Weekly Report - 14 June 2018 (WR-18-23)

An air of resignation prevailed in Mexico’s third and final presidential debate throughout much of which Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the clear frontrunner, sported a smile.... Read More

Colombia’s two remaining presidential candidates have spent the closing days of the campaign ahead of the second round of elections on 17 June trying to drum up support among rival politicians in the hope of swaying the public to back their bids.... Read More

Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra may have hoped that his decision to replace his economy & finance minister over his unpopular move to increase excise tax rates [WR-18-21] would earn his government more public support and provide it with some breathing space.... Read More

“This is a very serious matter and the government is concerned because it is very grave to think that a former president was involved in something like this.” This was the response of the Ecuadorean government, led by President Lenín Moreno, to the request by the attorney general’s office to include former president Rafael Correa (2007-2017) in a high-profile kidnapping case dating back to 2012.... Read More

Brazil’s presidential elections are only four months away, and they remain as unpredictable as ever.... Read More

On 7 June, the Argentine government announced a preliminary US$50bn Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) with the International Monetary Fund (much larger than the US$30bn that had been widely expected).... Read More

President Sebastián Piñera has unveiled the gender policy of his right-of-centre Chile Vamos coalition government which includes a dozen measures aimed at promoting gender equity.... Read More

President Jimmy Morales was last week forced to declare a state of calamity in three departments (Chimaltenango, Escuintla, and Sacatepéquez) following the eruption of Volcán de Fuego, one of Central America’s most active volcanoes.... Read More

Nicaragua’s Catholic Episcopal Conference (CEN) has yet to receive a response from President Daniel Ortega who last week requested a “couple of days” to reflect on its latest proposal to resume the suspended national dialogue process with the opposition Alianza Cívica por la Justicia y la Democracia (comprising students, civil-society groups, and the private sector).... Read More

HONDURAS | Progress in poverty reduction.... Read More

The president of Venezuela’s supreme court (TSJ), Maikel Moreno, said this week that magistrates were working on a series of reforms to the penal law that would allow politicians to be sentenced for the crimes of terrorism and treason.... Read More

“It has been shown that in the countries where corruption is non-existent, there is no poverty.... Read More