Hello, and welcome to the Latin America Weekly newsletter! In this issue: The president of Costa Rica faces intense scrutiny. The Economy Minister in Argentina gets some early results. And Colombia’s Gustavo Petro brings the hammer down on a leftist icon.
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The president of Costa Rica is under pressure
Having barely topped 100 days in office, President Rodrigo Chaves of Costa Rica is already battling controversy in what is supposed to be his “honeymoon period.” The funding of his presidential campaign is under scrutiny following a report by local newspaper La Nación.
The case. The investigation says that, between July and October 2021, Mr. Chaves’s Social Democratic Progress Party (PPSD) received donations from nine business owners and two companies through a slush fund.
- Audio recordings that could be incriminating for Mr. Chaves have surfaced. They show the president talking about said slush fund in a conversation with PPSD campaign treasurer Stephan Brunner, the current vice president. In the recordings, Mr. Brunner even talks about “contaminated money.”
- Rodrigo Chaves confirmed...