LatinNews Regional Monitor: Brazil & Southern Cone - 7 January 2019

Development: On 5 January, 300 members of Brazil’s elite national public security force began operations in the north-eastern state of Ceará, providing support to state security forces as a wave of violence has swept across the state.... Read More

* Brazil’s new chief of staff, Onyx Lorenzoni, has said that the government will not lower income tax rates until it has first readjusted the country’s fiscal balance, which requires tackling its primary deficit (Brazil’s fiscal deficit is expected to total R$139bn [US$37.4bn] this year).... Read More

Development: On 5 January the Chilean press circulated a missive by a local group calling itself ‘Individualistas Tendiendo a lo Salvaje’ (ITS-Chile, ‘Individualists verging on the savage’) warning that an explosion which went off the previous day was “just a warning”.... Read More

* The Paraguayan chamber of maquiladora firms (Cemap) has reported that national maquila exports reached US$37.7m in December 2018, a 20% year-on-year increase.... Read More