Weekly Report - 19 January 2023 (WR-23-03)

After a turbulent six weeks in office, Peru’s President Dina Boluarte’s troubled tenure has reached a critical juncture, with her political survival at stake.... Read More

A political storm is gathering around Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso amid allegations of widespread corruption linked to the running of state companies.... Read More

A serious diplomatic row has erupted between Colombia and Guatemala after Rafael Curruchiche, the head of the anti-impunity unit in Guatemala’s attorney general’s office, said that “legal actions” would be taken against Colombia’s defence minister, Iván Velásquez.... Read More

Faint hopes for a breakthrough in the standoff between President Nicolás Maduro’s government and the political opposition are fading, with the government’s chief negotiator, Jorge Rodríguez, warning on 17 January that “there is no reason to continue” with dialogue unless a previous agreement on the release of some US$3bn in frozen assets is upheld.... Read More

ECUADOR | Tax reform starts paying off.... Read More

A week after supporters of former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro (Partido Liberal, PL) stormed and vandalised Brazil’s congress, presidential palace, and supreme court (STF) headquarters in Brasília, the country’s authorities are now involved in a massive crackdown on those who executed, financed, instigated, or supported the rampage.... Read More

It is not often that governments take the opportunity to celebrate annual inflation of over 90%.... Read More

President Gabriel Boric has delivered on a campaign promise to halt the proposed US$2.5bn Dominga copper and iron mining project in the central region of Coquimbo.... Read More

The pre-campaign period for two key gubernatorial elections kicked off following a show of unity from Mexico’s three main opposition parties on 12 January.... Read More

Two recent announcements have renewed concerns over militarisation in Mexico and indicated that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has no intention of lessening his reliance on the military this year.... Read More

Former First Lady Sandra Torres, of the main opposition Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE), has formally announced her bid for the presidency ahead of Guatemala’s general elections on 25 June.... Read More

Prime Minister Gaston Browne and the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) will serve a third straight term in power after coming out on top in general elections on 18 January, but they will have a significantly reduced majority.... Read More

The recent arrests in El Salvador of five environmentalists have raised concerns that, faced with poor fiscal prospects due in part to the impact of its adoption of cryptocurrency bitcoin as legal tender in 2021, the government led by President Nayib Bukele could reverse a 2017 ban on metals mining [WR-17-13], as part of efforts to generate new revenue.... Read More

Following successive failed attempts at holding new elections, Haiti is now left with no democratically elected legislative officials after the terms of its last remaining 10 senators lapsed on 10 January.... Read More

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | Bringing inflation to heel.... Read More

Homicides jumped by as much as 25.2% in Uruguay in 2022, reaching a total of 383, according to figures released by the interior minister, Luis Alberto Heber, on 17 January.... Read More

“History will judge us, in time we will see whether for good or for ill; meanwhile, we have absolutely clear consciences.”... Read More