
Uruguay’s incumbent presidential candidate and former Tupamaros guerrilla leader Jose “Pepe” Mujica sent shockwaves both inside the ruling coalition and the opposition as a result of a long controversial Sunday interview with the Buenos Aires daily La Nación.

Brazilian Minister of Finance Guido Mantega said that the global crisis has a “very low cost” for the finances of Latinamerica’s largest economy which last week officially announced the end of recession.
Russia has agreed to lend Venezuela over 2 billion US dollars to buy weapons, President Hugo Chavez has said. The credit will be used to purchase nearly 100 tanks and a series of anti-aircraft rocket systems from Russia.

This weekend’s “demonstrations” commemorating the 36th anniversary of the 9/11/73 military coup in Chile that toppled the Socialist government of President Salvador Allende left three dead, 19 policemen wounded, more than 200 arrested and millions of pesos in property damage.

Argentina begins Monday a round of public hearings before the International Court of The Hague and will be arguing against Uruguay’s alleged unilateral decision to allow the construction of a pulp mill on a jointly managed river and which has been at the heart of a long standing litigation between the neighbouring countries.

Brazil’s Environment Minister Carlos Minc called on the country’s Supreme Court to imitate Argentina and de-criminalize possession of drugs by adults for personal consumption.

Beijing announced it would launch anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into some United States imported vehicles and chicken products from the United States, the Ministry of Commerce said Monday, escalating a trade disputes which was triggered when the US decided to raise tariffs on Chinese-made tires.

Maritime links between Gibraltar and Algeciras, Spain will be resumed next month after an interruption of 40 years, a spokesman for the Spanish shipping firm Transcoma confirmed to the Gibraltar Chronicle over the weekend.

The US has revoked the visa of Honduras' interim president to pressure the Central American country to reinstate Manuel Zelaya, the country's ousted leader, the interim government says.

Ecuador expects all Foreign Affairs and Defence ministers from Unasur countries to be present next Tuesday at the meeting in Quito which is basically targeted to create and stimulate confidence-building measures in the region.