LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Guatemalan businessman in top spot in latest presidential poll

Three other center-right candidates were grouped together in a virtual tie for second place with around 10% support: veteran diplomat Edmond Mulet, former First Lady Sandra Torres and Zury Rios, a former lawmaker and daughter of ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt. Ecuador to launch military operations to fight terrorism QUITO - Ecuador's military will launch special-forces operations nationally in a bid to counter groups and individuals who commit terrorism in the country, Defense Minister Luis Lara said. Ecuador's security council declared terrorism a threat to the South American country's security late on Thursday, urging the implementation of measures to combat criminal groups.

The latest in Latin American politics on Friday:

Guatemalan outsider in first place in presidential poll GUATEMALA CITY - A poll released ahead of Guatemala's June presidential election by one of the country's leading newspapers put Carlos Pineda, a relatively unknown businessman and political outsider, in first place.

The government of outgoing conservative President Alejandro Giammattei has been accused by critics of eliminating popular opposition hopefuls, while also clamping down on anti-corruption judges and prosecutors, many of whom have been jailed or fled the country. The poll by Nuestro Diario, which the newspaper said surveyed more than 1,700 registered voters from April 19-26, showed Pineda in first place with about 28% support. Three other center-right candidates were grouped together in a virtual tie for second place with around 10% support: veteran diplomat Edmond Mulet, former First Lady Sandra Torres and Zury Rios, a former lawmaker and daughter of ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt.

Ecuador to launch military operations to fight terrorism QUITO - Ecuador's military will launch special-forces operations nationally in a bid to counter groups and individuals who commit terrorism in the country, Defense Minister Luis Lara said.

Ecuador's security council declared terrorism a threat to the South American country's security late on Thursday, urging the implementation of measures to combat criminal groups. The security council also requested that President Guillermo Lasso issue a decree authorizing the use of lethal force by security forces to combat organized criminal groups.

Brazil's Lula resumes creation of Indigenous reservations BRASILIA - Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced the formal recognition of six Indigenous reservations, fulfilling a campaign promise to reverse the policy of his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.

They were the first reservations to be effectively recognized by the state since 2016, as one recognition in 2018 was overturned later by a court. Paraguay election build-up dominated by corruption, Taiwan

ASUNCION - In the heart of Paraguay's capital Asuncion, a tropical city close to the Argentine border, voters are gearing up for election day on Sunday, with the economy, corruption and Taiwan on their minds. The farming nation of just under 7 million people will go to the polls to vote in what is expected to be a close contest between the slick, 44-year-old economist Santiago Pena representing the incumbent conservative Colorado Party, and 60-year-old political veteran Efrain Alegre leading a broad center-left coalition and pledging a foreign policy shake-up. (Compiled by Steven Grattan; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Kirsten Donovan)

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