What’s On in Latin America: The Week of September 21–27, 2026
Latin America · What’s On
Key Facts
- —What happened Spring begins on Monday 21 September, marked across Argentina as the Day of Spring and of Students; Buenos Aires opens the week with Gustavo Santaolalla at the Teatro Colón and gives four of its nights to Morat at the Movistar Arena.
- —How big a jump FIT, Latin America’s largest tourism fair, opens its 30th edition on Saturday 26 September at La Rural in Buenos Aires: more than 1,900 exhibitors from 62 countries across some 40,000 square metres, with over 150,000 visitors expected through Tuesday 29.
- —What it signals Banxico announces its rate decision on Thursday 24 September at 1 p.m. Mexico City time; the rate has held at 6.50 per cent since May, the low point of a cutting cycle that began at 11.25, and forecasters are split between a third pause and a cut to 6.25 (a forecast, not a fact).
- —The catch Robbie Williams plays Peru for the first time on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 September in Lima, but Thursday is sold out, leaving Wednesday tickets on Ticketmaster.pe; his Santiago show on Sunday 27 starts at CLP 57,500, about US$60.
- —Who it touches INDEC publishes Argentina’s poverty and indigence rates for the first half of 2026 on Thursday 24 September, the scoreboard of the Milei project, alongside July economic activity; Brazil’s mid-month inflation preview lands Friday 25.
- —What comes next Brazil and Peru both vote on Sunday 4 October — 158.7 million registered voters in Brazil’s first round, 26.3 million in Peru’s regional and municipal elections — and Colombia’s central bank decides rates on Wednesday 30 September.
Your Latin America week ahead for 21–27 September 2026 runs on two tracks. On stage, Robbie Williams sings in Peru for the first time, Morat plays four of the week’s nights in Buenos Aires, and 5 Seconds of Summer crosses three countries in six days. Off stage, Mexico’s central bank decides on interest rates, Argentina publishes its new poverty count, and Brazil and Peru enter the final full week of campaigning before both vote on 4 October.
Here is what is on, drawn from our coverage across the region. Every date is checked against the venue, the official calendar or our own reporting, and local-currency prices carry an approximate US$ conversion at the rates cited below.
Culture and events this week
Buenos Aires takes the week’s biggest slate. Monday 21 September is the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere, and Argentina marks it as the Day of Spring and of Students: the parks fill, the schools empty, and the city leans into it. At the Teatro Colón, the Argentine composer Gustavo Santaolalla — twice an Oscar winner, for Brokeback Mountain and Babel — plays on Monday night. The Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez follows at the Colón on Tuesday 22 September.
The Movistar Arena belongs to Morat. The Colombian folk-pop band plays Tuesday 22, Thursday 24, Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September, four of the six Buenos Aires nights on this run, with the last two falling the following week. Shows start at 9 p.m., in a seated format built around a central B-stage. The Mexican rock veterans Caifanes take over Vorterix on Wednesday 23, and Thursday 24 is La Noche de los Bares Notables, when the city’s registered historic cafés and bars stage special menus and music. On Saturday 26 the festival Un poco de ruido takes over Vélez Sarsfield, and the Food Fest runs Saturday and Sunday.
The week closes with the big one. FIT — the Feria Internacional de Turismo, Latin America’s largest tourism fair — opens its 30th edition at La Rural on Saturday 26 September and runs to Tuesday 29. More than 1,900 exhibitors from 62 countries fill some 40,000 square metres; organisers expect over 150,000 visitors, with the Dominican Republic as guest country. Saturday and Sunday are open to the public, with tickets at fit.org.ar; Monday and Tuesday are trade days.
In Santiago, 5 Seconds of Summer plays the Movistar Arena on Tuesday 22 September, and the Chilean singer Francisca Valenzuela plays the Gran Sala Sinfónica on Wednesday 23. Thursday 24 pairs Ozuna at the Movistar Arena with the opening of Festival En Órbita at Centro Basel, two nights with Blonde Redhead, Dry Cleaning, Beach Fossils and the Chilean band Dënver. Friday 25 brings Tito el Bambino to the Movistar Arena and Caifanes to the Teatro Caupolicán, where the Argentine band Airbag then plays Saturday 26 and Sunday 27. The week ends with Robbie Williams at the Estadio Bicentenario de La Florida on Sunday 27, with tickets from CLP 57,500, about US$60.
Lima gets the week’s historic billing: Robbie Williams sings in Peru for the first time, at Arena 1 on the Costa Verde on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 September, both nights at 9 p.m. Thursday is sold out; Wednesday tickets remained on sale at Ticketmaster.pe as of Sunday 20 September. Around the two nights, the metal outfit Left to Die plays Tuesday 22, the Finnish band Sonata Arctica plays Friday 25, and Saturday 26 brings Caifanes to the city and the reggaeton pairing of Lenny Tavárez and Justin Quiles to Arena 1. 5 Seconds of Summer closes the week at Costa 21 on Sunday 27.
In Bogotá, the singer-songwriter Santiago Cruz plays the Teatro Colón on Tuesday 22 September. 5 Seconds of Summer stops at the Movistar Arena on Thursday 24, and Carlos Vives brings his Tour al Sol home to the same venue for three nights: the main shows on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September, and a separate show for younger fans on Sunday 27. The Puerto Rican rapper Cosculluela plays the Royal Center on Friday 25. In Medellín, the vallenato singer Jorge Celedón plays La Macarena on Saturday 26.
Mexico City keeps its own pace. The Puerto Rican rapper Young Miko plays the Palacio de los Deportes on Tuesday 22 September, the Mexican electronic band Moenia plays the same venue on Thursday 24. Chetes plays the Pabellón at the Palacio de los Deportes on Friday 25. The Pitchfork Music Festival CDMX runs through Sunday 27 across the Foro Indie Rocks, ORBE, Casa del Lago and House of Vans. In Guadalajara on Saturday 26, Chivas host Querétaro at the Estadio Akron at 5 p.m., and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana is at the Teatro Degollado the same evening.
Rio de Janeiro closes the first Semana de Arte, the art week that opened on 16 September with some 90 per cent of its programme free. The closing stretch includes the Festival TOCA at the Arcos da Lapa on Saturday 26 from 8 p.m.; the 5º Festival Paredão, free at Praça XV on Sunday 27 from 2 to 10 p.m.; and Arte de Portas Abertas, the open-studio weekend in Santa Teresa on Saturday and Sunday, with around 120 artists across more than 35 ateliers and free vans between stops. CASACOR, the architecture and design show, opens its doors free on Monday 21 from 2 to 8 p.m.
In São Paulo, the Boat Show runs Wednesday 24 to Tuesday 29 September at São Paulo Expo, Latin America’s largest nautical event. The Candlelight tribute series pairing the music of Coldplay and Imagine Dragons plays its final sessions through Sunday 27, from R$60, about US$12. Further south, the Curitiba Biennial continues at the Museu Oscar Niemeyer and satellite venues, with free entry on Wednesday 23.
Politics you will feel on the street
Brazil enters the final full week of campaigning before the first round on Sunday 4 October. Some 158.7 million voters are registered with the TSE, the electoral court. President Lula leads the first-round polling averages; runoff simulations against his main challengers are statistically tied. If no candidate takes a majority of valid votes, the runoff is Sunday 25 October. The practical note for residents: expect rallies and motorcades in the big cities, and a slow cycle for everything else.
Peru votes the same day, Sunday 4 October, in regional and municipal elections: ONPE, the electoral authority, counts 26,314,724 registered voters choosing 13,148 authorities. The final full week of campaigning begins under a shadow. On Saturday 19 September, Susy Aponte Polo, a journalist and regional candidate in Áncash, was shot dead at the Caraz market in what police describe as a contract killing. A suspect has been detained; no court has ruled on the motive.
In Ecuador, the night curfew runs to Wednesday 30 September, but only in four coastal provinces: Guayas, Manabí, Los Ríos and El Oro, where movement is restricted from midnight to 5 a.m. Quito sits under the same state-of-emergency decree but outside the curfew zone; normal life continues in the capital.
Colombia’s central bank enters its blackout period on Thursday 24 September, a week of silence ahead of the rate decision on Wednesday 30. The policy rate has stood at 12 per cent since 1 July; inflation ran at 6.24 per cent in the latest reading from DANE, the statistics office.
Deadlines and money
The week’s monetary event is in Mexico: Banxico, the central bank, announces its rate decision on Thursday 24 September at 1 p.m. Mexico City time. The rate has held at 6.50 per cent since May, the low point of a cutting cycle that began at 11.25 per cent, and the last two meetings paused. Forecasters are split: a preview by the Carbajal Contadores group puts a third pause at roughly two in three, with the rest expecting a cut to 6.25 per cent. That is a forecast, not a fact.
In Argentina, INDEC, the statistics institute, publishes the poverty and indigence rates for the first half of 2026 on Thursday 24 September, alongside EMAE, the monthly economic-activity estimate for July. Poverty has fallen from 52.9 per cent in the first half of 2024 to 28.2 per cent in the second half of 2025; the consultancy ExQuanti expects Thursday’s figure near 30 per cent, the first rise since the fall began. Also on the INDEC calendar: the wage index on Tuesday 22, supermarket sales on Wednesday 23, and the tourism survey on Friday 25.
Brazil’s IBGE publishes IPCA-15, the mid-month inflation preview, and IPCA-E, the quarterly cumulative series, on Friday 25 September.
Exchange rates to plan with. In Argentina, the official rate closed on Friday 18 September at 1,535 pesos per US dollar and the informal blue dollar at 1,550, a gap of about 1 per cent, with country risk at 524 points. In Brazil, the commercial dollar closed on Friday at R$5.1575. In Chile, the dólar observado in force on Monday 21 September is 958.42 pesos. In Colombia, the TRM, the reference rate set by the financial regulator, is 3,192.92 pesos through Monday 21, a weekend fixing. The Mexican peso traded near 17.21 per dollar in Sunday spot markets; Peru’s bank-system average closed on Friday at 3.36 soles per dollar.
Tickets and bookings inside the window: Wednesday’s Robbie Williams show in Lima still had seats on Ticketmaster.pe as of Sunday 20 September, while Thursday’s is sold out. FIT tickets for the public days are at fit.org.ar.
Heads-ups for travellers and new arrivals
Spring Day in Buenos Aires. Monday 21 September is a de facto city holiday even where it is not an official one: students take the day, the parks and the costanera fill, and restaurants in the green corridors run busy from midday. If you are flying in or out, allow normal time; if you are meeting anyone under thirty, expect the plan to move outdoors.
Concert nights in Villa Crespo. The Movistar Arena sits in a residential barrio, and on Morat nights, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the streets around it clog well before the 9 p.m. start. The B line of the Subte and the buses on Avenida Corrientes are the simple route in.
FIT weekend at La Rural. The fairgrounds sit next to Plaza Italia in Palermo, served by the D line and the Sarmiento train line. The public days, Saturday 26 and Sunday 27, draw heavy crowds; Monday and Tuesday are trade-only.
Ecuador’s curfew. If you are in Guayaquil or elsewhere in Guayas, or in Manabí, Los Ríos or El Oro, the midnight-to-5 a.m. curfew applies through Wednesday 30 September. Quito is under the state-of-emergency decree but outside the curfew zone; the capital keeps its normal rhythm.
Election season in Brazil and Peru. The final full week of campaigning means rallies, motorcades and the occasional street closure in the big cities. Plan around them as you would around a match day; everyday life continues.
Looking ahead
The following week is decision and election week. Colombia’s central bank announces its rate decision on Wednesday 30 September, and São Paulo hosts the 53rd ABAV Expo, Brazil’s biggest travel trade fair, from the same day. Morat closes its Buenos Aires run with two final nights on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 September. On Sunday 4 October, Brazil votes in the first round of its general election and Peru votes in regional and municipal elections; Brazil’s runoff, if needed, is Sunday 25 October.
Further out: Colombia’s visa-transfer deadline for existing holders falls on 31 October; the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana semifinals arrive in the second half of October; and Robbie Williams brings the tour to São Paulo on Tuesday 13 October.
More: Latin America news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Robbie Williams really playing in Peru for the first time?
Yes. The British singer has never performed in Peru before. He plays Arena 1, on the Costa Verde in Lima, on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 September 2026, both nights at 9 p.m. Thursday is sold out; tickets for Wednesday remained on sale at Ticketmaster.pe as of Sunday 20 September.
Can the public attend FIT in Buenos Aires?
Yes, on the weekend. FIT, Latin America’s largest tourism fair, runs Saturday 26 to Tuesday 29 September 2026 at La Rural in Buenos Aires. Saturday and Sunday are public days, with tickets at fit.org.ar; Monday and Tuesday are reserved for the trade. The 30th edition gathers more than 1,900 exhibitors from 62 countries.
What does Mexico’s central bank decide this week?
Banxico announces its policy rate on Thursday 24 September at 1 p.m. Mexico City time. The rate has been 6.50 per cent since May, the low point of a cutting cycle that began at 11.25 per cent, and the last two meetings held steady. Forecasters are split between another pause and a cut to 6.25 per cent; treat either outcome as a forecast until the statement lands.
When does Argentina publish its new poverty rate?
On Thursday 24 September 2026. INDEC, the national statistics institute, releases the poverty and indigence rates for the first half of 2026, plus July economic activity. The rate last stood at 28.2 per cent, for the second half of 2025; private forecasts point to a rise toward 30 per cent.
What is free in Rio de Janeiro this week?
Plenty. The first Semana de Arte closes on Sunday 27 September with most of its programme free. The 5º Festival Paredão is free at Praça XV on Sunday from 2 to 10 p.m.; Arte de Portas Abertas opens around 120 artists’ studios in Santa Teresa free on Saturday and Sunday; and CASACOR is free on Monday 21 from 2 to 8 p.m.
When do Brazil and Peru vote?
Both on Sunday 4 October 2026. Brazil holds the first round of its general election, with 158.7 million registered voters and a runoff on 25 October if no candidate takes a majority of valid votes. Peru holds regional and municipal elections, with 26.3 million registered voters choosing 13,148 authorities.
Connected Coverage
- Morat in Buenos Aires, Argentina: Four Nights at Movistar Arena, September 25–30, 2026
- Robbie Williams in Lima, Peru: First-Ever Shows in the Country at Arena 1 on September 23–24, 2026
- Carlos Vives in Colombia: ‘Tour al Sol’ Opens With Two Bogotá Nights on September 25 and 27
- 5 Seconds of Summer in Bogotá, Colombia: The Australians Play Movistar Arena on September 24
- Festival En Órbita Santiago: Eight Years Later, Chile’s Indie Weekend Returns 24 and 25 September 2026
- Rio de Janeiro Launches Its First Semana de Arte on September 16: Twelve Days, 90 Percent Free
- Pitchfork Music Festival CDMX 2026: Full Lineup, Venues and Tickets for September 23–27 in Mexico City
- São Paulo Boat Show 2026: Latin America’s Biggest Nautical Event Runs September 24–29 in Brazil
- Argentina’s FIT 2026 Travel Fair in Buenos Aires Will Be the Largest in Its History
- Argentina Poverty Rate Is About to Stop Falling
Sources: The Rio Times reporting, including our standalones on Morat, Robbie Williams, Carlos Vives, 5 Seconds of Summer, Festival En Órbita, Semana de Arte, Pitchfork CDMX, the São Paulo Boat Show, FIT, ABAV Expo, the Argentine poverty release and the Peru elections; Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires on Santaolalla and Flórez; venue listings and official ticketing sites on concert dates and availability; fit.org.ar on fair dates and tickets; Banxico, INDEC, IBGE, DANE and Banco de la República on data and rate calendars; TSE and ONPE on the 4 October votes; DolarAPI, Banco Central do Brasil, Banco Central de Chile, Colombia’s financial regulator and Sunday spot data on exchange rates. Local-currency figures carry approximate US$ conversions at the rates cited; prices and availability move.
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