What’s On in Latin America: the week of August 31 – September 4

Latin America · What’s On

Your Latin America week ahead for 31 August to 4 September is bookended by two of the biggest events of the year: a reopened visa corridor between Colombia and Israel, and the opening weekend of Rock in Rio. In between, a free professional cooking course launches in Belo Horizonte, a food festival takes over Bogotá, and Argentina’s Senate decides whether to reshape the institution that prints its currency.

Here is what is on, drawn from our coverage across the region, with every date checked against the source reporting and local-currency prices carried at the conversions each report published.

Culture and events this week

The week belongs to Rio de Janeiro. Rock in Rio 2026 opens its first weekend on Friday 4 September at Cidade do Rock in Barra da Tijuca, and the opening night is the hardest-rocking of the seven. Foo Fighters headline the Palco Mundo, with Rise Against, The Hives and Nova Twins on the same bill. Gates open in the early afternoon; the headline act takes the stage after dark.

The full festival runs 4, 5, 6 and 7 September, then 11, 12 and 13 September. Saturday 5 September brings Avenged Sevenfold and Bring Me the Horizon; Sunday 6 September is Calvin Harris and Black Eyed Peas; and Monday 7 September — Brazil’s Independence Day holiday — pairs Elton John with Gilberto Gil, a one-off bill that will not be repeated. Weekend two adds Stray Kids, Maroon 5, Demi Lovato, Twenty One Pilots and Halsey.

Day tickets are sold through the Rock in Rio Card, a limited-edition product priced at R$795 full and R$397.50 half-price, about US$154 and US$77. Standard daily gramado (lawn) tickets cost R$870 full and R$435 half-price, about US$169 and US$84, with Itaú cardholders eligible for a discount to R$739.50. As of late August, the Saturday 6 September and Saturday 12 September dates are sold out; tickets for the opening weekend and the second Sunday remain available through Ticketmaster Brasil. If you are travelling for it, Barra da Tijuca is closest to the venue, though many visitors prefer Ipanema or Copacabana and budget extra time for the drive.

In Bogotá, Gastrofest 2026 opens on Thursday 3 September and runs eighteen days to Sunday 20 September. The flagship event is the Feria del Hogar edition, with twelve curated establishments at the fairgrounds. Alongside it, the Territorios Gastrofest routes spread across the city throughout September with up to sixty restaurants, cafés, bakeries and breweries in the Centro Histórico, Chapinero and satellite corridors. Dish prices at the festival venues are typically in the COP 12,000 to 15,000 range, about US$3.85 to US$4.80, though individual restaurants set their own prices. The Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá publishes the full venue list at gastrofest.com.co. No reservation is required for the public routes; you buy a dish at each stop and move on.

Belo Horizonte gets its first Instituto Capim Santo “Cozinha do Amanhã” cooking course, with classes starting Wednesday 3 September. The programme is free, runs one hundred hours over roughly two months, and meets Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at the UniBH kitchens on Avenida Mário Werneck, 1685, in the Estoril neighbourhood. There are twenty places in the first class, open to residents of Belo Horizonte aged eighteen and over with a family income of up to two minimum salaries. The curriculum covers kitchen technique, food safety, waste reduction, and workplace readiness. In 2025, participants reported an average income increase of 88 per cent after completing the course. Registration closes at midnight on Sunday 31 August through institutocapimsanto.org.br/cozinha-do-amanha; the form is in Portuguese only.

In Santiago, the Puerto Rican reggaeton artist Arcángel plays three consecutive nights at Movistar Arena — Monday 31 August, Tuesday 1 September and Wednesday 2 September. Also on Tuesday 1 September, the K-pop group Ikon performs at Teatro Coliseo. Both venues are in the downtown–Providencia corridor, served by the Santiago metro. Tickets are available through Punto Ticket.

Buenos Aires closes its Tango World Championship on Wednesday 2 September, the final day of a festival that has turned the city into the global capital of the dance since 19 August. Competitions in Tango de Pista and Tango Escenario run at venues across the city, free to watch, alongside milongas and classes. The closing gala is typically the hardest ticket of the fortnight; if you want to catch the end of it, check tangoba.org for the final schedule. On the music front, the ArChiDrama Invita festival at the Chilean Embassy’s Centro Cultural MATTA in Palermo wraps its three-day run of Argentine, Chilean and Brazilian theatre on Tuesday 1 September; admission is free on a first-come, first-served basis.

In São Paulo, the Associação Brasileira dos Captadores de Recursos holds its Festival ABCR 2026 on Thursday 3 and Friday 4 September at the Centro de Convenções Frei Caneca, with more than seventy talks across nine simultaneous stages. It is aimed at the nonprofit and social-impact sector, and tickets are available through the ABCR site. For music, the 37th Curta Kinoforum short-film festival continues to 30 August — so its final sessions fall on the Saturday and Sunday before this week begins, but if you are in the city over the weekend, the last screenings at MIS on Avenida Europa are free and handed out at the box office one hour before each session.

Further south, the Curitiba Biennial runs until 15 November with more than three hundred artists from thirty-eight countries at the Museu Oscar Niemeyer and satellite venues. Entry is free every Wednesday, which falls on 2 September this week. In Montevideo, the city’s spring cultural season begins to warm up in early September with open-air concerts in the Ciudad Vieja on Thursday and Friday evenings, though the full programme is typically published only a few days ahead; check the Intendencia de Montevideo site if you are passing through.

Politics you will feel on the street

Argentina is the one to watch. On Wednesday 26 August, the Chamber of Deputies approved President Milei’s proposal to reform the Central Bank’s charter by 144 votes to 102, with nine abstentions. The bill strips the BCRA of its current mandates regarding economic and social equity, leaving its sole responsibility as preserving the value of the currency, and bans the central bank from financing government spending.

The Senate is the harder chamber. Milei’s La Libertad Avanza bloc does not hold a majority there, and the opposition has signalled it will fight the bill. If it passes, the reform would be the most significant institutional change to Argentine monetary policy in two decades. If it fails, the government will likely look for executive workarounds. For foreign residents paid in dollars and spending in pesos, the question is whether the reform stabilises the exchange rate or triggers another cycle of pressure. The Senate session has not been formally scheduled as of 30 August, but the governing bloc is pushing for a vote this week.

In Colombia, the diplomatic thaw with Israel becomes practical on Tuesday 1 September, when the reciprocal visa waiver takes effect. Colombian passport holders can enter Israel without a visa for up to ninety days, and Israelis can do the same in Colombia. The arrangement was announced by both foreign ministries in mid-August and follows fourteen months of suspended visa-free access after the Petro government broke diplomatic relations with Israel in May 2024. President de la Espriella’s administration restored ties in June 2026. For Colombian expats with Israeli connections, and for Israeli travellers and digital nomads considering Medellín or Bogotá, the change removes a bureaucratic barrier that had become a genuine obstacle.

The backdrop remains the earthquake recovery in Chocó. The death toll stands at 329, with 247 still missing, and reconstruction is being costed at up to US$12.9 billion over as much as six years. The government has declared an economic emergency and says it will follow the 1999 Armenia model. For foreign residents in the major cities, this changes little day to day, but it is the fiscal backdrop to every tax promise and infrastructure decision below.

Two further Colombian changes are worth noting for anyone employing locally. The military high command was replaced in full following the earthquake, and a set of Petro-era labour rules was scrapped by decree, which matters if you run a business or employ staff in Colombia.

In Brazil, the Q2 GDP print lands on Tuesday 1 September. The figure matters for the real, which has been one of the better-performing emerging-market currencies this year. A strong number supports the currency; a miss weakens it. For foreign residents paid in dollars, that translates directly into purchasing power. The print follows the Q1 surprise and will be watched closely by the Central Bank ahead of its next rate decision.

Deadlines and money

The one hard deadline inside the window is the Capim Santo registration in Belo Horizonte, which closes at midnight on Sunday 31 August for classes that begin Thursday 3 September. The form is at institutocapimsanto.org.br/cozinha-do-amanha and requires proof of residence in Belo Horizonte and a declaration of family income.

For Rock in Rio, day tickets for the opening weekend were still available as of late August, but the Saturday 6 September and Saturday 12 September dates are sold out. If you are planning to attend the second weekend, the Friday 11 September and Sunday 13 September dates still have tickets at the time of writing. The Rock in Rio Card is the only entry format; single-day tickets at the gate are not sold.

In Chile, the IPSA index rebalances on Tuesday 1 September, gaining a member and changing hands. The details are published by the Bolsa de Comercio de Santiago. If you hold a Chilean index fund or ETF, your portfolio shifts on that date.

On the tax front in Colombia, President de la Espriella announced the intention to abolish the wealth tax on 7 August, but no bill has been filed and the 183-day tax-residency test remains unchanged. Plan on the current rules until legislation exists. The finance ministry has also said it will not fund earthquake recovery with new taxes, which limits the immediate revenue pressure but does not eliminate it.

Heads-ups for travellers and new arrivals

Aeroparque is open again. Buenos Aires’ downtown airport reopened on Thursday 27 August after a fifty-five-hour runway maintenance closure that moved about nine hundred flights to Ezeiza and cancelled the rest. If you were caught in the disruption, normal service has resumed, though it is worth confirming any bookings made during the closure window in case of residual schedule changes.

Colombia-Israel visa waiver takes effect on 1 September. If you are an Israeli citizen planning to enter Colombia, or a Colombian citizen planning to enter Israel, you no longer need a visa for stays of up to ninety days. The change is automatic at the border; no pre-registration is required. If you already hold a valid visa, it remains valid but is no longer necessary for tourist entry.

For Brazil, Rock in Rio is not the only reason to check your travel plans. The festival coincides with the run-up to Independence Day on 7 September, which means public offices close and many Brazilians take the Monday off, extending the weekend. Hotels in Rio spike in price for the festival period, and transport in Barra da Tijuca is heavily congestued from Thursday 3 September through the weekend. If you are not attending the festival, consider arriving in Rio before Thursday or after Monday to avoid the crush.

Anyone who has flown LATAM should continue to check their statements. The data breach disclosed on 19 August exposed names, addresses, birth dates, emails, phone numbers, LATAM Pass details, and partial card data. Full card numbers and CVVs were not exposed, but the combination of partial card data and itinerary information is enough to fuel convincing scams. Treat any unexpected call about a LATAM booking as hostile.

For Mexico, our guide to reading a travel advisory without cancelling your trip remains the best antidote to the headlines: the country sits at Level 2 overall on the US State Department scale, but every state carries its own rating from Level 1 to Level 4, and the difference between Yucatán and Michoacán is the difference between a normal trip and a reconsideration.

Three service pieces are worth an evening if you are still choosing a country. Retiring abroad on a fixed income sets the average US retired-worker benefit at US$2,084.40 a month as of June 2026 and notes that most Latin American retirement visas ask for well under half of it. Alongside it, why spending US dollars in Costa Rica is harder than it looks and how not to get scammed buying property in Mexico as a US retiree cover the two mistakes newcomers make most often. And for the remote-work crowd, São Paulo has just placed eighth in a new digital nomad city index.

Looking ahead

Beyond this week, Creamfields Argentina lands on Saturday 14 November at Parque de la Ciudad in Buenos Aires, with tickets from 180,000 pesos including fees, about US$122 at the rate the announcement used. The Curitiba Biennial runs until 15 November, with free entry every Wednesday. And in Medellín, the Feria de las Flores is already on the horizon for mid-August 2027 — if you are planning a year ahead, it is the week that books out first.

More: Latin America news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources: The Rio Times reporting; Buenos Aires Herald and Buenos Aires Times on the central bank charter reform; Anadolu Ajansi on the Colombia-Israel visa waiver; Rock in Rio official site and Ticketmaster Brasil on festival dates, lineup and tickets; Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá on Gastrofest; Nossa Causa and Instituto Capim Santo on the Belo Horizonte cooking course; Chile Travel and Eventworld on Santiago concerts; Tangoba on the Tango World Championship; ABCR on the São Paulo fundraising festival. Prices are carried at the conversions published in each report and move with the rate.

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