
Nicaragua's national assembly voted to scrap presidential term limits, which could allow current head of state Daniel Ortega to run again for election at the end of his current mandate.

President Manuel Ortega said on Saturday that the construction of a massive inter-oceanic canal in Nicaragua that could significantly alter global trade would start at the end of 2014. Ortega gave a Chinese group a concession to manage the future shipping channel for 50 years, with the possibility to renew the contract for another 50.

On 17 July, Nicaragua announced that US-based Noble Energy would invest 30 million dollars in drilling two offshore wells in the Caribbean—launching Nicaragua's first-ever oil exploration.

Presidents Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela said Friday they were willing to grant asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden. The NSA whistleblower has asked for asylum in several countries, including Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The Nicaraguan Congress has approved a proposal to have a canal built linking the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. A Hong Kong-based company has been granted a 50-year concession to build the waterway, which will rival the Panama Canal.

Nicaragua is moving closer to granting a Chinese company a 100-year concession to build and operate a canal linking the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Construction of the waterway would take 10 years and cost 40 billion dollars.

President Juan Manuel Santos announcement over the weekend that Colombia will look for a cooperation understanding with NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) on their invitation, has irked the so called Latinamerican group of ‘anti-imperialist countries’, at a moment when relations between neighbouring Colombia and Venezuela have hit a new low.

Presidents, Foreign ministers and representatives from 22 Latinamerican and Caribbean countries stamped their signatures to a declaration stating their commitment in support of Venezuela and its institutions in the international stage.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said he has agreed with his Nicaraguan counterpart, Daniel Ortega, to establish lines of communication to resolve through diplomatic channels the maritime dispute between the two countries.

Colombia has withdrawn from a treaty that binds it to the UN International Court of Justice in anger at a ruling that shifts some of its resource-rich waters to Nicaragua, President Juan Manuel Santos announced on Wednesday.