LatinNews Daily - 11 July 2018

Development: On 10 July, various members of Chile’s political opposition presented a petition to the supreme court to remove attorney general (AG) Jorge Abbott for “manifest negligence in carrying out his functions”.... Read More

Development: On 10 July, it was reported that a group of critics of the Venezuelan government led by President Nicolás Maduro, who are being held at the El Helicoide headquarters of the national intelligence service (Sebin) in Caracas, have staged a riot demanding their release.... Read More

Ecuador: In the latest stage of a legal battle lasting more than two decades, Ecuador’s constitutional court has confirmed a 2011 resolution that US multinational oil company Chevron is liable to pay US$9.5bn in compensation to indigenous communities in the Ecuadorean Amazon.... Read More

Development: On 10 July, the president of Brazil's superior court of justice (TSJ), Laurita Vaz, turned down another request to free former president Lula da Silva (2003-2011) from jail. Significance: The TSJ has so far received 146 habeas corpus requests regarding Lula.... Read More

* Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, has signed a preliminary agreement with French companies Total and Total Eren to work on developing solar- and wind-energy projects in Brazil.... Read More

Development: On 10 June, the constitutional chamber (SC) of El Salvador’s supreme court ordered the supreme electoral tribunal (TSE) to cancel the registration of two centre-left political parties, Cambio Democrático (CD), the party with which 2019 presidential frontrunner Nayib Bukele had planned to run, and the Partido Social Demócrata (PSD).... Read More

Nicaragua: Nicaragua’s central bank (BCN) has released figures on the private construction sector for the first quarter of 2018 which show a year-on-year drop of 18.1% compared with 9.1% growth in the first quarter of 2017.... Read More

Development: On 10 July, Mexico’s national electoral institute (INE) released new preliminary results for the 1 July federal legislative elections, which suggest that the Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) party of President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador has secured a simple majority in Mexico’s federal congress.... Read More

* The 2018 edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII) produced by the World Intellectual Property Organization (Wipo), Cornell University, and the European Institute of Business Administration has identified Mexico as one of the countries that has improved the most in promoting innovation in the past year.... Read More

Chile: Chile’s finance ministry has said that the government has revised its GDP growth projections to 3.8% for the year, up from 3.5% when President Sebastián Piñera took office in March.... Read More