In the News: was there fraud during the presidential election in Bolivia?

Text by: Marie Normand Follow

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A Washington Post article denies the Organization of American States (OAS) report, which preceded the exile of Bolivian President Evo Morales in November. According to two researchers from the famous American research institute MIT " there is no statistical evidence of fraud " during the presidential election in October 2019, as the OAS maintained, however. To prove it, the authors of the text claim to have carried out numerous simulations to predict the voting gap between Evo Morales and his opponent in the presidential election Carlos Mesa, using only the votes verified before the counting system stopped. This count had been suspended, without any explanation, for several hours.

According to them, " on the whole, the statistical analysis and the conclusions of the OAS seem to be deeply flawed ". " Of course, electoral fraud is a serious problem, but relying on unverified tests as evidence of fraud is a serious threat to any democracy, " conclude MIT researchers. " This article supports Evo Morales' party theory that there was no fraud, but rather a coup ," writes the Bolivian newspaper Pagina Siete . Former President Evo Morales shared it on his Twitter account. The Mexican government " requests that the Organization of American States (OAS) clarify and explain the shortcomings of its report, " reports La Jornada .

United States: coronavirus and presidential campaign

In the United States, it is mainly the coronavirus that makes the headlines, and its impact on stock markets. On paper editions of the New York Times , the Washington Post , the same curves are desperately pointing down. For the New York Post , the coronavirus infected Wall Street. The stock markets plunge " in a context where there is growing fear that the economic fallout from the global spread of the coronavirus is more serious than expected, " comments the Wall Street Journal .

How to campaign for the November elections in this context? Democratic congressional leaders call for bipartisan cooperation on this issue. "Now is not the time for politics, " they said in a statement. But the Wall Street Journal has a hard time believing it as the exchanges of the past few days have proved the opposite. " It is not yet known whether the Covid-19 virus will become a major public health crisis in the United States, but it is not too early to recognize that Washington is already in the final stages of political delirium ."

In parallel, the candidate for the Democratic primary, Mike Bloomberg, announces that he could not support his opponent Bernie Sanders if the latter won the nomination of the party. The Los Angeles Times recalls that it had claimed in the past that it would use its fortune to support any candidate facing Donald Trump in November.

Mexico: Man Sentenced for Murder of Javier Valdez

Heriberto Picos Barraza, aka El Koala, was sentenced to 14 years and eight months in prison for the murder of the journalist, in Culiacán, Sinaloa state, in 2017. The man accepted the sentence proposed by the office of the special prosecutor for crimes against freedom of expression. It is the “ first sentence pronounced for the murder of a journalist ” obtained by this special prosecution, writes the Mexican media Debate . El Koala had been the driver for the two men who shot down Javier Valdez. The prosecution believes that the assassination was sponsored by the son of a drug trafficker who had been criticized in an article.

Chile exports more and more cocaine

This is the content of a United Nations report quoted by the Chilean newspaper La Tercera : Chile has become one of the main countries of origin of the drug which arrives on the European market. It is above all ready-to-consume cocaine and cocaine paste, the raw material used to make this drug. It arrives from Colombia and is shipped to Spain by sea.

Cuba: opponent Daniel Ferrer awaits his verdict

The hearings of this closed-door trial have ended, in the court of Santiago de Cuba. Daniel Ferrer is accused of having violently attacked another man. " The prosecution reiterated before the court its request for nine years in prison, " writes Cibercuba . The accused claims to be innocent, his lawyer contends that the victim's injuries " were caused by falling on a bicycle ". The opponent has been in prison since October 1. Cibercuba maintains that the Cuban regime " has orchestrated an intense propaganda campaign to discredit the opponent ". The verdict will be announced on March 12, according to witnesses to the legal proceedings, quoted by the online media. 14ymedio recalls that Amnesty International and the Organization of American States have asked for the release of Daniel Ferrer on several occasions.

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