LatinNews Daily - 24 August 2018

Development: On 23 August President Lenín Moreno announced Ecuador’s withdrawal from the Venezuela-led leftist bloc Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (Alba).... Read More

Colombia: Colombia’s commerce, industry & tourism ministry (Mincit) has reported that over 4.6m international travellers visited Colombia between January and July this year.... Read More

Development: On 23 August, eleven European and Latin American jurists and lawyers sent a letter to Brazil’s President Michel Temer, asking that Brazil comply with the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee’s request that former president Lula da Silva (2003-2011) be allowed to exercise his political rights and stand in the 7 October presidential election.... Read More

* The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac) has released its Economic Survey 2018 report in which it revised its 2018 economic growth prediction for Brazil downwards, from the 2.2% projected in April to just 1.6%.... Read More

Development: On 23 August Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega named General Francisco Díaz as director of the national police (PNN).... Read More

Central America: The United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Latin America & the Caribbean (Eclac) has released its latest economic growth forecasts for 2018 which project that the Dominican Republic (DR) will be Latin America''s fastest growing economy, raising its forecast to 5.4% up from 5.0% in the previous (April 2018) forecast.... Read More

Development: On 23 August Damián Zepeda, the president of Mexico’s right-wing opposition Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), said that his party will challenge the final results of the 1 July congressional election released by the national electoral institute (INE).... Read More

* Javier Jiménez Espriú, who has been designated Mexico’s future communications & transport minister by President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has presented the master plan for an alternative project to build a new international airport for Mexico City to the one approved by the outgoing government.... Read More

Development: On 23 August the local press reported that nine people had been arrested in Chile’s capital, Santiago, during protests against a new legislative initiative promoted by the government led by President Sebastián Piñera regarding employment of young people.... Read More

Argentina: Argentina’s national statistics institute (Indec) has released figures which show that economic activity, measured by its monthly economic activity estimator (Emae), a GDP proxy measure, was down 6.7% in June compared with the same month in 2017.... Read More

Due to a public holiday, LatinNews Daily will not be published on 27 August.... Read More