San Salvador, El Salvador
Left nears victory: Salvador Sánchez Cerén, who commanded Marxist guerrillas during the country’s bloody civil war, secured 49 percent of the vote in this week’s presidential election, giving his left-leaning Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front party an edge heading into the March 9 runoff. Sánchez will face Norman Quijano, a former mayor of San Salvador, who drew 39 percent of the vote with a plan to deploy the army to crack down on powerful street gangs. Costa Ricans also went to the polls over the weekend. Luis Guillermo Solís of the progressive Citizen Action Party surprised many voters and the ruling National Liberation Party when he came from a distant fourth to win 31 percent of the vote and become the favorite in an April runoff.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Tribesmen arrested: Five members of an indigenous Amazonian tribe were arrested last week and accused of murdering three government contractors in a revenge killing related to a dispute over land use. The three contractors, who went missing on Dec. 16, were last seen on a road that crossed the Tenharim tribe’s land reserve. Tribe members are alleged to have killed the men in retaliation for the death of indigenous leader Ivan Tenharim two weeks earlier; police say he died in a motorcycle accident, but tribe members suspect he was assassinated. The Tenharim tribe has clashed with townspeople for years over the tribe’s practice of setting up roadblocks and demanding money from drivers crossing its lands.
Buenos Aires
Rocketing prices: The collapse of the Argentine peso has led to sharp price increases and bare store shelves across the country in recent weeks, and many Argentines are growing frustrated over President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s refusal to address the crisis head-on. The peso fell by 19 percent in January, with economists saying Fernández’s generous social spending has eroded the country’s hard currency reserves. The once-popular president has been curiously absent from the public eye, leaving economic policy to a new team of inexperienced officials. Fernández had surgery in October to remove a blood clot in her brain, apparently caused when she hit her head leaving the presidential jet.
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacyFeature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
Denmark’s record-setting arms purchase raises eyebrows and anxietyIN THE SPOTLIGHT By eschewing American-made munitions for their European counterparts, the Danish government is bracing for Russian antagonism and sending a message to the West
-
Is hate speech still protected speech?Talking Points Pam Bondi’s threat to target hate speech raises concerns
-
The news at a glance...Internationalfeature International
-
The bottom line
feature Youthful startup founders; High salaries for anesthesiologists; The myth of too much homework; More mothers stay a home; Audiences are down, but box office revenue rises
-
The week at a glance...Americas
feature Americas
-
The news at a glance...United States
feature United States
-
The news at a glance
feature Comcast defends planned TWC merger; Toyota recalls 6.39 million vehicles; Takeda faces $6 billion in damages; American updates loyalty program; Regulators hike leverage ratio
-
The bottom line
feature The rising cost of graduate degrees; NSA surveillance affects tech profits; A glass ceiling for female chefs?; Bonding to a brand name; Generous Wall Street bonuses
-
The news at a glance
feature GM chief faces Congress; FBI targets high-frequency trading; Yellen confirms continued low rates; BofA settles mortgage claims for $9.3B; Apple and Samsung duke it out
-
The week at a glance...International
feature International