Latin America

• Monday, June 16th 2014 - 05:26 UTC

  Bolivia honors visiting Ban Ki-moon with a coca leaves birthday cake

  

  United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon got an unusual treat for his 70th birthday when the president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, presented him with a cake made with coca leaves. The UN chief was in Santa Cruz, Bolivia for a meeting this weekend of the G77 group of countries to discuss measures for reducing poverty.

• Saturday, June 14th 2014 - 09:39 UTC

  Colombian business community openly sides with Santos and the peace talks

  

  President Juan Manuel Santos’ re-election bid received the backing of a large group of Colombia’s most important businessmen and the country’s wealthiest man, billionaire Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo, who spoke up in favor of ongoing peace negotiations with the FARC.

• Friday, June 13th 2014 - 09:02 UTC

  Colombia Sunday's election: a referendum on the peace talks with FARC

  

  Colombians pick a new president on Sunday in a tight runoff election, kind of referendum, fought over whether peace talks with Marxist inspired and drugs financed guerrillas, or a renewed military offensive stand the best chance of ending 50 years of war in the country rich in resources and with one of the more stable economies in the region.

• Friday, June 13th 2014 - 08:37 UTC

  Uruguay's main parties completed their presidential tickets for 26 October

  

  Uruguay's ruling coalition and the main opposition National party have finally worked out their presidential tickets for October's general election, following on the results, and subsequent negotiations, of the June first primary elections.

• Friday, June 13th 2014 - 08:23 UTC

  OAS deploys 74 observers for Colombia's presidential election second round

  

  The Organization of American States (OAS) Electoral Observation Mission (EOM ) began the final deployment of observers ahead of the second round of the Colombian presidential election on Sunday June 15.

• Wednesday, June 11th 2014 - 07:20 UTC

  Brazil ready for an 'open arms' welcome like Christ the Redeemer statue pledges Rousseff

  

  President Dilma Rousseff said Tuesday her country was ready to host the World Cup in two days, rejecting criticism of delays, overspending and chaos in the tournament's preparations. However organizing the cup was tough, but she insisted that the 12 stadiums were ready and told foreign fans that Brazil would welcome them with “open arms” like Rio's Christ the Redeemer statue.

• Wednesday, June 11th 2014 - 07:03 UTC

  Flooding in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, with record rainfall and rivers' swelling

  

  Floods have killed nine people and driven tens of thousands of people from their homes while swelling rivers to record levels in southern Brazil and neighboring Paraguay and Argentina, authorities said Tuesday.

• Wednesday, June 11th 2014 - 01:48 UTC

  Uruguay issues 2 billion dollars of new 2050 global bond to help spread the country's debt

  

  Uruguay issued 2 billion dollars of a new 2050 global bond on Tuesday at a spread of 165 to 170 basis points over U.S. Treasuries as part of the government's bid to put less strain on its accounts in the near- and medium-term, it was reported.

• Tuesday, June 10th 2014 - 13:43 UTC

  Machu Picchu the destination most world travelers want to see

  

  A travel Web site has selected the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in southeastern Peru as the destination that world travelers most want to see, Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Magali Silva said.

• Tuesday, June 10th 2014 - 08:25 UTC

  EU waiting for a signal from Mercosur for the trade deal, says Brussels official

  

  “There is no sense in holding discussions if both sides are not ready” and there are no dates for a meeting of European Union and Mercosur negotiators, revealed the EU External Action Service Director Christian Leffler who nevertheless expects a positive result in the near future.