LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Ecuador strikes deal to end indigenous protests

Ocampo, 69, who has a doctorate in economics from Yale University, is an experienced public servant who previously served as Colombia's finance minister as well as holding positions in the United Nations. Downfall of Bolsonaro ally highlights Brazilian women's vote RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain with a history of misogynist comments, has a female voter problem that could cost him in October elections.

The latest in Latin American politics today: Agreement set to end weeks of protests in Ecuador

QUITO - Ecuador's government and leaders of indigenous groups reached an agreement on Thursday to end over two weeks of protests against policies by President Guillermo Lasso, indigenous leaders said. As part of the deal the government agreed to again lower gasoline and diesel costs by an extra 5 cents, following previous cuts of 10 cents per gallon.

The total price cut of 15 cents on both motor fuels will cost some $340 million a year, according to the finance ministry. "We have achieved the supreme value to which we all aspire: peace in our country," Lasso wrote on Twitter.

AMLO doubles down on comparing Jewish analyst to Hitler MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he was right to compare a prominent Mexican Jewish figure to Adolf Hitler for his political mindset, shrugging off a protest from the country's Jewish community.

Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO, on Wednesday said advertising executive and political analyst Carlos Alazraki, a critic of the president, was "Hitlerian", prompting the local Jewish community to issue a statement rejecting the remarks as "unacceptable." Nicaragua shuts down Mother Teresa charity, 100 other groups

MANAGUA - The Nicaraguan government has shut down 101 civic organizations and charities, including a branch of the Missionaries of Charity established by the Catholic saint known as Mother Teresa, the national assembly said in a statement late on Wednesday. The move is the latest in a spate of closures under President Daniel Ortega that the opposition has said is an attack on civil society. The government said the groups "failed to comply" with the law.

The Missionaries of Charity, which works with impoverished communities, had been operating in Nicaragua for over 34 years. Colombia's Petro picks market-friendly finance minister

BOGOTA - Colombia's leftist President-elect Gustavo Petro on Thursday named Jose Antonio Ocampo as his finance minister, a market-friendly choice who will soon be tasked with boosting Latin America's fourth-largest economy. Ocampo, 69, who has a doctorate in economics from Yale University, is an experienced public servant who previously served as Colombia's finance minister as well as holding positions in the United Nations.

Downfall of Bolsonaro ally highlights Brazilian women's vote RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain with a history of misogynist comments, has a female voter problem that could cost him in October elections. And it just got worse.

Pedro Guimaraes, a staunch political ally and the head of state bank Caixia Economica Federal, resigned on Wednesday under pressure over allegations of sexual harassment that he denies. The scandal has put an unwanted spotlight on a weak spot for Bolsonaro, who got about half the female vote when he was elected in 2018 but is now almost 30 percentage points behind his main left-wing rival, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in opinion polling of women voters. (Compiled by Steven Grattan and Brendan O'Boyle; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Richard Pullin)

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