Weekly Report - 28 April 2016 (WR-16-16)

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos reached out beyond his ruling Unidad Nacional coalition this week to forge a “post-conflict cabinet” that features members of almost all of the country’s parties across the political divide.... Read More

The dust has settled after Peru’s presidential and congressional elections on 10 April and the second round is now underway in earnest.... Read More

COLOMBIA | Record shrimp production.... Read More

Fifty-one senators have stated their intention to submit President Dilma Rousseff to an impeachment trial, according to the daily newspaper Folha de São Paulo.... Read More

In contrast to Itamar Franco, the vice-president under Fernando Collor de Mello (1990-1992) who stayed silent throughout the impeachment process, Vice-President Michel Temer has been actively chasing the foreign and national media to deny charges that he is orchestrating a coup and to paint a picture of Brazil under his leadership.... Read More

President Michelle Bachelet has announced the second phase of the process to reform or replace Chile’s 1980 constitution.... Read More

The impeachment proceedings against some long-questioned members of Paraguay’s supreme court (CSJ) is finally coming to a head in the national congress.... Read More

BRAZIL | Unemployment.... Read More

President Enrique Peña Nieto submitted two bills to the federal senate this week to legalise marijuana for medicinal use and to relax the laws relating to recreational use of the drug.... Read More

MEXICO | Promoting business and investments with Italy.... Read More

The ruling Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) held its seventh congress in Havana between 16 and 19 April.... Read More

The recent murder of Andrés Cerrato, a member of the main opposition party, Partido Liberal Independiente (PLI), which the PLI suggests was politically motivated, is fuelling existing concerns regarding political violence.... Read More

Belize’s Prime Minister Dean Barrow this week reassured the public that “any immediate danger has passed”.... Read More

Support for democracy in Brazil has fallen to its lowest level in a decade.... Read More

“If the idea prevails that we are some sort of horrible ogre representing a handful of multinationals then we will not do well, but this is not the truth…”... Read More