Subject: Morning Brief: Maduro scores narrow victory in Venezuelan elections
From: "Foreign Policy Magazine" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:12:31 -0400 (EDT)

FP Passport Morning Brief
Monday, April 15, 2013
Maduro scores narrow victory in Venezuelan elections
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*Top news: *Venezuelans narrowly re-elected [1] Nicolas Maduro to serve out  
the remainder of Hugo Chavez's term as president, but with about 230,000  
votes separating Maduro and his opponent, opposition leader Henrique Capriles  
refused [2] to concede defeat, demanded a full recount, and alleged that the  
vote had been marred by inconsistencies.

After being tapped by Chavez as his political heir, Maduro had been expected  
to cruise to victory amid widespread public grief for Chavez's death and  
promises to continue the late commandante's Bolivarian revolution. But with  
chronic inflation, crumbling infrastructure, power outages, and goods  
shortages, political realities on the ground in Venezuela nearly caught up  
with Maduro on Sunday, when he managed to beat Capriles by a mere 1.6 percent  
of the vote -- 50.7 to 49.1 percent. After a campaign that hinged on  
transferring public support for Chavez onto his presidential bid, Maduro  
hailed his predecessor once more last night when he declared [3] that in his  
victory Chavez "continues to be invincible." 

But Capriles remained defiant on Sunday night and said in arguing for a  
recount that his campaign had reached "a result that is different from the  
results announced today." Addressing Maduro, Capriles said: "The big loser  
today is you -- you and what you represent."

Maduro said Sunday that he would be open to an audit of the vote, but in  
announcing the vote totals, the head of the electoral council called the  
outcome "the irreversible results that the Venezuelan people have decided  
with this electoral process."

Despite Maduro's victory, dissent within the ranks of the Chavista movement,  
taken by surprise at the razor-thin margin, boiled to the surface last  
night. "The results oblige us to make a profound self-criticism. It's  
contradictory that the poor sectors of the population vote for their longtime  
exploiters." Diosdado Cabello, the president of the national assembly,  
tweeted [4].

*North Korea: *North Koreans celebrated [5] the birthday of Kim Il Sung,  
their nation's founder, without incident Monday, a day widely seen as a prime  
window for the isolated nation to make good on its threats to fire off  
missiles. Amid the tensions, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sought [6] to  
de-escalate the situation and provided an opening for a resumption of talks  
on the Korean Peninsula, saying that the North would find a willing partner  
in the United States if it committed itself to a program of denuclearization.

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Middle East

 * Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, resigned
   [7], creating an early stumbling block for the Obama administration's
   nascent peace initiative.
 * A series of bombings and shootings across Iraq killed [8] 27 and wounded
   over 100 people.
 * A prominent Kuwaiti opposition leader was sentenced [9] to five years in
   jail on charges he insulted the country's emir.

Asia

 * Opium production in Afghanistan increased [10] for the third year in a
   row, raising fears that the crop will become the country's main economic
   activity after NATO's withdrawal.
 * Chinese authorities reported 11 additional cases of the H7N9 strain of
   bird flu, bringing the total number of reported cases to 60.
 * The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactor discovered [11] yet
   another leak, which has likely resulted in contaminated water seeping into
   the ground.

Europe

 * The London School of Economics accused [12] the BBC of endangering its
   students after the broadcaster used a student trip to North Korea to
   covertly send a group of reporters there.
 * Pope Francis announced [13] the formation of an international panel of
   advisers to guide reform efforts and wrest power from the Curia.
 * Total worldwide military spending dropped [14] for the first time since
   1998 -- though China and Russia still saw major increases -- according to
   data compiled by a Swedish watch dog group.

Africa

 * Al-Shabab militants stormed [15] the supreme court complex in Mogadishu,
   Somalia, in an attack that killed at least 35.
 * Sudan and South Sudan agreed [16] to resume oil exports and border trade
   after a period of violent tensions along the frontier.
 * Chad announced [17] that it will begin withdrawing its troops from Mali, a
   move that could set back the military mission there.

Americas

 * Using makeshift weapons, inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison clashed [18]
   with guards carrying out a raid on a communal living area.
 * The United States released [19] the names of Russian officials to be
   targeted by sanctions under the so-called Magnitsky act, a move that led
   to retaliatory designations of U.S. officials by the Russian government.
 * The family of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda agreed [20] to send his remains to
   a U.S. lab that will seek to definitively determine the cause of his
   death. 

/-By Elias Groll /

LUIS ACOSTA/AFP/Getty Images

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[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/world/americas/venezuelans-vote-for-successor-to-chavez.html?collection=homepage
[2] http://news.yahoo.com/opposition-candidate-demands-recount-venezuela-050306986.html
[3] http://news.yahoo.com/chavezs-heir-over-divided-venezuela-074347933.html
[4] http://news.yahoo.com/chavez-heir-squeaks-win-venezuela-election-044911889.html
[5] http://news.yahoo.com/nkoreans-mark-key-holiday-oblivious-tensions-055847958.html
[6] http://news.yahoo.com/us-talks-diplomacy-nkorea-takes-hard-line-160454630--politics.html
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/world/middleeast/salam-fayyad-palestinian-prime-minister-resigns.html
[8] http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-string-morning-attacks-kills-27-074905241.html
[9] http://news.yahoo.com/kuwait-opposition-leader-sentenced-5-years-080421682.html
[10] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/world/asia/afghanistan-opium-production-increases-for-3rd-year.html?ref=asia
[11] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/world/asia/new-leak-found-at-fukushima-nuclear-plant.html?ref=asia
[12] http://news.yahoo.com/london-school-economics-denounces-bbc-tactics-105828164.html
[13] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/14/pope-francis-church-advisory-panel
[14] http://news.yahoo.com/world-military-spending-drops-2012-073045803--finance.html
[15] http://news.yahoo.com/death-toll-rises-35-somalia-court-attack-091204255.html
[16] http://news.yahoo.com/sudan-south-sudan-open-border-resume-oil-165940566.html
[17] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22150625
[18] http://news.yahoo.com/prisoners-guards-clash-over-guantanamo-bay-raid-214116253.html
[19] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/world/europe/russia-bars-18-americans-in-tit-for-tat-on-rights.html
[20] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22131916
[21] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/longform_s_picks_of_the_week
[22] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/mirage_across_the_potomac
[23] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/the_outsider_sayed_kashua
[24] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/divorce_italian_style
[25] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/the_road_to_pyongyang_goes_through_helsinki
[26] http://www.foreignpolicy.com
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[30] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/divorce_italian_style
[31] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/the_love_fest_china_us_military
[32] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/the_world_in_photos_this_week
[33] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/the_enabler_south_korea
[34] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/national_security_newsletter_signup
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