Weekly Report - 02 June 2016 (WR-16-21)

The island of Hispaniola is undergoing strikingly different electoral processes.... Read More

Political tensions appear near boiling point in Venezuela with growing opposition consternation about the failure of the authorities to establish a timeline for a possible recall referendum.... Read More

The government led by President Juan Manuel Santos is trying to defuse protests by indigenous groups and farmers which are affecting more than half of Colombia’s 32 departments, with some outbreaks of violence and major transport arteries blocked.... Read More

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski received the unqualified support of Verónika Mendoza in the days approaching the second round of presidential elections on 5 June.... Read More

President Evo Morales has enraged critics by hinting at the possibility of holding another referendum on whether to reform the 2009 constitution to allow him to run for a third consecutive term in 2019 (under this constitution).... Read More

To lose one minister in the first two and a half weeks of government may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose two looks like an administration in crisis.... Read More

It is a measure of the depths to which the Brazilian economy has sunk that the best that could be said of the first quarter’s contraction was that it was not as bad as many had feared.... Read More

President Mauricio Macri is seeking to advance legislation that could simultaneously buttress his approval rating, at a time when there is criticism of fuel and energy price increases, inflation and public sector dismissals; keep his allies on side; and push the political opposition on to the back foot.... Read More

The discovery of a clandestine mass grave allegedly used by the authorities in Mexico’s Morelos state to hide the bodies of individuals killed in unresolved cases is once again raising some serious questions about the authorities’ commitment to upholding human rights.... Read More

MEXICO | EU trade deal.... Read More

President Juan Carlos Varela is facing fresh protests following the announcement by the public services agency (Asep) of plans to start filling the ‘Barro Blanco’ hydroelectric dam project, which lies within the Ngäbe Buglé comarca (indigenous political administrative region).... Read More

El Salvador’s legislative assembly has unanimously approved the emission of US$152m of bonds to finance the government’s extraordinary security measures against the mara street gangs.... Read More

“Never in 200 years of the Republic has a political party asked for intervention in its own country.” Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro blames the opposition MUD for the move by the OAS secretary general, Luis Almagro, to have the country suspended from the body.... Read More