LatinNews Daily - 19 April 2021

On 16 April the pollster Ipsos published a voting intention poll showing the far-left candidate, Pedro Castillo, with an 11 percentage-point lead over his right-wing rival, Keiko Fujimori, ahead of Peru’s 6 June presidential run-off election.... Read More

* Ecuador’s state-run oil company, Petroecuador, has awarded Singaporean firm, Trafigura PTE, a contract to export 1.9m barrels of number six fuel oil.... Read More

On 18 April, a new phase of more relaxed restrictions against the coronavirus (Covid-19) began in Brazil’s São Paulo state.... Read More

* Joaquim Silva e Luna, a retired four-star general, has been confirmed as the new CEO of Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras.... Read More

On 18 April Cuba’s Prime Minister Manuel Marrero acknowledged that agriculture had “not reached the level of production needed to satisfy the population’s demand”, describing this not only as a “priority but… a national security issue”.... Read More

* Honduras’s central bank (BCH) has released new figures which show Honduras’s exports in the first two months of 2021 totalled US$785.4m, down 3.4% on the same period in 2020.... Read More

On 18 April Mexico’s ruling left-wing Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) announced that it would seek to impeach two councillors on the national electoral institute (INE), including its president, for having barred some of the party’s candidates from competing in June’s midterm federal and state congressional and gubernatorial elections.... Read More

* A drought in Mexico has now affected 83.92% of the country, hitting the countryside which had already suffered from a decrease in precipitation in 2020.... Read More

On 18 April, a local court in Argentina ordered the Buenos Aires City (Caba) government to guarantee that all Caba public schools remain open for in-person learning.... Read More

* Paraguay’s President Mario Abdo Benítez has promulgated a law approved last week by the country’s bicameral legislature, which creates a national fund to cover 100% of hospitalisation expenses for patients with coronavirus (Covid-19) who are in intensive care units (ICUs).... Read More

Honduras: On 12 April Honduras’s foreign minister, Lisandro Rosales, announced the installation of five working tables with the US to address transparency & anti-corruption; security & defence; a reconstruction plan; climate change & economic opportunities; and migration.... Read More