Weekly Report - 09 May 2019 (WR-19-18)

Laurentino ‘Nito’ Cortizo of the opposition Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) won Panama’s presidential elections on 5 May.... Read More

It took just nine days from Juan Guaidó’s failed uprising on 30 April for the pliant attorney general’s office, supreme court (TSJ), and national constituent assembly (ANC), to file and rubberstamp charges of treason and other high crimes against senior deputies in the opposition-controlled national assembly, including the body’s vice-president, Edgar Zambrano, who was arrested on 8 May, and strip them of immunity from prosecution.... Read More

The government led by President Iván Duque was forced on the defensive this week over its record in providing protection for civil and human rights activists after one of Colombia’s most prominent social leaders narrowly survived an attack by armed assailants.... Read More

PERU | Increase in pensions approved.... Read More

Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri invited leaders of the opposition, including his arch rival former president Cristina Fernández (2007-2015), chambers of commerce, trade unions, and religious organisations on 6 May to discuss and implement a 10-point accord designed to assuage the concerns of the markets ahead of October’s presidential elections, and revive faith in the country’s faltering economy.... Read More

The economic optimism with which Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro and Economy Minister Paulo Guedes were ushered in at the beginning of the year has been tempered by disappointing growth, persistently high unemployment, and political stasis.... Read More

Hundreds of secondary school and university students, as well as teachers, have taken to the streets this week in cities across Brazil to protest recently announced cuts to the country’s education system.... Read More

Miguel Prieto was declared the virtual winner of the 5 May mayoral by-election held in Ciudad del Este (CDE), Paraguay’s second city.... Read More

CHILE | Piñera backs four day working week.... Read More

Thousands of protesters took to the streets on 5 May in cities across Mexico to protest against the government led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.... Read More

MEXICO | OECD study.... Read More

With just over three weeks to go before he takes office on 1 June, El Salvador’s President-elect Nayib Bukele has revealed his first (and so far only) cabinet appointee.... Read More

Costa Rica’s President Carlos Alvarado has marked his first year in office for the centre-left Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC).... Read More

Uncertainty surrounds whether Dominican President Danilo Medina will seek to amend, or circumvent, the constitution to stand for a third term in presidential elections this time next year.... Read More

Following the controversy sparked by Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera’s entourage on his Asian tour [WR-19-17], he has decided to cancel a trip to Europe scheduled for next week.... Read More

“The fissures [in the military] opened on 30 April will become a crack, and that crack will deepen until it breaks the dam.”... Read More