Latin America

• Saturday, April 18th 2009 - 08:56 UTC

  “I want to be your friend” says Chavez and shakes hands with Obama

  

  President Barack Obama and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez shared a friendly handshake at the start of the Fifth Summit of the Americas Friday. The Venezuelan government called the handshake ''historic'' and hinted that it was the first step toward thawing chilly relations between the two nations.

• Saturday, April 18th 2009 - 08:50 UTC

  LAN unveils three year plan to invest 1.3 billion USD to expand fleet

  

  Chile's flag air carrier LAN announced on Friday it will invest 1.3 billion US dollars between 2009 and 2011 to expand its fleet. LAN, which has operations across South America, will buy long- and short-haul planes as well as new-generation cargo aircraft, Chairman Jorge Awad said.

• Saturday, April 18th 2009 - 08:03 UTC

  Mexico inaugurates new IMF flexible credit line with record 47 billion USD

  

  The International Monetary Fund on Friday approved a previously agreed 47 billion US dollars line of credit for Mexico, the first country to qualify for the new lending facility for strong-performing emerging economies. However Mexican authorities have stated they intend to treat the one-year arrangement as precautionary and do not intend to draw on the line.

• Saturday, April 18th 2009 - 05:46 UTC

  ALBA summit support Paraguay’s Itaipu dam claims

  

  The ALBA group presidential summit, which has Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez as its main promoter, fully supported Paraguayan claims in its conflict with Brazil regarding the energy from Latinamerica’s largest hydroelectric dam Itaipú.

• Saturday, April 18th 2009 - 05:34 UTC

  Latinamerica looks to China to increase trade and investments

  

  Latinamerica is hopeful that an increase in trade with China and investments from the Asian giant will help compensate lost business with the United States and the European Union because of the global crisis.

• Saturday, April 18th 2009 - 04:19 UTC

  Hillary Clinton admits failure of US policy towards Cuba

  

  United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday US policy toward Cuba has failed as she welcomed an ”overture'' from President Raul Castro to talk about “everything” including human rights and political prisoners.

• Saturday, April 18th 2009 - 04:02 UTC

  OAS Secretary General wants Cuba back again in the organization

  

  The Secretary General of the Organization of American States, OAS Jose Miguel Insulza said Friday that he will ask its members to readmit Cuba almost half a century after the country was ousted for its “communist alignment”.

• Friday, April 17th 2009 - 11:14 UTC

  De facto exit for embargo: Castro and Obama agree to discuss “any issue”

  

  Cuban President Raul Castro said from Venezuela that his government is willing to discuss any issue with Washington, as along as it's a conversation between equals and Washington respects “the Cuban people's right to self-determination”.

• Friday, April 17th 2009 - 11:00 UTC

  Obama to Latinamerica: “we must choose the future over the past”

  

  “Choosing a Better Future in the Americas” was the title on an opinion editorial from United States President Barack Obama published Thursday in the main dailies of Latinamerica on the eve of his arrival to the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad Tobago, with a one day previous visit to Mexico.

• Friday, April 17th 2009 - 07:34 UTC

  Unasur charter triggers controversy in Uruguayan Congress

  

  The Uruguayan Senate, with the votes from the ruling coalition, approved Wednesday the founding charter of the Union of South American Nations, UNASUR, while the opposition rejected in block the initiative describing it as an “ideological integration”.