Canning House | Latin American Weekly Report

The disappearance on 1 August of Santiago Maldonado, a young political activist and supporter of radical Mapuche indigenous campaigners in Patagonia, is escalating into a major test for the government led by President Mauricio Macri. Thousands demonstrated in Buenos Aires and other cities on 1 September demanding that his fate be clarified. There were violent incidents at the end of the march in the capital, when hooded demonstrators fought with police (the latter responded with water cannon and rubber bullets).Twenty-three people were wounded and 31 arrested, in what was one of the most violent clashes seen so far under the current government. The unresolved case could have a major impact on the mid- term elections due on 22 October.

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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. "

All change in Ecuador

President Guillermo Lasso has called a snap election. He is the first Ecuadorian president to do so after the mechanism’s addition to the country’s Constitution in 2008. In Canning House's latest blog, Walter Spurrier offers an overview of the candidates vying to be country's next leader.

07-09-2017: Latin American Weekly Report

More recent briefings & intelligence

Chile’s Rear-View Mirror

All change in Ecuador

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