Latinnews Daily - 19 January 2018

Development: On 18 January Venezuela’s main opposition coalition, Mesa de le Unidad Democrática (MUD), announced it was suspending its participation in the internationally-sponsored dialogue that is has been holding with the Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV) government led by President Nicolás Maduro to try to find a solution to the country’s political crisis.... Read More

Ecuador: The economy & finance ministry has announced that it has successfully placed US$3bn in sovereign bonds in international capital markets.... Read More

Development: On 18 January, Brazil's President Michel Temer answered a police questionnaire about his alleged participation in a corruption and money laundering scheme, even though he was not legally obliged to do so.... Read More

*A report by Brazil’s national association of journalists (Fenaj) found that the incidence of violence against journalists was down 39% in 2017 compared with 2016.... Read More

Development: On 18 January Panama’s economy & finance ministry (MEF) presented a legislative bill before the national assembly which calls for tax fraud to be included in the criminal code.... Read More

El Salvador: The Guatemala-based think tank Central American institute of fiscal studies (Icefi) has criticised El Salvador’s approved state budget for 2018, warning it cuts spending for strategic sectors such as education and health, and that it is “opaque”.... Read More

Development: On 18 January attorney general's office (FGE) in Mexico’s south-western state of Guerrero announced that it was investigating the murder of Gabriel Hernández Alfaro, a leader of the small centre-right Partido Encuentro Social (PES) party, who was killed in the Guerrero municipality of Petatlán.... Read More

*Italian energy company Enel has announced that its Mexican subsidiary has begun constructing a wind farm in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas.... Read More

Development: On 19 January leaders of Argentina’s largest trade union movement Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) issued a firm statement challenging the government led by President Mauricio Macri over labour reform and wage increases.... Read More

Chile: Chile’s environmental agency, the Superintendencia del Medio Ambiente (SMA), announced it had ordered Canadian mining company Barrick Gold to close the Chilean side of the Pascua-Lama mining project, which straddles the border with Argentina.... Read More