LatinNews Daily - 31 July 2019

On 30 July, the Nicaraguan opposition grouping Alianza Cívica por la Justicia y la Democracia (ACJD) urged the Organization of American States (OAS) Permanent Council to create a high-level commission, as stipulated in a 28 June OAS resolution, as part of efforts to secure a solution to Nicaragua’s political and social crisis.... Read More

On 30 July, the Russian government rejected an invitation to participate in the international conference on democracy in Venezuela, which is due to be held in Peru next week.... Read More

* Colombia’s Finance Minister Alberto Carrasquilla has presented a draft national budget (PGN) for the fiscal year 2020, which he vows is committed to the reactivation of the Colombian economy.... Read More

On 30 July, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian urged Brazil to renew its environmental commitments, as outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, during the COP25 climate meeting in Santiago de Chile later this year.... Read More

* The Brazilian government has revealed which ministries will be affected by the latest R$1.44bn (US$379.9m) budget contingencies, announced last week. The citizenship ministry will be the most affected with R$619.2m of its budget frozen, followed by the education ministry (R$348.5m) and the economy ministry (R$282.6m).... Read More

* Panama’s economy & finance ministry has revealed that Spanish multinational energy company Naturgy plans to invest US$500m in Panama in the coming years.... Read More

On 30 July, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador defended a recently approved law in Tabasco state that introduces severe punishments for those who block roads during public demonstrations.... Read More

* Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, a senator for Mexico’s ruling Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) party and leader of the national mine and metal workers’ union Los Mineros, has said that Mexico will seek to toughen mining laws and apply sanctions to companies that fail to comply with legislation in order to develop and relaunch the sector in an environmentally friendly way.... Read More

On 30 July, environmental NGO Greenpeace condemned the Chilean government for being “complicit” in the pollution of the coastal Quintero-Puchuncaví area in  Valparaíso Region, caused by decades of unregulated industrial activity.... Read More

* Uruguay’s court of auditors (TCR) has reportedly prepared a draft settlement for an agreement between the Korean multinational construction company Hyundai and Uruguay’s state-owned electricity company UTE.... Read More