Latin America's only conservative president steps down

Guillermo Laso, in practice the only conservative ruler on the Latin American map, has been forced to dissolve Ecuador's parliament as it debated his impeachment and anticipated his own resignation. The decision was preceded by widespread protests amid a severe economic crisis, and the president, a Guayaquil businessman, was being accused of complicity with a corruption suspect. 

This means that new presidential and legislative elections will have to be held within six months. The situation is serious and the anticipated election campaign will once again mobilise supporters of Sandinismo, which has spread across the continent, where it is leading the turmoil and problems are maintaining instability in several countries.  

Venezuela is undoubtedly where the situation is most serious, although it brings nothing that is not already known. The discontent of the population is driving more and more people to flee to the United States and Europe, especially Spain. The latest figures put the number of Venezuelans who have had to flee Nicolás Maduro's regime at seven million. 

In Peru, where instability has eased slightly in anticipation of elections, the prime minister has accused the presidents of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, and Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of complicating the interim presidency of President Dina Boluarte by supporting leftist organisations and even hindering her from travelling to other countries to deal with state matters of national interest.

In Chile, Gabriel Boric's government is acting with a moderation rejected by its more radical supporters, while the confusion created by the landslide victory of the right-wing parties in the votes to elect the fifty members who will draft the new Constitution persists. In Argentina, the news is Cristina Kithner's announcement that she will not run in the next presidential elections. And in El Salvador, President Bukele has stepped up the fight by mobilising 5,000 military personnel against the maras after the murder of an officer. 

However, where the situation is getting worse by the day is in Nicaragua, where the Ortega-Murillo presidential couple continues to increase the persecution of those who oppose their new-style dictatorship. And in Cuba, where the communist regime remains unchanged, the economic situation has worsened with more shortages of basic commodities, starting with fuel.