Latin America

• Tuesday, March 20th 2018 - 08:16 UTC

  Lula begins tour of south Brazil and meets Mujica, but it was a bad day for both leaders

  

  Protesters interrupted the start on Monday of an election campaign tour by former Brazilian president Lula da Silva, who leads opinion polls but faces a lengthy jail sentence for corruption. Police had to intervene to separate some 150 protesting farmers and Lula's supporters in Bage, where the populist leader was starting a bus tour of southern Brazil ahead of October 7 elections.

• Monday, March 19th 2018 - 09:13 UTC

  International Court to listen arguments from Bolivia and Chile on the disputed access to the Pacific

  

  Delegates from Bolivia and Chile will head to the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Monday morning, where they will present their arguments over a disputed 380 kilometer coastline on the Pacific Ocean.

• Tuesday, March 13th 2018 - 07:12 UTC

  White House confirms Trump will visit Peru and Colombia in April

  

  United States president Donald Trump will make his Latin America debut next month, visiting Peru and Colombia after harsh rhetoric towards Hispanic migrants and neighbors to the south. Trump will travel to Peru to attend the Summit of the Americas in Lima on April 13-14, a gathering of leaders from across the Western Hemisphere, and from there he will visit Colombia.

• Monday, March 12th 2018 - 09:43 UTC

  Raul Castro succession process takes off; heir apparent blasts US for “resuming a Cold War rhetoric”

  

  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.

• Monday, March 12th 2018 - 09:08 UTC

  Uribe protegé Duque, and ex Bogotá mayor dominate Colombia's legislative elections

  

  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.

• Monday, March 5th 2018 - 09:05 UTC

  Falklands second air link: Charter flights could make a second flight a non-issue

  

  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.

• Wednesday, February 28th 2018 - 09:20 UTC

  Pemex loss of US$ 18bn in fourth quarter; blames weaker Peso and declining oil fields

  

  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.

• Tuesday, February 27th 2018 - 06:32 UTC

  Argentina's foreign policy according to Jorge Faurie: Intelligent Insertion

  

  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.

• Tuesday, February 27th 2018 - 06:08 UTC

  Uruguayan fraternity: nepotism, nepotism and no job to spare

  

  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.

• Friday, February 23rd 2018 - 21:36 UTC

  OAS urges Venezuela to reconsider its electoral process

  

  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.