Brazil & Southern Cone - February 2020

Taking advantage of a slight lull in the social crises and political changes which have marked much of the Southern Cone recently, this February 2020 edition of the Latin American Regional Report: Brazil & Southern Cone focuses heavily on Brazil, on its economy and public security situation.... Read More

When he took office last year, it looked as if right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro might try and steer Brazil away from its close trading links with Communist China.... Read More

Brazil and Mexico are the first and second largest economies in Latin America respectively, accounting for over half of the region’s GDP.... Read More

The so-called ‘anti-crime package’ came into force in Brazil on 23 January.... Read More

Brazil’s police force is notoriously violent, with the high number of homicides committed by the police in Rio de Janeiro usually held up as an example of this.... Read More

In the space of two days in January, over 100 inmates linked to the Brazilian criminal organisation Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) escaped from prisons some 3,000km apart in Paraguay and Brazil.... Read More

Medium-term economic growth (despite a slow year in 2019) and new routes are increasing traffic at Asunción’s Silvio Pettirossi international airport.... Read More

The province of Buenos Aires came to the brink of default but backed down on 4 February.... Read More

Rosario, Argentina’s third most populous city, in the province of Santa Fe, is no stranger to upticks in violence.... Read More

Part of President Sebastián Piñera’s efforts to respond to the popular protests which have been shaking Chile since mid-October 2019 have focused on the pursuit of a security agenda, described as “an ensemble of measures to guarantee social peace and reinforce public order and citizen security.” Seven of the 11 measures are bills seeking to change legislation relating notably to police work and the definition of different crimes in the penal code.... Read More

CHILE| Growing economic pessimism despite some positive indicators.... Read More