LatinNews Daily - 08 August 2018

Development: On 7 August during his inauguration speech, Colombia’s President Iván Duque outlined what would be the main priorities of his new administration, placing significant emphasis on promoting a political reform aimed at resolving the country’s polarisation and improving public security by focusing more efforts on combating organised crime.... Read More

Venezuela: Political opposition party Primero Justicia (PJ) has denounced that agents from the state intelligence service (Sebin) have arrested PJ national deputy Juan Requesens.... Read More

Development: On 7 August the border between Brazil and Venezuela was re-opened after a Brazilian federal appeals court judge overturned an earlier decision that led to the federal police (PF) closing it for 15 hours.... Read More

* Brazil’s national civil aviation agency (Anac), the sector’s regulatory body, has announced that it has granted Norwegian Air Shuttle a licence to operate flights between Brazil and Europe.... Read More

Development: On 7 August the former president of El Salvador Tony Saca (2004-2009) pleaded guilty in court to embezzlement and money laundering.... Read More

Costa Rica: According to the latest report from Costa Rica’s national statistics institute (Inec) national unemployment in the second quarter of the year was 8.7% - slightly up from the same period in 2017 when it was 8.5%.... Read More

Development: On 7 August Mexico’s President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador urged victims of violence to “forgive but not forget” at a security policy forum in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua state, revealing societal divisions over his proposed amnesty for criminals.... Read More

* Moody’s Investors Service has released a new report which states that “Mexican public financial institutions are likely to step-up lending to support credit and economic growth after President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador takes office in December”.... Read More

Development: On 7 August Chile’s defence minister, Alberto Espina, said that there was no justification for the armed forces to be financed by revenue from copper exports.... Read More

Uruguay: Uruguay’s national statistics institute (INE) has reported that the national unemployment rate stood at 7.9% in June, 0.2 percentage points lower than the 8.1% reported the previous month.... Read More