Since May of 2021, the government of President Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua has arrested almost every opposition politician who might challenge his bid for another term in office in the upcoming November 7 election. On August 13, the regime continued its repressive trajectory by raiding the offices of La Prensa, Nicaragua’s oldest newspaper, and the

In early August 2021, President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil seemed to be rapidly losing support, putting him on track for a big loss in the next presidential election. He and his allies, therefore, turned to preemptive warnings about “fraud” to explain his impending defeat. In the process, they began overtly questioning the legitimacy of the

Beginning on July 11, 2021, Cubans repeatedly took to the streets of most of the nation’s cities in the largest anti-government demonstrations in almost 30 years. They protested against shortages of food, electricity, and medicine, as well as restrictions on individual liberties, while chanting “we want freedom,” “we are not afraid,” and “we want vaccines.”

In late June 2021, Daniel Ortega continued to insist that the political opponents he had imprisoned in Nicaragua were arrested because they wanted to overthrow him in an illegal coup. The Nicaraguan president contended that they are “agents” of the United States. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) countered that the arrests are part

On June 6, 2021, Keiko Fujimori lost the presidential runoff in Peru to Pedro Castillo of Peru Libre by around 44,000 votes. This very narrow margin means that the legal exclusion of results in a handful of polling locations could throw the election to Fujimori. Therefore, she and her party, Fuerza Popular, have continued throughout

In mid-June 2021, the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega continued arresting opposition leaders (especially those running for president later in the year), despite international condemnation. The arrests began on June 2, 2021, with Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of former President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997), who is also part owner of La Prensa, Nicaragua’s largest

After the June 6, 2021 election in Peru, with over 99% of the votes counted, candidate Pedro Castillo of the leftist Perú Libre party looked to have won a very close election over Keiko Fujimori of the right-wing Fuerza Popular party, with 50.253% to her 49.747%, according to the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE).

Since the Fall of 2020, Mexico has experienced hundreds of attacks or threats against politicians and candidates, and more than 30 murders of candidates, making the elections of June 6, 2021, some of the most violent in the country’s history. The Chamber of Deputies, 15 of the 32 governors, 30 state legislatures, and 1,900 city

On May 15 and 16, 2021, Chileans voted to elect the members of a constituent assembly to write a new constitution. It will replace the constitution imposed on Chile by the military regime of General Augusto Pinochet, which was issued in 1980 and has been in full force since 1990. A new constitution was a major

In April 2021, the government of Colombian President Iván Duque proposed a tax that generated widespread indignation, protests, and a national strike, all of which security forces moved to crush with their customary brutality. Yet this time, police aggression against demonstrators provoked popular fury that subsequently raged throughout the first half of May, with over