Setbacks in Sunday's municipal elections appear to have pushed Chile's president to shake up her Cabinet, according to Interior minister Edmundo Perez Yoma.
Peru and Spain signed this week a strategic association agreement during a ceremony headed by King Juan Carlos and Peruvian president Alan Garcia at Government Palace in Lima, the highlight of the royal couple's visit to Peru.
Chilean presidential hopeful and currently Secretary General of the Organization of American States, (OAS) Jose Miguel Insulza admitted that the Chilean ruling coalition could loose next year's election. But he also proposed closer ties with the Communist party to impede further vote erosion.
Chile's conservative opposition collected a string of surprise wins in municipal elections across the country Sunday, delivering a blow to the ruling coalition of President Michele Bachelet as her party heads into next year's presidential race.
A Colombian congressman held hostage by Marxist guerrillas for eight years escaped through the jungle with one of his captors in another blow to Latin America's oldest insurgency.
Latin American economic growth may slow more than expected in 2009 due to lower prices for the commodities that drive many of the region's economies, the International Monetary Fund said this week in Chile.
Mexico's Senate approved this week changes to the country's oil sector designed to halt rapidly falling production and ensure Mexico's oil self-sufficiency in the medium term. The bill must now be considered by the Lower House.
Friday closed a tsunami impact trading week for Latinamerican markets accumulating massive losses as risk aversion and recession fears contagion from major markets spread to the rest of the world.
The Mexican peso ended trading on Friday at 13.70 to the US dollar after having fallen to a record 14.50. The Mexican central bank supported the currency with 1.1 billion US dollars.
More than eight million Chileans have the right to vote this Sunday for their mayors and city council representatives in the country's 345 municipalities. While the election results will not officially reflect on the 2009 presidential race, the political parties – right, left and centre – are hotly contesting the municipal races and will surely use the final vote tallies to tout their relative strength on the national political scene.