LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR a DAILY PUBLICATION of the DIALOGUE Thursday, April 20, 2017
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LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR A DAILY PUBLICATION OF THE DIALOGUE www.thedialogue.org Thursday, April 20, 2017 BOARD OF ADVISORS FEATURED Q&A TODAY’S NEWS Diego Arria Director, Columbus Group POLITICAL Devry Boughner Vorwerk Corporate VP, Global Corporate Affairs Will Mounting At Least Three Cargill Killed in Violent Joyce Chang Global Head of Research, Scandals Topple Venezuela Protests JPMorgan Chase & Co. Hundreds of thousands of people W. Bowman Cutter Former Partner, Temer in Brazil? took part in demonstrations E.M. Warburg Pincus across Venezuela in protest Dirk Donath of President Nicolás Maduro’s Senior Partner, government. Catterton Aimara Page 2 Barry Featherman Senior Director, International Government Affairs, BUSINESS Gilead Sciences Marlene Fernández Brazilian Police Corporate Vice President for Government Relations, Probing Banco Arcos Dorados Panamericano Peter Hakim President Emeritus, Deal Inter-American Dialogue Authorities opened an investiga- Donna Hrinak Nearly a third of Brazilian President Michel Temer’s cabinet, along with dozens of members of tion into the purchase of Banco President, Boeing Latin America Congress, are under investigation on corruption allegations. // File Photo: Brazilian Govern- Panamericano shares by the ment. Jon Huenemann state-owned parent company of Vice President, U.S. & Int’l Affairs, Philip Morris International A Brazilian Supreme Court justice this month approved 74 Caixa Econômica Federal. Page 3 James R. Jones new corruption investigations into the activities of dozens Chairman, ManattJones Global Strategies of politicians, encompassing nearly a third of President Q POLITICAL Craig A. Kelly Michel Temer’s cabinet and the leaders of both chambers Director, Americas International Haiti to Rebuild Gov’t Relations, Exxon Mobil of Congress, including 60 sitting members of Congress and Temer’s John Maisto powerful chief of staff, Eliseu Padilha. Later the same week, a former National Palace Director, U.S. Education executive of Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht testifi ed Haiti’s government said it would Finance Group rebuild the country’s National Pal- Nicolás Mariscal that Temer took part in a 2010 deal to arrange a $40 million bribe to his ace, which was severely damaged Chairman, Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or PMDB, which Temer denies. Grupo Marhnos in the country’s catastrophic 2010 Will Temer’s government be able to survive the allegations? What will the Thomas F. McLarty III earthquake. President Jovenel Chairman, new investigations mean for Temer’s political agenda? What might the Moïse said a new reconstruction McLarty Associates investigations mean for Brazil’s presidential election, set to take place commission includes Haitian Carlos Paz-Soldan architects and historians. Partner, next year? Page 2 DTB Associates, LLP Beatrice Rangel Director, Cláudio Gonçalves Couto, professor in the Department of AMLA Consulting LLC Public Management at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation “The Gustavo Roosen Chairman of the Board, problem of corruption and the confusion between political Envases Venezolanos agents and private interests is not the privilege of a sin- Andrés Rozental A President, Rozental & gle party, but rather a hallmark of the modus operandi of the Brazilian Asociados and Senior Policy Advisor, Chatham House political system and its fi nancing model. Therefore, in addition to parties Shelly Shetty and leaders of the government coalitions of the Workers’ Party presiden- Head, Latin America cies, prominent members of the opposition stand out among those who Sovereign Ratings, Fitch Inc. Roberto Sifon-Arevalo worked diligently for former President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment: Managing Director, Americas PSDB, DEM and PPS. It is also important to note that the bosses are Sovereign & Public Finance Ratings, Standard & Poor’s the ones who are indicted, not those of lower rank. That is why—without even mentioning the ministers and governors—the proportion of senators Moïse // File Photo: Haitian Government. Continued on page 3 COPYRIGHT © 2017, INTER-AMERICAN DIALOGUE PAGE 1 LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR Thursday, April 20, 2017 POLITICAL NEWS uro said, “You are the head of the coup. Later NEWS BRIEFS don’t complain when the law comes after you.” At Least Three Killed Counter-demonstrators and security forces Haiti Announces blocked anti-government marchers from reach- Plans to Rebuild in Violent Protests ing some parts of Caracas, and authorities shot tear gas and water cannons at protesters, Presidential Palace in Venezuela CNN reported. In Washington, U.S. Secretary Haiti’s government said Wednesday that it of State Rex Tillerson expressed concerns will rebuild the country’s National Palace, At least three people were killed Wednesday as about Venezuela in a statement to reporters. which was severely damaged in the country’s anti-government demonstrators marched in a Maduro’s government “is violating its own devastating 2010 earthquake, the Associated dozen cities across the country, clashing with Constitution and is not allowing the opposition Press reported. A new palace will “make the authorities and supporters of President Nicolás to have their voices heard, nor allowing them to connection between the history, culture and Maduro. Hundreds of thousands of people took organize in a way that expresses the views of future of the Haitian nation,” said President to the streets in what organizers dubbed the the Venezuelan people,” he said. In Colombia, Jovenel Moïse. A new reconstruction commis- “mother of all marches” in protest of Maduro’s President Juan Manuel Santos said on Twitter sion includes Haitian historians and architects, government, which opponents blame for the that he had instructed the country’s interior said Moïse. The government is likely to open ministry to ask U.N. Secretary General António a competitive bidding process for the project Guterres to address what Santos called the this year. The ruins of the earthquake-damaged “worrying militarization of Venezuelan society.” palace were demolished in 2012. Also in Venezuela, U.S.-based automaker Gen- eral Motors today said it had halted all of its operations in the South American country after Venezuelan authorities unexpectedly seized its Peru’s Government factory in the city of Valencia on Wednesday, Expecting 4.5 Percent UPI reported. The company’s Venezuelan unit, Economic Growth in 2018 General Motors Venezolana, called the seizure Authorities launched tear gas at protesters Wednesday in Peruvian Finance Minister Alfredo Thorne said Caracas. // Photo: MUD Coalition. “improper, absurd, outside of legal logic and Wednesday that the country’s economy will re- due process.” GM told its workers, suppliers, cover in the coming years thanks to investment country’s economic and political crises. During dealers and other associates to refrain from in construction following recent fl ooding, Re- the march in Caracas, a 17-year-old boy was reporting to work until the move is reversed. A uters reported. “The shock will be temporary,” fatally shot in the head, CNN reported, citing court in Zulia state said it imposed an embargo Thorne said. He estimated that the economy Venezuela’s public ministry. The public ministry on the company, and GM Venezolana said its will grow by 4.5 percent next year and by 5 also said it was investigating the shooting bank accounts were likely out of its control, percent in 2019, up from a previous projected 3 death of a 23-year-old woman in San Cristóbal meaning it could not pay employees or make percent in 2018 and 3.8 percent in 2019. in Táchira state. Also, the public prosecutor’s other payments. The action was likely related offi ce said a National Guard sergeant was fa- to a lawsuit fi led by a former landowner in tally shot late Wednesday in the municipality of Maracaibo against the company, El Universal Los Salias, south of Caracas. Anti-government reported. [Editor’s note: See Q&A on Venezuela El Salvador’s Coff ee protests have intensifi ed in the weeks following in the April 12 issue of the Advisor.] Exports Grow 29 Percent the Venezuelan Supreme Court’s effective dissolution of the country’s National Assembly, El Salvador’s coffee exports increased by 29 a move the high court later reversed amid wide- At Least 17 Killed in percent in March year-over-year as the crop spread condemnation and concerns that the Colombia Landslides recovered from an outbreak of the roya leaf country was becoming a dictatorship. During fungus that destroyed the harvest last year, the several days of marches, Maduro deployed the Salvadoran Coffee Council said Wednes- At least 17 people are dead in Colombia after the armed forces to the streets on Sunday night day, Reuters reported. The country shipped heavy rains caused landslides that destroyed amid the boiling tensions. In a fi ery speech 66,819 132-pound bags of coffee in March, homes and fi lled the streets with mud in Wednesday, Maduro accused opposition as compared to 51,813 bags during the same the city of Manizales in the western part of leaders of spurring violence. In a statement month a year earlier. El Salvador has been one the country, the Associated Press reported directed at Julio Borges, the president of the of the hardest-hit countries by roya, also known Wednesday. Hillsides in Manizales gave way opposition-controlled National Assembly, Mad- as coffee leaf rust, in the Central America and after the city experienced the equivalent of one Mexico region. COPYRIGHT © 2017, INTER-AMERICAN DIALOGUE PAGE 2 LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR Thursday, April 20, 2017 month’s rainfall in the span of fi ve hours, lead- FEATURED Q&A / Continued from page 1 ing to 40 to 50 avalanches of mud and rocks. Among the dead are a police offi cer and at implicated is far larger than that of deputies: If it is the third scenario, the government is least three children, with rescuers looking for 30 percent of the Senate, compared to only most likely to walk in lethargy to its end after several other missing people.