
Cuba Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel, tipped to succeed President Raul Castro, accused the US yesterday of “resuming a Cold War rhetoric” and of “attacking” the Cuban revolution. Diaz-Canel spoke to state television after casting his vote in elections for a parliament that will choose Castro’s successor on April 19.

Right-wing candidate Ivan Duque and leftist Gustavo Petro will lead their respective coalitions in Colombia’s May presidential election after winning primaries on Sunday. Duque, a protégé of former President Alvaro Uribe and the standard bearer for the Democratic Center party, beat fellow candidates Marta Lucia Ramirez and Alejandro Ordonez for his coalition’s nomination. He got more than 3.9 million votes and 96% of the votes counted.

The recent statement entitled ‘Progress made towards establishing a second commercial Falkland Islands air link’ released by the Falkland Islands Government and sponsored by the governments of UK and Argentina, has met with a mixed reception in the Islands. While some have expressed favor others have reservations and questions.

Mexican state-owned oil company Pemex reported a nearly US$18 billion fourth-quarter loss on Monday after both crude output and processing slid, though the company said refining levels should rebound as major maintenance plans are completed. The company posted a 352.3bn (US$17.9bn) peso loss for the last quarter of 2017, blaming a weaker peso exchange rate and higher financing costs for its performance, according to a filing with the Mexican stock exchange.

Argentina foreign minister Jorge Faurie has written a long column, (full tabloid page) in Buenos Aires daily Clarin, under the heading of “Intelligent Insertion” describing motives and objectives of the country's foreign policy under president Mauricio Macri, driven by the principle of an intelligent insertion in the international scenario. The final commitment of Macri's administration is reducing poverty and improving Argentines' life quality.

It has been a long standing consensus-secret in the Uruguayan political system that when you are elected or have been nominated to a political post, you must not forget the family or friends particularly if they are in distress. This means in practical terms that the generous Uruguayan state will incorporate you to the burgeoning bureaucracy be it at national or regional level.

The Organization of American States (OAS) was meeting in Washington on Tuesday from 10:00 AM local time on the subject of Venezuela and “the latest events” that have occurred in the Caribbean country. 19 of the 24 members voted in favor of a resolution calling on Venezuela to postpone the elections scheduled for April.

Mexican buyers imported ten times more corn from Brazil last year amid concern that NAFTA renegotiations could disrupt their U.S. supplies, according to government data and top grains merchants. Mexico is on track to buy more Brazilian corn in 2018, which would hurt a U.S. agricultural sector already struggling with low grains prices and the rising competitive threat from South America.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture sees U.S. corn and soybean exports generally increasing over the coming decade but the U.S. share of global sales will shrink as competition from South American producers heats up, the government said in its annual report.

It’s not only a travel and tourism destination, it may be a destination for many honest or not so honest foreigners who don’t ever visit or travel there, but having a valid passport and citizenship of this Caribbean country.