At least 25 people have been killed in confrontations between protesters and Peruvian security forces, sparking further outrage and demonstrations in the midst of the country’s ongoing political upheaval. Nine of the deaths occurred last Thursday in Ayacucho, when soldiers responded to protesters by indiscriminately firing tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammo into large crowds.

On Saturday, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte called on lawmakers to pass a proposal to move up general elections, after Congress rejected her plan to do so on Friday. She said lawmakers should have the “political maturity” to respond to the desires of a majority of the country’s citizens.

Prosecutors announced investigations into the deaths of the protesters, and Peru’s official human rights watchdog called on security forces to ensure that officers had “sufficient experience, training and capacity to participate in the control of protests without committing abuses.”

Two members of Boluarte’s cabinet resigned on Friday, in response to the protest deaths in Ayacucho. The United Nations expressed “deep concern” over reports of deaths and detentions of minors involved in the demonstrations.

Last week Boluarte’s government announced a state of emergency, granting police special powers and limiting citizens’ rights, including the right to assembly.

(La República, La República, Reuters, Guardian, New York Times, Reuters, Associated Press, Washington Post)

Argentina

• Argentina won an agonizing World Cup final yesterday against France. Citizens poured out in the streets in a massive celebration that, for a short-while at least, has bridged the country’s “chasm” of political polarization.
  
  
• It’s the country’s third World Cup win — while the first was marred by political dictatorship, and the second involved the “hand of god,” this victory comes on the shoulders of a new type of soccer hero, Lionel Messi, and on a tightly cohesive team that is far more than the sum of its parts.
  
  
• Along the way, Messi, who struggled to win over his home country, has cemented his status as a national hero. (New York Times)
  
  
• Messi is big around the world (to put it lightly) and even managed to make Latin Americans cheer for “a country they love to hate,” reports the Washington Post.
  
  
• As we euphorically grasp for meaning and interpretations, Ernesto Semán wisely writes: “Imagining that soccer is an analogy for a country’s society, government, or culture is a way of belittling its intrinsic importance. Soccer is soccer. Its beauty, like that of a letter printed on a page, like the texture of a body, like a scent or a sound, owes nothing to anyone. It does not reflect anything: it is in those places, emotional, happy and dramatic, where life, ours and that of a nation, takes place.” (Diario Ar)

Brazil

• Indigenous leader Sônia Guajajara is widely expected to head a new ministry for native peoples promised by Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. She has promised to make the demarcation of Indigenous lands and the battle against environmental crime top priorities, reports the Guardian.

Mexico

• Ciro Gómez Leyva, one of Mexico’s most prominent news anchors, survived an apparent assassination attempt on Thursday. The attack highlighted the dramatic escalation in violence against Mexican journalists under the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, reports the Guardian.
  
  
• A Ticketmaster snafu led to thousands of valid tickets getting rejected at a Mexico City Bad Bunny concert. The error is particularly painful in a poorer country like Mexico, where many fans saved-up for months to be able to attend, reports the New York Times.

Regional

• U.S. sanctions against foreign individuals turn people into “economic pariahs” — dubbed “civil death” or “purgatory,” the tool has been deployed against high-level Haitian politicians accused of links to the country’s criminal gangs. The Miami Herald delves into how sanctions work.

Chile

• A heat wave coupled with drought in Chile, intensifying forest fires last week. (Reuters)

Paraguay

• Paraguay’s political parties held primaries yesterday, to select candidates for presidential elections in April of next year. Efraín Alegre will lead an opposition coalition, while Santiago Peña will represent the ruling Colorado Party. (ABC)

Flora y Fauna

• How a conservation photographer tracked down a critically endangered magnolia species in Haiti that hadn’t been seen (or smelled) for almost a century — Guardian.

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