The Economist Middle East and Africa Edition - 24 August 2019

The EconomistAugust 24th 2019 The Americas 37

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guez as his legal adviser. In one of the text

messages, Mr Velázquez asks Mr Ferreira

how negotiations for the sale are going.

News of the secret deal prompted thou-

sands of people to take to the streets, call-

ing for Mr Abdo Benítez to be impeached.

On August 1st Mr Bolsonaro agreed to scrap

the agreement. Proceedings in Paraguay’s

congress, which had the support of some of

the president’s allies, were then dropped.

But it is too late to stop the outcry about en-

ergy policy. In 2023 the $2bn loan taken out

to build the dam will at last be paid off. The

question is what to do then. “People on the

streets are already talking about the rene-

gotiation [of the deal],” says Mercedes Ca-

nese, a former vice-minister from Frente

Guasú, an opposition party.

Many in Paraguay argue that the coun-

try should use the excess power itself to in-

dustrialise. Drawn by low taxes as well as

cheap electricity, car companies have start-

ed manufacturing cables in Paraguay to ex-

port to Brazil. In Ciudad del Este, just south

of the dam, many locals engage in Bitcoin

mining, an exceptionally power-hungry

business. Demand from homes and offices

is growing quickly, too. Within a few de-

cades, Paraguay’s half of Itaipu’s output

“will go to air-conditioning”, says Christine

Folch, the author of “Hydropolitics”, a

forthcoming book about the dam.

At that point, the country will need new

energy sources. Until then, however, most

of the power will still be sold to Brazil. Bra-

zil’s economy is 50 times bigger than that of

its landlocked neighbour. And Paraguay’s

negotiating position is weak. Whereas Mr

Bolsonaro put a trio of generals in charge of

the Brazilian half of Itaipu, Paraguay does

not even have a fully fledged energy minis-

try. The messages published by Mr Ferreira

show how Brazil sets the agenda.

Public pressure may help change that.

On August 7th Paraguay’s government ap-

pointed Geraldo Blanco, an engineering

professor with a plan to use more of

Itaipu’s electricity in Paraguay, to the dam’s

governing council. As it contemplates its

strategy for 2023, Paraguay may look to oth-

er smaller countries’ battles with big

neighbours. In the 1970s a campaign in-

volving the actor John Wayne helped per-

suade America to pass a law that returned

Panama’s canal in 1999. As for the business-

es best suited to provide the investment

needed for Paraguay’s industrialisation,

they are right over the border in Brazil. 7

I

n recent yearsthe Mexico City mara-

thon has caused crowding on the city

metro. That is not just because the city

shuts down numerous roads above ground

for the 42-kilometre race. It is also because

cheating marathoners have been known to

hop on for a quick detour to the finish line.

Last year 5,000 of the 28,000 runners who

finished were disqualified. Hundreds

more were kicked out mid-race. No other

race admits to stripping so many competi-

tors of their places. Ahead of this year’s

event, on August 25th, organisers are hop-

ing for scurrying without skulduggery.

Most of the corredores de chocolates

(Mexican slang for fake runners) are easy to

spot. Each runner carries a chip across

electronic checkpoints placed along the

course. Those who skip to the end are

doomed to disqualification—but only days

later, well after they receive their medal

and the crowd’s adulation. Over the past six

years marathon medals have each been

emblazoned with a letter. Collectively, they

spell out “Mexico”. That has motivated

some people to cheat and complete the set,

says Javier Carvallo, the Mexico City mara-

thon’s chief. This year a new series of six

MEXICO CITY

How to clean up the world’s most

cheated-in marathon

The Mexico City marathon

Chocolate rush

I

n the middleoftheafternoonon

August 19th South America’s largest

city went dark. Under a thick, black cloud

at 3pm, the lights flickered on in São

Paulo’s skyscrapers; on the motorways

brake lights started to glow in the city’s

bumper-to-bumper traffic, and many

Paulistanos were worried. Social-media

users posted pictures of the gloom,

juxtaposing the dystopian afternoon sky

with fictional apocalyptic places such as

Gotham City from “Batman”, Mordor

from “Lord of the Rings” and “the upside

down” from “Stranger Things”.

Meteorologists scrambled to explain

what was going on. But the most likely

explanation, most accept, is that fires

burning far away in the rainforest are to

blame. Climatempo, a popular private

meteorology website, reported that a

cold front brought low-lying clouds

which then combined with smoke to

form the thick black smog. According to

the National Institute for Space Research

(inpe), forest fires are more common

than ever. The number detected so far

this year is 84% higher than in the same

period last year. Just over half of the fires

are in the Amazon.

During the Amazon’s dry season, it is

common for farmers to set fires illegally

to clear land. Brazil’s populist president,

Jair Bolsonaro, has encouraged them by

weakening the agencies that enforce

environmental regulations. He holds the

view that protecting the forest hinders

economic development. When asked

about the fires, he ludicrously responded

by accusing environmental ngos of

setting the fires themselves so as to make

his government look bad, in retaliation

for his cuts in their funding.

Mr Bolsonaro argues that he is fight-

ing an “information war” over the Ama-

zon;hesayshewantsforeign govern-

ments and ngos to stop meddling in

Brazil. After inpereleased data showing

increasing deforestation in July, the

president claimed the numbers were

fake. He then sacked the head of the

agency, Ricardo Magnus Osório Galvão, a

well-respected physicist.

Such belligerence outrages scientists

and environmentalists. “Firing the direc-

tor is an act of revenge against those who

expose the truth,” says Marcio Astrini of

Greenpeace, a pressure group. But the

destruction of the rainforest tends to be

out of sight, out of mind for a lot of Bra-

zilians, most of whom live in large cities

near the coast. The darkness brought

deforestation to their doorsteps. “We

don’t have much time,” a columnist

wrote in the daily newspaper Folha de São

Paulo. “Night will fall on all of us.”

Darknessontheedgeoftown

The burning Amazon

RIO DE JANEIRO

Forest fires blacken the sky in Brazil’s biggest city

Today the highway is dark