The Economist - USA (2020-06-27)

24 The Americas The EconomistJune 27th 2020

2

1

may participate to guarantee their political

futures, as some did in the presidential

election in 2018. That would confuse oppo-

sition supporters and give Mr Maduro a

chance to claim the vote is fair. “Such dy-

namics will all but guarantee that the oppo-

sition loses control of the National Assem-

bly,” says Eurasia Group, a consultancy.

Opposition legislators who are not re-

elected would lose immunity from prose-

cution, points out Crisis Group, a think-

tank. That would force them into exile.

If Mr Guaidó no longer leads the legisla-

ture, his foreign allies will also have to have

a rethink. Some already regret recognising

him as interim president. “It seemed like a

good plan at the time,” said one forlorn

Western diplomat in Caracas. Mr Guaidó’s

most important patron, President Donald

Trump, was never really behind him, it

seems. In an interview on June 12th with

Axios, a news website, he comes across as

uninterested in his administration’s deci-

sion to back Mr Guaidó. “I could have lived

with it or without it,” he said. Mr Maduro

must have smiled.

Not everything is going his way. The

production of oil, Venezuela’s main source

of foreign income, has slumped to the low-

est levels since the 1920s. Its price is low. By

the end of this year, in real terms the econ-

omy is expected to be a fifth the size it was

in 2013, when Mr Maduro became presi-

dent. American economic sanctions are

biting. There is less cash to buy loyalty

from the armed forces, the final arbiter of

the regime’s fate. It will someday fall.

Venezuelans who yearn for change have

little hope. “They have won,” said a disillu-

sioned teacher, who has been protesting

against the regime since 2007. “I honestly

believe this country is lost.” 7

B

efore covid-19hitBrazil,Santo

André, a football club from the out-

skirts of São Paulo, was leading the state

championship. It hoped to secure a spot

in the national one next year. On March

16th, with two regular games left to play,

the league shut down. Santo André’s

stadium became a field hospital. At least

five players whose contracts expired

during the hiatus left for other clubs.

In June its president, Sidney Riquetto,

learned that other state clubs were flout-

ing quarantines to practise secretly,

sometimes without uniforms on munic-

ipal pitches. Mr Riquetto cried foul. In a

scramble for the ball, “players in better

shape will get there first,” he complains.

Brazil, which has won the football

World Cup five times (including 50 years

ago this week), is eager to resume playing

the game it thinks it plays better than

anyone else. But kicking off during the

covid-19 outbreak is proving tricky and

contentious. Brazil has recorded 1.2m

cases and 53,830 deaths, more than any

other country except the United States.

Ninety-five players from the top

league, nearly a sixth, have tested posi-

tive for the coronavirus. Nine are from

Flamengo, 2019’s national champions

from Rio de Janeiro. They hosted Brazil’s

first mid-pandemic match on June 18th at

Maracanã stadium (against Bangu, with

no fans), metres away from a covid-19

field hospital.

In São Paulo, which still bans match-

es, clubs are getting antsy. “We have been

very patient,” says Thiago Scuro, the

athletic director of Red Bull Bragantino,

though not enough to abide by a league-

wide pact not to train as long as clubs in

some parts of the state are not allowed.

(The club has now agreed to wait until

July 1st, when the governor says practice

can resume state-wide.)

Brazil’spresident, Jair Bolsonaro, a

Flamengo fan, is keen for the sport to

restart. Odds of a footballer dying from

covid-19 are “infinitely small”, he says.

But football’s bosses are trying to be more

responsible. There is “no evidence” that

athletes can’t get ill, say guidelines for

clubs published by Brazil’s Football

Federation. They recommend no spitting

or handshakes. Less reassuring is the

suggestion for clubs that do not have

coronavirus tests on hand: ask a player to

sniff coffee placed 5cm away from his

nose. If he can smell it, he’s probably not

infected. Santo André plan to house

players in rented training centres to keep

them covid-free. If other clubs take such

care, Mr Riquetto says, football will help

restore a “sense of normality” to Brazil.

It’s a big if, he admits.

Cornerkicksandcuttingcorners

Brazil

SÃO PAULO

A messy restart to the beautiful game

No need for coffee in that cup

A

ny seriouscandidate for one of ten ro-

tating seats on the unSecurity Council

will have to schmooze. Before the pan-

demic Canada entertained ambassadors to

the unwith a concert in New York by Celine

Dion, a French-Canadian singer. Ireland

induced u2, a rock band from Dublin, to

give its candidacy a plug from the stage.

Lacking globally famous pop stars, Norway

spent Nkr2m ($210,000) on a travelling ex-

hibition promoting its “contribution to Af-

rican liberation”.

They were competing for two seats on

the un’s main decision-making body,

which has five permanent members with

vetoes, including the United States and

China. On June 17th un member states

chose Norway and Ireland. Their two-year

terms begin in January 2021. Canada, which

has more people and a larger economy than

both put together, fell 20 votes short of Ire-

land in the secret ballot.

This was humiliating for Justin Tru-

deau, Canada’s Liberal prime minister, who

had campaigned for a seat for four years.

“Canada is back,” he declared after taking

office in 2015. “More like back of the line,”

foes in Parliament now retort. This is Cana-

da’s second recent Security Council loss. In

2010 the Conservative government of Ste-

phen Harper was edged out by Portugal.

Canada has plenty of multilateral cre-

dentials. Lester Pearson, a future prime

minister, won the Nobel peace prize in 1957

for initiating the first armed unpeacekeep-

ing operation to resolve the Suez crisis. A

successor, Paul Martin, was the architect of

the g20 group of rich and emerging econo-

mies. Canada hosted the conference that in

1987 produced the Montreal protocol,

which protects the ozone layer. In 2003

Kofi Annan, the un secretary-general,

VANCOUVER

The country is less popular than it

thinks it is

Canada

When C-pop is not

enough