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Venezuela opposition seeks to protect aid funds from creditors
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Mexico lower house backs alternative overhaul of electoral laws
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Canada sends diplomatic mission to Haiti over gang violence
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Mexico’s economy could grow 2% in 2023
Dec 7 (Reuters) –
The latest in Latin American politics today:
Peru’s president to dissolve Congress, calls for elections
LIMA – Peru’s President Pedro Castillo said on Wednesday he will dissolve Congress and called for elections, as he battles impeachment proceedings.
Castillo announced a “government of exception,” and added he will respect the current economic model during the dissolution of Congress.
This is the third attempt to impeach the embattled president since he started his five-year term in July 2021.
Venezuela opposition seeks to protect billions in humanitarian funds from creditors
CARACAS – Venezuelan opposition parties are seeking to protect billions of dollars in UN administered humanitarian funds from foreign creditors by keeping the details of their release confidential, according to five people with knowledge of the efforts.
Delegations from the government of President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition returned to the negotiating table in Mexico at the end of November, after a year’s pause, and signed an agreement aimed at gradually releasing frozen funds worth an estimated $3 billion.
But opposition leaders worry that the OPEC nation’s creditors could take legal action to seize some of the funds to collect unpaid debts, the sources close to the matter, who asked to remain anonymous, told Reuters.
Mexico lower house backs lesser electoral overhaul after first plan fails
MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s lower house of Congress approved an alternative overhaul of electoral laws early on Wednesday, just hours after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s initial, more ambitious bill failed to win the two-thirds majority it needed.
The so-called Plan B, which would shrink the budget of the national electoral authority (INE) and water down its faculties, has drawn heated criticism from opposition lawmakers, who fear the changes would give too much power to the government.
Canada sends diplomatic mission to Haiti over gang violence
Foreign affairs officials from Canada began a three-day diplomatic mission to Haiti on Wednesday in a bid to address a gang-related humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Caribbean country, the office of Global Affairs Canada said.
Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, is leading the mission and will consult with high-level political figures, local groups and key Haitian officials to determine Canada’s potential role in the international response, the office said in a statement.
Mexico’s economy could grow 2% in 2023, says finance ministry official
MEXICO CITY – Mexican gross domestic product (GDP) could grow by 2% in 2023, Rodrigo Mariscal, chief economist and head of the economic planning unit of the finance ministry, said in an interview published on Wednesday.
Growth would be helped by employment and external factors such as the resilience of the U.S. economy, the official said in a podcast with Mexico’s Grupo Financiero Banorte. (Compiled by Steven Grattan; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
