* Honduras in talks with China seeking to alleviate debt
* Cuba’s fuel shortages due to supplier nations not delivering -president
* Brazil, China urge more climate funding from developed countries
* U.S. charges El Chapo sons, Chinese businessmen with fentanyl trafficking
By Reuters
Apr 14, 2023
The latest in Latin American politics today: Biden to host Colombian President Petro next week
WASHINGTON – U.S. President Joe Biden will host a bilateral meeting with Colombian President Gustavo Petro on April 20 in Washington, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
“I am grateful to President Biden for his invitation,” Petro said on Twitter. “It is a key moment to strengthen the relationship and mutual cooperation between both countries, not just in the fight against drug trafficking but in the protection of the Amazon, on climate change and on rural development.”
Honduras in talks with China seeking to alleviate debt
TEGUCIGALPA – Honduras hopes it will reach agreements with China to lighten the nation’s debt burden, Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina said, as the two nations begin diplomatic relations following Honduras’ split with Taiwan.
China expanded its footprint in Latin América last month by establishing diplomatic ties with Honduras as the Central American country ended its decades-long relationship with Taiwan, which China views as its own territory.
Honduras’ foreign minister said last month President Xiomara Castro is expected to travel to China soon. Honduras, where some 73% of people live in poverty, spends more than half its tax income on paying off its $15.6 billion debt load, according to the country’s finance ministry.
Cuba’s fuel shortages due to supplier nations not delivering, says president
Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the island’s ongoing gasoline shortages were caused by countries contracted to supply the fuel not complying with their requirements due to “a complex energy situation”, and not internal inefficiencies.
“We still don’t have a clear idea of how we are going to get out of this situation,” he said, in a first public statement in three weeks about the worsening fuel deficit that has caused some to queue for days just to fill up their tanks.
Venezuela, one of Havana’s political allies, has according to documents from its state oil firm PDVSA and shipping company date, sent some 40,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January, rising to 52,000 bpd in February and 76,000 bpd in March.
Brazil, China urge more climate change funding from developed countries
BRASILIA – Developed countries should speed up agreed climate change mitigation investments and technology development, said a joint statement from Brazil and China on Friday.
“We remain very concerned that funding provided by developed countries continues to fall short of the commitment of $100 billion per year,” said the statement signed by Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Xi Jinping, referring to the 2009 COP15 climate action commitments.
U.S. charges El Chapo sons, Chinese businessmen with fentanyl trafficking
The United States has charged leaders of the México-based Sinaloa Cartel with running a fentanyl trafficking operation fueled by Chinese chemical and pharmaceutical companies, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Friday.
Three sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the onetime leader of the Sinaloa Cartel now imprisoned in the United States, were among those charged, Garland said. Ovidio Guzman López, one of his sons, was arrested in México and is awaiting extradition proceedings, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said.
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Read More: Reuters – LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Biden to host Colombian President Petro next week
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