Monday Memo: Peru Protests – Bachelet and Matthei – Colombia Peace Talks – Cholera in Haiti – Mexican Vice-Admiral Killed
Likely top stories this week: demonstrators protest in Peru; a Chilean lawyer investigates the death of Michelle Bachelet’s father; FARC–Colombian government peace talks resume; a new report faults the UN for Haiti’s cholera outbreak; and assailants kill a Mexican vice-admiral. Protesters and Police Clash in Peru: Thousands of demonstrators clashed with hundreds of riot police … Read more
The Renewed Interest in Argentine Energy
Last year when Argentina expropriated most of Repsol’s majority stake in YPF, the country’s flagship oil and gas company, the Spanish government and the European Union howled in anger, leading calls to sanction Argentina and restrict trade in retaliation. The high drama in April 2012 culminated in a few months of frosty relations between Spain … Read more
Reforma fiscal e equidade social by Fernando Rezende
For over a decade, Brazil has been a model of fiscal responsibility. Brazil’s success makes it easy to forget that it once suffered from one of the worst fiscal performances in Latin America, complicated by hyperinflation, short-lived currencies, and massive debt-to-GDP ratios. Today’s economic stability also makes it easy to assume that Brazil’s fiscal house … Read more
Is Brazil the Energy Power of the Future (and always will be)?
Read sidebars on wind, solar and geothermal energy. Brazil’s pro-álcool (pro alcohol) policy, which for decades had sought to substitute gasoline with locally produced sugarcane ethanol—a goal once dismissed as folly—suddenly became a world model. Brazil was hailed as the “Saudi Arabia of biofuels,” and massive investment plans were launched. That year, my firm, Garten-Rothkopf, … Read more
Fresh Look Reviews
Fresh, unique perspectives on recent books from across the hemisphere originally published in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Amid Protests, Pope Francis Arrives in Brazil for World Youth Day
Pope Francis—the first Latin American to head the Catholic Church—arrived in Brazil on Monday to celebrate World Youth Day, a week-long international gathering of young Catholics initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985. While millions of Catholics have traveled to Rio de Janeiro to greet the Pope, he was also met on Monday night … Read more
Monday Memo: Chilean Presidential Candidates – Pope in Brazil – Ambush in Colombia – U.S. Immigration – Venezuela-U.S. Relations
Likely top stories this week: Evelyn Matthei will be the UDI’s new candidate in Chile’s presidential election; Pope Francis I arrives in Brazil; Colombian government sends troops to Arauca; U.S. lawmakers debate the KIDS Act; Venezuela ends its attempt to normalize relations with the U.S. Chile’s New Presidential Candidate: The Unión Demócrata Independiente (Independent Democratic … Read more
Candidate Reshuffle in Chile’s Presidential Election
Former Economy Minister Pablo Longueira of the Independent Democratic Union (Unión Demócrata Independiente—UDI) withdrew from the Chilean presidential campaign on Wednesday just weeks after winning the June 30 primary of the incumbent Alliance for Chile (Alianza por Chile) coalition. His son, Juan Pablo Longueira, informed the press that his father had been suffering from severe depression and could no longer be a part of the race. The election will be held on November 17, 2013. The Alianza coalition must now overcome … Read more
Rousseff Again Calls for a Plebiscite on Political Reforms
On Wednesday, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff reiterated her proposal for a plebiscite on reforms to address citizen discontent over corruption and public spending that have fueled massive protests since June. Rousseff first proposed a plebiscite on June 24. According to her plan, voters would select from a menu of options to overhaul the nation’s political … Read more
Argentina Signs Deal to Jump-Start Drilling
A little more than a year after Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner seized control of Argentine oil company YPF from Spain’s Grupo Repsol, Argentina has enlisted Chevron to develop its massive Vaca Muerta shale oil and gas field. The deal, inked Tuesday evening in Buenos Aires, confirms the California-based Chevron Corporation will invest an … Read more
Seeking Investment, Argentina Eases Restrictions on the Oil Industry
The Argentine government announced on Monday that it would allow oil companies that invest at least $1 billion over five years to explore the Vaca Muerta oil field and to export, tax free, up to 20 percent of the crude and natural gas they produce in the country. The move is part of a growing effort … Read more
Growing Pains: Former Student Leaders Step into Electoral Politics Amid Continuing Mobilization in Chile
In 2011, a nationwide reform movement swept Chile, with teachers, students and their families filling the streets to demand free, quality public education. As student marches and police crackdowns continue into 2013, some former leaders of the movement are transitioning to electoral politics, looking to win seats in parliament come November. View an exclusive slideshow … Read more
The Promise of Oil in Paraguay
Paraguay has just 6.5 million inhabitants who consume 27,000 barrels per day of refined petroleum products. To put that into perspective, Argentina consumes 698,000 barrels per day, Chile 347,000 and Bolivia 62,000. This makes Paraguay’s needs for hydrocarbons very small when compared to its neighbors. Yet Paraguay is currently importing all of its oil, as … Read more
Miners, Students Protest in Chile
Thousands of protestors—with estimates as high as 150,000 people—marched through the streets of Santiago yesterday to voice their frustrations over social inequality, living wages and the country’s pension system. The demonstration was part of a nationwide strike organized by Chile’s largest labor union, the Central Union of Workers (Central Sindical Unitaria de Trabajadores – CUT) … Read more
Venezuela to Assume Mercosur Leadership at Summit in Montevideo
A summit of Mercosur countries—a regional bloc that includes Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Venezuela as full members with Paraguay suspended from the group—will convene tomorrow in Montevideo to discuss Paraguay’s possible re-admission to the group as Venezuela takes the helm of the South American trade bloc. Venezuela, which became a full member of Mercosur in … Read more
