Latin America Daily Briefing

Guatemala’s Supreme Court rejected protective measures requested by president-elect Bernardo Arévalo to halt prosecutors’ legal moves against him that he said amount to an “ongoing coup” to prevent him from assuming power in January. (AFP)

Arevalo had asked the high court in September to annul legal decisions against his Semilla party and instead prosecute Attorney General Consuelo Porras. He had also sought protection against Judge Fredy Orellana and prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche.

Also yesterday, the Organization of American States (OAS) issued a resolution denouncing attempts to “prevent a peaceful transition of power” on January 14 to the president-elect and called for an end to an “act of intimidation” in Guatemala.

In the latest attack against Arévalo by Guatemala’s public ministry is a request today to remove his immunity from trial in order to prosecute him for alleged crimes related to a takeover of university facilities, reports Prensa Libre.

Despite ongoing hostility toward his ascendance, “the inauguration on Jan. 14 is inevitable,” Arevalo said last week during a visit to Washington. (Los Angeles Times)

Colombia

• The Colombian government announced the resumption of peace talks with the EMC dissident FARC guerrilla group, reports EFE. Negotiations started in October, but were suspended weeks later due to disagreements over the presence of the Colombian armed forces in areas where the EMC operates.

Mexico

• Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador “has maintained an approval rating of at least 60% throughout his presidency, making him one of the most popular leaders in the world,” but “it remains to be seen whether this popularity will be enough to buoy his protege: former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum,” reports the Guardian.
  
  
• Mexicans work some of the longest hours in the OECD. Now ruling Morena party lawmakers want to lower the formal work week to 40 hours, but the private sector is pushing back against the proposed reduction, warning it would mean sharply higher costs, exacerbate growing labour shortages, and increase the proportion of workers in the informal sector, reports the Financial Times.
  
  
• Mexico is on track to exceed economic growth expectations this year, reports El País.

Brazil

• Wildfires are ravaging Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands, a paradise of biodiversity under threat in the midst of drought a record-breaking heatwave, reports CBS News.

Argentina

• Argentina’s Economy Minister Sergio Massa said he plans to renegotiate the country’s loan with the International Monetary Fund if he wins the upcoming presidential election, saying the agreement with the IMF for a $44 billion loan, which made Argentina the organization’s the largest debtor, is a key driver of the country’s triple-figure inflation. (Reuters)
  
  
• Libertarian presidential candidate Javier Milei is enamored of Judaism, but less close to Argentina’s actual — and diverse — Jewish community, reports Martín Sivak in El País.

Chile

• Chile’s President Gabriel Boric said December’s constitutional plebiscite will be his government’s last attempt to reform the constitution, saying the country needs stability, reports AFP. (See last Thursday’s post.)

El Salvador

• Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele rose to power as an anti-political establishment candidate. “But since entering office, another narrative has taken increasing precedence: his attacks on the 1992 peace accords that ended 12 years of armed conflict. Nayib Bukele has been waging war against the past. In the leadup to his 2024 run for reelection, his political project depends on it,” reports Nacla.

Regional Relations

• Paraguay and Venezuela agreed to resume diplomatic ties cut under former Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez in January 2019. (Mercopress)
  
  
• Vitol, world’s largest independent oil trader, has provisionally chartered a supertanker to load oil from Venezuela for China, reports Reuters.

Jordana Timerman / Latin America Daily Briefing
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