A month-long protest campaign by Ecuador’s umbrella indigenous organisation Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (Conaie) from 22 September-22 October over diesel subsidy cuts caused US$300m in economic damages, resulted in three deaths, and paralysed parts of the country. And yet, it could have been much worse. Previous strikes against attempted fuel subsidy cuts in 2022 cost over US$1.1bn.

On 17 September Argentina’s central bank (BCRA) intervened to prop up the peso, as the lower chamber rejected more of President Javier Milei’s vetoes and anti-government protesters took to the streets, reflecting the mounting challenges facing the Milei administration ahead of October’s mid-term elections.

The outgoing humanitarian coordinator for Haiti at the United Nations (UN), Ulrika Richardson, was reported on 12 August as describing the situation that she was leaving behind in Haiti as “strikingly horrific”.

In his latest attempt to expand his political power, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has succeeded in abolishing presidential term limits in the country.