Weekly Report - 03 May 2018 (WR-18-17)

Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno showed his ruthless streak this week by jettisoning his interior and defence ministers.... Read More

Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra received a boost on 2 May when the opposition-controlled congress overwhelmingly backed the cabinet of his prime minister César Villanueva in a vote of confidence.... Read More

President Juan Manuel Santos insisted this week that it was not true to say that the peace process with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) “is failing”.... Read More

“A shield against the criminal economic war of the neoliberal oligarchy and the International Monetary Fund.” This is how Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro described a massive increase in the minimum wage and monthly food ticket which he decreed in time for International Labour Day on 1 May, and three weeks before presidential elections on 20 May.... Read More

BOLIVIA-PERU | Improving ties.... Read More

For the second time this year, Brazil’s President Michel Temer was forced to cancel his planned trip to Asia.... Read More

Paraguay’s electoral authorities (TSJE) are still finalising the vote count for the 22 April general election, the preliminary results of which pointed to a clear victory for the ruling Asociación Nacional Republicana-Partido Colorado (ANR-PC).... Read More

Ever since Uruguay legalised marijuana and placed the production and sale of the narcotic under state control in 2017, there has been a lot of interest to see if the initiative could succeed in undermining illegal drug trafficking and reducing the incidence of violent crimes associated with it.... Read More

BRAZIL | EU pledges aid for Venezuelan immigrants in Brazil.... Read More

The sizeable lead retained by Andrés Manuel López Obrador in opinion polls is piling pressure on his rivals with under two months to go before Mexico’s presidential elections on 1 July.... Read More

MEXICO | First quarter growth.... Read More

The announcement of a legislative ‘Truth Commission’ to investigate the deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters last week [WR-18-16] has yet to pacify the students who have since emerged as one of the most visible faces of the opposition with many of their peers having featured among the dead.... Read More

Two weeks ago this publication suggested that the Dominican Republic would be the next country to make the great diplomatic leap from Taiwan to China after President Danilo Medina inaugurated the first Chinese manufacturing plant in the country [WR-18-15].... Read More

Haiti’s Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant has carried out the first cabinet reshuffle since President Jovenel Moïse and his Parti Haitien Tèt Kale (PHTK) took office in February 2017.... Read More

“The way we are going is towards war with our eyes closed.”... Read More