Latin America

• Monday, December 5th 2011 - 06:48 UTC

  Mujica calls CELAC “a second independence” but warns beware of dogmatism

  

  Uruguayan president Jose Mujica described the newly formed CELAC as a strong step towards the Americas ‘second independence’ and its integration process.

• Monday, December 5th 2011 - 06:36 UTC

  Baush & Lomb takes control of Waicon, Argentina’s top seller of contact lenses

  

  US corporation Bausch & Lomb Inc. has acquired all shares of Laboratorio Pfortner Cornealent SACIF in Argentina, the Rochester based company’s officials announced although details of the sale were not disclosed.

• Monday, December 5th 2011 - 06:09 UTC

  Mujica dressed with a Venezuelan Army jacket triggers a barrage of criticisms

  

  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.

• Monday, December 5th 2011 - 06:00 UTC

  China becomes the first to congratulate Latinamerica countries on CELAC

  

  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.

• Monday, December 5th 2011 - 04:19 UTC

  A mild, good-intentions, no surprises marks the CELAC Caracas Declaration

  

  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.

• Monday, December 5th 2011 - 04:01 UTC

  Cuba’s Revolution square admits the growing presence of the Catholic Church

  

  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.

• Saturday, December 3rd 2011 - 09:02 UTC

  Under Chavez sponsorship Latam nomenclature adds a new regional grouping

  

  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.

• Saturday, December 3rd 2011 - 08:59 UTC

  Argentina and Brazil agree greater ‘productive integration mechanism”

  

  Argentine and Brazilian presidents Cristina Fernandez and Dilma Rousseff agreed in Caracas the creation of a Productive Integration Mechanism, MIP, to deepen bilateral relations.

• Saturday, December 3rd 2011 - 08:56 UTC

  Correa says OAS should have been disarticulated in 1982 when the Malvinas war

  

  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”.

• Friday, December 2nd 2011 - 18:58 UTC

  Chile and Uruguay less corrupt in Latam; other Mercosur members not so clean

  

  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.