Weekly Report - 08 March 2018 (WR-18-09)

The threat posed by illegal armed groups to elections in Colombia might have diminished, but the present electoral process is still shaping up as one of the most violent and aggressive in years.... Read More

Kenji Fujimori announced his abandonment of the main opposition Fuerza Popular (FP, Fujimoristas) on moral grounds on 1 March.... Read More

COLOMBIA | Unemployment.... Read More

Last year, Brazil posted a record trade surplus of US$67bn.... Read More

The Confederación de Trabajadores de la Educación de la República Argentina (Ctera) federation of teachers’ unions staged a 48-hour national strike this week to pressure the government led by President Mauricio Macri to heed its salary demands.... Read More

BRAZIL | Economy registers growth again.... Read More

A bitter exchange of corruption allegations between the second and third placed candidates in the presidential race, Ricardo Anaya and José Antonio Meade respectively, is helping the frontrunner, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.... Read More

On 7 March, in Mexico City, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump, met President Enrique Peña Nieto, in another attempt to ease disagreements between the two countries, including on the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), on Trump’s plans to build a border wall, migration, and security matters.... Read More

MEXICO | Fintech law approved.... Read More

President Jovenel Moïse recently marked one year since his Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale (PHTK) government took office.... Read More

Civil-society groups are on the alert in Panama following the approval last month by the opposition-controlled 71-member national assembly of a legislative act which would reconfigure the congressional credentials committee.... Read More

HONDURAS | Exports up.... Read More

“Some are criticising us for going too slowly, others for going too fast,” Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri said during the opening of congress on 1 March.... Read More

“I am not going to resign, and I am not going to be forced out by declarations that have no justification whatsoever.”... Read More