LatinNews Daily - 19 March 2024

On 18 March Cuba’s foreign ministry (Minrex) summoned US chargé d’affaires Benjamin Ziff and handed him a formal protest note accusing the US of interfering in domestic affairs.... Read More

On 18 March Peru’s attorney general’s office opened a preliminary investigation into President Dina Boluarte for possible illicit enrichment and failure to declare assets.... Read More

*Peru’s investment promotion agency (Proinversión) has said that it expects a planned new port in the Ica region to generate over US$15bn in investment in southern Peru.... Read More

On 18 March Brazil’s federal health ministry released its latest figures on the ongoing dengue epidemic, registering an annual record figure of 1.89m cases in 2024 so far. ... Read More

*Brazil’s central bank (BCB) has released its latest economic activity index (IBC-Br), used as a proxy to anticipate the country’s GDP figures, which showed a monthly rise in activity of 0.60% in January, up 3.45% compared to January 2023.... Read More

*Delegations from Guatemala and the US, headed up by Guatemala’s President Bernardo Arévalo and US Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose Fernandez respectively have taken part in a High-Level Economic Dialogue (HLED) in Guatemala City, which the US State Department notes is the first to have taken place between the two countries.... Read More

On 18 March the state public security ministry (SSP) in Mexico’s Michoacán state condemned the “cowardly killing” of a local police chief and two other police officers the previous day.... Read More

*Mexico’s state-run oil company Pemex is expected to process 1.7m barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil at its six local refineries by the end of the year, according to CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza.... Read More

On 18 March lawyers representing Paraguay’s former president Mario Abdo Benítez (2018-2023) took legal action against two public prosecutors that charged him and eight former officials in his government with revealing state secrets, misuse of public office, and other crimes designed to discredit his predecessor Horacio Cartes (2013-2018).... Read More

*Chile’s GDP grew by 0.2% in yearly terms in 2023, down from 2.1% in 2022, according to Chile’s central bank (BCCh).... Read More