LatinNews Regional Monitor: Brazil & Southern Cone - 25 January 2018

Development: On 24 January, judges at appeals court TRF-4 voted unanimously voted to uphold a conviction against Brazil’s former president Lula da Silva (2003-2011), from the leftist Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), for money laundering and corruption.... Read More

*Markets rallied on the decreased chances that Brazil’s former president Lula da Silva (2003-2011) could win election once again this year.... Read More

Development: On 24 January Chile’s national chamber of deputies approved new legislation on higher education.... Read More

Uruguay: Uruguay’s foreign minister, Rodolfo Nin Novoa, has said that his country will seek to negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA) between the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) regional trade bloc and China when Uruguay assumes the pro-tempore presidency of Mercosur in June.... Read More

On 11 March, former president Sebastián Piñera (2010-2014) from the right-of-centre Chile Vamos coalition will take over power from Michelle Bachelet.... Read More

Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri has moved at lightning speed to fast-track a package of business-friendly structural reforms through congress following an important victory for his centre-right ruling coalition, Cambiemos, in last year’s October mid-term legislative elections.... Read More

2018 looks uncertain for Brazil.... Read More

Following the legalisation of marijuana in 2013, Uruguay’s government has faced and continues to face a series of challenges before the policy’s main aim of combatting narcotrafficking can be fully achieved.... Read More

Paraguay: President Horacio Cartes received a major blow after Paraguay’s bicameral national congress overturned the veto he issued on the approved 2018 national budget.... Read More