LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Lula wins important endorsements from Cardoso, Tebet

The latest in Latin American politics today: Brazil presidential hopeful Lula wins important endorsements

SAO PAULO - Former Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, seeking to consolidate enough support to defeat President Jair Bolsonaro in a tense and increasingly competitive Oct. 30 runoff, received endorsements on Wednesday from former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and centrist Brazilian Senator Simone Tebet. Cardoso, who governed between 1995 and 2002, had previously said he was stepping back from weighing in on the presidential race.

Tebet, who finished third in Sunday's first-round election with nearly 5 million votes, gave Lula a major boost with her endorsement, saying Lula had shown commitment to Brazil's democracy and constitution. It remains to be seen how many of her voters will follow her lead in backing Lula. Mexico to file new gun trafficking lawsuit in U.S., foreign minister says

MEXICO CITY - Mexico will file a new lawsuit in the United States seeking responsibility for cross-border gun flows after a U.S. judge last week dismissed a separate $10 billion lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers, Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Wednesday. The lawsuit will be filed in Arizona, Ebrard said in a speech to Mexico's Senate.

Mexico's foreign ministry last week said it would appeal the Sept. 30 decision of a federal judge in Boston to dismiss the lawsuit Mexico filed last year seeking $10 billion in damages from U.S. gun companies. Mexico issues alert to prevent wanted ex-governor from leaving country

MEXICO CITY - The Mexican government has issued a border alert at all international transit points to stop a former governor of the northeastern border state of Tamaulipas from leaving the country, three officials said on Wednesday. The alert was put out because the attorney general's office has issued an arrest warrant for Francisco Garcia Cabeza de Vaca on suspicion of involvement in organized crime, an official at the office told Reuters, following the end of Cabeza de Vaca's term in office last week.

Trailblazing Brazilian trans lawmakers face more conservative Congress SAO PAULO - Erika Hilton, a 29-year-old Sao Paulo city council member, just made history as one of the first two transgender lawmakers elected this week to Brazil's Congress.

But the victory is bittersweet, Hilton said, after a stronger-than-expected showing by President Jair Bolsonaro and his allies in Sunday's general election consolidated a robust right-wing coalition among her future colleagues, who she said have voiced transphobic sentiments. "I'm concerned about the composition of Congress right now and the possibility of Bolsonaro's re-election," said Hilton, whose religious parents threw her out of the house at 14, leaving her to work for several years as a sex worker.

Peru Marxist party wins mayoral races near MMG's troubled Las Bambas copper mine LIMA - Peruvian Marxist party Peru Libre has won mayoral elections in five districts next to MMG Ltd's massive Las Bambas copper mine, with one new mayor-elect telling Reuters he hopes to serve as "mediator" to end social conflicts.

Luis Ivan Cruz was elected in a Sunday vote, becoming the new mayor-elect of Challhuahuacho, the town closest to Las Bambas, the world's No. 2 copper producer. Cruz belongs to the same party that helped elect Peruvian President Pedro Castillo last year. The party is considered a foe of mining executives and had a strong showing near Las Bambas, but weak results elsewhere in regional elections in Peru. (Compiled by Steven Grattan; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Chris Reese)

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