LatinNews Daily - 15 May 2018

Development: On 14 May the Lima Group of 14 American countries that are monitoring Venezuela’s political crisis issued a new joint statement issuing a “final call” on the Venezuelan government led by President Nicolás Maduro to suspend the presidential election it has convened for 20 May.... Read More

Ecuador: Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno has appointed Richard Martínez, the president of the private sector lobby Comité Empresarial Ecuatoriano (CEE), as his new economy & finance minister.... Read More

Development: On 14 May, Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras confirmed it had filed an injunction against eight Brazilian banks who are accused of market manipulation.... Read More

*Assuming that Brazil's jailed former president Lula da Silva (2003-2011) cannot run, ultra-right deputy Jair Bolsonaro from the Partido Social Liberal (PSL) is the frontrunner in this year’s general election according to the latest poll by CNT/MDA.... Read More

Development: On 14 May the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) government led by President Daniel Ortega agreed to allow the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to conduct a working visit to Nicaragua to observe the human rights situation in the country.... Read More

Panama: AES Panama, a local subsidiary of US energy company AES, has announced that Central America’s first liquified natural gas (LNG) plant will be inaugurated in August in Panama's northern province of Colón.... Read More

Development: On 14 May, Mexico’s national human rights commission (CNDH) called on the Mexican authorities to guarantee the safety of all candidates running in the general election.... Read More

* Mexico’s national statistics institute (Inegi) has released new indicators of economic activity in the tourism sector.... Read More

Development: On 14 May Argentina’s treasury minister, Nicolás Dujovne, told assembled news agencies in the country’s seat of government Casa Rosada that he was hopeful a Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) could be agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) more swiftly than the standard timeframe of six weeks.... Read More

Uruguay: The president of Uruguay’s central bank (BCU), Mario Bergara, has said that the BCU is unconcerned by the sharp depreciation of the Uruguayan peso against the US dollar in recent days, and argued that this is not yet producing significant inflationary pressures in Uruguay.... Read More