LatinNews Daily - 28 January 2021

On 27 January Spain-based NGO Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos (OCDH) condemned public aggression by Cuba’s culture minister, Alpidio Alonso Grau, against artists and journalists peacefully demonstrating in Cuba’s capital, Havana, and called on the European Union (EU) and US to sanction Alonso.... Read More

On 27 January, Ecuador’s health minister Juan Carlos Zevallos rejected the widespread calls for his resignation over his handling of the coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine rollout.... Read More

* Peru’s Prime Minister Violeta Bermúdez has announced that an emergency subsidy worth PEN600 (US$165) will be delivered to more than 4m families in the ten regions put back into lockdown on 26 January, following the onset of a ‘second wave’ of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in Peru.... Read More

On 27 January, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro lashed out at the press in an expletives-riddled tirade, following media scrutiny into his government’s spending on food.... Read More

* Brazil’s national treasury secretariat has reported that federal public debt totalled R$5.01trn (US$925.33bn) at the close of 2020, a 17.9% increase on the levels of public debt recorded in 2019.... Read More

* Guatemala and Taiwan have announced a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) whereby Taiwan has authorised US$60m in aid for new projects in Guatemala over the next four years.... Read More

On 27 January, Mexico’s national statistics institute (Inegi) published a report showing that the coronavirus (Covid-19) death toll from January to August 2020 was 55.56% higher than the statistics reported by the health ministry (SSA).... Read More

* Alicia Bárcena, the executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac), has called on the Mexican government to implement “public policies that are more robust and effective”, and to provide “urgent” support for vulnerable sectors of the population, in light of the recent surge in numbers of coronavirus (Covid-19) cases and deaths in the country.... Read More

On 27 January Uruguay’s President Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou ruled out the possibility that his government could declare a national lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19).... Read More

* Argentina’s economy ministry has issued Ar$199.4bn (US$2.3bn) worth of bonds on the domestic market, through four new short-term bonds which mature later this year and the re-opening of two treasury bonds maturing in September 2022 and March 2023.... Read More