LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Paraguay VP Velazquez to quit after U.S. accuses him of corruption

The appointments come days after the inauguration of Colombia's first leftist president, Gustavo Petro, who has expressed his intention to normalize diplomatic relations with Venezuela. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro appointed Felix Plasencia, a former foreign minister, as ambassador to Bogota, calling him "a man of great diplomatic experience".


Reuters | Updated: 12-08-2022 21:14 IST | Created: 12-08-2022 21:14 IST
LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Paraguay VP Velazquez to quit after U.S. accuses him of corruption

The latest in Latin American politics today:

Paraguay VP Velazquez to quit after U.S. accuses him of corruption WASHINGTON - Paraguayan Vice President Hugo Velazquez on Friday said he would resign and withdraw his candidacy for the presidency, after being blacklisted by the United States for alleged "significant" acts of corruption.

Velazquez denied the accusation but said that, to "protect" his party, he would submit his resignation next week. "I speak with the calm that my behavior gives me, because I did not do what they are accusing me of," he told local radio station Monumental.

Colombia advances towards restarting peace talks with ELN HAVANA/BOGOTA - Colombia hopes to restart peace talks with leftist guerrilla group the National Liberation Army (ELN) in Cuba, the country's Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva said in the Cuban capital, Havana, late on Thursday.

The trip came just days after the inauguration of Colombia's new President Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla group, who promised to establish "total peace" in Colombia. Representatives of the ELN, which was founded in 1964 by radical Catholic priests, have remained in Cuba since previous talks, begun under the government of Juan Manuel Santos, were called off in 2019.

Costa Rica's central bank received authorization for $1.1 billion credit with Latin American Reserve Fund SAN JOSE - Costa Rica's central bank says it received authorization for a $1.1 billion credit with the Latin American Reserve Fund.

The application for the loan was announced on June 3 and is set to improve the financial shielding of the country, the bank said in a statement. Venezuela, Colombia seek to repair ties with appointments of new ambassadors

CARACAS/BOGOTA - Venezuela and Colombia have appointed ambassadors to each other's capitals, moving to rebuild relations between the two countries that have been broken for more than three years. The appointments come days after the inauguration of Colombia's first leftist president, Gustavo Petro, who has expressed his intention to normalize diplomatic relations with Venezuela.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro appointed Felix Plasencia, a former foreign minister, as ambassador to Bogota, calling him "a man of great diplomatic experience". Petro named Armando Benedetti, a former senator, as Colombia's ambassador to Caracas. (Compiled by Steven Grattan; Editing by David Holmes)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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