La Nación of Buenos Aires noted that on a short trip to São Paulo the Argentine economy minister, Axel Kicillof spoke to his counterpart, Guido Mantega, about the decreased purchases of Argentine cars by Brazil. 

El Nuevo Siglo of Bogotá reported that the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against Colombian Fernaín Rodríguez Vásquez and seven partners for collaboration with elements of the Mexican drug cartels, with the help of the FARC. 

La Razón of La Paz tells that at the fortieth session of the Andean Parliament the body voted to support democracy in Venezuela and declared coca a product of the cultural and ancestral heritage of the peoples of the Andes. 

The massive demonstrations against the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela throughout February 2014 did not emerge suddenly out of the blue.  Since the death of President Hugo Chávez in March 2013, after which Maduro (his vice president and hand-picked successor) took office, and was then elected outright in April 2014, political tensions have steadily

The Buenos Aires Herald noted that Mexico captured its No.1 drug kingpin Joaquin Guzmán, known as “El Chapo” (Shorty), who has long run Mexico’s infamous Sinaloa Cartel and over the past decade emerged as one of the world’s most powerful organized crime bosses. 

El Espectador of Bogotá noted the capture of the leader of “Los Urabeños” in the Magdalena River valley and Atlantic coastal region, Luis Antonio Medina Murillo, alias “Franco,” also known by the aliases “Frank,” “Tío,” “Profeta,” “Soldado,” “Nelson,” and “Tom.” 

In PáginaSIETE of La Paz Eduardo Gudynas wrote of the “divorce” between left and liberalism in Latin America.  According Gudynas, “progressivism” was “born from the womb of the left” but has “consolidated its own identity, and would seem to be taking another direction.”

In Página/12 of Buenos Aires Mempo Giardinelli responded to The New York Times columnist Roger Cohen’s piece titled “Cry for me Argentina.” 

Folha de São Paulo editorialized that while President Dilma Rousseff’s popularity had recovered somewhat since the protests of June 2013, the nation still feels a certain malaise, with a vague sense that all is not going well.  

In BNAmericas of Santiago Andrew Rogers reported that US-based networking company Cisco sees strong growth opportunities in Colombia, and is aiming to double its revenues in the country within the next three years, according to the company’s newly appointed general manager for Colombia, Christian Onetto.