LatinNews Daily - 12 March 2025

On 11 March Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro announced that he will call a referendum so that voters can decide whether to implement his government’s proposed reforms of labour and the healthcare system, which are facing stiff opposition in congress.... Read More

*Ecuador’s government led by President Daniel Noboa has announced that, to mitigate the economic impact of recent heavy rains, residents of the provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos, Manabí, El Oro, Esmeraldas, Santa Elena, Lojas, and Azuay will be given credit equivalent to 180kw/h for their March electricity bills.... Read More

On 11 March Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited the south-eastern state of Minas Gerais to attend launch events for expansions at a factory owned by international carmaker Stellantis and at another facility owned by Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau.... Read More

*Brazil’s national civil aviation agency (Anac) has suspended the operations of Voepass, an airline which runs domestic flights in Brazil.... Read More

On 11 March Cossette López, the president of Honduras’ national electoral authority (CNE), railed against her CNE colleague, Marlon Ochoa, accusing him of being “more of a political activist than electoral official” and of “attacking CNE human resources”.... Read More

*The Dominican Republic’s central bank (BCRD) has released new figures which show remittances to the country totalled US$917m in February, up 9.7% compared with February 2024.... Read More

As of midnight on 11 March, a new global 25% tariff on steel and aluminium imports into the US came into force which will likely have a significant impact on Mexico, while the threat of a blanket 25% tariff on Mexican products entering the US has only been postponed (for goods complying with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement [USMCA]) until early April.... Read More

*The World Bank (WB) has released a new report which identifies three key policy areas necessary to reduce poverty in Mexico.... Read More

On 11 March politicians from across Argentina’s political spectrum took a stand against a decree issued by President Javier Milei in the official gazette, that paves the way for a new deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). ... Read More

*The Argentine subsidiaries of US oil firm Chevron and London-headquartered Shell have joined the Vaca Muerta Oleoducto Sur (VMOS) consortium led by Argentina’s state oil company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF) which plans to build a 437km pipeline from Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale fields in Neuquén province to a new export terminal in Punta Colorada, Río Negro province.... Read More