News of latin america politics

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.

DIPLOMATIC ROW

Ecuador in diplomatic storm after raid at Mexican Embassy

07-04-2024 09:14 Ecuador slammed by Latin American peers after police storm the Mexican Embassy in Quito to arrest former vice-president Jorge Glas.

REGIONAL ROW

Venezuela faces criticism over arrests ahead of vote

22-03-2024 00:21 Argentina leads international criticism of Venezuela over its arrest of two top aides to opposition leader María Corina Machado, a surging rival to President Nicolás Maduro.

PROTESTS IN COLOMBIA

‘Out, Petro!’ Thousands march against Colombian president

08-03-2024 00:04 President Gustavo Petro's social reform initiatives and ongoing violence in Colombia spark demonstrations as discontent grows.

BRAZILIAN COURTS

Bolsonaro to surrender passport as Brazil probes 'coup'

08-02-2024 12:33 Probe into Bolsonaro supporters' invasion of the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court in January 2023 continues.

El Salvador Elections

El Salvador's Bukele claims 'record' re-election victory

05-02-2024 11:30 Fireworks erupted in El Salvador's capital Sunday as President Nayib Bukele claimed to have won more than 85 percent of the presidential vote.

El Salvador Elections

El Salvador goes to polls with gang-busting Bukele miles ahead

02-02-2024 12:32 El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele is all but guaranteed a resounding victory in elections Sunday, with his no-holds-barred war on gangs having earned him approval ratings hovering around 90 percent

IN FOCUS

How El Salvador's Bukele became Latin America's most popular leader

31-01-2024 10:43 Despite accusations of human rights abuses and constitutional overstepping, Nayib Bukele's crackdown on drug gangs has won him approval ratings around 90%, according to numerous polls.

Politics in Venezuela

Venezuela's opposition urges reinstatement of presidential hopeful

29-01-2024 16:45 Venezuela's political opposition demands nation's Supreme Court reinstate electoral eligibility of leader María Corina Machado, as anxiety swirled around this year's still unscheduled vote.

ARMED ATTACK

Gunmen burst into Ecuador television studio live on air

09-01-2024 17:15 Armed men wearing balaclavas burst into studio of public television station in Ecuador's drug violence-torn port city of Guayaquil, taking hostage several journalists and staff members.

LATIN AMERICA

Bolsonaro’s shadow looms over a revamp of the Brazilian right

08-01-2024 09:52 A tear after Brazil riots, Bolsonaro’s right-wing movement seeks a rebrand.

IN FOCUS

Fed-up voters put Latin American leaders on thin ice

25-11-2023 12:43 Across the region, disgruntled voters have repeatedly toppled incumbents, often in favour of outsiders or inexperienced politicians.

ELECTION 2023: REACTION

Maduro slams Milei, says 'neo-Nazi extreme right' won election in Argentina

21-11-2023 17:16 Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro brands Javier Milei a "neo-Nazi" following libertarian's victory in Argentina's presidential campaign.

PRESIDENT MILEI: REACTION

Governments in Americas congratulate Milei on election triumph

19-11-2023 22:09 Presidents, prime ministers and political leaders across the Americas offer congratulations to Argentina's President-elect Javier Milei.

ELECTION 2023

Massa or Milei? Latin American and European leaders give their opinion

14-11-2023 13:27 Spanish-speaking former presidents and prominent intellectuals are stating their positions on Sunday's run-off in Argentina.

ELECTION 2023

Brazil’s Lula sides with Massa in Argentina vote as regional split widens

14-11-2023 13:16 Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has backed Sergio Massa ahead of Sunday’s presidential election, the latest leader taking a side in the heated contest that has highlighted deepening ideological divisions in the region

LATIN AMERICA

Chile President Boric plans 3.5% spending hike, vows economic revival

29-09-2023 09:22 Chile's left-wing President Gabriel Boric says he plans to raise public spending by just 3.5Y next year, less than in 2023, as the government struggles to deliver on its key policy proposals.

KNOCK-ON EFFECT

Brazil's surprise economic rebound could provide boost for Argentina

02-09-2023 14:52 President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's government implemented measures to reactivate consumption that strengthened the Brazilian economy. Facts and surprises.

by Eleonora Gosman

BRAZIL IN FOCUS

Lula tightens grip on Brazil politics as economy defies odds

02-09-2023 10:25 Just six months ago, grim warnings about Brazil’s economy were looming over his pledge to restore prosperity, Lula is stronger today than when he assumed office.

HUMAN RIGHTS

50 years later, Chilean mothers pine for 'disappeared' sons

01-09-2023 17:53 A National Plan for the Search for the Disappeared was recently launched by the government of President Gabriel Boric, in the first coordinated attempt by the Chilean state to establish the conditions and circumstances in which each disappeared.

BILATERAL RELATIONS

Uruguay ex-presidents express concern over ‘unpredictable’ Milei

29-08-2023 15:58 Former Uruguay presidents Julio María Sanguinetti and José Mujica express concern over possibility of "unpredictable" Javier Milei winning Argentina's October election; Colombian President Gustavo Petro compares libertarian's rhetoric to that of Adolf Hitler.