
Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos informed his Brazilian peer Lula da Silva that Bogotá and Venezuela would resume full diplomatic relations “in coming hours”, according to a spokesperson from the Brazilian presidency.

Cardinal Jaime Ortega, Roman Catholic archbishop of Havana, told The Washington Post that Cuban President Raul Castro wants “an opening” with the United States.

Unasur (Union of South American Nations) secretary general Nestor Kirchner held a meeting Monday with Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos to keep advancing in the dialogue process with neighbouring Venezuela sponsored by the group. Santos and his Venezuelan counterpart are scheduled to meet Tuesday.

With less than five months in office and a public opinion support of 80%, President Lula da Silva considers his most important legacy the relation established between the presidency and the Brazilian people.

Alejandro Sánchez, the mayor of La Lineá, the Spanish town which adjoins Gibraltar, held a press conference Monday evening. He was accompanied by his council members and briefed the media on his controversial plans to charge an entrance fee to tourists visiting The Rock.

Very soon “we will have our submarines cruising” which will be “normal submarines”, with no nuclear capacity at all, pointed out Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, in anticipation of any criticisms “that could suggest such an option”.

Newly nominated United States Ambassador Larry Palmer will not be allowed to take up his post in Caracas after criticizing Venezuela's government and policies, President Hugo Chávez said.

Paraguay’s President Fernando Lugo has a second lymphoma nodule in his chest, doctors assured some days after revealing he had cancer. Sources stated that he is not to abandon his term of office.

To mark the UN Day of Indigenous People, Survival International has released a new report highlighting the devastating impact on tribal people of a massive boom in dam-building for hydropower.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the world to step up efforts to improve living conditions of the planet’s indigenous communities and to protect them, saying they continued to suffer discrimination and poverty despite a United Nations declaration that aims to promote their rights.