Ecuador’s President Lucio Gutierrez was ousted by Congress Wednesday, the third leader to be removed since 1997, amid allegations he stacked the Supreme Court with allies and helped clear an ex-president of corruption charges. Lawmakers voted 60 to 2 to replace Gutierrez, then swore in Vice President Alfredo Palacio as president. Gutierrez was arrested at the Quito airport and held at a military base. The political tumult pushed down Ecuador’s bond due 2012 to a seventh-month low, and spurred declines in debt sold by neighboring Peru and Colombia.
Category: Regions
Posted inDaily Brief
Fujimori Promises Return
Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, who has been living in exile in Japan since 2000, said he is working to return to Peru and wants to run in the country’s presidential election next year. Fujimori is wanted in Peru for alleged crimes committed during his presidency, including involvement in the military’s killing of civilians and misappropriation of public funds. In February, Peru’s constitutional court upheld the Peruvian parliament’s 2001 resolution to ban Fujimori from public office for 10 years.
Posted inDaily Brief
Pemex Cuts Exploration Investments
Mexican state-run oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) will cut exploration investments this year by 25 percent to $1.5 billion. The company expects to maintain investments in exploration within the range of $1.5 billion and $2.0 billion over the next few years. Pemex has 17.7 billion barrels of proven reserves.
Posted inDaily Brief
Colombia Seeks Loans
Colombia is seeking loans of another $1.2 billion from the Inter American Development Bank (IADB). The highly-indebted country, which accounted for 12 percent of total lending approved by the IADB in 2004, has recently announced it would disburse $1.3 billion in emergency loans extended by the IADB in 2003. IADB president Enrique Iglesias has said that the bank plans to experiment in extending loans to Colombia in Colombian pesos.
Posted inDaily Brief
Heineken Eyes Bavaria
Heineken announced that it is among companies interested in buying Colombia’s Grupo Empresarial Bavaria as demand for beer in emerging markets outpaces consumption in the US and Western Europe. Fourteen percent of Heineken’s sales last year came from the Americas.
Posted inDaily Brief
Gutiérrez Holds On
Ecuadorian President Lucio Gutiérrez said he would not step down in spite of calls for his resignation from protestors and political opponents. Thousands of people took to the streets of Quito late last week to protest his decision to dissolve the Supreme Court. Gutiérrez declared a state of emergency to stop the protests but quickly revoked the measure Saturday after the military and police refused to take action against the protestors.
Posted inMagazine
Banana Republics
Latin America has done quite a good job handling its economic demons, although it hasn’t yet managed to cast out its archfiend: populism. But the machinations of Mexico’s political elites […]
Posted inDaily Brief
Fox Wins Energy Ruling
In a victory for Mexican President Vicente Fox, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled the president had the right to allow private companies to generate electricity in the country. The lower house of Congress had asserted that only the government had the right to generate electricity and was seeking to annul all concessions awarded to private companies. The ruling comes as Fox steps up calls for Congress to open the economy to private investment in energy.
Posted inDaily Brief
Pemex Issues Debt
Mexico’s state oil company Pemex auctioned a round of short-term bonds worth $44 million on the Mexico City stock exchange last week. The 28-day fixed-rate bonds pay a 9.78 percent fixed annual interest rate. Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s assigned its mxA-1+ rating to the issue, Fitch its F1+ (mex) rating and Moody’s its MX-1 rating.