Unity in the face of adversity is the PT’s new mantra in the face of opposition attacks. On 30 August Federal Deputy João Paulo Cunha of the ruling Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) abandoned his bid for the mayoralty of the São Paulo municipality of Osasco in October’s municipal elections, a day after the supreme court president, Carlos Ayres Britto, became the last of 11 magistrates to find Cunha and four others guilty of crimes including active and passive corruption, the misuse of public funds and money laundering, thereby ending the first of seven chapters of the mensalão corruption trial at…

URUGUAY| Tax take on the up. According to Uruguay’s tax authority (DGI), the overall tax take for July was 5.5% higher than in the same period last year. According to DGI data, in the first seven months of the year total tax collection was US$5.2bn, 4.9% more than in the same period last year. The DGI said the increase was the result of significant increases in the collection of valued added tax (VAT), which increased by 9.1%; corporate income tax, which rose by 9.9%; and the tax on agricultural goods, which increased by 9.3%. Meanwhile, the change in collection on…

What started off as criticism of President Sebastián Piñera for politicising poverty ahead of October’s municipal elections has taken on a whole new dimension over the course of the past week. At stake is something far more important than a short-term political gain: Chile’s institutional integrity. When Piñera trumpeted his government’s achievements in reducing poverty after the publication of the triennial socio-economic characterisation report (Casen) in July, the leftist opposition Concertaciόn accused him of “seeking popularity at the expense of the poorest” and trying to boost his ruling right-wing coalition ahead of the municipal elections [WR-12-29]. Last week the criticism…