Weekly Report - 20 February 2020 (WR-20-07)

Not since Lucio Gutiérrez (2003-2005) met George W Bush on 11 February 2003 had an Ecuadorean president been invited to the White House.... Read More

According to Maduro, over 2.3m uniformed officers were deployed across the country for the first large-scale military exercises of the year, “to defend [our] territorial integrity, [our] independence and [our] national sovereignty.” Footage broadcast over the weekend by the state television VTV showed the armed forces handling artillery and tanks, as well as marching through the streets of Venezuelan cities, including the capital Caracas. These military troops were deployed “on each ship, to each border post, throughout the airspace, in each city, on each street, determined to defend their homeland with love,” Maduro’s defence minister, General-in-chief Vladimir Padrino López, said on 15 February.... Read More

It is being widely reported, based on comments by MAS sources to national daily El Deber, that while the party’s presidential nominee Luis Arce has been approved, former president Evo Morales (2006-2019) will be disqualified from running for senate.... Read More

The extent of the damage has not yet been fully established.... Read More

The IMF mission said it had enjoyed “very productive meetings” with the Argentine authorities and acknowledged that they were addressing the difficult economic and social situation in the country while at the same time taking steps to resolve the debt situation (it notes the restricting of capital flows, imposing maturity extensions on certain debts, and financing the fiscal deficit with reserves from the central bank [BCRA]).... Read More

These latest ministerial musical chairs follow a number of changes in both the upper and lower echelons of government, as President Bolsonaro appears to be bowing to pressure from different groups around him and attempting to react to dissatisfaction with the government’s performance in certain areas, not least relating to the social agenda.... Read More

It is the first time in Uruguay’s history that as many as seven political parties have been represented in congress (see table below).... Read More

There were none of the violent incidents which have characterised many of the other protests that have taken place since social unrest began in Chile last October.... Read More

In 2019 Guanajuato registered 3,540 intentional homicides, up from 3,290 in 2018 and 1,423 in 2017, according to the latest figures from Mexico’s national public security executive secretariat (SESNSP).... Read More

MEXICO | FDI inflows.... Read More

The Costa Rican government led by President Carlos Alvarado last week revealed a comprehensive plan aimed at tackling the country’s rising fiscal deficit.... Read More

“These are difficult days in which you have decided to support and protect the Salvadorean people when we know that the majority of politicians are protecting the criminals; days in which we know that deputies and former ministers financed the criminals that you are going to have to pursue and capture,” President Bukele said, addressing the soldiers during a ceremony in front of the old national palace in San Salvador on 18 February.... Read More

Protesters gathered outside the JCE in a heavy downpour to demonstrate against the suspension of the municipal elections.... Read More

Approved on 11 February, Ley 5257 was first presented in 2017 as part of a series of reforms to the penal code.... Read More

Susana Vilca Achata picks up the energy and mines portfolio from Juan Carlos Lui, whose position became untenable after it emerged that through his company, Conasac, he had provided services to the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht between 2010 and 2014 at the same time as he was serving as an adviser and consultant to the energy and mines ministry for which he been tasked with drawing up a report into the gas pipeline project Gasoducto Sur Peruano (GSP) [WR-20-06]. The justice and human rights minister, Ana Teresa Revilla, resigned after it was revealed that she had brokered a recent meeting between Liu and Odebrecht representatives over the GSP.... Read More

Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández in a radio interview.    “When the criminals ask them [deputies] for money to kill the Salvadorean people they say ‘yes’, but when we ask for money for a boat to combat drug-trafficking they say ‘no’.” El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele shows no sign of backing down in his dispute with the country’s legislative deputies.   “We stand to lose a lot if we go down the route of fanaticism.... Read More