Weekly Report - 08 November 2018 (WR-18-44)

Three members of Venezuela’s Bolivarian national guard (GNB) were killed by members of an illegal armed group on 4 November in the southern state of Amazonas bordering Colombia.... Read More

Following the announcement last month of his intention to run in the presidential election in October next year [WR-18-41], Bolivia’s former president Carlos Mesa (2003-2005) has moved to enlist the support of another prominent opponent, Luis Revilla, the leader of the Soberanía y Libertad para Bolivia (Sol.bo) political grouping and current mayor of La Paz.... Read More

BOLIVIA | New biofuel to improve energy security.... Read More

As the presidential transition process gets underway, President-elect Jair Bolsonaro has begun to reveal the names of some of his cabinet appointees.... Read More

Brazil’s president-elect Jair Bolsonaro is often dubbed the ‘Trump of the tropics’, a sometimes facile and inaccurate comparison with US President Donald Trump.... Read More

In what was looking like a relatively good week for Mauricio Macri, the Argentine president was pushing back on three fronts: trying to head off another general strike; sealing a deal which should get the 2019 budget approved in the federal senate; and seeking to influence a key supreme court ruling on pensions.... Read More

PARAGUAY | Taiwan completes donation.... Read More

Mexico’s traditional parties, decisively punished by the electorate in July’s general election, are preparing for life as a minority opposition.... Read More

MEXICO | Trade balance.... Read More

The government led by President Jimmy Morales bowed to the inevitable and dismissed the deputy interior minister, Kamilo Rivera, on 2 November.... Read More

With the fiscal reform approved by the 57-member unicameral legislature [WR-18-40] still under consultation and awaiting promulgation, President Carlos Alvarado is facing renewed pressure to address inequality in the country.... Read More

The presidents of China’s oldest and newest diplomatic allies in Latin America visited the Asian giant in recent days, culminating in their attendance at the six-day China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, which opened on 5 November.... Read More

Ecuador’s longest serving president will have to go in the dock.... Read More

“In Venezuela and Nicaragua, desperate autocratic leaders, hell-bent on maintaining their grip on power, have joined their Cuban counterparts in the same oppressive behaviour of unjust imprisonment, torture, and murder.... Read More