News of latin america politics

Insta-savvy churches are propelling Brazil’s Gen Z to the right

13-03-2026 09:33 From Instagram to TikTok, young Brazilians are posting Bible verses, attending religious services and proudly identifying as evangelical or Catholic. And with that is emerging a growing alignment with right-wing politics, imbuing a cohort that represents a third of the electorate.

NEW ERA IN CHILE

José Antonio Kast, Chile's most right-wing president since Pinochet, takes office

11-03-2026 12:02 José Antonio Kast's rise comes amid a conservative wave sweeping Latin America and after Trump's re-election in the United States.

POLITICS & CONGRESS

Milei eyes labour reform as extraordinary sessions of Congress kick off

03-02-2026 09:18 Also up for discussion will be bills linked to the Juvenile Penal Code, amending régime for glacier preservation and free-trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union.

BONDS & MARKETS

Bond buyers scour Americas to bet on nations close to Trump

02-02-2026 14:42 Money managers at top firms are favouring government bonds from nations such as Ecuador and Argentina, whose leaders have forged close ties with the US administration.

VENEZUELA OIL INDUSTRY

US eases Venezuela sanctions after oil sector reforms

30-01-2026 09:11 Venezuela adopts reform package that will open up its nationalised oil sector to private investment; Delcy Rodríguez moves to appease the United States and Donald Trump following the toppling of leader Nicolas Maduro.

INTERVIEW / PERIODISMO PURO

Benigno Alarcón Deza: ‘Over 80% of Venezuelans are clamouring for political change’

24-01-2026 07:08 Venezuelan political scientist, resident in Caracas, on the drift towards authoritarian government under Hugo Chávez, the impact of oil and the 2024 election, the strength of its opposition leaders and a potential return to democracy.

by Jorge Fontevecchia

Politics in Chile

Chile president picks Pinochet lawyers as ministers of human rights, defence

21-01-2026 11:24 Chile's right-wing president-elect names two ex-lawyers of former dictator Augusto Pinochet to lead the ministries of defence and human rights.

Business, politics & losses

The fall of the Bolivarian régime and its ruinous fallout for Argentina

13-01-2026 15:18 Argentina’s economic relationship with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela left a negative balance difficult to hide. From Hugo Chávez’s financial loans to Néstor Kirchner to failed trade agreements, expropriations and non-payments, the link translated into lost dollars, lost markets and troubled national companies. Bonds with usurious interest rates, unpaid exports, truncated energy projects and forced nationalisations marked almost three decades of a political alliance which, in economic terms, proved to be costly and ruinous for the country.

by Carlos Burgueño

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Fracas in Caracas

10-01-2026 06:43 Whisking Maduro from a heavily guarded Caracas military base to a New York courtroom was also an almost magical feat but has yet to prove a game-changer in Venezuelan history. If Bolivarian 21st-century socialism could outlive Hugo Chávez, it could also survive Maduro.

by Michael Soltys

POST-MADURO OUSTER

Venezuela regroups with new leader, old repression tactics

05-01-2026 22:52 For now, new leader Delcy Rodríguez has the backing of both the Chavismo strongholds in her government and US President Donald Trump.

DIPLOMACY & FOREIGN POLICY

Argentina leads bloc to stop CELAC rebuke of US action in Venezuela

05-01-2026 13:19 Buenos Aires leads group of regional governments in preventing unanimous CELAC statement condemning Washington’s actions in Venezuela, highlighting political divisions across Latin America.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Plaintiffs ask court in Argentina to seek Maduro’s extradition

04-01-2026 22:03 Prosecutors and plaintiffs in Argentine court case probing alleged crimes against humanity committed by Maduro and his government seek extradition of Venezuelan leader.

ANALYSIS

Chile follows Latin American neighbours in lurching right

16-12-2025 07:49 Leftist leaders have not won a single presidential election in Latin America this year as voters opt for change.

LATIN AMERICA & GEOPOLITICS

Machado, Trump and the contradictions of removing Maduro by force

13-12-2025 05:18 What kind of guarantees can a region with a history of far-right military dictatorships get from a United States that has shelved the democracy agenda in favour of throwing around its economic and geopolitical might?

by Agustino Fontevecchia

ANALYSIS

Crime, economic woes push South American voters to right

18-11-2025 15:36 Reasons why South Americans are electing right-wing candidates this year differ in each country, but they’re all driving the region in the same political direction.

Kast Migrant Policy

Chile’s far-right candidate says migrants must pay for their own deportation

28-10-2025 15:50 Far-right candidate José Antonio Kast pledges migrants will cover their own deportation costs as Chile’s election campaign intensifies.

BRAZILIAN EX-PRESIDENT

Bolsonaro found guilty of coup plot, given 27 years in jail

11-09-2025 16:08 Historic Supreme Court conviction in Brazil; Far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro found guilty of plotting a military coup in bid to overturn 2022 election loss by three justices.

Uruguayan politics

Uruguay’s finance minister shuns chainsaw for modest tax hikes

10-09-2025 15:50 Orsi government lays out plans to lower budget deficit through tax increases early in its term to avoid politically contentious spending cuts or additional levies later down the line.

BRAZILIAN EX-PRESIDENT

Jair Bolsonaro on brink of conviction in Brazil coup trial

10-09-2025 10:04 Forme president risks a prison term of over 40 years if found guilty of seeking to stay in power after his defeat in 2022 elections.

BOLIVIAN ELECTION 2025

Bolivia candidate Jorge Quiroga vows to scrap China, Russia lithium deals

26-08-2025 09:44 Bolivian right-wing presidential hopeful Jorge 'Tuyo' Quiroga vows to scrap billion-dollar lithium extraction deals struck by the outgoing government with Russia and China, if elected in October 19 run-off.

MILEI'S ARGENTINA

The price of verbal violence

18-07-2025 05:17 Old behavioural norms are no longer respected. There are no limits to violent languages nor to intrusion into the private lives of people. Privacy is dead.

by Jaime Duran Barba

TRUMP'S TARIFF WAR

Trump unveils 50% Brazil levy in response to Bolsonaro trial

09-07-2025 21:22 US President Donald Trump announces 50% tariff targeting Brazil as he blasted the trial of the country's ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro.

POLITICS & COURTS

Court approves Lula’s visit to house-bound Fernández de Kirchner

02-07-2025 14:11 Federal judge approves Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s request for Brazil’s leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to visit her in Buenos Aires while she’s under house arrest.

OBITUARY

Mario Vargas Llosa: Peruvian Nobel-winning novelist

13-04-2025 23:25 As one of Latin America’s foremost writers and intellectuals, Mario Vargas Llosa defended individual liberty, democracy and the free market, which often put him at odds with his peers and political leaders in the region.

LITERARY LEGEND DIES

Mario Vargas Llosa, Latin American literary heavyweight, dies at 89

13-04-2025 23:15 Mario Vargas Llosa has died in Lima at the age of 89, confirms family; Nobel literature laureate is considered to be one of the greats of Latin America's literary "boom" of the 1960s and 1970s.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Peru rights groups sound alarm on 'anti-NGO' bill

14-03-2025 13:30 Peru's Congress is on a mission to increase state oversight over NGOs, which have drawn the ire of conservatives for bringing cases against the state for alleged human rights abuses.

MERCOSUR TENSIONS

Milei: Mercosur bloc ‘has only enriched Brazilian industrialists’

02-03-2025 11:28 Argentina’s President Javier Milei declares in speech to Congress that Mercosur trade bloc has “only enriched Brazilian industrialists,” warning he will take his nation out of trade bloc if it prevents free-trade deal with United States.

BRAZILIAN POLITICS

Brazil's 2026 elections, without Lula or Bolsonaro?

21-12-2024 04:46 Brazil's 2026 presidential election may offer a field of candidates featuring neither incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva nor far-right rival Jair Bolsonaro – a novel scenario for Argentina's giant neighbour.

BRAZILIAN POLITICS

Geraldo Alckmin, Lula’s rival-turned-vice-president, finds himself in unwanted limelight

19-12-2024 08:17 For decades, he was President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s political rival. Now his boss’s health issues have put Geraldo Alckmin at the centre of questions about Brazil’s future.

EX-BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT

Bolivia prosecutor seeks Morales arrest over 'trafficking' of minor

17-12-2024 08:43 Bolivian prosecutor issues arrest warrant for ex-president Evo Morales on suspicion of "trafficking" a 15-year-old girl while he served in office.

EU-MERCOSUR TRADE DEAL

Mercosur and EU announce agreement on free-trade deal

06-12-2024 13:02 Almost 25 years on from the first opening of negotiations, the the EU and Mercosur reach agreement for free-trade deal that will create a market exceeding 700 million people.

EU-MERCOSUR TRADE DEAL

German FM says 'essential' to seal EU-Mercosur deal at Friday summit

03-12-2024 14:44 German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says it is "essential" that the European Union to finalise a free-trade deal with Latin America's Mercosur this week.

'Pepe' Mujica interview

Mujica: Left’s return to power in Uruguay is ‘a farewell prize’

29-11-2024 11:40 José ‘Pepe’ Mujica is perhaps the most famous Uruguayan in the world, but that doesn't faze him. “I'm not a phenomenon; I'm an ordinary guy with some eccentricities,” says the 89-year-old former president.

ANALYSIS

Too stable? Uruguay's model election masks problems

27-11-2024 10:00 Election day passed off peacefully in Uruguay, with the losing candidate accepting defeat gracefully. But underneath the surface, Argentina's neighbour faces a raft of issues, including growing disenchantment with the political system.

CHILEAN LEADER

Chile President Gabriel Boric denies sexual harassment complaint

26-11-2024 09:20 Through his lawyer, Chilean President Gabriel Boric "categorically" denies allegations foiled in a criminal complaint claiming he sexually harassed a woman over a decade ago.

POLITICS IN URUGUAY

Orsi, Uruguay's president-elect, visits mentor Mujica after run-off win

25-11-2024 22:22 Frente Amplio leader Yamandú Orsi, who won last Sunday's presidential run-off plays up ties to ex-president Jose 'Pepe' Mujica ahead of taking office.

uruguay election 2024

Orsi wins Uruguay election as voters oust incumbent party

25-11-2024 13:03 Anti-incumbent trend in the Americas continues in Uruguay as voters’ worries about inequality and crime spur change of government.

PERU EX-PRESIDENT

Peru's deeply divisive former leader dead at 86

12-09-2024 00:26 Polarising ex-Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori has died aged 86 in the nation's capital Lima, family reports.

OBITUARY

Alberto Fujimori, authoritarian behind Peru rebound, dies at 86

11-09-2024 22:15 Former president of Peru oversaw the defeat of Maoist terrorists, tamed hyperinflation and continued to loom large over national politics after being imprisoned for his role in killings by death squads.

EDITORIAL

Between Tucumán and Asunción

13-07-2024 07:44 President Milei’s decision to skip the Mercosur summit does more to compromise Argentina’s future than his photograph and 10-point pact does to advance it.

BILATERAL RELATIONS

Milei walks fine line as he slams 'judicial persecution' of Bolsonaro

08-07-2024 11:47 President Javier Milei oversteps normal diplomatic conventions by denouncing "judicial persecution" of Jair Bolsonaro, his ideological ally in Brazil.

PRESIDENT IN BRAZIL

Milei backs Bolsonaro without attacking Lula in Brazil visit

08-07-2024 11:17 Javier Milei headlines conservative rally in southern Brazil alongside right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro, the biggest gamble yet on his unorthodox foreign policy approach.

UNREST IN BOLIVIA

Growing discontent amid dollar, fuel shortages in resource-rich Bolivia

03-07-2024 10:58 Along with the fuel shortage in Bolivia, which tends to be chronic due to economic problems in imports, there is also a lack of dollars in the country and, consequently, an increase in the exchange rate in the parallel market.

FOREIGN POLICY & DIPLOMACY

Milei shuns Mercosur summit and awkward meet with Lula

01-07-2024 15:00 Argentina’s President Javier Milei pulls out of upcoming Mercosur summit in Asunción and potentially awkward meeting with Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

OPINION & ANALYSIS

From attempted murder to an attempted coup

29-06-2024 04:52 Fernando Sabag Montiel is a consequence of an exhausted political and economic system in Argentina, while Milei has emerged as a response to that same failure.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

LATIN AMERICA

Sheinbaum's Mexico election win bolsters Latin American left

06-06-2024 11:31 Claudia Sheinbaum's victory means that both Brazil and Mexico – Latin America's two biggest nations in terms of population and economic output – remain firmly on the left side of the political spectrum.