Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known popularly as “Lula,” 77, recently won Brazil’s closely watched presidential election over President Jair Bolsonaro, 67, a right-wing populist and deeply polarizing figure in Latin America’s largest country.
As the largest Palestinian community outside the Middle East advances an aggressive anti-Israel agenda bordering on anti-Semitism, Chile is facing constant attacks on its democracy and its heritage of inclusiveness.
After a bipartisan, coast-to-coast outcry, President Trump signed an executive order maintaining the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy toward asylum-seekers and immigrants but – in a welcome move – terminating the practice of separating children from their families. While seemingly a win for a bipartisan approach to the issue, such a view is in truth a sadly superficial reading of the situation.
At a time when the world is polarized, and our region faces challenges of all kinds, multilateral efforts to achieve common objectives, such as the Summit of the Americas now underway in Lima, Peru, should be welcomed – and called on to deliver results.
Former President Sebastián Piñera won Chile’s presidential election on Sunday, December 17. His triumph demonstrates a turn towards the center-right in a region that has been dominated by leftist movements for over a decade. In 2012, Piñera became the first Chilean president to visit Israel, a fact that sets great expectations for the future of bilateral cooperation.