Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Latin America Brief.
The highlights this week: Peru awaits results for its presidential election, acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez visits India and Turkey, and the World Cup kicks off in Mexico City.
Peru’s presidential runoff on June 7 was so close—and vote counting so slow—that it could be weeks before the results are fully confirmed. As of Thursday afternoon local time, with 98.2 percent of ballots counted, fewer than 1,000 votes separated right-wing Keiko Fujimori from her left-wing opponent, Roberto Sánchez.
Both candidates are former lawmakers, but while Fujimori rose to national prominence by defending the legacy of her father—former President Alberto Fujimori—Sánchez hails from the party of former President Pedro Castillo, elected in 2021. Fujimori centered her campaign on law and order, while Sánchez’s focused more on addressing economic inequality.
The down-to-the-wire vote has put Peruvians on edge, wondering not only whom their president will be but also whether the winner can govern effectively in a country that has forced out six of its nine leaders in a decade.
