Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Today's Video: Turbaco Votes

We will be back later tonight to briefly report on a few news stories related to Tuesday's U.S. presidential elections.  For now we present an unusual bit of news from South America.

Chicago may be the homebase for President Barack Obama as he awaits results from the polls but it may not be the location where he's most revered.  That distinction could belong to the small Colombian town of Turbaco where people participated in a mock election organized by ex-mayor Silvio Carrasquilla.

"We know that Obama is worried over there because in all states things with Republican Mitt Romney are tight, but Turbaco tells him to relax, we will bring him the decisive victory" Carrasquilla was reported to have said.

As seen in the video below, 3000 ballots were prepared for voters in the "symbolic" election that included Turbaco residents and visitors from surrounding cities:




Turbaco is the hometown of Demo, a donkey owned by Carrasquilla and offered as a gift to Obama during the Summit of the Americas held in the nearby Cartagena last April. The city is populated primarily by Afro-Colombians who look up to Obama as the first black U.S. president.

An analysis of recent polls taken worldwide by Foreign Policy's Uri Feldman found that individuals in most Latin American countries back Obama.  In Brazil, for instance, at least sixteen candidates in last month's local elections adopted the name "Obama."


Online Sources - Colombia Reports, El Universal, BBC News, Foreign Policy, CNN

Video Source - Noticias Caracol

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