The Economist Latin America July 31, 2021

Politics Tunisia’s president, Kais Saied, fired the prime minister, suspended parliament for 30 days and assumed executive authority. The power grab, he said, was justified by the constitution and necessary to quell unrest over a sputtering economy and one of Africa’s worst outbreaks of covid-19. Many Tunisians cheered the move, which came after a day of protests aimed at the government. But international watchdogs raised concern over Mr Saied’s actions to suppress dissent, such as banning public gatherings of more than three people. Ennahda, the largest party in parliament, accused him of a “coup”. A court in Tanzania charged Freeman Mbowe, leader of the main opposition party, with “terrorist-related” crimes. Mr Mbowe had been campaigning for changes to the constitution. Critics accused the new president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, of continuing…

America’s Centres for Disease Control reversed its earlier advice and said that people living in areas with a high prevalence of covid-19 should wear masks again in public indoor spaces. Meanwhile, the governors of California and New York said that state employees will be required either to take a vaccine or submit to weekly testing. Joe Biden prepared similar measures for federal-government workers. Lockdown measures were extended by another four weeks in Sydney. Tokyo reported a record number of new cases, though there was no big outbreak among participants in the Olympics. In Malaysia someone reportedly broke pandemic restrictions by flying a helicopter 180km (112 miles) from Kuala Lumpur to pick up 36 portions of rice from a restaurant. Police are searching for any grains of evidence. → For our latest coverage of the…

Politics Tunisia’s president, Kais Saied, fired the prime minister, suspended parliament for 30 days and assumed executive authority. The power grab, he said, was justified by the constitution and necessary to quell unrest over a sputtering economy and one of Africa’s worst outbreaks of covid-19. Many Tunisians cheered the move, which came after a day of protests aimed at the government. But international watchdogs raised concern over Mr Saied’s actions to suppress dissent, such as banning public gatherings of more than three people. Ennahda, the largest party in parliament, accused him of a “coup”. A court in Tanzania charged Freeman Mbowe, leader of the main opposition party, with “terrorist-related” crimes. Mr Mbowe had been campaigning for changes to the constitution. Critics accused the new president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, of continuing the authoritarian…

America’s Centres for Disease Control reversed its earlier advice and said that people living in areas with a high prevalence of covid-19 should wear masks again in public indoor spaces. Meanwhile, the governors of California and New York said that state employees will be required either to take a vaccine or submit to weekly testing. Joe Biden prepared similar measures for federal-government workers. Lockdown measures were extended by another four weeks in Sydney. Tokyo reported a record number of new cases, though there was no big outbreak among participants in the Olympics. In Malaysia someone reportedly broke pandemic restrictions by flying a helicopter 180km (112 miles) from Kuala Lumpur to pick up 36 portions of rice from a restaurant. Police are searching for any grains of evidence. → For our…

AT THE START of the century, developing economies were a source of unbounded optimism and fierce ambition. Today South Africa is reeling from an insurrection, Colombia has suffered violent protests and Tunisia faces a constitutional crisis (see Leader). Illiberal government is in fashion. Peru has just sworn in a Marxist as its president and independent institutions are under attack in Brazil, India and Mexico. This wave of unrest and authoritarianism partly reflects covid-19, which has exposed and exploited vulnerabilities, from rotten bureaucracies to frayed social safety-nets. And as we explain this week (see Briefing), the despair and chaos threaten to exacerbate a profound economic problem: many poor and middle-income countries are losing the knack of catching up with the richest ones. Our excess-mortality model suggests that 8m-16m people have died…

AT THE START of the century, developing economies were a source of unbounded optimism and fierce ambition. Today South Africa is reeling from an insurrection, Colombia has suffered violent protests and Tunisia faces a constitutional crisis (see Leader). Illiberal government is in fashion. Peru has just sworn in a Marxist as its president and independent institutions are under attack in Brazil, India and Mexico. This wave of unrest and authoritarianism partly reflects covid-19, which has exposed and exploited vulnerabilities, from rotten bureaucracies to frayed social safety-nets. And as we explain this week (see Briefing), the despair and chaos threaten to exacerbate a profound economic problem: many poor and middle-income countries are losing the knack of catching up with the richest ones. Our excess-mortality model suggests that 8m-16m people have died in the…