The Economist Latin America May 8, 2021

The entire Indian delegation to the g7 summit in London went into self-isolation when some of their team tested positive for covid-19. The meeting marked a return to face-to-face diplomacy, albeit with distancing measures in place. The Indian Premier League, the world’s biggest cricket tournament, was suspended after several players tested positive. Canada approved the Pfizer jab for 12-15 year olds, the first country to endorse a vaccine for children under 16. America is ready to do the same. This month Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania will end most limits on the number of people allowed in shops, offices and so on. Rules on face masks and distancing will remain. As an incentive to increase the state’s vaccination rate, New Jersey is offering a free beer to anyone over 21 who…

Politics Protests in Colombia raged on, despite the scrapping of an unpopular tax reform that had sparked them and the resignation of the finance minister who championed it. The government responded harshly; the protesters became increasingly violent in turn. At least 24 people have died and more than 800 civilians and police officers have been injured. El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, once again displayed his authoritarian tendencies. The legislative assembly, which his party controls, sacked five Supreme Court judges and the attorney-general. Their replacements have links to Mr Bukele, who now controls all three branches of the state. American officials complained, but softly. President Joe Biden’s administration wants Central American governments to help it curb migration to the United States. For the first time since 2005 members of the opposition in Venezuela were…

TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE is upending finance. Bitcoin has gone from being an obsession of anarchists to a $1trn asset class that many fund managers insist belongs in any balanced portfolio. Swarms of digital day-traders have become a force on Wall Street. PayPal has 392m users, a sign that America is catching up with China’s digital-payments giants. Yet, as our special report explains, the least noticed disruption on the frontier between technology and finance may end up as the most revolutionary: the creation of government digital currencies, which typically aim to let people deposit funds directly with a central bank, bypassing conventional lenders. These “govcoins” are a new incarnation of money. They promise to make finance work better but also to shift power from individuals to the state, alter geopolitics and change how…

Politics Protests in Colombia raged on, despite the scrapping of an unpopular tax reform that had sparked them and the resignation of the finance minister who championed it. The government responded harshly; the protesters became increasingly violent in turn. At least 24 people have died and more than 800 civilians and police officers have been injured. El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, once again displayed his authoritarian tendencies. The legislative assembly, which his party controls, sacked five Supreme Court judges and the attorney-general. Their replacements have links to Mr Bukele, who now controls all three branches of the state. American officials complained, but softly. President Joe Biden’s administration wants Central American governments to help it curb migration to the United States. For the first time since 2005 members of the opposition…

EVERY AMERICAN state requires you to have a licence to drive a car, hunt or become a barber. Yet by the end of this year at least 20 states will allow you to carry a handgun in public without a permit. So far in 2021 five have already passed “permitless carry” laws, and five more, including Texas and Louisiana, are considering them. If these became law, around a third of Americans would live in states where it was legal to carry guns around without any need for a licence or training. Anyone who considers the 181 mass shootings that have taken place in America since January, or the recent spike in violent crime, would be forgiven for wondering why some states want fewer restrictions on guns, rather than more. The pro-gun…

The entire Indian delegation to the g7 summit in London went into self-isolation when some of their team tested positive for covid-19. The meeting marked a return to face-to-face diplomacy, albeit with distancing measures in place. The Indian Premier League, the world’s biggest cricket tournament, was suspended after several players tested positive. Canada approved the Pfizer jab for 12-15 year olds, the first country to endorse a vaccine for children under 16. America is ready to do the same. This month Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania will end most limits on the number of people allowed in shops, offices and so on. Rules on face masks and distancing will remain. As an incentive to increase the state’s vaccination rate, New Jersey is offering a free beer to anyone…