LatinNews Daily - 19 June 2018

Development: On 18 June, leaders from Nicaragua’s Masaya city, the capital of the eponymous department, announced that they no longer recognise the leadership of President Daniel Ortega and that they intend to set up a commission to self-govern the city.... Read More

Development: On 18 June, the leadership of the Ejército de Libreación Nacional (ELN) guerrilla group called on Colombia’s President-elect Iván Duque to continue with the formal peace negotiations that the outgoing government has been holding with the ELN.... Read More

Bolivia: Bolivia’s President Evo Morales has met with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing as part of an official visit in which they will discuss bilateral cooperation.... Read More

Development: On 18 June, Brazilian economists consulted by the central bank (BCB) in its weekly Focus survey revised down for a seventh consecutive week their estimates for domestic GDP growth this year.... Read More

* Some of the leading presidential pre-candidates hoping to run in Brazil’s 7 October general election have agreed that the country has not fully recovered from the deep economic recession it suffered in 2015-2016, and that reigniting the domestic economy will be the main challenge of the new government.... Read More

Costa Rica: Following a visit to Costa Rica from 12-15 June, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a statement which highlights that addressing the “unsustainable fiscal situation currently facing the country” is a key priority for the new government led by President Carlos Alvarado, which took office last month.... Read More

Development: At a press conference on 18 June, human rights groups revealed that a Mexican court had sentenced two military officers to 19 years imprisonment for the rape of Valentina Rosendo Cantú, an indigenous woman from the me’phaa community.... Read More

* Mexico’s finance ministry (SHCP) has cited the latest risk report from JP Morgan’s Emerging Bond Market Index (EMBI+) which shows that its country risk indicator for Mexico stood at 224 points on 15 June, down two base points compared with the figure for 8 June.... Read More

Development: On 18 June, dozens of people staged a demonstration outside the official residence of Uruguay’s President Tabaré Vázquez in repudiation of the recent murder of a youth and in demand of improved public security.... Read More

Mercosur: Uruguay’s President Tabaré Vázquez has said that the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) regional trade bloc is not prepared to “waste time in eternal negotiations”, with the European Union (EU).... Read More