LatinNews Daily - 13 August 2018

Development: On 10 August Guatemala’s attorney general’s office (AG) and the United Nations (UN)-backed anti-impunity commission in Guatemala (Cicig) presented the supreme court (CSJ) with a request for President Jimmy Morales and national opposition legislator Nineth Montenegro to be stripped of their immunity from prosecution in order to be investigated.... Read More

Development: On 10 August Colombia’s new president, Ivan Duque, warned the guerrillas from the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) that he will not be intimidated and will not tolerate any kidnappings by the group.... Read More

Peru: Peru’s foreign trade & tourism minister, Rogers Valencia, has reported that in the first half of the year the country’s exports totalled US$15.15bn, a 20.1% increase compared to the same period last year.... Read More

Development: On 10 August, thousands of supporters of Brazil’s jailed former president, Lula da Silva (2003-2011), began a protest march towards capital, Brasília, as part of their ‘Free Lula’ campaign.... Read More

* According to figures released by Brazil’s national statistics institute (IBGE), retail sales recorded a 0.3% monthly decrease in June.... Read More

Panama: Panama’s opposition Cambio Democrático (CD) party of former president Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), who was extradited from the US in June to face charges related to his activities whilst in office, has chosen Rómulo Roux, a former foreign minister (2012-2014), as its presidential candidate ahead of the May 2019 presidential election.... Read More

Development: On 12 August, a local human rights NGO, the Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez (Centro Prodh), revealed that federal judge Érik Zabalgoitia Novales had ordered Mexico’s attorney general’s office (PGR) to re-open the investigation into the alleged massacre of civilians by Mexican soldiers in Tlatlaya, Estado de México.... Read More

*  President Enrique Peña Nieto announced on Twitter that more jobs were created during his six-year term than during the two previous presidential terms combined.... Read More

Development: On 12 August legislators from Uruguay’s centre-right opposition Partido Nacional (PN.... Read More

Argentina:  The Argentine confederation of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), Came, has sent a missive to Argentina’s production minister, Dante Sica, outlining various measures which need to be taken in response to the current financial difficulties faced by the sector which groups over 800,000 SMEs.... Read More

Brazil: On 31 July-1 August US Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral John Richardson visited Brazil, where he met with Brazil’s navy leadership to discuss deepening the US-Brazil naval partnership.... Read More