Weekly Report - 20 January 2022 (WR-22-03)

While a repeat of the 13 days of acute tensions that unfolded during the Cuban Missile Crisis remains a remote prospect, memories have been stirred nearly 60 years on from the political and military standoff of 1962 after Russian government officials responded to mounting tensions over Ukraine by suggesting that Russia could send military assets to allies in Latin America, namely Cuba and Venezuela.... Read More

Óscar Iván Zuluaga, the candidate for the ruling right-wing Centro Democrático (CD) in Colombia’s May presidential election, is cutting an increasingly solitary figure.... Read More

Venezuela’s national electoral council (CNE) gave the go-ahead on 17 January to three requests from civil society organisations to begin proceedings that could result in a recall referendum on President Nicolás Maduro’s leadership.... Read More

Political tensions are palpable in Buenos Aires as the deadline for the Argentine government to make substantial debt repayments draws ever closer and a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) remains distant.... Read More

President-elect Gabriel Boric appeared before Chile’s most important annual business forum and meeting, Enade, on 13 January.... Read More

Brazil’s public sector workers, known for having comfortable working conditions, are unhappy.... Read More

The president of Brazil’s central bank (BCB), Roberto Campos Neto, had to address Economy Minister Paulo Guedes an open letter last week explaining why the 2021 inflation rate came in well over the target range.... Read More

Talks got underway in Mexico’s congress on 17 January regarding the contentious electricity sector reform that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has long been seeking to pass.... Read More

Mexico continues to be afflicted by new bouts of extreme violence.... Read More

MEXICO | Agricultural exports soar.... Read More

Imperfect they may be but El Salvador’s 1992 peace accords have been officially commemorated on 16 January for 30 years for bringing an end to a brutal and bloody 12-year civil war, ushering in democracy and the rule of law, and removing the armed forces from politics.... Read More

Dozens of Cubans who took part in the July 2021 anti-government protests [WR-21-28] have gone on trial accused of crimes, including sedition.... Read More

Haitian authorities have announced the arrest of John Joël Joseph, a former senator for the opposition Inite and key suspect in the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse (2017-2021).... Read More

It was never going to be easy for the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to repeat the unprecedented feat of 2018 when it won control of all 30 constituencies in Barbados but that is precisely what the party led by Prime Minister Mia Mottley managed to do in the general election on 19 January.... Read More

“Nato wants to take over the world, and Colombia is its pawn.”... Read More