Welcome again Foreign Policy‘s Latin America Brief.
Highlights this week: Peruvians are voting presidential electionMexico makes the move to begin burstand Brazil announces a new security cooperation with the United States.
Peru held presidential elections on Sunday, but results It just started to open in the middle of the week. With at least 93 percent of the vote is listed Thursday afternoon local time, right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori qualified for the second round. Leftist MP Roberto Sánchez was ranked second.
Dozens of candidates were on the ballot, and none got more than 18 percent of the vote. (To win an outright election in Peru, a candidate must get at least 50 percent in the first round of voting.) Fujimori got about 17 percent and Sánchez about 12 percent. Despite the slow count, EU observers he said the contest appeared without deception.
The lack of enthusiasm for either contender reflected Peruvians’ general lack of confidence in politics after a tumultuous decade that has seen nine different presidents. The national situation is one of “weariness in dealing with an endless series of corruption problems” and “hopelessness, discouragement, and disinterest,” Peruvian political scientist Alberto Vergara. he told it Radio Sarandi Uruguay on Monday.
But the election results showed more than that. Although most polls suggested that two right-wing candidates would advance to the second round—Fujimori and former Lima Mayor Rafael López Aliaga—Sánchez’s strong performance revealed that many Peruvians are attracted to a left-wing platform.
That support remains even after former left-wing President Pedro Castillo tried to seize power in 2022 which led to prosecution. Sánchez served in Castillo’s cabinet; Castillo is currently in prison and endorsed Sánchez, who won votes in Peru’s poorest and most rural areas.
Sanchez has it promised increase spending on health and education, legalize informal miningexpand government control over the country’s natural resources, and oversee constitutional changes to provide more public services to Indigenous Peruvians.
Fujimori and López Aliaga both promised a tough crackdown on crime and pro-market policies. But Fujimori sought after to position himself as a more conciliatory person, while López Aliaga he announced he himself is a fan of US President Donald Trump. In recent days, López Aliaga made unproven allegations of electoral fraud.
On Wednesday, the performance of Sánchez motivated some international investors sell their shares in Peru, causing the country’s currency and stock market to fall in value.
The gap between López Aliaga and Sánchez was less than 20,000 votes as of Thursday afternoon. Few polls have been made about Fujimori’s prospects against López Aliaga or Sánchez in the second round.
Fujimori has run for president three times without success. He is a staunch defender of his father—former President Alberto Fujimori, who ruled as a dictator—and has earned loyal followers as well as many detractors. Fujimori supports a pro-market economy and a strong anti-crime stance.
Sánchez’s own connections may turn off some voters: He is partner of Antauro Caresa former soldier who served 17 years in prison for participating in pro-Indigenous and tribal insurgencies.
While Sánchez performed well among Peru’s poor, Fujimori drew support from across the country’s socio-economic spectrum, according to analysis of voting systems at the district level by researchers at the Faculty of Social Sciences of South America.
The preliminary results of the parliamentary elections held on Sunday also indicate that the right-wing parliamentarians will outnumber the left-wing ones in the Peruvian parliament. But no camp will have a large population without the support of senior management. The second presidential election will be held on June 7.
Friday, April 17, to Saturday, April 18: Several Latin American and Caribbean leaders are visiting Spain for a summit of developing governments.
Tuesday, April 21: United Nations Security Council to discuss Colombia.
Thursday, April 23: The Security Council discusses Haiti.
Friday, April 24, to Wednesday, April 29: Colombia is holding a conference on transitioning from fossil fuels.
New economic forecast. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a prediction Tuesday how to Iran was it will affect the economy all over the world. The report came with a caveat: Baseline estimates assume the war will end in the next few weeks, and more damage is likely if it continues into the middle of the year.
At the moment, Latin America and the Caribbean are doing well compared to other emerging markets, according to the IMF, in part because several countries are exporting oil. Since the IMF final prediction in January, it raised its forecast for Brazil’s GDP growth by 0.3 percent, to 1.9 percent. Venezuela’s economy is expected to grow by 4 percent.
A few major economies—Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru—are expected to grow even faster than the United States. The IMF has yet to publish forecasts for smaller countries in the region—many of them energy importers—which are expected to fare worse. Energy-importing Bolivia, which was included, is expected to see its economy contract by 3.3 percent this year.
Some of the effects of the war are expected to continue into next year. Because it will take several months for the interruption of fertilizer shipments to be reflected in agricultural data, the IMF revised Brazil’s 2027 GDP estimate down by 0.3 percent compared to January.
Fracking in Mexico. Due to the energy crisis, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum he announced last week that his government plans to study the possibility of producing natural gas. He is great policy change from Sheinbaum and also differs from that of his predecessor and mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Mexico importation about 75 percent of its natural gas, mainly from the United States. The arrangement was easier to defend when bilateral relations were better. But the United States tax and threats of military action in Mexico have led Sheinbaum to seek ways to become more energy independent.
Fracking will also create a new revenue stream for the heavily indebted state oil company Pemex. Sheinbaum said Pemex will look at using new and less environmentally friendly methods and that the plan is pending review by the state’s environmental committee. In the same announcement, he promised to increase wind and solar energy.
However, environmental groups have not stopped their criticism, and Greenpeace Mexico to call Mexico’s action towards breaking the “betrayal.”
Police detain Father Jorge “Chueco” Romero during a protest by pensioners in Buenos Aires on May 14, 2025.Tadeo Bourbon, for Revista MuCaption/via World Press Photos
Photo credits. This year’s World Press Photo Awards—one of the most prestigious awards in documentary photography—showcase images of protest against waste in Buenos Aires; sea level rise due to climate change in Tabasco, Mexico; and Afro-Colombian community traditions from a river village near the Pacific coast of the country.
Colombia’s prize-winning entry is worth noting: The event has never been photographed in such detail or to such a large audience. In the village of Juntas, residents and former residents gather to celebrate Holy Week with a balancing ritual called Manacillos. It includes elements of Catholicism, African musical traditionsand the history of the slave trade.
Masked dancers pretend to flog the community’s residents, which photographer Ever Andrés Mercado Puentes said symbolizes the torture of Jesus before his death and the flogging of enslaved Africans brought to Colombia.
Many families have left the Juntas in recent years due to the dangers posed by armed groups and illegal miners; they say their return to the festival is an act against society.
Humala, a controversial ally of Peru’s leftist candidate Sánchez, has a brother who previously served as Peru’s president. What year was he elected?
2005
2007
2009
2011
Ollanta Humala was a left-wing economic nationalist who towards the middle during his presidency from 2011 to 2016. He reappointed the head of Peru’s central bank who is still in office today – an official who The Wall Street Journal named The “real leader” of Peru.
Brazilian Finance Minister Dario Durigan speaks during a meeting with Kim Kelly, the US Embassy in Brasília, prior to the signing of an agreement on cooperation in the fight against international crime in Brasília on April 10.Evaristo Sa/AFP via Getty Images
US-Brazil relations have appeared to be on ice in recent months. Plans for Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to visit the United States—originally scheduled for March—have not materialized. Although the countries have not said why, Lula has criticized US military intervention in Venezuela and Iran.
Still, there is a sign of a new partnership between Brasília and Washington: last Friday, Brazil’s Finance Minister Dario Durigan he announced that those countries have established cooperation to detect and prevent the illegal flow of firearms and drugs.
Brazilian tax authorities and US Customs and Border Protection will work together to track illegal payments, Durigan he saidadding that the plan was based on a phone conversation between Lula and Trump last year where they discussed strategies to fight crime.
The Trump administration be considered designating Brazilian organized crime groups First Capital Command and Red Command as terrorist organizations. Brazil opposes the move, saying it’s a misclassification and could lead to unfair restrictions on companies that unknowingly do business with groups.
Durigan’s announcement suggests a move toward a more bilateral approach to dealing with organized crime — rather than one imposed by the United States. The Trump administration chose not to make a statement about the plan.
A few days later, conflicting statements about a Brazilian detained in the United States raised doubts about the countries’ security cooperation.
On Monday, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) information that it had Alexandre Ramagem, a former Brazilian official, in custody. Ramagem was found guilty of planning a coup to put former President Jair Bolsonaro in power but evaded arrest in Brazil.
Brazil’s federal police said the unnamed fugitive was detained in the United States as a result of cooperation between the two countries, and Lula. to be called publicly for the return of Ramagem. But Ramagem’s partner said he was only arrested at a traffic stop. As of Wednesday, ICE was provided he.
