LatinNews Daily - 17 April 2018

Development: On 16 April, Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno gave ‘Guacho’ (Walter Patricio Artízala Vernaza), the leader of a Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) dissident guerrilla group, 10 days to turn himself in to the authorities or face the prospect of renewed military actions by the Ecuadorean and Colombian armed forces.... Read More

Andean: A new report by the Andean community (CAN) trade bloc (comprising Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia) revealed that CAN exports to the rest of the world totalled US$107bn in 2017, up 19.1% compared with 2016.... Read More

Development: On 16 April, eight prisoners fled and seven were injured during a riot at the Centro de Recuperação Regional de Bragança (CRRB) prison in Brazil's north-eastern state of Pará.... Read More

* Greenpeace says it has new evidence to prove the existence of coral reef 120kms away from Brazil’s northern coast which could affect the rights of French oil company Total to drill there.... Read More

Development: On 16 April, the special commission tasked with selecting a shortlist of six applicants to head Guatemala's attorney general's office (AG) presented its list.... Read More

Central America... Read More

Development: On 16 April, Mexican business tycoon Carlos Slim warned that halting the construction of Mexico’s new international airport (NAIM) would “cancel [economic] growth in the country”.... Read More

* Mexico’s economy minister, Ildefonso Guajardo, has said that the negotiating teams from Mexico, the US, and Canada tasked with renegotiating the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) have succeeded in “practically closing” four more negotiating chapters.... Read More

Development: On 16 April, Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera signed a legislative bill which would extend free education to students at professional institutes (IPs) and technical training centres (CFT) who come from the country’s 70% poorest families.... Read More

Uruguay: Tourism in Uruguay contributed US$1bn to the national economy in the first quarter of 2018, a 1.1% increase from the same period in 2017.... Read More