Qué Pasa Magazine of Santiago explored the “Paisa Empire” in Chile.  Born as a handful of companies, today it is the largest business group Colombia.  

David Jessop in Dominican Today of Santo Domingo says the Russians are coming, and keep coming, to the Bavaro-Punta Cana resort region of the Dominican Republic. 

Juan Camilo Maldonado noted in El Espectador of Bogotá that so far this year 98 uniformed police have been dismissed, while public confidence in the Bogotá’s police force is at its lowest point in ten years. 

In Colombia Reports of Medellín Charlie de Rivaz reports that, according to the FARC’s chief negotiator, the peace talks between the rebels and the government have yielded only “modest achievements” so far. 

Natalia Gómez Quintero wrote in El Universal of Mexico City that Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, advisor to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, says that attacks on journalists in Mexico can be considered as crimes against humanity and warns that there must be a focus on these attacks. 

La República of Lima reported that five Judicial District prosecutors have received “serious threats,” and need protection from the Ministry of Interior. 

Mercopress of Montevideo reported that Brazil’s currency, the real, declined after Moody’s Investors Service cited rising debt and weak growth in lowering its outlook on the country’s credit rating from positive to stable. 

Benjamin Druttman reported in The Santiago Times that Chile and India plan to cooperate in boosting renewable energy which, it is hoped, will strengthen the relationship between the two countries, and lead to future projects as Chile looks to diversify. 

Maneiro Iñigo Labayen wrote of “a mountain of sand” in El Comercio of Lima. Cerro Blanco, the highest dune in South America, rises to an imposing height of 2080 meters of fine sand above the other dunes that form the coastal desert. 

La Nación of San José, Costa Rica reported that Nicaraguan Vice Minister of Energy and Mines, Lorena Lanza said that Nicaragua hopes the U.S. consortium Noble Energy Limited will find oil in the Caribbean.