Our Thursday Sociedad Media Now daily newsletter focuses on Latin America’s top economic stories of the day, and how 100,000 residents in Puerto Rico are impacted by the island’s aging water infrastructure.
Colombia’s New President Inherits a Fiscal Hole Even Markets Can’t Ignore
BOGOTÁ — When Abelardo de la Espriella takes office on August 7, he inherits a genuinely difficult fiscal picture: a 6.4% deficit, record public debt at 60.5% of GDP, and falling foreign investment for two straight years.
Bloomberg Economics frames it as a real market inflection point — betting on his business-friendly agenda to strengthen Colombia’s outlook, while cautioning he inherits “a highly challenging environment” that leaves little room for a slow start on the aggressive spending cuts he's promised.
Mexico Powers New Economic Model as AI Servers Overtake Cars as Top Export
MEXICO CITY — For the first time in its modern trade history, Mexico’s AI and computing hardware exports have overtaken cars — hitting a record $105.8 billion in the first five months of 2026, up 84.5% year-over-year, as the country now supplies roughly 40% of all U.S. AI server imports.
Foxconn, Flex, and other Taiwanese manufacturers have turned Guadalajara and Ciudad Juárez into assembly hubs feeding America’s data center boom, but the shift is uneven: local sourcing sits at just 3-7% versus 39% for auto parts, and the highly automated factories aren’t creating the jobs traditional manufacturing once did.
Puerto Rico’s Water Crisis Isn’t a Drought Problem. It’s a Decades-Old Infrastructure Crisis
SAN JUAN, P.R. — Puerto Rico’s water crisis runs deeper than the burst pipe that triggered it two months ago — roughly 59% of the island’s treated water is lost before it ever reaches a resident, a decades-old infrastructure failure now compounded by severe drought.
The response has escalated from voluntary conservation appeals to mandatory 48-hour rationing for 180,000 people, with Governor Jenniffer González Colón declaring a state of emergency, activating the National Guard, and publicly calling on residents to pray for rain as the critical Carraízo reservoir nears the threshold where water can no longer reach the system at all.
