LatinNews Daily - 14 September 2021

On 13 September Alfredo Pacheco, the president of the Dominican Republic’s lower chamber, said that the lower chamber would not “hinder” investigations into sitting national legislators in relation to a drug-trafficking and money-laundering probe.... Read More

On 13 September, Colombia’s Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) guerrilla group confirmed it had kidnapped two soldiers in Arauca department, just two days after the military blamed the ELN for an attack that killed five soldiers in the same region.... Read More

* Ecuadorean environmentalists have pushed back against executive decree 95, signed by President Guillermo Lasso on 7 July, which established a framework to double Ecuador’s oil production to 1m barrels per day.... Read More

On 13 September, authorities in Brazil’s São Paulo state announced that people who are waiting for their second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus (Covid-19) are now being offered a Pfizer jab instead to complete their vaccination, due to shortages of the AstraZeneca jab.... Read More

* Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has issued a decree which establishes the creation of the Empresa Brasileira de Participações em Energia Nuclear e Binacional SA (ENBpar), a firm that is linked to the ministry of mines & energy (MME) and will operate as a limited company.... Read More

* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that its executive board has completed the fourth review of Honduras’ performance under its economic programme supported by a Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) and an arrangement under the Standby Credit Facility (SCF).... Read More

On 13 September Mexico’s federal senate approved an impeachment bill after the ruling left-wing Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) reached a consensus with opposition parties.... Read More

* The Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad (Imco), a think-tank based in Mexico City, has released its 2021 International Competitiveness Index report, in which Mexico is ranked 37th out of 43 countries, two positions lower than in 2020.... Read More

On 13 September, Senator Martín Arévalo of Paraguay’s ruling Asociación Nacional Republicana-Partido Colorado (ANR-PC) denied allegations of corruption levelled against him by Julio Fernández, the head of the customs service, Dirección Nacional de Aduanas (DNA).... Read More

* The S&P Merval index for the Buenos Aires stock exchange in Argentina has risen by 5.5% after the poor performance of the ruling centre-left coalition, Frente de Todos, in the compulsory open primary elections (Paso) held on 12 September.... Read More