LatinNews Daily - 22 April 2021

On 21 April Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno declared a month-long state of exception in 16 of the country’s 24 provinces, in response to a surge in coronavirus (Covid-19) infections.... Read More

* Peru’s labour ministry (MTPE) has announced that a second group of companies will benefit from the 'recovering formal employment' subsidiy, which has a total budget of PEN$45.86m (US$12.36m).... Read More

On 21 April, Brazil’s environment minister, Ricardo Salles, met with business leaders from the Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo (Fiesp) business lobby, who stressed the importance of the government establishing short-term targets to highlight its environmental commitments.... Read More

* The Instituto Aço Brasil, the Brazilian industry association of steel producers, has released figures on the sector’s performance in the first quarter of this year.... Read More

On 21 April El Salvador’s attorney general’s office (FGR) announced that six national police (PNC) officers have been arrested in relation to at least 10 illicit actions, including the arrest of an individual who remains missing.... Read More

* Costa Rica’s President Carlos Alvarado has welcomed new figures from the country’s official export promotion agency (Procomer) which show exports totalled US$3.34bn in the first quarter of 2021, up 11% on the same period in 2020.... Read More

On 21 April Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that his government is preparing a new plan to reinforce migration controls at the country’s southern border and announced an increase in the military presence at the border.... Read More

* Mexico’s chamber of deputies has approved a reform to the country’s hydrocarbons law which would bolster state-run oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) by removing a provision that encouraged competition, introduced in 2014 when the energy market was opened up to private companies under the previous government led by Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018).... Read More

On 21 April, protests were recorded in cities across Chile for the second night running, as the public expressed its dissatisfaction at the government’s decision to challenge plans for a third pensions withdrawal in the constitutional court (TC). ... Read More

* Paraguay’s chamber of deputies has approved legislation reassigning socio-environmental funds from the Itaipú binational dam that Paraguay shares with Brazil and the Yacyretá binational hydroelectric dam that Paraguay shares with Argentina to go on efforts to combat the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.... Read More