Colombian security forces have arrested a senior member of the country's largest insurgency group and one of the most wanted rebels announced the government of President Alvaro Uribe.

A small instruction plane belonging to Chile's Carabineros (uniformed police) crashed Wednesday morning into a recreational complex in the capital Santiago's Peñaloén borough. The accident left at least 11 people dead and a number of others injured.

Four years are needed to clear the five minefields planted by the Chilean Army in northern Tierra del Fuego, although one of them will be officially certified as de-mined at the end of 2008 according to Chilean Defence ministry sources, reports La Prensa Austral from Punta Arenas.

France warned on Thursday that French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt may have only weeks to live, after fellow captives released by Colombia's FARC guerrillas said her health was failing rapidly.
Venezuela has said it is ready to recover four hostages held by Colombian rebels, in the second release deal brokered by the government of Hugo Chavez this year.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone met with newly-affirmed Cuban leader Raul Castro just two days after the ageing dictator Fidel Castro relinquished power.
With United States Senator Barack Obama leading in the number of delegates for the nomination of presidential candidate for the Democrats, some Latinamerican experts are looking into his knowledge of the region and trying to guess what awaits this region.

Cuban lawmakers will meet to name a new head of state for the first time in nearly a half-century on Sunday, just five days after an ailing, 81-year-old Fidel Castro said he would not accept another term as president.

In spite of the smiles and pictures the Buenos Aires presidential summit of leaders from Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia could not agree on a way out to the energy and distribution situation that threatens the three countries this coming winter and apparently could only be solved in the mid term.

Raul Castro was unanimously selected Sunday by Cuba's National Assembly as president succeeding his ailing brother Fidel who stepped down last week after nearly half a century in charge.