Well, maybe by the time you read this, you know who’s the President of our giant southern neighbour, Brazil. As your Eyewitness pecks away with his two fingers, the voting’s just begun. You’d remember there was an election at the beginning of this very month. But under their rules, since no contestant received more than 50 per cent of the votes, they have to redo it all over again!! So, we had a first round and now we’ll have a second round and go on until someone gets more than that 50 per cent!!
Two general elections in one month in a country where voting’s compulsory and there are ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIX MILLION voters!! The last turnout was 123 million or 79%. The two candidates were Lula – who received 57 million or 48 per cent and the incumbent Bolsonaro – who snagged 51 million amounting to 43 per cent. In case you wondered about the missing 9 per cent, that was divvied up among a number of fringe candidates.
Now – as you should know by now – whenever your Eyewitness discusses these foreign goings on, his focus is how does it affect little ole us! And even though in this globalised world, we’re all connected – think of the Ukraine War and your foodstuff prices! – with Brazil, the connection is literal! All in all, it really hasn’t mattered who rules Brazil up to now. Unlike Venezuela and Suriname, they haven’t cast any covetous eyes on our territory. In fact, since they always resented Venezuelan pretentions for the leadership of Latin America, they always acted as a counterfoil to their aggression against us.
But you can never take these things for granted, can you?? Look how communist Chávez’s election in Venezuela turned out for us…6 million refugees into neighbouring countries and counting!! Thank God for all those jungles between their populated centres and us – our refugee count is probably about 50 thousand. Which is still comparatively substantial. But back to Brazil…from where our development will attract some of their citizens looking to share in our oil-fuelled action.
Unlike our two political parties that have gravitated towards neo-liberal policies while reflexively insisting they’re for the “working class”, in Brazil the old Cold War ideological divide is alive and kicking. Bolsonaro has put his right-wing money where his mouth is and favours all the conservative nostrums – low taxes, bigger military, to heck with environmental hug-a-tree initiatives. And the leftist Lula automatically takes the opposite stance!! In Brazil, they know what policies they’re voting for!!
In the first run-off, most folks thought Lula was a shoo-in – with polls agreeing – but Bolsonaro closed the gap and here we are with the polls showing Lula leading, but Bolsonaro closing in again.
But Lula’s gonna win it by a whisker!!
…Trini content??
Your Eyewitness was gobsmacked – yes mate, “gobsmacked”! – to read that ANSA McAL was allowed to announce they’ve purchased 82 acres of land at Wales and will be constructing “a wharf and laydown yard”!! Now, a “laydown yard” – your Eyewitness discovered after hitting his Google search button – “is an area on a construction site where tools, materials, equipment, and vehicles are stored temporarily when they are not in use. Laydown areas are most common on construction sites, but other industries like manufacturing or oil field operations use them as well.”
And yes, Dear Reader, that “oil field operations” clause stuck out like a very sore thumb!! In your Eyewitness’s mind there’s absolutely no doubt ANSA’s planning to service the Oil Industry. So, what about our “LOCAL CONTENT LAW”?? Forget all the patter from the ANSA execs about loving Guyana and all that – aren’t Guyanese following that OP fella explaining that Businesses are only interested in their PROFITS??
So, will ANSA take on a LOCAL PARTNER??
…a Chanderpaul
Your Eyewitness notes that Cricket West Indies deigned to select a solitary Guyanese – young Chanderpaul – for the upcoming series Down Under. The young man – inevitably, even though unfairly – has some pretty large boots to fill. Good luck!!
