MAY 16, 2021 will be a historic date for Chile. On that day, people of Chile have elected 155 members to the constituent assembly tasked with drafting a new constitution. Around 43 per cent of the Chileans (6.4 millions) voted in these elections, apart from voting for the election of 16 governors, 345 mayors, and 2,252 councilors. What is historic is not the simple fact that they had voted. It is the decisive defeat of the right-wing forces that makes this day historic.

THE G7 foreign ministers of G7 countries met in London this week and issued a joint statement painting Russia as a malicious actor and China as a bully. It had little substance in its communique, apart from ticking all the “right” boxes in its anti-China and anti-Russia campaign: Uyghur’s, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Crimea, Ukraine. It ended with arrogating to itself the mantle of being the “rules-based international order”, distinct from what the real lawful international order is, the United Nations and the Security Council.

THE graphs are painful to look at, the surge of cases in Brazil extraordinary, but the surge in other countries (Colombia, Argentina, Mexico) not lagging behind. The focus of attention in Latin America is Covid-19, with many states floundering to manage the spread of the virus, but more so to manage the social chaos it has created.

ON March 28, caravans marched in Havana, Cuba and another 50 cities around the world demanding an end to the US-imposed blockade on Cuba. In addition to demanding an end to the blockade, the caravan in Havana was dedicated to thanking the world for the solidarity and opposition to the hostile policies of the US government. The caravans began in Miami, US and were held in many cities in the US and in other continents on the last Sunday of every month, since the last nine months. These ‘caravan protests’ concluded on March 28.

ON February 25, 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China has achieved a ‘complete victory’ in its fight against poverty, with the final 98.99 million impoverished rural residents living under the current poverty line lifted out of poverty. With this, all 832 impoverished counties and 128,000 villages have been removed from the poverty list. President Jinping made the announcement while addressing a gathering to mark the nation's poverty alleviation accomplishments and honour model poverty fighters.