El Salvador's former Marxist guerrillas, who fought one of the bitterest conflicts of the Cold War, finally won power through the ballot box after a tight election victory over their right-wing civil war foes.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday ordered the military takeover of ports and airports, boosting the power of the central government after his allies lost key states in a 2008 regional vote.
The Prince of Wales has visited Ecuador over the weekend ahead of a tour of the world-famous Galapagos Islands. Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall had their plane disinfected in Quito to prevent harmful organisms and germs being brought into Galapagos.
Colombia’s Vice-President Francisco Santos said the country does not need any longer United States funds to combat the narcotics trade and guerrillas movements because time is up “and we don’t need them”.
Ecuador’ government owned Petroecuador signed a transitional contract with Repsol-YPF, giving the Ecuadorian government a bigger share of the Spanish oil company’s profits for one year and paving the way for new fee-for-service deal.
As evidence of global warming continues to mount, the world community is coming ever closer to a consensus on the issue, agreeing that climate change is very much real and that it must – before its already present effects worsen – be urgently addressed.
President Barack Obama administration has begun moving on several fronts to repair strained US relations with Latin America. Obama meets Saturday at the White House with Brazilian President Lula da Silva, and he is sending Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Latin American missions to prepare for the mid-April Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.
Under the logo “A Progressive response to the global crisis” Chilean president Michelle Bachelet will host next March 27 and 28 a new Progressive Leaders summit to which top international leaders from Africa, Latinamerica, United states and Europe have confirmed their participation.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva will urge US President Barack Obama on Saturday March 14 to open talks with governments in Venezuela and Cuba and make aid and development the focus of his Latin America policy. Lula da Silva is the first Latinamerican president to meet with Obama.
United States looks at the coming Americas Summit next April in Trinidad Tobago as an opportunity to begin a new relation with Latinamerica in a “spirit of equals” since the region will have to play a crucial role in the reply to the global economic crisis.