La Razón of La Paz tells that at the fortieth session of the Andean Parliament the body voted to support democracy in Venezuela and declared coca a product of the cultural and ancestral heritage of the peoples of the Andes. 

The Buenos Aires Herald recalled the old quip attributed to Mexican writer Octavio Paz: “Mexicans descended from the Aztecs, Peruvians from the Incans, and Argentines, from the boats.”  Paz sought to illustrate how Argentina is a country largely built by immigrants following the genocide of native populations by the descendants of Spanish colonialists. 

MercoPress of Montevideo reported that Uruguay will renew the contract for the purchase of Venezuela oil and accept the stake increase of that country in a local bio-fuels corporation during the scheduled visit of President Nicolás Maduro to Montevideo next month, as was announced by the Uruguayan Foreign affairs ministry. 

Eugene Malthouse wrote in The Santiago Times that Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru aim to eventually phase out all tariffs, while Costa Rica wants in on the deal.  President Sebastián Piñera met with heads of state from Colombia, Mexico and Peru for the eighth Pacific Alliance summit in the Colombian city of Cartagena on Monday,

Charlotte Karrlsson-Willis wrote in The Santiago Times that official bilateral relations between Chile and Peru were “stronger than ever,” ahead of the ruling over the maritime dispute, but Peruvians held a solidarity event in Chile to ease tensions.  The Hague ruling to determine sovereignty of fertile fishing waters between Chile and Peru was expected to

Buenos Aires Herald noted that the CELAC Summit got started with predictable condemnations.  The President of Cuba, Raúl Castro, warned against the “foreign interference” suffered by Latin America and the Caribbean region, at the opening of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States summit in Havana.  

MercoPress of Montevideo reported that a frustrated President José Mujica has called for a readjustment of the Mercosur legal framework. 

Buenos Aires Herald observed with some degree of snark that the biggest news coming out of Cuba on the 55th anniversary of the Revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power was the exorbitant prices of automobiles.

Brazil’s trade surplus fell to its lowest level in over a decade in 2013 — hurt by lower commodities prices, an increase in fuel imports and declining competitiveness among manufacturers —

La Razón of La Paz reported that a port strike in Iquique, Chile stranded Bolivian truckers,