Argentina’s Supreme Court cleared the way for President Javier Milei’s decree lifting limits on foreign ownership of rural land, changing who can own property in the country. Milei was in Paris for an investment week, with a speech at the OECD and a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron scheduled for Thursday.
Brazil’s Vote and Electoral Rules
A Quaest runoff poll released Monday put President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro at 42% each before Brazil’s first-round election on Sunday, 4 October. Datafolha’s poll on 24 September put Lula at 47% and Flávio at 45%, within the margin of error. A runoff is scheduled for 25 October if needed.
The Superior Electoral Court began judging a case Wednesday over false posts claiming Flávio Bolsonaro would strip Our Lady of Aparecida, Brazil’s patron saint, of her title. The court formed a majority to keep offline posts linking Flávio Bolsonaro or his family directly to the claim.
Brazil’s electoral code bars arrests of voters from Tuesday until 17:00 on 6 October, except when they’re caught in the act. The restriction sets a temporary limit on enforcement during the election period.
Land Rules, Finance and Government Decisions
Argentina’s Supreme Court decision advanced Milei’s decree lifting rural land ownership limits. The government reported mining exports above US$6 billion in eight months, helped by a 190% jump in lithium, and a current-account surplus of US$2.21 billion in the second quarter. INDEC estimated residents held US$268.8 billion in foreign cash and deposits outside Argentina’s banks.
Argentina raised pensions 1.66% for October, while rents under contracts adjusted every three months by the central bank’s ICL index rose 6.72%. Utility bills also changed. Ámbito reported that Milei’s image recovery was slowing because of wages, utility bills and household debt. The Merval rose 1.32% on Wednesday.
Colombia’s government requested an IMF technical mission and discussed possible financing. The fiscal-rule committee, Carf, projected a 2026 deficit of 7.8% of GDP, against the government’s 7.2% projection. Colombia’s central bank raised its policy rate by 25 basis points to 12.25% on Wednesday, against expectations of a hold; the vote was 4–2–1.
Migration, Labor and Regional Pressure
Chile’s Senate president ruled that migrant detention reform could return with 29 Senate votes. President José Antonio Kast sent Congress a bill to extend a monthly fuel bonus of 100,000 pesos, about US$103, for taxis, shared taxis and school transport until December.
Chile’s unemployment rate reached 9.6% in June–August, its highest level since 2021, according to the statistics office INE. Industrial production fell 5.7% in August and copper output dropped 12.8%. Unions at Antofagasta Minerals’ Centinela mine voted 98.73% in favour of a strike over equal pay and took their protest to Santiago.
In Colombia, unemployment reached 9.4% in August, compared with an 8.1% forecast and 8.6% a year earlier, DANE reported. The trucking association counted 2,841 road blockades over the past four years, with an estimated cost of about 12.7 trillion pesos, or US$3.8 billion. A decree banned imports made with forced labour.
Unease continued over Washington’s visa restrictions on officials and relatives in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, alongside discussion of the U.S.-backed Shield of the Americas. In Mexico, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned 21 people and 25 entities linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, including Carlos Torres Torres, the ex-husband of Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila.
Mexico’s exports rose 40.4% in August to about US$78 billion, with shipments of electrical and electronic equipment more than doubling, according to INEGI. Banxico Governor Victoria Rodríguez Ceja said Mexico need not mechanically follow the Federal Reserve; the policy rate was 6.50%. Hurricane Polo made landfall in Baja California Sur and Sonora, flooding parts of Puerto San Carlos and closing schools in Sonora. No deaths were reported in Baja California Sur.