Development: On 10 August Ecuador’s main indigenous organisation, Conaie, announced a nationwide “uprising” against the government led by President Rafael Correa. Significance: Uprisings by Ecuador’s indigenous have toppled governments in the past. President Correa is more popular than his predecessors who suffered this fate and his strategy of divide and conquer has successfully emasculated the indigenous movement, but his approval rating has fallen in recent months as falling international oil prices begin to bite and an unpopular inheritance tax reform has spawned protests. Correa has been dismissive of the Conaie march which departed from the southernmost province of Zamora Chinchipe…

POLITICS | Opposition calls for congressional investigation into ‘Lava Jato’ allegations On 10 August, three opposition benches in Peru’s unicameral national congress presented a formal motion calling for a congressional investigative commission to be created to investigate the allegations that Peruvian government officials had received bribes as part of the corruption scheme uncovered by Brazilian investigators at Brazil’s state-owned oil firm, Petrobras. The allegations, which stem from evidence given to Brazilian investigators leading the so-called ‘Lava Jato’ investigations into Petrobras by Brazilian businessmen indicted for corruption, implicate various former government officials from the previous administrations led by Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006)…