LatinNews Daily - 18 June 2018

Development: On 17 June, Colombia’s electoral authorities (Registraduría) declared Iván Duque, the presidential candidate of the right-wing opposition Centro Democrático (CD) party, as the virtual winner of the presidential run-off election held on the same day.... Read More

Peru: Peru’s health ministry has announced that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank will assign US$250m (without providing further details) to modernise Peru’s public health system using telecommunications technology.... Read More

Development: On June 17, the Brazilian daily Folha de São Paulo published a survey by Datafolha showing that 62% of young Brazilians, aged 16-24, would leave the country if they could.... Read More

*Brazil’s President Michel Temer said that he hoped to advance greater economic openness and to introduce a “digital agenda” to set the foundations for intra-bloc electronic commerce (e-commerce) at the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) heads of state summit due to take place on 18 June.... Read More

Development: On 16 June, thousands of people marched in El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador, against the privatisation of water.... Read More

Nicaragua: The government led by President Daniel Ortega has agreed to invite a delegation from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to investigate the deaths caused by the national police (PNN) and paramilitaries since mid-April as part of a crackdown on anti-government protesters which has left at least 178 people dead on the latest report (16 June) from the local human rights NGO Cenidh.... Read More

Development: On 17 June, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the presidential candidate for the leftist Juntos Haremos Historia coalition, called on supporters of the federally ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) and the opposition Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) to unite behind his movement.... Read More

* Mexico’s economy minister, Ildefonso Guajardo, has said that he expects the call to resume negotiations between Mexico, the US, and Canada over the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) will be made next month.... Read More

Development: On 16 June, Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri announced the appointment of new production and energy ministers.... Read More

Southern Cone:  Foreign minister from the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) trading bloc met in Asunción, Paraguay, and discussed plans to sign a trade deal with China.... Read More

Argentina: On 13 June Argentina’s finance minister, Nicolás Dujovne, held a phone conversation with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in which they discussed the agreement reached by the Argentine government led by President Mauricio Macri and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).... Read More