Weekly Roundup: Chile's Election, Brazil's Corruption Trial, LatAm Security

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Chile Gears up for Presidential Election

On November 17, Chileans head to the polls to elect a new president and members of Congress. Chilean dailies El Mercurio and La Tercera provide interactive guides to the vote; the former includes a virtual debate and the latter a candidatómetro, ranking how candidates are perceived on Twitter.

With former President Michelle Bachelet of the Concertación leading the polls ahead of main contender Evelyn Matthei of the Alliance coalition, a November 12 Cooperativa survey found that 59 percent of those surveyed have little interest in voting, since around 80 percent think Bachelet will win in a first round. Nevertheless, this election will be important given mounting support for broader institutional change, writes AS/COA’s Christopher Sabatini for World Politics Review. “Despite the predictability of Bachelet’s victory, this election cycle signals a broader and growing demand for electoral, political, and even constitutional change that, if implemented, could remake Chile’s post-Pinochet system,” he says.

Understanding Chile’s Student Leader Candidates

Numerous former leaders of Chile’s 2011 student protests—when thousands of youth took to the streets to demand reforms to the education system—are campaigning in this Sunday’s election. BBC Mundo gives an overview of student leaders running for office, including Camila Vallejo, Giorgio Jackson, Gabriel Boric, Karol Cariola, and Francisco Figueroa. “It’s a pretty logical step from the protests to the restoration of institutions and political representation,” Jackson told the BBC.

Brazilian High Court Rules on Arrests in Landmark Corruption Case

A year after convicting 25 people in a congressional vote-buying scandal known as the mensalão, the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled on November 13 that a number of those convicted must start serving their prison terms. O Globo reported November 15 that Chief Justice Joaquim Barbosa issued arrest warrants for 12 of the defendants. Ivar Hartmann, a law professor at Fundação Getúlio Vargas, told The New York Times that the decision marks a “historic moment for the Brazilian legal system and for the stability of institutions in Brazil.”

Rousseff Visits Peru to Boost Trade Ties

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala hosted his Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff on November 11 as the duo negotiated accords in telecommunications, water management, and workers’ rights. Rousseff tweeted that bilateral trade grew by six times over the past decade, and that with $6 billion invested in the Andean country, Peru is Brazil’s third-largest investment destination in South America. Humala and Rousseff discussed a railway project to connect Brazil’s ports to the south of Peru.

Ranking: Infrastructure in Chile and Peru Best in South America

Chile and Peru have the best transportation infrastructure in South America, a ranking by Latinvex shows. Panama has the best transportation infrastructure in all of Latin America, while Colombia has the highest ratio of paved roads, the ranking demonstrated. The study serves as a follow-up to the Inter-American Development Bank study “Too Far to Export,” which found that Latin American countries could greatly increase exports by focusing on transportation cost reduction.

Mexico’s Senate Considers Foreign Land Ownership Bill

NPR reports that legislation under debate in Mexico’s Senate could allow foreigners to own property near Mexican borders and beachfront, currently off limits to ownership by non-Mexicans. It would be the first time in nearly a century that foreigners could own land in these areas, as the government aims to encourage foreign investment.

Venezuela’s National Assembly Approves Enabling Law in First Debate

On November 14, Venezuela’s National Assembly approved the country’s Enabling Law in a first debate, achieving the 99 votes necessary to move the bill to the next round of discussions. The legislation would give Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro special 12-month-long decree powers in order to deal with mounting economic problems and corruption. The late President Hugo Chávez used a similar measure four times to pass nearly 200 laws. Blog Caracas Chronicles points out that the ruling party clinched the critical ninety-ninth vote after opposition legislator Maria Mercedes Aranguern—who stands accused of corruption—lost parliamentary immunity this week, meaning she was expelled from the Assembly. Her substitute, Carlos Flores, cast vote number 99 on the bill.

Security Study: Robberies on the Rise in LatAm

Latin America is the “most unequal and insecure region in the world,” says the UN’s 2013-2014 Regional Human Development Report, released this week. The study examines insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean based on six factors: corruption, gender-based violence, organized crime, street crime, violence by the government, and youth violence. Though homicides stabilized in some countries, robberies are on the rise, increasing threefold over the past 25 years. Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil had the highest robbery rates, respectively. The study found that one in three Latin Americans were the victim of a violent crime in 2012, and between 45 and 65 percent of Latin American families have stopped going out at night due to fears about security. In terms of perceptions of insecurity, Peru has the highest in the region, followed by Venezuela and El Salvador.

Brazil’s Lula Endorses Honduran Presidential Candidate

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva caused a stir in Honduras this week with the release of a video endorsing presidential candidate Xiomara Castro de Zelaya—wife of deposed former President Manuel Zelaya. Honduras’ Supreme Electoral Court classified the video as “foreign interference” and issued a complaint to the Brazilian ambassador in Honduras. Lula was president during the 2009 Honduran coup, when Zelaya sought refuge at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.

 (H/T Pan American Post)

Salvadoran Human Rights Group Targeted

On November 14, El Salvador’s Pro-Búsqueda—a group dedicated to finding the disappeared children of the country’s civil war—was torched and looted, causing the organization to lose an estimated 80 percent of its work. The attack came less than six weeks after human rights office Tutela Legal was unexpectedly shut down. The Salvadoran judiciary is currently reviewing an amnesty law, which if overturned could lead to prosecutions of army officers, guerrillas, and leaders for crimes committed during the 12-year civil war.

This Land is My Land: Uruguay Could Bar Foreigners from Buying Land

On November 11, the Uruguayan government sent a bill to Congress to prevent foreign companies and individuals from buying land in the country. All foreign involvement will not be ruled out, however; foreign entities that bring “innovative technologies, generate employment, and contribute to elevating production” will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Paraguay to Lead LatAm Economic Growth in 2013

The Southern Cone country is projected to grow 13.6 percent this year, the largest growth rate in Latin America, reports Infolatam. With economic output tied to the agricultural sector—soy and meat alone account for 20 percent of GDP—this year’s harvests helped boost Paraguay’s growth.

Checking in on Progress of the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative

New figures show an increase in the number of students from Latin American and the Caribbean studying in the United States, writes Latin America analyst James Bosworth. U.S. President Barack Obama’s 100,000 Strong Initiative aims to attract students from the region to study in the United States, and vice versa. During the 2012-2013 school year, the number of Latin American and Caribbean students in the United States rose 3.8 percent. The number of Brazilian students studying in the United States jumped 20 percent—largely due to a Brazilian government program to send students abroad. A 6 percent increase across the region will be necessary to reach the goal by the deadline in 2021.

Report: LatAm and Caribbean Account for Nearly Half of Cancer Deaths in the Americas

Cancer accounted for 1.2 million deaths in the Americas, with 45 percent in Latin America in the Caribbean, a new report from the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization shows. The countries with the highest rates of cancer mortality in the region are Argentina, Cuba, and Trinidad and Tobago, while El Salvador, Mexico, and Nicaragua have the lowest rates. Chile tops the list of countries in the region for significantly declining death rates from cervical cancer.

Latin America’s Online Shopping Boom

As a region, Latin America ranks second in annual online retail sales growth, according to an analysis by Cushman & Wakefield, reports the Guardian. The study shows that globally, Mexico and Colombia are the fourth and fifth fastest-growing markets for online retail sales. While Brazil was the only country in Latin American to place in the top 20 markets worldwide, its citizens prefer malls and personal shoppers to buying online.