VENEZUELA:
The current situation in Venezuela is about as bad as it gets for a country that is not at war. El Niño and climate change have brought severe drought, and years of corrupt and incompetent leadership have ruined the economy--a two punch combination that has this tropical nation of 30 million people reeling. The drought means water is only arriving in the capital, Caracas, once a week. And when it does come, it’s brown and makes people sick. With no rain, the water level is critically low at the Guri hydroelectric dam that normally provides about 60 percent of the nation’s power demand, but without enough water to run it at full capacity, the government is shutting off electricity for hours every day. This energy crisis is coupled with an economy in shambles. Inflation is above 700 percent, that’s the highest rate in the world. All this is due to the poor decision making of an extremist government that’s been led by Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro. They’ve been gradually killing business with a tsunami of regulations, price controls and government takeovers, which has eliminated the private production of many goods and services. So people have bags full of cash, but nothing to buy. Grocery store shelves are bare, and hunger is spreading rapidly. The most tragic part of this story is that Venezuela is sitting on the world’s largest reserves of black gold, so with all that oil it should be on the opposite end of the spectrum--it should be one of the healthier economies in the world. To understand why it’s not, I think two points are worth highlighting: 1) Venezuela has a tumultuous modern history, with constant - and often violent - struggles for power, so Venezuelans have had to put up with a lot of turmoil and don’t expect much stability from their government, and 2) the country is still suffering from the aftermath of the rule of Hugo Chavez, a charismatic firebrand who rose through the military and led two failed coup attempts before becoming President. After himself surviving a coup attempt, Chavez ruled Venezuela during the Bush years, and constantly portrayed himself as a socialist counterweight to Bush’s imperialism.
In 2014, Venezuela suddenly found itself ranked fifth in Latin America in GDP per capita--falling from first place when Chavez took over in ’99. And as oil prices plunged, so did revenues, but the government couldn’t scale back because its spending on social programs and employment was propping up the entire economy.
Maduro’s also following the dictator playbook by declaring a state of emergency and revving up the military that will be his last line of defense if large numbers of Venezuelans take to the streets in revolution.
CHILE:
A Republic based on parliamentary democracy where the President enjoys considerable powers.
The President is both the Chief of State and Head of Government and holds the executive power. The President appoints the Cabinet and has the authority to remove the Commanders-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He or She is elected by popular vote for a single four-year term.
For years Chile has been considered a role model for all of Latin America. We shouldn't be surprised at this, in a short period of time, Chile became the wealthiest country in the region, and it started off as one of the poorest.
But this change thanks to Sebastian Piñera was elected President for the second time (he served a first term between 2010 and 2014) on December 17th, 2017. During his campaign, Mr. Piñera, a center-right politician and also a former businessman, unveiled a USD 14 billion plan for the next four years, designed to reform tax and pension systems and promote investment in infrastructures, while cutting government spending. However, the new President of Chile will certainly face strong opposition as the three Chilean left parties have associated in Parliament to form a majority. One of the objectives of President Sebastian Piñera is to implement measures of fiscal consolidation while keeping investment up in education, health, transportation and energy. Chile’s geography is unique and the country is exposed to earthquake risks. Consequently, investment in infrastructure, and particularly in the road network, is needed. Household consumption represented 64% of the GDP in 2017 and should keep progressing in 2018. Public debt reached an estimated 25% of GDP and the current account deficit reached -2.3%.
Chile's unemployment is estimated to have reached a peak at 7% in 2017 and should decrease to 6.8% in 2018.The country has high levels of inequality. One of the main reasons of the existing disparities of wealth is the current tax system which handicaps mostly the lower and middle classes. Reducing income inequalities and the country’s dependence on copper exports represent Chile’s main economic challenges in the long term. In order to achieve these goals, Chile has notably invested heavily in renewable energy, which is expected to make up 20% of its energy generation by 2020.
Chile's economy is dominated by the industrial and service sectors, which together contribute to almost 96% of the GDP. Chile’s key activity sectors are mining (copper, coal and nitrate), manufactured products (agro-food processing, chemicals, wood) and agriculture (fishing, viticulture and fruit).
PERU:
Peru entered a period of relative political stability, economic growth, and poverty reduction,
begun by a capable interim government headed by President Valentin Paniagua (November 2000
-July 2001), and continued by Peru’s first president of indigenous descent, Alejandro Toledo
(2001-2006). Toledo pushed through significant reforms that increased tax collection, reduced
expenditures and the budget deficit, and negotiated a free trade agreement with the United States.
Softening his populist rhetoric, Alan García launched a political comeback and won the
presidential race in 2006. Many observers cast him as “the lesser of two evils” compared to his
opponent, Ollanta Humala, who espoused nationalist, anti-globalization policies. García (2006-
2011) maintained orthodox macro-economic policies. Economic growth continued under García,
and so, too, did popular protests over the failure of that growth to improve social conditions for
Peru’s poorest people, and over the exploitation of natural resources. Humala went on to win the
presidency in 2011.
In addition to poverty, Peru’s indigenous groups are also disadvantaged by lower levels of education. While the government in theory recognises the right to bilingual and intercultural education, in practice this is not usually provided. Because many indigenous communities tend to be located in remote, isolated and geographically hostile regions, the quality of material and human resources is deficient. School attendance is low, with UNICEF reporting only 32% of 3-5 year old indigenous children attend school, compared to 55% of non-indigenous children.
In the judicial system these groups face further discrimination. Despite provisions in the constitution, indigenous people taken into custody in Peru are frequently not provided with an interpreter. There are cases of indigenous people who have been tried and convicted without fully understanding what they are being charged with. Indigenous leaders opposing investment projects regarded by the government as strategically important also claim they continue to be unduly subject to criminal investigation by law enforcement agencies
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