LatinNews Daily - 24 March 2023

On 23 March, Paraguay’s attorney general announced the launch of an investigation into former president Horacio Cartes (2013-2018) and current vice president Hugo Velázquez, after the US accused the two men of corruption.... Read More

Colombia’s government led by President Gustavo Petro announced on 23 March that it was abandoning its planned political reform bill, saying that after congressional amendments it no longer fulfilled its objectives of strengthening democracy, the role of political parties, and the representation of women.... Read More

*The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a new statement following the conclusion of an Article IV visit to Colombia, in which it said that the Colombian economy is “now undergoing a necessary transition towards a more sustainable growth path.” The IMF statement highlights that Colombia’s economy grew at 7.5% year-on-year in 2022; one of the fastest rates among emerging economies as it “benefitted from an effective policy response” to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and “highly favourable terms of trade”.... Read More

On 23 March, police from Brazil's south-eastern state of Rio de Janeiro announced the launch of an operation to capture high-ranking members of criminal organisations in the municipality of São Gonçalo, leading to at least 13 fatalities, according to local media reports.... Read More

*Brazil’s agriculture minister Carlos Fávaro has announced that China will lift the suspension of Brazilian beef imports, which had been in place since 23 February after the detection of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also known as ‘mad cow disease’).... Read More

On 23 March the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Corte-IDH) held a second and final day of hearings on the case of a young woman known only as ‘Beatriz’, who was denied an abortion by El Salvador despite her high-risk pregnancy.... Read More

*The World Bank (WB) has approved a US$160m loan to strengthen the Costa Rican government’s ability to manage risk resulting from natural and pandemic-related hazards, including the adverse effects of climate change and disease outbreaks.... Read More

On 23 March, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador denied that the defence ministry (Sedena) spied on citizens.... Read More

*Mexico’s national statistics institute (Inegi) has released the latest figures for the consumer price index (INPC), which shows that prices rose 0.15% in the first two weeks of March as compared to the previous two weeks.... Read More

* Uruguay’s central bank (BCU) has released new figures which show that Uruguay’s GDP in the fourth quarter of 2022 was down by 0.1% in annual terms, which the BCU attributes to lower agricultural production in the 2022/2023.... Read More