Brazil’s central bank kept the key interest rate (the Selic) unchanged, while Chile’s central bank cut the country’s benchmark interest rate. 

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos opened a new session of Congress calling on lawmakers to back government efforts to strike a peace deal; he also signed a decree granting relief to millions of internally displaced persons; former President Álvaro Uribe defended impunity for former paramilitary members, while victims of paramilitary violence were angered by the

Young members of Chile’s largest party seek to update doctrine to acknowledge a “human rights deficit” dating back to the atrocities of the dictatorship. 

Sandinistas were ambushed on the 35th anniversary of the Revolution, while the opposition alleges police and military use of disappearances against their members. 

Jared Genser, a lawyer defending opposition leader Leopoldo López, submitted a brief to Juan Méndez, the UN special rapporteur on torture, about the conditions under which López has been held. 

Costa Rican exports are being high-jacked to camouflage drug shipments. 

Insecurity in Mexico will not dampen Japanese interest, while Japan’s Prime Minister pledged development support at the CARICOM summit. 

Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner used her Twitter account to comment on her visit with Russia’s and China’s presidents at the BRICS-UNASUR summit in Brazil. 

Most Latin American governments have objected to Israel’s offensive in Gaza.  Most have condemned the attack and five of them (Chile, Peru, El Salvador, Brazil and Ecuador) have recalled their ambassadors from Israel. 

At the meeting in Fortaleza and Brasilia the countries that make up the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) along with the President of China, Xi Jinping, spoke of the turning point 40 years ago when China and Brazil reestablished diplomatic relations.