Brazil & Southern Cone - July 2026

This July edition of the Latin American Regional Report: Brazil & Southern Cone begins with an analysis of the controversial decision by the US government to label Brazil’s two most powerful criminal groups, the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV), as foreign terrorist organisations (FTOs).... Read More

Since 5 June Brazil’s two most powerful criminal groups, the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV), have been included on the US government’s list of foreign terrorist organisations (FTOs).... Read More

The last time that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva opened the public purse strings to boost the electoral chances of his ruling Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), the economy grew by a whopping 7.5%.... Read More

According to data from environmental monitoring platform MapBiomas, deforestation in Brazil has been decreasing every year since the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office at the start of 2023.... Read More

No leader likes to break a campaign promise, but President José Antonio Kast did so only three months into office, oddly by admitting he would miss a self-imposed deadline that was still nearly four years away.  On 9 June Finance Minister Jorge Quiroz published a legally mandated fiscal policy decree that formally abandoned the goal of eliminating the structural budget deficit by 2030, a flagship pledge of Kast, who took office in March.... Read More

Chile’s minister for public security, Martín Arrau, presented a plan in early June that contained dozens of proposed measures and bills aimed at preventing crime and combatting criminal organisations.... Read More

Uruguay has long enjoyed a reputation as a beacon of institutional stability in Latin America.... Read More

After two years of regular student-backed protests against spending cuts in higher education, the government of President Javier Milei in mid-June agreed to increase pay for university workers.... Read More

PARAGUAY | Itaipú transfers funds to Paraguay under Annex C.... Read More