Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez emphasized this week the growing relevance of Spain in Latin America, where Spanish firms have made 130 billion Euros worth of investments.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said this week that he will probably have to undergo a fourth cycle of chemotherapy for cancer, but insisted that he will campaign for re-election next year “with the energy that circumstances require”.
US president Barack Obama defended his Latin American policy, praised Mexico’s resilience in the drugs war, criticized Cuban reforms as insufficient and emphasized the ‘equals-relation’ between countries in the region and Washington.
US bank JPMorgan lowered Latin America’s growth estimate for 2012 from 3.9% to 3.5% mainly because of the impact of the slower EU and US economies, even when the Latam reduction is less than in other regions of the world.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) names Chile the most socio-economically segregated country regarding education opportunities. The annual report released this week shows that private schools receive the most funding from the government and these schools have the least socioeconomic integration.
Chilean health authorities have reported the existence of several cases of typhoid fever in western metropolitan Santiago and called on the population to adopt strict hygiene measures.
Venezuela's elections board announced the 2012 presidential vote for October 7, moving the contest up from its traditional December time frame, which some critics say gives President Hugo Chavez an edge by shortening the campaign of potential challengers.
A right-wing retired General promising a crackdown on rampant crime leads Guatemala's Sunday presidential election although he fell short of the votes needed to avoid a run-off in November.
United States shares staged a late recovery on Monday to post only their second positive close of the month. Earlier, European and Asian markets fell on fears that Greece may default. In Latin America results were much in line with the US.
The Secretary-General of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), Colombian María Emma Mejía said that the region has shown “more imagination and audacity in the measures applied” than G7 countries, which are debating how to get out of the mess they are currently undergoing.