Argentina’s autoparts industry registered a 22.5 percent year-on-year contraction in the first two months of 2026 against the same period of 2025, per the Asociación de Fábricas Argentinas de Componentes (AFAC). The Javier Milei government’s import liberalization and reduced bureaucratic controls drove autoparts imports up 11.6 percent in 2025 to 10.319 billion U.S. dollars, with […]

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Peru’s Comisión de Energía y Minas of the Congreso de la República has approved a dictamen that strips Article 10 of the Ley General de Minería of its core permanence clause, the provision under which mining concessions have been irrevocable for over three decades as long as the holder meets legal obligations. The Sociedad Nacional […]

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Mexico’s Indicador Global de Opinión Empresarial de Confianza (IGOEC) fell 0.2 points monthly to 48.2 points in April 2026 with seasonally adjusted figures, the fourteenth consecutive month below the 50-point pessimism threshold and the second consecutive monthly decline, INEGI reported on Monday, May 4. On a year-on-year basis the indicator fell 0.4 points, the 24th […]

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Brazil entered May 2026 with 8.9 million company-tax registrations in default per Serasa Experian and roughly 80 million individuals delinquent on debts older than 90 days, the highest readings in the agency’s series. Total household and corporate debt in default reaches 557 billion Brazilian reais (about 110 billion U.S. dollars at the recent rate of […]

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Chile’s Comisión de Evaluación Ambiental for the Antofagasta Region unanimously approved on Monday, May 4, 2026, the Aguas Marítimas desalination project promoted by Cramsa Infraestructura SpA, with a 5 billion U.S. dollar investment that makes it the largest desalination plant in Chile and one of the largest in Latin America. The plant will produce 700,000 […]

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Ecuador’s Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas announced on Tuesday, May 5, 2026, a second sovereign-bond operation in the international markets, reopening the 2034 and 2039 maturities first issued in January for a combined 4 billion U.S. dollars at an 8.975 percent average yield. The Daniel Noboa administration hired BofA Securities and Citigroup to organise the […]

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The Rio Times — USA & Canada Pulse Issue Nº 14 · ~3,400 words · 12 minute read The Section 122 trade-deficit tariffs that the Trump administration imposed after the February 20 Supreme Court ruling against IEEPA expire on July 24, 2026 — 80 days from today — at which point Congress must vote to […]

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Banco de la República profits fell 43 percent year on year to COP 2.55 trillion (about 687 million U.S. dollars at the May 5 TRM of 3,707.58) at the close of March 2026, according to the Colombian central bank’s most recent financial-situation report published Tuesday, May 5. The figure compares to COP 4.43 trillion (about […]

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The Rio Times — Europe Pulse Issue Nº 14 · ~3,400 words · 12 minute read The United Kingdom is two days from the May 7 local elections, with YouGov’s MRP for the West Midlands projecting Reform UK leading in all 13 council areas under contention, and Labour’s vote share down 30 to 32 points […]

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Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa on Monday, May 4, 2026, cut the country’s security-tariff on Colombian imports from 100 percent to 75 percent, with the new rate taking effect on June 1, only three days after the maximum had begun to apply on May 1. The reduction follows a tariff escalation that started in February 2026 […]

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Key Points —The US Department of Justice indictment against Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya describes a Sinaloa Cartel governor operation that allegedly began before the June 2021 election with a meeting between Rocha and Los Chapitos. —El País reported that President Claudia Sheinbaum sent intermediaries asking Rocha to step down before the indictment landed, and […]

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The Rio Times — USA & Canada Pulse Covering: Project Freedom Hormuz Operation · 15,000 Service Members · Iran Frigate Strike Claim · UAE Fujairah · S Korea Cargo · Brent $110 · Gas $4.46 · Touska 22 Sailors · War Powers 60-Day · Trump “Terminated” Letter · Collins-Curtis-Tillis-Murkowski-Hawley · S&P 7,230.12 ATH · Nasdaq […]

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