LatinNews Daily - 29 November 2021

Honduras looks set to shift from the right to the left after the presidential elections on 28 November saw Xiomara Castro of the opposition Partido Libertad y Refundación (Libre) open up a commanding lead over her rival Nasry Asfura of the long-ruling Partido Nacional (PN), according to preliminary results.... Read More

On 26 November Ecuador’s national assembly failed to either approve or reject the government’s proposed tax reform, meaning that President Guillermo Lasso can promulgate it by default.... Read More

* Peru’s unicameral national congress has approved the government’s budget for 2022, which sets out PEN197.0bn (US$49.11bn) in spending – a 7.6% increase on the 2021 budget.... Read More

On 27 November João Doria, the current governor of São Paulo state, won the primaries of his centre-right Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB) to become the party’s nominee for Brazil’s 2022 presidential election. ... Read More

* The tourism council at the Federação do Comércio de Bens, Serviços e Turismo do Estado de São Paulo (FecomercioSP) business association has released new data showing that the Brazilian tourism sector continues to suffer from the impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.... Read More

* El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has said that his country purchased a further 100 bitcoins (BTC) when the market value of the cryptocurrency dropped on 26 November.... Read More

On 26 November, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), a United Nations (UN) body, delivered a damning review of the state of disappearances in Mexico and the government’s failure to address the issue adequately.  ... Read More

* Mexico’s national statistics institute (Inegi) has released the latest figures on the country’s balance of trade, which show that the country recorded a US$2.70bn trade deficit in October this year, compared with a US$6.26bn trade surplus in October 2020.... Read More

After two weeks of silence following the government’s defeat in the mid-term congressional elections, Vice-President Cristina Fernández published an open letter on 27 November, stating that responsibility for negotiating an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lies fully with President Alberto Fernández and congress.... Read More

* Argentina’s Productive Development Minister Matías Kulfas has defended the central bank’s decision to prohibit the sale of holidays and foreign travel using repayment plans.... Read More

Honduras: On 21 November US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols began a three-day visit to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where he met with Honduran government leaders, the leadership of the national electoral council (CNE), as well as representatives of Honduran civil society and the business community. According to a US State Department press release, through these engagements Nichols will “relay support for Honduras’ democratic institutions and encourage the peaceful, transparent conduct of free and fair national elections” which are scheduled for 28 November.... Read More