Beyond the US election: Seven stories that shaped the Americas in 2024 | Politics News

The presidential election in the United States has dominated world headlines for a lot of the previous yr.

From opinion polls to rallies and the barbs traded on the marketing campaign path, all eyes have been turned to the showdown between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump on November 5.

Since Trump’s decisive victory, a lot of the world has shifted its focus to analysing what the previous US president has deliberate for his second time period in workplace, set to start in January.

However 2024 has not solely been about Trump and American politics.

The previous yr noticed a slew of essential developments in international locations all over the world, from Israel’s lethal bombardment of the Gaza Strip to the devastating battle in Sudan and the current ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Within the Americas area, 2024 was marked by altering political landscapes, crackdowns on dissent, lethal violence and the results of a worsening climate crisis.

Right here’s a take a look at seven tales that formed the Americas this yr.

Venezuela’s disputed election

Mass protests broke out in Venezuela after longtime President Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner of a 3rd time period within the nation’s July 28 presidential election.

With the federal government refusing to launch the standard voting tallies, the opposition revealed its personal paperwork that it mentioned proved Maduro had claimed victory by means of fraud.

Public anger on the outcomes spilled into the streets for weeks after the race was known as. Police fired tear gasoline and rubber bullets to disperse 1000’s of demonstrators within the capital, Caracas, and different cities.

Human Rights Watch reported that at the least 23 protesters or bystanders, in addition to one Nationwide Guard member, have been killed within the authorities crackdown. Hundreds of Venezuelans additionally have been arrested.

Maduro blamed the protests on his political opponents and overseas powers, accusing them of searching for to destabilise the South American nation. He has promised to launch full vote tallies however has but to take action.

In early September, a Venezuelan choose issued an arrest warrant for opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who had gone into hiding following the vote. Gonzalez has since fled to Spain, the place he requested political asylum.

“We’re witnessing an intensification of the state’s repressive equipment in response to what it perceives as essential views, opposition or dissent,” Marta Valinas, chair of a United Nations fact-finding mission on Venezuela, mentioned in a report on September 17.

Haiti gang violence soars

Over the previous 12 months, Haiti has skilled a deepening political, safety and humanitarian disaster as authorities battle to stem a wave of deadly gang violence.

In late February, the state of affairs deteriorated when highly effective armed teams launched coordinated attacks on prisons and different state establishments within the capital, Port-au-Prince. The gang leaders demanded the resignation of unelected Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Henry stepped down in March, and a transitional presidential council was shaped with the objective of main Haiti’s political transition and organising elections. The council then named an interim prime minister, Garry Conille, in Might.

However the violence continued throughout Port-au-Prince, forcing tens of 1000’s of Haitians to flee their houses in quest of security. Access to adequate food, healthcare and different providers was severely restricted, and studies of massacres, rape and different violence have been frequent.

The deployment of a UN-backed, Kenyan-led police mission has finished little to halt the gangs, which are actually believed to regulate about 85 p.c of the Haitian capital. Observers say the deployment is understaffed and lacks assets.

In the meantime, political infighting between the transitional presidential council and Conille’s interim authorities led to the prime minister’s ouster in November. An interim prime minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aime, was appointed in his stead.

Brazilian police say Bolsonaro concerned in coup try

In November, police in Brazil announced bombshell allegations towards former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

The case centres on an alleged conspiracy to overturn Bolsonaro’s narrow defeat within the 2022 election.

Police accused Bolsonaro of collaborating in a failed scheme geared toward stopping his left-wing rival, present President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, from taking workplace following their intently fought race in 2022.

They mentioned in an announcement that Bolsonaro and 36 different folks, together with a number of the ex-president’s aides and former authorities ministers, had deliberate the “violent overthrow of the democratic state”.

Bolsonaro, a former Brazilian military captain who served as president from 2019 to 2022, has denied any wrongdoing and mentioned he’s the sufferer of a political witch hunt. He has promised to mount a authorized “combat” in his defence.

Sinaloa violence surges after cartel boss’s arrest

It was an enormous yr in Mexican politics, because the nation held the biggest election in its historical past and Claudia Sheinbaum grew to become its first female president.

However the election was additionally one in all Mexico’s bloodiest – partially due to the affect of the nation’s distinguished drug-smuggling cartels.

One state the place the violence continues to rage is Sinaloa, within the northwestern a part of the nation. There, rivals inside the Sinaloa Cartel have been battling to fill the facility vacuum left after co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia’s arrest.

US authorities detained Zambada on July 25 together with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of many sons of one other co-founder of the cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Zambada has said he was kidnapped and brought towards his will to the US, the place he pleaded not responsible to a slew of legal expenses, together with homicide and drug trafficking.

The deteriorating state of affairs in Sinaloa has posed one of many first main challenges to Sheinbaum since she took office in early October, succeeding her mentor and fellow Morena Social gathering chief Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Jacobo Quintero, a restaurant proprietor in Culiacan, the state capital, told Al Jazeera in September that town had been dropped at a standstill as residents have been afraid to go away their houses amid the violence.

“We’ve bought about 15 p.c of our traditional clients,” he mentioned. “Individuals don’t wish to come out as a result of there are dangers. They’re scared.”

Power crises hit Ecuador, Cuba

Ecuador, which has lengthy grappled with a surge in violence linked to drug trafficking, confronted one other harmful risk this yr: the results of local weather change.

A regional drought worsened by the El Nino climate phenomenon pressured Colombia to cut off electricity exports to the nation in April, spurring a disaster for Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.

The state of affairs additional deteriorated as record wildfires broke out close to the capital, Quito, in addition to in different components of the nation. In November, Ecuador declared a 60-day state of emergency to assist mobilise funds to reply to the blazes.

The drought — extensively considered because the worst to hit Ecuador in a long time — has hampered water ranges on the hydroelectric dams that energy a lot of the nation. The authorities have ordered hours-long each day energy cuts as they urge residents to preserve electrical energy.

An identical crisis has unfolded in Cuba, the place authorities have imposed rolling each day blackouts in an effort to shore up dwindling provides of electrical energy on the Caribbean island.

Cuba’s nationwide energy grid collapsed a number of occasions in 2024, resulting in plenty of nationwide blackouts over a number of weeks between October and early December.

The nation’s energy crops are ageing, and the Cuban authorities have struggled to get sufficient oil to maintain them operating amid shrinking imports from Russia, Venezuela and Mexico.

Highly effective storms additionally knocked out the grid in October and November as they lashed Cuba with sturdy winds and storm surges.

Canada accuses Indian brokers of being concerned in Sikh activist’s killing

A simmering diplomat row between Canada and India reignited in October when Canadian officers mentioned they’d proof displaying Indian authorities brokers took half in actions that threatened Canadian nationwide safety.

The federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police mentioned it had discovered proof Indian brokers participated “in severe legal exercise in Canada”, with hyperlinks “to homicides and violent acts” and interference in democratic processes, amongst different issues.

Ties between Ottawa and New Delhi soured in 2023 after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned Canada was investigating potential ties between India and the killing of a distinguished Canadian Sikh separatist chief, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

The allegations despatched shockwaves across the country and spurred an indignant response from New Delhi, which rejected them outright.

After the most recent accusations have been made public in October, Canada ordered the expulsion of six Indian diplomatic and consular workers. Overseas Affairs Minister Melanie Joly mentioned the people have been thought-about “individuals of curiosity” in Nijjar’s case.

In a tit-for-tat transfer, the Indian authorities additionally ordered six Canadian consular workers to go away.

India’s Ministry of Exterior Affairs vehemently rejected Canada’s allegations, saying in a assertion that “on the pretext of an investigation, there’s a deliberate technique of smearing India for political good points”.

Argentina’s poverty price soars

Poverty has soared in Argentina over the previous yr as far-right President Javier Milei — sworn in on the finish of 2023 — pursued his libertarian economic agenda and slashed authorities programmes.

“That is very exhausting. Earlier than, we had a house. We had entry to subsidies. However [the government] abruptly took every little thing away,” Marianela Abasto, 24, recently told Al Jazeera at a soup kitchen within the capital, Buenos Aires. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Milei’s hardline reforms have drawn main protests nationally, with thousands taking to the streets in June over deliberate austerity measures.

But regardless of the pushback, the Argentinian president has retained his supporters, and he continues to be held up as a success symbol for the global far right.