Bolivia and Paraguay formally sealed Monday in Buenos Aires the end of an armed conflict dating back 74 years and which is considered the bloodiest of the last century in South America with over 100.000 killed.
Mexican Public Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said on Sunday that the number of deaths from swine flu virus had increased to 103, with 1.614 suspect cases and 400 in hospitals. Meantime in neighbouring United States the Health and Human Services, HHS, issued a nationwide public health emergency declaration.
Paraguay’s president Fernando Lugo and the Pan-American Health Organization, PHO, launched Sunday a new edition of the “Vaccination in the Americas” week which has the purpose of vaccinating 30 million people against a wide range of diseases that still ravage the region.
Port authorities from Punta Arenas in the extreme south of Chile anticipate a complicated 2009/10 cruise vessel season which could mean 30 to 40% less visitors and a considerable drop in the number of calls.
President Rafael Correa of Ecuador claimed re-election victory Sunday minutes after the polls closed on Sunday, calling his apparent win a day of joy in which we have made history. He was quoted saying he would keep the US dollar as the country’s currency.
Mexico has raised the probable death toll from an outbreak of swine flu to 81, including 20 already confirmed.
At least 68 people have died and hundreds of others have been infected in a viral outbreak in Mexico suspected to have been caused by a strain of swine flu. The World Health Organization thinks the virus may be behind the deaths in Mexico since mid-March.
The Economist under the heading “The charming neighbour” says President Barack Obama’s incursion into Latinamerica at the recent summit in Trinidad Tobago was “overall a success”. But is also asks whether the new mood will survive the worsening recession in Latin America is unclear. And is spite all the discussion about Cuba, The Economist believes that in practice, “drugs and security are likely to overshadow all other issues in the Obama administration relation with Latinamerica. Furthermore “trade and immigration”, particularly with Mexico, have become dividing issues.
Ecuador will not change its offer to buy back 3.2 billion of defaulted debt at a sharp discount (70%), and appealed to investors to be mindful of its economic problems, Finance Minister Elsa Viteri said in a letter to bondholders, according to press reports from Quito.
Representatives from eleven countries participated in the opening ceremony of UNITAS Gold on the 50th iteration of the annual multinational maritime exercise which takes place off the coast of Florida until May 5.