Diplomacy Latin style

It has been a interesting few weeks in Latin America.
The Colombian forces' attack on members of the FARC was a really, really big deal.

And then we have had some really interesting reactions: President Correa and President Chavez getting all worked up and sending troops to their respective borders, all dramas! As my colleague Stephanie astutely noted, it seemed as though not much had changed since the 1970s with heavy handed left wing and right wing regimes going in for each other.

And then, all of a sudden everything changed and we had the Summit of the Rio group, with President Uribe of Colombia and President Chavez of Venezuela giving each other a hug! (below)






I also included the spunky declaration of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner from Argentina, basically coming in like a mum or a sister and scolding all the boys at the table.

And if you scroll to the end of this video below you get Hugo Chavez breaking out into song: classic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBNSWr5cnhw&feature=related

And so in the last couple of weeks there was a huge concert with hundreds of thousands of people on the border of Venezuela and Colombia, incredible pop culture stuff!

And since then, things have heated up again as President Correa of Ecuador has found out that indeed an Ecuadorian did in fact die in the Colombian attack in Euadorian territory. He is not happy!