Weekly Report - 09 November 2017 (WR-17-44)

Venezuela is to all intents and purposes in default, and with investors unwilling to deal with the current administration led by President Nicolás Maduro, there is a growing consensus that the situation can only be resolved with a change of government.... Read More

President Lenín Moreno appears to be gaining the upper hand in the dispute for control of the ruling Alianza País (AP).... Read More

The passage through Colombia’s congress of the proposed transitional justice system (JEP) that the government led by President Juan Manuel Santos and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) agreed to implement is proving to be tortuous.... Read More

The arrest of her former vice president and new revelations about the death of federal prosecutor Alberto Nisman can be interpreted as bringing former president Cristina Fernández (2007-2015) closer to some form of court judgement.... Read More

The government led by President Michel Temer is making a new push to try and get a pension reform bill approved in the federal congress.... Read More

After 17 months of intense negotiations, the Uruguayan government led by President Tabaré Vázquez has signed a framework agreement with UPM, setting out the terms under which the Finnish firm will build a new US$4bn pulp mill.... Read More

Everything is now set for Paraguay’s ruling Asociación Nacional Republicana-Partido Colorado (ANR-PC) to hold its primary elections ahead of the April 2018 general election.... Read More

More than in any other recent presidential elections, the 2018 contest in Mexico will see independent candidates play an important role.... Read More

A new mass leak of confidential documents – 13.4m files – relating to the use of tax havens has caused fresh embarrassment to business leaders and politicians in a number of countries in the region.... Read More

A “deterioration” on the previous four elections which themselves “lacked credibility”.... Read More

Prisoners crowded around seven of Costa Rica’s presidential candidates for an unprecedented debate in a national penitentiary on 2 November.... Read More

A former mayor and member of El Salvador’s right-wing Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (Arena) will face trial accused of having planned and coordinated the murder of two men, one of them a police officer, with leaders of a mara street gang.... Read More

With just over a week to go before Chile’s presidential and legislative elections, the two standout questions appear to be whether former president Sebastián Piñera (2010-2014) will win outright in the first round or require a run-off in December, and how many seats his right-of-centre opposition coalition Chile Vamos will obtain in congress.... Read More

“I decree a refinancing and restructuring of external debt and all Venezuelan payments.... Read More