In Qué Pasa Magazine of Santiago Jorge Sánchez wrote that Rodrigo Sepúlveda heard the story that inspired his film “Aurora” more than a decade ago.  A woman in southern Chile found a dead baby girl in a landfill and wanted to adopt her so she could bury her. 

El Espectador of Bogotá marveled that while Daniela Liebman is just 11-years-old, the Mexican prodigy is already determined to be one of the best pianists in the world.  Her favorite music is classical, especially Chopin, Franz Liszt, Mozart, and Beethoven, but she also enjoys pop, jazz, and blues “with The Beatles and Queen” thrown in. 

Presidential elections held on February 2nd in El Salvador and Costa Rica will go to second rounds after the favorites failed to get enough votes to win outright.  Economic inequality, corruption and crime dominated the contests, and tilted the scales to the left. 

In early February, as Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro commemorated the 15th anniversary of the coming to power of the late president Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), his political opponents conducted anti-government demonstrations that turned deadly. 

On February 3, 2014 Semana Magazine of Bogotá broke the story that members of the Colombian Army’s intelligence division were spying on government and FARC negotiators as they discuss a peace deal in Havana, Cuba. 

MercoPress of Montevideo reported that the Economy Minister of neighboring Uruguay, Mario Bergara, believes that “it is not very clear who is in charge of” Argentina’s economic policy, nor what is its “logic.”   

Xavier Bonilla, the Ecuadorean humorist and political cartoonist also known as Bonil, has received the dubious honor of being the first journalist to be sanctioned under his country’s new and controversial communications law.  By implementing the new law, the government of President Rafael Correa has fined his newspaper, El Universo of Guayaquil, $93,000 and ordered

So noted El Espectador of Bogotá.  The Peruvian president’s approval rating rose to 39%, 8 points more than in January, due to the decision of the International Court of Justice in The Hague in favor of Peru over Chile regarding a territorial dispute. 

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.