Latin American Special Reports
Tren de Aragua
Click here for full report
- “Very, very dangerous people”
- The context: a country in a state of collapse
- Origins: Tocorón prison
- A dystopian hotel?
- The prison business model
- Death of the Tren?
- Life after death: international expansion
- The Ronald Ojeda story
- Donald Trump’s ‘invasion model’
- Unfair deportation: the Kilmar Abrego story
- Is there a connection between crime and migration?
- Conclusion: answering four key questions
Who or what is the Tren de Aragua? In an interview with news network CNN on 21 March this year US President Donald Trump had his answer: “They’re a group of thugs.
Latin American Auto Industry
Click here for full report
- The motor vehicle revolution
- The global automobile industry
- The global advance of EVs
- China is in the EV driving seat
- Latin America is buying Chinese electric
- Sign of the times: “zero mileage” second hand cars
- The mystery of Chinese car prices
- Improving Chinese safety performance
- Heavy metal options
- Brazil: football fields full of cars
- Brazil weighs up data protection risks
- GM plans to side-step US-China auto rivalry
- Brazil faces labour trouble at Camaçarí
- Dolphin leading the charge in Mexico
- The view from Aguascalientes
- Mexico debates tariffs on Chinese imports
- Liverpool rethinks BYD deal
- The case of the disappearing gigafactory
- What are the ‘Trump tariffs’ for the Latin American auto industry?
- Conclusion
A simplified view of the global automobile industry in 2025 is that at least two revolutions are playing out in tandem over the next few years.
Artificial Intelligence
Click here for full report
- Introduction
- The slow-burn rise in AI
- Case studies: what is AI being used for in LAC?
- Is Latin America ready?
- The opportunity and risks of AI
- AI in LAC, as seen by ChatGPT.
- Quantifying the gains
- Will the bots destroy Latin American jobs?
- The big AI obstacle in LAC: labour informality
- The DeepSeek challenge
- The promise of Latam-GPT
- Rising data centre energy demand
- The European strategy
- Latin America faces regulatory challenges
- Brazil: pushing new legislation
- Mexico: slow development
- Chile: leader in regulation
- Argentina: seeking low regulation to attract investors
- Colombia: more than half the country’s companies are investing in AI
- Conclusion – a game of high stakes
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be described as the next big thing, the technology most likely to drive comprehensive and far-reaching change across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) during the coming decade.
Constitutional Reform
Click here for full report
- Introduction
- Case study: Chile’s expensive deadlock
- How to measure constitutional success
- Case study: Mexico seeks elected judiciary
- Case study: reform gives Bukele a free hand
- Regional constitutional developments in 2024
- Case study: Nicaragua becomes the Ortega family dictatorship
- Case study: updating Venezuela’s Bolivarian constitution
From the mid-1990s to the present – a period of three decades – there has been almost constant constitutional change in Latin America.
Election Watch
Click here for full report
- Introduction
- ECUADOR: Noboa’s to lose
- BOLIVIA: The MAS tears itself in two
- CHILE: Candidates jostling for position
- HONDURAS: Race wide open
- GUYANA: PPP/C can boast enviable, if fortuitous, economic record
- SURINAME: A key election ahead of first oil
- JAMAICA: Ruling JLP seeking a third term on mixed record
- TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: Kamla’s unpopularity to help PNM in quest for third term
- BELIZE: PUP government well set for second mandate
- ST VINCENT & THE GRENADINES: Comrade Ralph looking for unprecedented sixth term
A bumper year for elections, 2025 will see voters go to the polls in no fewer than six Caribbean nations, while Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Honduras will also be staging presidential and legislative elections.
Latin America’s water challenge
Click here for full report
- Introduction
- Climate change and water availability
- How is water affecting transport and trade
- How is water affecting electricity generation
- Water issues surrounding existing industries
- Effects on plans to develop new industries
- Other issues surrounding water
- Recent developments in water governance
- CASE STUDY: Water issues threaten Panama Canal
- CASE STUDY: Chile’s national data centre plan risks inflaming tensions over water supplies
- What comes next?
- Conclusion
All too often taken for granted by those with easy access to clean supplies, water is increasingly a source of anxiety for households, policymakers and business leaders.