00:00And precisely on the topic of the Brazilian upcoming elections, let's go live to Brazil with our special envoy, Belen
00:07de los Santos, who is in Rio de Janeiro, for all the details on how Brazilians are living this week
00:12ahead of Deporting Day. Welcome, Belen, to From the South.
00:16Hello Luis, exactly as you were saying, we've arrived here in Rio de Janeiro in order to cover this important
00:22election, an election that will not only decide the future of Brazil, but will also have so much importance for
00:29the continent as a whole, that is because of the particular relevance that, of course, Brazil has in the region
00:36and also in the world, being, for example, a major actor within the BRICS groups and what that means in
00:42this geopolitical context.
00:43So, you were saying it correctly, we are starting the final week, the last week, and it's very important because
00:50everything is pointed, all the data, all the polls are pointing to a very close race between, of course, the
00:58actual president, Luis Inés Lula de Silva, for the Workers' Party, and the opposition led by Flavio Bolsonaro on the
01:06Liberal Party, and all the polls are pointing to a close race.
01:10So, the importance here, the key segment of population, all the campaigns are targeting the undecisive population, those who have
01:20not yet decided their votes, or who could maybe be within the population that are able to switch votes, that
01:27are not so consolidated with one of these political options.
01:31That is the segment of population that will decide this race, and everything counts, everything is a major impact in
01:38this last few days.
01:40You were talking about the last days of campaigning, so different rallies, activities, and forms of mobilization will continue up
01:48until the very last day, up until Saturday, although propaganda on TV, official propaganda, will stop on Thursday.
01:57So, this week, the final rallies, the final activities are very important in order to motivate the population to go
02:05vote, and also, of course, each party is trying to lead them their own way.
02:11Major topics are also decisive for this final week, and we have, for example, in Agenda, the ban that the
02:17President Lula de Silva put on the betting agencies, or the bets, as they call them here in Brazil.
02:24A policy that is trying to foster public health, in terms of targeting the consequences of the betting industry in
02:35the kids, many of them young people that are trapped in a system that is prioritizing profit over public health.
02:43Also, also, regarding the household income, because a lot of debt is related to this profit economy, related to the
02:54bet agencies.
02:56So, that is a major impact policy on this last few days that is dominating part of the agenda, and,
03:02of course, we'll have to see what impact it has in the last few days on the way to voting,
03:09Election Day, on Sunday.
03:12Thank you, Belen, for the information.
03:14Of course, we'll have more to talk about in the coming weeks, but for now, we must continue with other
03:18topics.
