Latin America

• Saturday, August 15th 2009 - 11:13 UTC

  Colombian church confirms talks with FARC rebel leaders

  

  Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon confirmed this week that he has talked with the leader of Colombia’s largest rebel group as part of the church’s hierarchy’s effort to mediate an end to the decades-long civil war.

• Saturday, August 15th 2009 - 11:07 UTC

  Mexico/Uruguay sign strategic association accord and advance trade

  

  Mexico president Felipe Calderón and Uruguay’s Tabare Vazquez signed on Friday in Montevideo a Strategic Association accord to strengthen political dialogue and bilateral trade relations in the framework of the 2004 free trade agreement.

• Friday, August 14th 2009 - 13:47 UTC

  Zelaya calls for more US drastic measures against Honduras usurpers

  

  Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya said he expects the US administration to take more drastic actions against the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti. Zelaya held a three and a half hour meeting on Thursday with Chilean president Michelle Bachelet in Santiago as part of his round of visits to drum support for his reinstatement.

• Friday, August 14th 2009 - 07:43 UTC

  Mexico offers to mediate between Colombia and Venezuela and Ecuador

  

  Mexican president Felipe Calderón on an official visit to Colombia offered his country’s mediation in the conflict between Bogotá and neighbouring Ecuador and Venezuela.

• Friday, August 14th 2009 - 05:13 UTC

  Chilean conservative presidential hopeful leads comfortably in latest opinion poll

  

  Chilean Conservative businessman Sebastián Piñera continues to enjoy a lead going into the country’s December 11 presidential election, according to a poll by the Center for Studies in Contemporary Reality (CERC).

• Thursday, August 13th 2009 - 14:36 UTC

  Uribe will be present at Unasur summit in Bariloche

  

  The Unasur (Union of South American Nations) extraordinary summit to address the US forces in Colombian bases controversy, and which was agreed in Ecuador, will take place in Bariloche at the end of the month announced the Argentine presidency.

• Thursday, August 13th 2009 - 14:29 UTC

  Zelaya and Lula da Silva call on Obama to solve Honduras political crisis

  

  Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and Brazilian President Lula da Silva called on Wednesday on the United States to use more political influence to help solve the Honduran crisis.

• Thursday, August 13th 2009 - 08:04 UTC

  Chileans take advantage of vacation packages to Mexico and the Caribbean

  

  More Chileans are choosing the tropics this year as vacation package prices to Cancun and the Caribbean have dropped an average of 30% in 2009.

• Wednesday, August 12th 2009 - 12:30 UTC

  President Oscar Arias sick with H1N1 virus.

  

  Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is said to have the H1N1 virus. He was placed under medical care at his home, but he will not delegate power in the meantime, Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias said.

• Wednesday, August 12th 2009 - 12:19 UTC

  Chavez and Cristina sign a billion USD trade agreement

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez received on Tuesday Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in Caracas to sign agreements expanding trade between the two countries. Among the deals was an accord to import as many as 10,000 cars from Argentina this year instead of Colombia.