Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez was absent on Sunday from the signing ceremony of the Bank of the South and from the dinner hosted by the presidential Kirchner couple in Buenos Aires to visiting leaders
Incoming Argentina president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner promised that during her term differences with neighboring Uruguay will not deepen but insisted that Uruguay was to blame for the dispute over the construction of a pulp mill on the shores of a jointly managed river.
The first elected woman president of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner, 54, was sworn in on Monday, receiving the sash of office from her husband, the outgoing head of state. Chants of Viva Cristina erupted when Kirchner swapped her position as first lady for that of president.
”We once again call on the occupying country which in international forums plays as advanced and respectful that here (in Argentina) we still have a colonial enclave”, was incoming President Cristina Kirchner's, CK, direct reference to the Falkland Islands in her inaugural speech before Congress on Monday.
A special Bolivian constituent assembly approved this weekend a new draft constitution, despite a boycott by the main opposition party. Bolivians will now have a chance to vote on the changes in a national referendum next year.
Changes in Argentina are an opportunity for closer political links and economic ties with Brazil while the two leading South American countries work in the construction of a Mercosur extending from the Caribbean to Patagonia, said Brazil's Foreign Affairs minister Celso Amorim.
Six South American presidents launched Sunday in Buenos Aires the Bank of the South, the region's answer to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund as a source for development funds.
A former head of the RAF said he hoped air force gunners would get the credit they deserved after unveiling a monument in Honington to commemorate their contribution in the Falklands Islands, reports the East Anglia Daily Times.
Hours before the first elected woman president takes office in Argentina, the preparations for the ceremony are underway. The preparations in Buenos Aires Colón Square, where the outdoors ceremony is due to take place, were finished on Thursday and foreign heads of state are currently arriving in Buenos Aires city to participate in Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's inauguration.
Bolivian President Evo Morales has called for a referendum on whether he and the country's nine regional governors should stay in office. Mr Morales said the vote should provide the final word on his reform program, which several governors oppose.