This Week In Latin America

Mexico’s Peña Nieto might be losing his mojo

Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto has bowed to political pressure to remove a close ally, Alfredo Castillo, as federal commissioner for the western state of Michoacán. He took the decision ostensibly for the sake of democracy: with elections coming up on 7 June for state governor and congress as well as 113 mayoral contests, opposition politicians were publicly raising questions about Castillo’s excessive influence. But there is a sense that mounting conflict of interest scandals are emasculating Peña Nieto, whose governance has transmuted from strong and pro-active, dictating the agenda with myriad reform initiatives to modernise Mexico, to weak and reactive; no longer shaping events but being shaped by them.

Nisman’s death rocks Argentina’s Fernández

“It is very distressing to live in a country where any hypothesis, however absurd it may seem, is found plausible.” Speaking at a rally convened to demand justice of the authorities in their investigation into the sudden death of special prosecutor Alberto Nisman, Leonardo Jmelnitzky, the head of the Amia Jewish association, articulated clearly the febrile atmosphere of rumour and conspiracy theory that has pervaded Argentine public discourse since the discovery of Nisman’s body in the bathroom of his apartment on Sunday evening.

Lighting the fuse on Venezuelan powder keg

Henrique Capriles Radonski, the governor of the Venezuelan state of Miranda and figurehead of the moderate opposition, called for street protests this week against the government of President Nicolás Maduro. While Capriles stressed that he was not calling violent political demonstra- tions, it risks comparison with the protests organised last February by Leopoldo López, which landed him in jail. At the time Capriles distanced himself from López saying that the timing of his protests was wrong and would not win the hearts and minds of Venezuelans. He now appears to have calculated that they could be won through their stomachs. Acute shortages of food and other basic products have led to vast queues forming outside supermarkets in Caracas and cities in other states.

Tough start to second term for Brazil's Rousseff

While a presidential inauguration is perhaps not a time for self-criticism, Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff’s speech on starting a second term in office was notable for its hubris. “We have already accomplished the impos- sible,” she said. “Only miracles are yet to come.” After 12 years of the left-wing Partido dos Trabalhadores(PT) in power it was unsurprising that the crowd that attended the event was much smaller than for previous inau- gurations. But the fact no opposition leader showed up is indicative of the poisonous political atmosphere at the start of Rousseff’s second term. Growth is weak, inflation high and the political implications of the massive corruption scandal at the state oil giant Petrobras have only just begun.

Obama sets bold new course on Cuba

Summit season exposes challenges for Latin America