Chemotherapy (Photo: Kate Wasserman)

According to the report, published in the Lancet Oncology, there are 163 cancer patients for every 100,000 people, a number which is much lower than in the US or European Union. However, the mortality in South America is almost double compared to developed countries. Researchers estimate that by the year 2030 there could 1.7m diagnosed cancer cases and an estimated million people could die because of it.

According to the report, 54% of Latin American population has a very small or no access at all to medical care. “We found out that there is big difference between what is actually going on and what lawmakers expect will happen,” said Paul Goss, oncologist and professor at Harvard University, stressing fears that the region could be overwhelmed by increasing cancer rates.

Goss also pointed out that there are two Latin Americas: “the elite minority with an access to the latest advances in medicine, in this case prevention, treatment and palliative care; and the other majority who only receive attention in the terminal phase of the disease.”

One of the main reasons for the sustained increase in cancer mortality is the late diagnosis of some types that are curable. Felicia Knaul, another doctor and professor at Harvard involved in the study, stated: “If breast cancer is diagnosed early, 70%-90% of women are likely to survive. Throughout Latin America, the disease is diagnosed too late, so that the chances of survival fall down to 25%.”

The specialist, who is also the head of researchers, said funds typically target the expensive treatment of terminally ill patients, with few resources directed towards prevention and control. Among the recommendations, Goss suggested the creation of clinics and the training of medical staff to nurse terminal patients in their homes. In the long term, he argued, this would not only mean a reduction of expenses, as hospitalisation is the most expensive part of treatment, but it would provide a better environment for the patients who would be next to their loved ones.

The report’s main recommendation is to put more money into prevention and control campaigns, while ensuring the poorer segments of society receive access to public healthcare. “There is a tidal wave of a cancer problem occurring on the continent, and we want people to be aware of that and take action to avert what could be a catastrophic situation,” concluded Goss.

Sunset near the heart of Lima’s financial center. Skyline of Canaval & Moreyra in San Isidro, Lima by David Baggins, on Flickr

This year, the World Economic Forum on Latin America will be hosted in the Peruvian capital of Lima. The event is scheduled to run over two days, from 23rd-25th April with the slogan ‘Creating Growth, Strengthening Societies’.

This will be the first time that Peru has hosted this international event, and it is set to take place in a well known hotel in the flourishing district of San Isidro.

According to the Peruvian foreign minister, Rafael Roncagliolo, around 40 dignitaries including governors and heads of state, along with around 500 executives from the regions most important businesses from Europe and Asia-Pacific are expected to attend what is considered to be the most important event in the region.

Also known as the ‘Forum of Davos’, the forum will address the following points: social innovation, competition/innovation, sustainable development, natural resources, and energy and mining.

At the top of the Peruvian agenda is the consolidation of investment promotion policies, productivity in business and tourism as a means of strengthening the country’s economic growth, and, finally, social inclusion in the Peruvian economy. It also seeks to position itself at the centre of attention in matters of politics and economics in Latin America.

More generally, the forum will focus on current affairs, especially as regards the outlook for Latin American economies, and to promote the links between Peruvian companies and their foreign counterparts.

Over the last three years the forum has been held in Puerto Vallarta in Mexico in 2012, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2011, and Cartagena de Indias, Colombia in 2010.

A summit between the Community of States of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAC) and the European Union (EU) was held in Santiago de Chile over the weekend. As the bilateral summit ended yesterday, the 2nd CELAC Summit was inaugurated by Chilean president Sebastián Piñera.

EU-CELAC Family (Photo by European External Action Service - EEAS, on Flickr)

The CELAC-EU Summit, held over two days, finished yesterday with the signing of the ‘Santiago Declaration’. The main issues discussed during the work meetings and expressed in the declaration include the commitment to encourage free trade between the two regions and to establish a stable legal framework to protect investments.

“What we have all expressed here is the commitment to create a new strategic alliance between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean,” said summit host Piñera in yesterday’s closing speech.

The positions regarding trade between the two blocs, however, were not unanimous. Whilst the countries from the Pacific Alliance -Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Chile- and the EU were more favourable to encouraging deregulation and free-trade between Latin America and Europe, the Mercosur countries -headed by Argentina and Brazil- plus Bolivia and Ecuador, put more emphasis in the need for internal trade and protectionist measures to protect the local industry.

German chancellor Angela Merkel stated that “during difficult times, and Europe has been through some tough years, no one can expect that the best way to overcome those difficulties is protectionism.” A different opinion was expressed by Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who said that “there are emerging countries with an emerging industrial development, competing with the EU’s consolidated development, and these asymmetries need to be accounted for, so as not to damage our industry, and especially our people.”

The Santiago Declaration also included the rejection by both CELAC and the EU to the US embargo against Cuba, which “represents an important threat to multilateralism.”

After the the 1st CELAC-EU Summit ended on Sunday, the 33 members of CELAC stayed on in Santiago to take part in the 2nd CELAC Summit. As Chile is the current head of CELAC, it was president Piñera’s job to open the meeting, the first one since the organisation was created in December 2011 in Caracas, Venezuela. The Chilean president started out his speech by paying homage to Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, who is currently recovering from a cancer operation in Havana. “We are all hoping he can win this battle, perhaps the hardest battle of his life,” said Piñera as he pointed that the Venezuelan president “has had a deep impact in the organisation [CELAC].”

Other absent presidents were Dilma Rousseff, who travelled back to Brazil as news of the Santa María tragedy broke; Rafael Correa of Ecuador, who is currently on leave as he focuses on his re-election campaign, and Federico Franco of Paraguay, who was not invited due to the controversy surrounding former president Fernando Lugo’s dismissal last year.

Despite his physical absence, Chávez was a part of the meeting as a letter he wrote to the CELAC representatives was read today by Venezuela’s vice-president Nicolás Maduro. In it the president, who lamented not being able to attend the summit, said that “CELAC is the most important political, economical, cultural, and social union project in our contemporary history.” He also celebrated that Cuba will take the rotating presidency of CELAC next, calling it “an act of justice after more than 50 years of resistance against the criminal imperial embargo.” The letter added that “Latin America and the Caribbean are telling the United States with one voice that all attempts to isolate Cuba have failed and will fail.”

During the summit, the countries’ representatives will discuss issues such as the fight against terrorism, the embargo against Cuba, and the Falklands/Malvinas conflict. It will also pay homage to the former presidents who founded the organisation, which has been dubbed by the media ‘an Organisation of American States (OAS) without the US and Canada’. The conclusions from these talks will be expressed in the Declaration and Action Plan of Santiago 2013.

At the end of the summit, Piñera will hand over the temporary presidency of CELAC to Cuban president Rául Castro.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Cepal) predicted moderate growth of regional GDP followed by a recovery in 2013, the group announced Tuesday.

“The region will end 2012 with a 3.1% expansion of its GDP while the recovery of Argentina and Brazil will allow the region to grow around 3.8% in the next year,” according to a report by Cepal presented Tuesday at its headquarters in Santiago.

Cepal estimated last October that Latin America would grow 3.2% this year and it finished slightly lower, but still higher than the expected global growth of 2.2%. “This shows that the global economic crisis had a negative impact globally but not dramatically in this region,” Cepal officials said.

According to the institution chaired by Alicia Barcena, the 2012 global economy was affected by the recession in Europe resulting from financial imbalanes, fiscal and competitive, along with the slowdown to modest grown in China and the US.

Panama will remain the fastest growing economy in the region in 2012 (estimated 10.5%), followed by Peru (6.2%), Chile (5.5%) and Venezuela (5.3%) indicated Cepal. Paraguay remains at the bottom with a contraction of 1.8%, followed by Brazil where growth will reach 1.6%. Growth in Argentina for the year is estimated at 2.2%.

The estimated expansion of 3.8% in 2013, less than the 4% which Cepal estimated last October, will depend on the evolution of the world economy, particularly the economic difficulties to overcome in Europe, China and the US.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may seek political asylum in Latin America should he and his family be forced to flee Damascus, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. The head of state has come under intense international pressure to step down from power in the wake of the unrest that devolved into civil war and has so far claimed the lives of between 40,000 and 53,000 people according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In a regional tour conducted last week, Syrian Vice-Minister of the Exterior Faisal al-Miqdad delivered requests on behalf of al-Assad to Venezuelan, Cuban, and Ecuadorian authorities. The letters allegedly enquire into the possibility of asylum for al-Assad, his family, and a tightknit circle of advisors and collaborators.

Venezuelan authorities confirmed that President Hugo Chávez had received a letter from al-Assad before travelling to Cuba for continued cancer treatment. It is unknown, however, what the Venezuelan head of state’s response was.

Presidents Rafael Correa of Ecuador and Raúl Castro of Cuba have also failed to make public any response to the request.

General Secretary of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon, speaking today from Qatar, expressed his disapproval of the possibility of asylum for al-Assad, stating that it would not be a sufficient way of ending the conflict in Syria.

“Anyone who commits a grave violation of human rights should answer for it and be brought to justice. That is a fundamental principle”, he affirmed.

Violence in Syria has escalated in the last few days, causing the UN to withdraw its “non-essential” personnel and severely limit the movements of remaining personnel. Intermediary groups have so far been unable to put a stop to the conflict which began in March 2011 as an extension of the Arab Spring movement and has since exploded into outright civil war.

Al-Assad, of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, has been president of Syria since his father passed away in office, winning the 2000 and 2007 elections unopposed. He has so far defied international calls to relinquish power, though these latest requests for asylum could signify a growing acceptance of the need to step down.

Seventy seven percent of banks in Latin American plan to increase the volume of credits for small and medium businesses, according to an annual survey conducted by the Latin American Banking Federation.

The survey was conducted in 20 Latin American counties and included 106 banks. The banks in support of lending to small and medium businesses said that they want to devote their credit departments to entrepreneurship. They plan to make loans more affordable and extend the repayment period which is currently 36 days.

While Latin American banks’ interest in small and medium business is increasing, the Latin American Banking Federation said the region still needs to improve the formality of the credit system. More than half of the banks surveyed believe the problem in formality is a major obstacle.

In 2011, 83% of banks surveyed expected a more prosperous future for small and medium business. That percentage dropped to 62% this year. The Latin American Banking Federation blames the crisis in Europe for the worsening outlook.

The Cuban government will reduce the price of building materials by 50% starting next Monday in order to help reconstruct partially or completely destroyed houses due to Hurricane Sandy. The hurricane hit Cuba on 25 October killing 11 people.

The government will deliver subsidies and credits to families with destroyed homes. If people still cannot afford supplies, they will have the right to ask for partial or total payment by the state.

According to the government, they will help “reconstruct the damage in the affected municipalities of Holguin, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo which have suffered the most”.

This government help comes after international aid attempts in the region. Planes from Panama have brought humanitarian aid to Santiago de Cuba from the International Red Cross. The relief will be conducted in four trips bringing cooking, hygiene and building supplies for disaster recovery. The Japanese Cooperation Agency has sent more than 15 tons of mattresses and blankets.

As Barack Obama prepares for his second term as president of the United States, he is faced with a series of issues pertaining to Latin America, a major regional trading partner and hemispheric neighbour.

With a few exceptions, Latin America was conspicuously absent from much of the campaign dialogue. As Fernanda Kobelinsky wrote for Infobae, in “the current state of affairs, with a Chinese commercial threat, a Europe in crisis, and the Arab World in convulsions, our region doesn’t present any great challenges.”

That said, Latin Americans still can’t help but speculate as to what four more years of an Obama White House will mean for the region. From drug violence in nearby Mexico, to the continued embargo against Cuba, the region faces problems both old and new. What remains to be seen is how – and if – Obama will handle these pressing issues.

Venezuela

Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, who himself won re-election for another six-year term last month, has expressed his support for the president, stating in September: “If I was from the US, I’d vote for Obama. [He is] a good guy.”

Hillary Clinton and Hugo Chávez meet in 2009 (Wikimedia)

This amicable attitude is only Chávez’s most recent disposition towards the former Illinois senator, in a relationship that has ranged from tentative admiration to outright contempt since Obama’s inauguration in 2009.The two heads of state suffered strained relations in 2009 when the US accused the Venezuelan government of providing support to Colombian FARC rebels.

The relationship has since warmed, however, strengthened no doubt by the two countries’ strong business ties. Despite the rhetoric and occasional vitriol hurled back and forth across the Caribbean, Venezuela remains one of the United States’ top five oil suppliers, while the US is the oil-rich nation’s biggest market, importing close to a million barrels per day as of August 2012.

Chávez implied that last night’s elections signified a shift in the mind-set of the North American public away from the conservative policies of Republican politicians, and expressed hope that the two countries would normalise relations

His sentiments echo those of many Venezuelans who view Obama as, if not cut from the same cloth as Chávez, then at least a far cry from right-wing US politicians.

“For all the deaths he’s caused, he’s not touched Latin America,” Caracas resident Miguel Bigello told CNN. “The other guy [Mitt Romney] is too radical. He will fight here for the oil.”

In a campaign season that was otherwise largely devoid of any mention of Latin America, Venezuela was cited as a “threat to national security” by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who compared Chávez to Cuban ex-president Fidel Castro and suggested that he would cease dialogue with the leftist government.

It remains to be seen if this thaw in relations will continue over the next four years, or if the US and Venezuela will once again take up their roles as ideological antagonists. A major factor in the outcome will be the role of China, which may displace the US as Venezuela’s major purchaser of oil.

Cuba

Both international analysts and Cubans remain undecided as to how or whether Barack Obama’s re-election will affect relations between the quarrelsome neighbouring countries. The socialist island nation remains under a 52-year-old embargo, the world’s longest-running trade sanction.

During his first term, President Obama eased travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans (who, under the previous Bush administration, could only visit Cuba once every three years), lifted travel restrictions for educational purposes, and made it easier for tour groups to visit the island as “people-to-people” ambassadors. The Cuban government, for its part, lifted restrictions on its citizens wishing to travel abroad, in a law that will go into effect in January 2013.

Critics argue, however, that this progress is long-overdue and accuse Obama of not properly addressing pressing issues such as the embargo, Cuba’s controversial status as a “state sponsor of terrorism”, as well as the closing of the North American facilities at Guantanamo Bay.

Analysts have pointed out that the vote of the influential Cuban-American community of Florida, a critical swing-state in US elections, may have caused Obama to tread lightly when addressing controversial issues regarding Cuban relations. Whether he takes the same approach now that he doesn’t have another re-election to consider is a question posed on both sides of the Florida Straits.

Mexico and Brazil

On the economic front Obama will have to continue dealing with the two Latin American powerhouses Mexico and Brazil. They both face very different problems and hold very different positions towards the United States.

Obama Greets Lula and Rousseff in the White House (Wikimedia)

In a poll carried out by BBC Brazil, a large majority of Brazilians said they would prefer Obama to Romney. However despite this preference there was no real enthusiasm in Brazil over the US elections as many feel the North American superpower continues to ignore its Southern neighbours. Brazil has had a rocky relationship with the United States in the last decade. In 2002 left-leaning Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva was elected on a platform of radical social and economical change that worried many in the US and international financial institutions.

Although falling well short of the IMF and United States’ worst predictions, during his two terms in power Lula implemented a number of nationalisation policies and increased Brazilian protectionism. So has his successor and former chief of staff, President Dilma Rousseff. This has led to tension with the US who in turn has imposed protectionist trade restrictions against the South American country.

Republican governments have a tradition of non-intervention in economic matters and a Romney presidency might have led to a lifting of these restrictions, but Obama’s next four years do not promise much difference. Despite this President Rousseff said a few months ago that Brazil “very much welcomes the major improvements that have been found in the US economy in the recent past, and I am quite certain that that will very much be the emphasis in the next few months and years ahead under the capable leadership of President Obama,” counting on his re-election.

Brazil is likely to continue relying more heavily on regional cooperation within Mercosur, the South American Common Market that includes Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Venezuela. Brazil will also look to continue developing its ties with the other BRIC countries, Russia, India, and especially China.

The case of Mexico differs radically from that of Brazil in that it shares a 3,000km long border with its northern neighbour. The result of this geographical proximity is a strong dependence on many issues but particularly in economic and security terms. The economic cooperation between Mexico and the US has continued increasing since they signed a free trade agreement (NAFTA) in 1994. The US is by far Mexico’s largest trading partner with roughly half of Mexico’s imports coming from north of the Rio Grande.

Felipe Calderón and Barack Obama (Wikimedia)

This cooperation is not likely to change with Obama’s re-election or president-elect Enrique Peña Nieto’s inauguration in December, as both have acknowledged the importance of one another in their respective economies. However one of the largest security threats to the US, the increasing power of Mexico’s drug cartels, was not mentioned once during the presidential debate on foreign policy between the two candidates.

The so-called War on Drugs started by President Felipe Calderón in 2006 has resulted a complete failure. Over 65,000 lives have been lost and US$1 trillion spent (US$15.5bn by Obama for 2011 alone) on the War on Drugs and yet cocaine is cheaper and more easily available in the United States than ever. As many as 1,000 arms per day flow south from the US into Mexico and arms sales regulation still remains a taboo issue for United States’ presidential candidates.

“We have to look at our own corruption, the terrible impunity and lack of justice. We have to fix these problems ourselves, not wait for Obama or Romney. But that Mexico didn’t even warrant one line in the last debate, when we have thousands dead, and even two CIA agents nearly killed in an ambush recently – that tells you that the US – Mexico relationship is not going to change,” Mexican journalist Anabel Hernandez, told Susana Seijas reporting for CNN.

It seems that four more years of Obama’s government is unlikely to provide any breakthrough on the issue. The only hope from the US on the drug issue will probably come at state level if others choose to follow similar steps as Washington and Colorado that recently legalised the recreational use of marihuana.

The third Summit of South American-Arab Countries (ASPA) commenced today in Lima, Peru. Ministers from twelve Latin American countries and 12 countries from North Africa and Middle East countries will meet for two days to discuss ways to cooperate together.

Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff called on Latin American and Arab countries to work together against poverty and inequality.

“The future of our regions depends on our ability to develop and cooperate, strongly investing in education, science, technology and expansion and innovation to guarantee the security of food and energy, important issues in the 21^st century,” President Rouseff said.

The ASPA website explains the similarities between the regions saying, “The paths of history are converging as both regions share the same interest in economic and social progress, environmental preservation and intercultural dialogue as a means to create sustainable development and build world peace for all”.

President Rouseff spoke about the situation in Syria. “Brazil is in favor of a negotiated settlement to resolve the conflict,” she said. She spoke about Iraq and Libya stating that Brazil wants to contribute to the reconstruction of those countries, but she knows it is up to those countries themselves.

In addition to the summit, there is the third ASPA Business Meeting innagurated by Peruvian President Ollanta Humala and Secretary General of the Arab League, Nabil el-Arabi.

Average life expectancy in Latin America rose from 29 years in 1900 to 74 years in 2010 according to a study released today by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The study was presented this morning at the 28^th Pan American Sanitary Conference. While Latin America has made great achievement in health care, the report remarks that there are still major inequalities.

Dr. Mirta Roses, PAHO director, said that Latin America as a whole is more healthy today than it was in 1900, but she also addressed the problems that the region faces moving forward.

“After reviewing the most recent developments in population health and its determinants in the Americas, we have to get to work urgently and energetically to make this region a more equitable and sustainable home for all its current and future inhabitants,” Roses said.

Today, 98% of children live past their first birthday while only 75% of children did so in 1900. That being said, infant mortality varies greatly by country. For example, in Cuba, there are 4.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births, while in Bolivia there are 50.

While problems still remain, the report noted that Latin America has made great progress on the global scale of health.