LatinNews Daily - 07 February 2019

On 6 February, Juan Francisco Sandoval, a prosecutor from Guatemala’s attorney general's office (AG) special unit against corruption (Feci), requested that Sandra Torres, the presidential candidate for the main opposition Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE) party, be stripped of her immunity from prosecution to be investigated for alleged illegal campaign financing.... Read More

On 6 February, the president of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled national assembly and self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaidó, ordered the country’s armed forces to allow the entry of foreign humanitarian aid into Venezuela.... Read More

* According to figures from Colombia’s national statistics agency (Dane) and Colombia’s tax authority (Dian), Colombia’s exports totalled US$41.83bn in 2018, up 10.4% on the previous year.... Read More

On 6 February, a Brazilian court convicted former president Lula de Silva (2003-2011) on a second corruption charge, adding a further twelve years and eleven months to his prison sentence.... Read More

* Brazil’s national association of automotive manufacturers (Anfavea) has released new figures which show that 196,800 vehicles were manufactured in Brazil in January, a 10% fall on the same month in 2018.... Read More

* The Haitian government led by President Jovenel Moïse has declared a state of economic emergency.... Read More

On 6 February, the United Nations (UN) working group on human rights in Mexico reiterated its “grave concern” at President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s plan to improve public security in the country with the creation of a national guard.... Read More

*At a mining forum in Mexico, the country’s deputy mining minister, Francisco Quiroga, said that the country’s mining sector will “take off”.... Read More

On 6 February, an anti-drug task force composed of officials from Paraguay's national anti-narcotics secretariat (Senad) and the attorney’s general's office seized a shipment of 2.2 tonnes (t) of cocaine in the Yby Yaú area of Concepción department.... Read More

* Argentina’s central bank (BCRA) has released new figures which show that the country’s reserves reached US$66.8bn as of 4 February.... Read More