News stories by Humberto Márquez, page 9

A declaration that puts an accent on the positions of the developing South and expresses a renewed commitment to cooperation in the fight against poverty and for development was signed by the leaders who met over the weekend in the second South America-Africa summit, on the Venezuelan island of Margarita.

South American and African leaders are meeting over the weekend on the Caribbean island of Margarita in their second summit in three years, to forge stronger cooperation between the two regions and discuss their positions with regard to a number of pressing international concerns.

Heads of state and other officials from 54 African and 12 South American nations will meet for the Second Africa-South America Summit this Saturday and Sunday on Isla Margarita, Venezuela, to boost cooperation in a score of areas with potential for greater bi-regional exchange.

There are 52 million hungry people in Latin America and the Caribbean, six million more than in 2008 - an aspect of the global economic crisis that must be a top priority focus of national policies and development aid, according to a meeting of experts from 27 countries held in the Venezuelan capital.

While Spanish energy giant Repsol and Italy's Eni reported finding huge deep sea reserves of natural gas in the Gulf of Venezuela, a consortium of Russian companies agreed to pay the Venezuelan government one billion dollars to secure access to the oil-rich Orinoco Belt.

Seizures of illegal drugs in transit through Venezuela are on the rise, and the country maintains 'working cooperation' with the United States in the fight against trafficking. But for all its pains, it has been decertified by the U.S., which refuses to sell it equipment for military and police forces, complains Néstor Reverol, the head of the National Anti-Drug Office (ONA).

Juana Azurduy or Manuela Sáenz, Bartolina Sisa or Gertrudis Bocanegra, Luisa Cáceres or Policarpa Salavarrieta - these heroines attest to the participation of women in the struggle for Latin America’s independence from Spain, a revolutionary movement that began two centuries ago this year.

The Venezuelan economy, which has grown steadily for more than five years, contracted by 2.4 percent in the second quarter of this year, heightening fears of stagflation, an unwelcome combination of recession and high inflation.

Ten thousands cars, 80,000 tons of beef, 100,000 tons of corn, 18,000 tons of milk, 9,000 tons of beans, 18 million eggs, two million pairs of shoes: Argentina has agreed to 1.1 billion dollars worth of sales to Venezuela, which has decided to stop importing goods from Colombia and get its supplies from other sources.

The latest row between Colombia and Venezuela continues to escalate, prompting Brazil to decide to intervene, in order to head off further incidents or statements that could lead to a rupture of ties between its two neighbours.