Riding out the Omicron wave. On the one hand, Latin America has an advantage when it comes to the highly transmissible variant: no fewer than nine countries in the region have higher vaccination rates than the United States does. On the other hand, testing is proving to be a challenge for much of Latin America, which has seen a tenfold increase in Covid cases over the course of the past month.

How prepared are countries? We take a look at testing, vaccinating, and restricting in the hemisphere in light of the latest wave. 

Think about the children! In light of the new wave, the Americas are ramping up youth vaccination efforts. Chile’s even moved on to giving under-18s boosters. But one country still won’t let kids younger than 15 get the jab, while others are stuck waiting on vaccine supply to get shots in kids’ arms. Take a look at age eligibility in Latin America.

Democracy checkup. Latin America finds itself at the intersection of a global competition for governance systems. “Beijing gets it. Does Washington?” asks AS/COA’s Eric Farnsworth in an essay for The National Interest. 

Amid concerns about the health of regional democracy, we chart how Latin America is faring. There’s a mix of stability and stagnation with several big setbacks and also a few bright spots.

A number of countries will have democratic elections this year. We preview presidential votes in Brazil, Colombia, and Costa Rica, as well as local elections elsewhere. También en español.

• Citi is closing its retail banking operations in Mexico. (The Wall Street Journal)
• The holiday season pushed inflation in Argentina to 3.8 percent in December. (Reuters)
• Twenty-two journalists at the Salvadoran independent news site El Faro were surveilled through the Pegasus program for a year and a half—one of the most extensive attacks to use the software discovered so far. (El Faro, The Washington Post)

• Chile becomes the first Latin American country to administer fourth Covid vaccine doses. (BBC)

• Mexico experiences an unprecedented 11 percent drop in its birth rate in the first half of 2021, likely due to the pandemic. (The Washington Post)