JP Spinetto

Milei’s Insults Energize His Base. Investors, Not So Much If you thought Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech was incendiary, try Javier Milei’s version.

President Javier Milei's true victory will be measured not by the ferocity of his speeches but by the staying power of his reforms over the years

my latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com on Argentina's investor credibility problem www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Bitcoin Slump Disrupts Bukele’s Digital Utopia The future was pitched as utopia: Adopting Bitcoin would catapult El Salvador into a techno-libertarian paradise, banking the unbanked, attracting global innovators and financing futuristic projects, ...

Risking El Salvador's program with the IMF for a Bitcoin obsession makes no sense. President Nayib Bukele needs a reality check

my comments for @opinion.bloomberg.com on the country's difficult path to becoming the Singapore of Latin America one day www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Sheinbaum Kills a Drug Lord and Crosses Her Rubicon Murders, torched cars and highway blockades. Bank branches set ablaze on otherwise empty streets. Tourists stranded in resorts in Puerto Vallarta. Classes suspended in at least 13 states.

The killing of Mexico's most powerful cartel lord marks a risky but decisive shift by President Claudia Sheinbaum's government toward confronting organized crime head-on

my column for @opinion.bloomberg.com after a historic day in Mexico www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Brazil Can't Afford Another Supreme Court Scandal Carnaval may be winding down, but the political scandal shaking Brazil’s establishment is only gathering steam.

Brazil needs to put its Supreme Court genie back in the bottle

my latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Mexico Can Call Trump’s Bluff on Trade Tensions over the revision of North America’s trade pact are escalating.

Withdrawing from USMCA? Think again, Mr. President

My latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com on why leaving the North American trade pact would be far more damaging to the US than Trump suggests www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Mexico’s Cheeky Airline Merger Is an Anti-Trust Nightmare Imagine your company controls 70% of a market. Any market. Tasty, right? For most tycoons, that would be the ultimate fantasy.

Imagine controlling 70% of a market. In most countries, that's a non-starter. Yet that's exactly what the proposed Viva-Volaris merger would create in Mexico

Regulators should ground this cheeky corporate power grab

my latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Get Ready for a More Pragmatic Latin America What better setting to debate a fast-changing world than the Panama Canal? The emblematic waterway is not only a key geopolitical flashpoint; it’s also Latin America’s most visible frontline in the in...

At a Panama summit, Latin America took a turn from ideological trench warfare toward pragmatic cooperation. Is this a turning point?

my column for @opinion.bloomberg.com after a consequential @agendacaf.bsky.social forum in Panama City last week
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Mexico Inc. Has a Big PR Problem Have you heard about Mexico’s charm offensive in Davos? Didn’t think so, because there wasn’t one.

Mexico Inc. has a great story to sell. So why isn't it?

my column on the strange PR problem holding back Mexican business @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

How to Navigate Venezuela’s Murky Moral Waters For those who think about politics in terms of ideology and rigid categories, the extraordinary events in Venezuela pose an uncomfortable question: what is the morally correct position to take in a dr...

It's morally OK to defend Nicolás Maduro’s removal from Venezuela

my latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Brazil Is the Big Loser of Latin America's Geopolitical Reshuffle Brazil’s leadership ambitions are having a bad moment.

Brazil is, perhaps alongside Cuba, the biggest loser from the geopolitical reshuffle orchestrated by Donald Trump’s White House in Latin America

my comments on a bad moment for Brazil's leadership ambitions @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Bet on Brazil to Reclaim World Cup Glory in 2026 This year promises yet more upheaval, but don’t despair: 2026 also brings the World Cup, the best possible placebo for the pains of everyday life.

A rough start to the year. And we still have the World Cup in five months...

my prediction on who will find football glory for @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Bet on Brazil to Reclaim World Cup Glory in 2026 This year promises yet more upheaval, but don’t despair: 2026 also brings the World Cup, the best possible placebo for the pains of everyday life.

With the World Cup returning to North America, Brazil looks best placed to end its long wait for a sixth title, @jpspinetto.bsky.social says

US Success in Venezuela Won’t Be Judged By Oil Big party, brutal hangover.

Not oil or geopolitics: the unquestionable measure of US success in Venezuela will be the emergence of political liberties

my column for @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

The Year of the Right Is Looming in Latin America José Antonio Kast wasted no time. Less than 36 hours after being elected Chile’s next president, the conservative leader boarded a plane, crossed the Andes and paid a visit to his ideological ally, Ar...

Latin America is shifting right, pushed by voters' anger over insecurity, corruption and stagnant living standards. Next year may cement the shift

my last column of 2025 for @opinion.bloomberg.com (gift link)
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Is Argentina Really Changing? Ask Its Salmon Tierra del Fuego isn’t the most obvious place to look for clues about how rapidly Argentina is changing. Yet the country’s southernmost and least populated province has just pulled off a sharp policy ...

Tierra del Fuego's reversal of its salmon-farming ban is a telling sign of Argentina's shift from ideological statism to economic realism under Javier Milei

reporting from the beautiful Buenos Aires for @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Latin America Shouldn’t Be So Triggered by the New US Strategy The White House’s National Security Strategy, released last week, has jolted Latin America. It’s the first serious attempt to spell out President Donald Trump’s sweeping foreign-policy recalibration, ...

While Trump’s play on the Monroe Doctrine alarms some in Latin America, the region has much to gain from his openly transactional strategy, says
@jpspinetto.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Trump's bid to frighten Nicolás Maduro into exile is not working, with the Venezuelan tyrant betting the White House won't risk the messy nation-building effort needed to actually remove him

my latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com 🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

The Trouble With Mexico's Big Minimum Wage Hikes December in Mexico isn’t just for posadas and epic traffic jams — it’s also when we find out how much the minimum wage will jump in the year ahead.

Mexico will raise its minimum wage 13% in 2026 - the ninth year in a row of double-digit hikes. Fair? For sure. But betting that wages can keep outpacing productivity forever is wishful thinking and bad policy

my latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Brazil’s Wave of Corporate Meltdowns Share One Commonality As financial scandals go, this one has it all: a flamboyant, politically connected executive taking on Brazil’s financial titans with a fast-growing bank built on aggressive tactics and exotic financi...

What the spectacular collapse of a high-flying bank reveals about Brazilian capitalism

my latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

After Maduro Comes the Hard Part: Fixing Venezuela’s Economy Speculation about Venezuela is so rife these days that it’s pointless to add more dubious predictions. One thing, however, is clear: if Nicolás Maduro’s regime finally falls — a big if, even with the ...

If and when Maduro exits, Venezuela will be staring at one of the most monumental economic reconstruction efforts in modern history, says @jpspinetto.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

A corn crisis is brewing in Mexico.

@jpspinetto.bsky.social explains what’s at stake 🎥

Mexico’s Crackdown on Protesters Reveals New Fault Lines What was supposed to be a quiet long weekend in Mexico City instead yielded violent images that went viral.

Claudia Sheinbaum's crackdown on dissent risks proving her critics right about Mexico's increasing authoritarianism

my column for @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Mexico’s Crackdown on Protesters Reveals New Fault Lines What was supposed to be a quiet long weekend in Mexico City instead yielded violent images that went viral.

The heavy-handed response by Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum to dissent will bolster the opposition’s charges of authoritarianism, says @jpspinetto.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Chile’s Right Turn Matters Less Than Its Democratic Stability Chile’s presidential runoff next month is already being cast as a clash of extremes: on one side, Jeannette Jara, the leftist who joined the Communist Party at 14; on the other, José Antonio Kast, the...

The 'communist versus ultraconservative' framing of Chile's runoff masks the country's political success

my latest @opinion.bloomberg.com column on why Chile is offering the world a lesson www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Chile’s Right Turn Matters Less Than Its Democratic Stability Chile’s presidential runoff next month is already being cast as a clash of extremes: on one side, Jeannette Jara, the leftist who joined the Communist Party at 14; on the other, José Antonio Kast, the...

Chile's election is offering our polarized world a lesson in political civility, says @jpspinetto.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Blowing Up ‘Narco’ Boats Won’t Stop Latin America’s Real Killers The sicario fired nine bullets at the moving vehicle from the back of a motorcycle, shattering the evening quiet in a corner of Mexico City not far from where Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera once lived. ...

Across Latin America, political violence and cynical murder plots are multiplying as organized crime expands and illegal industries boom. Governments face a crucial test: confronting criminal power without weaponizing repression

my latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Latin America’s Toxic Squabbles Are Empowering the US Latin America is suffering from an honest dialogue deficit.

With Trump openly weighing different military alternatives to remove Maduro, Latin America finds itself a spectator in its own geopolitical story

my latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com on Latin America's exasperating deficit of political dialogue www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

China Is Quietly Sparking Latin America’s Startup Race While the US is flexing its military muscle in the Caribbean with warships and B-1 bombers, China is waging a more discreet battle in Latin America: The race to back the region’s most promising startu...

While the US is flexing its military muscle, China is waging a more discreet battle in Latin America: The race to back the region’s most promising startups

check my column for @opinion.bloomberg.com on the venture capital battle in the region www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

A Corn Crisis Is Brewing in Mexico Few things are more revered in Mexico than corn.

Opinion | @jpspinetto.bsky.social , Columnist

A Corn Crisis Is Brewing in Mexico
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti... via @opinion.bloomberg.com

A Corn Crisis Is Brewing in Mexico Few things are more revered in Mexico than corn.

Corn, a revered national symbol & staple, is becoming a growing headache for Mexico 🌽

NEW for @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...