Gustavo Petro, soon to be Colombia’s first leftist president, will be inaugurated this Sunday, August 7. High-level representatives from the United States will be in attendance, including USAID Administrator Samantha Power and National Security Council Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs Juan Gonzalez, according to a White House statement. Several regional heads of state are also expected to be in attendance, including Argentina’s Alberto Fernandez, Chile’s Gabriel Boric, Peru’s Pedro Castillo, and Honduras’ Xiomara Castro, among others, reports Ámbito. Álvaro Uribe and Andrés Pastrana will be the only two Colombian former presidents not in attendance, reports Página 12. 

Petro has “pledged to fight inequality with free university education and pension reform, reopen relations with neighboring Venezuela, fully implement a 2016 peace deal with the Marxist FARC rebels, and seek deals with remaining armed groups,” reports Reuters. He plans to finance these social reforms through a $5.8 billion tax bill his government will propose on Monday, having already formed a congressional coalition to support the bill.

A former member of the guerilla group M-19, Petro is in a unique position to curb the violence that has been plaguing the country for years, but the continued implementation of the 2016 peace accords will be one of his greatest challenges as president. As WOLA noted in a report last year, lack of state presence in rural areas and chronic impunity have caused significant levels of economic inequality and have created the optimal conditions for illegal economies to thrive. Petro’s nomination of Iván Velázquez as Colombia’s new Defense Minister will also be significant, as Velázques is an anti-corruption jurist who may be more inclined to heed the recommendations of human rights leaders and social activists whose voices have been largely ignored in previous years, says WOLA. 

Argentina

• Projections show that Argentina may break a new record in the country for number of protests in a year, potentially reaching 10,000 by the end of 2022, reports Cadena 3.
  
  
• CNN breaks down the new economic measures to be taken to improve the economy. They include a focus on strengthening reserves and reining in the fiscal deficit. 

Brazil

• Brazil’s growing Evangelical population was a key voter base for Bolsonaro in 2018, but Lula has made inroads at courting their support this election. Bolsonaro is now doubling down on his efforts with the community to try to boost his campaign, reports Bloomberg.
  
  
• The Weekly Asado covers Brazil’s hunger crisis, which had made great progress under Lula’s presidency but has faltered in recent years, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 
  
  
• The Social Christian Party (PSC), previously a Bolsonaro ally, has decided to not support the president in his re-election campaign, insteading adopting a policy of neutrality, reports Valor.

Caribbean

• “TechBeach Retreat and the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) are aiming to ramp up investments in the Caribbean technology industry,” reports Jamaica Observer.

Chile

• In a symbolic move, Chile will keep the names of victims of forced disappearance or detainees disappeared without presumed death on the voter rolls, reports the Servicio Electoral.
  
  
• “New legislation passed by the Chilean government in May 2021 aims to rid the nation of all single-use products in the food and beverage industry, including plastics, within three years. This is the first national-level legislation in the world to implement a ban on single-use F&B products, such as those made of plastic, cardboard and other materials, as opposed to targeting single-use plastics alone,” reports Mongabay.
  
  
• Jacob Sauer explores Mapuche resistance to Spanish colonialism in Americas Quarterly.

Cuba

• Cuba’s music industry is facing a #MeToo moment as the country grapples with the reality of gender violence and sexual assault on the island, reports Foreign Policy.
  
  
• Cuba has among the top 20 highest excess death tolls in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. An aging population and slow to start vaccine campaign are to blame, says The Economist.

Ecuador

• Following the end of a national strike and protests across the country on June 30, the Lasso government has “scaled up its campaign of repression against protesters, beginning with a new trial against CONAIE president and strike leader Leonidas Iza,” writes Angélica María Bernal and Joshua Holst at NACLA.

Mexico

• It’s unclear whether corruption investigations into former president Enrique Peña Nieto are politically motivated or an actual step towards accountability and improving rule of law, according to The New York Times.

Regional

• The Besieged Lives project of FLACSO Costa Rica reveals the gender-based violence, intimidation, and discrimination against women suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic through in-depth interviews across the region, writes Carina Cione at the AULA blog.
  
  
• Why don’t Colombia and Panama open the Darien Gap to facilitate trade and safer migration, questions El Estímulo.
  
  
• Sebastián Acha argues in Global Americans that Paraguayan society—not just former president Horacio Cartes—is significantly corrupt. 
  
  
• AP presents the week in pictures across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Arianna Kohan y Jordi Amaral / Latin America Daily Briefing
http://latinamericadailybriefing.blogspot