Eradicated diseases are making a worrying comeback in the Southern Cone. And Mexico’s university aimed at preserving indigenous languages.
ARGENTINA
Vaccination figures plummet under Javier Milei’s presidency
Latin America was among the regions hit hardest by the Covid pandemic, with Peru recording the world’s highest per capita death rate and Brazil tallying more than 700,000 fatalities. But even as hospitals buckled and resources ran thin, several of the region’s leaders dismissed the importance of vaccines.
In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro allegedly falsified his own vaccination records to avoid taking a Covid shot. His stance on the pandemic went some way toward eroding his public support, and played a factor in his failed re-election bid and ensuing political downfall.
👉 Why it matters. The now-jailed Brazilian leader was far from being the only political figure in the region to express skepticism about immunizations, and Latin American public health experts are issuing warnings about increased vaccine hesitancy in the years after the pandemic. Alarms are now being sounded in Argentina, where the rise of President Javier Milei (a Bolsonaro ally and admirer) has coincided with plummeting vaccination rates among minors.
In a recent report, the Argentine Pediatrics Society (SAP) expressed “deep concern” over the “critically low levels of vaccination among children and teenagers,” which could put communities at risk and make the re-emergence of eradicated diseases such as hepatitis A, measles and polio more likely.
“None of the vaccines we analyzed reached the program’s 95% target, which is needed to ensure herd immunity. Even worse, several important jabs [had coverage rates] below 50%. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR), administered at age five, showed a coverage of 46% in 2024, down from 90% in the 2015-2019 period,” said the SAP.
The numbers are equally stark for other diseases. Polio booster coverage has plunged from 88% to 47%, and the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccine collapsed from 82% to 54%. Pertussis is already seeing a resurgence in Argentina, with seven deaths reported in the country so far this year.
Last week, neighboring Chile declared an epidemiological alert in response to a rise in measles cases in Argentina. Government spokesperson Camila Vallejo urged Chileans to strengthen vaccine coverage and “not fall for misinformation or anti-vaccine campaigns.”
Analysts cite several reasons for the slump in inoculations, including mass-scale budget cuts to Argentina’s public health care system under Javier Milei’s austerity program. Vaccines remain free, but outreach efforts have withered, limiting access for people who do not receive regular medical care.
While Milei was not as vocally opposed to Covid vaccines as Bolsonaro in Brazil, he has been reluctant to add new shots to Argentina’s immunization schedule, arguing that the costs outweigh the benefits. He also withdrew Argentina from the World Health Organization, citing “profound differences” over what he called the “largest social control experiment in history” during the pandemic.
Others in his coalition have gone further. A recent event in Argentina’s lower house saw speeches from several anti-vaccine activists, among them a shirtless conspiracy theorist who claimed Covid shots caused “body magnetism.” The event organizer, right-wing lawmaker Marilú Quiroz, was swiftly rebuked by her own PRO party, which governed under former President Mauricio Macri from 2015 to 2019.
“At PRO, we believe in science, prevention and evidence-based public policy,” the party said in a statement, reaffirming its support for vaccination campaigns and public health as “essential to Argentines’ well-being.”
HERITAGE
A Mexican university wants to save indigenous languages
As globalization advances, ancestral lands shrink and assimilation deepens, the world’s indigenous languages are disappearing at an alarming pace — as part of a broader cultural erosion that threatens local traditions.
Latin America and the Caribbean are home to 58.2 million indigenous people, about 10% of the region’s total population. They also register 556 indigenous languages — 38.4% of which are at risk of extinction, according to the Ibero-American General Secretariat.
In Mexico, home to some of the region’s richest pre-Columbian heritage, the trend has spurred action. Following a UNESCO declaration naming 2022-2032 the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, the country opened a university dedicated to cultural preservation.
The University of Indigenous Languages (ULIM), created in 2023 under former President Andrés Manuel “AMLO” López Obrador, seeks to build “a society based on the recognition and respect of its linguistic, ethnic and cultural diversity.” The presidential decree that established the school stated its mission is to train professionals in indigenous languages at the undergraduate and graduate levels and to advance research and outreach both on and off campus.
While Mexico already offered intercultural education with bilingual instruction, ULIM’s founders — a group of anthropologists, activists, officials and poets — argued that those programs were too limited, often confined to translating material built around mainstream paradigms. They believe a more holistic approach rooted in indigenous worldviews is both necessary and possible.
👉 Why it matters. Mexico’s pre-Columbian civilizations were so vast and diverse that the country remains home to 68 indigenous languages and 360 dialects, official data shows. But experts warn that 23 of those languages face near-term extinction. Beyond cultural loss, the stakes are also practical: more than 7 million indigenous-language speakers struggle daily to navigate the country’s courts and health care system.
President Claudia Sheinbaum, AMLO’s successor and ally, has kept the issue on the agenda. A recent constitutional amendment expanding indigenous recognition has been translated into nearly all local languages and will be printed — and recorded in audio — for distribution.
Across the region, other countries are pursuing similar efforts. Examples include Ecuador’s Amawtay Wasi University, founded in 2004, Colombia’s Autonomous Indigenous Intercultural University (UAIIN), and Brazil’s newly created Federal Indigenous University (Unind) in BrasĂlia.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
In last week’s quiz, we asked which former Latin American candidate did NOT cry fraud after losing a presidential race. The correct answer was Peru’s literary heavyweight Mario Vargas Llosa, and half of you got it right. The Nobel laureate lost a runoff election in 1990 to Alberto Fujimori, who later turned authoritarian but, at least that time, won fair and square.
QUICK CATCH-UP
🗳️ Conservative Nasry “Tito” Asfura’s lead is growing in Honduras, holding 40.5% of the vote versus Liberal Party candidate Salvador Nasralla’s 39.2%, with 97% of ballots counted. Although foreign votes (which tend to favor the Liberals) and a final recount are still pending, Asfura is now seen as the overwhelming favorite, but Nasralla is still very far from conceding.
💥 At least five people were killed and dozens were injured when a car bomb exploded near a police station in Michoacán, one of Mexico’s most violent states. The blast came a month after President Claudia Sheinbaum deployed thousands of soldiers there following the killing of local mayor Carlos Manzo, who had pressed for tougher anti-crime measures.
👎 A closed-door meeting between Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi and Supreme Court chief John Pérez has stirred controversy after Orsi acknowledged discussing the “health conditions” of former officials jailed for crimes committed during the 1973-1985 dictatorship. Human rights groups repudiated the meeting, while conservative lawmakers seized the moment to call for the prisoners to be transferred to house arrest.
💸 New research shows that 75% of purchases in the Dominican Republic are still made in cash — a sharp contrast with much of the rest of Latin America, where digital payments have surged. The country has just 17 digital points of sale for every 1,000 residents, compared with 30 in Costa Rica and 90 in Brazil, the report found.