01-10-2020 Latin American Weekly Report

Latin American Weekly Report

01/10/2020 - López Obrador guns for predecessors in bid to revive fortunes

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is intent on stoking past resentments in a bid to divert attention from the grim present reality and spark future electoral success. López Obrador’s approval rating remains high but it is well down on the stratospheric heights he achieved soon after coming to power in December 2018 in large part due to the perceived failings of his government’s response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and its economic fallout. With no present developments offering much prospect of boosting his support, he is advancing with an idea to stage a referendum to gauge popular backing for prosecuting his five predecessors, alongside elections in June 2021. This is becoming a major political and judicial issue, with the supreme court (SCJN) debating the referendum’s legality as we go to press. Whatever the outcome of its deliberations, it looks like being a win-win scenario for López Obrador.

Download the full briefing to read on...

Access to the full Latin American Weekly Report is one of the benefits of a Canning House Corporate Membership.

Canning House Individual Members receive LatinWeek with their weekly newsletter.

Learn more and become a member today.

More recent briefings & intelligence

Chile’s Rear-View Mirror

"Anniversaries, like New Years’ Eve, offer opportunities to look back and to look forward. As Chile observes the 50th anniversary of the coup that toppled President Salvador Allende and ushered in a brutal 17-year dictatorship, Chileans are engaged in precisely that exercise. The problem is that with respect to both perspectives, looking ahead through the windshield and behind in the rear-view mirror, Chileans do not seem to agree on what they see. "

Paraguay’s knife-edge election

Paraguay will elect a new president on 30 April. The election’s outcome, less than a week before polls open, remains highly uncertain. In Canning House's latest blog, Susana Berruecos and Freddy Nevison-Andrews provide an overview of the key points to consider ahead of the vote.