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Development: On 3 March the minister for public works, Jorge Pinos, resigned, following widespread criticism of his open acknowledgement of his willingness to accept bribes.

Significance: Although Pinos could claim that his comments were misinterpreted - he said he could charge construction firms a 10% rake-off which would go on building roads rather than in his pockets - his departure hardly adds lustre to the government. A recent survey found that 62.5% of respondents considered the administration of President Lucio Gutiérrez to be "bad" or "very bad".

Pinos had only been in the job since 12 February. On taking up office he had committed himself to improving the transport infrastructure in the Amazonian region of the country. However, during a televised speech in the Amazonian town of Macas, the government minister said: "I am in a position to ask construction firms for a rake-off of 10%, but this 10% is to make streets for abandoned towns, not for going in my pocket". Critics immediately jumped on his comments, saying the least one could expect from a government is a professed intention to be honest. Pinos retracted his statement, saying he was merely using figurative expressions rather than referring to actual facts, but the writing was on the wall.

Gutiérrez hardly needs any more lame ducks in his administration. In a survey conducted by the company Opinion Profiles of 509 people in Quito and Guayaquil, 94.7% of those questioned had "little or no" trust in the country's political parties and 55.3% blamed the government and the opposition equally for the political impasse the country has reached since the government reconstituted the supreme court. As regards Gutiérrez himself, 30.6% described him as "incapable", 16.1% a "dictator", 7.6% as "intelligent" and 3.3% as "efficient". More than 90% of respondents considered the 100 deputies of the Ecuadorean congress to be doing a bad job.

Development: The ambassadors to Colombia of Brazil, Venezuela and Spain met the spokesman for the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), Francisco Galán, at his prison in Itagüi on 8 April.

Significance: Ambassadors Carlos Gómez-Múgica (Spain), Marí­a Celina de Azevedo Rodrigues (Brazil) and Carlos Rodolfo Santiago (Venezuela) said they urged Galán to agree to the Colombian government's demands for a ceasefire. Following the meeting, the ambassadors were keen to stress that Mexico is the only country overseeing negotiations towards a peace process between the ELN and the government.

The ambassadors' meeting with Galán was agreed upon when Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe met President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Brazil's President Lula da Silva and Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodrí­guez Zapatero in Venezuela on 29 March. The ELN had asked the summit to pave the way for a peace process between the group and the Colombian government.

The likelihood of such a process being established is uncertain. The ELN seems keen to push talks along but has yet to agree to President Uribe's demand for a unilateral and unconditional ceasefire. However, Vice-President Francisco Santos sent out a surprisingly upbeat message on 9 April, declaring: "The ELN does want to reach a negotiated settlement just as the government does, and I believe that irrespective of any obstacles which might arise, this negotiation will be easy."

Development: The final obstacle to Argentina completing its US$100bn debt-restructuring was removed on 13 May when a US appeals court ruled that a freeze on US$7bn of Argentine defaulted bonds be lifted. 

Significance: The economy minister, Roberto Lavagna, said that the government would now move ahead with the debt swap, which ended on 25 February: creditors holding more than 76% of Argentina's defaulted debt agreed to participate in the restructuring. Some investors who rejected the offer obtained a court order to freeze US$7bn of bonds in April.

The appeals court in Manhattan said that the ruling was made “to avoid a substantial risk to the successful conclusion of the debt restructuring" which, it said, “is obviously of critical importance to the economic health of a nation". Lavagna said the decision was as important as the end of the corralito; the economic measures by which the De La Rúa government seized the deposits of millions of Argentines. 

The ruling came one day after the government suffered a reverse on utilities when the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (Icsid) ruled that Argentina must pay US$133m in compensation to CMS Gas Transmission for freezing utility rates in 2002 in the midst of the economic crisis.

Development: The head of the US Southern Command, General Bantz J. Craddock is due to arrive in Ecuador today (20 June).

Significance: This will be Craddock's first visit to Ecuador since President Alfredo Palacio took office, following Lucio Gutiérrez's ouster on 30 April. One of the demands of the 'outlaws' who forced Gutiérrez from office is the removal of the US military presence from the Manta airbase. Although Palacio ruled out any such possibility, he has publicly questioned the US's use of glyphosate on the Colombia-Ecuador border as part of its war on drugs.

Craddock is due to meet the high command of the military and the police. On 20 June he will meet with Solón Espinosa, the new defence minister, and the head of the joint chiefs of staff, vice-admiral Manuel Zapater. On 21 June Craddock will visit the Eloy Alfaro airbase in Manta, on the Pacific coast. The base is an integral part of US operations against drug-trafficking.

Speaking on 19 June at the Mercosur summit in Asunción , Paraguay, Palacio spelt out his concern over the use of glyphosate to kill off coca plants. "The problem is the dosage. As we don't know if it damages health or not, it is better to take precautions," he said.

Development: President Lula da Silva signed a decree on 28 July determining that 70% of all management positions in government and public companies currently allocated to 'trusted advisors' should be filled by career civil servants. 

Significance: Currently, the executive fills more than 21,000 management posts by appointment. Lula himself created 2,700 “trusted" positions in the government since coming to power in 2003. These posts are distributed among government supporters, without any sort of public examination. One such post was held by Maurí­cio Marinho, who managed a sector of the federal postal service and was videotaped taking bribes on behalf of his political boss, Roberto Jefferson, the former leader of a government ally. 

The case triggered the cash-for-votes scandal that is rocking Brazilian politics. According to Jefferson, the ruling Partido dos Trabalhadores bought the support of allied parties in congress by paying monthly allowances to congressmen. Reports published by the Brazilian press suggested that the bribes were funded by corruption schemes in state-owned companies. Following the publication of Jefferson's allegations, the PT's leadership came under fire and several of the party's senior members had to resign, including Lula's right-hand man, José Dirceu. Most of the management positions in public companies have been appointed by the PT, with most posts going to the party's supporters and to government-allied parties' indications. 

President Lula da Silva also swore in three new ministers following the cabinet reshuffle prompted by the political crisis that has engulfed the government. Márcio Fontes, an appointment chosen by the president of the lower chamber of congress, Severino Cavalcanti, took over the towns' ministry from Olí­vio Dutra. Sérgio Rezende was sworn in as science and technology minister and Nelson Machado took over the social security minister, replacing the troubled Romero Jucá, who was accused of corruption. Nelson Machado is a favourite of the finance minister, Antonio Palocci, one of the few ministers that have seen their positions strengthened by the crisis.

Development: On 24 August talks between the government, oil companies and protesters from the two oil-producing Amazonian provinces of Orellana and Sucumbí­os stalled again, despite intervention from President Alfredo Palacio.

Significance: The oil companies want to prosecute those responsible for damage to the oil installations during the strike and seek compensation; the protesters consider this unacceptable. The protesters are demanding an end to the contract of Occidental, the US oil firm, for its illegal transfer of shares to EnCana, a Canadian firm. Occidental says it will take the government to international arbitration if it forces the company out of the country. According to a London-based court, Ecuador already owes Occidental US$65m, after having overtaxed it.

The talks had been progressing smoothly. Anita Rivas, the mayor of Francisco de Orellana, said that the oil companies had accepted their demands that they asphalt 260km of roads in the region, hand over 16% of the 25% tax they pay on their profits to the two provinces and hire 80% of their employees from the area. However, Rivas said the protesters were not prepared to accept the possibility of prosecution for damage caused at the oil wells. The talks are due to resume today (25 August).

Meanwhile, congress is debating whether to investigate the government's handling of the strikes. Martha Hidalgo, a deputy for the leftwing Movimiento Popular Democrático wants to see the interior minister, Mauricio Gándara, investigated for "repression of the people".

Development: On 27 September Bolivia's congress was unable to resolve the political crisis over the redistribution of congressional seats.

Significance: Santa Cruz, La Paz, Oruro, and Potosí­ have all called for a national state of emergency to find a solution to the political crisis, that endangers the 4 December elections. Both sides refuse to compromise. The western departments remain adamant that a constitutional assembly must be called before congressional representation is changed, while the eastern province of Santa Cruz endorses the constitutional court's ruling that congressional seats must be allocated according to the latest (2001) census.

The situation worsened on 27 September when the constitutional court accepted a Potosí­-backed petition regarding the constitutionality of the December congressional elections. According to the altiplano department, article 93 of Bolivia's constitution only permits interim-President Eduardo Rodrí­guez to call presidential, not congressional, elections. If the court rules in favour of Potosí­, the December congressional elections will be suspended, and deputies will remain in office until 2007. Such an outcome would further exacerbate the country's already unstable political situation.

The 4 December elections now face an uncertain future. Speaking during a joint press conference with President Rodrí­guez, Norah Soruco, head of the lower house, said "the only thing we can say [about the elections] is that they are neither ruled out nor confirmed."

Development: On 31 October the provisional electoral council (CEP) presented its completed slate of candidates for the forthcoming elections without confirming a date on which the elections will be held.

Significance: The CEP's failure to name a date is worrying. The interim prime minister, Gérard Latortue, told the UN Security Council on 18 October that elections would be held on 11 or 18 December but the CEP did not confirm this. The Security Council issued a presidential statement putting pressure on the interim government to hold the elections before the end of 2005 so that the new government can take over as scheduled on 7 February. The president of the CEP, Max Mathurin, confined himself to saying that the date would be made public “when everything is prepared, something that is impossible to say right now." 

The CEP recognised 43 of the 54 candidates who registered to run. It did not register Gérard Jean-Juste, the chosen candidate of Fanmi Lavalas, the party of exiled former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Jean-Juste is in prison for his alleged involvement in the murder of a journalist. The CEP did, however, register Marc Bazin, a former prime minister, who is now being supported by the Lavalas party leadership and former president René Préval, who is being supported by the Lavalas grassroots. Lavalas is the most popular party and Préval the most popular candidate but the split within the party could undermine his chances.

Development: On 4 December Jeanette Enmanuel, a businesswoman, was presented as the presidential candidate for the ruling Perú Posible party for the elections in April 2006.

Significance: Enmanuel's candidacy still has to be ratified by a meeting of the party on 11 December. Enmanuel would be the second candidate in the race for the presidency, behind the frontrunner, Lourdes Flores, of the conservative Unidad Nacional alliance. Enmanuel is unlikely to do well, considering the abysmal approval ratings of President Alejandro Toledo, which have rarely risen above single figures throughout his presidency.

Enmanuel's candidacy was announced by the secretary-general of the party, Javier Reátegui, who said that Enmanuel was a capable businesswoman who manages a successful business, which makes medicines and beauty products and employs 5,000 people. Carlos Bruce, the current housing minister, was chosen as the vice-presidential candidate.

At present the opinion polls put Flores on 30%, followed by the ultra-nationalist Ollanta Humala on 14%, then former presidents Valentí­n Paniagua and Alan Garcí­a, tied on 10%.

Development: On 16 January the new president-elect of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, said she intended to take her time over choosing her cabinet.

Significance: Bachelet, from the Partido Socialista (PS), won the election as the candidate of the Concertación por la Democracia, a coalition of four parties, so dishing out cabinet roles to keep everyone happy will prove tricky. The most centrist party in the coalition, the Democracia Cristiana (DC), will play the role of power broker in the next congress, despite its poor showing in the legislative elections.

The final results were much better than expected for Bachelet. She won a higher percentage of male votes (53.7%) than female votes (53.3 %), but this was still the first time since 1990 a majority of women had voted for a Concertación candidate. This, along with the fact she beat her rightwing rival Sebastian Piñera by a seven-point margin, should reinforce her moral authority.

"I haven't set a date [for announcing the cabinet], I'm going to take the amount of time I need as the important thing is the result," she said. "I will take the necessary decisions as the people have elected me." In her press conference at the hotel Plaza San Francisco she made repeated reference to the brevity of her mandate (reduced from six to four years in 2005) and therefore the need to have the "best of the best" in her cabinet. The only clues she has given so far are that it will be composed of 50% women and none of the ministers in President Ricardo Lagos's current administration will remain. Apart from the PS and the DC, the other two parties in the ruling coalition are the Partido por la Democracia and the Partido Radical Socialdemócrata; together the Concertación has 65 seats in the 120-seat chamber of deputies and 20 of the 38 senate seats.

Lagos was the first person to meet the president-elect on 16 January. Along with his wife, Luisa Durán, the president went to Bachelet's house for breakfast, over which they discussed the transitional phase prior to the president-elect taking office on 11 March. After the president left, Bachelet, a self-confessed agnostic in an overwhelming Catholic country, entertained the president of the Episcopal Conference, Alejandro Goic and the Cardinal Archbishop of Santiago, Francisco Javier Errázuriz. The cardinal said that he was happy Chile had chose a president who was a symbol of reconciliation, who had been "beaten by hatred, but had known how to overcome it"; a reference to Bachelet's torture under the Pinochet regime. The president-elect then met representatives of the evangelical churches in the country, which have an increasingly strong presence.

In the press conference that followed these meetings, Bachelet said she was open to "a wide-ranging and unrestricted dialogue with Bolivia". Bolivia wants access to the Pacific; a demand it may be prepared to emphasise by cutting off its gas supplies to Chile. Bachelet's offer of dialogue was proceeded by congratulations and an invitation from the Bolivian president-elect, Evo Morales to Bachelet (as well as President Lagos) to attend his inauguration on 22 January. No Chilean president has ever attended a Bolivian president's inauguration. Neither Lagos nor Bachelet has decided whether to go.

Bachelet batted away questions about the former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, who is currently in a Santiago jail: Bachelet said the matter should be settled in the courts. The Chilean president-elect's first trip abroad will be to Argentina, possibly later this month, although she is due to meet both the President of Panama, Martin Torrijos, and the President of Mexico, Vicente Fox, before that.

Bachelet also said that Chile was not engaged in an arms race and was happy with the status quo. "We believe the fundamental path for the region is cooperation and integration," said the former defence and health minister. She added that she did not believe that Mercosur, the customs union comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (with Venezuela as well as Bolivia and Peru as an associate members) was not incompatible with the Free Trade Area of the Americas, backed by Washington but loathed by leftwing nationalists in Venezuela and Argentina.

BRAZIL: The Associação Brasileira das Entidades de Crédito Imobiliário e Poupança (Abecip) announced that mortgages granted by private banks increased by 68% in January in relation to the previous month, reaching R$464m (US$215.8m).

BRAZIL: Unibanco, Brazil's third largest bank, registered a record profit of R$1.83bn (US$851m) in 2005, a 43% increase on the previous year's result.

BRAZIL: 78% of Brazilians claimed they work extra hours to a study conducted by the Dieese (Departamento Intersindical de Estatí­stica e Estudos Socioeconômicos).

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: The consumer price index increased by 1.55% in January, compared with 0.96% in December. Annualised inflation, from January 2005 to January 2006, was 8.25% compared with 18.79% a year earlier.

VENEZUELA: According to the national statistics agency there was a 43% increase in the income of the class E population, the poorest in the country, in 2005 compared with 1998.

Development: The opposition Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB) requested permission from the lower chamber of congress on 23 March to prosecute the finance minister, Antonio Palocci, for responsibility in the leaking of the bank details of one of his accusers.

Significance: If the lower chamber's president, Aldo Rebelo, accepts the request Palocci will be obliged to take leave from his job until the supreme court judges the legitimacy of the PSDB's legal action. Rebelo is unlikely to accept the request, yet the PSDB believes he might: Rebelo, despite being an ally of President Lula da Silva, has kept himself out of the government's manoeuvres to save the accused in the corruption scandals of the last year. Rebelo has a reputation for being impartial and fair.

According to the PSDB's request, Palocci used subalterns within the Caixa Econômica Federal (CEF) to obtain access to the bank account of Francenildo Santos Costa, the caretaker who accused the minister of frequenting a mansion in Brasí­lia where allegedly part of the money to feed the Partido dos Trabalhadores' corruption scheme was shared. Details of Costa's bank account were subsequently leaked to the press. For the PSDB says this was a government-sponsored ploy to undermine Costa's testimony to congress. The PSDB also maintains that Palocci, as finance minister and indirectly in command of CEF, has done nothing to punish those who violated Costa's banking secrecy rights.

Finally, the PSDB accuses the minister of having lied in his testimony to congress late last year. At the time Palocci denied vehemently having ever been in the mansion, which was rented by his former aides to throw frat-house-style parties. Since the new allegations surfaced Palocci has been quiet, refusing to speak to the press. Costa has also accused Lula of "trying to hide the wrongdoings" of the minister, and said that he will "not vote for the president" in October as he did in 2002.

Development: On 28 April the Partido Social Cristiano (PSC), the largest party in congress, confirmed Cynthia Viteri as its presidential candidate for October's elections.

Significance: The PSC has little desire to win the presidential elections, as it prefers its powerful position as the largest minority in congress to the necessary compromises of executive power. Viteri is a credible candidate, but unlikely to win in October. Her candidacy also avoids splitting the party further between its two caudillos; former president León Febres Cordero and the mayor of Guayaquil, Jaime Nebot.

Both Cordero and Nebot attended the party conference which saw Viteri elected. This was the first time the two men had been seen together for several months; a significant development given their mutual dislike, which has been threatening to divide the party.

Viteri first came to prominence in April last year when, as leader of congress, she held an extraordinary session to vote, unconstitutionally, President Lucio Gutiérrez out of office. She was also charged with swearing in the new president, Alfredo Palacio. Should she win in October, she would be Ecuador's second female president, following Rosalí­a Arteaga, who held the post for two days in 1997.

According to the opinion polls, Viteri is third behind the social-democratic León Roldós and the banana magnate Alvaro Noboa. Other candidates have yet to confirm whether they will stand.

ARGENTINA: Inflation in May was 0.4%, significantly better that the government had feared. The inflation rate for the past 12 months is 11.5%.

BRAZIL: The Confederação Nacional da Industria forecast that industry will continue to recover over the next few months. In April, hours worked increase by 0.7% compared with March and employment rose by 0.6%.

CHILE: Inflation in May was 0.2%.

ECUADOR: Retail prices fell by 0.14% in May, bringing inflation for the past 12 months to 3.1%

HAITI: The IDB announced that it had US$400m to spend in Haiti. The IDB president, Luis Alberto Moreno, said that the IDB would disburse the money gradually.

MEXICO: The consumer confidence indicator was 10% in May 2006 than May 2005.

Development: Elisa Carrió, the head of the opposition Afirmación para una República Igualitaria (ARI), announced on 9 July that she would distance herself from her party in order to ensure her political independence.

Significance: Carrió's decision to loosen her ties to the ARI comes after a major falling-out with Fernando Melillo, a founder of the party and its leader in the Buenos Aires legislature. Melillo resigned on 7 July as a result of the row, saying he did not like the direction in which Carrió was taking the party; the ARI chief was allegedly furious that she could not count in his support for her likely bid for the presidency.

Meanwhile, the opposition was powerless to stop the government winning an important victory in the senate on 7 July, when the upper chamber approved by 42 votes to 17 a bill to allow the cabinet to redistribute budget funds without consulting congress. The measure now requires approval in the chamber of deputies.

Development: Panama started extradition proceedings for former president Arnoldo Alemán on 13 August. The Panamanian judiciary accused Alemán and several family members and close associates of money laundering and fraud.

Significance: The Nicaraguan government is not expected to cooperate with Panama's extradition request but the process is likely to damage the candidacy of José Rizo, who is standing for Alemán's Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (PLC) in presidential elections on 5 November. Rizo was at pains to deny that his candidacy would be affected but the latest poll suggests that he is already losing touch with the frontrunners, Daniel Ortega, of the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) and Eduardo Montealegre, a dissident Liberal.

Panama's judiciary said that it was also seeking the extradition of Alemán's wife, Marí­a Fernanda Flores de Alemán, his father-in-law, José Antonio Flores, and the head of his administration's tax revenue agency, Byron Jerez. They are accused of diverting some US$58m from the Nicaraguan treasury to 60-odd bank accounts in 12 different banks in Panama. The judiciary has been moving painstakingly slowly on the Alemán case ever since he was convicted in Nicaragua for corruption in December 2003. Alemán has served very little of his 20-year sentence behind bars and is currently out on probation on health grounds.

Development: The sons of Andrés Manuel López Obrador protested on 18 September against the ploy by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) to use their mother's name in the crucial state election in the oil-rich southern state of Tabasco.

Significance: Elections in Tabasco are always controversial. The gubernatorial election on 15 October is no exception: it will decide whether López Obrador's protests against his defeat in the presidential election on 2 July fizzle out or are rekindled. Unfortunately for López Obrador, the latest opinion poll, by GEA-ISA, shows his candidate César Raúl Ojeda Zubieta, lagging 11 percentage points behind the candidate from the PRI, Andrés Rafael Granier Melo. The Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) candidate is almost 20 percentage points behind Ojeda. Ojeda rejects the poll, taken at the beginning of September and published in mid-September because it was paid for by the PRI.

López Obrador comes from Tabasco and lost a famous gubernatorial election in 1994 in which the winner, Roberto Madrazo, spent more than the US president spent in his election in 1992. López Obrador's sons objected on 18 September to the PRI using their late mother's name, Rocio Beltrán, for one of their front organisations.

A defeat for López Obrador in his home state will knock the stuffing out of his already faltering protest campaign. A victory, however, will cause major problems for the incoming government. Tabasco elections invariably pose problems for new presidents. In 1994, the then president, Ernesto Zedillo, refused to recognise Madrazo's victory for months, and only did so when he needed to avoid splitting the PRI in the federal congress to back his economic rescue package. The last gubernatorial election, in 2000, resulted in the federal election authorities ordering, for the first time ever, that a state election be rerun.

Development: On 23 October Rafael Correa, the leftwing candidate for the presidency, confirmed he was not seeking any alliances with established political parties ahead of the second round.

Significance: Correa's main campaign promise is to replace congress with a constituent assembly, and despite his surprisingly poor showing in the first round, he does not appear willing to compromise on this commitment. A number of Ecuador's main leftwing parties have declared their support for Correa going into the run-off with Alvaro Noboa, a banana magnate and rightwing populist on 26 November. Correa, however, said that these parties have acted for themselves and he would have no alliance with them.

When asked about the declarations of support from the Izquierda Democrática and the Movimiento Popular Democrático, Correa continued to criticise the "partyocracy" that had run Ecuador and said he had not met with any of those parties' leaders. Correa's party, the Alianza PAíS, fielded no candidates in the congressional elections.

Development: Two of Argentina's main farming groups announced a week-long strike for farmers throughout the country on 29 November to protest against government-imposed restrictions on meat exports.

Significance: The Confederaciones Rurales Argentinas (CRA) and the Federación Agraria Argentina (FAA) have agreed to suspend beef and grain sales next week in order to pressure the government into lifting restrictions on meat exports. On the same day Economy Minister Felisa Miceli announced an extension of export limits for another 180 days.

The limits were introduced to keep domestic meat prices down. Ficeli said that the government intended to export only 70% of the amount of meat exported in 2005, and that the slaughter-weight of cattle would be reduced from 280kg to 240kg in order to maximise availability of beef in the local market. The new measures mean that beef exports will be reduced from 65,000 tonnes per month to 45,000 tonnes.

The government's actions are intended to keep inflation below 10% this year. In 2005 inflation reached a higher-than-anticipated 12.3%, and beef is a product which weighs heavily in the consumer price index.

Development: Today (15 January) President-elect Rafael Correa will be inaugurated.

Significance: On 14 January the president-elect attended an indigenous ceremony in the small Andean community of Zumbahua to receive a blessing for his mandate. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Bolivia's Evo Morales also attended the indigenous ceremony where all three praised Cuba's “anti-imperialist" struggle and committed themselves, once again, to putting an end to Latin America's “long night of neoliberalism". 

Around 30,000 people gathered in Zumbahua, where Correa once worked for a year as a volunteer teacher, to listen to the ceremony. A group of shamans cleansed Correa of bad energies, blessed him ahead of today's official inauguration, and handed over the fasces of office. The three leaders, dressed in the community's ponchos and hats then spoke briefly about the dawning of a new era of socialism which would liberate those peoples who had been oppressed for 500 years. 

Following the ceremony, the three men returned to Quito to await the arrival of other dignitaries ahead of today's inauguration. The Prince of Asturias, Felipe de Borbón, and the presidents of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Haiti, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Peru are due to attend as well as, more controversially, the president of Iran, Mahoud Ahmadinejad, and the president of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz.

Also on 14 January, Correa criticised the about-turn of the Partido Sociedad Patriótica (PSP), which decided on 12 January to support the president-elect's proposal for a constituent assembly. Previously, the PSP had formed part of the anti-constituent assembly majority bloc in congress, but its change of heart means a majority now supports the creation of such an institution, along with three out of four Ecuadoreans. Correa, however, appeared indifferent to the PSP's support, describing the party as “a wolf in sheep's clothing".