Latin America Power Map

Updated every morning

Latin America Power Map

Who holds power in Latin America — and which way it is moving. Tuesday, June 9, 2026.

Power shifts · this week▲ Argentina +6▲ Chile +4▲ Costa Rica +3▼ Bolivia −7▼ Brazil −3▼ Colombia −2

Today: the region’s right is gaining — Milei surges and Chile’s Kast and Costa Rica’s Fernández join the wave — while Brazil slips on a weak market and Bolivia sinks under siege. Peru sits in an open power vacuum until July.

The Power Board

14 nations · ranked by power · today’s move · the nine powers

Brazil

Lula da Silva

82▼ -2

market slide drags a heavy country

Mexico

Claudia Sheinbaum

78▲ +1

deft on Trump, World Cup spotlight

Argentina

Javier Milei

66▲▲ +3

Milei the global narrative surge

Chile

José A. Kast

58▲ +2

a fresh hard-right mandate

Colombia

Gustavo Petro

52▼ -1

lame-duck, Ecopetrol shake-up

Panama

José Raúl Mulino

51▲ +1

canal leverage, joining Mercosur

Costa Rica

Laura Fernández

48▲ +2

a rare single-party mandate

Uruguay

Yamandú Orsi

46↔ ±0

the steadiest hand in the region

Venezuela

Delcy Rodríguez

44▲ +1

US pressure easing on oil

Paraguay

Santiago Peña

42▲ +1

pro-US, pro-Taiwan tailwind

Peru

Balcázar / Sánchez

40↔ ±0

an open power vacuum until July

Ecuador

Daniel Noboa

38↔ ±0

tariff truce, security strain

Bolivia

Rodrigo Paz

30▼▼ -3

under siege, blockades week six

Cuba

Miguel Díaz-Canel

24▼ -1

blackouts deepen the squeeze

The nine bars: Market · Companies · Defense · Presidency · Institutions · Cohesion · Soft power · Narrative · Pride (taller = stronger). Power Index 0–100, Rio Times Power Desk read.

Get the full Latin America Power Map (PDF)Country-by-country profiles, the movers, and the friends-and-rivals map — the complete daily dossier.

Who’s gaining, who’s losing

Power moves · this week

▲ Gaining power

+6ArgentinaMilei rides a global-right wave and a market bounce

+4Chilea fresh hard-right mandate under Kast

+3Costa Ricaa rare single-party majority for Fernández

▼ Losing power

−7Boliviaemergency powers, a sixth week of blockades

−3Brazila market at a year-low into a 2026 election

−2Colombiaa lame-duck presidency and an Ecopetrol coup

The friends-and-rivals map

Two camps · and the nations in between

Milei’s world

Washington · Silicon Valley

ArgentinaMilei
ChileKast
ParaguayPeña
EcuadorNoboa
Costa RicaFernández
PanamaMulino

Patrons: Trump · Musk · Bukele · Bolsonaro · Israel

In play

Non-aligned · pragmatic

MexicoSheinbaum
UruguayOrsi
BoliviaPaz
Perucaretaker

Lula’s world

Beijing · BRICS

BrazilLula
ColombiaPetro
VenezuelaRodríguez
CubaDíaz-Canel

Patrons: Xi / China · Russia · BRICS

The data behind the rankings

Thirty international benchmarks · six lenses · each one sourced

Markets & money

Country	Equity	FX /USD	Policy %	Inflation %	Risk bp
Brazil	169,700	5.18	14.50	4.4	197
Mexico	65,581	17.42	6.50	4.5	233
Argentina	3.16M	1,447	29.00	32.6	616
Chile	10,418	916	4.50	4.0	102
Colombia	2,193	3,584	11.25	5.7	282
Panama	—	1.00	—	0.9	159
Costa Rica	—	455.6	3.25	−1.6	165
Uruguay	—	40.5	5.75	3.2	78
Venezuela	—	566	58.91	612†	6,371
Paraguay	—	6,138	5.50	2.3	129
Peru	34,938	3.35	4.25	4.0	139
Ecuador	—	1.00	7.02	2.3	506
Bolivia	—	6.86	6.24	14.2	561
Cuba	—	n/a	2.25	14.7	n/a

Economy

Country	GDP $bn	Per cap $	Growth %	Unemp %	Reserves $bn
Brazil	2,130	10,686	+1.9	6.0	367.6
Mexico	1,864	13,741	+0.6	2.6	256.3
Argentina	684	14,355	+3.5	7.4	32.7
Chile	344	17,735	+2.4	8.5	51.5
Colombia	438	8,623	+2.3	8.0	66.6
Panama	92	19,814	—	10.4	n/a
Costa Rica	103	19,162	—	6.3	20.9
Uruguay	80	24,549	—	7.5	18.6
Venezuela	109†	3,736†	+4.0†	35.6	13.3
Paraguay	46	7,692	+4.2	5.2	9.4
Peru	323	9,911	+2.8	5.9	101.0
Ecuador	126	7,199	+2.5	3.1	10.5
Bolivia	56	5,107	−3.3	3.3	0.15
Cuba	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Public finances & openness

Country	Debt %	Fiscal %	Curr acct %	S&P	Econ free
Brazil	76.5	−8.1	−3.0	BB	55.1
Mexico	49.7	−4.9	−0.4	BBB	61.3
Argentina	83.2	−0.4	−1.1	CCC+	54.2
Chile	41.7	−2.8	−2.3	A	73.2
Colombia	61.3	−5.7	−2.4	BB−	59.8
Panama	56.6	−3.7	+0.3	BBB−	65.5
Costa Rica	74.2	−3.4	−0.7	BB	68.6
Uruguay	70.3	−3.4	−0.5	BBB+	70.2
Venezuela	164†	−5.8	+2.6	n/r	27.6
Paraguay	45.2	−1.7	−3.5	BBB−	65.2
Peru	30.2	−2.4	+3.1	BBB−	65.9
Ecuador	50.6	−2.9	+5.8	B−	55.8
Bolivia	95.0	−11.6	−1.9	CCC−	44.1
Cuba	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/r	25.4

Institutions

Country	Rule of law	Ctrl corr.	CPI 2024	V-Dem	Press free.
Brazil	−0.45	−0.41	34	0.70	63.8
Mexico	−1.15	−0.94	26	0.22	45.6
Argentina	−0.25	−0.33	37	0.52	56.1
Chile	0.69	1.11	63	0.78	62.3
Colombia	−0.56	−0.29	39	0.56	49.8
Panama	−0.26	−0.55	33	0.58	66.8
Costa Rica	0.62	0.68	58	0.81	73.1
Uruguay	0.95	1.53	76	0.79	65.2
Venezuela	−2.20	−1.59	10	0.04	29.2
Paraguay	−0.58	−1.02	24	0.38	56.8
Peru	−0.51	−0.72	31	0.51	42.9
Ecuador	−0.97	−0.78	32	0.39	53.8
Bolivia	−1.27	−1.00	28	0.35	54.1
Cuba	−0.62	−0.23	41	0.06	26.0

Society

Country	Gini	Poverty %	HDI	Pop (m)	Fragile St.
Brazil	51.6	23.1	0.786	213.6	70.3
Mexico	43.5	29.6	0.789	133.0	69.0
Argentina	42.4	38.1	0.865	46.0	44.2
Chile	43.0	6.5	0.878	19.9	41.1
Colombia	53.9	31.8	0.788	53.9	75.6
Panama	49.7	21.7	0.839	4.6	47.7
Costa Rica	45.8	20.3	0.833	5.2	39.4
Uruguay	40.9	17.3	0.862	3.4	33.7
Venezuela	44.7†	n/a	0.709	28.6	89.0
Paraguay	44.4	20.1	0.756	7.1	61.5
Peru	40.1	27.6	0.794	34.9	72.0
Ecuador	45.2	28.0	0.777	18.4	68.0
Bolivia	42.1	37.7	0.733	12.7	69.4
Cuba	38.0†	n/a	0.762	10.9	59.1

Security & defense

Country	Homicide	Org-crime	Mil %	Firepower	Active
Brazil	19.3	6.77	0.97	11	376k
Mexico	24.9	7.57	0.62	36	387k
Argentina	4.5	5.00	0.37	32	108k
Chile	6.3	5.18	1.58	49	80k
Colombia	24.9	7.75	3.36	43	429k
Panama	11.7	6.98	—	135	16k
Costa Rica	17.7	5.53	—	n/a	n/a
Uruguay	11.2	3.22	2.31	97	24k
Venezuela	12.6†	6.72	—	51	109k
Paraguay	6.8	7.52	0.93	81	16k
Peru	8.6	6.40	0.91	50	120k
Ecuador	45.7	7.07	2.22	72	41k
Bolivia	4.4	4.95	1.37	82	40k
Cuba	4.5†	3.37	—	65	50k

Sources — Markets: Rio Times market feed, central banks, JPMorgan EMBI (Q1 2026). Economy & finances: IMF WEO 2025/26, ECLAC, Trading Economics, S&P Global (Dec 2025), Heritage Foundation 2025. Institutions: World Bank WGI 2024, Transparency International 2024, V-Dem 2025, RSF 2025. Society: World Bank, UNDP 2025, UN WPP 2024, Fund for Peace 2024. Security: UNODC 2023, GI-TOC 2023, SIPRI 2024, Global Firepower 2026. † estimate; — not applicable; n/a not published.

How we read power. The Power Index blends nine facets — market, companies, defense, the presidency, institutions, cohesion, soft power, narrative and pride — scored 1–5 by the Rio Times Power Desk and reviewed daily, anchored by hard data (markets, Global Firepower, S&P ratings) and the structural indices (World Bank Governance, V-Dem, the Fragile States Index, SIPRI). Alliances are mapped from documented ties only. Editorial analysis, not investment advice.