LatinNews Regional Monitor: Brazil & Southern Cone - 29 March 2018

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

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

Prosecutors in Distrito Federal are investigating whether UK-based political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica (CA) acted illegally in Brazil, amid increased scrutiny about the group’s international operations.... Read More

There is a new twist in the legal proceedings against Brazil's former president Lula da Silva (2003-2011), the strongest leftist presidential pre-candidate in this year’s general election.... Read More

Timo Soini became the first Finnish foreign minister to visit Uruguay last week.... Read More

ARGENTINA & BRAZIL | Aluminium and steel boost.... Read More

Within two weeks of returning to power in Chile, President Sebastián Piñera has confronted the country’s two most longstanding disputes: Bolivia’s historic territorial claim to a sovereign outlet to the Pacific in northern Chile; and the Mapuche indigenous territorial claim in southern Chile.... Read More