LatinNews Daily - 01 May 2018

Development: On 30 April, the Dominican Republic (DR)’s government led by President Danilo Medina announced it had established diplomatic relations with mainland China and severed ties with Taiwan after 77 years.... Read More

Development: On 30 April the so-called 'Frente Oliver Sinisterra' (FOS), led by ‘Guacho’ (Walter Patricio Artízala), called for the creation of a humanitarian corridor on the border between Colombia and Ecuador in order to return the bodies of the three murdered employees of the Quito daily El Comercio, as well as two further Ecuadoreans it is holding hostage.... Read More

Venezuela: President Nicolás Maduro has decreed a 95% increase in the minimum salary, which also includes bonuses for low-income families, taking it to the nominal value of BF2.5m per month, effective from 1 May.... Read More

Development: On 30 April, Brazil’s attorney general's office (PGR) accused jailed former president Lula da Silva (2003-2011) and other senior members of the leftist opposition Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) of money laundering and corruption.... Read More

* Brazil’s unemployment rate rose to 13.1% in the first quarter of 2018, up 1.3 percentage points from the previous quarter, ending in December 2017.... Read More

Central America... Read More

Development: On 30 April, Ricardo Anaya, the presidential candidate of the Left-Right Por México al Frente coalition, appealed for a strategic vote in his favour in order to defeat the clear frontrunner Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of the left-wing Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) party, in Mexico’s general election on 1 July.... Read More

* Mexico’s national statistics institute (INEGI) has released new figures which show that GDP growth in the first quarter of the year was 1.1% compared with the previous quarter, bringing the year-on-year rate to 2.4%.... Read More

Development: On 30 April Alicia Pucheta, the president of Paraguay’s supreme court (CSJ), publicly announced that she had tendered her resignation with the intention of assuming the country’s vacant vice-presidential seat.... Read More

Uruguay: Uruguay’s fiscal deficit was 3.4% of GDP in March, according to the most recent figures from the economy & finance ministry (MEF).... Read More