LatinNews Daily - 03 April 2020

On 2 April, Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno acknowledged that the official figures on coronavirus (Covid-19) deaths are significantly understating the extent of the country’s health emergency and admitted that his government has been unable to cope with the severity of this “crisis”.... Read More

* Through a virtual meeting with Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac), Venezuela’s minister of social and territorial development, Aristóbulo Istúriz, has appealed for Bárcena to join United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in supporting the suspension of economic sanctions against Venezuela during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.... Read More

On 2 April, the Consórcio de Integração Sul e Sudeste (Cosud) organisation of southern and southeastern states in Brazil asked the federal government to take measures to help state governments as they face a sharp decrease in their revenue, due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.... Read More

* The finance secretary in Brazil’s economy ministry, Waldery Rodrigues, has outlined the expected fiscal impact of the measures taken by the federal government to contain and mitigate the impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.... Read More

On 2 April El Salvador’s human rights ombudsman (PDDH) José Apolonio Tobar warned that the military and police had destroyed journalists’ “informative material” and forced them to delete videos and photographs.... Read More

* Nicaragua’s central bank (BCN) has released new figures which show that GDP contracted by 3.9% in 2019, an improvement on the 4% contraction in 2018.... Read More

On 2 April Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador openly disagreed with the latest 2020 GDP growth forecast made by the federal finance ministry (SHCP), insisting that he is “optimistic” about Mexico’s economic prospects this year.... Read More

* The main index in Mexico’s stock market (BMV) fell by 0.3% on 2 April amid the growing uncertainty over the extent of the economic impact that the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic will have on Mexico’s domestic economy.... Read More

On 2 April Uruguay’s congress voted in favour of postponing the departmental and municipal elections that were scheduled for 10 May.... Read More

* Uruguay’s chamber of deputies has unanimously approved the creation of the ‘fondo solidario Covid-19’, a special fund set up to cover some of the costs of tackling the effects of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.... Read More