Canning House | Latin American Weekly Report

22-01-2015: Latin American Weekly Report

LatinNews

22nd Jan 2015

Nisman’s death rocks Argentina’s Fernández

“It is very distressing to live in a country where any hypothesis, however absurd it may seem, is found plausible.” Speaking at a rally convened to demand justice of the authorities in their investigation into the sudden death of special prosecutor Alberto Nisman, Leonardo Jmelnitzky, the head of the Amia Jewish association, articulated clearly the febrile atmosphere of rumour and conspiracy theory that has pervaded Argentine public discourse since the discovery of Nisman’s body in the bathroom of his apartment on Sunday evening.

Appointed to the Amia investigation unit in 2004 by then-president Néstor Kirchner, two years later Nisman formally accused Hizbollah, the Shiite militia, of carrying out the 1994 attack on the Amia building with Iranian backing. Last week, Nisman returned suddenly from a holiday in Europe, in the middle of a judicial recess, to present a 300-page report accusing the Argentine government of attempting to cover up Iranian involvement in the bombing in order to improve commercial ties [WR-15-02]. Days later, he was found dead, with a single gunshot wound to the head, a .22 calibre pistol by his side.

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Dysfunctional system struggles to solve Peru's crisis

A dysfunctional political system finds itself unable to solve a crisis that was triggered by an undemocratic president, now in prison, and which was deepened by the current president by using lethal force to repress legitimate protests - writes Dr Julio F Carrión.

Paraguay’s knife-edge election

Paraguay will elect a new president on 30 April. The election’s outcome, less than a week before polls open, remains highly uncertain. In Canning House's latest blog, Susana Berruecos and Freddy Nevison-Andrews provide an overview of the key points to consider ahead of the vote.

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More recent briefings & intelligence

Dysfunctional system struggles to solve Peru's crisis

Paraguay’s knife-edge election

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