembly.

The government favors a committee made up half of existing lawmakers and half by a new group elected directly by the public to draft the constitution, while the opposition prefers a committee made up entirely of specifically elected members.

The decision to hold a referendum to change the constitution was reached following an agreement last month between the government and left-wing opposition parties and came just two days after particularly violent protests.

Pinera signed the enactment at the presidential palace in the company of socialist former president Ricardo Lagos, who 15 years ago introduced a number of significant constitutional reforms.

Should Chileans vote to redraft the constitution, a new poll to elect those responsible for the task in hand would be held in October 2020, during regional and municipal elections.

The constitutional body would then have nine months to come up with a new text, a deadline which could be extended by a further three months.

"This referendum, the first in 30 years, should serve us in leaving behind the violence and divisions that we've painfully and sadly seen resurging these last few days," said Pinera.

One of the protesters main demands is that Pinera resign.

Pinera was initially opposed to constitutional reform when he was elected to replace socialist Michelle Bachelet last year.

The constitution has been changed numerous times since it was enacted in 1980.

Cuba gets first prime minister in over 40 years

Yahoo – AFP, December 21, 2019

Manuel Marrero (C) is Cuba's first prime minister since 1976 (AFP Photo/
YAMIL LAGE)

Havana (AFP) - Cuba's first prime minister in more than four decades -- long-serving tourism minister Manuel Marrero -- took office Saturday as the country resurrected a post last held by Fidel Castro.

The appointment of Marrero, 56, as head of government is part of a process of decentralization and generational change from the revolutionary old guard that is aimed at extending and protecting the rule of the Communist Party on the island.

"This proposal was duly approved by the political bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba," President Miguel Diaz-Canel said, presenting it to the country's National Assembly, which unanimously signed off.

Immediately after his presentation, Marrero received a handshake from former president Raul Castro, the leader of the Communist Party.

Marrero served as tourism minister from 2004, late in revolutionary hero Castro's administration, continuing in the post under Fidel's brother Raul and the current president, Diaz-Canel.

He began his career in government in 1999 as vice president of the powerful Gaviota Hotel Group belonging to the armed forces, becoming its president a year later -- a post he held until 2004.

"Throughout his career... (Marrero) has been characterized by his modesty, honesty, work capacity, political sensitivity and loyalty to the party and the revolution," Diaz-Canel said.

The new premier "has led the tourism industry in a commendable fashion, which constitutes one of the main lines of development of the national economy," he added.

The position of prime minister was last held by revolutionary hero Fidel Castro in 1976.

But the post was abolished when Castro transitioned to the presidency, taking over from Osvaldo Dorticos after the country's constitution was restructured.

AMLO's 'Maya Train' wins in landslide in Mexico

Yahoo – AFP, December 16, 2019

A citizen marks his ballot during a referendum on building a "Maya Train", in Felipe
Carrillo Puerto, Champoton, Campeche state, Mexico, on December 15, 2019
(AFP Photo/Lexie Harrison-Cripps)

Mexico City (AFP) - Indigenous communities in southern Mexico voted overwhelmingly to approve President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's pet project to build a regional railroad aimed at boosting tourism and economic development, the government said Monday.

The $6.2-billion "Maya Train" is meant to link Caribbean resorts such as Cancun and Playa del Carmen with ancient Mayan archaeological sites such as Palenque and Chichen Itza, passing through the impoverished interior of southeastern Mexico along the way.

Lopez Obrador, an anti-establishment leftist widely known as "AMLO", says the passenger and freight railroad will kick-start economic development in the region.

But it has faced resistance from activists and some indigenous communities over the lack of clarity on the environmental impact.

However, the region's communities are overwhelmingly in favor, according to official results from a referendum on the issue -- which was itself the subject of criticism.

Hundreds of indigenous villages held communal councils on the project over the weekend, while 84 municipalities in the train's path voted in a more classic ballot-box referendum.

Citizens attend a consultation meeting during a referendum on building a 

"Maya Train", in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Champoton, Campeche state, Mexico, 

on December 15, 2019 (AFP Photo/Lexie Harrison-Cripps)

"There is a generalized consensus, unanimous, in support of building and implementing the Maya Train program," said Adelfo Regino, head of Mexico's National Indigenous Peoples' Institute.

"We have 93,142 Mexicans who voted 'Yes', equivalent to 92.3 percent of the vote," said the deputy minister for development, Diana Alvarez.

The government acknowledged many indigenous communities also demanded attention for more pressing issues, such as schools, health centers, roads and protection of their environment and archaeological sites.

Lopez Obrador said the first tender for the project would be launched in early January.

The president's opponents have accused him of using such referenda -- or "people's consultations," as he calls them -- to rubber-stamp his stance on controversial issues with no oversight by electoral authorities.

Other decisions he has made by referendum include building a new oil refinery in his native Tabasco state and canceling a $13-billion airport for Mexico City that was already one-third complete and replacing it with a rival project.

New president promises to put Argentines before debt repayments

Yahoo – AFP, Nina NEGRON, December 10, 2019

Argentina's new president, Alberto Fernandez, waves next to Vice President
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, after receiving the presidential sash from outgoing
leader Mauricio Macri (AFP Photo/Alejandro PAGNI)

Buenos Aires (AFP) - Center-leftist Alberto Fernandez vowed to put his people first ahead of debt repayments after he was sworn in as Argentina's president on Tuesday to singing and applause from lawmakers and supporters.

After taking over from the market-friendly Mauricio Macri, Fernandez sent a message to the International Monetary Fund, saying "it's impossible to pay external debt without growth."

Fernandez, whose vice president is controversial former leader Cristina Kirchner, will govern until 2023, presiding over a country beset by recession, high inflation, rising unemployment and poverty.

While the South American country wants to pay back its debt, it doesn't have "the means to do so," he said, promising to deal with Argentina's social emergency.

Fernandez was swept to power in large part due to a public backlash over the terms of a $57 billion loan Macri negotiated with the IMF last year.

With Argentina's rising debt came deeply unpopular austerity measures.

Argentina has so far received $44 billion of the agreed IMF loan, taking its external debt to $315 billion, around 100 percent of gross domestic product.

"We want to have a good relationship with the IMF but without growth we won't be able to pay," said Fernandez, accusing Macri of leaving the country in "virtual default" following 18 months of economic turmoil triggered by a currency crisis.

Speaking in a televised address, the Peronist leader promised a "new, fraternal and caring social contract."

Fernandez also said Argentina needs to "overcome the rancor and hate" that has become a feature of its increasingly polarized political landscape.

He twice hugged Macri tightly during the ceremony.

Notable absentee

The new head of state will host a lunch for fellow Latin American presidents -- including Cuba's Miguel Diaz-Canel -- before addressing a crowd at the Plaza de Mayo in the evening.

Chile's President Sebastian Pinera was due to attend but canceled after a Chilean Air Force plane went missing with 38 people onboard. It would have been Pinera's first foreign trip since the outbreak of social unrest in Chile in early October.

Another notable absentee was Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist who has recoiled at Argentina's swing to the left.

Argentina's Alberto Fernandez receives the presidential sash from outgoing leader 

Mauricio Macri during his inauguration ceremony in Buenos Aires (AFP Photo/

Ronaldo SCHEMIDT)

Bolsonaro at first declined to send a cabinet minister to represent him, but in the end sent Vice President Hamilton Mourao to represent his government.

Ahead of Fernandez's election victory, Bolsonaro had said that his government would turn Argentina into the new Venezuela, with Brazil likely to face a flood of Argentine refugees.

Fernandez's was among the loudest voices to call for the release of leftist icon and Bolsonaro adversary Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from jail.

Backroom strategist

Moderate and pragmatic, Fernandez has never served in elected office but brings years of experience as a former top aide to late president Nestor Kirchner from 2003-2007, and briefly for his wife Cristina after she succeeded him.

After joining forces with Cristina Kirchner to unite a fragmented Peronist camp to win October's elections, his main challenge will be to deliver on his promises to improve the economy, according to analysts Eurasia Group.

"He was elected to improve economic conditions, and there is a large share of the electorate that will be actively opposed to Fernandez and the Peronists," said Eurasia.

"If he fails to deliver on the economy, they will become more active and popular support for him could drop quickly."

His pick for economy minister, Martin Guzman, 37, will have the task of negotiating with the IMF and other international creditors on restructuring Argentina's massive debt.

Guzman, an academic at Columbia University in the United States, has criticized the use of austerity policies to solve debt crises, signalling a sharp shift from Macri's belt-tightening.

"We are already working with the IMF. It's work that must be done quietly, so Argentines can rest assured that we have been dealing with the issue for weeks," Fernandez said over the weekend.

"We have opened a negotiation process, we are satisfied with how it's going."

Monetary controls

Economist Hector Rubini of the University of Salvador said the government is likely to maintain the strict exchange controls put in place by the Macri government in October, at least initially.

He said a new budget law will likely reallocate funds to fight poverty, which Fernandez called "a moral imperative."

Fernandez has also pledged to move to legalize abortion, a bitterly divisive issue in Roman Catholic Argentina, pledging last month to send a bill to Congress as soon as possible.

He inherits a dismal economy that is projected to shrink 3.1 percent this year, with inflation running at 55 percent, poverty near 40 percent, and unemployment at over 10 percent.

Despite the bleak outlook, Fernandez is likely to be able to count on a period of calm from the powerful unions, and will have Congress and debt timetables on his side.

'The rapist is you': Chile hymn against sexual violence goes viral

Yahoo – AFP, December 5, 2019

Women of all ages from around Santiago dressed in black, sporting red scarves and
blindfolds, converged on the sporting venue in the early evening after a call-out on
social media networks (AFP Photo/Martin BERNETTI)

Santiago (AFP) - Thousands of women have mobbed the National Stadium in Chile's capital for a flash denunciation of sexual violence -- the latest performance of a battle-cry that has seized public attention during weeks of national unrest.

Women of all ages from around Santiago, dressed in black and wearing red scarves and blindfolds, converged on the sporting venue in the early evening after a call-out on social media networks.

"The fault is not with me, nor where I was, nor how I was dressed... The rapist is you!" the group sang, stomping their feet and waving their arms in a choreographed routine that has in recent weeks been staged around the country and around the world.

Similar performances have been staged by women as far away as Paris, Barcelona and Mexico City.

"It was a great experience to share this with thousands and thousands of women," 66-year-old Jacqueline Saintard told AFP after Wednesday's demonstration.

First created by the feminist collective LasTesis, based in the Chilean seaside town of Valparaiso, the performance began to be emulated after reports of police violence against women and as countrywide demonstrations against the government gained steam.

Those protests initially erupted in mid-October over metro fare hikes but quickly escalated into the most severe outbreak of social unrest since the end of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet nearly 30 years ago.

Furious Chileans have taken to the streets in the weeks since to protest social and economic inequality.

More than 3,500 women were killed across Latin America and the Caribbean in acts of gender-based violence last year, according to UN data.

Women in Chile's capital gather to sing a song against gender-based violence. The song, which has gone viral, originated in the country in the midst of the ongoing social crisis https://t.co/RMXets0Y3f pic.twitter.com/674hjVzVsF

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 5, 2019