The Big Stories to watch this week in LATAM
Naboa gets pummeled. Presidential elections in Chile will be a communist vs a self-described superfan of Pinochet, and gringos project their shit on protests in Mexico (obvio)
LATAM Daily Wires brings you the stories to watch this week in Latin America and the big headline developments over the weekend. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you should.
It was a weekend of two important elections in LATAM as voters in Chile and Ecuador went to the polls to weigh-in on the futures (or Chile’s case, legacy) of their unpopular leaders.
Chile’s presidential elections will feature a self-described communist against a superfan of Pinochet
Chile completed its first round of presidential elections. Self-identified communist Jeannette Jara narrowly led the total vote-count over the other seven candidates on the ballot (26%). She will face off against José Antonio Kast (26%), who has been described as an “ultra-conservative” by Chilean media.
Kast, who has long been an open admirer of and apologist for Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, is running a staunchly anti-migrants and ‘pro-security’ campaign. His father, who was a member of the German Nazi party, migrated to Chile after WWII.
Boric congratulated both candidates on the first-round, and Chilean democracy more broadly.
Jara represents a broad coalition of ‘progressive’, liberal, leftist, and center-left parties, as well as indigenous coalitions. But right-wing candidates achieved more than 50% of the vote in the first round. The eliminated right-wing candidates have already endorsed Kast, meaning Jara faces an uphill battle to win the second round against a candidate who wants to deport all Venezuelans, “close our borders,” and “re-establish order” in a country with one of the lowest crime rates in Latin America.
Ecuador soundly rejects Naboa’s referendum on being Bukele’s ‘mini-me’
Daniel Naboa had 4 articles up for a referendum yesterday that would have expanded the power of the executive and the police, allowed US military bases in the country, reformed the National Assembly, and set up the process of a Constitutional Assembly.
All four were soundly defeated, two by more than 20 points. Naboa’s popularity has plummeted in recent weeks as his “firm hand” security policies have led to a lot of human rights violations, but very little actual progress on security.
(We actually wrote when they began that they wouldn’t work. So allow us just a moment of piratical self-congratulations on that, haha.) More importantly, however, this puts Noboa’s populist plans to emulate Nayib Bukele’s “iron hand” policies in El Salvador on hold.
Ecuadorian voters aren’t interested in granting their president expanded powers or endorsing the increasing number of cases of abuse at the hands of police and military.
Protests in Mexico make headlines, and gringos project their shit on them, as usual
Mexico saw an uprising in more than 30 cities last week, though by far the most violent were focused on the capital and the seat of government in the city. Inspired by the murder of a mayor during Day of the Dead festivals, protesters focused on government collusion with criminal groups and widespread corruption in the country.
And they were wild to watch. But before we dive in, let’s take a moment to acknowledge that it is simply a fact that there is widespread collusion between security forces, prosecutors, and criminal structures in Mexico, as well as rampant corruption more broadly.
Protesters clashed with police and attacked the complex that contains the presidential palace and Congress in Mexico City. As is often the case in Latin America, US media personalities were quick to ignore actual conditions on the ground in favor of the reality they wish existed.
Alex Jones, a professional salesman of deeply suspicious nutritious supplements and conspiracy theories, claimed that Mexican citizens had “risen up against their socialist oppressors.”
A US correspondent for RT, who was apparently reposting videos he stole from protesters and not actually on-site (and who we are not going to link because he is god-awful at actual journalism), claimed it was a “color revolution,” “organized by the Empire,” to topple a democratically elected Latin American leftist leader.
And liberals in the US compared the events to those on January 6 in the United States.
This all made us sigh deeply. Look, it’s true there were horribly reactionary elements within Mexico trying to capitalize on the social explosion. (Vincente Fox even showed up in a Gen Z shirt.)
It’s also true that Sheinbaum is a wildly popular president. Her approval rating is hovering at over 70%. However, this does not mean that people in Mexico are not genuinely frustrated by establishment elites’ cooperation with, and infiltration by, criminal groups. They are.
Mexico is also a country that suffers from deep inequality, in very large part due to those same elites.
And finally, LATAM protesters attacking the presidential palace during demonstrations is pretty common here. Tame even. Gringos should try it. Haha.
As always, we highly recommend you follow journalists actually in Mexico with the experience to provide the context that US media often misses.
Have we ever mentioned we love context? We do. It’s great.
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