Weekly Report - 20 April 2023 (WR-23-16)

The price of the free market or ‘blue’ dollar soared again this week, a de facto indicator of sharply falling business and political confidence in Argentina.... Read More

Bolivia’s economy minister, Marcelo Montenegro, tried to assuage public concerns on 19 April, insisting that the economy was going through “an important moment of reconstruction”, while adapting to “a series of difficulties”, such as the pandemic and higher fuel costs, but that there was no fundamental problem.... Read More

Ever since the impeachment of former president Pedro Castillo (2021-2022) last December the nucleus of anti-government protests in Peru has been the south-eastern region of Puno, bordering Bolivia.... Read More

With its ‘total peace’ project at risk of unravelling, Colombia’s government has turned for advice to former commanders of the right-wing paramilitary group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), which demobilised in 2006.... Read More

Sabre-rattling between Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso and the national assembly has reached new heights after Lasso told the UK’s Financial Times that he would dissolve the legislature if it convenes an impeachment trial against him.... Read More

The last 10 days have seen hyperactive diplomacy by Brazil, with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva paying a state visit to China, stopping off briefly at the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and preparing a visit to Portugal and Spain starting later this week.... Read More

Chile’s US$3bn Los Bronces Integrado (LBI) copper mine expansion project got the green light on 17 April from a six-strong ministerial committee, reversing a May 2022 decision to reject it taken by the environmental regulator (Servicio de Evaluación Ambiental – SEA).... Read More

Government spending for 2024 was projected at R$172bn (US$34.1bn), although the MP admitted that this estimated limit on spending would not work without approval of the new fiscal framework, a set of fiscal discipline rules which would limit the growth of expenditure in any given year to 70% of the rise in revenues. In a press conference on 17 April, the planning minister, Simone Tebet, highlighted the importance of the fiscal framework, stating that “if we do not approve the framework, we will not have resources for Minha Casa, Minha Vida, for roads, for basic education, for basic health treatment, Farmacia Popular, among many other programmes”.... Read More

Mexico’s supreme court (SCJN) issued two rulings this week that rolled back some of the power that the armed forces have amassed under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and, in doing so, undermined a key presidential initiative.... Read More

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced the unsealing of five federal indictments targeting leaders and collaborators of the Sinaloa drug trafficking organisation (DTO) on 14 April.... Read More

“The achievements of El Salvador are unprecedented in the modern history of humanity,” President Nayib Bukele tweeted on 13 April.... Read More

Nicaragua’s authoritarian government led by President Daniel Ortega has announced the launch of phase one of a housing construction project ‘Nuevas Victorias’ to be undertaken with Chinese cooperation.... Read More

With Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s request for an international military deployment [WR-22-41] continuing to fall on deaf ears, the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Volker Türk has appointed an expert on human rights in Haiti for a one-year period.... Read More

“The recurring problems in Argentina owe to the scarcity of dollars, we are seeing it this year with the drought.”... Read More