As head of the observer mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the presidential elections in Brazil, former president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla (2010-2014), became one of the targets of criticism in the tense electoral environment in that South American nation.
The situation in Brazil, a country that is highly polarized and almost fractured in 2, is pressing.
Legislator Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain, obtained 46.09% of the popular vote, insufficient to be elected, but with an encouraging outlook for the second round to be held this Sunday.
There are plenty of legitimate reasons for lovers of free minds, free markets, and free peoples, to be concerned about a Jair Bolsonaro presidency. Cataloged as a controversial ‘ultra-rightist’, Bolsonaro has a proposal to make weapons more flexible and has not minded basing many of his speeches on false news.
The Economist recently penned a not-quite-endorsement of Fernando Haddad. As one of the flagship publications of the global technocrat elitist center-left, it should hardly be surprising.
But their perspective on the state of affairs is rather more nuanced than saying: “Brazilians should run out and enthusiastically vote for Haddad.”
The Economist considers Haddad as “the only man who can stop Jair Bolsonaro from becoming Brazil’s president.”
Why against Chinchilla?
The former president, as head of the OAS mission, expressed her concern with the dissemination of false news about the election. A message that disturbed the followers of Bolsonaro.
“It is the first time that in a democracy we are observing the use of WhatsApp to spread false news,” Chinchilla said after holding a meeting in Sao Paulo with candidate Haddad and his team, who raised concerns about this issue.
The attacks against Chinchilla were of all kinds and swarmed in the social network such as Twitter. They broadcast images of her, from her presidential period, together with Raúl Castro and Hugo Chávez to make it look like a policy of the questioned Latin American left.
They also published photos and information of the meetings Chinchilla held with ‘Lula’ (Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva) during his tenure as president from 2003 to 2011 and even brought to light the supposed link with the failed award of a concession to the construction company OAS, a contract that cost the Costa Rican taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in penalties for breach of contract for the (not yet built) road from San Jose to San Ramon
In addition, the news of the question in Costa Rica “private plane” for a trip to Peru in 2013 was rehashed.
