Friday Reading List - 25 October 2024
Plus an announcement about how the newsletter is expanding coverage
Good morning.
This week’s newsletters:
Tuesday - Uruguay’s election
Wednesday - Polls about Peru’s security situation (for paying subscribers)
Thursday - Six comments on regional issues (sent to paying subscribers, but I’ve dropped the paywall this morning so click here)
Wait, what is this paying subscriber thing? From 2019 until 2022, I ran part of this newsletter behind a paywall. Over 200 people paid to subscribe! Thank you all. I suspended the paid subscriptions in late 2022 and nobody has been charged since then. I refunded everyone the balance if they requested and gave a few months for free to those who stuck with it.
I’m restarting the paid subscriptions to the Latin America Risk Report. This means publishing a few extra newsletters per week for paying subscribers plus holding occasional zoom calls and online chats via the Substack platform. If you’ve begun reading in the past few years and want to support the newsletter and receive the additional content, you can subscribe here.
Nothing about the current free content is changing. I will still write a free newsletter every Tuesday plus publish these Friday links. So if you like what you’re getting now, you don’t need to worry about anything changing and no pressure to pay.
If you have thoughts on the paid newsletter model, please let me know. You can always reply to these emails.
For World Politics Review this week, I covered the COP 16 summit on biodiversity in Colombia. Next Monday’s column will cover the BRICS summit and the Brazil-Venezuela dispute there.
Reading List
CFR - Drug Traffickers Launder Millions Through Remittances. Here’s How to Stop Them.
Financial Times - Organised crime has taken on a different shape in Latin America
Reuters - Latin America braces for US election impact on trade, tariffs
Foreign Affairs - A U.S. Reset With Mexico Is Still Possible
Bloomberg - A Mexican Electric Car? Only If Private Firms Lead the Way
Bloomberg - Mexico Nearshoring Stalls for Sheinbaum as Tesla, BYD Wait Out US Election
Americas Quarterly - Brazil’s BRICS Balancing Act Is Getting Harder
Bloomberg - Brazil’s Sustainable Micro-Economies Slow Deforestation, Poverty Cycle
NYT - A U.S. Farming Giant Gets a Message 11 Stories Tall
Washington Post - These poor nations are rich in nature. They need help protecting it.
La Silla Vacia - COP 16: Petro insistió en canje de deuda por acción climática
AP - In Colombia, Amazon River's extreme drought falls hard on Indigenous communities
European Parliament - María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia awarded 2024 Sakharov Prize
Efecto Cocuyo - ¿Qué rodea detención del exministro del Petróleo Pedro Tellechea? Analistas responden
AP - A Venezuelan media tycoon is charged in a bribery conspiracy in Florida
The Intercept - Meet the World’s Least Popular President: Dina Boluarte
Guardian - Teacher murdered in front of schoolchildren as Lima gripped by crime wave
FT - Global copper rush draws investors to Argentina’s untapped deposits - It will be interesting to watch First Quantum, the company that had its mine shut down in Panama, take on the Argentina political risk challenge.
Reuters - In Uruguay election, conservatives hopes pinned to a dark horse kingmaker
Miami Herald - Haiti armed attack U.S. Embassy vehicles, UN helicopter
CSIS - Changing of the Guard: It’s Time for Washington to Strengthen SOUTHCOM
Washington Post - A new Washington influence industry is making millions from sanctions - The article references several efforts by Venezuelans to influence US policy (a topic tangential to next Monday’s newsletter). It’s worth highlighting that other countries in Latin America have also jumped into this game, notably and preemptively El Salvador.
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2024: Policy Pivot, Rising Threats
Thanks for reading
Have a great weekend!
