Many observers have declared President Ollanta Humala a very lame duck, and Peruvians are looking for options.  

A plant in São Paulo produces about 500,000 mosquitoes a week to help annihilate Aedes aegypti, the principal vector of dengue. It is the first factory in the world of its kind. Brazil is the country most affected by the disease. 

Thousands of parrots, monkeys, iguanas, toucans, turtles and other rain forest animals are kept as exotic pets in the Central American country, and experts say that’s not good. 

The Guatemalan government estimates that 200,000 families are threatened with starvation due to the deficit of rainfall in the rainy season.  A state of public calamity was declared for a month, during which the government aims to get the necessary assistance to the victims. 

A trade mission of 23 employers in the pharmaceutical sector in India met with 85 Guatemalan companies to negotiate generic formulas on active ingredients in herbal and traditional medicines. And the Venezuelans announced the awarding of a contract to China.

Brazil, Chile, and Peru reactivated their diplomatic relations with Israel and ordered their ambassadors back to TelAviv. 

An international survey ranked Latin America countries for citizen insecurity, and noted that despite the progress made in other areas, security concerns remain a challenge. 

There are new directions for urban transport in Brazil, and a push for more verticality in Peru.

The lower class grew from 13.3% of the total to 16.7%; employment and inflation were major causes; recovery slowed for the middle class, while the land is held by fewer hands, and unions are divided over whether to strike against the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

Violence has come to the emergency rooms of the Venezuelan hospitals, while problems persist for the distribution of some basic food items, and Venezuelans are unimpressed by new measures by President Maduro to address shortages.