International
Insecurity and corruption will take the interest in the campaign for the local elections in Chile
Chileans will elect 345 mayors and 16 regional governors in a month in elections considered a thermometer of the 2025 presidential elections and marked by the increase in crime and by one of the largest cases of corruption in the recent history of Chile, which splashes the country’s elite.
The campaign began on August 28, but the period for electoral propaganda began this Friday and the streets and squares were filled with posters and posters with the faces of the candidates from the early morning.
As in 2021, the elections will be held in two days (October 26 and 27), but unlike then, these will be the first municipal and regional elections held with the new compulsory voting system, re-established in 2022 after 10 years of voluntary participation.
“Chile faces these elections in a climate of distrust in the system. The parties have had difficulties facing the most pressing problems of citizenship, and the distance with it only grows. It is not surprising that independent candidates have grown,” Rodrigo Pérez de Arce, a researcher at the Faro Center of the University of Development (UDD), told EFE.
United official party and fragmented opposition
The broad and diverse coalition that governs Chile, made up of President Gabriel Boric’s Broad Front, the Communist Party and the center-left forces, will run together with the municipal ones.
He will do it together with the Christian Democracy, which is not part of the Executive, but is its ally in many votes.
In the regionals they did not manage to reach agreements, which could be an impediment to revalidating the broad triumph of 2021, when the left and the center took over all the regions, except the southern Araucanía, governed by the liberal Luciano Rivas.
“The left will have to maneuver with the low popularity of the Government, especially in the field of management and security. At least, they should aim to retain important municipalities for them, such as Valparaíso, Ñuñoa, Maipú or Santiago. Otherwise, I think there will be long faces in that coalition,” Pérez de Arce said.
The fragmentation and conflict on the right is total both in municipal and regional: the forces of the traditional wing grouped in Chile Vamos (National Renewal, UDI and Evópoli) failed to agree with either the ultra-right (Republican Party and Social Christian Party) or with the People’s Party.
For former deputy and electoral expert Pepe Auth, the atomization “is motivated, more than in the aspiration to govern regions, in the need to position leadership for the parliamentary elections of 2025.”
“The right is not going to do well because it does not present itself in a cohesive way and is not acting proactively. Probably the sector that benefits from all this division is the Republican Party,” Octavio Avendaño, an academic at the University of Chile, told EFE.
Insecurity and corruption in Chile
The security crisis that Chile has been experiencing for some time due to the arrival of transnational organized crime is one of the star issues of the campaign and, according to experts, could harm the official candidates.
The feeling of insecurity continues to grow and crime has become the greatest citizen concern.
“In the ruling party there is low mood, we are in the last stretch of the mandate, there is conviction that not as many changes can be made as we thought and the fight against crime has taken away all the energy from the Government,” she told Jeanne Simone, of the Network of Political Scientists and the University of Concepción.
The country is also shocked by the so-called “Audios Case”, a mega plot of corruption and influence peddling in the elite, which has even splashed up to the Supreme Court and of which all its edges are not yet known.
The case especially affects the traditional right, since its protagonist, lawyer Luis Hermosilla, was an advisor to the Ministry of the Interior when it was led by the ultra-conservative Andrés Chadwick during the second government of his cousin, former president Sebastián Piñera (2018-2022).
“Faced with a government as weakened as that of Boric, the right has failed to channel citizen discontent. He has not been able to carry out an alternative agenda to the Government’s agenda, which is very confusing, and now the Audios Case has erupted,” Avendaño stressed to EFE.
International
Colombia says it would not reject Maduro asylum request as regional tensions escalate
The Colombian government stated on Thursday that it would have no reason to reject a potential asylum request from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro should he leave office, as regional tensions persist over the deployment of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean since August.
“In the current climate of tension, negotiations are necessary, and if the United States demands a transition or political change, that is something to be assessed. If such a transition results in him (Maduro) needing to live elsewhere or seek protection, Colombia would have no reason to deny it,” said Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio in an interview with Caracol Radio.
However, Villavicencio noted that it is unlikely Maduro would choose Colombia as a refuge. “I believe he would opt for someplace more distant and calmer,” she added.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro also commented on Venezuela’s situation on Wednesday, arguing that the country needs a “democratic revolution” rather than “inefficient repression.” His remarks followed the recent detention and passport cancellation of Cardinal Baltazar Porras at the Caracas airport.
“The Maduro government must understand that responding to external aggression requires more than military preparations; it requires a democratic revolution. A country is defended with more democracy, not more inefficient repression,” Petro wrote on X (formerly Twitter), in a rare public criticism of the Venezuelan leader.
Petro also called for a general amnesty for political opponents and reiterated his call for forming a broad transitional government to address Venezuela’s prolonged crisis.
Since September, U.S. military forces have destroyed more than 20 vessels allegedly carrying drugs in Caribbean and Pacific waters near Venezuela and Colombia, resulting in over 80 deaths.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that attacks “inside Venezuela” will begin “soon,” while Maduro has urged Venezuelans to prepare for what he describes as an impending external aggression.
International
Cuba battles out-of-control dengue and chikungunya epidemic as death toll rises to 44
Cuba is facing a severe dengue and chikungunya epidemic that has already claimed at least 44 lives, including 29 minors, according to the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap). The outbreak—now considered out of control—has expanded across the entire country amid a critical shortage of resources to confront the emergency.
Authorities report more than 42,000 chikungunya infections and at least 26,000 dengue cases, though they acknowledge significant underreporting as many patients avoid seeking care in health centers where medicines, supplies, and medical personnel are scarce. The first cluster was detected in July in the city of Matanzas, but the government did not officially use the term “epidemic” until November 12.
Chikungunya—virtually unknown on the island until this year—causes high fever, rashes, fatigue, and severe joint pain that can last for months, leaving thousands temporarily incapacitated. Dengue, endemic to the region, triggers fever, muscle pain, vomiting, and, in severe cases, internal bleeding. Cuba currently has no vaccines available for either virus.
Minsap reports that of the 44 deaths recorded so far, 28 were caused by chikungunya and 16 by dengue.
The health crisis unfolds amid deep economic deterioration, marked by the absence of fumigation campaigns, uncollected garbage, and shortages of medical supplies—conditions that have fueled the spread of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the primary vector for both diseases. “The healthcare system is overwhelmed,” non-official medical sources acknowledge.
Beyond the health impact, the epidemic is heavily disrupting economic and family life. The intense joint pain caused by chikungunya has led to widespread work absences, while hospital overcrowding has forced relatives to leave their jobs to care for the sick. In November, authorities launched a clinical trial using the Cuban drug Jusvinza to reduce joint pain, though results have not yet been released.
International
Ecuador on track for record violence as homicides hit highest level in Latin America again
Violence in Ecuador is expected to reach historic levels by the end of 2025, with the country set to record the highest homicide rate in Latin America for the third consecutive year, according to a report released Thursday by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). The organization warns that criminal activity is not only persisting but could worsen in 2026.
Official figures show 7,553 homicides recorded through October, surpassing the 7,063 registered throughout all of 2024. ACLED estimates that 71% of the population was exposed to violent incidents this year, despite President Daniel Noboa’s declaration of an “internal armed conflict” in an attempt to confront powerful criminal groups.
According to the report, several factors are driving the deterioration of security: a territorial war between Los Chonerosand Los Lobos, the two most influential criminal organizations in the country; the fragmentation of other groups after the fall of their leaders; and Ecuador’s expanding role as a strategic hub for regional drug trafficking.
Since 2021, violence has forced the internal displacement of around 132,000 people, while more than 400,000 Ecuadorians — equivalent to 2% of the population — have left the country. Between January and November alone, violent deaths rose 42%, fueled by prison massacres and clashes between rival gangs.
The report warns that conditions may deteriorate further. Ecuador has been added to ACLED’s 2026 Conflict Watchlist, which highlights regions at risk of escalating violence. The expansion of Colombian armed groups such as FARC dissidents and the ELN, state weakness, and a potential rerouting of drug trafficking corridors from the Caribbean to the Pacific intensify the threat.
“The president is facing a wave of violence that shows no signs of easing,” the report concludes.
Colombia says it would not reject Maduro asylum request as regional tensions escalate
Cuba battles out-of-control dengue and chikungunya epidemic as death toll rises to 44
Ecuador on track for record violence as homicides hit highest level in Latin America again
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
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