LatinNews Daily - 20 September 2018

Development: On 19 September the United Nations (UN) Secretary General António Guterres said that he sees “no reason to change his existing position of support for Commissioner Iván Velásquez”, the head of the UN-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (Cicig).... Read More

Development: On 19 September Peru’s national congress gave its vote of confidence in the executive led by President Martín Vizcarra and agreed to debate the reforms that his administration has been pushing to try to address the current crisis affecting Peru’s judicial and political systems.... Read More

* According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Unodc)’s latest Coca Cultivation Survey Report for Colombia, the area under coca cultivation in Colombia reached the highest ever recorded figure of 171,000 hectares (ha) in 2017.... Read More

Development: On 19 September, the Brazilian government announced that it is launching an online video campaign to combat ‘fake news’ about vaccination.... Read More

* Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right candidate from the Partido Social Liberal (PSL) in Brazil's 7 October presidential election, is working on building his support among the financial markets.... Read More

* Nicaragua’s central bank (BCN) has published its latest monthly economic activity index (Imae) for July, which showed a -4.2% fall in activity compared with the same month in 2017.... Read More

Development: On 19 September, around 3,000 people gathered in Mexico City’s main square to protest the government’s lack of help and funds in the reconstruction efforts following the earthquakes that devastated parts of the country in September last year.... Read More

* According to figures from Mexico’s economic and budgetary research centre (CIEP), a local-think tank, President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who takes office on 1 December, will have around M$700bn (US$37bn) for the social programmes that he promised in his electoral campaign – a figure which represents some 3% of GDP, leaving him little room for manoeuvre.... Read More

Development: On 19 September Paraguay’s President Mario Abdo Benítez publicly defended the recent appointments that he has made at the Itaipú bi-national hydroelectric dam that Paraguay shares with Brazil.... Read More

* Argentina’s national statistics institute (Indec) has released its latest economic growth figures, which show that the country’s GDP fell by 4.2% year-on-year in the second quarter.... Read More