Elected in 2019 as a political outsider to El Salvador’s two main parties, Nayib Bukele assumed the country’s presidency with the promise of ending gang violence and enforcing the rule of law in an institutionally weak nation. However, Bukele’s recent actions as president seeking to pressure the country’s legislature to...
Last October, Ecuador witnessed some of the largest mass protests in its modern history. Concentrated mainly in the capital city of Quito and, less intensely, in Guayaquil, Cuenca and Portoviejo, the protests ignited on October 3, when President Lenin Moreno’s government announced the elimination of long-standing fuel subsidies for gasoline...
According to a recent poll conducted by Invamer, Colombia’s president Ivan Duque is facing a historically low popularity after little over a year in office. The announcement followed months of continued struggles for Alvaro Uribe’s protégé, which include (but are not limited to) his legislative initiatives being blocked by the...
Over the last several weeks, Colombia has been making international headlines as social protest engulfed the country. On November 25 — the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women — hundreds of Colombian women went out into the streets to claim their rights and shine a spotlight on...
Just as it seemed that the leftist “pink tide” had finally receded across Latin America, a wave of social movements are shaking market-friendly governments in the region. While certainly a reflection of the polarized political climate on a global scale, the recent convulsions across the continent deal a strong blow...
Just as right-wing incumbents in Chile, Ecuador and Argentina are experiencing a substantial pushback following the implementation of neoliberal economic reforms, left-wing and populist leaders in Latin America are also feeling the heat of popular discontent. In Bolivia, people have taken to the streets following an election held on October...
After a decade led by two globalist and establishment presidents, Ricardo Martinelli and Juan Carlos Varela, Panama has a new leader who brings a nationalist flare to political discourse. Despite a career in business and politics, President Laurentino “Nito” Cortizo has never seen eye to eye with Panama City elites....
The desire for change has rarely been this strong in Venezuela. On January 10, Nicolás Maduro staged a swearing-in ceremony that he hoped would legitimize the beginning of his second six-year term as Venezuela’s president. After succeeding the late Hugo Chávez, Maduro won a special election in April 2013. Back...
Despite the deep blows that a series of scandals is inflicting upon Peru’s political establishment and government institutions, the country is leading the way in the regional fight against impunity and graft. Peru is one of Latin America’s most dynamic economies, being a founding member of the regional Pacific Alliance,...
The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala has gained important enemies and faces an unprecedented level of opposition within the country’s highest levels of government. Guatemala’s history over the last century has been one of the most troubled, as well as most heavily influenced by foreign interventions, in all of...
