Headlines: stormy parliamentary re-entry in the United States?
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin April 21, 2020 at the White House (Illustrative image).
AFP Photos / Mandel Ngan
Text by: Stefanie Schüler Follow
6 min
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Today is the start of the parliamentary term in the United States, with the return of senators after their summer vacation.
"
The elected representatives of the US Senate are coming back to the same dead end from which they had extricated themselves, three weeks ago, to take a rest,
" notes the
New York Times
.
“
The divisions between Republicans and Democrats are always the same when it comes to voting on a new economic aid package to counter the effects of the coronavirus epidemic.
Except that this time they risk a closure of the administration if they do not manage to come to an agreement
”.
"
Such a shutdown,
" the
New York Times points out
, "
would add to the economic hardship faced by millions of unemployed Americans.
The least we can say is that at eight weeks before the elections, the situation is delicate for both camps
”.
The
Wall Street Journal
recalls that the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and the Secretary of State for the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, reached an informal agreement last week.
The objective: "to
avoid at all costs the closure of the government
".
“
As the White House and the Democrats in Congress are very pessimistic about the possibility of agreeing on a stimulus package, so much the differences are important, the idea would be to guarantee at least the basic funding of federal services.
This funding expires on October 1,
”explains the business daily.
The suburbs
: the stake of the presidential election
Eight weeks before the American elections, many newspapers are looking this Tuesday at the voters who will perhaps determine the outcome of the polls.
“
The Democrats,
” writes the
Los Angeles Times
columnist
, “
have become the party of the cities, while the Republicans' strongholds are found in rural areas, small towns and peri-urban areas with small populations.
However, the November elections will not be won in either of these two competing universes, but in the suburbs,
”estimates the daily.
The
Los Angeles Times
notes that “
Since 2012, suburbs have accounted for about 90% of the expansion of major cities.
In the country's 53 largest cities, 8 out of 10 inhabitants live in the suburbs.
So much so that the suburbs now account - beware - nearly half of American voters
”.
And the newspaper concludes: “
For a long time, it is the State of Florida which is considered as the maker of king [or rather maker of president].
Well today, the suburbs are the new Florida
”.
Bolivia
: Evo Morales will not be able to run for the Senate
Direction Latin America now, with two eagerly awaited decisions for two former heads of state, belonging to what had been described in the early 2000s as "the
new Latin American left
".
First in Bolivia, the Constitutional Court yesterday confirmed the decision of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal: ex-president Evo Morales will not be able to stand as a candidate for the Senate in the October elections.
"
Evo is not going there
", headlines the newspaper
Correo del Sur
.
The Bolivian justice considered that Evo Morales could not stand for the legislative elections, because he had gone into exile in Argentina.
However, according to the Bolivian electoral code, one must reside in Bolivia for at least the two years preceding the election.
Evo Morales' political opponents unanimously welcomed the court decision, like former centrist president Carlos Mesa who is seeking a new term in October.
“
No one is above the laws of our country.
Neither does Evo Morales
, ”he says in the columns of
La Razon
.
According to the newspaper
Los Tiempos
, the person himself said he accepted the decision of the Constitutional Court while qualifying it as "
political, illegal and unconstitutional
".
Ecuador
: Rafael Correra's sentence confirmed
In Ecuador, the courts confirmed in cassation the conviction of former President Rafael Correa to 8 years in prison for having received bribes in exchange for contracts with several companies between 2012 and 2016. He will not be able to run for vice-president. presidency of the country during the elections next February.
Rafael Correa, who has lived in Belgium since 2017, was convicted last April, like his former vice-president, of former ministers and businessmen.
The sentence of 8 years in prison was confirmed yesterday for 16 people, which constitutes "
a first in national history", points out
El Comercio
.
"
What the prosecution has shown (...) is that the former president led a criminal organization, which used the state to receive bribes
," writes
La Hora
in a long article in one of his website.
For the newspaper, it is in any case a decisive day for Ecuador.
For the editorialist of
La Hora
, "
the country must begin, as soon as possible, a process of reconciliation and reconstruction
".
"
May this case be an act of independence of the judiciary
", he continues, "
and that it serve as an example for the other powers of the State which, if they do not manage to get rid of the scourge of abuse and corruption, may suffer the same fate
”.
El Comercio
nevertheless qualifies the scope of this decision.
The daily recalls that "
the money has not yet been recovered, the State has not yet received compensation and the convicted persons have not yet been arrested
".
For his part, Rafael Correa has once again denounced a conspiracy
on his Twitter account
and promises that this only increases "
his popular support
".
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