Brazil, Turkey and Iran May Have Reached Agreement on Nuclear Program

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Today in Latin America

Top Story — Turkish Minister of Foreign Relations Ahmet Davutoglu said on Sunday that Turkey, Brazil and Iran had reached an agreement regarding a nuclear fuel swap between Iran and the West. The details of the agreement were not made public at the time of writing.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited Iran this weekend to improve commercal ties and to address Iran’s controversial nuclear program. Brazil is a nonpermanent member of the U.N. Security Council and Lula has publicly opposed enacting sanctions against Iran.

Lula said on Friday he was “99 percent” sure he could hammer out a deal with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this weekend.

Brazil has become a central player in the international conflict between Iran and a group of countries led by the United States that is pushing for the U.N. Security Council to hit Iran with sanctions for alleged violations of nuclear nonproliferation agreements.

Though the U.S. and Brazil have improved bilateral relations recently, signing a military cooperation agreement in in March, U.S. officials have viewed Brazil’s opposition to sanctions against Iran wearily.

“We will not get any serious response out of the Iranians until after the Security Council acts,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday.

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• New York state is reviewing its deportation policies for immigrants facing minor criminal charges. Read more at the latest installment of Alison Bowen’s blog, Beyond Borders.

Headlines from the Western Hemisphere

North America

• A former Mexican presidential candidate, Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, was kidnapped Friday, prompting President Felipe Calderon to order a massive manhunt to find him.
• Mexico’s World Cup soccer team met President Felipe Calderon Saturday and went on to beat Chile during an international friendly on Sunday.
• Gunmen killed eight people and left 20 wounded after opening fire on a bar in the northern Mexican city of Torreon.

Caribbean

• Mariela Castro, Cuban head of state Raúl Castro’s daughter, led a march of hundreds of gay and lesbian activists against homophobia in Cuba on Saturday.
• The Inter-American Development Bank is seeking $2 billion to help develop Haiti’s schools.
• A Haitian man working for the Pan-American Development Foundation was found dead on Saturday, after having been abducted.
• A moderate earthquake struck Puerto Rico Sunday, damaging some houses in northern and western parts of the territory. No injuries were reported.

Central America

• Relatives of the Salvadoran poet Roque Dalton filed charges Friday against two former FMLN commanders for their suspected involvement in Dalton’s 1975 murder
• Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla announced that she will participate in the upcoming summit between the EU and Latin American nations.
• Guatemalan bus drivers are being targeted by drug gangs.  Since 2006, 512 bus drivers have been killed.
• A man in Panama City was arrested Saturday for allegedly throwing boiling water on his adult son.

Andes

• The Colombian military has allegedly captured 11 FARC guerillas in a rural area on the country’s Pacific coast.
• Colombia’s leading presidential candidate, Antanas Mockus, promised if elected there would be higher taxes and a clean government during a recent campaign speech.
• Authorities in Venezuela raided a money-changing businesses and arrested one man as part of President Hugo Chavez’s clampdown on what he calls capitalist speculators.
• A shootout between alleged drug smugglers in Bolivia’s eastern city of Santa Cruz left at least six people dead, including three Serbians.
• The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency in three regions over the weekend due to fears of a Shining Path attack on the anniversary of the Maoist group’s first act of defiance.

Southern Cone

• A Pakistani man detained last Monday by Chilean authorities was released Saturday night after being charged for illegal possession of explosives.
• Brazilian president Lula da Silva met Sunday with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.
• Activists in the Argentine city of Gualeguaychú met Sunday to discuss how to proceed in a dispute with neighboring Uruguay over a pulp mill built on the river between the two countries.
• Paraguay beat North Korea 1-0 in a World Cup warm-up Saturday.

Image: World Economic Forum @ Flickr.

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