Latin America

• Monday, June 1st 2026 - 07:07 UTC

  Colombia: far-right De la Espriella advances first to runoff as Petro disowns results

  

  Far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella took first place in the first round of the Colombian presidential elections held on Sunday, in a result that contradicted all previous polls and immediately opened an institutional crisis. With 99% of polling stations counted in the preliminary tally, De la Espriella, of the Defensores de la Patria movement, reached 43.7% of the vote —some 10.3 million ballots—, while leftist senator Iván Cepeda, of the ruling Pacto Histórico, obtained 40.9% with 9,649,081 votes. The runoff will be held on 21 June and the inauguration is scheduled for 7 August.

• Sunday, May 31st 2026 - 19:30 UTC

  Leftist Iván Cepeda leads in early bulletins of Colombia's presidential first round

  

  Leftist senator Iván Cepeda, candidate of the ruling Pacto Histórico coalition, was leading on Sunday in the early bulletins of the count in the first round of Colombia's presidential elections, in which the electorate was to choose the successor of current President Gustavo Petro. With just 1% of the polling stations counted, according to data released by the National Registry Office, Cepeda was obtaining around 47% of the votes, followed by far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, of the Defensores de la Patria movement, with close to 40%. Right-wing uribista senator Paloma Valencia, of the Centro Democrático, registered around 6%. The effective electoral turnout will be known over the coming hours, in a country with more than 41 million eligible voters and a long historical pattern of high abstention.

• Friday, May 29th 2026 - 23:09 UTC

  Colombia votes for new president with healthcare system on verge of collapse as main concern

  

  Colombia will hold on Sunday 31 May the first round of the presidential elections that will determine the succession of President Gustavo Petro for the 2026-2030 term, with an electoral roll of 41,287,084 voters and healthcare emerging as the electorate's main concern, according to opinion polls. The national health system is going through its most severe crisis in decades: pharmacies are denying medications, hospitals are closing services, and specialist appointments are indefinitely postponed. A possible runoff would be held on 21 June if none of the fourteen candidates surpasses 50% of the vote.

• Friday, May 29th 2026 - 06:42 UTC

  Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru sign joint agreement to combat transnational crime

  

  The governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru on Thursday signed in Santiago a joint cooperation agreement against transnational organized crime, in a meeting convened by the Chilean government of President José Antonio Kast and attended by five foreign ministers, four security ministers, and one interior minister. The so-called Santiago Regional Compact articulates five areas of cooperation and will be presented before the 56th General Assembly of the Organization of American States to extend the initiative to the rest of the continent.

• Friday, May 29th 2026 - 06:31 UTC

  Capricorn Bioceanic Corridor advances to final stretch to connect Atlantic with Pacific

  

  The Capricorn Bioceanic Corridor, one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects underway in South America, is moving through its final stretch on the border between Paraguay and Brazil, with just twenty-one metres remaining to complete the physical link of the so-called Bioceanic Bridge, according to Paraguayan government authorities cited in late May 2026. The structure, built over the Paraguay River, will connect the cities of Carmelo Peralta, in the department of Alto Paraguay, and Puerto Murtinho, in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, and constitutes one of the central pieces of a logistics corridor that will link the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific across four South American countries.

• Wednesday, May 27th 2026 - 18:29 UTC

  Paz promulgates law authorizing Armed Forces to intervene in Bolivia's internal conflicts

  

  Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday promulgated Law 1731, a measure that removes existing restrictions on the intervention of the Armed Forces in the country's internal conflicts. The signing of the document, which took place past midnight, comes after nearly a month of road blockades led by sectors demanding his resignation, and raises pressure on the president to authorize the deployment of the military on the streets and roads of Bolivia.

• Tuesday, May 26th 2026 - 23:20 UTC

  Legislator Goss takes Falklands' voice to the UN: “We have nothing to hide”

  

  The Member of the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly Michael Goss on Tuesday presented the archipelago's position before the Regional Seminar of the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation, known as the Committee of 24, held in Managua, Nicaragua. In his address, Goss defended the right to self-determination of the inhabitants of the archipelago, reiterated the Legislative Assembly's invitation for the body to send a visiting mission to the Islands, and questioned Argentina's failure to comply with the bilateral cooperation package agreed with the United Kingdom in September 2024.

• Tuesday, May 26th 2026 - 14:08 UTC

  María Corina Machado closes Panama visit with tribute to Venezuelans who crossed the Darién

  

  Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado on Monday closed her visit to Panama with a tribute to the more than half a million Venezuelan migrants who over the past decade crossed the Darién jungle on their way to North America, in a speech before the National Assembly of Panama and during the presentation of the key to Panama City by the municipal authorities. The visit was also marked by the confirmation of her presidential candidacy as part of the democratic transition plan set out by the United States following the capture of former president Nicolás Maduro on 3 January.

• Monday, May 25th 2026 - 21:58 UTC

  2026 World Cup drives Airbnb supply surge in Mexican host cities and consolidates real estate firms' control

  

  The approach of the 2026 World Cup, which Mexico will co-host alongside the United States and Canada, has accelerated the mass conversion of traditional housing into short-term tourist rentals in the three Mexican cities hosting the tournament, with a sharp rise of real estate firms as the dominant market actor. According to data from the specialized firm AirDNA cited by the newspaper El País, the supply of properties on Airbnb and similar platforms grew in Mexico City by 30% between 2023 and 2026, rising from 18,000 to close to 24,000 units. In the Guadalajara metropolitan area, growth reached 50%, to 9,760 properties, and in the Monterrey metropolitan area it doubled, to 7,274 units.

• Monday, May 25th 2026 - 04:24 UTC

  Three main Colombian presidential candidates close campaigns one week before first round

  

  The three main contenders to succeed President Gustavo Petro on Sunday closed their campaigns with massive political rallies in different cities across the country, one week before the first round of the presidential elections of 31 May. Leftist senator Iván Cepeda, of the ruling Pacto Histórico; far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, of the Defensores de la Patria movement; and right-wing senator Paloma Valencia, of the Centro Democrático, lead the polls, while around 10% of the electorate remains undecided one week before the vote. The eventual runoff is scheduled for 21 June.