The Economist Latin America April 27, 2019

Politics Jihadists in Sri Lanka suicide-bombed three churches and three hotels on Easter Sunday, killing more than 350 people. Islamic State claimed responsibility. The Sri Lankan authorities blamed a little-known local group, which they say may have had external help. The government received several detailed warnings, but does not seem to have acted on them. The president asked his chief of staff and the head of the police to resign. It emerged that the president had been excluding the prime minister and his allies from national security meetings. Joko Widodo won re-election as president of Indonesia, beating Prabowo Subianto, a former general who also ran against him in 2014. Now as then, Mr Prabowo has refused to concede defeat, saying the election was rigged. Kazakhstan’s ruling party named the acting president, Kassym-Zhomart…

Politics Jihadists in Sri Lanka suicide-bombed three churches and three hotels on Easter Sunday, killing more than 350 people. Islamic State claimed responsibility. The Sri Lankan authorities blamed a little-known local group, which they say may have had external help. The government received several detailed warnings, but does not seem to have acted on them. The president asked his chief of staff and the head of the police to resign. It emerged that the president had been excluding the prime minister and his allies from national security meetings. Joko Widodo won re-election as president of Indonesia, beating Prabowo Subianto, a former general who also ran against him in 2014. Now as then, Mr Prabowo has refused to concede defeat, saying the election was rigged. Kazakhstan’s ruling party named the acting…

SINCE THE days of Nelson Mandela, one of the most effective slogans of the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s ruling party, has been “a better life for all”. The contrast with the old apartheid regime, which promised a good life only for whites, has never needed spelling out. As the party that helped liberate black South Africans from votelessness and segregation, the ANC has ruled uninterrupted since apartheid ended in 1994, always winning national elections by wide margins. The trouble is, when one party has nearly all the power, the kind of people who seek power in order to abuse it and grow rich flock to join that party. Corruption, always a problem, became so widespread under Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s atrocious president from 2009 to 2018, that a…

SINCE THE days of Nelson Mandela, one of the most effective slogans of the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s ruling party, has been “a better life for all”. The contrast with the old apartheid regime, which promised a good life only for whites, has never needed spelling out. As the party that helped liberate black South Africans from votelessness and segregation, the ANC has ruled uninterrupted since apartheid ended in 1994, always winning national elections by wide margins. The trouble is, when one party has nearly all the power, the kind of people who seek power in order to abuse it and grow rich flock to join that party. Corruption, always a problem, became so widespread under Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s atrocious president from 2009 to 2018, that a…

ON APRIL 24TH the news broke that Britain’s government had decided to permit parts of the country’s 5G mobile networks to be built by Huawei, a Chinese firm. Many Americans and other friends of Britain will be appalled by its decision and fear that the country is being naive and toadying up to China. Huawei has, after all, become one of the most controversial firms in the world and sits at the centre of a geopolitical storm. America worries that the telecoms equipment-maker is a Trojan horse for China’s spies and autocrats and poses a grave threat to Western interests. It has been urging its allies to ban it. Britain’s decision matters: it is a member of the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance led by America, and was one of the first…

ON APRIL 24TH the news broke that Britain’s government had decided to permit parts of the country’s 5G mobile networks to be built by Huawei, a Chinese firm. Many Americans and other friends of Britain will be appalled by its decision and fear that the country is being naive and toadying up to China. Huawei has, after all, become one of the most controversial firms in the world and sits at the centre of a geopolitical storm. America worries that the telecoms equipment-maker is a Trojan horse for China’s spies and autocrats and poses a grave threat to Western interests. It has been urging its allies to ban it. Britain’s decision matters: it is a member of the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance led by America, and was one of the…