LatinNews Daily - 02 July 2018

Development: On 1 July, three of the four presidential candidates running in Mexico’s general election held that day conceded defeat and recognised Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the leftist Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) party as the winner of the presidential election.... Read More

Development: On 1 July, Ecuador’s former president Rafael Correa (2007-2017) was formally charged with being the intellectual author of the botched kidnapping of a former opposition deputy, Fernando Balda, in August 2012.... Read More

Peru: Peru’s national statistics institute (Inei) has revealed figures which show that in May the value of total exports increased by 14.34% compared to May 2017.... Read More

Development: On 1 July, a study by Brazil’s national industry confederation (CNI) estimated that insecurity costs the country R$365bn (US$93.32bn) a year, equivalent to 5.5% of GDP or R$1,800 per Brazilian. Significance: To put that figure in perspective, the cost of criminality to the country is higher than the contribution made by either the construction sector (5.2% of GDP) or the agricultural sector (5.3% of GDP), the leading lights of the Brazilian economy.... Read More

* According to local media, the Brazilian food company BRF, the largest exporter of chicken meat in the world, has announced a restructuring and asset-sales plan involving the sale of units in Europe, Argentina, and Thailand.... Read More

Development: On 1 July, Panama’s 71-member unicameral national legislature re-elected Yanibel Abrego of the opposition Cambio Democrático (CD) party as congress president.... Read More

Honduras: Honduras’s 128-member unicameral national legislature has re-elected Oscar Chinchilla as the country’s attorney general for another five-year term.... Read More

* Mexico’s state news agency Notimex has cited Mexican bank, Banco Base, as forecasting that the exchange rate will continue to strengthen and oscillate between M$19.70/US$1 and M$20.30/US$1 over the next few days as the candidates in the 1 July presidential election have recognised the victory of Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the leftist Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) party.... Read More

Development: On 30 June, the president of Paraguay's senate Fernando Lugo declined to swear in former president Nicanor Duarte Frutos (2003-2008) of the ruling Asociación Nacional Republicana-Partido Colorado (ANR-PC) party as an active senate member despite the fact he had been elected on 22 April.... Read More

Chile: Chile’s finance ministry has announced that the Chilean government will inject an additional US$1bn into the country’s state-owned copper mining company, Codelco, from now until February 2019 in order to help maintain its position as market leader.... Read More

Guatemala: On 25 June Guatemala’s foreign minister, Sandra Jovel, sent a diplomatic note to the US government requesting that Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which temporarily allows those fleeing countries afflicted by war or natural disasters to live and work legally in the US, be granted to Guatemalan nationals.... Read More