Latin American Keys is an informative and analytical summary regarding the political and economic situation in the Latin American region. These key takeaways, prepared monthly by ATREVIA´s Analysis and Research team, serve to be a useful tool in understanding the evolution of the political-institutional state of Latin America, a need that the pandemic has further exaggerated.
If 2020 was the year marked by the pandemic and its economic impact, 2021 begins as a year of challenges for Latin America. From 2021 to 2024, the countries in the region will enter a new period of high electoral intensity in which all, except Bolivia and Cuba, will go to the polls to renew or ratify their leaders in a context of high polarization and political fragmentation. In addition, there is a heavy social burden aggravated by the economic crisis sparked by the pandemic.
Latin America was not spared from the intense inflation crisis affecting most countries in the last few weeks. The predicted rise in prices has been accompanied by good economic growth figures in the region, as is the case in Peru, with a year-to-year 11.83% GDP increase, and in Colombia, where 88% of jobs lost due to the pandemic have been successfully restored. Conversely, inflation in Brazil has reached levels unseen for almost 20 years, and Argentina is close to 50%.
In the political arena, the Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement called for several days of protests to claim control of fuel prices, and the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, is facing impeachment for his connection to the “Panama Papers,” although the possibility of being removed from office is low.
Reopening seems to be the theme, in the Dominican Republic, with the tourism sector clearly recovering as they expect to receive a total of 4.9 million travelers by the end of 2021, and in Mexico, where the border with the U.S. is once agai n operating.
Click here to access the Latin American Keys summary for november 2021.