Starlink Arrives in Argentina; Peru’s Former President Fujimori Freed

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Bloomberg Línea — Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet network has touched down in Argentina, to “provide administrative, technical, financial, economic or management services in the provision of Internet services to companies or individuals”. In addition, the company will aim to “develop, market and install hardware devices, including antenna and user terminals”, it said.

Former president of Peru Alberto Fujimori has been freed from prison, where he had been serving a 25-year sentence for human rights violations committed during his 1990-2000 presidency. Fujimori was granted habeas corpus by the country’s Constitutional Court, upholding a pardon granted him by former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in 2017.

On the region’s stock markets, Argentina led the gains across the region, with its Merval index (MERVAL) leading, closing with a 2.51% hike, while Brazil’s Ibovespa (IBOV) closed with a gain of 1.77% and the Mexican stock exchange (MEXBOL) gained 1.78% to register an all-time high..

Following is a roundup of Thursday’s news from Bloomberg Línea and Bloomberg reporters across Latin America.

Argentina:

Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet network has touched down in Argentna to provide “internet services to companies and individuals”. In addition, the company will aim to “develop, market and install hardware devices, including antenna and user terminals”, it said.

Brazil:

Almost six months since listing the first Agroindustrial Supply Chain Investment Fund (Fiagro), Brazil’s B3 (B3SA3) index recorded significant growth in its average daily trading volume of the funds.
Natura & Co has shelved its migration to the New York Stock Exchange, blaming market volatility. The company will focus its efforts on integrating and improving Avon’s results, amid an environment of strong cost pressure.

Chile:

The finance minister of Chile’s new government, Mario Marcel, told Diario Financiero that the previous government’s forecast of 3.5% economic growth for this year was not plausible. Other economic analysts see growth closer to 2%, Marcel said.
President Gabriel Boric’s government is facing its first crisis: the conflict in La Araucanía region and the violence in southern Chile is becoming a headache for the new president who promises a solution through dialogue.

Colombia:

Presidential candidate Sergio Fajardo, winner on Sunday of the internal consultation of the Centro Esperanza coalition, presented this Thursday former environment minister Luis Gilberto Murillo as his vice-presidential candidate for the May elections.
The majority of Colombians are not willing to accept changes to VAT, according to the results of a survey.

Ecuador:

The oil, mining and energy industries generated $9.69 billion in revenues for Ecuador’s treasury in 2021. The figure corresponds to the resources obtained from crude oil and petroleum product exports, electricity exports, mining royalties and other taxes collected from these strategic sectors.

El Salvador:

Mexican company Elementia, of which billionaire Carlos Slim is a shareholder, wants to strengthen its presence in the Central American cement market, using El Salvador as a base, and will build a Cementos Fortaleza plant, with an investment of $40 million.

Mexico:

The end of the self-supply permit for Spanish company Iberdrola, which expired in January, means new clients for the state-owned utility CFE in Nuevo León state, where it practically no longer sold electricity to industrial companies.
Aeromexico’s shares were suspended from the Mexican Stock Exchange, to avoid “disorderly market conditions” following the share price having sunk to practically worthless levels in recent days.

Peru:

With three votes in favor, Peru’s Constitutional Court has granted habeas corpus in favor of former president Alberto Fujimori, freeing him from prison, where he had been serving a 25-year sentence for human rights violations committed during his 1990-2000 presidency. Fujimori had requested the annulment of a decision by the court that denied the pardon granted to him by former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in 2017.

Venezuela:

The lifting of U.S. sanctions against Venezuela should be “progressive” and “conditioned” on political agreements between the government and the opposition, opposition leader Juan Guaidó said during a press conference in Caracas on Thursday.