
The head of a top Latin American financial institution believes China's Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, could help inject new dynamism into the world economy, as well as generate new ideas to foster more connectivity between Asia and Latin America. Luis Carranza Ugarte, executive president and CEO of CAF-Development Bank of Latin America-is attending the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing this week.

The Chilean government has announced that it will begin proceedings to withdraw from the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the regional bloc from which it suspended its membership last year.

Bolivia is looking at exporting natural gas globally through liquefaction terminals to be built in Argentina, and to buy crude from its southern neighbor, Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Monday, a move that would compensate for dwindling sales of its main export to Argentina and Brazil.

Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday he would reinforce army and navy troops in Veracruz State, three days after a child was among 13 people killed in a mass shooting there.

The global press freedom is regressing with more and more countries putting journalists at risk and authoritarian regimes tightening their grip on the media, according to a report released by media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders.

Violence in Mexico hit new heights in the first quarter of 2019, with 8,493 murders recorded from January to March, according to official figures. According to the Executive Secretariat of the Public Security National System, that number represents a 9.6% rise on the same period in 2018.

Argentine experts have expressed the belief that the upcoming Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation can yield more concrete steps for collaboration between China and Latin America. Members of the Asian Affairs Committee at Argentina's Council on International Relations (CARI), a leading think tank, spoke to China's government news agency Xinhua in the lead-up to the forum.

Peru's late former president Alan Garcia left a suicide note denying the corruption charges against him before taking his own life, one of his children revealed on Friday. Garcia, who was 69, died on Wednesday after shooting himself in the head when police came to his home to arrest him over allegations of money laundering during his time in office.

Former Peruvian President Alan García was reported to have died on Wednesday after shooting himself in the head minutes before a warrant for his arrest was to be executed. Alan Gabriel Ludwig García Pérez, 69, was president of Peru from 1985 to 1990 and from 2006 to 2011. He also served in Congress.

The Trump administration on Wednesday intensified its crackdown on Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, rolling back Obama administration policy and announcing new restrictions and sanctions against the three countries whose leaders national security adviser John Bolton dubbed the three stooges of socialism.