LatAm Expat & Nomad Daily Guide for Sunday, August 23, 2026
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Good morning. Your LatAm expat nomad daily guide opens on a Colombian peso at levels not seen since 2018, an Argentine risk premium going the other way, and a week of data that ends at Jackson Hole.
00The LatAm Expat Nomad Daily Guide Status Board
| Story | A week ago | Now | Next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colombian peso | TRM 3,127.51 | 3,048.12, strongest since October 2018 | New TRM Tuesday |
| Colombia tax reform | Promised for September | Still not filed; exemptions and filing base in scope | Bill to Congress next month |
| Argentina risk | Around 480 basis points | 532 on Thursday, back to about 505 on Friday | US yields and the October campaign |
| Brazil rates | Selic 14.00% | Focus holds end-2026 Selic at 13.75% | IPCA-15 on Wednesday; Copom 15–16 September |
| Mexico peso | Above 17 | 16.92, through the 17 line | Banxico on 24 September |
| Pereira airport | Closed to commercial flights | Cleared Friday to reopen at about 14 flights a day against a normal 60 | Terminal damage; schedules still being agreed with airlines |
| Peru | Fujimori’s first month | State of emergency announced for southern Lima | How quickly drainage is restored |
01Visas, Residency & Tax
| Where | What changed | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Region-wide | Nothing. No visa, residency, fee, appointment or court change surfaced in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Panama or Costa Rica in the past seven days. | We say that plainly rather than padding. A quiet week is useful information when you are timing a filing. |
| Colombia | Unchanged, but the clock is short: holders of permanent (type R) visas issued under earlier rules must complete the mandatory virtual transfer with the Cancillería under Resolución 9316 of 2024 by 31 October 2026. | Ten weeks left. Without it Migración Colombia will not issue your cédula de extranjería. The salvoconducto requirement has been dropped, so the process itself is lighter than it was. |
| Colombia | The tax reform is still only announced. Reporting on 18 August indicates it would leave headline corporate rates untouched while removing exemptions and widening the base of people who must file. | If it lands that way, the change for foreign residents is not the rate but the obligation. More people would be inside the filing net, and the wealth-tax repeal sits inside the same bill rather than standing alone. |
| Argentina | Decree 681/2026, in force since 31 July, adds a speech-based ground — hate messages, incitement to violence on grounds of nationality, desecration of national symbols — for declaring a foreigner inadmissible and for cancelling a residency already granted. It expressly excludes ideological dissent and political, academic or citizen criticism. | The exposure that is genuinely new is that it reaches residencies already issued, not only new applications. Note that the income requirements and the hospital-payment rule circulating alongside it come from the separate 2025 framework, not from this decree. |
| Brazil | No change. Decreto 12.657/2025 continues to roll out: Portal Migrante, mandatory online scheduling, payment through GRU and Gov.br, registration with the Federal Police within 90 days. | Budget R$168.13 for processing and R$204.77 for the CRNM card, about US$33 and US$40 at Friday’s rate. |
02Cost of Living & Money
The dollar had a bad week everywhere, and a very bad one in Colombia. The index touched a three-month low near 98.50 on Thursday and closed Friday just above it, as markets moved back towards pricing Federal Reserve cuts. Every currency in the region gained on it.
| Currency | Friday 21 August | On the week |
|---|---|---|
| Colombia (COP) | TRM 3,048.12, in force Saturday through Monday | Down 80.53 pesos, or 2.57 percent, against the rate a week earlier. The lowest official rate since 9 October 2018. |
| Brazil (BRL) | R$5.1417 | Dollar down about 1.53 percent. |
| Mexico (MXN) | 16.9203 at the close; the DOF rate was 16.9583 | Dollar down about 0.64 percent. The peso broke through 17 on Thursday, its first time below that line since May 2024. |
| Chile (CLP) | 914.96 | The peso gained 0.72 percent on the day. We could not source a clean weekly figure. |
| Peru (PEN) | About S/3.35 | The dollar fell again. No verified weekly percentage. |
| Argentina (ARS) | Official 1,465 / 1,515; blue 1,530 / 1,550; CCL 1,582.72; MEP 1,524.57; wholesale 1,497 | The peso barely moved. The wholesale rate rose 0.34 percent while country risk climbed to a three-month high. |
| Uruguay (UYU) | 40.20 | Our source’s weekly and daily percentages did not reconcile, so we are giving the level only. |
Why the Colombian peso moved. Analysts point to three things at once. The new government’s public-spending freeze decree of 7 August and its stated goal of cutting COP 60 trillion, roughly US$19 billion; proposals to reopen hydrocarbon exploration to private investment; and the central bank holding its policy rate at 12.0 percent on a 4–3 vote while announcing a programme to accumulate up to US$4 billion of reserves over two years. Add a weak dollar and you get a seven-year high.
If you are paid in dollars and spend in pesos, that is a straightforward cut in your local purchasing power — about 2.6 percent in five days, and roughly 2.5 percent since our last guide. If you hold pesos and are planning a dollar purchase, it is the best window since 2018.
03What’s On — 23 to 30 August
| What | When | Where | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tango BA Festival y Mundial — concerts, milongas and the world championship, with hundreds of couples competing | From 19 August to 1 September | Buenos Aires, multiple venues | Free. Some events release tickets 72 hours ahead at tangoba.org; others are first come, first served |
| Festival de Verano, 29th edition — more than 60 events across parks and sports venues | 31 July–31 August | Bogotá | Public programme, free |
| Rosalía, LUX Tour | 24, 26, 28 and 29 August | Palacio de los Deportes, Mexico City | Ticketed |
| Roberto Carlos | 27 August | Qualistage, Rio de Janeiro | Ticketed |
| “Miró: Mestre das Formas”, around 140 originals | Running now | Museu de Arte Brasileira da FAAP, São Paulo | Not confirmed |
Tango BA is the one to build a week around. It is genuinely free, it runs into September, and the championship rounds fill up, so reserve where reservations exist rather than turning up on the night.
04Getting Around
The Eje Cafetero is still not normal. Aerocivil cleared Pereira’s Matecaña to resume commercial flights on Friday 21 August, after eleven days closed, but the airport was still coordinating with airlines over the weekend on how service would be restored, and an earlier reopening had been postponed after a technical panel. The initial schedule is around 14 flights a day against a normal 60. Airport technicians reported the damage was concentrated in the passenger terminal rather than the runway or the tower. If you are routing through Pereira in the next fortnight, confirm with your airline and build in rebooking room. Cali was reported operating normally on 11 August, once power was fully restored.
Peru. Prolonged drizzle overwhelmed drainage in southern Lima — Villa El Salvador, Chorrillos, Villa María del Triunfo and San Juan de Miraflores — flooding streets and disrupting connectivity. President Fujimori announced a state of emergency for the affected zones on 17 August. No strike, airport action or border closure is affecting travel elsewhere in the region.
05Weather & Safety
Rio has a wet week ahead. Forecasts put Monday and Tuesday at a 90 percent chance of rain, with maxima in the high twenties through Thursday. Across the Southeast, INMET had dry and stable conditions holding into the weekend, with an offshore cold front arriving from Monday and bringing weak, isolated rain to the São Paulo, Rio and Espírito Santo coasts, plus gale advisories along the shore — worth checking before any beach or boat plan. Buenos Aires is cold and clear after a sharp weekend temperature drop.
On advisories, the current United States levels across the region are: Colombia at Level 3, Reconsider Travel, on an advisory dated March and not reissued since the August earthquake; Ecuador, Panama, Chile and Bolivia at Level 2; and Paraguay at Level 1, the lowest in South America. Several of these were refreshed in the week to 21 August, with sub-national Do Not Travel zones attached in Ecuador and Bolivia.
06What to Watch — 24 to 30 August
| When | What | Where | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday 24 | Focus bulletin | Brazil | The weekly survey. Last print had 2026 inflation at 5.02 percent and the year-end Selic at 13.75 percent. |
| By Tuesday 25 | First-half August inflation | Mexico | INEGI publishes by the 25th. No consensus published that we could find. |
| Wednesday 26, 9 a.m. | IPCA-15 for August | Brazil | The mid-month read that sets expectations for the 15–16 September Copom. |
| Thursday 27 to Saturday 29 | Jackson Hole symposium | United States | The week’s biggest risk event for the region. Latin American currencies are trading off Fed cut pricing right now. |
| Tuesday 1 September | Second-quarter GDP | Brazil | FGV’s preliminary read was 0.3 percent on the quarter. |
No central bank in the region decides this week. Banxico next meets on 24 September with the rate at 6.50 percent, Brazil’s Copom on 15–16 September, and Colombia’s Banrep has its next rate decision scheduled for 30 September with the policy rate at 12.0 percent.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Colombian peso worth today?
The official TRM in force from Saturday 22 to Monday 24 August is 3,048.12 pesos to the dollar. That is 80.53 pesos stronger than the previous rate, a fall of 2.57 percent in the dollar over the week, and the strongest official rate since 9 October 2018.
Has Colombia’s tax reform been filed?
No. The government has confirmed it will go to Congress in September, after a fiscal adjustment plan. Reporting on 18 August indicates the bill would leave headline corporate rates alone while removing exemptions and widening the base of people required to file. The promised wealth-tax repeal sits inside that bill.
Is Pereira airport open again?
Partly. Aerocivil authorised commercial flights to resume on Friday 21 August after eleven days closed, but at about 14 flights a day against a normal 60. Runway cracks and a control tower still under structural evaluation are behind the limit, so expect thin schedules through the Eje Cafetero.
Connected Coverage
Sources: Banco de la República (TRM); Banco Central do Brasil; Banco de México and the Diario Oficial de la Federación; Banco Central de Chile; BCRP; Banco Nación Argentina; IBGE; Focus bulletin; Aeronáutica Civil de Colombia; Cancillería de Colombia; Boletín Oficial (Argentina); INMET; US Department of State; Kansas City Fed.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error