A senior US diplomat had high-level talks with the Cuban government in Havana, the State Department said Tuesday. Bisa Williams, acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, met this week with Deputy Foreign Minister Dagoberto Rodriguez during a six-day trip to Cuba, Assistant Secretary P.J. Crowley said.
Peru proposed before the United Nations General Assembly a “non aggression pact” to ensure a peace area in South America and to help counter what it describes the costly arms race. The issue has become highly sensitive in the region.
The World Bank forecasts that about ten million people will join the ranks of the poor in Latin America this year as a result of the global economic slowdown, reversing social gains since 2002.
Who’s in command? is the question political analyst Andres Oppenheimer has asked in his weekly column on Latinamerican affairs, precisely because in the midst of the Honduras crisis, the Obama administration has not been able to confirm key players, Under Secretary for Hemispheric Affairs and the US ambassador in Brazil.
Chile has warned that if the current talks with the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Organization, RFO (*), prove “unsatisfactory”, the ‘tabula rasa’ resource of Decree 123 will be applied, effectively outlawing provisioning of foreign vessels at all Chilean ports.
Latinamerica will need to borrow 400 billion US dollars next year to compensate the lack of national capital and to help reactivate its economy after the downturn, according to Pamela Cox, World Bank vice-president for Latinamerica.
Mercopress had a chance to catch up with Nate Suppaiah, founder and managing editor of Alternative Latin Investor (ALI), a bimonthly digital publication that features information on alternative investments in the LatAm region. Some of their topics include: hedge funds, forex, private equity, real estate, renewable energy, art, wine, and philanthropy.
A documentary “Antarctica Secreta” (Secret Antarctica) which explores and promises abundant evidence of Chile’s long established roots in Antarctica, dating back to over a hundred years, is expected to be ready for its launching August next year, on time for the country’s bicentennial celebrations.
The recent second summit of South America and African leaders added to the traditional statements on the Falklands/Malvinas dispute and the US trade embargo on Cuba, similar demands referred to disputes over islands in the Indian Ocean involving Britain and France.
Cubans should no longer “expect the government to solve all of its problems” and “should work hard and efficiently to overcome the crisis and ensure the continuity of the revolution” said Communications Minister Ramiro Valdes quoted with extensive coverage in Havana’s Sunday media.