Sunday's elections in Venezuela will be a key test for President Hugo Chavez a year after voters defeated his effort to change the constitution which was targeted to ensure his XXI Socialist-Bolivarian revolution.
United States shares rose sharply on Friday following a report that US President-elect Barack Obama has chosen his treasury secretary, reassuring investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 494 points or 6.5% to end at 8,046.66. The Standard & Poor's 500 climbed 6.3%.
Michael Reid is The Economist Americas editor and author of Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America's Soul (Yale).
Chinese President Hu Jintao offered his nation's economic muscle to help Latin America weather global economic turmoil, in a speech on Thursday in Peru that marked another step in Beijing's campaign to raise its profile in the region.
Argentina's Senate passed on Thursday a bill to nationalize the private pension funds system in a move that analysts say could protect the potential beneficiaries from short-term stock market chaos but also limit their long-term retirement income.
Spanish savings bank La Caixa may sell its 14% stake in struggling Spanish-Argentine energy firm Repsol to Russian firm Lukoil, it said. The sale is tied to the acquisition by Lukoil of a 20% stake held in Repsol by construction group Sacyr Vallehermoso.
New York Senator Hillary Clinton has accepted President-elect Barack Obama's offer of the job of secretary of state. Hillary is expected to accept the position of secretary of state in the Obama Administration. A formal announcement is planned for after Thanksgiving.
COUNCILLOR Mike Summers said he would like the House to send its formal thanks and congratulations to the UK's UN Ambassador in New York, John Sawyer, who, with his team, denied an attempt by Argentina and Spain to propose in the United Nations 4th Committee an amendment, which would have denied the right of self-determination to those countries, where there is a sovereignty conflict.