LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR A DAILY PUBLICATION OF THE DIALOGUE www.thedialogue.org Thursday, April 11, 2019 BOARD OF ADVISORS FEATURED Q&A TODAY’S NEWS Diego Arria Director, Columbus Group POLITICAL Devry Boughner Vorwerk Corporate VP, Global Corporate Affairs Will an Investigation Pence Calls on Cargill U.N. to Boot Joyce Chang Global Head of Research, Derail the Agenda of Venezuelan Envoy JPMorgan Chase & Co. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence Marlene Fernández called on the United Nations to Corporate Vice President for Ecuador’s Moreno? Government Relations, revoke the credentials of Venezu- Arcos Dorados elan President Nicolás Maduro’s Peter Hakim ambassador to the body and seat President Emeritus, the envoy of the opposition’s Juan Inter-American Dialogue Guaidó, who is internationally rec- Donna Hrinak ognized as the country’s interim President, Boeing Latin America president. Jon Huenemann Page 2 Retired VP, U.S. & Int’l Affairs, Philip Morris International James R. Jones BUSINESS Chairman, Monarch Global Strategies Prosecutors to Craig A. Kelly Director, Americas International Charge Brazil’s Gov’t Relations, Exxon Mobil Vale in Deadly John Maisto Ruth Palacios, who was replaced Monday as Ecuador’s chief prosecutor, last month announced Director, U.S. Education an investigation of President Lenín Moreno. // File Photo: Ecuadorean Government. Dam Collapse Finance Group The dam disaster killed approxi- Nicolás Mariscal mately 300 people in January. Chairman, Ecuador’s then-chief prosecutor, Ruth Palacios, announced Page 3 Grupo Marhnos last month that she had opened an investigation of President Thomas F. McLarty III Lenín Moreno and several others following an opposition Chairman, POLITICAL McLarty Associates Q lawmaker’s accusations regarding alleged links to offshore Carlos Paz-Soldan Julian Assange Partner, companies. The announcement came days after Palacios decided DTB Associates, LLP against probing Moreno’s predecessor, former President Rafael Correa, Arrested After Beatrice Rangel on allegations that he received some $281,000 from Venezuela to Ecuador Ends Director, AMLA Consulting LLC destabilize Moreno’s government. What’s behind the accusations against Embassy Asylum Jaana Remes the two leaders? Why did Palacios choose to investigate one but not the Police arrested WikiLeaks founder Partner, Julian Assange at Ecuador’s McKinsey Global Institute other, and where does public opinion stand? Will the scandals continue embassy in London, where he has Ernesto Revilla into the foreseeable future, and to what extent do they threaten to derail Head of Latin American lived since 2012, after Ecuador Economics, Citi Moreno’s agenda? withdrew his asylum. Gustavo Roosen Page 2 Chairman of the Board, Envases Venezolanos Ramiro Crespo, president of Analytica Securities in Quito: Andrés Rozental “Palacios decided not to investigate Correa because she President, Rozental & Asociados and Senior claimed the crime would have been committed in a foreign Policy Advisor, Chatham House jurisdiction, even though Russian and Venezuelan money Shelly Shetty A Head of Sovereign Ratings, reached Ecuadorean accounts. She did, however, start an investigation Latin America, Fitch of Moreno. She called on individuals close to Moreno, such as Santiago Roberto Sifon-Arevalo Managing Director, Americas Cuesta, an influential friend and aide, to detail their version of events Sovereign & Public Finance Ratings, without being under oath. The new chief prosecutor, Diana Salazar, will Standard & Poor’s decide whether to continue the case. Many believe that Palacios had wanted to demonstrate independence in order to win the nomination for the permanent chief prosecutor position. Moreno is weakened by the bad Assange // File Photo: Ecuadorean economic situation he inherited from the Correa administration, which Government. Continued on page 4 COPYRIGHT © 2019, INTER-AMERICAN DIALOGUE PAGE 1 LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR Thursday, April 11, 2019 POLITICAL NEWS Samuel Moncada, Maduro’s ambassador to the NEWS BRIEFS United Nations, and said, “With all due respect, Assange Arrested Mr. Ambassador, you shouldn’t be here. You Cuba’s National Assembly should return to Venezuela and tell Nicolás Enacts New Constitution After Ecuador Ends Maduro that his time is up.” Moncada shook his head at the statement. Pence also called Cuba’s National Assembly on Wednesday Asylum at Embassy on the United Nations to recognize Guaidó as enacted the country’s new constitution follow- Venezuela’s president and “seat the representa- ing a speech by Raúl Castro, who heads the British police today arrested WikiLeaks founder tive of the free Venezuelan government in this Communist Party, state news agency Prensa Julian Assange after Ecuador withdrew the asy- body without delay.” Maduro later said the U.S. Latina reported. The constitution modifies the lum it had granted him in 2012 and which had vice president’s comments show U.S. leaders 1976 charter and includes changes such as the allowed him to live since then at the country’s “think they are superior to Venezuelans,” the creation of a prime minister position and the embassy in London. “Today, I announce that Associated Press reported. This week, the recognition of some forms of private prop- the discourteous and aggressive behavior of White House formally accepted Carlos Vecchio, erty. Castro said it will help the island nation Mr. Julian Assange, the hostile and threatening Guaidó’s appointee, as the country’s ambassa- achieve “an increasingly prosperous, sustain- declarations of its allied organization against dor to the United States, and the Organization able, inclusive and participative socialism.” Ecuador, and especially the transgression of of American States recognized another Guaidó [Editor’s note: See related Q&A in the Aug. 3 international treaties, have led the situation envoy, Gustavo Tarre, as the country’s ambas- issue of the Advisor.] to a point where the asylum of Mr. Assange is sador to the body. unsustainable and no longer viable,” Ecuador- ean President Lenín Moreno said in a video Peruvian Judge Brazil Will Focus statement posted to Twitter. Moreno said on Fighting Inflation: Assange has repeatedly violated the rules Orders Jail for Ex- surrounding his asylum, including by interfering Central Bank Chief in the affairs of other countries through his President Kuczynski The Brazilian central bank will prioritize work with WikiLeaks. “The patience of Ecuador keeping inflation under control, rather than has reached its limit on the behavior of Mr. A Peruvian judge on Wednesday ordered for- achieving economic growth, central bank chief Assange.” Moreno said Ecuador had requested mer President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to spend Roberto Campos Neto said Wednesday during and received assurances from Britain that As- 10 days in jail and also ordered authorities a conference in New York, Reuters reported. sange would not be extradited to any country to search properties in connection with an Brazil registered annual inflation at 4.58 where he faces torture or the death penalty. investigation into a bribery scheme related percent in March, well above forecasts and the Video showed a bearded Assange yelling at to Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht, El highest in two years. Campos Neto identified officers as he was dragged out of the embassy Comercio reported. Police officials gathered three main fiscal challenges for the country, into a police vehicle. outside the former president’s home in Lima’s which include passing a pension reform, financial district and transported Kuczynski to capping public-sector salaries and reducing the the complex crime division of Peru’s National interest rate burden on the country’s debt load. Pence Urges U.N. to Police at around 9 a.m. local time. “I don’t Revoke Venezuelan have an opinion for now,” Kuczynski said in a phone interview broadcast on local TV channel Some 1,000 Hondurans Envoy’s Credentials Panamericana. The former president called the order “ridiculous,” Reuters reported. Kuczyns- Begin Trek Toward U.S. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday ki’s attorney, Nelson Miranda, said he would Nearly 1,000 Hondurans have gathered in the urged the United Nations to revoke the creden- file an appeal, and the former president’s party city of San Pedro Sula to begin a trek toward tials of Venezuela’s ambassador to the interna- on Twitter said the arrest order was “excessive the United States while thousands of other tional organization, painting him as a loyalist to and disproportionate.” Kuczynski, 80, narrowly Central American migrants remain waiting for President Nicolás Maduro, The New York Times won Peru’s election in 2016 but resigned less asylum hearings at the U.S.-Mexico border, BBC reported. The United States considers Maduro than two years into his presidency to avoid News reported Wednesday. More than 103,000 a dictator and, along with dozens of other a near-certain impeachment by the opposi- migrants were detained in March or deemed countries, recognizes National Assembly Pres- tion-controlled Congress. Prosecutors allege “inadmissible” when entering the United States ident Juan Guaidó as the country’s legitimate he was involved in “corrupt acts” in connection from Mexico, according to U.S. Customs and president. During his remarks, Pence turned to to public works contracts for highway and Border Protection. COPYRIGHT © 2019, INTER-AMERICAN DIALOGUE PAGE 2 LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR Thursday, April 11, 2019 irrigation projects that Odebrecht won while Kuczynski was a cabinet