Weekly Report - 20 June 2024 (WR-24-24)

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro scored a major victory on 14 June when congress gave its final approval to his government’s pension reform bill.... Read More

Fuel subsidies have been the bane of Ecuadorean governments since 1974, straining the country’s precarious public finances and triggering major unrest when attempts have been made to cut them.... Read More

Venezuela’s political opposition has again been targeted with a string of arrests and bans on holding public office as the 28 July election approaches.... Read More

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva launched a stinging attack on the president of the central bank (BCB), Roberto Campos Neto, this week for failing to lower interest rates decisively.... Read More

Chile’s President Gabriel Boric played a prominent role in the global peace summit in Switzerland on 16 June to discuss a resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.... Read More

ARGENTINA | Inflation boost.... Read More

Mexico’s elections on 2 June, which saw emphatic victories for the ruling left-wing Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) at the federal, state, and local levels, has given opposition parties much to consider.... Read More

Mexico’s leading private sector lobby, Coparmex, is the latest to have expressed its objection to a proposed judicial reform after President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum announced on 10 June that it would be a priority when the new legislature, dominated by the ruling left-wing Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena), convenes on 1 September.... Read More

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has suspended inspections of avocados and mangos in the western state of Michoacán citing security concerns, meaning the state cannot export these products to the US.... Read More

MEXICO | Steel sector strike continues.... Read More

If there were any doubt about the utter ruthlessness of Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega in stamping out any perceived threat to his authoritarian rule the treatment of his own brother lays it to rest.... Read More

Honduras’ leftist Partido Libertad y Refundación (Libre) government led by President Xiomara Castro has announced 14 emergency measures to further tackle insecurity.... Read More

A fleet of four Russian ships recently paid a visit to Cuba in what is the latest sign of strengthening relations between Havana and Moscow.... Read More

Severe flooding has claimed eight lives and affected thousands of people in Guatemala, as well as sweeping away part of the highway linking Guatemala City to the Pacific, complicating the transport of imports and exports.... Read More

The most outspoken critic of alleged corruption and impunity in Paraguay received a boost in her bid to regain her senate seat this week.... Read More

“We have begun to leave neoliberalism behind and construct a social state of law and peace.”... Read More