Bolivia Elections Unlikely To Go As Scheduled After Special Unit Discovers Corpses Of COVID-19 Victi

[Judi Lynn]

Bolivia Elections Unlikely To Go As Scheduled After Special Unit Discovers Corpses Of COVID-19 Victims
Pooja Prabbhan | Jul 23 2020, 12:52AM EDT

The rapid spread of the novel coronavirus in Bolivia might serve as an impediment to the forthcoming September 2020 elections.

“[Most researchers agree that] to plan activities such as an election, you must wait for the epidemiological curve of active cases to have a sustained decrease for a period of 14 days, so the date of 6 September is not appropriate,” said the committee, comprising of doctors, suggesting the non-feasibility of holding elections amid a global health crisis to Salvador Romero, the president of the supreme electoral tribunal. The tribunal is yet to comment on the letter.

Things have been looking particularly grim since the past couple of weeks – 420 bodies were recovered by a special police unit in the last week in the capital, La Paz, and in Bolivia’s biggest city, Santa Cruz, alone. A source revealed that a majority of the aforementioned fatalities could be attributed to the COVID-19. The country has logged in 2,300 deaths so far, while experts speculate the actual numbers to be a lot higher than what has been recorded.

The unprecedented delay is likely to be perceived as a predicament, as the September elections were pegged as the key step toward stabilizing Bolivia’s wobbly democracy. Things have been rather tumultuous on the political front since November after president Evo Lorales was urged to step down by the military. The protest to oust Lorales from the president’s post arises from the speculations that the election was tainted by irregularities.

More:
https://www.latintimes.com/bolivia-elections-unlikely-go-scheduled-after-special-unit-discovers-corpses-covid-19-460261

[dchill]

1. Coming to a country near you?

[regnaD kciN]

2. Not sure how reliable "Latin Times" is...

...but you'd think they'd know that the ousted Bolivian president was named Evo Morales, not "Lorales" (and, lest we think it a simple typo, they made the same mistake twice in the article).

[Judi Lynn]

3. It's owned by International Business Times. I was following the article title, actually.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBT_Media

Corporate structure and revenue
IBT Media is a privately held company, owned by Etienne Uzac and Johnathan Davis.[citation needed] The company has not received outside funding,[4] and has grown with a focus on being an "efficient company", concentrating on the "revenue side as well as on the expenses".[5][6]

It started in 2006, with personal savings, an SBA bank loan, and no input, financial or advisory, from VCs.[clarification needed][4] It has been profitable since 2010.[3][4][5][6]

It has also grown through the acquisition of Newsweek.[7]

The company derives its profits primarily from advertising and has been profitable since 2010.[6] It says it has recently undertaken new ventures to become a "multi-product global media group"[8] and to diversify capital, including adopting Newsweek's subscription models across its properties, and launching a new business-to-business arm.[3][5][9]

On September 14, 2018, after completing the strategic structural changes initially announced in March, IBT Media has spun off into two separate companies — Newsweek and IBT Media.

. . .


Assets
International Business Times – global business and economic news, in seven languages across ten editions[22]
Medical Daily – medical news site[23][24]
Latin Times – Latin American-oriented news site[23][25]
iDigitalTimes – technology and digital media news site[23][26]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBT_Media

~ ~ ~


Latin Times - Media Bias/Fact Checkmediabiasfactcheck.com › latin-times

LEFT-CENTER BIAS
These media sources have a slight to moderate liberal bias. They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes) to favor liberal causes. These sources are generally trustworthy for information, but may require further investigation. See all Left-Center sources.

Factual Reporting: HIGH

Notes: The Latin Times is an English language online publication that covers news, sports, entertainment, and lifestyle. They are published by International Business Times, which also publishes Newsweek among others. When reporting the news the Latin Times has a slight left-center bias in story selection and wording. However, all information is always well sourced to other credible factual media outlets. Overall, the Latin Times has a left-center bias in reporting and is highly factual. (D. Van Zandt 7/28/2017)

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/latin-times/

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International Business Times is often used as a source in a lot of news stories posted in LBN, by varied posters.

Thank you for your comment.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Bolivia police recover 420 dead in possible COVID-19 cases

Updated 8:51 pm CDT, Tuesday, July 21, 2020

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — A special police unit collected 420 bodies over the preceding five days in two Bolivian cities, and 80% to 90% of the deceased were thought to have succumbed to COVID-19, authorities said Tuesday.

Col. Ivan Rojas, director of the special crime-fighting force, said his officers recovered the bodies from streets, vehicles and homes in the capital, La Paz, and in Bolivia's biggest city, Santa Cruz.

Bolivia's Institute of Forensic Investigations said that nationally from April 1 through Sunday, its workers had recovered 3,016 bodies of people in possible COVID-19 cases. Andrés Flores, director of the agency, said the Santa Cruz department which includes the city of that name, had the highest number of deaths, followed by Cochabamba.

As of Tuesday, officials said Bolivia has recorded 60,991 confirmed coronavirus infections and 2,218 deaths from COVID-19.

Earlier in the day, a scientific committee advising the Bolivian government proposed that the presidential election scheduled for Sept. 6 be postponed because of the pandemic. Bolivia is trying to resolve the political crisis that erupted last November when street protests over allegations of election fraud led President Evo Morales to resign after nearly 14 years in power.

https://www.chron.com/news/article/Bolivia-police-recover-420-dead-in-possible-15424612.php

(Short article, no more at link.)