Argentina’s poverty rate rose to 53 percent in the first six months of President Javier Milei’s shock-therapy austerity government. That is a jump from 42% in December, 5.5 million new poor, according to official statistics released yesterday. Sixty-six percent of children under the age of 14 are poor. The numbers are the worst since 2003, when Argentina was exiting an economic meltdown. (El País)
Argentina’s annual inflation is at more than 230 percent. Milei's massive spending cuts have been applauded by markets, but have pushed the country into a deep recession, notes Reuters.
The government blamed the situation on its predecessor’s policies, reports the Associated Press.
The new data comes as, for the first time, the number of Argentines with a negative view of Milei’s government outnumber those who see the administration positively. And nobody expects a rapid economic recovery, further complicating Milei’s panorama.
A closely watched index of confidence in the government compiled by Torcuato Di Tella university fell 14.7 per cent in September, by far the biggest fluctuation this year, reports the Financial Times.
“Heat, humidity and energy collapse can be an explosive cocktail, even more so when electricity bills are four, seven or more times more expensive than a few months ago,” writes Hugo Alconada Mon in El País. “And the Casa Rosada can explain that investments in infrastructure take time and that the legacy received is overwhelming - which is true - but society is beginning to demand solutions from Milei, not from those who left almost ten months ago.”
Regional
Colombia ratified the Escazú Agreement, a landmark treaty for Latin American and Caribbean nations that advances the right to a healthy environment, this week. Now Human Rights Watch calls on Brazil to advance.
Migration
Colombia and Panama will seek to build a single, organized route through the Darién Gap jungle that hundreds of thousands of migrants cross as they attempt to reach the US, according to Colombian President Gustavo Petro. (Bloomberg)
Venezuelans now trekking across the Darien Gap say they’re making the perilous journey because they lost hope for change after their country’s contested presidential election two months ago, reports the Associated Press.
Colombia
“Colombia is set to announce a $40 billion investment plan aimed at replacing fossil-fuel export revenues that are expected to decline after the country ended new oil and gas exploration two years ago,” reports Bloomberg.
Colombia’s government will take the unprecedented step of issuing its 2025 budget by decree, after the Petro administration it failed to reach an agreement with lawmakers on spending cuts and tax hikes, reports Bloomberg.
Haiti
Edgard Leblanc Fils addressed the UN General Assembly as head of Haiti’s Transitioal Presidential Council, and argued that his country’s crushing crisis is related to colonial injustices. He called for restitution and reparations, endorsing efforts already being led by the Caribbean Community and the U.N. (Miami Herald)
The U.N. Security council will meet Monday to decide on a proposal by both the U.S. and Ecuador to extend the multinational security support mission for another year and to work on a transition to a formal U.N. peacekeeping mission. (Miami Herald)
Regional Relations
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla told Newsweek that his country's pursuit of robust relations with China, Russia and other nations has been accelerated by the United States' policy of severely restricting bilateral cooperation.
Venezuela is not on a list of prospective invitees to the BRICS bloc of emerging market countries that has circulated among the group’s members at the United Nations this week, reports Bloomberg. President Nicolás Maduro had previously expressed interest in joining, “but Brazil has grown increasingly uncomfortable with a potential invite in the wake of Venezuela’s disputed July election, which has frayed relations between Maduro and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a longtime ally.”
Lula said he is ready to sign a trade agreement between the European Union and South America's Mercosur bloc, but that it is now up to the EU to conclude negotiations. (Reuters)
Illegal firearms from the U.S. have created a regional security problem in the Caribbean, which directly affects “France, through its Caribbean island territories, Martinique and Guadeloupe,” argues Aude Darnal in World Politics Review. “As a result, Caribbean countries can and should seek to use France’s—and by extension the European Union’s—geographical presence in the region as leverage to get the U.S. to seriously address the issue.”
The Wilson Center’s Weekly Asado looks at what Latin American leaders got up to in NY on UNGA week.
El Salvador
President Nayib Bukele’s security success came at the cost of tens of thousands of arbitrary detentions. “What’s to be done when an elected leader attacks human rights, yet remains wildly popular,” asks Human Rights Watch’s Rights & Wrongs podcast. “That question is personal to Augustín, a Salvadorian teenager who spent his whole life trying to avoid gangs but was wrongly detained in Bukele’s crackdown.”
Brazil
São Paulo’s mayoral campaign has been unexpectedly violent: two televised debates have ended in blows between political actors. “Those attacks led the campaign’s leading female candidate, Tabata Amaral, to deplore what she called “a horror show of out of control and violent men,”” reports the Guardian.
Mexico
Thousands of people marched in Mexico City’s Zócalo, yesterday, to mark the 10 year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa, reports El País. (See yesterday’s post.)
Datacentres are clustering in Mexico’s Querétaro state — Amazon, Microsoft and Google are among those lining up multibillion-dollar investments. “The government heralds the industry as a new driver of economic growth – but in a drought-prone state where the electrical grid suffered blackouts this summer, critics want to know how strained infrastructure will find the extra water and energy it needs.” (Guardian)
Peru
Peruvian transportation companies went on strike yesterday against a wave of violent extortions, that have claimed three lives in the past month, reports El País.
Histories
“Gerardo Sánchez Nateras's book uses a variety of Central American archives to present alternatives to the dominant narratives about the Nicaraguan revolution.” - Nacla
“Archaeologists using artificial intelligence (AI) have discovered hundreds of new geoglyphs depicting parrots, cats, monkeys, killer whales and even decapitated heads near the Nazca Lines in Peru, in a find that nearly doubles the number of known figures at the enigmatic 2,000-year-old archaeological site.” - Guardian
Critter Corner
“Our relationship with animals has been defined by centuries of human exceptionalism. This has contributed to the extinction of many species and is driving climate change. At the same time, scientific knowledge allows us to know that there are sentient animal species, that possess culture and form complex societies. We can avoid the suffering we cause them by changing the paradigm we have for understanding and treating them,” argues Macarena Montes Franceschini in Boom.