2010s in South American history

[5] In 2015, she was indicted for obstructing the investigation into the 1994 AMIA Bombing,[6] after Alberto Nisman's controversial accusation of a purported "pact" (a memorandum) signed between her government and Iran which was supposedly seeking impunity for Iranians involved in the terrorist attack.

[19] Though these measures where applauded by the experts and foreign trade organisations, it failed to produce the economic boom that president Marci had promised during his campaign.

The new Kirchnerist administration immediately refused to take the remaining $11 billion of the loan and argued that that meant that it was no longer obliged to adhere to the IMF conditions.

On 20 May, Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera signed a bill into law in the presence of MPs, members of the armed forces and Movement for Socialism representatives.

[32] On the same day, Morales and his vice president, Álvaro García Linera, were forced to resign from office after losing support from the police and military.

[43] In February 2014, an investigation by Brazilian Federal Police called "Operation Car Wash" implicated the state-owned energy company Petrobras at the center of what became the largest corruption scandal in Brazil's history.

[54] Temer, whose age of 75 at inauguration made him the oldest to ever take office, broke sharply with his predecessor's policies and amended the constitution to freeze public spending.

[58] The candidacy of Jair Bolsonaro, a controversial federal deputy from Rio de Janeiro known for his far-right politics[59][60][61][62] and defense of the former Brazilian military dictatorship,[63][59][64] overshadowed other conservative candidates.

[72][73][74] In her first months in office, Dilma contradicted the desire of sectors of her own party to regulate the press and declared that "a free media is essential for democracy".

Changes were made in the social field, such as the completion and inauguration of part of the São Francisco River transposition project, the reform of high school education and the establishment of the National Common Curriculum Base.

Despite this, the government managed to maintain a solid base in Congress, which made it possible to approve reforms "necessary to stimulate economic growth", according to him.

Beyond the specific demands regarding education, there is a feeling that the protests reflect a "deep discontent" among some parts of society with Chile's high level of inequality.

[99] Protests have included massive non-violent marches, but also a considerable amount of violence on the part of a side of protestors as well as riot police.

In the runoff election, held on 15 December, she beat former senator and Minister of Labor Evelyn Matthei with over 62% of the vote, with turnout significantly lower than in the first round.

The 2019 Chilean protests were a series of massive demonstrations and severe riots that began in Chile's capital, Santiago, as a coordinated fare evasion campaign by secondary school students which led to spontaneous takeovers of the city's main train stations and open confrontations with the Carabineros de Chile (the national police force).

[100][101] On the same day, President of Chile Sebastián Piñera announced a state of emergency, authorizing the deployment of Chilean Army forces across the main regions to enforce order and prevent the destruction of public property, and invoked before the courts the Ley de Seguridad del Estado ("State Security Law") against dozens of detainees.

[104] The state of emergency was extended to the Concepción Province, all Valparaíso Region (except Easter Island and Juan Fernández Archipelago) and the cities of Antofagasta, Coquimbo, Iquique, La Serena, Rancagua, Valdivia, Osorno, and Puerto Montt.

[114][115][116] By the end of Correa's tenure, reliance on oil, public expenditures, 2016 earthquakes (more than 650 deaths and damage estimated at the equivalent of about 3% of GDP), and international pressure caused Ecuador's economy to enter a recession, resulting in government spending being slashed.

[114][115][116][117] Lenín Moreno was nominated as the candidate for Correa's PAIS Alliance, a democratic socialist[118] political party, in the 2017 presidential election and won a narrow victory in Ecuador's second round of voting on 2 April 2017.

[121] Originally and a socialist and left-wing nationalist affiliated with the ethnocacerist movement, he was considered to have shifted towards neoliberal policies and the political centre during his presidency.

[128] On 15 December 2017, the Congress of Peru, which was controlled by the opposition Popular Force, initiated impeachment proceedings against President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, after he was accused of lying about receiving payments from a scandal-hit Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht in the mid-2000s.

On 28 April 2019, Kuczynski was sentenced to three years of house arrest due to poor health while under investigation for allegedly taking bribes from Odebrecht.

The demonstrations occurred in response to a constitutional amendment that would permit President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election,[135] a move described by the opposition as "a coup".

He was described as "the world's humblest head of state" due to his austere lifestyle and his donation of around 90 percent of his $12,000 monthly salary to charities that benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs.

[139][140] In June 2012, Mujica's government made a controversial move to legalize state-controlled sales of marijuana in Uruguay in order to fight drug-related crimes and health issues, and stated that they would ask global leaders to do the same.

[146] On 9 September 2017, his running mate and Vice President Raúl Fernando Sendic resigned after he was accused allegedly of misusing public funds while heading state oil company Ancap.

Shortages in Venezuela and decreased living standards led to protests beginning in 2014 that escalated into daily marches nationwide, repression of dissent and a decline in Maduro's popularity.

[149][150][151] According to The New York Times, Maduro's administration was held "responsible for grossly mismanaging the economy and plunging the country into a deep humanitarian crisis" and attempting to "crush the opposition by jailing or exiling critics, and using lethal force against antigovernment protesters".

[158][159] On 20 May 2018, presidential elections were called prematurely;[a] opposition leaders had been jailed, exiled or forbidden to run, there was no international observation, and tactics to suggest voters could lose their jobs or social welfare if they did not vote for Maduro were used.

[174][175] Following a failed military uprising on 30 April 2019, representatives of Guaidó and Maduro began mediation, with the assistance of the Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution.