☀ Domingo Brief — Election Day in the DR

Each Sunday, take two minutes to catch key stories and opportunities shaping Latin America.

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Welcome back to the Domingo Brief! This week, we’re following new faces at Petrobras, elections in the DR, the making of taco history in CDMX, and more.

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Trivia of the Week

Looks like just about half of you (48%) got it right: Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela were the three Latin American countries locked in a diplomatic crisis in 2008. The neighboring Andean states came close to military mobilization following an incursion by Colombian soldiers into Ecuadorian territory in order to kill members of a Colombian armed rebel group. Left-leaning President of Ecuador, backed by his ideological ally Hugo Chavez, accused conservative Colombian president Alvaro Uribe of violating territorial integrity. Tensions were eventually defused, though Uribe never truly patched things up with his neighbors before leaving office in 2010.

Each week, tune back in for the answer to the previous week’s trivia question. No cheating!

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🇧🇷 Petrobras is seeing a top-level reshuffle as Jean Paul Prates has stepped down as chief executive officer (CEO) just 15 months after his initial January 2023 appointment. Prates has had a challenging relationship with Brazilian officials pushing for greater government control over the state-owned oil giant. He will be replaced by civil engineer and former oil & gas regulator Magda Chambriard.

Latinometrics: Petrobras is Latin America’s largest oil company and has been at the center of some of the region’s greatest scandals (see: Operation Car Wash). With Chambriard’s arrival, the company will have had 6 CEOs in 6 years, having long lost the stability which characterized it in the late 2010s. Petrobras shares slid 6% following the news of Prates’ resignation.

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🇩🇴 Dominicans are heading to the polls on Sunday to elect their president, vice president, and national legislature. Incumbent president Luis Abinader is widely expected to win reelection, perhaps even in the first round, given his massive popularity across the country.

Latinometrics: Regardless of whether Abinader wins a second term or loses to a competitor, the Dominican Republic’s next president will face a number of key challenges to address. Chief among these is the ever-chaotic situation across the border in neighboring Haiti, which poses a grave security and humanitarian concern for the DR.