Cuba's Fidel Castro dies

Cuba's veteran revolutionary leader and former communist president, Fidel Castro Ruz, died in Havana late on 25 November, at the age of 90. His brother, President Raúl Castro, informed Cubans of the death speaking on state television, and the State Council declared nine days of mourning until 4 December, when Castro's remains would be buried in Santiago de Cuba. Cuba's socialist allies were among the first world leaders to praise one of the 20th century's iconic political figures, much like his former companion-in-arms Ernesto Che Guevara. Hundreds of Cuban exiles in Miami however, came onto the streets to celebrate the end of a man whose revolution forced many to leave their homes and flee, when possible, to the United States. President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela said Castro was heading for "immortality," and inevitably reminded Venezuelans of their own late leader, Hugo Chávez, for the "deep friendship" they had forged and for leading "two revolutions harassed by the empire," meaning the United States. Bolivia's Evo Morales told the Venezuelan broadcaster Telesur that the best homage was to keep the "unity between peoples" and "never forget" Castro's "anti-imperialist struggle." Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto called Castro a "friend of Mexico" and "promoter" of bilateral ties based on "respect and solidarity." As a young man, Castro took refuge in Mexico before returning to take power in 1959, and the two countries maintained good working ties whenever Peña Nieto's centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party governed Mexico. Profiles and obituaries of Castro appeared early in several news outlets on 26 November, including Spain's national broadcaster RTVE, Britain's The Guardian and Le Figaro.

Mexicans accept Presidential visit to Cuba, novelist chides "shameful" summit

A telephone poll taken in Mexico by BCG-Excelsior found that most members of a sample population did not perceive President Enrique Peña Nieto's recent visit to Cuba as an act of support for a dictatorial regime. Cuba hosted the summit of Latin American and Caribbean heads of state and governments in Havana in late January, attended by almost all Latin American leaders. The poll, reported in the daily Excelsior on 3 February, revealed a measure of political realism among Mexicans. It showed that 51 per cent of respondents had a "bad or very bad" opinion of Cuba's ageing revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and 32 per cent "good or very good." Only 10 per cent of respondents thought however that Mexico should curb relations with Cuba over rights violations, while 32 per cent believed it should expand ties. The government of President Peña, who was elected in 2012, has moved to improve ties with Cuba, reversing the relative estrangement that occurred under his conservative predecessors Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón Hinojosa. Mr Peña's centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) enjoyed good relations with Cuba from the 1960s to 2000 when it lost the presidency. Most respondents approved Peña Nieto's recent visit to Cuba for the CELAC summit, and 70 per cent said it did not signify backing the Cuban regime, Excelsior reported. Less satisfied however was the Peruvian novelist and prominent liberal Mario Vargas Llosa, who chided American leaders for going to Cuba, not omitting to describe Fidel Castro as a "prehistoric being." His remarks to the Chilean dialy El Mercurio were reported by most Hispanic media. The novelist said attending the summit was "a disgrace," and "groteseque, as the invitation's terms included defending democracy and they're going to a country with a 54-year dictatorship," Tabasco Hoy reported on 31 January. Attending the summit he said, "shows how little reality democracy has for many Latin American governments."

Colombian army shoots FARC guerrillas, talks scheduled with ELN rebels

Army planes bombed two camps of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in north-eastern Colombia at an unspecified date, in operations that killed three rebels and led to the arrest of two female guerrillas including a FARC "dentist," El Espectador reported on 23 April. One of the detained was identified as the guerrilla dubbed Yulitza or La Tota, dentist to the FARC's Front 10 who was in the district of Tame in the Arauca department to give treatment to members of the Alfonso Castellanos mobile column. Arms, explosives and dentistry equipment were confiscated, the army said. The army shot dead five other FARC rebels in undated operations in the countryside of the Puerto Rico district in the southern Caquetá department, El Espectador reported on 22 April. One of the dead was identified as Jorge Parrilla, presumed deputy-chief and accountant of the Teófilo Forero column. The army stated it also caught four other suspects in the locality of Alto Carmelo, described as members of the FARC's "support networks" presumably in Caquetá. Colombian and FARC representatives reportedly began their eighth round of peace talks in Havana on 23 April, while the government was expected to begin a similar process of talks in mid-May with the ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional), the other communist rebel group in Colombia, El Espectador reported on 22 April. This followed weeks or months of informal contacts and expressions of interest on both parts, and would also take place in Havana. Each side was to have five negotiators, El Espectador reported on 22 April.

FARC to shuffle negotiators in Cuba, move closer to ELN rebels

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), engaged in talks with representatives of the Colombian state to end decades of civil conflict, were reportedly to envisage changing some of their negotiators in Cuba, in part to show that all factions of the FARC supported the peace process, El Colombiano reported on 5 April.  Details of changes were not given but they may include a member of their Secretariat and head of the FARC's Western Block joining the negotiating team. Rotations were envisaged from the start of talks, the daily cited the Senator Roy Barreras Montealegre as saying, but the move was said also to be in response to a letter to negotiators by President Juan Manuel Santos who asked the FARC to clarify whether or not their Southern and Western Blocks were backing talks. The possible new participant, the guerrilla dubbed Pablo Catatumbo is commander of such units as the Sixth Front and the Jacobo Arenas Mobile Column, particularly active in fighting the army the southern departments of Cauca and Valle de Cauca; he joined the FARC in the late 1980s and its Secretariat in 2008, El Colombiano reported. The daily separately reported on 4 April that the FARC and the National Liberation Army (ELN) - the other, smaller communist guerrilla force - declared in a joint communiqué dated 30 March their intention to join forces to "fortify the Revolutionary Popular Block" and "confront with decision the great oligopolies, transnational capital and imperialism." They did not specify if this meant collaborating to bomb energy-sector installations or kidnap contract workers, a practice of both armies, although mining and related activities in eastern Colombia and specifically the department of Arauca were apparently cited as as a "threat against the people." The communiqué stated that the rebels had also "evaluated the post-conflict" situation when some at least in Colombia, hope the guerrillas will enter public life as politicians.

Hugo Chávez returns to Venezuela, taken to hospital

Venezuela's ailing President Hugo Chávez Frías returned to Caracas early on 18 February after weeks of treatment and care in Cuba following surgery for cancer on 11 December; he was taken to a military hospital for further rest and care, the Venezuelan state news agency reported. The return was announced by a comment appearing on the president's personal page on the website Twitter. Chávez thanked Cuba and its two leaders, President Raul Castro and his brother Fidel Castro, for their hospitality but also Venezuelans for "so much love;" he assured them "I am holding onto Christ and keep my trust in my doctors and nurses." The country's acting leader Vice-President Nicolás Maduro Moros, called Chávez an example of a "permanent battle" and urged Venezuelans to pray for him "with the heart," the agency reported. The president's absence has fuelled political tensions between the socialist government and liberal opposition parties, which have criticized the lack of clear information on the president's health and the prolongation of a de facto regime. The leading opposition politician and governor of the northern state of Miranda also wrote on Twitter that he hoped the president's return was permanent and would prompt his government to start working to solve Venezuela's problems, El Nacional reported on 18 February. He wrote that he hoped the return of Chávez would end the "red package" or economic policies opposition forces allege are being dictated from communist Cuba.

Mexico to change ambassadors in Cuba, Canada

Mexico was to recall two ambassadors sent to Cuba and Canada by the previous conservative government and replace them with appointees closer to the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and its foreign policy postures that included better ties with Cuba's communist regime. The Leftist former governor of the state of Michoacán Lázaro Cárdenas Batel was to become ambassador in Cuba, replacing Gabriel Jiménez Remus, while a veteran diplomatist and former deputy-foreign minister Julián Ventura Valero would replace Francisco Barrio as ambassador in Canada, La Jornada reported on 28 January. The daily observed that good ties with Cuba characterised the foreign policy of PRI governments and that these deteriorated in the presidencies of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón of the National Action Party. Cárdenas is a member of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) and son of its founder, the former Mexico City mayor Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano; his grandfather was Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, President in 1934-40. In spite of initial protests against the 2012 general-election results and allegations of fraud against the PRI, the PRD has moved closer to the new government and signed the Pact for Mexico proposed by the PRI, designed to ease legislation. La Jornada cited unnamed foreign ministry sources as describing the appointment as a "gesture of friendship" to Cuba. Media carried pictures of a meeting in Santiago de Chile on 27 January between President Enrique Peña Nieto and Cuba's Raul Castro Ruz, on the sidelines of the summit of Latin American states and the EU. Unspecified sources cited by La Jornada stated that Mr Castro congratulated President Peña at the meeting on the PRI's return to power in 2012 and observed Cuba had had better relations with Mexico when the PRI governed; the PRI and Cuba's current regime coincided from the 1960s to 2000.

Tourism, trade growing between Cuba and Peru

Cuba's ambassador in Peru put at 19,000 the number of Peruvians who visited her country in 2012, 34 per cent more she said than in 2011, Peru's official paper El Peruano reported on 16 January. Juana Martínez said she hoped some 25,000 Peruvians would visit in 2013. Bilateral trade however remained "reduced" she said, worth 16 million USD that year and consisting mostly of trade in pharmaceutical products, unspecified services and rhum. She added that the legal framework for increased exchanges and cooperation now existed within documents signed in Cuba during an undated but "recent" visit by President Ollanta Humala. She blamed the limited bilateral trade on sanctions the United States has imposed on Cuba. Peru's growing economy was increasingly creating a prosperous middle class with potentially the spending and travel habits of Europeans or North Americans. The economy was reportedly growing at a rate of six per cent or more; the investment firm BlackRock recently termed it the second Latin American country in terms of investment security, after Chile, El Peruano reported on 16 January.

Colombian guerrillas say will not renew ceasefire

A spokesman for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) declared on 9 January that the guerrilla army would not renew a 60-day unilateral ceasefire due to end on 20 January, intended to facilitate ongoing peace talks with the government in Havana. The head of the FARC's negotiating team in Havana, the guerrilla dubbed Iván Márquez, said "there will be no extension of the unilateral ceasefire. So far we have not contemplated the possibility. The only possibility would be to sign a bilateral ceasefire," which the Colombian government has so far ruled out, El Espectador reported. He also expressed hope that Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez would soon recover from the cancer for which he was operated last December, so he could "continue to contribute to this peace process as he has done." Chávez was in hospital in Havana. Márquez said that thanks to the president's help "it was possible for this peace table to be held in Havana." Venezuela is thought to have considerable influence with the FARC.

Colombia, rebels end first round of peace talks

Colombian negotiators and members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) concluded their first round of peace talks in Havana on 29 November that focused on rural policies, and were to resume talks on 5 December, El Tiempo reported. The two sides began talks in October meant to end decades of internal conflict. Both sides repeated at press conferences the mechanisms the Conversations Table has envisaged for public participation and contribution to the negotiating process, including a a website designed from 7 December to publish communiqués and register public comments, and a debate to be held in Bogotá on 17-19 December. The two sides also agreed to seek the conclusions of consultations with regional communities organized by parliament in preceding months. Colombia's chief negotiator Humberto de la Calle asked the public to make "relevant and useful" contributions focused on the subjects of negotiation: land use or agrarian policies, political participation by the FARC, drug trafficking by the FARC and their disarmament and compensation of victims. The FARC negotiator known as Iván Marquez observed separately that mutual confidence had increased and the FARC would like to discuss an accord to "regulate" the "war" and minimize harm done to civilians. The daily separately cited President Juan Manuel Santos as saying in Colombia that "we are ready for peace" but there would be no ceasefire until "we sign the agreement of this second phase," presumably meaning the satisfactory conclusion of direct talks as set out in the talks agenda.

Colombian negotiators set to resume talks with rebels

Colombian negotiators left Bogotá for Havana in Cuba on 18 November, and were set to resume on 19 November talks to end decades of fighting with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), although this round of talks was initially planned for 15 November, El Espectador reported. Colombia's chief negotiator Humberto de la Calle Lombana told the press at Bogota's airport that Colombia knew "clearly and without ambiguities" what it wanted from talks and reminded the FARC that the polity and economics of Colombia were not being discussed. "the Government and the guerrillas have separately said what we both agree on: we are not arriving in Havana to negotiate Colombia's model of development nor government policies, likewise we are not asking the FARC to abandon or negotiate their ideas," he said. He reiterated the government's position that there would be no ceasefire nor any concession to the guerrillas during talks, as he said this had given the FARC advantages in previous parleys. De la Calle said the talks were to last months not years and should yield "practical, possible" results, not "disappointments." He boarded a Colombian airforce plane accompanied by other "plenipotentiary" negotiators, the Colombian High Commissioner for Peace Sergio Jaramillo, the former armed forces chief Jorge Enrique Mora, former Peace Commissioner Frank Pearl and the industrialist Luis Carlos Villegas. Former police chief Oscar Naranjo, another plenipotentiary negotiator, was expected in Havana on 20 November. Meanwhile the FARC and the other leftist guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN), continued their violent activities inside Colombia. The FARC were attributed a bomb explosion on 11 November near a police station in Suárez in the southern Cauca department, which  injured 25 people. On 17 they were suspected to have blown up a part of the Transandino pipeline in the southern Nariño department, causing crude oil to pour into the nearby Sucio river, which flows into the larger Putumayo, El Colombiano reported. The ELN were separately the suspected authors of a bomb attack that killed one person and injured two on 17 November, in the district of El Tarra in northern Colombia, El Espectador reported.

Colombia, rebels begin peace talks in Oslo

Negotiators representing Colombia and the communist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) met behind closed doors in Oslo on 17 and 18 October, beginning a process of talks intended to end decades of civil war in Colombia. A communiqué read out by Cuban and Norwegian diplomats declared that the sides had set up the "negotiation table charged with developing the General Agreement for the Termination of the Conflict and Construction of a Stable and Lasting Peace, and in this way the second phase of the process begins," Venezuela's state news agency reported. The sides have apparently signed a document that they would not abandon talks before achieving a "real and sensible" peace agreement, El Espectador reported, which apparently contradicted the government's posture that talks could not go on indefinitely. Selected spokesmen were to meet again in Havana on 5 November to continue preparatory work for the next stage of talks on 15 November, when negotiators would discuss the first main theme agreed on - agrarian or rural development. Talks were to strictly follow the agenda set in previous months, Colombia's chief negotiator Humberto de la Calle Lombana told the press in Oslo on 18 October. He said these were not political or ideological arguments and the sides were not there to "convince" one another of their political preferences. He told a reporter of the Colombian broadcaster RCN that the FARC were entitled to hold and express their views, but peacefully. He told Reuters that talks would seek to eventually "transform" the FARC into a political force instead of an armed group, and "open ways" to end the "mix of politics and arms" in Colombia. De la Calle said at one point that the government would not become a "hostage" of prolonged talks if the agenda did not progress, the broadcaster Caracol reported.

Colombian FARC chief envisages disarmament

The head of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Timochenko or Timoleón Jiménez, has said the FARC had "great expectations" on ending their decades-long conflict with the Colombian state in coming peace talks and understood this could mean "a veritable farewell to arms," EFE and media reported on 19 September, citing Timochenko's comments to a magazine. Rodrigo Londoño Echeverri - Timochenko - said in an interview with the weekly Voz that "it would not make sense to start a process leading to the definitive termination of the conflict without contemplating laying down arms as the final destination." Abandonment of arms, he said, entailed "the abolition of the use of force and inciting any type of violence to achieve political or economic goals. It is a veritable farewell to arms." The FARC's disarmament is one of the issues to be discussed between the FARC and Colombian negotiators in talks scheduled to start in Havana on 8 October. Timochenko said talks would be successful if unspecified "large majorities inclined toward a political solution" were allowed to talk and  "influence" the peace process in Colombia.