Argentina’s economy minister Martín Guzmán resigned suddenly on Saturday, fallout of an increasingly complicated schism within the country’s ruling Frente de Todos coalition, in the midst of a deepening economic crisis.

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez named Silvina Batakis as the new economy minister late on Sunday, with tensions running high. She is a low-profile economist who previously headed the Buenos Aires province economy ministry. Her appointment is seen as an advance in power for vice president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who was critical of Guzmán’s approach to handling a crisis marked by sky-high inflation, poverty and dwindling foreign reserves. Market analysts expect her to tilt towards heterodox economic policies.

Fernández has been under pressure from Kirchner allies to implement a cabinet shakeup, and had thus far resisted. The resignation of a key ally is seen as a blow to the president’s power within the coalition.

Though the country’s economy is at a crisis point, Guzmán’s exit is widely seen as a political move, with impact on the government’s internal balance of power ahead of presidential elections next year. His resignation letter, which was released as the vice president was giving a speech, suggested he stepped down at least in part due to a lack of political support.

(Reuters, Bloomberg, Associated Press)

News Briefs

Regional

• Tropical storm Bonnie turned into a Category 1 hurricane off the southwest coast of Mexico on yesterday evening. Bonnie, is the second named storm of the Atlantic season, and crossed over to the Pacific, where it became the third hurricane of the season there. (Accuweather)
• The storm made landfall as a tropical storm on the Caribbean coast near the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border on Friday. In El Salvador, authorities confirmed one death due torrential rains. (Reuters)
  
  
• Latin America has gone from being a pandemic failure to having more than 70 percent of its population vaccinated against Covid-19, an achievement that reflects a variety of factors, including a legacy of public health credibility that avoided vaccine hesitancy seen elsewhere, writes IDB President Mauricio Claver-Carone in Americas Quarterly.

Regional Relations

• Latin America should take a joint approach to crises affecting the region, from migration and climate to drug trafficking and public security, Chilean foreign minister Antonia Urrejola told El País in an interview.

Migration

• Migration to the U.S. from Mexico is surging, after declining for more than a decade, pushed by a combination of growing violence across Mexico and a worsening economy, reports the New York Times.

Venezuela

• Virgilio Trujillo Arana, a Venezuelan indigenous leader who was an opponent of armed groups and illegal mining, was shot dead in the Amazonas state capital. Non-governmental organizations and a United Nations report have denounced the presence of violent criminal groups that control gold mines in the area, reports the Guardian.

Brazil

• Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s systematic dismantling of the country’s Indigenous and environmental protection services and “surrender of the Amazon to crooks” played a direct role in the murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, according to Randolfe Rodrigues, an opposition senator from the Amazon state of Amapá, who is leading a congressional inquiry into the crime. (Guardian)
  
  
• Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the frontrunner for October’s presidential election, said in a speech that he will not tolerate threats against institutions, and that the armed forces need to commit to democracy. (Reuters)

El Salvador

• Activists and family members are grappling with the fallout of El Salvador’s mass arrests. Many detained as part of President Nayib Bukele’s harsh crackdown on gangs have little or no actual link to criminal organizations. Activists have also documented cases of “short-term enforced disappearances” in which targets were spirited off to undisclosed locations by troops, Human Rights Watch’s Tamara Taraciuk told the Guardian.

Colombia

• Colombian president-elect Gustavo Petro’s political origins are deeply rooted in urban issues and territorial inequalities, writes Fernando Bercovich in Cenital.

Mexico

• Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s economic obsession with avoiding devaluation has been aided by U.S. economic factors, writes Luis Rubio in Americas Quarterly.

Peru

• A forest fire near the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu that destroyed about 100 acres of land was sparked by farmers who had been clearing land to grow crops, according to authorities. (Guardian)

Jordana Timerman/Latin America Daily Briefing
http://latinamericadailybriefing.blogspot