LatinNews Regional Monitor: Brazil & Southern Cone - 20 July 2018

Development: On 20 July the Brazilian news site G1 reported that the presidential pre-candidate of the centrist opposition Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB) in the 7 October general election, Geraldo Alckmin, is almost certain to receive the backing of seven influential centrist political parties.... Read More

* The Brazilian government has announced the launch of a new security operation designed to reinforce the country’s borders in nine states to prevent the illegal smuggling of drugs and firearms into Brazil.... Read More

Development: On 19 July Celestino Córdova, an indigenous Mapuche shaman (machi), was transferred to a hospital in Temuco, the capital of Chile’s southern impoverished La Araucanía region, due to the delicate state of his health following a hunger strike.... Read More

Argentina: Moody’s Investor Service, the international credit ratings agency, has released a report in which it warns that the new Stand-By Agreement (SBA) that the Argentine government signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last month would negatively affect the finances of the country’s provincial governments.... Read More

“We are facing a storm, but we have managed to raise our sails and stay the course.... Read More

The centre-left presidential hopeful Ciro Gomes said on 17 July that, if elected, he would stop the planned US$4.75bn joint venture between US aviation giant Boeing and Brazil’s Embraer.... Read More

Recent rulings in relation to two high-profile corruption cases involving illegal campaign finance, which broke under the previous Nueva Mayoría coalition government led by former president Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010; 2014-2018), are again causing discomfort for politicians of all political stripes.... Read More

Protest votes do not always solve the problem that the voters want fixed.... Read More