LatinNews Daily - 12 October 2018

Development: On 11 October Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra criticised the actions of the opposition-controlled national congress and rejected the accusations made by opposition legislators that his government was preparing an institutional putsch against the legislature.... Read More

* Colombia’s national federation of coffee growers (FNC) was one of the associations from more than 30 countries that signed a letter directed at the world’s principal wholesale coffee buyers (including companies such as Starbucks and Nestlé), warning them of the urgency of finding a solution to the current coffee price crisis.... Read More

Development: On 11 October, the candidates in Brazil’s 28 October presidential run-off, Jair Bolsonaro (Partido Social Liberal, PSL) and Fernando Haddad (Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT), gave several separate interviews to national media in which they discussed future policies and ministerial appointments.... Read More

* Brazil’s national statistics institute (IBGE) estimates that the September crop of cereals, legumes, and oilseeds in the country will total 226.2m tonnes, a 6% decrease on the September 2017 crop.... Read More

Development: On 11 October Panama’s electoral authorities (TSE) declared José Domingo Arias the winner of the 7 October presidential primaries for the recently launched Partido Alianza (PA).... Read More

* Honduras’s private sector lobby, Cohep, has hailed the 10 October announcement by President Juan Orlando Hernández to “re-found” the electrical energy sector.... Read More

Development: On 11 October, along with US Vice President Mike Pence, Mexico’s foreign and interior ministers, Luis Videgaray and Alfonso Navarrete respectively, co-hosted in Washington DC the first day of the second Conference for Prosperity and Security in Central America.... Read More

* Mexico’s economy ministry (SE) has issued a statement saying that it will carefully analyse the announcement by Canada that it will impose an import tariff on a series of steel products, and that it will adopt any necessary countermeasures to protect Mexican steel exporters.... Read More

Development: On 11 October Carlos Silva, the president of the association of active and retired military officers, Centro Militar, said that the conditions are in place for the military to take power again in Uruguay as “there is no democracy”.... Read More

* The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has announced that it will be funding a project to increase youth employment and reduce the gender gap through sports in Argentina, in association with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).... Read More