
A center right president took office in Uruguay on Sunday, promising to crack down on crime and tighten government finances after a 15-year string of left-leaning governments. Luis Lacalle Pou, a 46-year-old surfing enthusiast and son of a former president, narrowly won the election in November, 37.000 votes, in his second try for the top office.

The following article was published by The Washington Post, based on a report from the MIT Election Data and Science Lab political scientists John Curiel and Jack R Williams (*)

Covid 19 might not be a priority in Argentina at the moment, although there are some cases under observation, but what is really threatening is the mosquito-transmitted dengue with 152 cases confirmed in the province of Buenos Aires and some 3.000 in the northern provinces of Misiones and Corrientes.

Amnesty International has documented grave violations of human rights in 2019 in 24 countries across the Americas. Examples of the major human rights events analyzed include:

Argentine president Alberto Fernandez held a very positive phone conversation on Wednesday with Uruguayan president-elect Luis Lacalle Pou during which they analyzed the bilateral relation and the regional integration agenda.

The argentine industrial activity stopped sliding last January after two full years of contraction and managed a 4.8% growth over a year ago, according to the latest review of the industry by the Foundation of Latin American economic research, FIEL. However, the overall Industrial Production Index ended the twelve months of 2019 with a 4.6% fall compared to 2018.

At least five Latin American governments and several companies are considering debt sales to fund environmentally friendly projects in what is expected to be the region’s most active year for the issuance of so-called green bonds since 2017.

Thousands of protesters armed with stones, sticks and Molotov cocktails clashed with police on Sunday as one of Latin America's biggest music festival opened, in the latest spurt of a four-month-old wave of grassroots anger over economic inequality and other woes.

Colombia's Defense Minister said on Monday the military will step up an offensive against drug trafficking gangs responsible for clearing thousands of hectares of protected national parks for coca plantations.

Around 10,000 people demonstrated in support of bull and cock fighting in Lima on Friday ahead of a Supreme Court decision on their future.