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Today seems like a good day to check in on Venezuela’s presidential election, such as it is.
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Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado with substitute candidate Corina Yoris. Photo: Ariana Cubillos / AP
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1. Venezuela’s opposition party struggles to get on presidential ballot
The main Venezuelan opposition coalition said on Tuesday it was unable to register its candidate for this summer’s presidential election before Monday’s midnight deadline.
The Unitary Platform campaign team tried and failed multiple times to log into the electoral council website to register its candidate — 80-year-old college professor Corina Yoris — according to videos uploaded to social media. Then, according to Yoris, when she and her team tried to get an extension in person, they were denied.
Yoris was chosen on Friday to replace opposition leader María Corina Machado, who handily won the primary election in October, but who’s since been banned from running by the government of current president Nicolás Maduro. Last week, arrest warrants were issued for her campaign manager and eight other staffers for allegedly taking part in a plot to overthrow Maduro.
Even after Machado’s ban was confirmed in January by Venezuela’s Supreme Court — which is filled with Maduro loyalists — she was still leading Maduro in the polls: 54.5% to 13.9%.
Twelve other smaller parties had no trouble filing their candidates through the electoral site. But Machado said that, by blocking Yoris — now the most serious opposition candidate — from registering, Maduro was effectively choosing who he’d run against. “They’re not [free] elections, if the regime chooses the candidates,” she said.
The Democratic Unity party, which is part of a larger coalition of opposition parties, was able to register a candidate in time, however, according to the national electoral council. Sources told Reuters that the registration is meant to hold a spot on the ballot for a possible substitute, who can be named until April 20.
Last year the Venezuelan government agreed to hold free and open presidential elections in the second half of 2024, the first since a highly contested election in 2018 that saw Maduro clinch his second term. In exchange, the U.S. eased oil sanctions on Venezuela at the end of last year. However, the U.S. said it will reinstate sanctions in mid-April. The election has been set for July 28.
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2. Migrants begin their annual protest march through Mexico
About 2,000 migrants started walking toward Mexico City on Monday from the Mexican city of Tapachula, located in Chiapas near the border with Guatemala.
Since 2010, the migrants’ march has become an annual Holy Week tradition meant to draw attention to the dangers of migration and cruel immigration policies.
On their way to Mexico, migrants from Central and South America can face robberies, sexual assault, extortion, and kidnapping. They often endure more abuse once they reach Mexico’s detention facilities in the south of the country, where they can languish for months, struggling to obtain protection or legal status, according to a 2022 Human Rights Watch report.
In response to a record number of migrants arriving at the United States’ southern border, the Biden administration pressured the Mexican government to ramp up its “containment policy” in December.
As November’s election approaches, the Biden administration is considering stricter migration regulations. Immigration is one of American voters’ top concerns, according to a Pew report published last month, and 80% of Americans think the U.S. government is doing a bad job at handling the large number of migrants at the border.
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3. Aruba considers enshrining nature’s rights in constitution
Only one country in the world — Ecuador — currently recognizes the “rights of nature” in its constitution. But Aruba could soon do the same.
In addition to recognizing nature’s inherent rights, Aruba’s proposed constitutional amendment would also enshrine its citizens’ rights to a “clean, healthy and sustainable environment.”
According to the draft bill, presented earlier this month by Aruba’s minister of nature, the government would be required to “take preventive measures to protect against the negative consequences of climate change.”
The bill draws from a recognition that humans are interdependent on the natural world — which is to say that protecting nature also benefits people.
“In an ecosystem everything is connected,” read an explanatory memorandum accompanying the draft legislation. “Protection at the system level is necessary because it takes into account the interrelationships between species and their abiotic environment.”
The public can submit feedback on the bill through April 4, when it will then be reviewed by Aruba’s advisory council.
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In other news
- A recently surfaced video undercuts the account of an Israeli military paramedic who served as a source for a New York Times article claiming two teenagers killed in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack had been sexually assaulted. [The New York Times]
- A U.K. court ruled on Tuesday that it will not extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the U.S. unless authorities guarantee he won’t get the death penalty there. [Reuters]
- Fires were ravaging forests in nearly half of Mexico’s states on Monday, according to the National Forestry Commission. Fueled by strong winds and coming amid widespread drought, the fires have affected an estimated 3,500 acres thus far. [Associated Press]
- The world’s only maple syrup reserve — located (where else?) in Canada — has hit a 16-year low, which experts attribute to high demand and climate change. The supply fell last year to 6.9 million pounds of syrup, which is stored in tens of thousands of barrels in warehouses throughout Quebec. Idk, kind of sounds like enough syrup! [BBC]
- ICYMI: Paris is overturning the Olympics’ “intimacy ban” — a COVID precaution first imposed on athletes during the 2021 Tokyo Games — and will hand out a whopping 300,000 condoms to those staying in the Olympic Village this summer. [SkyNews]
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Say that again
“If a lion crosses your path, it stares you in the eye. If you get scared, it will attack you, but if you stare back, the lion will look down and leave.”
This comes from Rameshi Meena, a rider in one of India’s all-women motorbike rallies. Ahead of India’s presidential election next month, female motorcyclists are protesting widespread sexual violence against women in the country. [Deutsche Welle]
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Ever heard of floating solar?
Did you know that solar panels can float? Learn about the tech that could help the world become carbon neutral by 2050.
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What we’re reading (and cooking)
Today I’m feeling exceedingly jealous of people who live near Tianshui in China’s northwestern province of Gansu. Visitors have been flocking to the city to try its version of the street food malatang — “a soupless version of hotpot” — after a student’s clip of the mouth-numbing Szechuan dish went viral, as chronicled in this story from Bloomberg.
Szechuan is my favorite Chinese cuisine, and one of my favorite Szechuan dishes to make is vegan mapo tofu. Even without the traditional pork, the dish builds a lot of flavor from relatively few ingredients. ( This recipe is a good one.) It may not compare to malatang, but it might help you ease your craving after reading that article.
—Laura Adamczyk, staff writer
Thanks for reading. We’ll see you tomorrow.
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Hope O'Dell contributed writing to today's newsletter.
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