LatinNews Daily - 29 March 2018

Development: On 28 March the presidential run-off candidate of Costa Rica's small, conservative Partido Restauración Nacional (PRN), Fabricio Alvarado Muñoz, presented the latest version of his manifesto.... Read More

Development: On 28 March, Venezuela’s attorney general’s office confirmed that 68 people had died and dozens more were injured after a riot broke out in the holding cells of the Carabobo state police headquarters, in the city of Valencia; local media reports suggest that a fire was started after clashes with guards. ... Read More

Venezuela: Switzerland has announced the imposition of economic sanctions against Venezuela for alleged human rights violations, undermining democracy and the rule of law, and repressing civil society.... Read More

Development: On 28 March Brazil’s President Michel Temer condemned the attacks launched against the campaign caravan of former president Lula da Silva (2003-2011) and the death threats received by supreme court (STF) justice Edson Fachin, saying that they bode ill for the upcoming campaign for the 7 October general election.... Read More

*The Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU), Brazil’s federal financial ombudsman, has ordered that two oil exploration areas be excluded from the current auction of oil concessions contracts due to be awarded by the Brazilian government on 29 March.... Read More

Panama: Panama’s economy & finance ministry (MEF) has released new figures which show that Panama’s public debt reached US$23bn in 2017, up 9.2% on the previous year.... Read More

Development: On 28 March Luis Raúl González, the head of Mexico’s national human rights commission (CNDH), accused the incumbent government led by President Enrique Peña Nieto of allowing violence and impunity to increase during its single six-year term, which comes to an end in December.... Read More

*A report released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has named Mexico as the Latin American country with the lowest value-added tax (VAT) revenue ratio (VRR) in 2016, at a rate of 32%.... Read More

Development: On 28 March President Mauricio Macri trumpeted a reported fall in poverty figures in Argentina as proof that his government’s economic policies are working.... Read More

Argentina: Argentina’s national statistics institute (Indec) has released new figures which show the monthly economic activity estimator (Emae), a GDP proxy measure, increased by 4.1% in January compared to January 2017.... Read More

This is the last LatinNews Daily until after Easter.... Read More