Chile’s constitutional convention formally finished its work yesterday. Delegates presented President Gabriel Boric with a formal draft of a new magna carta, that will be put to citizen referendum in September.

The text has 388 articles, and 57 transitional norms, which would make it one of the longest constitutions in the world, if approved. It proposes a “representative and reinforced democracy” with elements of direct democracy that are new to Chile. Pointedly, it proposes social rights, environmental conservation and decentralization that diverge strongly from Chile’s current market-oriented magna carta.

The proposed constitution also focuses on equality for women and minorities, particularly Chile’s long-marginalized Indigenous communities.

The undertaking is a response to massive social protests that broke out in 2019, in response to structural inequality in Chile. If the new constitution is approved, it will replace the current charter, implemented by General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship government in 1981.

The drafting process is considered by many to be among the most inclusive and democratic instances ever in Chile, carried out by a gender-equal convention made-up mostly of politically independent delegates.

But the process has also been messy and confusing for many citizens. While the drafting process received widespread initial support, polls in recent months indicate that many Chileans have soured on the proposed constitution, and approval is not assured.

(El País, Associated Press, Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera)

Mexico

• A former Mexican government official who led the country’s search for the disappeared has been found guilty of sharing confidential genetic information from thousands of recovered human remains with a private company, a macabre twist in Mexico’s acute human rights crisis, reports the Washington Post.

Regional Relations

• Some U.S. officials say the U.S. ambassador in Mexico, Ken Salazar, is overly aligned with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, even at the cost of contradicting his own government’s policies, reports the New York Times.

Brazil

• Foreign policy is a key issue in Brazil’s upcoming presidential election — Brazilian voters have a deep desire for their country to be respected as an important actor on the world stage, write Julia Dias Leite and Feliciano de Sá Guimarães in Americas Quarterly.

Honduras

• Honduras’ decision to repeal legislation that permitted semi-autonomous zones (ZEDES) has been challenged by investors on the island of Roatán. The standoff is symptomatic of a broader phenomenon throughout the region, where foreigners – often cryptocurrency enthusiasts, libertarians or both – have flocked in recent years, threatening to displace local residents and drawing comparisons to colonialists, reports the Guardian.

Regional

• A new UNODC report on worldwide drug production, trafficking and consumption during the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the resilience of Latin America’s cocaine trade and the region’s expanding role in producing other types of drugs, reports InSight Crime.
  
  
• Amid an enormous wave of migration across Latin America, aid agencies are sounding the alarm about the barriers that persist for migrant children to access education, reports Al Jazeera.
  
  
• Steve Maximay writes about “Just Transition” climate change considerations within CARICOM as part of a new series by the Caribbean Investigative Journalism Network looks at climate change issues in the Caribbean.
  
  
• Two paradigm-shifting projects in Barbados demonstrate the country’s position as a small island state combatting climate change and the costs of the battle, writes Esther Jones in another piece of the CIJN series. She looks at new fishing regulations, which focus on measures to protect marine life, and the island-wide conversion to electrified vehicles by 2030.

Cuba

• Cuban General Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Calleja, among the country’s most powerful men, died last week, according to state media. The death leaves a critical hole in Cuba’s political and economic leadership, reports Reuters.

Ecuador

• Nearly three weeks of anti-government protests in Ecuador last month cost the country at least $1 billion, according to the central bank. More than three-quarters of the costs were incurred by the private sector and the rest by the public sector, specifically oil. (AFP)

Critter Corner

• Southern right whales winter in shallow waters near Brazil, South Africa and Australia, where mothers raise their babies quietly to avoid predators, reports the Washington Post.
  
  Jordana Timerman/Latin America Daily Briefing
  http://latinamericadailybriefing.blogspot