Key Points —Luisa María Alcalde accepted President Claudia Sheinbaum’s offer on Wednesday, April 22 to lead the Consejería Jurídica del Ejecutivo Federal, leaving her post as national president of the Morena party after 18 months. —The move fills the vacancy created by Esthela Damián Peralta, who resigned the Consejería Jurídica to seek the Morena gubernatorial […]

The post Sheinbaum Promotes Party Chief Alcalde to Top Legal Post in Mexico Cabinet Reshuffle appeared first on The Rio Times.

Key Points — President Javier Milei announced Tuesday, April 21 from Tel Aviv — closing his third official trip to Israel — that his government will submit an electoral reform bill to Congress on Wednesday, April 22. The package has three components: elimination of the PASO mandatory primaries, an overhaul of campaign finance rules, and […]

The post From Tel Aviv, Milei Launches Argentina’s Biggest Electoral Overhaul in 17 Years appeared first on The Rio Times.

Key Points — President Gustavo Petro ordered High Commissioner for Peace Otty Patiño on Tuesday, April 21, to evaluate suspending the negotiation with alias Calarcá’s FARC-dissident faction after documented violations of ceasefire commitments — specifically attacks on soldiers and continued Amazonian deforestation for cattle ranching. Calarcá’s Estado Mayor de Bloques was the last FARC-dissident structure […]

The post Colombia’s “Total Peace” Is Over: Petro Cuts Calarcá, Gulf Clan Rejects Deal appeared first on The Rio Times.

Key Points — The INDEC consumer price index reported beef and derivatives rose 55.1% year-on-year in March 2026, with asado up 68.9%, paleta 66.5%, and cuadril 64.7% — all far above the 32.6% twelve-month average inflation. — Annual per-capita beef consumption in Argentina has fallen to approximately 47.3 kg, the lowest level in 20 years […]

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Key Points — Acolgen president Natalia Gutiérrez, citing data from grid operator XM, said Colombia’s firm-energy-versus-demand balance is now negative at -2.3% for 2026 and projected to widen to -4.4% in 2027, -3.2% in 2028, -5.2% in 2029 and -6.8% in 2030. — Only 0.6% of expected new generation capacity has entered the grid year-to-date […]

The post Colombia’s Electricity Cushion Disappears Before El Niño appeared first on The Rio Times.

Key Points — Three professional soldiers — Andrés Álvarez Sierra, Darwin Gómez Gutiérrez and Brayan Galindo Amado — were killed Monday in Ipiales, Nariño by drone-dropped explosives during combat with the Comandos de Frontera armed structure. — A separate armed attack in Cartagena del Chairá, Caquetá on Monday night left one police officer dead and […]

The post Uniformed Dead: The Scale of Colombia’s Drone Threat  appeared first on The Rio Times.

Key Points — President Daniel Noboa on April 20 announced a nationwide night curfew covering nine provinces and four cantons from May 3 through May 18, running daily from 23:00 to 05:00. — The curfew layers on top of the existing state of exception declared April 2 under Decree 353, which suspended constitutional protections on […]

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Key Points — Interim president Delcy Rodríguez publicly asked the United States and Europe to end sanctions on Venezuela, pivoting an economic appeal Washington has partly answered toward a Europe that has not. — The US Treasury removed Delcy from the SDN list on April 1 and on April 14 issued new licenses letting Venezuela’s […]

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Key Points — Acting President Delcy Rodríguez announced Thursday that Laura Guerra Angulo — a Maduro family relative who had led the BCV since April 2025 — resigned and was replaced by Vice President Luis Pérez, a career central bank technocrat — The leadership change came just two days after OFAC General License 57 lifted […]

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Key Points — Colombia’s Constitutional Court ruled 8-0 on Wednesday (Sentence C-079 of 2026, rapporteur Justice Juan Carlos Cortés González) to strike down Legislative Decree 1474 of 2025, the tax package President Gustavo Petro issued under the December 2025 economic emergency after Congress rejected his Ley de Financiamiento. The ruling follows the Court’s April 9 […]

The post Colombia’s Top Court Strikes Down Petro’s Emergency Tax Decree, Orders Refunds appeared first on The Rio Times.

Key Points — Chile’s President José Antonio Kast used his first national broadcast on Wednesday evening to unveil the Proyecto de Ley de Reconstrucción y Desarrollo Económico y Social, a package of 40-plus measures centered on cutting the corporate tax rate from 27% to 23%, reinstating a 25-year tax invariability guarantee for long-term investment, and […]

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Key Points — Mexico’s computer exports rose 144.8% in 2025 to $85.4 billion, making it the world’s third-largest exporter behind Taiwan ($183.5B) and China ($150.7B). Computers surpassed automobiles as Mexico’s number-one export product to the United States for the first time in history. — The surge is driven by three forces: US data center investment […]

The post Mexico’s Computer Exports Surged 145% to $85 Billion in 2025 — Overtaking Cars as the Top U.S. Export appeared first on The Rio Times.