Latin America

• Wednesday, October 5th 2016 - 11:24 UTC

  Cruise ships forced to divert Caribbean schedule by Hurricane Matthew

  

  Hurricane Matthew is forcing a growing number of cruise ships to alter course as it barrels northward toward Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas. Cruise giant Carnival has rerouted half a dozen ships scheduled to visit ports in the region over the next few days, including the Carnival Sensation, Carnival Splendor and Carnival Ecstasy.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2016 - 06:33 UTC

  Malvinas has “an enormous emotional content” but “my duty is to advance dialogue in all issues”

  

  Foreign minister Susana Malcorra said that the Falklands/Malvinas issue has “an enormous emotional content”, but as her country's main diplomat her duty is to ensure a dialogue that can advance, in the best possible way, on all issues. The minister also described the Mercosur relation with Brazil as “inexorable”, which is beyond ideologies underlining the significance of Brazil's Michel Temer recent visit to Argentina.

• Tuesday, October 4th 2016 - 10:20 UTC

  Colombia the day after: Uribe holds the key to a peace deal, but much harsher on FARC commanders

  

  Colombia's president tried Monday to keep alive an agreement to end Latin America's longest-running war after a shocking rejection by voters, but his opponents made clear their price for joining the effort will be steep.

• Monday, October 3rd 2016 - 08:52 UTC

  Colombians turn their back on peace deal: Santos and FARC allies in rejection

  

  Colombian voters appeared to have shocked their government, world leaders and pollsters by blasting away its hopes for a historic peace deal with the Marxist FARC rebels on Sunday, near-complete referendum results showed. Reversing the trend of earlier opinion polls, voters appeared to have narrowly defied the government's pleas to ratify its plan to put 52 years of bloody conflict behind them within months.

• Monday, October 3rd 2016 - 07:40 UTC

  Temer visits Macri to address trade and making Mercosur more flexible and universal

  

  Argentine president Mauricio Macri will be receiving his Brazilian peer Michel Temer in Buenos Aires on Monday morning to address bilateral relations in several fields, mainly political, trade, Mercosur, and security and development in the long shared border areas. According to official sources Temer´s delegation arrives with foreign minister Jose Serra, Industry and trade minister Marcos Pereira and head of defense Raul Jungmann.

• Friday, September 30th 2016 - 11:05 UTC

  Colombia peace referendum has national support but regional vote shows battle lines

  

  Two public opinion polls released on Wednesday indicate that the recently peace deal between the government with the FARC is likely to be ratified by Colombia’s electorate on Sunday. President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader “Timochenko” signed peace on Monday, but before this agreement can be fully ratified, Colombians will vote on the deal in a referendum first.

• Friday, September 30th 2016 - 07:35 UTC

  UN human rights chief reaffirms ongoing collaboration with Colombia peace accord

  

  Speaking to the media just days after the signing of the historic peace agreement in Colombia and ahead of the 2 October national poll in which Colombians will have their say on the accord, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reiterated that his Office (OHCHR) will continue to follow the progress of the human rights aspects of the agreement.

• Thursday, September 29th 2016 - 11:01 UTC

  Region of the Americas is declared free of measles by World Health Organization

  

  The Region of the Americas is the first in the world to have eliminated measles, a viral disease that can cause severe health problems, including pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and even death. This achievement culminates a 22-year effort involving mass vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella throughout the Americas.

• Thursday, September 29th 2016 - 09:07 UTC

  Sunday deadline for Falklands' competition open to university students

  

  This Sunday, October 2nd, ends the deadline to participate in the regional competition sponsored by the Falkland Islands government and the UK embassies in Uruguay, Brazil and Chile addressing the issue, “Why would I like to meet my neighbors from the Falkland Islands?” The competition is open to university students from the three countries and the prize is a weeklong trip to the Falkland Islands with all expenses paid.

• Wednesday, September 28th 2016 - 09:50 UTC

  Obama names first ambassador in Cuba in fifty years, but needs Senate confirmation

  

  The United States has tapped Jeffrey DeLaurentis, United States' top diplomat in Havana, to become the first official ambassador to Cuba in five decades. “The appointment of an ambassador is a commonsense step forward toward a more normal and productive relationship between our two countries,” President Barack Obama said in a statement.