The administration in Argentina points to its efforts to strengthen “media pluralism”; a newly reopened market in Havana struggles to get up to speed; and household consumption in Brazil fell by 0.9% in November.

Officials in both countries expect exports to generate U.S. $20 million in the border area. 

The growth of the Colombian economy is limited by its poor transport network; Mexico unveiled a highway master plan; and new infrastructure projects in Rio go ahead.   

Many observers think that Venezuela’s currency is about to crash due to hyperinflation, though others say the threat is a survivable one.  Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has ordered budget cuts in response to a sharp drop in oil prices, calling for salary reductions for himself and other senior government officials.  The opposition says Venezuela has

With corn and bean fields ravaged by drought, Nicaraguan farmers are looking to a new crop: tarantulas.  

President Santos says there must be some level of accountability, while the FARC released the Army general they had captured.  Santos subsequently reinitiated peace talks, and the FARC called for revisions in the terms of the process.

Former President Tabaré Vázquez got his old job back as president of Uruguay in the runoff election.  Now the ruling leftist coalition of the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) can add to its decade in power, and finalize a law legalizing the production and sale of marijuana, among many other projects. 

Amid pressures to reconfigure the route to reform, members of the ruling leftist New Majority coalition discuss options.  At the same time, commentators say the Chilean Right’s tactics don’t scare anyone.

Political confrontations can get ugly and personal. At the moment “a battle-hardened federal judge” is looking into a hotel company owned by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her two children in Patagonia, and she is pushing back hard. 

The “Partido Social de la Unidad Social,” or simply the “Partido de la U” (and even just “La U”), “is Colombia’s largest and most successful political party in modern history and member of the ruling ‘National Unity’ coalition.”