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

MercoPress of Montevideo reported that fifteen “innovation vouchers” were awarded to Chilean SMEs (small and medium enterprises) which will now begin working with project teams from the Universidad Católica, the Universidad de Desarrollo, and the Universidad de Santiago to improve their companies’ products and services. 

Charlotte Duffield wrote in The Santiago Times that despite efforts by Chinese government officials to tamp down the market for “status-driven wine consumption,” Chilean producers are looking to capitalize on the booming middle class’ appetite for imported wines. 

In El Nuevo Diario of Managua Luis Felipe Palacios reported that “using a well-known phrase: what Lola wants, Lola gets.” 

Carolina Enríquez wrote in El Comercio of Quito that if Ecuador fails to finalize its trade agreement with the European Union during the next year, it will have to pay tariffs in that market. 

So asserts Joshua Goodman in La Nación of Buenos Aires.  The dream of the late President Hugo Chávez was to use Venezuela’s oil wealth to spread the influence of his “revolution” throughout Latin America.  The dream seems to be “fading under the weight of an economic crisis.” 

Buenos Aires Herald reported that Argentina’s automotive industry saw sharp falls in November compared to the same month of the previous year,

In La República of Lima Alejandra Cruz Cuevas reported that Latin America has the lowest level of value-added manufacturing growth in the world.   

Prensa Libre of Guatemala City reported that Panama continued to follow a path of economic prosperity and development in 2013. 

In O Globo of Rio de Janeiro Carlos Alberto Sardenberg contemplated the disappointing trajectory of the Brazilian economy