Tropical Storm Zeta formed early Sunday off the coast of Cuba, becoming the earliest named 27th Atlantic storm recorded in an already historic hurricane season.The system was centered about 400 kilometers south-southeast of the western tip of Cuba, forecasters with the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in a 2 a.m. EDT advisory.Zeta was stationary, located near the Yucatan Peninsula about 415 kilometers east-southeast of Cozumel, Mexico. A tropical storm warning was in effect for Pinar del Rio, Cuba, and a tropical storm watch was in effect for Cozumel and for Tulum to Rio Lagartos, Mexico.The tropical storm had maximum sustained winds of 65 kph, forecasters said. The system was expected to reorganize and move to the north-northwest later Sunday, skirting past Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula on Monday before entering the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday.Zeta broke the record of the previous earliest 27th Atlantic named storm that formed Nov. 29, 2005, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.This year’s season has so many storms that the hurricane center has turned to the Greek alphabet after running out of official names.Forecasters said Zeta could bring 10 to 20 centimeters of rain to parts of the Caribbean, Mexico, southern Florida and the Florida Keys through Wednesday. Isolated totals up to 30 centimeters were possible.
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An international treaty banning nuclear weapons has been ratified by a 50th country — Honduras — allowing it to enter into force after 90 days, a U.N. official said Saturday.”Today is a victory for humanity, and a promise of a safer future,” Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a statement.Other NGOs also welcomed the news, including the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a coalition that won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its key role in bringing the treaty to fruition.”Honduras just ratified the treaty as the 50th state, triggering entry into force and making history,” ICAN said in its tweet.The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons — which bans the use, development, production, testing, stationing, stockpiling and threat of use of such weapons — was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in July 2017 with the approval of 122 countries.It is now expected to enter into force in January 2021.The clutch of nuclear-armed states, including the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia, have not signed the treaty.However, campaigners hope that its coming into force will have the same impact as previous international treaties on land mines and cluster munitions, bringing a stigma to their stockpiling and use, and thereby a change in behavior even in countries that did not sign up.
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Prominent opposition activist Leopoldo López has abandoned the Spanish ambassador’s residence in Caracas and left Venezuela after years of frustrated efforts to oust the nation’s socialist president, his party said Saturday.The 49-year-old former Caracas-area mayor has been holed up at the ambassador’s residence since a failed military uprising he led in April 2019 aimed at ousting President Nicolás Maduro. He has been jailed, under house arrest or in a foreign embassy refuge for nearly seven years.In a statement from Popular Will, the party López founded, leaders confirmed he had left the country to continue his work from abroad in a decision they deemed “best for the country and the fight for Venezuela’s freedom.””After seven years of persecution and unjust imprisonment inside Venezuela, Leopoldo López is still not totally free, like all Venezuelans, so long as there exists a dictatorship that violates the human rights of the people,” the party said.It is unclear how López left the ambassador’s residence, given the heavy state security presence permanently stationed outside the property. Travel by land has grown increasingly difficult because of widespread fuel shortages. Filling up a vehicle with gas can take hours if not days, and checkpoints manned by security forces have proliferated across the country.Efforts to continueIn a message directed to Maduro on Twitter, U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó said his political mentor had gotten out of Venezuela by “evading your repressive apparatus.” He added that López’s efforts to remove Maduro would continue from abroad as part of the opposition strategy to garner international support.”Maduro you don’t control anything,” Guaidó wrote.There was no immediate reaction from Venezuelan authorities.López was sentenced in 2015 to nearly 14 years in prison after being convicted of inciting violence during anti-government protests in which three people died and dozens were wounded. He was released from prison and placed under house arrest after more than three years in a military jail.FILE – Juan Guaido, leader of Venezuela’s political opposition, talks to a journalist during an interview with Associated Press in Brussels, Jan. 22, 2020.Even from his confines, López has remained an influential figure in Venezuela’s opposition, advising Guaidó, who claims he is the country’s interim president because Maduro’s 2018 reelection was not legitimate.But after drawing tens of thousands of people to the streets last year, the opposition has struggled to regain momentum. Maduro remains firmly in control of the nation’s military and nearly all other government institutions.López’s flight is likely to be held up by the government as a trophy as it prepares to retake control of the National Assembly in December legislative elections that Guaidó has vowed to boycott. López had long stubbornly refused to leave, even when his wife and children fled to Spain last year.Dozens have leftHe would join dozens of anti-government politicians who have fled Venezuela over recent years, many leaving covertly to avoid potential persecution or jail time.”It’s probably the clearest sign that the continued opposition effort to unseat Maduro has floundered that a committed stay-in-Venezuela leader like Lopez has chosen to finally leave,” said Raul Gallegos, a Colombia-based analyst at the Control Risks consultancy.López pursued a strategy in 2014 known as “The Exit,” consisting of street protests months after Maduro was elected. The strategy failed and ultimately divided the opposition. That combativeness led to his arrest and conviction on insurrection charges branded a sham by human rights groups.FILE – Venezuela’s President Maduro touches a gold bar as he speaks during a meeting with the ministers responsible for the economic sector in Caracas, March 22, 2018.His hardline stance, backed by Washington, would ultimately come to dominate the fractious opposition, which rallied behind Guaidó. A follower of López, he had become congressional president and is now recognized by more than 50 countries as Venezuela’s rightful leader.The years López spent at a military prison, during which he read the works of Nelson Mandela and kept up a rigorous exercise regimen, solidified his image as a man willing to risk his own skin to rid the country of Maduro.He sought allies among his former jailers in the military and in 2019 reappeared on a highway overpass with a small band of national guardsmen calling for an uprising against Maduro. The putsch was easily quashed and López took refuge in the ambassador’s residence.Critics within coalitionSince then, López has struggled to maintain the same leadership. While Guaidó named him his cabinet chief, many in the opposition coalition, envious of his influence in Washington, sought to quietly undermine him, accusing him of having a messiah complex and failing to build consensus.His departure comes just days after Spain’s Ambassador Jesus Silva — who has been the dean of Caracas’ dwindling diplomatic community — was recalled by Spain’s leftist government to Madrid after serving for four years.Silva, a career diplomat, was a firm backer of López. But as a holdover from previous Spanish administrations who was once expelled by Maduro, he was less effective an interlocutor when Spain’s socialist government took power.Even as his whereabouts remained unknown, some opposition leaders were praising López’s decision to flee.”We await you in the diaspora to continue fighting for the freedom of all of Venezuela,” said Antonio Ledezma, a former Caracas mayor who himself fled in a risky trek by land out of the nation in 2017 after being briefly jailed on charges of plotting to oust Maduro.
 
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Chileans are poised to vote for a new constitution as they head to the polls Sunday.While the current constitution, which dates to Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, has helped Chile establish itself as one of the region’s most stable and successful economies, many in the country say they feel left out.Dissatisfaction has led to violent protests, starting last year with massive violence over a transit fare hike that left 26 dead, CNN reported. More recently, churches have been burned and hundreds have been arrested in widespread demonstrations.A new constitution, to be written by an elected citizen’s body, has been the main demand of the protesters, who say the current governing document favors private interests and gives disproportionate access to education and health care.Opponents of the new constitution say changing a document that has favored Chile’s economic success is a “leap into the void,” Reuters reported.Analysts say a new constitution could be more inclusive, but that promised social policies might not be able to be supported economically.Alejandro Werner, IMF Western Hemisphere director, told Reuters on Thursday a new constitution could usher in “a new era in which the main elements that generated the Chilean success story … are maintained in terms of economic growth, but complemented by a social inclusion agenda.”A potential risk, he said was “a multiplicity of social policies without macroeconomic support.”Sunday’s vote would decide not only if Chile would get a new constitution, but who would write it. According to CNN, a constitutional assembly would be chosen in April 2021 during municipal and regional elections. A new constitution would take more than a year to write, CNN reported.Polls currently show two-thirds of Chileans support a new constitution, Reuters reported.
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Warming relations between the United States and Brazil received a boost this week with an update to an existing U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens to Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo speaking during a press conference at the Boa Vista Air Base in Roraima, Brazil, Sept. 18, 2020.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressed another mutual benefit from the relationship when he addressed a virtual forum organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, opened by Bolsonaro.“To the extent we can find ways that we can increase the trade between our two countries, we can … decrease each of our two nations’ dependence for critical items” coming from China, Huawei headquarters building is pictured in Reading, Britain, July 14, 2020.Bolsonaro is recently reported to favor keeping Huawei out of his country’s telecom infrastructure, but China’s official media has reported that Brazil’s vice president welcomes Huawei’s participation in the country’s 5G network.The question of 5G “is a sensitive matter, which will be decided at the appropriate level in Brazil in a transparent and open way,” Forster told VOA.Who’s to build Brazil’s 5G network is “up for public auction,” he said, with some standards to be announced later this year and the auction to take place in 2021.Forster said his government will be “looking at the different aspects of the equation; there’s the economic aspect of it, the financial aspect of it, there’s also security aspect of it, there’s data privacy involved, legal security involved; no final decision has been made.”In the Chamber of Commerce forum, Pompeo said Brazil can serve as a potential “anchor” as the U.S. builds closer ties with “all of our friends in the Western Hemisphere and in South America.”David R. Shedd, a former acting director of U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, agreed, saying the signing of the trade protocol and other measures hold the potential for an “exciting new period” in U.S. relations with Brazil and its neighbors.With a U.S. presidential election less than two weeks away, however, Shedd told VOA that Brazil and the whole Latin American region have adopted a “wait and see” approach on certain key issues.While acknowledging he doesn’t know how Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Joe Biden might handle relations with Brazil, he said it is clear that a Democratic administration would pay much more attention to the environment.Peter Hakim, president emeritus and senior fellow at the Inter-America Dialogue, believes that if elected, Biden “will almost surely emphasize environmental concerns and worker’s rights issues, which will not find much resonance in Brazil.” 
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U.S. forecasters say Hurricane Epsilon has dropped in intensity after being upgraded overnight to a Category 3 storm on the scale that measures hurricane strength.Epsilon, now a strong Category 2 storm, is still expected to cause tropical storm conditions on the island of Bermuda.The latest report from the National Hurricane Center Thursday had Epsilon 385 kilometers east – south east of Bermuda, with maximum winds of 155 kilometers per hour. Epsilon is expected to miss Bermuda when it makes its closest approach Thursday or Friday.Forecasters say on Wednesday, when the storm rapidly intensified, its winds reached 185 kilometers per hour, leading to the upgraded designation. A U.S. Air Force hurricane hunter aircraft flew into the eye of the storm late Wednesday and found it to be 22 kilometers across and dramatically well-defined, an indication of the storm’s intensity.Epsilon became fourth major hurricane of the 2020 season, along with Laura, Teddy, and Delta, and the second major hurricane to form in October. Meteorologists say only six other years have seen two major hurricanes form in October and no season on record has had more than two.Epsilon had already set records for rapid intensification at its position and this late in the season Tuesday into Wednesday when it went from being tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane. It is also the 26th named storm to form this hurricane season.The storm is generating dangerous surf and rip currents conditions in areas ranging from the Bahamas and Leeward islands to the south and Canada to the north. 
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he has canceled a deal to buy a Chinese-developed vaccine against the coronavirus, a day after his health minister announced Brazil would purchase millions of doses of CoronaVac.Bolsonaro said Wednesday that the intentions of Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria, one of his leading opponents, were distorted, saying he already canceled the deal before Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello signed it.Pazuello said in a statement that there was “no commitment” to buy the vaccine, only a “non-binding memorandum of understanding between the health ministry and the Butantan Institute” to test and produce the vaccine.Bolsonaro, who said he would not let Brazilians be guinea pigs for the Sinovac drug, is promoting the purchase of another vaccine developed by Oxford University in Britain.Brazil is helping to test both of vaccines in the final stage of clinical trials.Meantime, The Wall Street Journal reports, a Brazilian health regulator says the clinical trials of the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca PLC will continue although a volunteer died.Both Oxford University and AstraZeneca reportedly found no safety issues which warranted the trial being stopped.
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The National Hurricane Center says late season Hurricane Epsilon has become a strong Category 1 storm and has set some impressive records in doing so.Forecasters say Epsilon has maximum sustained winds of about 150 kilometers per hour (kph). At last report, the storm was still about 650 kilometers east to southeast of Bermuda and approaching. But forecasters say it is likely Bermuda will be sideswiped by Epsilon when it makes its closest pass sometime late Thursday.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) researcher Sam Lillo has been monitoring Epsilon’s progress over the last 24 hours and says what makes Epsilon significant is the speed at which it has strengthened. Lilo says early Tuesday, Epsilon was a 72 kph tropical storm; by early Wednesday, it had become a hurricane with 150 kph winds.Lillo says that no storm that far northeast has strengthened that fast so late in the hurricane season before. He noted seven other storms underwent rapid intensification this year, including the last three in succession, Gamma, Delta, and now Epsilon.Forming in the southern Caribbean earlier this month, Delta went from a tropical depression with 56 kph winds to a major Category 4 hurricane with 233 kph winds in just over a day — faster than any storm on record.Hurricanes undergo rapid intensification when there is the right combination of weak upper-level winds and warm ocean surface temperatures.This year’s hurricane season has had so many storms that the hurricane center has turned to the Greek alphabet for storm names after running out of official names.Forecasters say Epsilon is the 26th named storm to have formed in the Atlantic this year, and the earliest that a 26th named storm has formed in any given year. The previous record for a 26th Atlantic named storm formation was by November 22 — Delta in 2005. 
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The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Epsilon has strengthened into a hurricane, the 10th of the Atlantic season, as it approaches Bermuda later this week.In its latest report early Wednesday, the hurricane center said Epsilon was about 725 kilometers east to southeast of Bermuda and had maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour. It was moving toward Bermuda at about 22 kph, putting it at its closest approach to the island late Thursday.Forecasters said while there is a risk of a direct impact, it is likely to turn north before making a direct hit on the island. Nonetheless, a tropical storm watch is in effect for Bermuda, and residents have been urged to closely monitor the storm.This year’s hurricane season has had so many storms that the hurricane center has turned to the Greek alphabet for storm names after running out of official names.Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach reported this is the 10th hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. He tweeted that “only four other years in the satellite era (since 1966) have had 10-plus Atlantic hurricanes by October 20.”The other years were 1969, 1995, 2005 and 2017.Klotzbach also said Epsilon is the 26th named storm to have formed in the Atlantic this year, and the earliest that a 26th named storm has formed in any given year. The previous record for a 26th Atlantic named storm formation was by November 22 — Delta in 2005. 
 
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Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is taking part in Phase 3 trials of a potential coronavirus vaccine.  Venezuelan state television showed Zelaya receiving a shot of Russia’s experimental Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Caracas on Monday.  Venezuela is the first Latin American country to participate in the testing process.FILE – A Russian medical worker administers a shot of Russia’s experimental Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow, Russia, Sept. 15, 2020.Western experts raised questions over the Sputnik V vaccine’s readiness for mass trials, citing the fact that Russia had tested the vaccine on just a small sample group before launching widespread testing. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro discounted the criticism, expressing satisfaction Zelaya is taking part in the trials.  So far, Venezuela has confirmed more than 87,000 coronavirus cases and at least 736 deaths. 
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Argentina is now the world’s fifth country with more than one million confirmed COVID-19 cases.  Data collected by Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center shows the South American country has 1,002,662 total cases.  Argentina is in fifth place behind the United States (8.2 million), India (7.5 million), Brazil (5.2 million) and Russia (1.4 million).   The one million coronavirus cases in Argentina include 26,716 deaths.   The new figures from Argentina push the total number of worldwide coronavirus infections to more than 40.4 million cases, including 1.1 million deaths. FILE – Scientists and researchers work on a potential vaccine for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a Pfizer’s laboratory.Reuters news agency says U.S.-based pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and German-based BioNTech have begun a combined Phase One and Phase Two trial of an experimental coronavirus vaccine in Japan.  The study will recruit 160 people between the ages of 20 and 85 to take part in the study.   The United Nations Children’s Fund says it will stockpile 500 million syringes by the end of the year, and one billion by 2021, as part of its preparations for an eventual COVID-19 vaccine.  According to U.N. News, the stockpile of one billion syringes to support the agency’s coronavirus vaccination drive is in addition to the 620 million syringes UNICEF plans to purchase for its normal vaccination programs. UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore says the push to vaccinate billions of the world’s children against COVID-19 “will be one of the largest mass undertakings in human history, and we will need to move as quickly as the vaccines can be produced.” 
UNICEF is the world’s largest purchaser of vaccines, buying more than two billion doses annually for routine vaccination efforts against such diseases as measles and typhoid, as well as outbreak responses on behalf of nearly 100 countries.  A report in The Guardian newspaper says Chinese health authorities have found traces of live coronavirus on frozen food packaging.  The live virus was detected during an investigation of an outbreak in the eastern coastal city of Qingdao, marking the first time the virus in an active state has been detected on the outside of refrigerated goods. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has previously said there has been no evidence of COVID-19 infection through handling or consuming food.  Empty city center shopping streets are seen as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Galway, Ireland, Oct. 19, 2020.Ireland announced some of the strictest measures in Europe this fall to combat a surge in cases. The government told residents not to travel more than five kilometers from their home, closed nonessential retail businesses and limited restaurants and pubs to takeout only.      Part of Germany’s Bavaria region will go into a strict lockdown on Tuesday. Officials in Berchtesgadener Land district announced Monday that residents will not be able to leave their homes without a valid reason for two weeks. Schools, restaurants and hotels will be closed to stop the spread of the virus.     FILE – Coronavirus signs are seen in the city center as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues in Cardiff, Wales, Britain, Oct. 19, 2020.Wales became the second nation in Britain to lock down large parts of its economy, even as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson resisted calls to do the same throughout England. The Welsh government announced Monday it would close nonessential retail, hospitality and tourism businesses, beginning Friday.   Northern Ireland recently ordered new lockdown measures, closing schools for two weeks and shutting down many businesses, including bars and restaurants, for a month.     Poland’s government said Monday it is transforming its National Stadium in Warsaw into a field hospital to handle the growing number of COVID-19 cases.   The European Commission on Monday launched a system across the EU to link national COVID-19 tracing apps, beginning with COVID-19 trackers in Germany, Italy and Ireland.     In the United States, cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in almost every state, and an analysis by Reuters found the number of new cases in the past week rose 13% to more than 393,000, approaching levels last seen during a summer peak.    
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Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is taking part in Phase 3 trials of a potential coronavirus vaccine.  Venezuelan state television showed Zelaya receiving a shot of Russia’s experimental Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Caracas on Monday.  Venezuela is the first Latin American country to participate in the testing process.FILE – A Russian medical worker administers a shot of Russia’s experimental Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow, Russia, Sept. 15, 2020.Western experts raised questions over the Sputnik V vaccine’s readiness for mass trials, citing the fact that Russia had tested the vaccine on just a small sample group before launching widespread testing. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro discounted the criticism, expressing satisfaction Zelaya is taking part in the trials.  So far, Venezuela has confirmed more than 87,000 coronavirus cases and at least 736 deaths. 
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The Mexican government is set to extradite to the United States Jaime González Durán, one of the founders of the Los Zetas drug cartel. Duran, who has been in custody in Mexico for 12 years ranked third among the leaders  of the Los Zetas cartel behind Heriberto Lazcano-Lazcano, who was killed eight years ago, and Miguel Treviño Morales, who was extradited to the United States nearly three  years ago. Duran is expected to face multiple charges in the United States, including crimes of conspiracy, drug trafficking of cocaine and marijuana and money laundering.  Duran, who is on the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration most wanted list, is being held at a federal prison in Hermosillo, Sonora. By late Monday, the DEA had yet to release a statement in response the Mexican court clearing the way for Duran to brought the United States.   
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Bolivian presidential candidate Carlos Mesa of the Citizen Community party has conceded defeat to rival Luis Arce Catacora, candidate of the Movement Towards Socialism party, citing exit polls showing Arce with an insurmountable lead. Speaking Monday, Mesa said he recognizes that there has been a winner in the election and that it is appropriate in a democracy to recognize the victory. Mesa’s concession comes a day after the election, with the official count by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal expected in the next few days.  Exit polls revealed Arce obtained at least a 20-percentage point lead over Mesa, with third placed candidate Luis Fernando Camacho of the Creemos coalition garnering just over 14 percent of the votes. Meantime, the French News Agency reports exiled former president Evo Morales is suggesting he will return to Bolivia after the election victory by Arce, a former member of Morales’ cabinet.
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The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear two cases involving Trump administration policies at the U.S.-Mexico border: one about a policy that makes asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for U.S. court hearings and a second about the administration’s use of money to fund the border wall. The justices’ decision to hear the cases continues its practice of reviewing lower court rulings that have found President Donald Trump’s immigration policies illegal over the past four years. Most notably, the high court reviewed and upheld Trump’s travel ban on visitors from some largely Muslim countries. In June, the court kept in place legal protections for immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. The justices will not hear either new case until 2021, and the outcome of the presidential election could make the cases go away, or at least reduce their significance. If Democrat Joe Biden wins the White House, he has pledged to end “Migrant Protection Protocols,” which Trump considers a cornerstone policy on immigration. In the border wall case, much of the money has already been spent and wall constructed. It is unclear what could be done about that wall that has already been built if the administration loses, but it could conceivably be torn down. Biden has said he would cease wall construction if elected but would not tear down what was built under Trump’s watch. The court has allowed both policies to continue even after they were held illegal by lower courts, a sign the challengers could face long odds when the justices ultimately decide the cases. Remain in Mexico The Trump administration policy known informally as “Remain in Mexico” began in January 2019. It became a key pillar of the administration’s response to an unprecedented surge of asylum-seeking families from Central American countries at the border, drawing criticism for having people wait in highly dangerous Mexican cities. Lower courts found that the policy is probably illegal. But earlier this year the Supreme Court stepped in to allow the policy to remain in effect while a lawsuit challenging it played out in the courts. More than 60,000 asylum-seekers were returned to Mexico under the policy. The Justice Department estimated in late February that there were 25,000 people still waiting in Mexico for hearings in U.S. court. Those hearings were suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic. In a statement after the high court agreed to take the case, Department of Justice spokeswoman Alexa Vance said the administration is pleased the court agreed to hear the case, calling the program “a critical component of our efforts to manage the immigration crisis on our Southern Border.” Judy Rabinovitz, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is challenging the policy, called the policy “illegal and depraved.” “The courts have repeatedly ruled against it, and the Supreme Court should as well,” she said in a statement. Border wall The high court also agreed to hear the Trump administration’s appeal of a lower court ruling that it improperly diverted money to build portions of the border wall with Mexico. The high court has previously allowed construction to continue, even after a federal appeals court ruled in June that the administration had illegally sidestepped Congress in transferring $2.5 billion in Defense Department funds. The case has its origins in the 35-day partial government shutdown that started in December 2018. Trump ended the shutdown after Congress gave him about $1.4 billion in border wall funding, but that was far less than the $5.7 billion he was seeking. Trump then declared a national emergency to take cash from other government accounts to use to construct sections of the wall. At the time, the money Trump identified included $2.5 billion in Defense Department money, $3.6 billion from military construction funds and $600 million from the Treasury Department’s asset forfeiture fund. The case before the Supreme Court involves just the $2.5 billion in Defense Department funds. The administration has already built 115 of the 129 miles of border wall that is funded by that money. That includes sections in California, Arizona, New Mexico and west Texas. 
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Bolivia’s socialist candidate Luis Arce appears to have won the presidential election in the first round of voting. Bolivian TV channel Unitel released the initial count from authoritative pollster Ciesmori at around midnight on Sunday, showing Arce, with 52.4% of the vote. “Very grateful for the support and trust of the Bolivian people,” Arce tweeted Monday. “We have recovered democracy and we will regain stability and social peace. United, with dignity and sovereignty,” he said. Interim president Jeanine Anez, who was not running, congratulated Arce and his running mate David Choquehuanca for the likely victory. Arce’s centrist rival Carlos Mesa, 67, came in second with 31.5%, according to the same pollster. If the results hold, the leftwing party of former president Evo Morales, the Movement for Socialism (MAS), will return to power. Although the electoral authority is in the early stage of counting, Morales said on Sunday from Buenos Aires, where he has taken refuge, that Arce had won the presidential election. “Undoubtedly today is an historic day. Once again, the Bolivian people have delivered a lesson in democracy and perseverance. The people have resisted a coup, a de facto government, two massacres, a pandemic management marked by inefficiency and corruption, several delays on the elections and the worst economic crisis in our history,” Morales said.Sunday’s election, which was postponed twice because of the COVID-19 pandemic, was the first in 20 years not to have Morales, the country’s first ever indigenous leader, on the ballot. After allegations of voting irregularities last year Morales resigned in November 2019, after 14 years in power. 
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Bolivians vote Sunday in a high-stakes presidential election redo that could determine its democratic future and bring a return of socialism to the country as it struggles with a raging pandemic and protests over last year’s annulled ballot.   Bolivia, once one of the most politically volatile countries in Latin America, experienced a rare period of stability under former President Evo Morales, the country’s first Indigenous president who resigned and fled the country late last year after his claimed election win was annulled amid allegations of fraud. His ouster set off a period of unrest that caused at least 36 deaths. Morales called his ouster a coup.   Sunday’s vote is a rerun of last year’s election and an attempt to reset Bolivia’s democracy.   “Bolivia’s new executive and legislative leaders will face daunting challenges in a polarized country, ravaged by COVID-19, and hampered by endemically weak institutions,” said WOLA, a Washington-based human rights advocacy organization.   U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has urged Bolivians to respect the electoral process, and in particular the final result.   Ballots, ballot boxes and other materials were delivered to polling stations Saturday by police and military units without incident, officials said. Police and soldiers took to the streets hours later seeking to ensure calm.   The country’s Supreme Electoral Court announced late Saturday that it had decided unanimously against reporting running preliminary vote totals as ballots are counted. It said it wanted to avoid the uncertainty that arose when there was a long halt in reporting preliminary results during last year’s election.   Council President Salvador Romero said promised a safe and transparent official count, which could take five days.   To win in the first round, a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote, or 40% with a lead of at least 10 percentage points over the second-place candidate. A runoff vote, if necessary, would be held Nov. 28.   Bolivia’s entire 136-member Legislative Assembly also will be voted in.   The election was postponed twice because of the coronavirus pandemic. On a per capita basis, few countries have been hit harder than impoverished, landlocked Bolivia: Nearly 8,400 of its 11.6 million people have died of COVID-19.   The election will occur with physical distancing required between masked voters — at least officially, if not in practice.   The leading contenders are former Economy Minister Luis Arce, who led an extended boom under Morales, and former President Carlos Mesa. a centrist historian and journalist who was second to Morales in the disputed returns released after last year’s vote. Trailing in all the polls has been Luis Fernando Camacho, a conservative businessman who helped lead last year’s uprising, as well as a Korean-born evangelist.   Overshadowing the vote is the absence of Morales, who led Bolivia from 2006 until 2019 and was a key figure in the bloc of leftist leaders who held power across much of South America.FILE – Bolivia’s former President Evo Morales gestures after a news conference, in Mexico City, Mexico, Nov. 27, 2019.Morales, now exiled in Argentina, was barred from running for the presidency or even the Senate by electoral authorities following his ouster.   He chose Arce as his stand-in for the Movement Toward Socialism party, and a win by the party would be seen as a victory for Latin America’s left.   A boyhood llama herder who became prominent leading a coca grower’s union, Morales had been immensely popular while overseeing an export-led economic surge that reduced poverty during most of his term. But support was eroding due to his reluctance to leave power, increasing authoritarian impulses and a series of corruption scandals.   He shrugged aside a public vote that had set term limits, and competed in the October 2019 presidential vote, which he claimed to have narrowly won outright. But a lengthy pause in reporting results fed suspicions of fraud and nationwide protests broke out.   When police and military leaders suggested he leave, Morales resigned and fled the country.   FILE – This picture released by hte Bolivian goverment shows the interim president of Bolivia, Jeanine Anez, announcing her withdrawal from the presidential race a month before the elections in La Paz, Bolivia, Sept. 17, 2020.Conservative Sen. Jeanne Áñez proclaimed herself president and was accepted by the courts. Her administration, despite lacking a majority in congress, set about trying to prosecute Morales and key aides while undoing his policies, helping prompt more unrest and polarization.   She dropped out at as a candidate for Sunday’s presidential election while trailing badly in polls.   Most polls have shown Arce with a lead, though likely not enough to avoid a runoff.  There is a strong chance the next president will struggle with a divided congress — and perhaps worse, an opposition that refuses to recognize defeat. 
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is calling on Haiti’s government to hold legislative elections “as soon as technically feasible.””Haiti’s legislative elections are now overdue. We continue to call for elections as soon as technically feasible. We understand that the OAS secretary-general has called for those elections to be held by the end of January,” Pompeo said in a video clip posted on Twitter..Haitian Président Jovenel Moïse welcomes new members of electoral council, Sept. 22, 2020. (Yves Manuel/VOA Creole)”Your country is grateful for your courage,” Moise tweeted.Je suis donc heureux aujourd’hui de procéder à l’installation de ce CEP. C’est dans un contexte difficile que vous avez pris la décision de servir la République. En acceptant de devenir membres de ce CEP, vous faites un acte de courage pour lequel le pays vous sera reconnaissant. Pierre François Sildor, president of Haiti’s Senate. (Renan Toussaint/VOA Creole)”What it (the constitution) says is what must be done,” the senator said. “It says there must be a representative from the executive branch – the executive did not name a representative. It says there must be a representative of the Episcopal Conference – the Catholic church and other religious sectors did not name a representative. It requires a representative of the universities – there isn’t one. It requires a union representative – they didn’t name one – these are four huge sectors of society – everyone knows that – and they are not represented.”Residents of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, interviewed by VOA Creole shortly after the CEP swearing-in ceremony in September, opposed the idea of holding elections.”This president thinks he can rule unilaterally, but we’d like to remind him he needs to consult the people (before making these decisions),” a man who declined to give his name said.”We are dealing with insecurity, we have no customers, no cash flowing in – forget about elections, Jovenel Moise needs to understand we need security first,” a female merchant at an open-air market told VOA.”People are dying in the streets, we don’t have food to eat, and you’re talking about elections?” a male customer at an open-air market said. “Jovenel Moise cannot hold elections.”OAS expresses concern about HaitiIn May 2020, the Organization of American States Secretary General Luis Almagro An anti-US protest leader says America has no right to interfere in Haiti’s politics. (Matiado Vilme/VOA Creole)Presidential adviser Patrick Crispin announced on June 23 that legislative elections are planned for December 2020. In the meantime, there have been no parliamentary checks and balances on the president’s decrees.Leadership vacuumFailure to hold elections before Moise’s term ends would leave Haiti in a leadership vacuum. The opposition has floated the idea of a “transitional government” to rule the country in the meantime, but after countless meetings, they have failed to agree on much of anything.”A transitional government should organize elections because we cannot campaign for office, the political climate is not conducive at this time,” an opposition leader told VOA Creole.Anti-US protestOn Sept. 24, the opposition held a small protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, during which protesters chanted, “In this climate of insecurity we will not participate in elections!””We … Haitians want Americans to know that although they are threatening sanctions against those of us who stand against this illegitimate (electoral) council, we’re not afraid,” a protest leader told VOA Creole. “There will be no election as long as Jovenel Moise is in power. The United States has no authority to order us around.”The opposition announced nationwide protests on Oct. 17, a national holiday honoring the life of Jean Jacques Dessalines, one of the nation’s founders and a hero of the revolutionary war for independence. They say they will be calling on Moise to resign.In Port-au-Prince, VOA Creole’s Renan Toussaint, Matiado Vilme and Yves Manuel contributed to this report. 
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Former Mexican Defense Secretary Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos was arrested Thursday night on drug and money laundering charges at Los Angeles International Airport.
 
Cienfuegos, who led Mexico’s armed forces under then-President Enrique Peña Nieto, was detained at the U.S airport with members of his family, who were released.
 
The former Mexican military leader was reportedly detained on a warrant from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
 
Mexico’s foreign minister confirmed the arrest in a tweet late Thursday.He sido informado por el Embajador Christopher Landau de los Estados Unidos que el ex Secretario de la Defensa Nacional, Gral. Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, ha sido detenido en el Aeropuerto de Los Angeles, California.— Marcelo Ebrard C. (@m_ebrard) October 16, 2020The DEA has not spoken publicly about the circumstances surrounding Cienfuegos’ arrest.
 
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China has warned Canada not to grant political asylum to Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters, labeling them violent criminals and saying the action would constitute interference in China’s internal affairs.Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu said Thursday that “if the Canadian side really cares about the stability and the prosperity in Hong Kong, and really cares about the good health and safety of those 300,000 Canadian passport-holders in Hong Kong, and the large number of Canadian companies operating in Hong Kong SAR [Special Administrative Region], you should support those efforts to fight violent crimes.”Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne called Cong’s statement “totally unacceptable and disturbing.””I have instructed Global Affairs to call the ambassador in to make clear in no uncertain terms that Canada will always stand up for human rights and the rights of Canadians around the world,” Champagne said in a statement published by Canadian news organizations.Earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau strongly criticized Beijing for “coercive diplomacy” and for the crackdowns in Hong Kong and on Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region.At his press briefing Thursday, Cong countered Trudeau’s comments, saying there was no coercive diplomacy on the Chinese side, adding that “the Hong Kong issue and the Xinjiang-related issue are not about the issue of human rights. They are purely about internal affairs of China, which brooks no interference from the outside.”Protests of Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing government and the Chinese government continued in the city for months last year and resulted in a new national security law for Hong Kong that took effect June 30.The law punishes secessionist movements, subversive or terrorist acts, and what it interprets as collusion with foreign forces intervening in the city’s affairs.Western powers, including the United States, Britain and Canada have strongly condemned the law and have accused China of infringing on Hong Kong’s freedoms.
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Peru is now allowing visitors at 17 archaeological and tourist sites after closing them for several months to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.Speaking at the Pachacamac archaeological site in Lima on Thursday, Peru Culture Minister Alejandro Neyra said visitors to the sites will have to follow protocols, including wearing face masks and keeping a safe distance apart.Authorities say nine other sites will open by the end of month, and a gradual reopening of several more will begin in November.It is unclear when Peru’s popular Inca citadel of Machu Picchu will reopen.The reopening of the tourist attractions is expected to give Peru a needed economic boost because the South American country has been hard hit by the pandemic.Peru is among the leaders in COVID-19 cases in Latin American, recording more than 859,000 cases and just over 33,500 deaths.
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The frontrunners in Bolivia’s presidential race held their final campaign rallies this week ahead of Sunday’s election, which is taking place during one of the country’s worst economic periods in decades.Former President Luis Arce, the Movement for Socialism party candidate, addressed supporters in El Alto on Wednesday.Citizen’s Community party candidate Carlos Mesa’s held his final rally in Santa Cruz on Tuesday.Both candidates claim to have the antidote the country needs to address the economic and health challenges fueled by the coronavirus pandemic.Arce is a former economic minister in the administration of ousted president Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president.Morales was forced to resign at the urging of the military after dozens of people died during protests following the contested vote results last year.Mesa is expected to benefit from Morales replacement, interim president Jeanine Anez’s decision to drop out of the race.Neither candidate appears to have a clear-cut path to the presidency, meaning a runoff vote remains a possibility.
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The former owner of a Mexico City private school who was convicted of manslaughter last month in the deaths of 26 people during a 7.1-magnitude earthquake was sentenced to 31 years in prison.During Wednesday’s sentencing, the court ruled Mónica García Villegas, former owner and director of the Enrique Rébsamen School, acted carelessly by building an apartment for herself on the roof of the school building.The court deemed the extra weight was a factor in the building’s collapse during the September 19, 2017, earthquake that killed 19 children and seven adults.In addition to the prison sentence, Villegas was ordered to pay nearly $19,000 to each victim’s family and fined $5,800 for criminal negligence.The Mexico News Daily reports Villegas was arrested in May of last year in Mexico City on a tip from her brother who received a reward of just over $234,000 for leading authorities to her.
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It didn’t go exactly as planned, but for one Japanese tourist, his dream of visiting the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu finally came true. 
 
Jesse Takayama arrived in Peru nearly seven months ago with the sole purpose of visiting iconic Andean landmark. Because of the coronavirus lockdown, the 500-year-old site was closed, and he ended up trapped in a small, nearby town of Aguas Calientes. Originally, he’d only planned to stay in Peru a few days. 
 
As the months passed, Takayama began to run out of money, and it looked as if his dream of visiting the UNESCO site would never happen. 
 
“I go to run every morning and I could see Machu Picchu afar in distance,” Katayama told CNN. “I thought I would never make it to Machu Picchu as I was expecting it won’t open within this year, but I was OK with it because I had a great time here.” 
 
But finally, thanks to an intervention by the Peruvian government, he was allowed to enter Machu Picchu, the first person to visit for nearly seven months. 
 
“He had come to Peru with the dream of being able to enter,” said Peru’s Minister of Culture Alejandro Neyra in a virtual press conference. “The Japanese citizen has entered together with our head of the park so that he can do this before returning to his country.” 
 
Takayama, was grateful for the long-delayed opportunity. 
 
“I thought I never make it [to Machu Picchu], but everyone asked the government and the town, and they gave me super special permission,” the Osaka native wrote in an Instagram post. “Peruvians are soooo kind. Thank you soooo much!” 
 
According to CNN, Takayama will head back to Japan on Oct. 16. 
 
“I will definitely cry,” he says about his farewell to Aguas Calientes. “These seven months have been very special to me. I have discovered a new part of me.” 
 
Neyra said Machu Picchu would re-open to tourists in November, but only at 30% of the normal capacity of 675 visitors per day. 
 
Peru locked down early in the pandemic but has suffered one of the worst fatality rates in the world. It has 851,171 cases and more than 33,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. 
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