
The third summit of leaders from South America and Arab Countries, ASPA, will take place in Lima, Peru next 1 and 2 October but without the attendance of Paraguay and Syria which have been suspended from their respective blocks, according to Peruvian Deputy Foreign Minister Jose Beráun.

The Falkland Islands don’t expect Argentina to accept the results of the coming referendum, but will show the rest of the world, particularly South and Central America that the Islands are a democracy and have the right to self determination, said Falklands’ lawmakers in an interview with the Mexican newspaper Excelsior.

South America was described as a ‘fantastic destination’ for the cruise industry but with an even greater potential said Chris Hayman at the closing ceremony of the two-day Seatrade South America Cruise Convention in Buenos Aires.

Venezuela and Argentina signed three institutional agreements and 24 among corporations during the two-day First Meeting for the Venezuela-Argentina Petro-industrial development with the purpose of intensifying trade, investment and cooperation between the two countries.

Brazil said it is confident that the electoral process in Venezuela, where Chavez is bidding for another six years will be “credible and transparent”. Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota made the statement in an interview published on Sunday by O Estado de Sao Paulo.

Paraguay is considering demanding “moral and economic” compensation from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay for having been suspended from Mercosur as full member and at the same reiterated its rejection to Venezuela’s admission, according to the country Foreign Ministry.

Venezuela's opposition challenger Henrique Capriles sought to deflect attention from a corruption row by throwing the accusation back at President Hugo Chávez on Friday in an escalating political brawl ahead of the Oct. 7 vote.

An ever growing number of Spanish companies are setting their eyes on Latin America, a region with an expanding economy, abundant natural resources and much to be done as reported by Spain’s trade offices and Spanish chambers of commerce.

Uruguay’s attempt to auction the bankrupt national airline Pluna aircraft collapsed because none of the groups that showed an initial interest turned up arguing that the 136 million dollars for the seven Bombardier CRJ900 NextGen was “not attractive” and considered the whole business deal “non viable”.

Appealing to social networks thousands of Argentines Thursday evening took to the streets of the country’s major cities to protest some of the latest measures from the government of President Cristina Fernandez including the re-re-election plans and the increasing restrictions to the purchase of dollars.