LatinNews Regional Monitor: Brazil & Southern Cone - 15 March 2019

On 14 March, Brazil’s supreme court (STF) ruled by six votes to five that cases involving non-electoral crimes, such as corruption and money laundering, but that are linked to electoral crimes, such as undeclared campaign financing (‘caixa 2’), must be judged in the country’s electoral courts.... Read More

* Brazil’s national statistics institute (Ibge) has released figures which show that retail sales increased 0.4% month-on-month in January, after a 2.1% monthly decrease in December 2018.... Read More

On 14 March, Argentina’s national statistics institute (Indec) reported that inflation for the month of February reached 3.8%, bringing 12-month inflation to 51.3%.... Read More

* Paraguay’s central bank (BCP) has released the latest instalment of its monthly economic activity indicator (Imaep), a GDP proxy measure, which shows that activity fell by 0.1% in January.... Read More

Brazil’s northern border state of Roraima, one of the country’s poorest, has endured much of the economic and social impact of the Venezuelan exodus to Brazil.... Read More

Venezuela’s multi-layered crisis is fuelling tensions between the government led by President Sebastián Piñera and the left-wing opposition over Chile’s traditionally apolitical foreign policy.... Read More

The 10 March gubernatorial election in Argentina’s Neuquén province, the opening contest of this general election year, produced a re-election victory for the incumbent governor, Omar Gutiérrez.... Read More

PARAGUAY | IMF revision.... Read More

On 14 March 2018, leftist Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco was shot dead, along with her driver Anderson Gomes, in what has been treated as a politically-motivated assassination.... Read More