LatinNews Regional Monitor: Brazil & Southern Cone - 29 June 2018

Development: On 28 June, a new Ibope opinion poll showed the far-right former army captain Jair Bolsonaro leading the presidential race ahead of Brazil’s 7 October general election, when former president Lula da Silva is excluded from scenarios.... Read More

*Brazil’s national electric energy agency (Aneel), the electricity sector regulator, has announced that three different foreign firms have won nine of the 20 concessions to build and operate 21 new electricity transmission lines in the country during a public tender process, while the remaining concessions were awarded to local firms.... Read More

Development: On 28 June Uruguay’s main umbrella trade union, Plenario Intersindical de Trabajadores – Convención Nacional de Trabajadores (Pit-Cnt), staged a partial strike and march from the state-run Universidad de la República to the seat of Uruguay’s legislature from 9am to 1pm to protest the government’s 2019-2020 state budget proposal.... Read More

Chile: Chile’s finance minister, Felipe Larraín, has announced that the government led by President Sebastián Piñera will request technical assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with regard to cyber security.... Read More

This week threw up an intriguing parallel between the performance of Argentina’s government and the national football team.... Read More

One of the remarkable features of the last two years is how little the US and Brazil – respectively the most powerful countries in North and South America – have had to say to each other.... Read More

The second circuit of Brazil’s supreme court (STF) took a 3-1 decision on 26 June to release a senior former cabinet minister, José Dirceu, pending the outcome of his appeal against a sentence of 30 years and 9 months for corruption, money laundering, and illicit association.... Read More

ARGENTINA | GDP growth downgraded.... Read More

The Paraguayan senate has approved a deal signed in May 2017 between President Horacio Cartes and his Argentine peer Mauricio Macri modifying the Yacyretá bi-national hydroelectric dam treaty.... Read More