Latin America

• Monday, September 26th 2016 - 11:06 UTC

  Land distribution, remains challenge for the post-peace accord in Colombia

  

  Conflicts over land in Colombia are likely to increase following a peace deal to end half a century of war as once no-go areas in the Andean country open up for business and development projects, land rights experts said. The government and rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are due to sign a peace accord Monday to end Latin America's longest-running conflict, which has killed 200,000 people.

• Monday, September 26th 2016 - 10:56 UTC

  US Treasury Secretary on advisory visit to Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico

  

  U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew will urge his counterparts in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico to press ahead with economic and fiscal reforms aimed at restoring or strengthening growth, a senior Treasury official said on Friday. Lew will be visiting the four largest Latin American economies this week beginning with Argentina on Monday, recognizing efforts by President Mauricio Macri to reintegrate Argentina into the global economy.

• Monday, September 26th 2016 - 10:07 UTC

  US role in Colombia peace: from fanning the war to ensuring peace

  

  When the Colombian government and Marxist rebels FARC sign the final peace accord this Monday to end a 52-year guerrilla war, a US envoy from the Obama administration will be one of the special guests at the signing ceremony.

• Saturday, September 24th 2016 - 10:24 UTC

  Pinochet ordered the 1976 assassination of opposition leader Letelier, says CIA

  

  The United States on Friday gave Chilean President Michelle Bachelet declassified CIA documents confirming that former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet personally ordered the 1976 assassination of opposition leader Orlando Letelier. US Deputy Secretary of State Heather Higginbottom presented the documents to Bachelet during a ceremony on the site of the killing in the US capital, two days after the 40th anniversary of the brazen attack.

• Thursday, September 22nd 2016 - 22:18 UTC

  FAO forecasts higher harvest prospects for maize, wheat and rice

  

  Staple food prices rose in August even as grain prices fell and the outlook for global cereal production improved. The FAO Food Price Index averaged 165.6 points in August, up 1.9% from July and almost 7% from a year earlier. The monthly jump was mostly driven by cheese and palm oil quotations, while those for wheat, maize and rice all fell.

• Thursday, September 22nd 2016 - 15:40 UTC

  Rousseff back on the political trail in defence of Lula da Silva

  

  Former President Dilma Rousseff called the prosecution of her predecessor on corruption charges another attack on Brazil's democracy, speaking just weeks after the Senate removed her from office in an impeachment trial.

• Tuesday, September 20th 2016 - 09:53 UTC

  Brazil and Uruguay agree on a Mercosur with “a greater open integration”

  

  President Tabare Vazquez confirmed on Monday that Uruguay will continue as “coordinator” of discussions between Mercosur and the European Union to reach a wide ranging trade agreement.

• Tuesday, September 20th 2016 - 04:55 UTC

  British MPs in Uruguay for the EuroLat American Assembly plenary session

  

  A delegation of British MPs are visiting Uruguay to attend the ninth plenary session of the Euro-Lat American Assembly which is taking place this week at the country´s Parliament house. The group includes Nigel Evans, Mark Menzies and Graham Stuart from the ruling Conservative party and Lindsay Hoyle and Lord Howarth of Newport from opposition Labour.

• Friday, September 16th 2016 - 08:25 UTC

  Argentina (and Brazil) optimistic about a Mercosur/EU trade accord by the end of 2017

  

  The current critical situation of Mercosur is an opportunity to strengthen and advance trade negotiations, which could include the long delayed accord with the European Union by the end of 2017, according to Argentina's Secretary of Commerce, Miguel Braun.

• Thursday, September 15th 2016 - 10:40 UTC

  Uruguay admits “consensus support” to remove Venezuela from Mercosur rotating chair

  

  Uruguay's deputy foreign minister Jose Luis Cancela said that if Uruguay had not complied with the other Mercosur three founding members' joint declaration ignoring Venezuela's presidency and demanding it complies with the group's legislation and treaties, “Mercosur would have been launched into a period of full paralysis”.