LatinNews Daily - 1 April 2025

On 31 March the US and Salvadorean governments announced that a further 17 people allegedly linked to Venezuelan criminal organisation Tren de Aragua (TdA) and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), one of two main street gangs in Central America, had been transferred from the US to El Salvador’s ‘Terrorism Containment Centre’ (Cecot), a 40,000-capacity mega prison.... Read More

On 31 March Peru’s economy and finance minister, José Salardi, announced a “deregulation shock” consisting of 402 measures to remove bureaucratic red tape and create a more “efficient and competitive” government.... Read More

*Colombia’s central bank (Banrep) has opted to hold its benchmark interest rate at 9.5% for a second straight meeting following a similar decision taken in January.... Read More

On 31 March workers for food delivery and ride hailing platforms began a two-day strike in major cities throughout Brazil, demanding better pay and other conditions.... Read More

*Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrobras has reduced the average price of its diesel for fuel distributors to R$3.55 (US$0.62) per litre.... Read More

*Canadian mining company First Quantum Minerals (FQM), which owns Panama’s largest mine Cobre Panamá, has announced that it has discontinued arbitration proceedings against Panama which stem from the shuttering of the mine in late 2023 under the previous government led by former president Laurentino Cortizo (2019-2024).... Read More

On 31 March Mexico’s Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente held a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.... Read More

*The president of Mexico’s leading business lobby, the Consejo Coordinador Empresarial (CCE), Francisco Cervantes, has carried out a work tour in Europe aimed at strengthening links with the private sector in Belgium and other European Union countries.... Read More

On 31 March the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, said that she viewed the Argentine government’s request for an upfront disbursement of US$8bn, 40% of the total sum it is negotiating with the multilateral lender under a new loan deal, as an entirely “reasonable request”.... Read More

*Argentina’s national statistics institute (Indec) has released its latest report on urban poverty and destitution, which shows that the poverty rate fell sharply in the second half of 2024 to 38.1% (11.3m people) down from 52.9% (15.7m people) in the first half of 2024 and from 41.7% in the second half of 2023.... Read More