Lacalle Pou wins Uruguay election (Nov. 29, 2019)

News Briefs

Uruguay

• Luis Lacalle Pou was formally declared the winner of Uruguay's presidential election -- the conservative candidate will take office in March, ending 15 years of Broad Front governments. He promised to unite Uruguayans after an exceedingly tight vote. (New York Times)

Protests

• The specter haunting Latin America's protests is "inequality," but the term covers many demands and also has no clear counterpart -- but there is no clear equality counterpart to the inequality that is being rejected, writes Martín Caparrós in a New York Times op-ed. 

• The protests are not a purely Latin American phenomenon -- an acute case of discontent is sweeping the world -- nor are they without precedent, explains the Economist. The question is what to do, and that is less clear: "Many of the problems are deep-rooted and their solutions long-term. Higher growth, more progressive tax, higher minimum wages and better social provision would assuage discontent. The problem is that growth depends on raising productivity, which requires unpopular reforms. And conservative elites resist paying more tax."

• The protests are both fueled by and affecting the region's weak economic performance, warns the Latin America Risk Report.

Colombia

• Colombians are on their ninth straight day of protests -- today the demands include protection for indigenous and afro-descendant communities, but also for climate justice, reports El Espectador.

• Protests in Colombia are the indirect result of the FARC peace process, which has finally permitted Colombians to debate their social demands and dissatisfactions, writes Sinar Alvarado in a New York Times op-ed.

• Implementation of that peace process, and also continuing discussions with the ELN, are among the demands the strike committee gave President Iván Duque yesterday to resume dialogue. The National Strike Committee also asked the government to discuss protesters' demands, not to follow its own agenda. (Caracol, El Tiempo)

• The government accepted one of the student protesters demands: Duque objected to an article of next year's general budget that could have required public universities to pay off lawsuits against the state with their own funding. (RCN, Semana)

Brazil

• Brazilian lawyers and an influential human rights group including six former government ministers are seeking to indict President Jair Bolsonaro at the International Criminal Court for encouraging genocide against Brazil’s indigenous people, reports the Guardian.

Guatemala

• The former head of Guatemala's police force, Erwin Sperisen, lost an appeal against a 15-year prison sentence for his complicity in the 2006 assassination of seven inmates in the Guatemalan Pavón prison. The legal proceedings have taken place in Switzerland because that is where he has lived since 2007 and Switzerland does not extradite its citizens. (Swiss Info, Nómada)

• Guatemalan police were attacked by cops they were investigating for extortion, a sign of how deeply extortion rackets have corrupted the force, reports InSight Crime.

Migration

• Migration is a human right -- but clearly some people need a reminder, according to When Feminists Rule the World, a new podcast hosted by Martha Chaves. The episode features Honduran sociologist and feminist activist, Neesa Medina.

• "Borders were once where sovereignty ended, or began. Now they’re places where states partner with their neighbors to manage and monitor who and what moves between them," explains a New Yorker deep-dive on the changing nature of borders.

Venezuela

• Despite languishing support for protests and opposition leader Juan Guaidó -- neither the U.S. nor the Venezuelan opposition are inclined to change their strategy, reports the Venezuela Weekly. The opposition’s current focus is on the meeting of the Rio Treaty countries next week.

• There are growing calls for an oil-for-food humanitarian program for Venezuela, notes the Venezuela Weekly.

• Venezuelan digital media outlets -- El Pitazo, Tal Cual and Runrun.es --  have banded together Alianza Rebelde Investiga, aimed at collaborating to overcome the many operational challenges they face in Venezuela. (Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas)

• Severe medicine shortages in Venezuela has contributed to an escalating mental health crisis, reports the Washington Post. Crisis induced stress is another factor, and research suggests a skyrocketing suicide rate.

Regional

• Former Ecuadorean foreign minister María Fernanda Espinosa is rapidly becoming the Latin American leftist's candidate for OAS Secretary General, in a bid to replace current leader, Uruguayan Luis Almagro. She is considered a supporter of Nicaragua's Ortega administration, according to Confidencial. She also has the support of Cuba, Venezuela, and some Caricom countries.

• Argentina's likely incoming foreign minister Felipe Solá said the country will remain in the Lima Group, and that the incoming Fernández administration wants elections in Venezuela. He warned however, that the Guaidó alternative hasn't panned out and that an alternative solution must be sought. (Infobae)

Argentina

• A key witness has testified in the Italian trial of a former Argentinian army officer accused of murders and forced disappearances during Argentina’s 1976-83 military dictatorship, reports the Guardian.

Mexico

• Mexico needs a progressive security and anti-organized crime program, argues México Unido contra la Delincuencia director Lisa Sánchez in an interview with Nueva Sociedad.

• Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has taken a personalized approach to anti-corruption policies, and it seems to be working, at least in terms of his own popularity, reports the Economist.

• Indeed, in a region of protests, AMLO is wildly popular -- too much so? (Washington Post) Critics say AMLO has gone too far and is weakening checks on his power, reports the Wall Street Journal.

• Changes to Mexico's judiciary -- some already completed and others on the horizon -- might be AMLO's longest lasting legacy, argues Benjamin Russell in Americas Quarterly.

El Salvador

• Five months after Mexico's government announced a $30 million development program for El Salvador, aimed at reducing migration, the funding has not been disbursed yet. The obstacle is Salvadoran lawmakers, who have not been able to agree on an implementation plan, reports La Silla Rota.

Cuba

• Cuba has effectively reintroduced U.S. dollars -- and other strong foreign currencies -- as a third leg to its dual-currency system, reports the Economist.

Did I miss something, get something wrong, or do you have a different take? Let me know ...  

Latin America Daily Briefing