LatinNews Regional Monitor: Caribbean & Central America - 24 April 2020

On 23 April the Nicaraguan medical association (ANM) issued a statement urging the health ministry to guarantee the protection of doctors and healthcare professionals faced with the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, and criticised the lack of clarity surrounding official information.... Read More

* Minera Panamá, the local subsidiary of Canada’s First Quantum Minerals Ltd, has announced the suspension of all workers’ contracts at the Cobre Panama mine, the largest mine in the country.... Read More

President Nayib Bukele’s refusal on three occasions to heed rulings by the constitutional chamber (SC) of the supreme court (CSJ) relating to the detention of individuals in the framework of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic is attracting mounting international condemnation.... Read More

Last month the international anti-corruption NGO Transparency International (TI) warned about “serious corruption risks in the region’s emergency response” to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, singling out the public procurement system.... Read More

The Nicaraguan government’s recent announcement that students of all levels would return to class, following an extended Easter break, is at odds with more stringent strategies pursued by the rest of Central America to stop the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19), in line with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.... Read More

An unprecedented slump in oil prices, which tipped into negative territory for the first time in history on 20 April in the US over storage concerns, poses a huge challenge to Latin America’s oil-producing nations, especially Venezuela and Ecuador, as well as Colombia.... Read More