Welcome back to the Latin America Weekly newsletter. In this issue: the drawn-out Peru election imbroglio is finally concluded. Favorites lose out in Chile’s presidential primaries. Argentina accused of meddling in Bolivia coup. Haiti forms a new government.
Peru finally has a president-elect, but things remain complicated
Forty-five days and ten unproven fraud allegations later, electoral authorities in Peru have finally certified far-left candidate Pedro Castillo as the country’s president-elect — and he now gears up to take office next week, missing out on the benefit of a transition period.
- Ever since Mr. Castillo surprisingly qualified for the runoff stage in April, markets have been jittery about his proposals to increase state economic intervention and rewrite Peru’s constitution.
- Mr. Castillo has toned down his rhetoric somewhat, and market fears are now centered on one of his allies: Vladimir Cerrón, founder of Mr. Castillo’s Perú Libre party.
Liability? Prosecutors in the region of Junín accuse Mr. Cerrón of taking bribes to illegally fund Perú Libre’s political campaigns. The party leader spent two stints as governor in Junín, in 2011-2014, and 2018-2019.
- Another investigation, by newspaper El Comercio, identified PEN 1.5 million (USD 385,000) in Mr. Cerron’s bank account, far...