When Brazil secured the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic bids, it looked ready to take off: it was a rising global power, a highly regarded emerging market, with a growing middle class. This has all come crashing to a halt. As the country prepares to host the Olympic games it is battling an expanding corruption scandal, an economy in recession and a president facing impeachment.
Graphic Source: The Cartoon Movement/Giacomo Cardelli
With right-left polarization amongst the region’s politicians, and growing U.S.-China competition among its economies, Latin America’s most likely response to any U.S. trade actions will be further intra-regional conflict and division.
Whoever ends up helping Cuba rebuild its power grid will hold one of the keys to unlocking economic recovery on the island and influence in the Caribbean.
In both Guyana and Suriname, there remains considerable work to be done to spread each nation’s wealth.
