LatinNews Monitor: Brazil & Southern Cone - 08 January 2016

At the end of last year President Michelle Bachelet paid a visit to the region of Araucanía, the site of recent tensions stemming from the longstanding indigenous Mapuche conflict over land claims. Bachelet’s long-awaited trip – her first to the region since taking office for a second term in 2014 – made headlines for unexpected reasons: her curious failure to inform Interior Minister Jorge Burgos of the visit has re-exposed divisions within the ruling Nueva Mayoría coalition, serving as an added pressure on the government. Burgos is a veteran member of Democracia Cristiana (DC), the biggest party in the coalition and the closest to the political centre.