James Bosworth

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Supporters of Peru's presidential candidate Pedro Castillo stand in front of the party headquarters in Lima on April 20. (Sebastian Castaneda/Reuters)

MundoAmérica,

At the moment, Peru's politics look like the result of putting a mad political scientist in a lab to think up nightmare scenarios for how a democracy might go off the rails. Nearly everything that could go wrong has gone wrong there, leaving the country to face a presidential runoff election between two extreme ideologues while the public, disgusted by corruption and ineffective governance, appears to have rejected the entire political class.

How did Peru get here? The roots of dysfunction go back to the 1980s, when extreme populist overspending led to a devastating bout of hyperinflation that wiped out the nascent middle class’s savings.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

In messages leaked by his now former minister of justice, Brazil’s president was explicit about his goal: He wanted the top federal police official to be a man he could call directly, with no bureaucratic hassles. With his children under investigation, Jair Bolsonaro was determined to find a loyalist for the post, someone who would share sensitive information freely and use the power of his office to block investigations that might embarrass the president. When his minister, Sérgio Moro, a former judge respected by many, balked and discussed Bolsonaro’s request in public, it set off a firestorm of condemnation and an official investigation sanctioned by the Supreme Federal Court, and unleashed a wave of speculation about impeachment.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

What if they held an election and nobody won?

It sounds like a joke, but Peruvians woke up to it splashed across their headlines this week. In a country where voting is compulsory by law, people dissatisfied with their options risk a fine if they stay home. So instead they turned out this Sunday … and cast more than twice as many spoiled and blank ballots as they did ballots for the most popular party.

While Peruvians were certain they didn’t like the parties in their last Congress, the country did not coalesce around an alternative. The result is that as many as 10 parties will have seats in Congress even though no party received more than 10 percent of the total vote once blank and null ballots are included.…  Seguir leyendo »

People march in La Paz Wednesday against Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, following the results of a contentious presidential election. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

MundoAmérica

Instead of detailed analysis, the Washington foreign policy establishment has long been hungry for generalizations about Latin America. Academics call them “heuristics” — quick-and-dirty mental shorthand that can sum up the story line for the region in just a few words.

In the ’60s it was Fidel Castro vs. Yankee imperialism. The ’80s were the “lost decade” of economic stagnation. In the ’90s there was the turn to neoliberalism and the Washington Consensus, followed by the “pink tide” of elected left-wingers in the 2000s.

Yet the shorthand peddlers may have outlived their usefulness. The region is now facing upheavals that resist easy categorization.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica

Long lines of motorists have been forming outside Mexican gas stations these past couple of weeks as reports of disruptions to fuel supplies spread, sending drivers scrambling for fuel. A vicious cycle took hold: Talk of shortages set off panic buying, and panic buying worsened the shortages. But there was no natural disaster behind the initial supply blip, just a blunder by the new populist president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, that doubles as a troubling sign of the direction that populists in the hemisphere are taking.

During the campaign, López Obrador (or AMLO, as Mexicans refer to their new president) had promised to crack down on fuel theft, a serious problem in Mexico, where criminal groups routinely tap into remote pipelines and sell the stolen fuel.…  Seguir leyendo »

An identification card was checked at a "red point" in Caracas to verify people voted during the last presidential election in May. (Marco Bello/Reuters)

MundoAméricaMundoAsia,

For fans of “Black Mirror”, Charlie Brooker’s dark dystopian fantasy on Netflix, the news out of China recently had been disconcerting. Through its Social Credit System, the Chinese Communist Party is apparently determined to build out a real-world version of the streaming nightmare: a pervasive, highly intrusive AI-enabled surveillance system that tracks you all day every day and that largely determines all of your life chances.

Social Credit is creepy enough in its own terms, but the real question is whether it will remain quarantined in China’s huge walled garden, or whether it will spread, becoming a model for repressive regimes worldwide.…  Seguir leyendo »

Students march during a protest against the government of President Daniel Ortega in Managua, Nicaragua, on Wednesday. (Rodrigo Arangua/AFP/Getty Images)

MundoAmérica

It’s a protest movement nobody saw coming. For more than a week now, tens of thousands of Nicaraguans have been out on the streets protesting the Sandinista government of President Daniel Ortega. They’ve faced tear gas and bullets that have left more than 30 dead. Yet far from fading, the protests have grown. The citizens have begun tearing down the propaganda billboards and metal trees that Ortega’s government have so carefully erected in the country’s towns over the past 10 years. University students are calling for a new government.

Several protest groups have started talks with the government. Whether that dialogue succeeds or fails, Ortega’s government now looks much less stable than it did just two weeks ago.…  Seguir leyendo »