Havana
Fidel votes: Former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro this week showed up in person to vote for the first time in years, looking pale and stooped but able to chat with other voters. Castro, 86, has appeared in public only rarely since ceding power to his brother Raúl in 2008, after an illness. He was voting in the elections for the National Assembly; all the candidates were chosen by the Communist Party. Raúl, meanwhile, has made significant economic reforms and lifted travel restrictions, but he refuses to allow political reform. “Renouncing the principle of a single party would be equal to legalizing one or more imperialist parties,” he said.
Asunción, Paraguay
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Buenos Aires
Price controls: Desperate to control inflation, the government of Argentina has slapped a price freeze on supermarkets for two months. The freeze applies to every product in the largest chains, including Walmart and Carrefour. “Keep your receipts,” said Undersecretary for Consumer Affairs María Lucila Colombo. “If a price goes up, report it to us.” The official inflation rate is 10 percent, though economists say it is actually closer to 25 percent and could reach 30 percent this year. The government said its action was intended to help consumers feed their families. In practice, though, price freezes often produce shortages and drive up prices on the black market.
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