On Oct. 15th, Daniel Noboa, a 35-year-old business executive, won the race to be Ecuador’s next president, although due to the circumstances of the election, he will only get a shortened 18-month term. To subsequently win a full term in office for himself, Noboa needs to learn from outgoing President Guillermo Lasso’s failures.
Lake Titicaca, spanning the border between Peru and Bolivia, is critical to supporting the livelihoods of 3 million people. That makes it all the more alarming that this year it was named the “Threatened Lake of the Year” by the Global Nature Fund and the Living Lakes Network, for the second time in just 11 years.
Since Chile’s leftist President Gabriel Boric took office, hopes that he will usher in sweeping change have evaporated rapidly. The latest disappointment came earlier this month, when the committee charged with replacing Chile’s outdated dictatorship-era constitution approved a draft that would make the country more conservative.
Last week’s news of a deal between the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the country’s political opposition and—unofficially—the United States guaranteeing a competitive election in 2024 was a temporary win for nearly everyone involved. But we won’t know who the long-term winners are for many months to come.
Guatemalans have taken to the streets to make sure President-elect Bernardo Arevalo takes office in January as scheduled. The protesters are convinced that Guatemala’s ruling political and economic elites are attempting to undo the results of the country’s recent presidential election—and they have good reason to be alarmed.
For leftist governments in South America, the unfolding confrontation between the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which some of them view as a liberation movement, and Israel, a country many of them view as damnably oppressive, became the source of domestic tensions, with some leaders struggling to modulate their responses.
Evo Morales’ announcement last week that he would run for president in Bolivia’s 2025 elections highlights a regional trend: Across the Americas, an older generation of leaders is refusing to cultivate the next generation of leadership, clinging to power instead of handing the top spots off to their successors.