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Development: The aspirant presidential candidate for the Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro (PMDB), Anthony Garotinho, started a hunger strike on 30 April against what he called “a campaign to smear [his] reputation".

Significance: Garotinho was referring to the recent allegations that he received illegal donations to finance his campaign from NGOs that provide services to the state of Rio de Janeiro, where his wife, Rosinha, is the governor. Both Garotinho and Rosinha deny any wrongdoing. The governor ordered investigations to be carried out to determine any irregularity. So far, however, they have failed to explain how these NGOs won governmental contracts without prior tendering. 

Crucially, Garotinho put into question the Brazilian electoral system, calling for “international authorities to oversee the electoral process and guarantee the equal treatment of all candidates". According to him, the PMDB's leaders, helped by President Lula da Silva and the rightwing press, want to undermine his candidacy. The representative of the Brazilian Attorneys' Order in Rio de Janeiro, Otávio Gomes, considered Garotinho's request “ridiculous", saying that “although Brazil is going through a political and moral crisis, there is no justification for international supervision" of the October general elections. 

Garotinho won the informal consultation for the PMDB's presidential candidacy in March, but his nomination has been delayed because the party's traditional leaders simply do not like - nor trust - him. The PMDB's president, Michel Temer, said Garotinho's attitude “surprised" the party. Other PMDB caciques called for the cancellation of Garotinho's candidacy altogether. Behind the scenes, negotiations have already started for a new national consultation to be held on 13 May, where the party's different factions will discuss a prospective alliance with either Lula or the opposition candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, from the Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB).

Development: On 5 June almost 1m students took part in a national strike to demand reforms to the country's education system.

Significance: "The Revolution of the Penguins", as the student protest has been dubbed, due to the participants' school dress, continues despite the government's substantial concessions. The protests have been exacerbated by heavy-handed police tactics and the failure of the administration of President Michelle Bachelet to address the students' initial demands. The attitude of the education minister, Martí­n Zilic, appears to have played a part in inflaming the students and Bachelet's public statements have merely condemned the police and sought to appease the demonstrators.

Around 600,000 high school students and 300,000 from university, as well as teachers, parents and trade unionists took part in the strike. Although the organisers had asked for the strike to consist of a day of reflection and debate in schools, many groups of students, as well as hard-left political groups, took to the streets, some holding peaceful marches, others burning tires and looting shops, mainly in the capital, Santiago. Over 260 people were arrested; the two thirds of whom were adults, the rest students.

The strike began three weeks' ago, when students demanded free transport and the waiver of the fee for the university entrance exam (PSU). The failure of Zilic to attend to their demands, along with the mass arrests of hundreds of students and the liberal use of tear gas and batons by the police, increased the size of the protests and the number of demands. The students now want an overhaul of the Ley Orgánica Constitutional de Educación (Loce), one of the final laws passed by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. The law granted municipalities increased control of schools, with the result that schools in good neighbourhoods receive better funding than those in poor areas.

The poor quality of the state-sector secondary schools exemplifies the income disparities that make Chile the second most unequal society in South America (the first is Argentina). This is best illustrated by the results of the PSU. Last year, 70% of those with the highest marks came from private schools, which are attended by only 10% of the students; 20% came from mixed public-private schools; and only 10% from the state schools where almost 90% of the students study. "The students in the well-off neighbourhoods are being taught to give orders, and we're being taught to obey," one student leader said last week.

Bachelet had already offered the students some concessions on 1 June. Speaking on national TV and radio the president said the state would fund the PSU and transport costs for the poorest 80% of Chile's students. Bachelet also committed herself to increasing the number of free school meals, scholarships, family subsidies and to repair dilapidated facilities in the public school system. The president also agreed to establish a committee to study comprehensive reform of the Loce. Finance minister Andrés Velasco said the plan would cost US$137m annually, with the funding coming initially from existing government revenues and thereafter from windfall copper profits. Part of the students' anger comes from the government's parsimony in an era of record high copper prices, Chile's biggest export.

On 5 June Bachelet appeared exasperated by the continuing strikes, but refused to condemn them. "It is unfortunate that we are facing a national strike today, because to me it seems unnecessary. The students have made their demands felt, and I recognised them as legitimate and fair," she said. The education ministry reported that student leaders could end their strike today (6 June), but opposition deputies are calling on Bachelet to postpone her planned trip to Washington, and then Haiti, due to start on 7 June.

BRAZIL: The national official inflation index, the Ipca, registered a deflation of 0.21% in June. The Ipca closed at 1.54% in the first half of the year, well bellow the 3.16% registered in the same period last year.

HONDURAS: Inflation in the first half of 2006 was 2.8%, the central bank reported.

MEXICO: Inflation in May was 0.09%, up from a deflation of 0.1% in May. the 12 month rate is 3.18%.

Development: On 13 August the Cuban newspaper Juventud Rebelde published four photos of Fidel Castro, one of which purported to show him holding up the 12 August 2006 copy of the Cuban newspaper Granma.

Significance: Leaving aside questions over the authenticity of the photographs, the publication of the images and Fidel's accompanying comments, which were uncharacteristically personal and downbeat, raise a number of points. First, the necessity for the transition government of maintaining the impression Fidel is alive. Secondly, the necessity of preparing Cubans for the post-Fidel era. Significantly, also on 13 August, Raúl Castro made his first public appearance when he welcomed Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to Havana. Neither man spoke to the media.

Most mainstream media have taken the photos published at face value, but there are some questions worth asking. Castro poses for the photos wearing an Adidas tracksuit bearing Cuban colours, which he first wore four years ago. The photographs show him sitting down and staring straight at the camera, fist propping up his chin; talking on the telephone, and holding up a copy of Granma from 12 August. However, the former leader looks surprisingly healthy, without any of the age spots that had begun to mark his face in recent years, and his beard appears fuller and darker in hue than it did in his latest public appearances. Curiously, Castro appears to be holding a proof copy of the newspaper in the photo; the front page is black and white, whereas the actual edition was in colour. Even if the photos are genuine, it is worth considering why Castro did not choose to record a short video.

The message accompanying the photos read as follows: "Dear compatriots and friends of Cuba and the rest of the world: Today 13 [August] I have arrived at 80 years of age. To say that the objective stability has considerably improved is not making up a lie. To affirm that the recovery period will take a short time and that there is no risk would be absolutely incorrect. I ask you all to be optimistic, and at the same time to be ready to face any adverse news. To the people of Cuba, infinite thanks for your loving support. The country is going forward and will continue to progress perfectly well. To my battle companions, eternal glory for resisting and defeating the empire, demonstrating that a better world is possible. Today, 13 August, I feel very happy. To all who wish my health better, I promise I will fight for it."

Juventud Rebelde also published a handwritten note apparently written by Castro to the "Cuban five", five prisoners in Miami who recently had their appeal against charges of espionage turned down. "Rene, Antonio, Gerardo, Fernando, Ramón: we will triumph over the monstrous injustice!" The note was signed "Fidel. August 13 2006 12.39am."

The images and the text present the image of Fidel the man, rather than Fidel the leader. There is little optimism in the report, which is personal and almost valedictory in tone. Meanwhile, on the same day, Raúl appeared in public for the first time since he was handed power "provisionally" by Fidel on 31 July. Raúl, the former defence minister, greeted Chávez with a warm embrace on his arrival in Havana. Raúl was accompanied at the airport by Carlos Lage, the vice-president, and one of the six men to whom Fidel devolved powers on 31 July.

Prior to Raúl's appearance, Cuba's minister of sugar, General Ulises Rosales del Toro, said publicly, "Today Raúl is in charge of the country." Speaking at one of the country's main sugar plants, Artesmia, on the outskirts of Havana, where 10,000 workers had "volunteered" their services on 13 August to celebrate Fidel's 80th birthday, Rosales del Toro said, "after Fidel, Raúl is the man who has all the conditions to direct the destiny of this country by Fidel's side and when he [Fidel] is not here, at the front of the party." The publicity given to Rosales del Toro's statement indicates again the powerful grip the military has on the country, not just politically, but economically. Rosales del Toro, along with a number of the military top brass, has spent time studying at European business schools in order to better direct Cuba's tentative experiments with a market economy. Cuba's sugar industry, however, is in a parlous state.

Development: The summit of the Non-Aligned Movement ended on 16 September with plenty of anti-US rhetoric but without an appearance from Fidel Castro.

Significance: If Fidel Castro was going to attend the summit, it would have been during the two-day meeting from 15-16 September where over 50 heads of state gathered to agree on a final statement. Instead, he stayed away from the spotlight and in private received chosen dignitaries at his bedside.

These included President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and President Evo Morales of Bolivia who are both regular visitors, as well as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a special envoy from Argentina, Miguel Bonasso. Short video clips of some of the meetings, in which Castro is dressed in a dressing gown and looks frail, were broadcast on Cuban television.

Raúl Castro provided strong leadership in his brother's absence. Previously notable only for the low profile he has kept since becoming the interim leader, Raúl's first steps onto the international stage were fairly confident. In his role as host of the summit, he met a large number of heads of state and gave stridently anti-US speeches to open and close the meeting. The foreign minister, Felipe Pérez Roque, took advantage of this change in Raúl's behaviour to underline the similarities between Fidel and Raúl, and, by extension, the continuity in the Cuban regime.

The summit provided an opportunity for leaders to assess the role of the Non-Aligned Movement and plan for its future. It is an organisation which now comprises 118 countries, many of which are reluctant to pursue the ideas put forward by some of its more extreme elements.

Chávez identified a "nucleus" of the movement formed by the so-called "axis of evil" countries (Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Belarus, Zimbabwe and Bolivia) which he thinks should drive the progress of the movement by setting up a bank for developing countries, a joint television station and Petrosur, a consortium to manage energy resources.

Development: José Rizo, the presidential candidate from the Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (PLC), met a former US colonel, Oliver North, on 23 October.

Significance: North was a prominent figure in the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s in which the US secretly supplied weapons to guerrillas fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Rizo and North claimed that there were no political implications to their well-publicised meeting “of old friends". The elections, however, are less than two weeks away and Rizo, who appears to be faltering in the opinion polls, is trying to dispel the hostility of the US ambassador, Paul Trivelli, to his campaign. Last week Trivelli said that a vote for Rizo was the same as a vote for the former Sandinista president, Daniel Ortega, who heads the opinion polls. 

Also on 23 October, Rizo said that Trivelli's allegation overstepped the mark and that “foreign interference" in the election campaign should stop. The Nicaraguan foreign minister, Norman Caldera, said that Trivelli had done nothing wrong.

Rizo, who appears to be lagging behind Trivelli's preferred (rightwing) candidate, Eduardo Montealegre, from a dissident faction of the PLC, has flown the Stars and Stripes at his election rallies to suggest that he is the US's favoured candidate. Montealegre has called on Rizo to step aside so the rightwing vote is not split. The latest opinion polls show that there is still a chance that Ortega may win in the first round.

Development: Twelve of the 15 people charged with involvement in the murder of Cecilia Cubas were found guilty on 28 November.

Significance: The kidnap and murder of Cecilia Cubas, the 31-year-old daughter of former president Raúl Cubas, in early 2005 was one of the worst and most high-profile crimes in Paraguay's recent history. However, it acquired even greater political significance when the small leftwing political party Patria Libre (PL), was accused of carrying out the crime, with a little help from the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc).

Yesterday's verdict vindicates the government's belief that the kidnap and murder of Cubas was a political crime. All 15 of those on trial in the Asunción court were members or sympathisers of the PL. Osmar Martí­nez, the party's former secretary-general, and his lieutenant, Anastasio Mieres, were found guilty of all charges.

The court also said that the Farc offered its assistance with regards to keeping Cubas hostage and negotiating the ransom. However, there was no suggestion that the Farc was involved in carrying out the kidnapping or Cubas' murder.

Development: Five hundred troops from the National Security Force arrived in Rio de Janeiro in the early hours of 15 January.

Significance: The troops will patrol 19 entry-points on the borders between the state of Rio de Janeiro and neighbouring São Paulo, to the south, Minas Gerais, to the west, and Espí­rito Santo, to the north. The authorities hope the operation will "strangle" the smuggling of weapons used by criminal gangs which control drug-trafficking in Rio.

The National Security Force was created by a decree issued by President Lula da Silva in 2004. The force is comprised of civilian and military police from all over Brazil. The National Security Force is under federal command and may be deployed anywhere in Brazil following a request from the authorities of any of Brazil's 27 states. Under the 1988 Constitution, public security is a responsibility of governors and not of the federal government.

Governors, however, complain that the federal government should share responsibility for public security. They complain that the federal police and the Brazilian military are inefficient in their task of monitoring national borders. A recent study by the Brazilian congress revealed that a quarter of weapons used by criminals are smuggled in from Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Development: Over 8,000 workers from the national federation of Transantiago workers (Fenattrans) has threatened to go on strike today (19 February), throwing into further chaos the new metropolitan transport system launched last week.

Significance: Last week the government finally launched its US$2bn Transantiago bus system, replacing the city's private network of micro buses which would compete with each other for routes and passengers. Cash fares have also been replaced by a pre-paid smart card (the “Bip"), which charges a higher, unsubsidised price. Despite the fact many of the city's residents are still on holiday, the start of the scheme generated chaos and angry protests among frustrated commuters.

Fenattrans president Sergio Cifuentes said the union was protesting against the government for failing to respond to previous requests for talks. Although the union also wants better working conditions, the main cause of the protest is unequal salaries; some drivers earn up to Ch$500,000 (US$929) a month, while others only earn Ch$280,000 (US$520). Workers on Santiago's modern, four-line metro are also threatening to join the strike. 

Sergio Espejo, the transport minister, has asked the unions to “not put more stones in the way" after last week's problems. Four hundred commuters protested in Santiago on 16 February over the new system, as many complained there were not enough buses. One evening, a group of stranded passengers commandeered two buses going in the opposite direction to take them home. The real test of the new system will come next month when students, who developed a taste for public protests in 2006, return to school.

Development: On 24 March Alberto Fujimori, a deposed president, accused the army of being responsible for the human rights abuses committed during his governments.

Significance: The accusation united the government and the main opposition, led by Ollanta Humala, a former soldier and arch-nationalist. The government is trying to extradite Fujimori from Chile to face accusations of corruption and human rights abuses.

The defence minister, Allan Wagner said that the army had nothing to do with setting up the Colina paramilitaries, which did a lot of the Fujimori regime's dirty work. Humala said that Fujimori was only trying to save his own neck by blaming the army. Humala added that it was cowardly of Fujimori to blame the army for human rights violations committed between 1990 and 2000. He pointed out that Fujimori, as president, was commander-in-chief and designed the counter-insurgency policy. Humala also noted that Fujmori congratulated the Colina paramilitaries and pushed through an amnesty law to protect them. 

César Nakasaki, Fujimori's lawyer, retorted that Fujimori could not be held responsible for any failure to uphold human rights because his government's policies, which he was responsible for, were designed to uphold them. More seriously, Nakasaki accused Omar Chehade, who is heading Peru's effort to extradite Fujimori, of committing a criminal offence in Chile by revealing what Fujimori had said in his testimony to avoid extradition from Chile to Peru. Under Chilean law all such testimony was privileged, and could not be published unless a judge ruled that it could. The Chilean courts are due to decide in April whether Fujimori can be extradited.

Development: The 14 Ecuadorean deputies who fled to Colombia last week said on 28 April that they would return home.

Significance: Colombia did not grant them political asylum. The foreign minister, Fernando Araújo, said that the government had not given them asylum because the deputies had not asked for it. The Ecuadoreans, who had been kicked out of congress by the Tribunal Supremo Electoral, claimed that they were suffering political persecution.

On 28 April several of the deputies said that they would go back to Ecuador even though they face warrants for their arrest. Several are applying for injunctions to stop the warrants being enforced.

Separately, but also on 28 April, former president Lucio Gutiérrez said that he had escaped an attempted assassination during a motorcade to promote his party's candidates for the constituent assembly elections in September. Gutiérrez heads the Partido Sociedad Patriótica.

URUGUAY: Inflation was 0.76% in May bringing the twelve-month rate to 8.25%, well above the 6.64% annual rate of May 2006.

CHILE: Industrial production was up 4.8% in April in comparison to the same month last year. The twelve-month industrial production growth rate stands now at 2%.

Former president Alberto Fujimori has formally renounced any plans to run for the presidency in Peru in the future. In late June, he announced that he would be standing for a seat in Japan's upper house elections at the end of July. Fujimori's decision will have repercussions for Peru's domestic politics although it is not yet clear whether it will complicate the extradition process if he is successful in his electoral bid.

Japan's right-wing party Kokumin Shinto (New People's Party) offered Fujimori the opportunity to stand for election. It did so shortly after Chile's Supreme Court prosecutor Mónica Maldonado submitted a 55-page document recommending that Fujimori be extradited to Peru on 12 counts to face human rights and corruption charges.

Shizuka Kamei, the head of Kokumin Shinto, described Fujimori as the "last samurai," who will "inject vigour into Japanese society". He did not clarify exactly what he meant by this but Fujimori quickly justified his decision to stand on the grounds that he wanted to put to use his 10 years of experience as a president for the good of Japan to tackle issues of international importance. Specifically, helping to secure the release of Japanese citizens abducted to North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, and persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme.

Only two weeks earlier the Chilean national daily, El Mercurio, citing unnamed sources close to Fujimori, said that the former Peruvian president was prepared to languish in jail in Peru for several years in order to benefit an electoral bid by his daughter Keiko in 2011. "If Fujimori is extradited, Keiko will be unstoppable," the source argued, as she would be a daughter fighting for her father. Far from being bent on self-sacrifice for his daughter's sake, however, Fujimori's decision to enter Japanese politics looks like a ploy to escape extradition.

Split in Fujimorismo

The leader of the Partido Nacionalista Peruano (PNP), Ollanta Humala, pronounce fujimorismo "dead, as a political project", after Fujimori revealed that he would be running for election in Japan. Carlos Raffo, a legislator for the Fujimorista Alianza para el Futuro in Peru's congress, denied this was the case. "Fujimorismo is not disappearing, it is globalising," he said, in what must surely be a contender for least convincing quote of the year.

Development: on 7 August President Hugo Chávez nominated Roy Chaderton as Venezuela's ambassador to Mexico.

Significance: The move signals that Mexico and Venezuela are repairing the diplomatic breach between them which led to the withdrawal of ambassadors in 2005. Chaderton, a former foreign minister, is a safe pair of hands. He started his diplomatic career under Chávez 's predecessor, President Rafael Caldera, and served as ambassador to France after his two years as Chávez 's foreign minister (from 2002 to 2004).

Mexico has yet to pick its representative for Caracas. The choice will be illuminating. Chávez 's designation of a former foreign minister suggests that President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa will have to match this: neither of the foreign ministers employed by his predecessor, President Vicente Fox, are possibilities: both are publicly hostile to Chávez .

The most obvious candidate from the administration before that is Angel Gurrí­a, who is now heading the OECD in Paris and is unlikely to want to move. This means that choice probably lies between Rosario Green, who also served under President Ernesto Zedillo, and Manuel Camacho Solí­s, who served under Zedillo's predecessor, President Carlos Salinas. Camacho, who was a prominent supporter of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the left-wing candidate for the presidency beaten by Calderón in 2006, would be a witty choice

Development: With a presidential run-off to take place following the results of the 9 September elections, competitors Alvaro Colom, of the Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza, and Otto Pérez Molina of the rightwing Partido Patriota (PP) have lost no time in seeking alliances with other parties.

Significance: On 11 September various mayors of the ruling coalition Gran Alianza Nacional (Gana) decided to throw their backing behind Colom. Coming third in the elections, Gana and its supporters will be critical in determining the outcome of the run-off, scheduled to take place on 4 November.

Both Colom and Pérez have announced meetings with the Gana candidate Alejandro Giammattai who has yet to announce which candidate he will back. The re-elected mayor of Guatemala City, Alvaro Arzu of the Partido Unionista, will also be meeting both candidates. He has also yet to announce which will receive his support.

Pérez met the presidential candidate of the rightwing Centro de Acción Social Eduardo Suger (fourth in the election), who subsequently announced his backing for the PP.

Meanwhile, the different electoral observation missions presented their reports on 11 September. They signalled as causes for concern: the lack of information available in Mayan languages; the inability of the supreme electoral court to regulate funding and expenditure of the political parties; problems with the electoral register where, as well as false voting forms, ballots were counted from deceased and foreign voters; the high level of abstention (40%); and the low number of women deputies (only 19 of the 158 legislators are women).

Separately, one notable victory in the 9 September elections was that of independent deputy Manuel Castillo, who won the mayoral elections in Jutiapa, Guatemala's southeastern-most department on the border with El Salvador. Castillo is suspected of involvement in the murders of three Salvadorean deputies and their driver, found in February.

The case precipitated an unprecedented security crisis for the Guatemalan government, exposing the existence of illegal armed groups within Guatemala's security forces and possible links between high-level officials and drug traffickers. The Attorney General's Office has filed two legal cases against Castillo which have yet to be addressed by the supreme justice court.

HAITI: Baby Doc moots return

Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier made an emotional appeal to the Haitian people in September for forgiveness for his past wrongdoing, triggering widespread speculation he is preparing to mount a political comeback. Duvalier also praised the administration of President René Préval for its efforts to improve security and strengthen democracy in Haiti. Préval, a former anti-Duvalierist activist, was unimpressed. He said he was keen for Baby Doc to return to Haiti to face trial for misappropriating funds and promised that his government would bring him to justice.

In his first public address in years from his place of exile in Paris, Duvalier, who had never publicly apologised before, said that, "If, during my presidential term, the government caused physical, moral or economic wrongs, I solemnly assume the historic responsibility_ to ask the Haitian people to forgive me and I seek the impartial judgement of history." His words, which were broadcast nationwide in Haiti on Radio Caraibes, sounded hollow, however, and there was little compunction about the brutal kleptocracy he presided over for 15 years before being ousted in a popular uprising in 1986. He even had the audacity to lecture the country about the dangers of corruption. "Corruption is the number one killer in Haiti," he said, adding that this would continue to be the case "as long as political leaders subordinate their personal interests or those of their clans to the triumph of social justice, peace and democracy."

The timing of Duvalier's appeal for forgiveness is significant. The secretary general of his small party Parti de l'Unité Nationale (PUN), Jacques Deverson, has been making noises about his return for a few months and the PUN has been urging young people to register. Deverson also called new Duvalierists to mobilise.

Préval insisted that any trial of Duvalier "must be carried out in Haiti". "One of the problems in all these cases is that we look for help from abroad. These cases must be resolved at home," he added. Duvalier clearly feels that he would now get a fair trial in Haiti and hopes to exploit the fragile state of the judicial system, although his return would cause the very instability he praised the government for tackling successfully. Haiti is currently trying to get 7.6m Swiss Francs (US$6.2m), from a Geneva bank account (recently frozen for another year) which Duvalier smuggled out of the country.

Development: President-elect Cristina Fernández de Kirchner unveiled her cabinet on 14 November.

Significance: Cristina, who takes power on 10 December, has largely stuck with the personnel employed by her husband, Néstor, even though there are deep divisions within the current cabinet. The only major change is that Economy Minister Miguel Peirano has gone.

Peirano has been replaced by Martí­n Lousteau, previously the head of Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina's second-largest state owned bank. Peirano had refused to take stay in the cabinet after a major falling-out with the domestic commerce secretary, Guillermo Moreno.

Peirano's hostility to Moreno derived from the government's efforts to squash any suggestion that inflation is a problem. Moreno's solution to the problem is to sack government statisticians who argue that inflation is bubbling. As well as being unable to work with Moreno, there are also suggestions that Peirano has fallen out with cabinet chief Alberto Fernández, who has remained in his post.

Lousteau will be the youngest economy minister in Argentina's history. He is a surprise appointment. The Buenos Aires rumour-mill was confident that the job would go to Martí­n Redrado, a former stockmarket chief and now head of the central bank. Lousteau, 36, played a key role in Felipe Solá's provincial government for the past two years.

Aside from Lousteau's promotion, the most remarkable aspect of the new cabinet was that Julio de Vido remained in his job as planning minister. De Vido has not only been at the centre of a number of corruption scandals but he is also thought to be engaged in a row with Alberto Fernández which has lasted almost as long as Kirchner's presidency.

Another notable change is that Aní­bal Fernández has swapped the interior ministry for a revamped security portfolio which now encompasses justice, security and human rights. He has been replaced as interior minister by Florencio Randazzo, another stalwart of Solá's administration.

Other new ministers include Graciela Ocaña (health) and Juan Carlos Tedesco (education). However, Labour Minister Carlos Tomada, Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana and Defence Minister Nilda Garré have all stayed put, as has the president's sister, Alicia Kirchner, who remains in charge of social development. Néstor's two most senior advisers Oscar Parrilli and Carlos Zannini also remain in place.

Critics of the government were quick to complain that the most controversial figures from the outgoing administration will retain key roles under Cristina's presidency. Opponents also lament the fact that the continuity in personnel will almost certainly result in continuity of policy between the two governments.

However, the appointment of Lousteau has intrigued both the Kirchers' allies and rivals. The other innovation is the creation of a new ministry of science and technology. The ministry, which is an offshoot of the education ministry, will be the responsibility of Lino Barañao, another newcomer.

Development: On 18 December the foreign minister, Jorge Taiana, summoned the US ambassador to communicate the Argentine government's displeasure at the involvement of US federal agents in allegations about the financing of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's election campaign.

Significance: Taiana's action dismayed the pro-US lobby in Argentina, which had hoped that the new government would move away from its alliance with President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. The pro-US lobby argued that the new government had failed to grasp that that the allegations about the money brought into Argentina by Guido Antonini Wilson in a suitcase were in fact part of a criminal investigation and as such did not involve the US government.

The problem with this line, which has also been advanced by the US State Department, is first: the involvement of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in the claims that the money Antonini Wilson brought into Argentina was from President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and was destined for Fernández's campaign, and, secondly: the apparent disregard by the US of the Argentine application for the extradition of Antonini Wilson, who holds joint US-Venezuelan citizenship. The Argentine courts issued a warrant for Antonini Wilson's arrest after the Argentine customs service found the US$790,000 in his luggage in August.

The US ambassador, Earl Wayne, spent 40 minutes with Taiana. Taiana requested that the US take moves to extradite Antonini Wilson. The original charge Antonini Wilson would have faced in Argentina was smuggling. On 18 December, the presiding judge added money laundering to the sheet.

Development: The final results of Cuba's legislative 'elections' were published on 30 January, revealing that Raúl Castro was 'elected' for a seat in congress with 99.3% of the valid votes.

Significance: Raúl received 1% more votes than his brother, Fidel Castro, who has been the country's leader for almost half a century, and the country's President since 1976. In this sense, the results could be used to legitimise congress' possible decision to choose Raúl next month as the country's actual President.

Raúl has been acting as interim president since July last year, substituting Fidel, who is seriously ill. In order to become President, Raúl needed to win a seat in congress, whose members choose the Council of State (the executive branch of government). The Council's president doubles as President of Cuba.

There was no real contest for the congressional seats, however. There were 614 seats up for grabs and exactly the same number of candidates, all of whom had been previously selected by the Cuban Communist Party - the only party legally allowed in Cuba. Voters had few choices: of going or not to the ballot box; of casting a blank vote in protest; and of voting for a single candidate or in bloc.

The results, however, confirm the country's leadership is going through a process of change. Indeed, 56% of the country's new congressmen were born after the revolution that brought Fidel to power in 1959. For dissidents, however, these changes are too slow. According to a report by Miami-based newspaper El Nuevo Herald, 100 dissidents have been arrested in Cuba in the past two weeks.

Development: President Rafael Correa of Ecuador, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia each confirmed on 4 March that they will attend the Rio Group summit which opens in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on 6 March.

Significance: The Rio Group meeting is almost certain to condemn Colombia. President Correa's adroit visit to Peru, with which Ecuador has traditionally ropey relations, was such a success that Correa upped his rhetoric in Brazil, the next stop on his tour. There is little chance, now, that Colombia can get away with a mere apology to Ecuador. Almost certainly, Colombia will have to submit to an investigation, probably by the Organization of American States (OAS), into what happened on 1 March when it raided Ecuador. Colombia's original version of events is failing to stand up to scrutiny.

Ecuador said at the OAS that Colombia's president, Alvaro Uribe, had lied when he telephoned President Correa to explain the reason for the raid. Ecuador asserted that the Colombian raid was "a premeditated violation" of Ecuadorean sovereignty. The Ecuadorean foreign minister, Marí­a Isabel Salvador, told the OAS extraordinary session that President Uribe "had lied to Ecuador and to the whole world when he said that the military operation was an act of legitimate self-defence".

The OAS permanent commission met on 4 March to try to produce a diplomatic solution to the crisis but has yet to deliver a solution. Positions at the OAS seem to be hardening: Ecuador, which had been prepared to tone down its original draft (which had been made jointly with Venezuela), withdrew that offer on the afternoon of 4 March, forcing the OAS to convene again this morning.

Colombia is adamantly against any investigation by the OAS. Tom Shannon, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, supported the Colombian position, arguing at the OAS meeting that the OAS's role is "not to condemn nor punish but facilitate the resolution of disputes". President George W Bush underlined US support for Colombia by revealing that he had telephoned Uribe on 3 March to say that he "totally supported" Colombian democracy.

The US and Colombia risk being outflanked because any investigation would need only the approval of Ecuador, which wants it. The Ecuadoreans need only 18 votes to set up an OAS investigation. Chile and Brazil are strongly behind the idea. The combination of sympathy for Ecuador in South America and President Hugo Chávez 's PetroCaribe initiative in the Caribbean should provide the required votes.

Even Peru, for example, which had been less critical of Colombia than some South American countries, accepts that there should be an investigation. Colombia's wild claims about Venezuela's and Ecuador's support for the Farc undermine its argument against an investigation. Only some sort of independent investigation can determine whether the Ecuadorean government knowingly harboured the Farc or whether President Chávez was planning to finance the Farc.

Colombia's ambassador to the OAS, Camilo Ospina, was truculent: "How brave the presidents of Ecuador and Venezuela have been in expelling our ambassadors, the worthy representatives of a legitimate democracy. Would that they would show similar bravery is expelling terrorists from their countries."

Colombia is now reduced to playing for time: Ecuador wanted an OAS foreign ministers meeting on 11 March; Colombia wanted it delayed until after Easter on 25 March, but the two finally agreed on 18 March.