The constitutional plebiscite showed three milestones: the option in favor of constitutional change was widely supported; the results confirm the distance that exists between the citizenry and the political institutions; and the highest participation was reached since the voluntary vote was established (2012).
Bolsonaro, as a typical populist, refuses to face concrete problems. He changes his position to suit public opinion and promises unrealistic achievements. The problem is that this leads the country to a crisis of sustainability of public accounts.
These days, the Mexican Congress is discussing a project to regulate cannabis for adult use which, if finally approved, could make that country the third in the world, after Uruguay and Canada, to create a legal market for marijuana for adult use.
There is a risk that as a result of the pandemic, Latin America’s weight in the world economy will continue to decline and its role will be limited to that of a supplier of raw materials. Latin America has no voice in the debate on current challenges in international politics.
The fact that the Peruvian presidency is going to run because of “moral incapacity” shows that Latin American politics is very premaquiavelic. Machiavelli explained the relations of power on the margin of moral or religious questions, thus leaving unsupported, for example, the actions of the Catholic Church.
The political crisis in the Andean country shows that there are no longer “saviors of the Fatherland” who have risen to power through coups d’état. Peru is being rescued from literature, culture and the handful of non-encumbered politicians. It seems that they have found the right figure, an interim president whom they call “Don Quixote”.
The recent debate on the energy crisis in Amapá has focused on the precarious performance of the concessionaire, the low quality of services in some regions and the slowness of the government. But energy security will only be guaranteed by the construction of an infrastructure ring throughout the Northern Arc.
Because of its productive capacity and diversity, Latin America is considered by many to be the “breadbasket” of the planet. Despite this relative advantage in the production and export of food in relation to other regions, a significant number of people in Latin America do not have access to adequate food.
The pandemic continues. The growth of infections and the number of active people in Europe and America indicate that the disease is re-emerging in these areas. In some countries, the spread of the disease has not been significantly controlled and in recent weeks there has been a further increase.
There has always been a gap between ECLAC’s thinking and the governments’ public policies, but this gap widens from less to more, depending on the time. However, decision makers need to be more open to ECLAC thinking.
In the plebiscite it was approved to change the constitution by means of a Constitutional Convention. However, no seats were reserved for indigenous peoples and discussion on the issue was again postponed. This represents the latest expressions of the State’s colonial relationship with the original peoples.
Co-author Ana Carola Traverso-Krejcarek
The pandemic turned the world upside down, shook institutions, generated new social conflicts and deepened existing ones. Diverse political systems were affected with ideological polarization, the emergence and strengthening of extremes.
Donald Trump lost the U.S. presidential election, but he still prefers to live in the alternative world that his own propaganda has created for him. In this bizarre universe, he is considered an invincible hero of mythical proportions who decides what is right and what is wrong.
Economic ties, and expansionist, commercial and ideological interests, made the United States a key country on Latin American agendas. However, the decline of its hegemony and internal tension provide an opportunity to set a new course for the Latin American agenda.
To believe that Biden’s triumph is the end of the drama begun in January 2016 is an example of a mirage of fatal consequences. Pretending that those millions of voters will disappear from the map with Biden’s inauguration reveals a blindness to how much America has changed in recent generations.
Without a party to support him, in a context of escalating conflicts between the executive and legislative branches, with a ruling pending before the Constitutional Court for the demand of competence for the improper use of the vacancy cause of permanent moral incapacity, Vizcarra was unable to avoid this second vacancy process.