Weekly Report - 16 February 2023 (WR-23-07)

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro’s broad legislative alliance, which spans left-wing, centrist, and centre-right parties, is about to face its first real stress test.... Read More

Peru’s President Dina Boluarte met the leader of the right-wing Fuerza Popular (FP), Keiko Fujimori, on 15 February as part of a dialogue process to seek a way out of the country’s political crisis.... Read More

Ecuador’s agriculture minister, Bernardo Manzano, has become the latest casualty of a rising tide of corruption allegations levelled at President Guillermo Lasso’s government.... Read More

Agustín Rossi was sworn in as President Alberto Fernández’s new cabinet chief on 15 February.... Read More

In May 2008 Marina Silva, the high-profile green activist, presented her resignation from the job of minister for the environment to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, after disagreeing with him on a series of issues including the construction of hydroelectric dams in the Amazon.... Read More

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met US President Joe Biden in Washington on 10 February, shortly after hosting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Brasília on 30 January.... Read More

After initially rejecting the idea, Chile’s business community is expected to heed President Gabriel Boric’s call for talks on the current forest wildfires and the role of the logging industry’s ‘business model’.... Read More

BRAZIL | Campos Neto sounds conciliatory note.... Read More

Much bonhomie was on show between Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his Cuban counterpart Miguel Díaz-Canel on the latter’s visit to Mexico on 11 February.... Read More

On 14 February, the prosecution and the defence both rested their cases in the trial of Genaro García Luna, who served as Mexico’s top security official from 2006-2012.... Read More

The recent release of 222 political prisoners, who were placed on a flight and deported to the US, has taken the international community by surprise.... Read More

The Organization of American States (OAS) has passed a resolution proposing the creation of a working group of member states by 22 February to serve as a mechanism for regular OAS meetings on the situation in Haiti, with the aim of facilitating support for free, fair, and credible elections there.... Read More

EL SALVADOR | More IMF concerns over bitcoin risks.... Read More

Venezuela’s government and opposition both staged large rallies on 12 February to mark Venezuela’s Youth Day, which has emerged as an annual day of demonstrations by supporters and opponents of the ruling Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV).... Read More

“Change was the central word of the presidential campaign; it was why Colombians chose this government.... Read More