LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR A DAILY PUBLICATION OF THE DIALOGUE www.thedialogue.org Monday, May 3, 2021 BOARD OF ADVISORS FEATURED Q&A TODAY’S NEWS Diego Arria Director, Columbus Group ECONOMIC Devry Boughner Vorwerk What Humanitarian Colombia’s Duque Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Grubhub Withdraws Tax Joyce Chang Global Head of Research, Needs Are Most Reform Proposal JPMorgan Chase & Co. Colombian President Iván Duque Paula Cifuentes withdrew his government’s tax Director of Economic & Fiscal Affairs, Urgent in Venezuela? reform proposal following violent Latin America & Canada, Philip Morris International protests that left several people Marlene Fernández dead. Corporate Vice President for Page 2 Government Relations, Arcos Dorados (McDonald’s) Peter Hakim BUSINESS President Emeritus, Inter-American Dialogue Venezuela Donna Hrinak Releases Citgo Senior VP, Corporate Affairs, Royal Caribbean Group Executives to Jon E. Huenemann House Arrest Council Member, GLG Inc. Venezuelan authorities have James R. Jones One-third of Venezuelans suffer from food insecurity, according to the United Nations World released to house arrest six Citgo Chairman, Food Program. A grocery store in Venezuela in 2014 is pictured. // File Photo: Wilfredor via executives who were imprisoned Monarch Global Strategies Creative Commons. more than three years ago. Craig A. Kelly The United Nations World Food Program and the government Page 3 Senior Director, Americas Int’l Gov’t Relations, Exxon Mobil of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced April John Maisto 19 that they had reached an agreement to provide food to POLITICAL Director, U.S. Education Finance Group Q 185,000 children this year in the South American country, Salvadoran Nicolás Mariscal where economic collapse has led to a humanitarian crisis. The U.N. Chairman, Lawmakers Grupo Marhnos agency hopes to expand the program to approximately 1.5 million chil- Sack High Court, Thomas F. McLarty III dren by 2023. How much outside humanitarian assistance does Venezu- Attorney General Chairman, ela need, and how likely is such assistance to be effectively delivered? McLarty Associates El Salvador’s Legislative Assem- Beatrice Rangel What are the most pressing humanitarian needs in Venezuela right now? bly, controlled by the party of Director, What logistical and other roadblocks stand in the way of expanding President Nayib Bukele, fired the AMLA Consulting LLC humanitarian assistance in Venezuela, and how can those obstacles be five magistrates of the Supreme Jaana Remes Court’s constitutional chamber Partner, overcome amid the pandemic? McKinsey Global Institute and Attorney General Raúl Melara. Ernesto Revilla Page 2 Head of Latin American Jacob Kurtzer, director and senior fellow of the Humani- Economics, Citi Gustavo Roosen tarian Agenda at the Center for Strategic and International President, Studies: “Hyperinflation in Venezuela has reduced access IESA Andrés Rozental to food, medicines and other basic goods. Approximately President, Rozental & A 96 percent of Venezuelans live below the poverty line, and more than Asociados three million children need humanitarian assistance. Malnutrition has Shelly Shetty Managing Director, Sovereigns reached emergency thresholds for children under 5; some 280,000 are at Fitch Ratings risk of death. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated pressures on the crumbling health care system and access to food. Venezuelan refugees and migrants in neighboring countries have faced evictions, economic insecurity and increased protection risks since the pandemic began. Some 105,000 Venezuelans have been forced to return, and thousands have been left stranded due to border closures. The crisis is aggravated Melara // File Photo: Salvadoran Government. Continued on page 3 COPYRIGHT © 2021, INTER-AMERICAN DIALOGUE PAGE 1 LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR Monday, May 3, 2021 POLITICAL NEWS ECONOMIC NEWS NEWS BRIEFS El Salvador’s Colombia’s Duque Kidnappers Release Nine Including Clergy Who Legislative Assembly Withdraws Tax Had Been Held for Weeks Sacks High Court Reform Proposal Five priests, two nuns and two other people that had been kidnapped in Haiti for nearly El Salvador’s new Legislative Assembly, Colombian President Iván Duque said on three weeks have been released, Roman Cath- which is controlled by the New Ideas party of Sunday that he would withdraw his govern- olic authorities said on Friday, the Associated President Nayib Bukele, in its first session on ment’s tax reform proposal following protests Pres reported. The France-based Society of Saturday voted to remove the five magistrates that left multiple people dead in cities across Priests of St. James did not describe how they of the constitutional chamber of the country’s Colombia, Reuters reported. Demonstrations, were released or whether a ransom had been Supreme Court, the Associated Press report- which began on Wednesday, continued in some paid. The people had been kidnapped in April, ed. Just hours after the Saturday night vote, cities on Sunday even after the announcement. a move that prompted the church to close insti- lawmakers also voted early Sunday to fire the The prosecutor’s office said in an afternoon tutions, including schools and universities, in country’s attorney general, Raúl Melara. New statement that it was probing 14 deaths related protest. Kidnappings have more than tripled in magistrates were immediately installed, and to the protests, while human rights groups have Haiti over the past year, according to the United Rodolfo Delgado was named attorney general, Nations, the AP reported. Bloomberg News reported. “And the Salvador- an people, through their representatives, said FIRED,” Bukele said in a posting on Twitter. He later tweeted that he was “extremely pleased” Four Killed When Boat with the legislative session. Business groups Suspected of Smuggling and international actors, including members Migrants Breaks Apart of U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, A boat suspected of carrying smuggled expressed concerns over the developments. migrants broke apart Sunday off the coast of U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price Duque withdrew his tax reform proposal on Sunday. // Photo: @IvanDuque via Twitter. San Diego, killing four people and injuring more said Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke than two dozen, the U.S. Coast Guard said, Reu- with Bukele by phone on Sunday to express denounced supposed police abuses and say ters reported. The 40-foot cabin cruiser was “the U.S. government’s grave concern” over more than 20 people have died. “I am asking battered to pieces by the time rescuers arrived, the removal of the high court’s magistrates. Congress to withdraw the law proposed by the a San Diego Fire-Rescue official said. Blinken also raised concerns with Bukele about finance ministry and urgently process a new the attorney general’s removal, saying he has law that is the fruit of consensus, in order to been “fighting corruption and impunity, and is avoid financial uncertainty,” Duque said in a an effective partner of efforts to combat crime video. Among other measures, the original Biden Administration to in both the United States and El Salvador.” reform would have expanded the number of Cancel Contracts Related On Sunday night, U.S. Vice President Kamala items subject to value-added tax, and Colombi- Harris tweeted that the United States had “deep ans with monthly incomes as low as 2,500,000 to Trump’s Border Wall concerns about El Salvador’s democracy, in pesos ($690) would pay income taxes, María The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden light of the National Assembly’s vote to remove Fernanda Valdés, coordinator of tax issues at is returning to the Pentagon more than $14 constitutional court judges.” Ruling party Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Colombia, told the billion in funds that former President Donald lawmakers accused Melara of lacking indepen- Advisor in a Q&A published last Wednesday. Trump had directed toward constructing a wall dence, Reuters reported. In a series of posts The proposal was “the most revenue-ambitious at the U.S.-Mexico border, an unnamed ad- on Twitter, Bukele addressed “the international tax reform in recent Colombian history,” Valdés ministration official told ABC News on Friday. community” in saying that the firings were added. The government has insisted the reform The official also said the Biden administration warranted. “With all due respect, we’re cleaning is necessary for maintaining debt sustainability would scrap all construction contracts related house and this isn’t your concern,” Bukele given an increase in spending over the past to the border wall. The government has also tweeted. The actions came as El Salvador is year to face the Covid-19 pandemic that has said it would launch two new projects along negotiating new financing with the Internation- widened the forecast for the fiscal gap, which the border, one to fill holes in the Rio Grande al Monetary Fund. the government expects will reach about 8.6 Valley levee system and another to manage soil erosion near San Diego. COPYRIGHT © 2021, INTER-AMERICAN DIALOGUE PAGE 2 LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR Monday, May 3, 2021 percent of GDP this year. In his announcement, FEATURED Q&A / Continued from page 1 Duque insisted that a reform is still need- ed, and he called on political parties, local by the denial, manipulation and politiciza- external humanitarian aid is a ’Trojan Horse’ officials, business leaders and civil society to tion of aid by the Maduro authorities. At its intended