LatinNews Daily - 29 June 2020

On 27 June Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador repudiated the armed attack targeting Mexico City’s public security minister, Omar García Harfuch, and said that his government will not be intimidated by organised crime, nor negotiate with it.... Read More

On 26 June, Bolivia’s electoral tribunal (TSE) officially confirmed the resumption of the electoral calendar, ahead of the country’s rescheduled general election on 6 September.... Read More

* Colombia’s deputy finance minister, Juan Pablo Zárate, has reported that the government has revised down its GDP growth predictions for 2020, expecting the country’s economy to contract by 5.5% this year.... Read More

On 28 June, the president of Brazil’s chamber of deputies, Rodrigo Maia, celebrated the results of the latest Datafolha poll, according to which 75% of Brazilians support a democratic regime over a dictatorship.... Read More

* The Brazilian government has signed a US$127m agreement to locally produce a coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine that has been developed by the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and is licensed to British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.... Read More

On 27 June Guatemala’s constitutional court (CC) suspended the process of stripping four of its own magistrates of their immunity from prosecution.... Read More

* Antigua & Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has indicated that Caribbean airline Liat will almost certainly be closed due to unsustainable finances exacerbated by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, and that a new company will be formed in its place.... Read More

* Mexico’s national statistics institute (Inegi) has published trade figures for May, which show Mexico registered a trade deficit of US$3.5bn, a significant reduction compared with the US$957m trade surplus recorded in the same month of 2019.... Read More

On 26 June Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández announced a new extension of the lockdown in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires (Amba), and tightening of restrictions, in a bid to try and curtail a surge in coronavirus (Covid-19) cases.... Read More

* Chile’s state-owned copper mining company, Codelco, has temporarily shut down its copper smelter, reducing operations to comply with health protocols in the Chuquicamata mine, due to a high concentration of coronavirus (Covid-19) cases in Antofagasta Region, northern Chile, where the mine is located.... Read More

Central America: In a 24 June press release US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said that he had recently informed the US Congress of the US government’s intent to provide US$252m in additional foreign assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.... Read More