Weekly Report - 27 April 2023 (WR-23-17)

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has taken a political gamble that could shape the rest of his presidency.... Read More

Venezuela’s former opposition leader Juan Guaidó was subjected to fresh humiliation on 24 April, four months after he was ousted as head of the opposition in January [WR-23-01].... Read More

Once hailed as the bright face of a new dawn of democracy, former president Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) returned to Peru on 23 April facing a dark future after losing a long battle to avoid extradition from the US to confront corruption charges that could see him spend the remainder of his days behind bars.... Read More

With the peso in freefall, runaway inflation, the spectre of devaluation, growing poverty, and a high disapproval rating, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández to sustain the illusion that he might seek re-election in October.... Read More

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On 26 April congress opened a select committee enquiry (Comissão Parlamentar de Inquérito – CPI) into the events of 8 January, when a right-wing mob rioted and attacked the seat of government in Brasília.... Read More

Brazil’s federal police (PF) have launched Operation ‘Ponte de Ouro’, which will investigate individuals suspected of involvement in a network of illegal gold suppliers, who have profited from the gold extracted within the official demarcated territory (TI) of the Yanomami indigenous people in the northern states of Roraima and Amazonas.... Read More

BRAZIL | Increased sugar cane production.... Read More

On 24 April, Mexico’s supreme court (SCJN) issued its second ruling within a week regarding the national guard (GN).... Read More

Progress is being made in the criminal investigation into a fire that killed 40 migrants at a national migration institute (INM) facility in Ciudad Juárez, in the northern state of Chihuahua, on 27 March.... Read More

Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel, the first non-Castro leader since the 1959 Revolution, has begun a second five-year term following his ratification by Cuba’s 470-member national assembly (ANPP) on 19 April, ending an electoral process which began last November [WR-22-48].... Read More

In response to record homicides last year, and amid little sign of this violence abating, Costa Rica’s President Rodrigo Chaves has unveiled a new security plan ‘Operación Costa Rica Segura’ (Operation Safe Costa Rica).... Read More

Executives of Bolivia’s stricken bank Banco Fassil were arrested this week, accused by the attorney general’s office of “financial crimes”.... Read More

“[We need officials prepared] to work day and night, whose heart is aligned with the poor rather than simply earning a salary with commission, and who are capable of confronting the enormous challenges demanded by rural Colombia.... Read More