LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Mexican president backs plan to ditch transparency institute

The INAI is enshrined in the constitution, and opposition lawmakers say Lopez Obrador will not be able to muster the two-thirds majority in Congress needed to remove it. Colombian gangs call off hostilities, aiding Petro's peace project At least 16 armed criminal gangs in Colombia's second city, Medellin, and its surroundings declared an end to all types of hostilities, as part of a bid to support leftist President Gustavo Petro's policy of "total peace." The announcement was made outside of a prison where leaders of some criminal gangs are being held, after they met with Colombia's high commissioner for peace, Danilo Rueda.

The latest in Latin American politics on Friday:

Mexican president backs plan to ditch transparency institute MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador backed a proposal presented by the head of the Mexican Senate, an ally, to

scrap Mexico's freedom of information body .

Lopez Obrador has frequently lambasted the body, known as INAI for its Spanish initials, and in March vetoed appointing two new INAI commissioners, effectively hamstringing it. The INAI is enshrined in the constitution, and opposition lawmakers say Lopez Obrador will not be able to muster the two-thirds majority in Congress needed to remove it.

Colombian gangs call off hostilities, aiding Petro's peace project At least 16 armed criminal gangs in Colombia's second city, Medellin, and its surroundings declared an end to all types of hostilities, as part of a bid to support leftist President Gustavo Petro's policy of "total peace."

The announcement was made outside of a prison where leaders of some criminal gangs are being held, after they met with Colombia's high commissioner for peace, Danilo Rueda. More than 17,600 people

are members of the four major armed groups and 23 gangs with which Colombia's government hopes to reach peace or surrender deals, according to two security agency reports seen by Reuters. 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 clamping down on anti-corruption judges and prosecutors.

The poll by Nuestro Diario showed Pineda in first place with about 28% support. Three other center-right candidates were 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. Brazil's Lula resumes creation of indigenous reservations

BRASILIA - President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva legally recognized six indigenous territories, fulfilling a campaign promise to reverse the policy of far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, who said Brazil's original people had too much land. 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 expects close race in Sunday presidential vote 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 and Leslie Adler)

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