Weekly Report - 21 March 2019 (WR-19-11)

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador presented one of his government’s flagship policy proposals at the weekend: a five-year national development plan designed not just to drive economic growth and attract foreign direct investment (FDI) but also to improve justice and the rule of law, and social welfare, “ending the nightmare that was neoliberal politics”.... Read More

Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno completed a profound foreign policy transformation last week by formally suspending his country’s membership of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) and seeking to recover the US$43.5m headquarters of the integration movement located in Ciudad Mitad del Mundo, north of Quito.... Read More

The long-running investigations into official corruption centred around the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht are still causing political division and tensions in Peru.... Read More

The disruptive and violent protests being staged by indigenous groups in Colombia’s south-western departments of Cauca and Huila are emerging as a significant political test for the government led by President Iván Duque.... Read More

VENEZUELA | Guaidó’s IDB delegate approved.... Read More

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has always been open about his admiration for his US peer Donald Trump, to whom he is so often compared that he has earned the moniker ‘the Trump of the Tropics’.... Read More

Argentina’s central bank (BCRA) hoisted the benchmark interest rate back up to record levels last week after inflation reached a 12-month high in February.... Read More

Uruguay’s President Tabaré Vázquez adjudged that the army commander, Guido Manini Ríos, had gone too far last week and summarily dismissed him.... Read More

BRAZIL | Airport concessions.... Read More

Haiti’s 119-member lower chamber has passed a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Jean Henry Céant and his government.... Read More

The Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) administration led by President Daniel Ortega has agreed to release within 90 days all political prisoners (802 on the latest report from local human rights groups).... Read More

President-elect Nayib Bukele chose to give his first official speech since his landslide victory last month at the US conservative think tank Heritage Foundation.... Read More

Juan Guaidó has begun a tour of Venezuela’s 23 states in a bid to build momentum behind his claim to the presidency and sweep Nicolás Maduro from office.... Read More

“In Mexico we have not just carried out a simple change of government, it is a change of regime.... Read More