LatinNews Daily - 01 November 2021

On 29 October the media reported the findings of a new report by a local human rights observatory, Mecanismo para el Reconocimiento de Personas Presas Políticas (MRPPP), which tallied 159 political prisoners in Nicaragua, up from 155 reported previously.... Read More

Over the 30-31 October weekend ongoing protests against mining companies in Peru intensified, with Apumayo gold mine in the Ayacucho region being invaded by protesters and the Antamina copper mine (Ancash) suspending operations due to roadblocks.... Read More

* Colombia’s central bank (Banrep) has raised the country’s interest rate by 50 basis points to 2.5%.... Read More

On 31 October members of Brazil’s military police and highway patrol in Varginha municipality, Minas Gerais state, shot and killed 25 people in a raid on suspected bank robbers, prompting praise from authorities and accusations of brutality from critics. Analysis: The episode has renewed concern over a spike in violence fueled by a vicious circle of rising poverty and inequality on the one hand and more relaxed gun laws on the other.... Read More

* Brazil’s central bank (BCB) has released its latest update on the country’s fiscal situation, according to which the public sector posted a R$12.93bn (US$2.28bn) primary surplus in September.... Read More

* Marino Murillo, the chairman of Cuba’s Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC)’s economic policy commission in charge of implementing economic reform guidelines, has presented a report outlining the results of the currency reform which took effect at the start of the year.... Read More

On 31 October journalists led a protest in Mexico’s Acapulco city (Guerrero state) over the recent murder of photojournalist Alfredo Cardoso and subsequent controversial public statements by the city’s mayor, Abelina López.... Read More

* Mexico’s national statistics institute (Inegi) has released new figures which show the country’s GDP contracted 0.2% in the July-September 2021 quarter, in seasonally-adjusted terms compared with the previous quarter.... Read More

On 31 October the G20 summit in Rome published its final communiqué which included a call to review the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s policy of applying interest rate surcharges on debt repayments by member countries.... Read More

* Chile’s national statistics institute (INE) has announced that the country’s unemployment rate fell to 8.4% over the period of July-September 2021 – the lowest level since March 2020 when the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic struck.... Read More

Colombia: On 25 October, the US Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) published a press release detailing a new US-Colombia counternarcotic strategy developed by the Counternarcotics Working Group between the US and Colombian governments.... Read More