South America Archive

The United States issued a new batch of sanctions against Venezuela last Friday, targeting high-ranking members of President Nicolas Maduro’s regime and setting up a “financial blockade” against the state-owned institutions that fund them. Cutting off Maduro’s revenue may be the key to his ouster, U.S. officials have said, but restoring democracy in Venezuela after he’s gone looks to be a more complex, internal issue. Much of the pressure on Maduro still originates inside Venezuela, from politicians at all levels of government who oppose his dictatorship and hope to one day regain control of the country’s political future. The opposition […]

It didn’t take long for Ecuador’s new president, Lenin Moreno, who assumed office less than three months ago, to distance himself from his predecessor, Rafael Correa. Correa, whose highly personalized rule dominated Ecuadorean politics for more than a decade, had handpicked Moreno, his vice president from 2007 to 2013, to run to succeed him earlier this year. Correa’s prominent place in Latin America’s leftist tide has receded as the commodity boom turned into a bust. But he trusted that, as he headed for semi-retirement in Europe, Moreno would faithfully carry on his “citizens’ revolution.” That Correa’s second vice president since […]

Except in times of war, few politicians have achieved great electoral success by telling voters to sacrifice living standards today for the sake of a better tomorrow. But in a surprising turn of events, voters in Argentina have just given an unexpected endorsement to this message, which has been the guiding logic behind the anti-populist policies of President Mauricio Macri. On Sunday, Argentina held primary elections ahead of the Oct. 22 midterm legislative polls. It wasn’t supposed to be a very momentous event, but the results, as it happened, came loaded with significance. Voters didn’t just give a boost to […]

Ecuador’s new president, Lenin Moreno, has helped blunt escalating tensions along his country’s border with Peru, holding in place a two-decade peace accord that has brought benefits to both sides. Plans to build a wall along the border have been halted, and strains appear to have been eased. In an email interview, Ambassador Marcel Fortuna Biato, a career Brazilian diplomat who was a principal adviser to the senior Brazilian negotiator during the Peru-Ecuador peace process from 1995 to 1998, explains the roots of the conflict dating back to the 19th century, how active measures to bring law and order to […]

Two countries in South America are currently working on writing new constitutions, and while one is showcasing its democratic credentials, the other continues its slide deeper into an economic and political crisis. Chile has spent years consulting its citizens and probing lawmakers across the country in preparation for replacing a charter that was written in secret under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet nearly 40 years ago. Venezuela, meanwhile, will replace one controversial constitution—which was adopted in 1999 under the late President Hugo Chavez, a revolutionary to his supporters, and an illiberal authoritarian to his critics—with another that could be drafted […]

LIMA, Peru—Peru’s political establishment has been shaken by investigations and allegations of corruption, with one former president and his wife jailed while prosecutors investigate charges of money laundering against them, and another former president facing possible extradition from the U.S. in a similar case. What began as several national investigations into suspicious bank transfers and real estate purchases gained urgency following revelations from Brazil about an international bribery network managed by the construction conglomerate Odebrecht. The company’s executives have admitted to paying approximately $800 million in bribes to public officials in a dozen countries in order to obtain billions of […]

In December 2013, Uruguay became the first country in the world to fully legalize and regulate the production, distribution and consumption of marijuana. Three and a half years later, pharmacies there finally began selling marijuana, the result of a long and complex regulatory process. While the government’s strict regulations are likely to limit the emergence of a booming marijuana industry, what impact could full legalization have in Uruguay and beyond? Some lessons and warnings may be found in the illicit trade not of drugs, but of tobacco. As of July 19, Uruguayan citizens and permanent residents have three ways to […]