LatinNews Daily - 19 May 2011

REGION: On 30 September various Latin American governments warned that the current financial crisis is beginning to hit the economies of Latin America and announced protective measures. Brazil's President Lula da Silva and Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez met in Manaus, Brazil, and slammed the US for its failure to deal with the financial crisis. Both leaders said that “nobody deserves this crisis" and that they expect the US to take action to contain it. Lula, who had been optimistic regarding the effects of the crisis on Brazil, announced measures such as the increase of credit for companies and for the export sector. Chile, on the other hand, had already announced on 29 September that the Banco Central de Chile was ending its programme of buying dollars in order to boost liquidity in the domestic market.