Latin America

• Tuesday, April 14th 2015 - 10:03 UTC

  Intellectual icon of Latin America's left in the seventies and eighties dies in Montevideo

  

  Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, whose The Open Veins of Latin America became a classic text for the left in the region and propelled the author to fame, died on Monday at age 74. Galeano had been ill with lung cancer for several months.

• Sunday, April 12th 2015 - 10:55 UTC

  Castro and Obama make history: 'we have agreed we can disagree with respect and civility'

  

  President Barack Obama and Cuba's Raul Castro sat down together on Saturday in the first formal meeting of the two country's leaders in over a half-century, pledging to reach for the kind of peaceful relationship that has eluded their nations for generations.

• Sunday, April 12th 2015 - 10:48 UTC

  Pope Francis appeals to Americas Summit for better distribution of riches

  

  In a message addressed to the President of Panama Juan Carlos Varela, Pope Francis urged leaders attending the OAS Americas' Summit to strengthen efforts against inequality which he considered a “source for conflicts.”

• Sunday, April 12th 2015 - 08:55 UTC

  Obama praised the 'new beginning' in the bilateral relation with Cuba

  

  United States President Barack Obama addressed American leaders in the meeting currently taking place in the City of Panama praising the diplomatic rapprochement between Washington and Cuba which he called “a new beginning” in the bilateral relation.

• Sunday, April 12th 2015 - 08:46 UTC

  Castro calls for a 'civilized relationship'; apologizes to Obama and condemns ten previous US presidents

  

  Cuban President Raul Castro was received with a standing ovation as he readied to address the VII Summit of the Americas, held in Panama City, in a historic presentation. The Caribbean leader stressed the importance of the rapprochement with the United States but questioned the US policy towards Venezuela.

• Sunday, April 12th 2015 - 08:06 UTC

  Obama announces Brazilian president Rousseff visit to Washington on June 30

  

  US President Barack Obama announced that Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff will visit Washington on June 30, almost two years after she cancelled a trip over a US spying scandal. Obama made the announcement during a bilateral meeting with Rousseff, on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Panama City.

• Sunday, April 12th 2015 - 07:36 UTC

  Argentina's message to UK and US: “utterly ridiculous considering any regional country a threat.”

  

  Addressing the Americas summit in Panama, Argentine president Cristina Fernandez strongly criticized United States policies towards the hemisphere, particularly Venezuela, and expressed 'surprise' at the parallelism between the Caracas/Washington current dispute and the latest round of Falklands' exchanges between London and her government. President Barack Obama was not present during the Argentine leader's speech on Saturday.

• Saturday, April 11th 2015 - 13:12 UTC

  Colombia's FARC reject submission to judicial processes as “common criminals”

  

  Colombia's FARC rebels cannot be submitted to the same judicial processes as “common criminals” under a possible peace deal, the Marxist group said on Friday. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) made the comments after President Juan Manuel Santos said in an interview that the biggest hurdle to signing peace would be getting the group to agree to face justice after 50 years of war.

• Saturday, April 11th 2015 - 06:25 UTC

  Obama and Raul Castro shook hands at opening of the Americas summit in Panama

  

  US President Barack Obama and Cuba's Raul Castro on Friday shook hands and sat near each other at the historic Panama Summit of the Americas, a new milestone in efforts to shed decades of animosity. Obama and Castro greeted each other as UN chief Ban Ki-moon looked on, before taking their seats with other regional leaders at a Panama City convention center.

• Saturday, April 11th 2015 - 05:45 UTC

  'Malvinas', center piece of Cristina Fernandez speech at Panama summit

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernandez is attending the VII Summit of the Americas in Panama City where she is expected on Saturday to strongly criticize the United Kingdom over the 'militarization' of the Falklands/Malvinas and revelations of massive espionage of Argentina by London.