Contrary to expectations, Guillermo Lasso Sunday surprisingly beat Andrés Arauz to become Ecuador's next president. Lasso, a conservative, was a sure winner in the evening as 97.91% of the votes were counted.
The Argentine government of President Alberto Fernández Wednesday confirmed the country had decided to withdraw from the so-called Lima Group, a consortium formed with Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Guyana, and Saint Lucia. Barbados, the United States, Grenada, and Jamaica to isolate the Venezuelan administration headed by Nicolás Maduro.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday that the arrest of former interim Bolivian President Jeanine Áñez over the weekend seemed unreasonable, adding he sees the situation in Bolivia as a cause for concern.
Venezuela announced on Wednesday that the head of the European Union's delegation in Caracas had 72 hours to leave the country and declared her persona non grata after the bloc imposed new sanctions on Venezuelan officials this week.
Fitch Ratings forecasts Latin American economies will rebound this year from the 2020 recession but risks remain in particular because of the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Argentina on Thursday became one of just a handful of Latin American countries to allow elective abortion, as neighboring Chile initiated its own debate on decriminalizing a procedure denied to most women on the continent. President Alberto Fernandez signed a law that allows abortion until 14 weeks of pregnancy that was passed by the Senate on December 30.
The outlook for Brazilian interest rates over the next two years rose to their highest in several months, a central bank survey of economists showed on Monday, even as exchange rate and inflation expectations held steady.
The Lima Group, a regional bloc comprised mostly of Latin American nations, said on Tuesday that it does not “recognize the legitimacy or legality of the National Assembly installed on January 5” in Venezuela.
Argentina is holding the pro tempore rotating chair of Mercosur during the next six months and three are its main objectives during that period according to foreign ministry sources in Buenos Aires. They include Bolivia, the Falklands/Malvinas claim and trade accords and negotiations with other countries.
The International Contact Group issued a statement on Tuesday to reject the parliamentary elections organized by the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro last Sunday in Venezuela. The block indicated that the electoral process did not comply “with the conditions accepted internationally, nor with the Venezuelan laws.”