A major controversy exploded in Uruguay when President Jose Mujica was pictured by international news agencies, during the CELAC meeting in Caracas, wearing a green jacket from the Venezuelan Army.
Chinese president Hu Jintao was the first to congratulate the newly formed CELAC and expressed Beijing’s wishes to strengthen trade relations, cooperation and political understanding with the region.
The new Latin American and Caribbean organization backed Argentina's claim to sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and slammed US sanctions on Cuba at the end of a two day summit in the capital of Venezuela, hosted by President Hugo Chavez.
Hundreds of Cubans paid homage on Saturday to the patron of the country, the Virgin of Copper Charity, at the Plaza de la Revolución (Revolution Square) the political heart of the island and at the precise point where Pope John Paul II in 1998 held a mass to hundreds of thousands.
Showing off new energy after cancer treatment, Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez hosted Latin American leaders on Friday to create a new regional body that pointedly excludes the United States and Canada.
Argentine and Brazilian presidents Cristina Fernandez and Dilma Rousseff agreed in Caracas the creation of a Productive Integration Mechanism, MIP, to deepen bilateral relations.
Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa again questioned the existence of the Organization of American States, OAS, which should have been disarticulated in 1982 during the Falklands/Malvinas war and insisted that the region’s problems “should be discussed in the region and not in Washington”.
Chile and Uruguay are the least corrupt countries in Latinamerica, while Paraguay and Venezuela are at the other extreme, according to the latest ‘Corruption Perceptions’ Index’ from Transparency International released this week.
Argentine president Cristina Fernandez watered down any hopes of a limitless re-election during her visit to Venezuela stating that “four years more are more than enough”.
Argentine President Cristina Fernández signed on Thursday nineteen cooperation agreements in different fields with her Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chávez at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas.