LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 15 October 2019
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- PERU: Top court to debate dissolution of congress
- In brief: Ecuador’s losses due to unrest put at US$1.64bn
On 14 October the president of Peru’s constitutional tribunal (TC), Ernesto Blume, said that the country’s top body of magistrates would this week debate an appeal against the dissolution of congress by President Martín Vizcarra on 30 September.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 14 October 2019
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- ECUADOR: Moreno bows to indigenous protests
- In brief: Siemens to invest €500m in Colombia
On 13 October it was announced that the Ecuadorean government had reached an agreement with the Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (Conaie) indigenous organisation to abolish the decree issued by President Lenín Moreno eliminating all petrol fuel subsidies, in exchange for Conaie ending its protests.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 11 October 2019
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- BOLIVIA: Opposition calls for ‘civil disobedience’ ahead of election
- In brief: Trans-Ecuadorian oil pipeline system (Sote) paralysed
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Besieged Moreno clings to power amid massive protests
- PERU: Vizcarra reshapes cabinet in post-trauma lull
- COLOMBIA: Uribe dragged into court, stoking political tensions
On 10 October Waldo Albarracín, the rector of Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) and former human rights ombudsman (2003-2008), called for civil disobedience in the event of a victory by Bolivia's President Evo Morales in the 20 October general election.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 10 October 2019
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- ECUADOR: Moreno scrambles for dialogue
- In brief: Colombia climbs up WEF Global Competitiveness Report
On 9 October Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno returned to the national capital, Quito, saying his government had established contact with representatives from the indigenous groups that have been leading protests against his government’s economic measures, to discuss the opening of a dialogue process.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 09 October 2019
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- ECUADOR: Indigenous protests increase pressure on Moreno
- In brief: Strike in Bolivia over lithium royalties
From Latin American Security & Strategic Review
- Anti-corruption fight faces new tests across the region
- Colombia’s armed insurgents: a look at the numbers
- Controversy in Peru over Venezuelan criminals
- Going after coca in Peru
- Coca cultivation in Bolivia down
- Venezuelan migration to the English-speaking Caribbean
On 8 October hundreds of indigenous protesters burst into Ecuador’s national assembly building in Quito calling for President Lenín Moreno to resign over his government’s decision to remove fuel subsidies last week.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 08 October 2019
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- ECUADOR: Moreno denounces coup attempt
- In brief: Peru’s exports down 8.1% in first eight months of 2019
On 7 October Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno announced that he was temporarily transferring his government’s headquarters from the national capital, Quito, to the coastal city of Guayaquil following what he described as “an attempted coup” against his administration.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 07 October 2019
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- ECUADOR: Moreno faces indigenous uprising
- In brief: Colombia’s inflation 3.82% in September
On 5 October Ecuador’s largest indigenous organisation Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas de Ecuador (Conaie) declared its own ‘state of exception’ and a permanent national mobilisation against the government led by President Lenín Moreno.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 04 October 2019
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- ECUADOR: Under stage of siege following violent protests
- In brief: Peru mining investment up 26.3% in first eight months
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Vizcarra takes the plunge and dissolves congress
- COLOMBIA-VENEZUELA: Duque shoots himself in the foot
- BOLIVIA: Mesa receives a boost
- TRACKING TRENDS
On 3 October, President Lenín Moreno declared a state of siege across Ecuador’s national territory in response to the violent protests being staged in rejection of the economic policy measures recently announced by his government.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 03 October 2019
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- ECUADOR: Moreno battens down the hatches ahead of protests
- In brief: Ecuador’s GDP up 0.3% in second quarter
Schools across Ecuador will be closed on 3 October to protect students as the government led by President Lenín Moreno prepares for widespread protests by transport unions and other groups over its decision to eliminate fuel subsidies.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 2 October 2019
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- PERU: Aráoz resigns as vice president in latest twist
- In brief: Ecuador to remove petrol fuel subsidies and leave Opec
On 1 October, Mercedes Aráoz resigned as vice president of Peru, thus relinquishing her appointment as interim president which she had accepted the previous day from members of congress resisting a presidential order for dissolution.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 1 October 2019
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- PERU: Vizcarra loses patience and dissolves congress
- In brief: Venezuela’s Maduro ready to resume negotiations over debt
On 30 September, Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra issued a presidential decree formally dissolving the national congress and calling for the staging of legislative elections.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 30 September 2019
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- PERU: Vizcarra raises the stakes in clash with congress
- In brief: Peru’s central bank cuts growth forecast
On 27 September Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra threatened to dissolve congress over its selection of new magistrates to the constitutional court (TC).
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 27 September 2019
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- PERU: Congress again defies Vizcarra
- In brief: Bolivia signs agreements with Brazil’s Mato Grosso state
From Latin American Weekly Report
- VENEZUELA: Maduro suffers reverses
- COLOMBIA: Farc leaders appear before JEP over kidnapping
- TRACKING TRENDS
- Ecuador rocked by massive data breach
On 26 September the opposition-controlled constitutional commission in Peru’s national congress voted to archive a proposal tabled by President Martín Vizcarra to bring forward the 2021 general election to next year.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 26 September 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Diplomatic noose continues to tighten
- In brief: Peru’s BCP forecasts 3.5% GDP growth for Q3
On 25 September US President Donald Trump signed a declaration banning senior officials in the de facto Venezuelan government led by Nicolás Maduro from entering the US.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 25 September 2019
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- VENEZUELA: PSUV returns to AN amid international pressure
- In brief: Ecuador issues US$2bn worth of bonds
On 24 September, 38 national deputies from Venezuela’s ruling Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV) and allied parties formally returned to the opposition-controlled national assembly (AN), which they had abandoned in 2017.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 24 September 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Regional consensus struck to tighten sanctions
- In brief: IMF concludes second review in Ecuador
On 23 September representatives of the Lima Group of hemispheric nations and the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR), otherwise known as the Rio Treaty, agreed to adopt new sanctions on the de facto government of Venezuela led by Nicolás Maduro in parallel meetings on the side-lines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 23 September 2019
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- In brief: Peru’s mining portfolio worth US$57bn
From Latin American Economy & Business
- FDI up, but uneven
- Colombia’s Duque struggles to make impact in first year
- Mining enters new phase in Ecuador
- A sustainable Bolivian export at risk
- Economic Highlights
* Peru’s energy & mining minister Francisco Ísmodes said the country has a portfolio of mining projects which represents over US$57bn in investment, adding that the government aims to seek a further US$21bn in mining investment.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 20 September 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Catholic Church dismisses parallel gov’t-opposition dialogue
- In brief: 30% of Venezuela’s chemical industry did not operate in first half 2019
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Maduro turns the screw on Guaidó
- COLOMBIA: Electoral violence flares
- PERU: Vizcarra slips as election bid fades
- BOLIVIA: Anger mounts over government response to fires
On 19 September the president of Venezuela’s Catholic episcopal conference (CEV), Monsignor José Luis Azuaje, said he did not believe the new dialogue the de facto government led by Nicolás Maduro has established with a small section of the political opposition will help to resolve the country’s crisis.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 19 September 2019
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- VENEZUELA: HRW denounces human rights abuses of Maduro gov’t
- In brief: Bolivia’s exports down 6% in first seven months of 2019
On 18 September, international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced a “pattern of serious police abuse” in Venezuela, particularly extrajudicial executions committed by the police special action force (Faes) in poor communities.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 18 September 2019
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- BOLIVIA: Pressure grows on Morales over response to fires
- In brief: Colombia’s EPM sells Chile wind power project
On 17 September the Comité Nacional de Defensa de la Democracia (Conade), which groups various opposition civil-society organisations, announced plans to sue Bolivia's President Evo Morales for treason over his government’s handling of the forest fires which have devastated over 2m hectares of forest in the Chiquitania area of Santa Cruz department.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 17 September 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro seals ‘peace pact’
- In brief: Perumin begins amid protests in Peru
On 16 September, Venezuela’s de facto president Nicolás Maduro announced that his government had signed a ‘peace pact’ with members of the opposition under which deputies representing the ruling Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV) would retake their seats in the opposition-controlled national assembly.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 16 September 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Guaidó ends talks amid legal barrage
- In brief: Colombia’s avocado exports up 37.6% in first half
On 15 September, Juan Guaidó, Venezuela’s internationally recognised interim president, announced the political opposition’s definitive withdrawal from the dialogue process with the de facto government of Nicolás Maduro being mediated by Norway in Barbados.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 13 September 2019
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- COLOMBIA: UN peace mission sees mandate extended
- In brief: EU to give Colombia €30m to address Venezuela migration
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Maduro and Guaidó lock horns as Venezuela crisis deepens
- REGION: Leaders seal Amazon pact
- ECUADOR: Judges prepare seminal ruling on mining
- TRACKING TRENDS
On 12 September the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) agreed to extend the mandate of the UN peace verification mission in Colombia for another year at the behest of President Iván Duque.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 12 September 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Regional neighbours renew threat of military intervention
- In brief: Colombia concludes its first summit on ‘orange economy’
- In brief: Ecuador to import Brazilian cattle
On 11 September, 12 Organization of American States (OAS) member countries called for the activation of the 1947 Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR) to resolve the political, economic, and social crisis in Venezuela.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 11 September 2019
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- VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA: Venezuelan Military deployed to Colombian border
- In brief: Colombia maintains moratorium on fracking
On 10 September Venezuela’s Bolivarian armed forces (FANB) were deployed to the shared border with Colombia, although the “military exercises” ordered last week by de facto president, Nicolás Maduro, after he declared an “amber alert” in the face of “the threat of Colombian aggression”, did not take place.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 10 September 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Bachelet steps up pressure over human rights
- In brief: Bolivia expects drop in mining royalties in second half
On 9 September, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, criticised the Venezuelan government for failing to implement the recommendations of a report she submitted in July.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 09 September 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro attacks Guaidó over Guyana stance
- In brief: Ecuador and Mexico to begin talks over bilateral trade deal
From Latin American Security & Strategic Review
- LGBTI rights in the Andean – a mixed balance sheet
- Rise in criminalisation of indigenous peoples in the Andean region
On 6 September, Venezuela’s de facto president, Nicolás Maduro, conditioned his government’s return to the dialogue table with the political opposition on Juan Guaidó altering his stance on the country’s claim to Guyana’s Essequibo region, accusing the opposition figurehead and internationally recognised interim president of being prepared to renounce Venezuela’s claim to 160,000km2 of disputed territory in exchange for international support.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 06 September 2019
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- PERU: Demonstrations in support of early election
- In brief: Ecuadorean court revokes licence for hydroelectric project
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Farc splinter takes up arms, jeopardising peace accord
- BOLIVIA: Morales feels the heat over Amazon blaze
- Peru: shoot the messenger
On 5 September thousands of people took part in a protest march to Peru’s national congress to demand the holding of an early general election next year.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 5 September 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Holmes promises “prudence” in face of Venezuelan “provocation”
- In brief: Colombian coffee production falls 11% in August
On 4 September, Colombia’s foreign minister, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, said his government would respond with extreme caution to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s decision to declare an “amber alert” a day earlier, ordering the Bolivarian armed forces (FANB) to stage military exercises along the length of the 2,219km shared border.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 4 September 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro orders military border exercises
- In brief: Colombia’s FDI up 24.7% in first half of 2019
On 3 September, Venezuela’s de facto president, Nicolás Maduro, declared “an amber alert” on the country’s frontier with Colombia and ordered military exercises to be held on the shared border.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 3 September 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Shaken by deadly electoral violence
- In brief: Venezuela’s minimum monthly salary falls below US$2
On 2 September, the authorities in Colombia’s southwestern Cauca department reported that Karina García Sierra, a candidate in the 27 October municipal and regional elections, had been murdered by suspected criminals.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 2 September 2019
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- BOLIVIA: Amazon fires become electoral issue
- In brief: Bolivia launches tender for plastics processing plant
On 30 August, former president Carlos Mesa (2003-2005), the presidential candidate for Bolivia's opposition alliance Comunidad Ciudadana (CC), blamed President Evo Morales directly for the forest fires affecting the Chiquitania area in Santa Cruz department which have destroyed over 1m hectares of forest.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 30 August 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Peace process at risk of falling apart
- In brief: Bolivia hails first shipment of beef to China
From Latin American Weekly Report
- COLOMBIA: Opposition split ahead of regional elections
- REGION: Ecuador closes the door
On 29 August, former president Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) called for a complete review of the peace deal signed by the Colombian government with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrillas in 2016 and the elimination of the transitional justice system (JEP) set up under the agreement.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 29 August 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Former Farc leader to take up arms again
- In brief: Ecuador seeks private investor for oil refinery
On 29 August, one of the former leaders of the now formally demobilised Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group, Luciano Marín Arango (‘Iván Márquez’), appeared in a video announcing that he is returning to the armed fight.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 28 August 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Duque and Peru’s Vizcarra propose plan for the Amazon
- In brief: Colombia ratifies Minamata Convention
On 27 August, Colombia’s President Iván Duque and his Peruvian peer Martín Vizcarra agreed to promote a meeting between the heads of state of the Amazon countries aimed at launching a joint plan for the protection and sustainable development of the Amazon region.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 27 August 2019
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- BOLIVIA: Morales slammed over response to Amazon fires
- In brief: US lifts embargo on Colombian yellowfin tuna
On 26 August, Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Diego Pary announced plans to coordinate the entry of international aid aimed at combatting the forest fires affecting the Chiquitania area in Santa Cruz department.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 23 August 2019
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- ECUADOR: Unions maintain pressure
- In brief: Anglo American offers better access to water in Moquegua, Peru
From Latin American Weekly Report
- ECUADOR: Correa accused of leading criminal organisation
- COLOMBIA: Duque looks for a tail wind
- COLOMBIA: Banana fungus strikes as China export deal agreed
- PERU: Splits within splits
- China’s crude announcement trumps Cabello’s secret talks
On 15 August, Mesías Tatamuez, one of the presidents of the Frente Unitario de Trabjadores (FUT), which groups Ecuador’s main workers’ unions, confirmed that the group is organising a national protest march for 5 September in rejection of the economic policies implemented by the government led by President Lenín Moreno.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 22 August 2019
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- In brief: Bolivia in new joint-venture with Chinese mining company
* Bolivia’s state-owned mining firm Yacimientos de Litio Boliviano (YLB) and the Chinese private consortium TBEA Group-Baocheng have signed a joint venture to build a lithium carbonate facility, as part of the on-going industrialisation of the salt flats at Pastos Grandes and Coipasa, in the departments of Potosí and Oruro, respectively.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 21 August 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro confirms contacts with US gov’t
- In brief – Ecuador and UK discuss trade and investment
On 20 August, Venezuela’s de facto president, Nicolás Maduro, publicly confirmed that his administration has been in contact with top US government officials to discuss potential resolutions for Venezuela’s political, economic, and social crisis.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 20 August 2019
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- BOLIVIA: Health sector on strike
- In brief - Oil production surpasses 80,000 barrels per day in Ecuador oilfield
On 19 August, Bolivia’s medical association and the national health commission (Conasa) began an indefinite strike.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 19 August 2019
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- PERU: PAP pushes for Vizcarra's impeachment
- In brief: Colombia’s GDP grows 3% in second quarter
On 17 August, the party plenary of Peru's opposition Partido Aprista Peruano (PAP) approved the proposal of its congressional deputy Mauricio Mulder to present an impeachment motion against President Martín Vizcarra for moral incapacity to govern.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 16 August 2019
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- PERU: Party desertions severely weaken Vizcarra
- In brief: Peru’s GDP grows 2.62% in June
From Latin American Weekly Report
- VENEZUELA: Maduro uses sanctions to justify crackdown
- COLOMBIA: Calls to protect indigenous
- TRACKING TRENDS
- Are Peru’s mining investments at risk?
On 15 August three national deputies from Peru’s ruling Peruanos por el Kambio (PPK) party, including Vice President Mercedes Aráoz, announced they were abandoning the PPK congressional bench.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 15 August 2019
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- BOLIVIA: Opposition names new vice-presidential candidate ahead of election
- In brief: Copper exports resume from major port in Peru
On 14 August Shirley Franco, the head of the opposition Unidad Demócrata (UD) bench in Bolivia's chamber of deputies, was named vice presidential candidate for the Bolivia Dice No alliance ahead of the October general election.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 14 August 2019
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- PERU: Opposition gunning for Vizcarra over ‘Tía María’
- In brief: Colombia’s Ecopetrol records significant profits
On 13 August Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra dismissed opposition threats of impeachment over his government’s suspension of the US$1.4bn ‘Tía María’ copper mining project in the southern region of Arequipa.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 13 August 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro launches counteroffensive
- In brief: Peru’s SPCC calls for dialogue on mining project
On 12 August, Venezuela’s government-controlled constituent assembly (ANC) stripped four opposition deputies of their immunity from prosecution.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 12 August 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Calls for gov’t to protect indigenous peoples
- In brief: Peru suspends mining licence
From Latin American Economy & Business
- Pace of inequality decline has slowed since 2014 in Andean region
- Developing Bolivia’s lithium reserves – progress and challenges
- Responsible mining in Peru: where next?
- Economic Highlights
On 11 August, indigenous authorities from Colombia’s south-western Cauca department declared a state of emergency and permanent assembly following a swathe of deadly attacks against indigenous leaders and members of the indigenous guard.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 09 August 2019
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- ECUADOR: Judge orders Correa’s arrest
- In brief: Venezuela and China cooperate to boost oil production
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Maduro suspends talks as US ramps up sanctions
- PERU: Mining tensions mount
- TRACKING TRENDS
On 8 August, a national judge in Ecuador ordered the preventive detention of former president Rafael Correa (2007-2017) for alleged involvement in a corruption network.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 8 August 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro suspends dialogue with opposition
- In brief: First half mining investment in Peru up 26.2%
On 7 August, the de facto Venezuelan government led by Nicolás Maduro announced that it was suspending its participation in the dialogue with Venezuela’s opposition aimed at finding a solution to the country’s crisis.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 7 August 2019
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- VENEZUELA: US insists dialogue with Maduro should end
- In brief: Colombia coffee production up 5.4%
On 6 August, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said that the time for dialogue with de facto Venezuelan government led by Nicolás Maduro is over and that the international community needs to apply concerted pressure on Maduro to step aside and allow the staging of a new presidential election.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 6 August 2019
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- VENEZUELA: US freezes Maduro government assets
- In brief: Colombia government signs growth deal with unions
On 5 August, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order freezing all Venezuelan government assets held in the US, in a clear escalation of the measures aimed at forcing Venezuela’s de facto president, Nicolás Maduro, out of power.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 05 August 2019
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- COLOMBIA-VENEZUELA: Tensions rise on the border
- In brief: UK support for Colombia on deforestation
From Latin American Security & Strategic Review
- Human trafficking in LAC: a multi-faceted crime
- Is Ecuador fighting a losing battle against illegal mining?
- Colombia’s homicides up for the first time in eight years
- Divisions between Bolivia's cocaleros again laid bare
- Calls to address femicides in the Andean region
On 3 August, General José Luis Palomino, police chief of the Colombian border city of Cúcuta, announced that his team was investigating if the Venezuelan national guard (GNB) had crossed the border into the Colombian department of Norte de Santander the previous afternoon.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 02 August 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Army accuses US of trying further escalate hostilities
- In brief: Ecuador completes refinery maintenance
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Vizcarra drops bombshell and calls for early elections in Peru
- COLOMBIA: Budget setback for Duque
- TRACKING TRENDS
On 1 August, the Venezuelan armed forces (FANB) accused the US of an unauthorised encroachment on its airspace, and stated that the country was trying to create an incident as a means of forcing military involvement in Venezuela.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 1 August 2019
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- PERU: Gov’t submits early election proposal to congress
- In brief: Ecuador launches bidding process for solar park and wind farms
On 31 July, Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra presented a plan to congress under which the country’s next general election would be brought forward to April 2020.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 31 July 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Russia rules out attending Lima democracy summit
- In brief: Colombia’s budget to reactivate economy
On 30 July, the Russian government rejected an invitation to participate in the international conference on democracy in Venezuela, which is due to be held in Peru next week.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 30 July 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Renewed tensions with Venezuela over Farc fugitives
- In brief: Ecuador’s first half oil exports up 11%
On 29 July, Colombia’s President Iván Duque declared that Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s de facto president, has transformed his country into “a sanctuary for terrorists and for drug traffickers”.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 29 July 2019
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- PERU: Vizcarra calls for referendum on early elections
- In brief: Colombia natural gas developments
On 28 July, Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra called for a referendum to enact a constitutional reform to bring forward general elections from April 2021 to 28 July 2020, cutting short both his own term and that of congressional deputies.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 26 July 2019
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- VENEZUELA: New US sanctions target Maduro relatives
- In brief: Colombia opens export markets in Japan
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Pompeo tour prioritises Venezuela, Iran, drugs, and illegal immigration
- COLOMBIA: Duque opens congress with call for action
- TRACKING TRENDS
- Morales faces challenge to secure re-election in Bolivia
On 25 July, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) sanctioned ten individuals implicated in a complex network of bribery and money laundering revolving around a Venezuelan government food subsidy programme (Clap), among which are the step children of Venezuela’s de facto president, Nicolás Maduro.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 25 July 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro mobilises the military
- In brief: Colombia increases funding for tourism projects
On 24 July Venezuela’s de facto president, Nicolás Maduro, announced the start of a major military exercise operation, ‘Campaña Libertadora Simón Bolívar 2019’, that will take place from 24-28 July in Venezuela’s border areas, comprising a total of 1m members of Venezuela’s armed forces (FANB) and civilian militias.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 24 July 2019
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- BOLIVIA: Opposition announces protests ahead of election
- In brief: Colombia’s Bancóldex and BEI agree US$167m in funding
On 23 July the Comité Nacional de Defensa de la Democracia (Conade), which groups various opposition civil-society groups, announced various actions along with representatives from opposition parties, to protest Bolivia's President Evo Morales’ candidacy.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 23 July 2019
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- BOLIVIA: Morales ahead as electoral campaign launches
- In brief: Ecuador fights to keep out destructive fungus
On 22 July the electoral campaign was officially launched ahead of Bolivia’s general elections on 20 October.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 22 July 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro receives NAM backing in Caracas summit
- In brief: US$31.5m credit line for sustainable energy projects in Colombia
From Latin American Economy & Business
- Changes to Ecuador’s communications law
- Bolivia to be the energy heart of South America?
- Economic Highlights
On 20-21 July Venezuela hosted a two-day summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 19 July 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Court ruling opens door for resumption of aerial spraying
- In brief: Large new copper mine comes on stream in Ecuador
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Colombia’s Duque faces dilemma over extradition
- VENEZUELA: The challenge of striking a deal in Barbados
- PERU: Vizcarra faces mining protests
- Duque hosts UNSC amid surge in killings of social leaders
On 18 July, Colombia’s constitutional court (CC) upheld its ruling banning the aerial spraying of the herbicide glyphosate to eradicate illegal coca plantations but said that it is up to the national narcotics council (CNE) to determine if this can be resumed under certain circumstances.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 18 July 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro gov't moves against another opposition deputy
- In brief: US$100m WB loan for Colombia land title reform
On 17 July, the justice commission of Venezuela’s national constituent assembly (ANC) convened by the de facto government led by Nicolás Maduro asked the attorney general’s office to open an investigation into opposition national deputy Franklyn Duarte.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 17 July 2019
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- PERU: Toledo arrested in Odebrecht corruption case
- In brief: IDB highlights Venezuela crisis
On 16 July, Peru’s former president Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) was arrested in the US.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 16 July 2019
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- ECUADOR: Rebuilding post-Assange relations with UK
- In brief: Ecuador
On 15 July, Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno and his foreign affairs minister, José Valencia, held separate meetings in Guayaquil with the British minister of state for Europe and the Americas, Alan Duncan.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 15 July 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Talks resume amid heightened tensions
- In brief: Bolivia/Brazil
On 14 July Venezuela’s internationally recognised interim president, Juan Guaidó, confirmed that delegates representing the opposition would return to Barbados this week to continue negotiations with representatives of the de facto government led by Nicolás Maduro.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 12 July 2019
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- PERU: Gov’t seeks to avoid conflict over Tía María
- In brief: Peru
From Latin American Weekly Report
- VENEZUELA: Talks in shadow of damning report
- COLOMBIA: Santrich no-show overshadows army scandal
- BOLIVIA: Morales faces cocalero unrest
- TRACKING TRENDS
- Ecuador to seek full membership of Pacific Alliance
On 11 July Peru’s Prime Minister Salvador del Solar called for a broad dialogue between all interested parties over the development of the ‘Tía María’ copper mining project to avoid the re-sparking of a social conflict.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 11 July 2019
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- ECUADOR: Discussing compensation with Odebrecht
- In brief: Peru
On 10 July, a representative from Odebrecht, the Brazilian engineering firm, held a meeting with Ecuadorean judicial authorities in which they discussed the payment of compensation for the economic damage caused by the bribes the firm paid for securing state contracts.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 10 July 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Santrich becomes a fugitive from justice
- In brief: Colombia
On 9 July, Colombia’s supreme court (CSJ) ordered the arrest of Seuxis Paucias Hernández Solarte (‘Jesús Santrich’), a national deputy and a former commander of the demobilised Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrillas.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 9 July 2019
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- COLOMBIA: New scandal hits army
- In brief: Colombia
On 8 July, Colombia’s prosecutor general’s office opened a disciplinary investigation into three top army generals.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 08 July 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Guaidó consents to new talks
- In brief: Bolivia
From Latin American Security & Strategic Review
- Colombian teachers strike for a better education system
- An assessment of Bolivia’s China strategy
On 7 July, Juan Guaidó, the head of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled national assembly and internationally recognised interim president, announced a new round of exploratory talks with the de facto government led by Nicolás Maduro.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 05 July 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Bachelet presents devastating critique of rights abuses
- In brief: Colombia
From Latin American Weekly Report
- COLOMBIA: Santrich vanishing act imperils peace
- VENEZUELA: Maduro regime squirms as torture allegations hit home
- PERU: Odebrecht investigations continue to expand
On 4 July, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, submitted a report on the state of human rights in Venezuela following her recent visit to the country.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 4 July 2019
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- VENEZUELA: International pressure over death of military officer
- In brief: Ecuador
On 3 July, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) urged the Venezuelan state to investigate the “probable acts of torture” that naval officer Rafael Acosta Arévalo was subjected to before his death.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 3 July 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro claims breakthrough in opposition talks
- In brief: Venezuela
On 2 July, Venezuela’s de facto president Nicolás Maduro claimed in an address on state television that exploratory talks in Norway to discuss setting up a formal dialogue process with the political opposition were “going well” and had his government’s “full support”.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 02 July 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Tensions heighten after Santrich goes missing
- In brief: Ecuador
On 1 July the United Nations verification mission in Colombia expressed concern about the “disappearance” of Seuxis Paucias Hernández Solarte (‘Jesús Santrich’), a deputy in the lower chamber of the national congress for the Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común (Farc) party, after the former guerrilla commander and peace negotiator abandoned his security detail a day earlier.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 01 July 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Military prisoner dies in custody
- In brief: Ecuador
On 29 June, Venezuela’s internationally recognised interim president Juan Guaidó accused the de facto government led by Nicolás Maduro of the torture and murder of naval corvette captain Rafael Acosta Arévalo.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 28 June 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Duque announces measures to protect former guerrillas
- In brief: Colombia
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Eroding support for Venezuela’s Maduro
- COLOMBIA: Congress scuppers anti-corruption bill
- PERU: Defence minister dies
On 27 June Colombia’s President Iván Duque announced that 26 new measures would be introduced to protect demobilised members of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 27 June 2019
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- PERU: New evidence of Odebrecht bribes for gas pipeline
- In brief: Colombia
On 25 June, the Bribery Divison of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) revealed that Ecuadorian online news outlet La Posta had obtained leaked reports suggesting the extent of Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht’s bribery to obtain state contracts is greater than previously thought.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 26 June 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Former intelligence chief escapes to US
- In brief: Bolivia-Peru
On 25 June, it was revealed that General Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, the former head of Venezuela’s national intelligence service (Sebin), who surprisingly backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó’s efforts to replace President Nicolás Maduro in April, had arrived in Washington DC after spending two months in hiding in Colombia.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 25 June 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Farc denounces new murder as concern for peace process intensifies
- In brief: Peru
On 24 June, the political party of the demobilised Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrillas denounced the murder of a demobilised Farc fighter in Nariño department.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 24 June 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Bachelet calls for release of political prisoners
From Latin American Economy & Business
- Infrastructure crucial for regional economic growth, says IDB
- COLOMBIA: Ituango dam project faces yet more turbulent times
- VENEZUELA: Maduro’s adjustment to the grim reality
- ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS
Development: On 22 June, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Chile’s former president Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010; 2014-2018), called upon the Venezuelan government to release prisoners currently being detained for peacefully protesting against the de facto president, Nicolás Maduro.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 21 June 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Congress blocks anti-corruption bill
- In brief: Ecuador
From Latin American Weekly Report
- COLOMBIA: Duque affirms commitment to peace
- VENEZUELA: Petrol shortages as oil production plummets
- TRACKING TRENDS
- Peru’s Vizcarra ratchets up pressure on congress
On 20 June Colombia’s national congress sank an anti-corruption bill sent by the government led by President Iván Duque.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 20 June 2019
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- COLOMBIA: ELN leader turns himself in to the authorities
- In brief: Peru
On 19 June, the Colombian army announced that a leader of the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) insurgent guerrillas in the northern Bolívar department had handed himself over to the authorities.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 19 June 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Killings of demobilised guerrillas up the pressure on Duque
- In brief: Ecuador
On 18 June, the Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común (Farc) political party reported that two former Farc guerrillas had been murdered.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 18 June 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Guaidó fights off corruption allegations as more aid arrives
- In brief: Colombia
On 17 June, Venezuela’s opposition leader and internationally recognised interim president, Juan Guaidó, said that he will not tolerate the misuse of the international aid intended to alleviate the serious humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and insisted that any allegations about this will be fully investigated.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 17 June 2019
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- VENEZUELA: International community seeks common ground on crisis
- In brief: Colombia
On 14 June, Sweden’s foreign ministry confirmed that it is hosting talks between “key international players” aimed at finding a common strategy to promote a peaceful and democratic solution to Venezuela’s political crisis.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 14 June 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Defence minister survives censure vote in congress
- In brief: Venezuela
From Latin American Weekly Report
- PERU: The beast caged over Odebrecht bribery
- COLOMBIA: Politicians up in arms as Santrich is sworn in
- Bolivia’s Morales comes under fire early in re-election campaign
On 13 June Colombia’s national chamber of deputies decisively voted against censuring Defence Minister Guillermo Botero.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 13 June 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Judiciary targets more opposition deputies
- In brief: Ecuador
From Latin American Security & Strategic Review
- Peru: Consolidating fight against illegal mining in the Amazon
- Bolivia: Morales seeks to downplay police scandal
On 12 June, Venezuela’s political opposition denounced that the supreme court (TSJ) had issued new orders calling for the congressional immunity of opposition deputies José Guerra and Tomás Guanipa to be lifted so that they can be prosecuted for their suspected involvement in the efforts to oust the de facto president, Nicolás Maduro.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 12 June 2019
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- PERU: First Odebrecht sentence handed down
- In brief: Ecuador
On 11 June, César Álvarez Aguilar, a former president of Peru’s north-western region of Ancash (2007-2014), was sentenced to eight years and three months in prison.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 11 June 2019
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- BOLIVIA: Opposition stages electoral protests
- In brief: Ecuador
On 10 June, opposition groups took to the streets of Bolivia’s capital La Paz to demand a clean and fair general election on 20 October.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 10 June 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro orders partial re-opening of border with Colombia
- In brief: Bolivia
On 8 June, the border checkpoints between Venezuela’s Táchira state and Colombia were reopened to pedestrian access, on the orders of Venezuela’s de facto President Nicolás Maduro.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 07 June 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Putin maintains strong support for Maduro
- In brief: Peru
From Latin American Weekly Report
- PERU: Congress blinks
- VENEZUELA: Diplomacy in flux
- ECUADOR: Carapaz triumph overshadows Correa’s travails
On 6 June, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said that the countries that have recognised Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president and no longer recognise Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate president are “crazy” and are not helping to resolve Venezuela’s political crisis.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 06 June 2019
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- PERU: Congress yields to Vizcarra
- In brief: Colombia
On 5 June, Peru’s national congress voted in favour of a motion of confidence in the current cabinet led by Prime Minister Salvador del Solar and agreed to debate and approve some of the political reform proposals promoted by President Martín Vizcarra.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 5 June 2019
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- ECUADOR: Moreno fills two key cabinet positions
- In brief: Ecuador
On 4 June, Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno made two new cabinet appointments to fill vacancies at the telecommunications and communications ministries.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 4 June 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Is Russia pulling military out?
- In brief: Bolivia
On 3 June, US President Donald Trump claimed on Twitter that Russia had withdrawn “most of their people in Venezuela”.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 3 June 2019
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- PERU: Vizcarra offers to give up his immunity
- In brief: Venezuela
- In brief: Argentina
On 1 June, the local media revealed that President Martín Vizcarra had sent a letter to a prosecutor which states that he is willing to put himself at the disposal of the prosecutor’s office to answer any questions relating to complaints involving crimes against public administration which took place under his term as governor of the southern region of Moquegua (2011-2014).
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 31 May 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Duque gov’t suffers blow as Santrich is released
- In brief: Bolivia
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Venezuela crisis: is Norway different?
- COLOMBIA: Back to false positives?
On 30 May, Colombia’s attorney general’s office released Seuxis Paucias Hernández Solarte (‘Jesús Santrich’), the former Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrilla commander who is wanted on drug trafficking charges by the US, in line with a supreme court order.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 30 May 2019
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- PERU: Vizcarra loses patience and threatens to dissolve congress
- In brief: Venezuela
On 29 May, Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra announced that his government will ask the national congress to make the approval of the political and judicial reforms that it has tabled to the legislature a matter of confidence in his administration.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 29 May 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Implementation of Farc peace deal under mounting scrutiny
- In brief: Peru
From Latin American Regional Report: Andean Group
- Introduction
- Peru continues to face poverty challenges
- Duque puts faith in Orange Economy pet project
- Morales’ candidacy and the challenges it poses to the MAS and opposition
- Talks at last?
- Economic Highlights
On 28 May, the Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común, the political party founded by Colombia’s former Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrillas, called a meeting of its national council for 22-23 June to discuss the difficulties in implementing the peace deal that the guerrilla group signed with the government in 2016.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 28 May 2019
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- BOLIVIA: Head of electoral court urges ‘respect’ ahead of general election
- In brief: Venezuela
From Latin American Economy & Business
- Analysing the trade war scenario
- Venezuela: Dollar shortages complicate efforts to ease capital controls
- Colombia: Rock-bottom coffee prices cause problems for farmers
- Economic Highlights
On 27 May, María Eugenia Choque, the head of Bolivia’s electoral court (TSE), called for “respect” from politicians for the court ahead of the 20 October general election.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 24 May 2019
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- BOLIVIA: Opposition rules out election alliance
- In brief: Ecuador
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Duque pursues new tack to circumvent Colombian peace accord
- VENEZUELA: Maduro presents electoral ‘solution’
- PERU: Vizcarra throws down the gauntlet to congress
- TRACKING TRENDS
- Cuba suffers repercussions of Venezuelan crisis
On 23 May, Félix Patzi, the presidential candidate for Bolivia's opposition Movimiento Tercer Sistema (MTS), ruled out an alliance with opposition parties ahead of the October general election in which President Evo Morales is seeking a further term.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 23 May 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Army remains under scrutiny over ‘kill order’ scandal
- In brief: Ecuador
On 22 May the Americas director of human rights NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), José Miguel Vivanco, warned the Colombian army against retaliating against any of its officers that provided confidential information to US daily The New York Times (NYT).
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 22 May 2019
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- PERU: Vizcarra challenges congress
- In brief: Ecuador
On 21 May, Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra unexpectedly attended a national congress session and demanded that the legislature debate the political and judicial reforms proposed by his government.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 21 May 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro tries to outmanoeuvre opposition
- In brief: Peru
On 20 May, Venezuela’s de facto president, Nicolás Maduro, proposed holding early legislative elections in order to try to solve the country’s deep political crisis.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean - 20 May 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Santrich release and rearrest fuels tensions
- In brief: Peru
On 17 May, Seuxis Paucias Hernández Solarte (‘Jesús Santrich’), a former commander of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) and peace negotiator, was released from prison in accordance with an order by the transitional justice system (JEP) only to be immediately rearrested by agents of the attorney general’s office.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 17 May 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Judicial crisis intensifies as minister steps down
- In brief: Bolivia
From Latin American Weekly Report
- COLOMBIA: Tension runs high as JEP releases Santrich
- VENEZUELA: Reading the runes in political impasse
- ECUADOR: Moreno reshaping foreign policy
- BOLIVIA: Tensions rise ahead of campaign launch
- PERU: Agricultural sector shakes Vizcarra
- TRACKING TRENDS
On 16 May Colombia’s President Iván Duque revealed that he had accepted the resignation of his justice minister, Gloria María Borrero.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 16 May 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Controversial JEP ruling prompts gov’t resignations
- In brief: Colombia
On 15 May Colombia’s attorney general, Néstor Humberto Martínez, tendered his resignation in protest at a ruling by the country’s transitional justice court (JEP) rejecting the extradition request filed by the US for Seuxis Paucias Hernández Solarte (‘Jesús Santrich’).
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 15 May 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Guaidó denounces hijacking of national assembly
- In brief: Peru
From Latin American Security & Strategic Review
- Crimes against humanity in Venezuela
On 14 May the leader of Venezuela’s national assembly (AN) and internationally recognised interim president, Juan Guaidó, denounced that the de facto government led by Nicolás Maduro is attempting to close down the opposition-controlled AN in a bid to hang on to power.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 14 May 2019
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- PERU: Agricultural sector strike puts gov’t under pressure
- In brief: Colombia
On 13 May thousands of agricultural producers in regions across Peru staged a 24-hour national strike in demand of more government assistance for small-scale farming in the country.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 13 May 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Weak turnout for anti-Maduro protests
- In brief: Ecuador
- In brief: Brazil
On 11 May hundreds of people took to the streets in the capital Caracas against Nicolás Maduro in protests called by Juan Guaidó, the internationally recognised interim president, opposition leader, and president of the national assembly (AN).
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 10 May 2019
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- VENEZUELA: International condemnation mounts over Zambrano’s arrest
- In brief: Ecuador
From Latin American Weekly Report
- VENEZUELA: Maduro crackdown begins
- COLOMBIA: Plight of social leaders brought into sharp focus
- TRACKING TRENDS
On 9 May, Mexico’s foreign ministry (SRE) expressed concern about the detention the previous day of Edgar Zambrano, the vice president of Venezuela’s national assembly (AN).
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 9 May 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Opposition deputy leader detained as Maduro fights back
- In brief: Bolivia
On 8 May, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled national assembly (AN) and the country’s internationally recognised interim president, Juan Guaidó, denounced the detention of the AN’s deputy vice president, Édgar Zambrano, by agents from the national intelligence service (Sebin).
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 8 May 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro gov’t retaliates against opposition
- In brief: Region
On 7 May, Venezuela’s supreme court (TSJ) called for the immunity from prosecution of seven opposition national deputies to be lifted so that they can be tried for the accusations of treason levelled against them by the de facto Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV) government led by Nicolás Maduro.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 7 May 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Armed attack on prominent social leader
- In brief: Peru
On 4 May, one of Colombia’s most well-known social leaders narrowly escaped an attack by armed assailants in the south-western department of Cauca during which two bodyguards were injured.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 03 May 2019
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- VENEZUELA: López speaks out after facing arrest warrant
- In brief: Bolivia
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Guaidó’s uprising fizzles out as military stands by Maduro
- PERU: Getting to the bottom of Odebrecht corruption
- TRACKING TRENDS
- Colombian opposition suffers blow
On 2 May, Venezuela’s supreme court (TSJ) ordered the arrest of Leopoldo López, the opposition figurehead who was sprung from house arrest earlier this week and is currently sheltering in Spain’s diplomatic residence in Caracas.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 2 May 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Guaidó attempts to maintain pressure with strikes
- In brief: Colombia
On 1 May, Venezuela’s self-proclaimed and internationally recognised interim president, Juan Guaidó, led public demonstrations calling for the de facto president, Nicolás Maduro, to abandon office and announced the staging of rolling strikes until Maduro steps down.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 1 May 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Confusion and uncertainty following partial military insurrection
- In brief: Peru
- BRAZIL: Gov’t, and Bolsonaro, respond to developments in Venezuela
From Latin American Regional Report: Andean Group
- Introduction
- Workforce formalisation: A challenge too far for Vizcarra?
- Highway reopened after agreement is reached with indigenous groups
- The rising influence of dissident Farc groups
- Moreno takes the medicine, but will it work?
- Economic Highlights
On 30 April, Venezuela’s de facto president, Nicolás Maduro, gave a nationally televised address in which he insisted that he retains the “absolute loyalty” of the country's military commanders and that his government had defeated an attempted coup d’état promoted by the political opposition.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 30 April 2019
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- COLOMBIA: El Paisa challenges JEP, government
- In brief: Bolivia
On 29 April, Hernán Dario Velásquez (‘El Paisa’), a former commander from the demobilised Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrillas, who is wanted by the authorities for failing to appear before the transitional justice court (JEP), released an open letter in which he complains that neither the JEP nor the Colombian authorities have provided the necessary guarantees for him to appear before the court.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 29 April 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Killing of former guerrilla produces political ructions
- In brief: Ecuador
On 28 April Colombia’s political opposition called for the resignation of Defence Minister Guillermo Botero over the killing by the army of Dimar Torres, a demobilised member of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) former guerrilla group.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 26 April 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Duque faces first national strike
- In brief: Ecuador
From Latin American Weekly Report
- PERU: Political storm over García suicide
- COLOMBIA: Senate starts JEP debate
- Venezuela: calm before the storm?
On 25 April, thousands took to the streets in Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, and across the country to protest various government policies.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 25 April 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Unions mobilise against Duque’s PND
- In brief: Bolivia
On 24 April the Comando Nacional Unitario (CNU) grouping of workers unions and civil society organisations issued a statement calling all workers to take part in the national strike it has called for today (25 April) to protest against the government’s 2018-2022 national development plan (PND).
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 24 April 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Rising violence against human rights defenders poses challenge
- In brief: Colombia
On 23 April, Colombian NGO Programa Somos Defensores published its annual report on attacks against human rights defenders, in which it reported that 155 human rights defenders and social leaders were killed in Colombia last year.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 23 April 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Drug traffickers trying to use JEP
- In brief: Ecuador
From Latin American Economy & Business
- Region: Prosur offers tenuous promise of economic cooperation
- Bolivia: Good, but not that good?
- Region: Key to growth - good ports
- ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS
On 22 April, the Colombian government announced that it had identified six drug traffickers who were claiming they were members of the demobilised Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrillas in order to be tried under the Justicia Especial para la Paz (JEP) transitional justice system.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 18 April 2019
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- PERU: García suicide produces political commotion
- In brief: Venezuela
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Combating the repercussions of Venezuela’s crisis
- ECUADOR: Correístas march against Moreno
- PERU: Challenges ahead for new prime minister
On 17 April, national deputies from Peru’s opposition Partido Aprista Peruano (PAP) accused the country’s attorney general’s office of being responsible for the death of former president, Alan García (1985-1990; 2006-2011), who shot himself that day as police arrived to arrest him in line with an arrest warrant issued against him.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 17 April 2019
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- ECUADOR: Political tensions boil over
- In brief: Colombia
On 16 April, there were violent clashes between the police and anti-government protesters during a protest march staged in Ecuador’s capital, Quito.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 16 April 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Lima Group seeks to buttress support for Guaidó
- In brief: Peru
On 15 April, foreign ministers representing Western Hemisphere nations in the Lima Group concluded a meeting in Santiago, Chile, by releasing a 17-point declaration urging the international community to take measures to isolate the de facto Venezuelan government led by Nicolás Maduro and support the restoration of democracy under the opposition figurehead and widely recognised interim president Juan Guaidó.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 15 April 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro urges militias to perform miracle
- In brief: Colombia
On 13 April, Venezuela’s de facto president Nicolás Maduro marked the 17th anniversary of the restoration to power of his late predecessor Hugo Chávez (1999-2013) after a 48-hour coup by calling on the Bolivarian national militias to devote themselves to food production to help deliver an “economic miracle”.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 12 April 2019
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- ECUADOR: Moreno gov’t comes under fire over Assange decision
- In brief: Peru
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Colombia and Peru strike accords to end social conflicts
- ECUADOR: Moreno, Correa, Assange, plots and stratagems
- VENEZUELA: Guaidó buoyed by forward momentum
On 11 April, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial execution at the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Agnes Callamard, warned that by expelling the Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, from its embassy in the United Kingdom the Ecuadorean government has exposed Assange to potential human rights violations.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 11 April 2019
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- PERU: Kuczynski’s arrest causes commotion
- In brief: Bolivia
From Latin American Regional Report: Caribbean & Central America
- REGION: LGBTQ+ legal rights in the Caribbean and Latin America – a comparison
On 10 April, Peru’s Prime Minister Salvador del Solar called for the judiciary to provide a full explanation for the decision to temporarily detain former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018).
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 10 April 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Guaidó gets boost in OAS
- In brief: Peru
From Latin American Security & Strategic Review
- Venezuela-Cuba: US intensifies action against ‘CubaZuela’
On 9 April, the Organization of American States (OAS) approved a resolution in which it recognises Gustavo Tarre Briceño as an official representative of Venezuela to the OAS.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 9 April 2019
On 8 April, Colombia’s lower chamber of congress rejected President Iván Duque’s partial veto of the statutory law regulating the transitional justice system (JEP), the cornerstone of the peace accord signed with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrillas.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 08 April 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro gov’t appeals against “cynical” US sanctions
- In brief: Colombia
On 6 April, the de facto Venezuelan government announced that it would be filing legal appeals against the US government’s decision to impose economic sanctions on companies that transport Venezuelan oil to Cuba.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 05 April 2019
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- PERU: Del Solar and cabinet pass congressional grilling
- In brief: Ecuador
From Latin American Weekly Report
- VENEZUELA: Maduro puts squeeze on Guaidó
- PERU: Seeking to avoid a Bambazo
- COLOMBIA: US coca accusations ruffle feathers
- BOLIVIA: The new Tipnis?
In the early hours of 5 April, Peru’s congress granted the requisite vote of confidence in the new ministerial cabinet presided over by Salvador del Solar after a debate lasting more than 16 hours.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 04 April 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Diplomatic tensions with Russia over Venezuela
- In brief: Region
On 3 April, the Russian embassy in Colombia issued a statement in which it said that it has never questioned the Colombian government’s sovereign right to define its own foreign policy and act accordingly on the international stage.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 3 April 2019
* The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac) has revised its economic growth forecast for Bolivia for 2019 increasing it to 4.4% up from 4.3%.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 2 April 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Supreme court steps up pressure on Guaidó
- In brief: Peru
On 1 April, the president of Venezuela’s supreme court (TSJ), Maikel Moreno, called upon the government-controlled constituent assembly to strip Juan Guaidó, the opposition figurehead and widely recognised interim president, of his legislative immunity from prosecution.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 1 April 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Impromptu protests over electricity outages
- In brief: Bolivia
On 31 March, hundreds of people took part in impromptu demonstrations in cities around Venezuela protesting over the electricity outages and lack of drinking water that have been affecting large parts of the country.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 29 March 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro moves against Guaidó
- In brief: Peru
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Maduro lashes out with a purpose
- ECUADOR: Traditional parties make comeback
- PERU: Vizcarra completes a year but has little to show for it
On 28 March, Venezuela’s comptroller general’s office barred the opposition figurehead and widely recognised interim president Juan Guaidó from holding any public post for the next 15 years.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 28 March 2019
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- Duque under growing pressure to resolve indigenous protests
- In brief: Bolivia
On 27 March, a cross-party group of legislators from Colombia’s national congress held a meeting with President Iván Duque in which they urged him to find a solution to protests that have been staged by indigenous groups in Cauca department.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 27 March 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Country plunged into intermittent darkness again
- In brief: Peru
From Latin American Regional Report: Andean Group
- Introduction
- Hopes for repair of oil pipeline with community support
- Colombia’s Nato bet
- Gender rights – Bolivia at halfway mark to political equality
- From bad to worse
- Economic Highlights
On 26 March, the working day and classes were suspended across Venezuela on government orders, as the country suffered from a second day of intermittent electricity blackouts.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 26 March 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Presence of Russian military causes consternation
- In brief: Bolivia
On 25 March, the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) issued a statement rejecting the unauthorised presence of Russian military personnel in Venezuela as “unacceptable”.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 25 March 2019
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- PROSUR: New regional bloc launched in Chile
- ECUADOR: Elections pit Moreno against Correa
- In brief: Venezuela
From Latin American Economy & Business
- Anatomy of a catastrophic blackout
- Venezuela: Health crisis threatens regional economies
- ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS
- Ecuador: New IMF agreement is finalised
- Colombia: ProColombia drums up extra investment
On 22 March, the presidents of Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, and Paraguay, along with a representative from Guyana, launched the new regional bloc: the Foro para el Progreso y Desarrollo de América Latina (Prosur).
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 22 March 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Arrest of opposition figure produces alarm
- In brief: Colombia
- CHILE: Piñera hosts Colombia’s Duque
From Latin American Weekly Report
- ECUADOR: Moreno withdraws from Unasur
- PERU: Odebrecht investigations stoke tensions
- COLOMBIA: Indigenous groups challenge Duque
- TRACKING TRENDS
- Venezuela’s Guaidó launches “new phase” to topple Maduro
On 21 March, international organisations including the United Nations (UN) expressed concern over the arrest in Venezuela of Roberto Marrero, chief of staff of Venezuela’s self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaidó, and called on the de facto government led by Nicolás Maduro to ensure that Marrero’s rights are respected.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 21 March 2019
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- VENEZUELA: UN denounces torture of political dissidents
- In brief: Colombia
From Latin American Regional Report: Brazil & Southern Cone
- Uruguay and its discretion over Venezuela
- Argentina and Bolivia: healthcare for all?
On 20 March, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, accused the de facto government led by Nicolás Maduro of conducting a violent crackdown on political dissident in Venezuela including the extrajudicial execution and torture of imprisoned political opponents.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 20 March 2019
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- BOLIVIA: Coca protests in capital
- In brief: Venezuela
On 20 March hundreds of coca producers (cocaleros) from Bolivia’s traditional Yungas coca producing area (La Paz department) marched in the capital, La Paz.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 19 March 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Demonstrations in favour of peace accord’s JEP
- In brief: Ecuador
On 18 March, thousands of Colombians marched in defence of peace and of the statutory law regulating the transitional justice system (JEP), part of the 2016 peace accord reached with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 18 March 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro tinkers with cabinet as Guaidó ramps up pressure
- In brief: Ecuador
On 17 March, Venezuela’s de facto government led by Nicolás Maduro announced a “profound restructuring” of the ministerial cabinet aimed “shielding the homeland” from all threats.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 15 March 2019
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- COLOMBIA: UN highlights concerns with human rights
- In brief: Peru
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Colombian peace accord imperilled by Duque
- VENEZUELA: Maduro rocked by new “coup” attempt
- PERU: Vizcarra appoints new prime minister in shake-up
- BRAZIL: Venezuelan crisis spills over into Roraima
On 14 March, the Office of the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) presented its annual report on the situation of human rights in Colombia, highlighting concerns with high levels of violence.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 14 March 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Concerns over future of peace deal after JEP veto
- In brief: Venezuela
On 13 March, hundreds of Colombians mobilised across the country to demonstrate their support for a law regulating the transitional justice system (JEP), part of the peace accord reached between the government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group in 2016.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 13 March 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro gov’t goes after Guaidó
- In brief: Ecuador
On 12 March Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, announced that his office had opened an investigation into the opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaidó, for his suspected involvement in the sabotaging of the national electricity grid.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 12 March 2019
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- PERU: Vizcarra seeks to reassert authority with cabinet reshuffle
- In brief: Venezuela
From Latin American Security & Strategic Review
- Is the region slipping back on Law and Order?
- Peru: Cracking down on illegal mining camps
- Cuba-Venezuela: ‘Cuba-zuela’ the focus of US ire
On 11 March Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra carried out a major cabinet reshuffle, and appointed a new prime minister and seven new ministers.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 11 March 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Duque delivers blow to peace accord
- In brief: Bolivia
- BRAZIL: Roraima affected by Venezuela electricity blackout
On 10 March, Colombia’s President Iván Duque partially vetoed a law regulating the transitional justice system (JEP) and returned it to congress.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 08 March 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Renewed debate over coca eradication strategy
- In brief: Venezuela
From Latin American Weekly Report
- VENEZUELA: Guaidó back with a bang
- COLOMBIA: Bribery case threatens JEP
- PERU: Slippery parties
- TRACKING TRENDS
On 7 March, Colombia’s President Iván Duque took part in a public audience in the constitutional court on the use of the herbicide glyphosate to eradicate coca cultivation, arguing for a revision of the ruling currently prohibiting its use.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 7 March 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro gov’t further isolates itself
- In brief: Peru
On 6 March, the de facto Venezuelan government led by Nicolás Maduro declared Germany’s ambassador to Venezuela, Daniel Martin Kriener, persona non grata and gave him 48 hours to leave the country.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 6 March 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Guaidó plans strike action with unions
- In brief: Colombia
On 5 March, Juan Guaidó, the widely recognised interim president of Venezuela, met representatives of local trade unions, after which he announced that they would set in motion rolling public sector strikes.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 5 March 2019
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- VENEZUELA: “What are you waiting for?” returning Guaidó asks military
- In brief: Colombia
On 4 March Juan Guaidó, the president of Venezuela's national assembly, returned to Venezuela 10 days after leaving the country to coordinate humanitarian aid efforts in the Colombian border city of Cúcuta.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 4 March 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Guaidó risks return
- In brief: Colombia
Juan Guaidó announced on 3 March that he will return to Venezuela today (4 March) after completing a mini tour of the region.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 01 March 2019
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- PERU: Vizcarra hounded into early return from abroad
- In brief: Colombia
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Guaidó endures first big setback in Venezuela
- ECUADOR: Big twist in anti-corruption fight
- BOLIVIA: Morales delivers on healthcare
- COLOMBIA: National development plan comes under fire
On 28 February President Martín Vizcarra announced that he was cutting short an official visit to Spain and Portugal in order to return to Peru in the wake of fierce criticism from the political opposition over his absence at a time of serious flooding and mudslides at home.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 28 February 2019
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- ECUADOR: Political tensions rise over Moreno corruption allegations
- In brief: Peru
On 27 February, national deputy Ronny Aleaga from Ecuador’s Movimiento Revolución Ciudadana (MRC) opposition movement cancelled a press conference in which he was due to present evidence in support of the corruption accusations he’d levelled against President Lenín Moreno after he was heckled by Moreno’s supporters.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 27 February 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Under the spotlight in the UNSC
- In brief: Colombia
From Latin American Regional Report: Andean Group
- Introduction
- Peru allocates US$5.5bn to alternative development plan
- Colombia’s coffee problems
- New wave of reforms for under-fire judicial system in Bolivia
- New warning that illegal mining has reached “epidemic levels”
- Economic Highlights
On 26 February, the US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliot Abrams urged the members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to approve a resolution calling for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Venezuela and for more UN members to adopt sanctions against Venezuela’s de facto government led by Nicolás Maduro.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 26 February 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Lima Group weighs up next move
- In brief: Bolivia
On 25 February, the Lima Group of Western Hemisphere nations held a meeting in Bogotá to evaluate the next steps to take to restore democracy in Venezuela after the efforts to bring humanitarian aid into the country were largely thwarted by the government led by Nicolás Maduro.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 25 February 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Chaos unfolds as humanitarian aid is blocked
- In brief: Peru
- BRAZIL-VENEZUELA: Brasília responds to clashes on border
From Latin American Economy & Business
- Ecuador: IMF confirms progress towards loan deal
- ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS
- Region: How fast will EV take-up happen?
- Venezuela: Oil output plunges: what chances (eventual) recovery?
On 23 February, at least a dozen people were killed and over 200 wounded on Venezuela’s borders with Colombia and Brazil after the Venezuelan armed forces refused to allow the entry of humanitarian aid packages into the country.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 22 February 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Prominent military figure turns on Maduro
- In brief: Ecuador
From Latin American Weekly Report
- VENEZUELA: Showdown over aid looms
- PERU: Vizcarra slips as Odebrecht deal sealed
- TRACKING TRENDS
- Duque considers JEP changes Colombia
On 21 February, General Hugo ‘Pollo’ Carvajal, Venezuela’s former head of military counterintelligence (2004-2011) and current national deputy for the ruling Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV), publicly denounced Nicolás Maduro for usurping the presidency and recognised the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, as the country’s legitimate interim president.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 21 February 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Duque comes under mounting pressure to sanction JEP
- In brief: Colombia
On 20 February the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a statement urging Colombia’s President Iván Duque to sanction into law the bill that fully enables the functioning of a transitional justice system (JEP) to handle cases related to Colombia’s internal armed conflict.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 20 February 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro challenges Guaidó to call election
- In brief: Colombia
On 19 February, Venezuela’s de facto president, Nicolás Maduro, challenged the self-proclaimed and internationally recognised interim president, Juan Guaidó, to call a presidential election so that he can defeat him in the polls.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 19 February 2019
* Bolivia and Argentina have renegotiated their natural gas provision contract valid until 2026 and agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further bilateral trade relations.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 18 February 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Humanitarian aid amasses on Colombia border
- In brief: Peru
On 16 February, three US military transport aircraft carrying humanitarian aid to Venezuela landed in the Colombian border city of Cúcuta.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 15 February 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro gov’t launches international counter offensive
- In brief: Bolivia
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Two keys to Venezuela’s future: food and soldiers
- COLOMBIA: Duque aligns with Trump
- PERU: More movement in congress
On 14 February, the foreign minister of the de facto Venezuelan government, Jorge Arreaza, announced that the administration led by Nicolás Maduro has the support of over a dozen countries that are prepared to denounce before the United Nations (UN) the attempts by the US to overthrow the Maduro administration.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 14 February 2019
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- BOLIVIA: The opposition appeals to IACHR over Morales’ candidacy
- In brief: Peru
From Latin American Security & Strategic Review
- Venezuela: Staring down the barrel
- Colombia-Venezuela: Venezuelan women – victims of human trafficking networks in Colombia
- Ecuador: Xenophobic attacks against Venezuelans spark concerns
- Venezuela-Region: Resurgent diseases in Venezuela pose health risk for region
On 13 February, opposition figures like Bolivia’s former president Carlos Mesa (2003-2005), a presidential candidate ahead of the October vote, along with civil-society groups, presented complaints before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) against President Evo Morales’ re-election bid.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 13 February 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Guaidó maintains the pressure
- In brief: Bolivia
From Latin American Regional Report: Caribbean & Central America
- CARICOM: The Caribbean stands by Maduro
On 12 February, tens of thousands of people took part in a protest march in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, called by the self-proclaimed and internationally recognised interim president Juan Guaidó, to demand that the de facto government led by Nicolás Maduro allow the entry into the country of international humanitarian aid and for Maduro to abandon power.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 12 February 2019
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- VENEZUELA: De facto gov’t reinforces military presence on Colombia border
- In brief: Venezuela
On 11 February, Venezuela’s defence minister, General Vladimir Padrino López, announced that additional armed forces personnel had been deployed to the country’s border with Colombia to ensure that the international humanitarian aid arranged by the self-proclaimed and internationally recognised interim president, Juan Guaidó, does not enter Venezuela.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 11 February 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Guaidó demands that humanitarian aid be allowed into the country
- In brief: Colombia
On 10 February Juan Guaidó, Venezuela’s self-proclaimed and internationally recognised interim president, accused those blocking humanitarian aid from entering the country of being “almost genocidal”.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 8 February 2019
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- VENEZUELA: EU-backed political group to send mission to Caracas
- In brief: Bolivia
From Latin American Weekly Report
- PERU: Vizcarra’s grand transformation
- VENEZUELA: All eyes on Cúcuta
- COLOMBIA: Duque rules out bilateral cease fires
- TRACKING TRENDS
- Ecuador’s unions join indigenous in protesting against Moreno
On 7 February, the international contact group (ICG) on Venezuela held its first meeting in Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo, and called for a new dialogue and a fresh presidential election to try to solve the crisis in Venezuela.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 7 February 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Armed forces under pressure over humanitarian aid
- In brief: Colombia
On 6 February, the president of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled national assembly and self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaidó, ordered the country’s armed forces to allow the entry of foreign humanitarian aid into Venezuela.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 6 February 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Tension on Colombia border as humanitarian aid is held up
- In brief: Ecuador
On 5 February, Venezuelan opposition national deputy, Franklyn Duarte, claimed that members of Venezuela’s armed forces (FANB) were blocking the entry of international humanitarian aid packages into Venezuela at the Tienditas international bridge that connects Venezuela to Colombia.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 5 February 2019
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- COLOMBIA: Security forces strike Farc dissidents
- In brief: Bolivia
On 4 February, Colombia’s defence minister, Guillermo Botero, revealed that 14 dissidents from the demobilised Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrillas had been killed in a security operation in southern Colombia.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 4 February 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro refuses to give in to pressure
- In brief: Bolivia
- URUGUAY: Vázquez feeling the heat over Venezuela
On 3 February, Venezuela’s de facto president, Nicolás Maduro, publicly rejected the calls by the international community to resign or call a new presidential election insisting that he will not cave in to such pressure.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 01 February 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Guaidó keeps the ball rolling
- In brief: Peru
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Maduro digs in as US and Guaidó ratchet up pressure
- BOLIVIA: Morales’ claims of victory ring hollow
- COLOMBIA: Los Pelusos leader captured
- Fujimoristas in retreat in Peru
On 31 January, Venezuela’s opposition deputies presented an economic transition plan as the European parliament passed a resolution recognising Juan Guaidó as the country’s interim president.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 31 January 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Is humanitarian aid key to toppling Maduro?
- In brief: Bolivia
On 30 January, there were protests in more than 5,000 places across Venezuela, not just against the government led by President Nicolás Maduro but also to pressure the armed forces to permit a humanitarian corridor to allow essential aid into the country.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 30 January 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro strikes back
- In brief: Bolivia
From Latin American Regional Report: Andean Group
- Introduction
- Peru’s Vizcarra bolstered after referendum success
- Morales’ maritime dream runs aground in The Hague
- Are drones a potential solution to Colombia coca production increase?
- The oil sector in 2019
- Economic Highlights
On 29 January, Venezuela’s supreme court (TSJ) barred Juan Guaidó from leaving the country and froze his bank accounts.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 29 January 2019
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- VENEZUELA: US goes for the jugular with Pdvsa sanctions
- In brief: Ecuador
On 28 January, the US government slapped sanctions on Venezuela’s state-owned oil company Pdvsa, freezing its US-based assets and proceeds from crude exports.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 28 January 2019
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- VENEZUELA: Maduro and Guaidó vie for control of the military
- In brief: Ecuador
From Latin American Economy & Business
- Poverty contained?
- Venezuela: Economic emergency measures – not much changes
- ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS
- Ecuador: Oil production struggles
- Bolivia: Navigating a “sea of gas”
On 26 January, Venezuela’s military attaché at its embassy in Washington, Colonel José Luis Silva Silva, urged the Bolivarian armed forces (FANB) to recognise Juan Guaidó as the country’s legitimate president.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 25 January 2019
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- Colombia’s Duque moves against ELN peace negotiators
- In brief: Peru
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Guaidó seeks end game in Venezuela but lacks powerful pieces
- PERU: Local authorities hit the ground running
Development: On 24 January, Interpol issued an international arrest warrant for ‘Aureliano Carbonell’ (Víctor Orlando Cubides), one of the negotiators for the Colombian guerrilla group Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) in the suspended peace talks with the Colombian government in Cuba.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 24 January 2019
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- Crisis in Venezuela reaches new turning point
- In brief: Bolivia
Development: On 23 January, Juan Guaidó, the president of Venezuela’s national assembly (AN), formally declared himself as the country’s interim president and said that he will now seek to organise a new general election process to elect a successor to the de facto president, Nicolás Maduro.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 23 January 2019
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- Maduro lashes out at US ahead of Venezuelan protest march
- In brief: Peru
Development: On 22 January Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro ordered “a complete revision of relations with the US government” after US Vice President Mike Pence released a video branding him a dictator and extending support to Venezuelans the day before a large protest march called by the political opposition.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 22 January 2019
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- Turmoil in Venezuela as gov’t fights off military uprising
- In brief: Colombia
Development: On 21 January there were impromptu street protests in Venezuela in support of the actions of a group of officers from the Guardia Nacional Bolivariana (GNB) military police who had taken over a military barracks and declared themselves in rebellion against the de facto government led by Nicolás Maduro.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 21 January 2019
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- Colombia’s Duque challenged by ELN
- In brief: Bolivia
Development: On 21 January the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) insurgent guerrilla group assumed responsibility for the 17 January car bomb attack in Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, and justified the action on President Iván Duque’s refusal to resume the formal peace dialogue between his government and the ELN.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 18 January 2019
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- Terrorist attack in Bogotá shakes Colombia
- In brief: Bolivia
From Latin American Weekly Report
- Guaidó tries to turn screw on Maduro but needs military
- PERU: Odebrecht case takes fresh twist
- COLOMBIA: Márquez re-emerges to criticise peace deal
- Duque proposes new regional integration bloc
Development: On 17 January the Colombian police reported that 21 people had been killed and 68 others wounded after a car bomb exploded at the police academy in country’s capital, Bogotá.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 17 January 2019
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- Vizcarra’s links to Odebrecht come under congressional scrutiny in Peru
- In brief: Ecuador
From Latin American Security & Strategic Review
- Colombia: Government dialogue remains far off as ELN ceasefire ends
- Colombia: Condemnation from the US as coca production reaches all-time high
- Venezuela: Chipping away at Maduro
- Guyana: Venezuela escalates its challenge to Guyana
Development: On 16 January the audit commission in Peru’s national congress approved the opening of a new investigation into the links between C y M Vizcarra (CyM), a local consultancy firm founded by President Martín Vizcarra, and Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht, which has admitted to paying millions of US dollars in bribes to government officials in Peru to secure government contracts.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 16 January 2019
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- Venezuela’s national assembly moves to overthrow Maduro
- In brief: Colombia
Development: On 15 January, Venezuela’s national assembly (AN) approved a series of resolutions aimed at setting the legal bases for ousting the de facto Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV) government led by Nicolás Maduro.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 15 January 2019
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- Odebrecht in spotlight for different reason in Peru
- In brief: Venezuela
Development: On 14 January, Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra visited an area in eastern Lima which has faced extensive flooding after the rupture of a sewerage pipeline.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 14 January 2019
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- Turmoil in Venezuela as Guaidó is declared interim president then detained
- In brief: Andean
Development: On 13 January, Juan Guaidó, the president of Venezuela’s national assembly (AN), denounced that agents from the national intelligence service (Sebin) had illegally detained him for around half an hour in an attempt to silence him.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 11 January 2019
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- Region turns its back on Venezuela’s Maduro
- In brief: Colombia
From Latin American Weekly Report
- VENEZUELA: Maduro poised to go beyond point of no return
- PERU: Vizcarra fortified as Chávarry oversteps
- COLOMBIA: Duque gets a tax reform but not what he wanted
Development: On 10 January, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) issued a resolution stating that it does not recognise Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 10 January 2019
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- Tensions mounts in Venezuela as Maduro prepares for new term
- In brief: Bolivia/Peru
Development: On 9 January Venezuelan political opposition group Frente Amplio Venezuela Libre (FAVL) called for public demonstrations to be staged today (10 January) in repudiation of President Nicolás Maduro swearing-in for a second presidential term.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 9 January 2019
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- Crisis in Peru’s judiciary spills over to congress
- In brief: Bolivia
Development: On 8 January the congressional bench of Peru’s main opposition party, Fuerza Popular (FP, Fujimoristas), presented a motion of censure against the president of congress, Daniel Salaverry.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 8 January 2019
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- Chávarry finally succumbs to pressure in Peru
- In brief: Venezuela
Development: On 7 January Peru’s attorney general Pedro Chávarry announced that he would be tendering his resignation today (8 January).
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 7 January 2019
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- Venezuela’s national assembly warns Maduro against usurpation
- In brief: Colombia
Development: On 5 January the newly elected president of Venezuela’s national assembly (AN), Juan Guaidó, said that if President Nicolás Maduro swears-in for a new six-year presidential term on 10 January he will be “usurping the presidency”.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 4 January 2019
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- Social discontent rises as judiciary crisis drags on in Peru
- In brief: Ecuador
Development: On 3 January thousands of people took part in protest marches in cities across Peru demanding the resignation of Attorney General Pedro Chávarry.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 3 January 2019
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- Venezuela complains of US meddling
- In brief: Peru
Development: On 2 January Venezuela’s foreign ministry issued a statement denouncing the “brazen” meddling by the US government in Venezuelan internal affairs and accused it of pressuring its regional neighbours to act against the government led by President Nicolás Maduro.
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 2 January 2019
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- Crisis in Peru’s judiciary comes to a head
- In brief: Peru
Development: On 1 January Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra called on congress to urgently declare a state of emergency in the national judiciary thus allowing his administration to intervene.