Pamela Cox, World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, announced the appointment of three new country directors for the region to head the units of Mexico and Colombia; the Andes: Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela; and the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, effective July 1st, 2007.
Colombia's guerrilla movement FARC (Colombian revolutionary armed forces) are the main culprits for the death of the eleven local Deputies which they held captive, but so is Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, said on Sunday Melanie Betancourt, daughter of Ingrid Betancourt held at ransom by the Marxist oriented guerrillas.
United States and South Korea signed a controversial free trade agreement, which still has to be ratified by Congress where some Democrats have expressed concern for job losses in the US car industry.
The Chilean Air Force rescued over the weekend an Argentine aircraft stranded on a glacier in the Antarctic Peninsula, according to an official release.
United States Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will make a week-long trip to South America beginning July 9, his first to the region since taking the position. He is scheduled to visit Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, meeting with the presidents of all three countries as well as Finance ministers and local business leaders.
An Argentine dissident opposition governor but aligned with the current administration will complete the presidential ticket for next October which as announced over the weekend will be headed by the First Lady, Senator Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.