LatinNews Daily - 20 August 2018

Development: On 17 August Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro presented a series of tax reforms designed to haul the country out of a deep economic mire.... Read More

Colombia: Colombia’s President Iván Duque has announced that he will present his national economic reactivation plan in September.... Read More

Development: On 19 August, sources within the Brazilian army confirmed that at least 1,200 Venezuelan nationals had crossed the border from Brazil back in to Venezuela, fleeing an outbreak of violence in the border city of Pacaraima, Roraima state.... Read More

* The need to generate employment was the dominant theme of Brazil’s second televised presidential debate, which took place on 17 August between eight of the 13 candidates running for the presidency in the 7 October general election.... Read More

Development: On 18 August, hundreds of people marched through the centre of Costa Rica’s capital, San José, to protest the arrival of more than 23,000 Nicaraguan nationals fleeing violence and political persecution in their home country.... Read More

Nicaragua: The central bank (BCN) has released the latest figures from its monthly economic activity index (Imae), which show that activity in the country fell by 12.1% in June.... Read More

Development: On 19 August the government transition team appointed by Mexico’s President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced the launch of a series of public forums to discuss the drafting of a new national agreement to promote education in the country.... Read More

* Moisés Kalach, the negotiation coordinator of Mexico’s Consejo Coordinador Empresrial business lobby in the renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), said that a year on from the start of the negotiations, the Mexican and US negotiating teams still have to make progress in some of the “toxic” issues included in the talks such as new rules of origin for the automobile sector and the so-called ‘sunset clause’.... Read More

Development: On 18 August the new Paraguayan government led by the recently inaugurated President Mario Abdo Benítez called on all political parties to take part in a national debate over advancing prospective constitutional reforms.... Read More

Argentina: Argentina’s finance minister, Nicolás Dujovne, has said that the ‘Gloriagate’ corruption scandal, implicating government officials in the previous administration led by former president Cristina Fernández (2007-2015) and various local firms awarded state contracts under the Fernández administration, is affecting Argentina’s economic growth.... Read More

Brazil: On 13 August US Secretary of Defence James Mattis visited Brazil as the first stop in a South American tour.... Read More