Bottom Line Up Front
Today’s verdict: Thursday is opening day — the World Cup kicks off tonight at the Estadio Azteca even as Mexico City’s teachers keep the Zócalo blocked; Peru’s count has flipped back to Keiko Fujimori by the thinnest margin yet; and Bolivia stays open but is now barely movable.
Peru — the count flipped back to Fujimori. The last overseas actas — the final diplomatic pouch, about 233 sheets and 32,000 votes from Argentina, landed Wednesday night — pushed Keiko Fujimori ahead of Roberto Sánchez. At roughly 98.2 percent it is a statistical dead heat, about 50.001 to 49.999 percent, with some 1,500 observed domestic and 140 foreign sheets still at the electoral juries and a recount ahead. No winner is proclaimed until mid-July.
Mexico — kickoff is tonight. Mexico play South Africa in the opener at the Azteca, with the opening ceremony first and the match itself “guaranteed” by President Sheinbaum behind 100,000-plus security. But the teachers’ camp still blocks the Zócalo, so the free fan fest there is in doubt — the city named 18 alternative venues — and the union has called fresh protests for today.
Bolivia — open, but barely movable. The emergency-powers law lets the army clear roughly 100 blockades now in their second month, and a 90-day health emergency holds in La Paz department. The country is still open, but a nationwide fuel shortage means flying is the only reliable way between cities.
