Weekly Report - 08 April 2021 (WR-21-14)

No fewer than 37 civil-society groups in Honduras called for President Juan Orlando Hernández to step down this week over alleged drug-trafficking links.... Read More

Peru’s five-year presidential and congressional term of office, which is set to conclude in four months’ time on 28 July, will probably be remembered as one of the most disastrous in the country’s recent history, marked by deeply embedded corruption, acute political instability, and, in the last year, a mismanaged coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic which has led to the deaths of 53,000 people, representing one of the world’s highest per capita mortality rates.... Read More

Colombia’s public prosecutor’s office has launched charges against opposition politician and potential centre-left 2022 presidential candidate Sergio Fajardo, who it accuses of embezzlement and of exceeding his legal authority eight years ago when he was governor of the north-western department of Antioquia.... Read More

Amid new restrictions to contain the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, and a fragmenting indigenous vote, the outcome of the second-round presidential ballot on 11 April between the leftist Andrés Arauz and conservative Guillermo Lasso remains uncertain.... Read More

Fighting between the Venezuelan military and a dissident Colombian rebel group, believed to be the 10th Front of Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc), has entered its third week.... Read More

BOLIVIA | ‘Great fortunes’ wealth tax exceeds expectations.... Read More

Brazil recorded more than 66,000 deaths from the coronavirus (Covid-19) throughout the month of March, a figure which was more than double the previous monthly record of fatalities from the virus last July.... Read More

With only four days to go before Chile’s historic local and constituent assembly elections, due on 10 and 11 April, congress finally concluded the necessary legislation calling a halt – and setting new dates for them to be held on 15 and 16 May.... Read More

PARAGUAY | Subsidies for workers on Argentine border.... Read More

Mexico’s ruling left-wing Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena), federal cabinet ministers, and even President Andrés Manuel López Obrador himself have accused the national electoral institute (INE) of being politically biased against Morena and of actively trying to harm its chances in the 6 June midterm elections.... Read More

The Mexican government has reached an agreement with local business leaders and trade unions over changes to the regulations on outsourcing.... Read More

MEXICO | Remittances soar.... Read More

Ernesto Jarquín, a well-known opponent of President Daniel Ortega and his government, was recently shot dead in Mulukukú municipality in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) by an unknown assailant.... Read More

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro swore in on 6 April the ministers appointed in last week’s cabinet reshuffle.... Read More

“Honduras needs a winning alliance that is geopolitically acceptable to countries on which the country depends.” Honduran anti-corruption presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla, who narrowly lost the 2017 contest to President Juan Orlando Hernández.... Read More