LatinNews Daily - 16 May 2018

Development: On 15 May clashes between national police (PNN) agents and anti-government protesters which took place in Nicaragua’s northern department of Matagalpa left one person dead and at least 40 injured on local press reports.... Read More

Development: On 15 May Francisco de Roux, the head of the truth commission set up by the Colombian government to clear up the root causes of the country’s internal armed conflict, urged ‘Jesús Santrich’ (Seuxis Pausias Hernández), a former leader of the demobilised Fuerazas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrillas, to end his hunger strike.... Read More

Colombia: Colombia’s national statistics department (Dane) has released new figures which show that the country’s GDP grew by 2.2% in the first quarter of the year, a 0.9 percentage point increase compared with the same quarter of 2017, when Colombia’s GDP grew by 1.3%.... Read More

Development: On 15 May, Brazil's federal pbulic ministry (MPF) accused Joesley Batista, the CEO of holding company J&F Investimentos and head of meatpacking company JBS, of bribing a judge to save one of his businesses.... Read More

*Brazil’s supreme electoral tribunal (TSE) has prevented the agricultural arm of the Odebrecht business group, Atvos, from signing new public contracts.... Read More

Panama: Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela has partially vetoed an anti-corruption bill (Ley 514), approved on 3 April by the 71-member unicameral national legislature, prompting concerns from civil-society groups.... Read More

Development: On the morning of 15 May, journalist and radio presenter Juan Carlos Huerta was shot dead outside his home in Mexico's south-eastern state of Tabasco.... Read More

Mexico: Mexico’s central bank (Banxico) has announced the creation of a new cybersecurity unit.... Read More

Development: On 15 May Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri said in a video recorded address that the country is not facing another financial crisis like in the past and urged Argentines to maintain calm.... Read More

Argentina: The national statistics institute (Indec) has reported that the national monthly inflation rate in April was 2.7%.... Read More