LatinNews Regional Monitor: Brazil & Southern Cone - 13 June 2018

Development: On 12 June, Brazil’s supreme court (STF) announced that it is to rule on 19 June on whether to try Senator Gleisi Hoffmann, the president of the leftist opposition Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), for corruption and money laundering in charges related to the ‘Operation Car Wash’ corruption investigations. Significance: Regardless of the merits of the case, condemnation by STF would feed into the PT’s narrative that it is being persecuted by politically-motivated judges.... Read More

* Fábio Kanczuc, a secretary of economic policy at Brazil’s economy ministry, has announced that the recent lorry drivers’ strike has caused US$4.28bn worth of damage to Brazil’s economy.... Read More

Development: On 12 June, the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT), Argentina’s main umbrella workers’ union, called for a 24-hour national general strike for 25 June against the government’s economic policies.... Read More

Uruguay: Uruguay’s foreign minister, Rodolfo Nin Novoa, has met with the Chinese ambassador to Uruguay, Wang Gang, to discuss plans to increase bilateral trade and encourage investment.... Read More