In early March 2021, as new variants of COVID-19 were clearly spreading quickly in Brazil, its healthcare system seemed to teeter on the edge of collapse. Some of the new variants could be deadlier and more infectious, and are causing serious concern among Brazil’s neighbors in the region, and around the world. The response by

On February 28, 2021, El Salvador held municipal and legislative elections in which President Nayib Bukele’s Nuevas Ideas party won an outright majority of seats in the nation’s unicameral legislature. Nuevas Ideas, known as “N,” eclipsed both the right-wing Alianza Republicana Nacionalista or ARENA party, and the left-wing Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional

During February 2021, Latin America witnessed scandals in various countries as networks of influence and privilege allowed “VIPs” to get coronavirus vaccines before health care professionals, educators, first responders, and the elderly who were to be given priority. The first uproar occurred in Peru where “Vacunagate” angered millions, though an even bigger upheaval erupted in

Carlos Menem, who died at the age of 90 on February 14, 2021, was president of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Having been in frail health for some time, he died after a short hospitalization for a urinary tract infection. Despite his Peronista origins, he became known for market economic policies and the privatization of

Ecuadorian presidential candidate Andrés Arauz, protegé of former President Rafael Correa, took first place in the election on February 7, 2021, and secured a place in the runoff election on April 11, 2021. The 36-year-old economist ran on promises to make U.S. $1 billion in direct cash payments to families and to disavow the conditions

In late January and early February 2021, Mexico continued to investigate the 19 charred bodies found in vehicles on a rural road in the northern state of Tamaulipas, in an area known as the “frontera chica,” near the U.S./Mexico border just south of Texas. The bodies were discovered on January 22, 2021. Among the few

On January 23 and 24 of 2021, Brazilians from across the political spectrum took to the streets calling for the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro. His plunging approval numbers reflect widespread anger and frustration over his government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has raged through the country, claiming more than 216,000 lives after 8.9

On January 17, 2021, Guatemalan security forces violently halted a migrant caravan of thousands of Hondurans attempting to reach Mexico en route to the United States. Journalists watched as police and members of the armed forces used batons and tear gas against the men, women, and children as they tried to march beyond the Guatemala-Honduras

Latin Americans reacted to the January 6, 2021, protest-turned-attack on the Congress of the United States with the same sense of horror and shock that most U.S. citizens felt. They acknowledged that after ranting for two months that the election had been stolen from him, President Trump incited a crowd of thousands of his supporters

On January 5, 2021, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro proclaimed that Brazil is “bankrupt,” and that there is nothing he can do about it. He made other claims as well, about the pandemic, the media, and reasons for the high rate of unemployment, all of which were met with broad skepticism and scorn. As the pandemic