On Sunday, October 30th, leftist candidate Luiz Lula won the presidential election by an incredibly small margin of 50.1% to Bolsonaro’s 49.1%. Lula has promised to “end hunger, zero tolerance for deforestation in the Amazon…and restore democracy to Brazil". He will overturn many of Bolsonaro’s policies, including pro-gun measures, and plans to restore Brazil’s leadership on climate change.

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo is facing a constitutional complaint alleging that he is leading a corruption ring within the government. This complaint was filed by Attorney General Patricia Benavides. Whereas presidents typically have immunity against criminal charges, the filing of a constitutional complaint gives Congress a loophole to carry out its own trial. The complaint “will be examined by parliament and could lead to President Castillo’s suspension from office if more than 65 of the 130 members were to vote in favor”.

On Tuesday, September 20th, the UN released an investigation which concluded that President Nicolás Maduro and his inner circle are directly responsible for giving orders to commit crimes against humanity to repress dissent. According to the UN Report, “the Mission has documented 122 cases of victims who were detained by the DGCIM, 77 of whom were subjected to torture, sexual violence and/or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment”.

On October 2nd, the people of Brazil will cast their vote in the presidential election, with candidates including right-wing populist, Jair Bolsonaro, and leftist candidate, Luis Lula. Bolsonaro is the current President running for reelection, and his main rival is Lula, who governed the country from 2003-2010. If no candidate wins fifty percent, a second round of the election will take place on October 30th.

On September 4, 2022, 13 million Chilean’s participated in a mandatory vote of the newly drafted constitution, which would drastically change the institutional structure of society and the rights of the people. The results were unexpected. Almost 62% of people voted against the proposed draft, compared to the 80% of people who had supported the idea of a constitutional referendum when it was proposed in October 2020. The proposed constitution had 388 articles and was 178 pages long, and included “issues like gender equality, environmental protections and Indigenous rights throughout the document” (Politi, 2022). It would have made Chile “the guarantor of more than 100 rights, more than any other national constitution in the world”.