News of crisis

Brazilian Senate to probe Bolsonaro's handling of pandemic

09-04-2021 11:55 A judge from Brazil's supreme court on Thursday ordered the Senate to create a commission to investigate President Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the pandemic, after requests from 32 of Brazil's 81 senators.

GoFundMe or death: Venezuelans seek online help in Covid pandemic

09-04-2021 08:00 With a saturated public health care system and out of reach prices in private clinics, many Venezuelans are turning to crowdfunding sites throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

On ‘the fear’ and philosopher kings

03-04-2021 08:17 When polarisation and emotional entrenchment reaches the level of a football rivalry, the democratic system begins to fail.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

Vaccination plan advances but with difficulties, as second wave nears

03-04-2021 07:57 Confirmed cases now total 2.37 million, with more than 56,000 fatalities. To date, more than four million vaccines have been given.

A country caught in a time warp

27-03-2021 07:57 Obsessed as they are by the world of almost half a century ago, Cristina and her admirers have little interest in the country they are now governing.

by James Neilson

'We can't pay' – CFK puts US$45-billion IMF debt talks into doubt

27-03-2021 07:21 With Economy Minister Martín Guzmán in Washington for meetings with IMF staff members, Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner makes explosive intervention into restructuring talks.

Bolsonaro changes health minister again, as Brazil's Covid cases surge

16-03-2021 09:19 Bolsonaro to appoint cardiologist Marcelo Queiroga as health minister, the fourth to hold the post during the pandemic, as the country's health system staggers amid surging Covid-19 cases.

CONMEBOL should switch World Cup qualifiers to Europe, claims insider

15-03-2021 16:11 All South American qualifiers for the next World Cup should be played in Spain and Portugal to get around coronavirus restrictions at home, says one well-placed football insider.

by Anthony Harwood

Government extends health emergency for rest of 2021

12-03-2021 15:47 Alberto Fernández's government rolls over health emergency for the coronavirus pandemic until end of 2021.

Brutal murders in rural Venezuela highlight violence against women

08-03-2021 14:41 Human rights activists are warning that the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened gender-related violence in Venezuela, with 256 femicides in 2020, compared to 167 in 2019.

Complex culture clash as Venezuelan migrants flood into Chile

03-03-2021 11:07 According to the UN, five million Venezuelans have fled their country since 2015. Most have travelled elsewhere in South America, including about a half million to Chile, where many expect to find a chance at a new life in a more stable economy.

Vaccine delays threaten economies hardest hit by pandemic

23-02-2021 12:24 Latin America and the Caribbean, the region where the coronavirus caused the worst economic destruction and more than a quarter of the world’s deaths, is now falling victim to a slow inoculation campaign.

Guzmán: ‘Austerity is not the way to go’

13-02-2021 09:01 At a talk hosted by Brown University, Argentina’s economy minister says the nation has a “thin corridor through which the economy has to transit,” as speculation grows over debt talks with the International Monetary Fund.

by Jonah Shrock

Not so much how to win as when?

06-02-2021 10:32 The current combination of capital controls, price freezes, overpriced bonds, etc. might suffice for the next eight months without bursting, but not for a further two years.

In crisis-hit Venezuela, maternity wards have become death traps

29-01-2021 17:31 With seven years of back-to-back recession and the highest inflation in the world, Venezuela's hospitals are creaking skeletons of their former selves, and the effects on maternity wards can be devastating.

Pandemic costs sent primary fiscal gap to 6.5% of GDP

23-01-2021 09:59 Fiscal deficit skyrocketed last year to highest since 1993, as the pandemic forced increase in social spending.

Brazil's Bolsonaro backs Trump fraud claim after unrest

07-01-2021 13:31 Election officials, US states and the courts have all dismissed Trump's claims of widespread fraud. But Bolsonaro has shown determination to stand by him to the end.

2020: The year that was

02-01-2021 09:27 Economic crisis, rising poverty and unemployment, debt talks, creditors, the IMF, wealth tax, squatters, a police mutiny, the failed appropriation of Vicentin, alleged AFI espionage, ‘lawfare,’ corruption, legalised abortion, diplomacy, disappearances, the death of Diego Maradona… a lot happened in Argentina over the past 12 months, but it was all overshadowed by Covid-19.

by Michael Soltys

Should he stay or should he go?

19-12-2020 08:31 The series of reversals of Martín Guzmán’s 2021 policies sends a clear message: austerity will not be tolerated, much less so in an electoral year.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

The first year of the rest of a presidency

12-12-2020 09:08 A bigger game-changer than coronavirus could hardly be imagined, but Argentina remains very much the same country behind the face-masks.