
The UK’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Jeremy Browne arrives Monday in Chile for a two day visit and has scheduled a meeting with President Sebastián Piñera. The event consequently takes place just before Argentine President Cristina Fernández official visit on March 15 and in the lead up to the 30th anniversary of the Malvinas War.

Uruguay’s minister of Foreign Affairs Luis Almagro described on Friday as ‘inadmissible” the exclusion of Cuba from the VI Summit of the Americas scheduled for next April 14/15 in Cartagena, Colombia.

The UK Foreign Office informed on Friday that John Freeman has been appointed new Ambassador to Argentina to replace outgoing Ambassador Shan Morgan, who has held the post since 2008.

Cuba said it was unacceptable that it will not be invited to an upcoming hemispheric summit in Colombia and blamed the United States for insisting that Cuba be excluded.

Economic growth in Latin America should speed to 4.5% in 2013 thanks to monetary stimulus and steadier global conditions, raising the risk of policy complacency, the Institute of International Finance said on Thursday.

Chilean inflation accelerated in February fuelled by transport and food costs, reinforcing expectations the central bank will hold its key interest rate steady next week.

Brazil has become the sixth-biggest economy in the world, the country's finance minister announced. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) and other economic forecasters also said that Brazil had now overtaken the UK.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Venezuela's Hugo Chávez will return home next week from Cuba where he is recovering from surgery to remove a cancerous tumour.

Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, who on Wednesday topped the Forbes rich list for a third consecutive year with a fortune of 69 billion dollars, invests widely as he seeks to expand his massive telecoms empire.

United States Air Force Commander, General Douglas Fraser, in charge of the US Southern Command, stated before Congress that the Department of Defence is “watchful for potential geopolitical turbulence that could impact US citizens,” and highlighted the uncertainties of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez health and economic instability.