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,

El Heraldo of Tegucigalpa reported that at least 44 Cubans were arrested by Honduran authorities in the department of Colón, Honduras on the Caribbean. 

So says Santiago G. Estrella in El Comercio of Quito.  At least 200 young people gathered for two days in Quito to pass judgment on imperialism for its crimes against humanity.  

Buenos Aires Herald.  2013 was supposed to finally be the year. After 31 months of talks, it was supposed to mark the time when the European Union and the Mercosur bloc were going to present their respective offers for a free trade deal all sides claim to want. 

PáginaSIETE of La Paz noted that Bolivia’s vice president Alvaro García Linera said that the outlet to the Pacific Ocean from his country is a matter of  “historical justice.”

La Prensa of Managua noted that President Raúl Castro and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro met in Cuba, the second meeting of the South American leader with a leader in the island in less than three days