Chile’s Boric administration is searching for a viable path to a new constitution, after voters rejected a draft magna carta created by elected constitutional assembly delegates, last month. Government allies and opposition politicians are debating to what role experts might play in a new effort to draft a constitution. (Infobae)
“For now, the most likely scenario is a new Constitutional Convention split between elected representatives and experts named by Congress,” writes John Polga-Hecimovich in a Geopolitical Intelligence Service report. “That is the option preferred by citizens. It also serves the dual imperative of bringing more expertise into the drafting process while also making it more representative of the electorate.” (See also La Tercera.)
Chileans themselves broadly continue to back a plan for a new constitution, though they are torn whether it should be a completely new charter or a reform of the current magna carta, according to a Cadem poll published last month. (Pauta)
News Briefs
Regional Relations
- New U.S. sanctions to Nicaragua’s Ortega government cut off the country’s gold industry from U.S. markets. (See yesterday’s briefs.) The move is also a warning message “to productive sectors and individuals that they believe to be propping up authoritarian advances in other Central American countries,” reports El Faro English.
Haiti
- Haitian interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry has requested outside forces to help deal with humanitarian crises and gangs, but history has left Haitians with little faith in foreign intervention, writes Edwidge Danticat in the New Yorker.
- “This time, an intervention would be different,” argues Haiti’s ambassador to the U.S. in the Latin America Advisor. “It would be to buttress the National Police and buy time to beef up security around the country. Also, it would help to restore security to enable the government to organize democratic, free and fair elections within a reasonable time. So, it’s not a classic peacekeeping mission.”
- Painstaking collaboration is the best the international community can offer Haiti, counters Inter-American Dialogue Advisor board member Peter Hakim. International actors must work with disparate Haitian political, social and economic factions to create “a pathway for presidential and congressional elections in the next year or two and establishing a functioning governing structure until elections determine a new national leadership.” (Latin America Advisor)
- Children now make up half of Haiti’s suspected 1,700 cases of cholera, and experts fear the true number of people affected by the resurgent water-borne disease is far higher, reports the Miami Herald.
Migration
- The abrupt shift in the U.S. Biden administration’s policy towards Venezuelan migrants earlier this month has left tens of thousands of people suddenly stranded in bureaucratic limbo, reports the New York Times.
Brazil
- Brazilian voters are being bombarded with online misinformation, just days before a runoff vote to choose the country’s next president. The tsunami of fake news has pushed Brazil’s judiciary to enact strict regulations, in turn raising concerns over freedom of speech, reports the Associated Press. (See yesterday’s briefs.)
- The New York Times mapped President Jair Bolsonaro’s efforts over eight years to criticize or question Brazil’s voting system. The result shows an elected leader “who has built a narrative of fraudulent elections based on inaccuracies, out-of-context reports, circumstantial evidence, conspiracy theories and downright falsehoods – much like former President Donald J. Trump.”
- Brazil’s presidential election has criminal loggers racing to to grab Amazon territory ahead of a potentially more environmentally-minded administration, reports the Financial Times.
Colombia
- Colombia has increased its cultivation of coca plants by 43%, according to a new UN report. Colombia has struggled to reduce production — promises of incentives and aid for farmers have not been carried out, reports the BBC.
- Colombian President Gustavo Petro promised to radically change the country’s drug policy, but it’s not clear how he will implement plans to bolster coca crop-substitution efforts, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Ecuador
- Ecuador’s Constitutional Court is set to hear the case of a hydroelectric dam project over the Piatúa river, that has been strongly opposed by the Indigenous Kichwa people, reports TIME.
Peru
- A Peruvian court ordered the release of President Pedro Castillo’s sister-in-law, yesterday, almost two months after she was imprisoned while being investigated for her participation in an alleged money laundering scheme involving the president and first lady, reports the Associated Press.
Cuba
- Gay couples have begun to marry in Cuba, enabled by the new Family Code. The code, which also permit surrogate mothers, The code was approved after heavy campaigning by the Cuban government, and support by the most vocal advocate for gay rights on the island, Mariela Castro, reports the Associated Press.
Jordana Timerman / Latin America Daily Briefing
http://latinamericadailybriefing.blogspot
