Friday Reading List - 2 February 2024
You'll need to re-live Groundhog Day several times to get through all these links
Good morning and happy Friday!
This week’s newsletter discussed the polls in Mexico.
Mexico Election Polls - January 2024
The El Financiero poll published this week says the current presidential race is Sheinbaum 48, Gálvez 32. That is a 16 point gap, which is enormous, but is also closer than any other poll. The Oraculus poll of polls database shows most polls give Sheinbaum a 20 to 30 point lead.
This week’s World Politics Review column covered some recent reports about Chinese investments in Latin America.
Here is this week’s reading list and upcoming events.
Reading List
Bloomberg - Traders Line Up for ‘Once-in-a-Generation’ Emerging Markets Bet
ProPublica - Did Drug Traffickers Funnel Millions of Dollars to Mexican President López Obrador’s First Campaign?
InSight Crime - 'Operation Polanco': How the DEA Investigated AMLO's 2006-Presidential Campaign
El Universal - Avionazo en El Clan genera disputa por 30 mil millones
International Crisis Group - Fear, Lies and Lucre: How Criminal Groups Weaponise Social Media in Mexico
New Yorker - Can the Government of Mexico Bring the U.S. Gun Industry to Book?
WOLA - Elections and Human Rights in Mexico: 3 Key Issues
Bloomberg - Four Factors to Watch in Mexico’s Sweeping 2024 Elections
Bloomberg - Brazil’s Fiscal Woes Could Ruin Lula’s Big Year
Economist - Can Lula fix Brazil’s fiscal mess?
Financial Times - Brazil’s imports of Russian oil products soar
AP - Brazil, facing calls for reparations, wrangles with its painful legacy of slavery
Politico - The world's biggest meat processor — a major polluter — is coming to Wall Street
AP - Secret US spying program targeted top Venezuelan officials, flouting international law
InSight Crime - Venezuela 2024: Elections and Criminal Consolidation
US State Dept - Venezuela: Sanctions Actions and Supporting Democracy
Reuters - Return of US oil sanctions on Venezuela to hit revenue, fuel imports
International Crisis Group - Venezuela: The Perilous Path to a Key Election
O Globo - ‘Maduro está descontrolado’, alerta líder da oposição da Venezuela, que teme cancelamento das eleições (Interview with Machado)
Caracas Chronicles - The Barbados Agreement Is Full of Traps. But the Opposition Still Has a Chance.
El Tiempo - Número de desplazados en Colombia creció un 7 % en 2023 y el de confinados se disparó
Americas Quarterly - In Colombia, Petro Faces Challenges on All Sides
Americas Migration Brief - The migratory implications of Ecuador’s crisis
War on the Rocks - How does Ecuador’s Internal Armed Conflict End?
World Politics Review - Anti-China Sentiment Could Sink a Free Trade Deal With Ecuador
Latin America Bureau - The plunder of Bolivian gold
VOA - Se intensifica la presión contra los bloqueos de rutas en Bolivia, Evo Morales pone condiciones
WSJ - Argentina’s President Promised a Free-Market Revolution, and Says He’s Delivering
El Cohete a la Luna - Castigos eléctricos (Argentina)
AP - Guatemala's new president to ask for society's help in face of opposition from entrenched powers
VOA (Chinese) - Guatemala weighs diplomatic ties with Taiwan under U.S. gaze
Bloomberg - El Salvador Election: Bukele Seeks Second Term on Popular Crime Policy
Reuters - Short on cash, El Salvador doubles down on Bitcoin dream
AP - El Salvador VP acknowledges mistakes in war on gangs but says country is 'not a police state'
Project Brazen - Daniel Ortega: Once Radical, Now Rogue
Reuters - Panama ex-president's return to office endangered by graft sentence
Miami Herald - White House battles Republicans over Haiti force funding
Washington Post - Gangs are using rape as a weapon in Haiti. Justice is elusive.
Bloomberg - GDP, Economic Data Show US Beating China in Cold War II
Economist - Did spies from China, India and Russia meddle in Canada’s elections?
NYT / Ezra Klein Podcast - ‘The Strongest Democratic Party That Any of Us Have Ever Seen’ Boz’s comment: Many people have asked me why I think the Democrats are likely to win in 2024 in the US. This podcast interview with Simon Rosenberg strongly matches my analysis on the subject.
Upcoming Events
5 February, Wilson Center and almost every other think tank in the DC area - A Conversation with Mexican Presidential Candidate Xóchitl Gálvez
6 February, Inter-American Dialogue - Wall Street's Influence on Democracy in Latin America
14 February, Atlantic Council - A new era for US-Guatemala economic relations
16 February, Inter-American Dialogue - Perspectives on Remittances in 2024
19 February, Wilson Center - A Brazilian Perspective on the G20: Debriefing the First Ministerial Meeting
Thanks for reading
Happy Groundhog Day! I asked for an AI logo for today that had groundhog and a capybara being friends. And Dall-E did a good job.
Have a great weekend!