LatinNews Daily - 31 March 2021

On 30 March Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that allegations of a militarisation of the country under his administration “lack any logic” and insisted that the armed forces play a vital role in his government’s national development plan.... Read More

On 30 March the local media published a new opinion poll ahead of Ecuador’s 11 April presidential run-off which shows the conservative candidate, Guillermo Lasso, slightly ahead of leftist rival, Andrés Arauz.... Read More

* Peru’s congress has voted in favour of allowing individuals affiliated with the privately managed pension fund system (AFP) to make another withdrawal from their pension pots, in order to alleviate the economic hardship caused by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.... Read More

On 30 March, Brazil’s defence ministry announced that the commanders of the army, navy, and air force – General Edson Leal Pujol, Admiral Ilques Barbosa, and Lieutenant-Brigadier Antônio Carlos Bermudez – would all be replaced.... Read More

* Brazil’s economy ministry has released the latest figures from the national employment registry (Caged) according to which 401,639 formal jobs were created in February.... Read More

On 30 March Guatemala’s President Alejandro Giammattei held a telephone call with US Vice President Kamala Harris.... Read More

* The governor of the Dominican Republic’s central bank (BCRD), Héctor Valdez, has revealed new figures which show that the country’s monthly indicator of economic activity (IMAE) for February 2021 posted 1.1% growth year-on-year, the first positive growth since the start of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in March 2020.... Read More

* Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said that of the 1.12m formal jobs lost as a result of the impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, 538,013 had been recovered.... Read More

On 30 March, Paraguay suffered another setback to its faltering programme of vaccination against the coronavirus (Covid-19), after the Brazilian sanitary regulator (Anvisa) denied a certificate of good practices to Indian laboratory Bharat Biotech, from whom Paraguay has just received 100,000 doses of its Covaxin vaccine.   ... Read More

* German carmaker BMW has signed a multi-year contract worth €285m (US$334m) with US-based company Livent to source lithium from Argentina, a deal which will help BMW achieve its target to make half of the company’s global sales exclusively from electric vehicles by 2030.... Read More