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 04 July 2008 21:22 BST

Continental view – the Americas

Sunday, 13 Apr 2008 00:00
Fidel Castro takes a bow
A selection of the top news stories making the headlines in the Americas in the last two months.

After Super Tuesday

February 5th, Super Tuesday, proved decisive for the Republican race for the US presidency nomination, with John McCain winning enough states to set off a victory roll ending in his triumph a month later.

The Democrat race remained deadlocked, however. Hillary Clinton emerged from Super Tuesday with a small lead in the delegate count but found this reversed with 12 wins from rival Barack Obama.

Analysts said the Illinois senator's momentum appeared unstoppable but Ms Clinton bounced back in 'make-or-break' votes on March 4th. She won Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island to keep herself in the race.

After Mr Obama's victory in Mississippi on March 11th the campaigns went into long-distance mode, the next primary being due on April 22nd in Pennsylvania. With news that a repeat vote in Florida had been ruled out, Ms Clinton is facing an uphill struggle.

Click here for a rundown of the US presidential election timeline.

Castro retires, at last

As the longest-serving head of state, news of the resignation of Cuba's Fidel Castro on February 19th was always going to be big news.

Mr Castro, 81, came to power in the 1959 Communist revolution but admitted he would not "cling to office" in a letter published on the online version of the party paper Granma.

In reality he has not been in complete control since handing over the reins to his brother Raul in July 2006 after undergoing intestinal surgery amid poor health.

Raul, 76, was chosen to succeed Fidel by Cuba's National Assembly on February 25th as observers hoped to see real changes to Havana's repressive policies.

But the appointment of Machado Ventura, one of the original leaders in Fidel Castro's communist revolution, as his vice-president, appeared to suggest little would be changing in Cuba for the time being.

Click here for a look at Fidel Castro's legacy for Cuba.

Andes crisis

A diplomatic impasse nearly brought South America to war in an unexpected crisis during the first week of March.

An angry Colombia found itself facing Venezuelan and Ecuadorian troops moving towards its borders as diplomatic relations were temporarily suspended.

The spat was sparked by a Colombian military incursion into Ecuador's territory on March 1st targeting the left-wing Farc rebel military group.

Ecuador denounced the territorial violation and received support from Venezuela's firebrand president Hugo Chavez. Colombia responded by accusing Ecuador of collaboration with Farc, escalating tensions further.

It took a televised regional summit on March 8th to resolve the crisis. Mr Chavez, Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Colombia's Alvaro Uribe settled their differences with a handshake as negotiation and diplomacy won through.

March 8th: Latin American leaders end crisis

A looming recession?

The ailing US economy continued to give economists a severe headache as 2008 progressed.

Drastic interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve had taken place even before the sudden collapse of Bear Stearns, the fifth largest investment bank on Wall Street, in mid-March.

Tight interbank lending caused by the credit crunch was blamed, sending markets spiralling further downwards, and by early April Fed chairman Ben Bernanke was admitting the possibility of recession.

He predicted a "slight contraction" was possible for the first half of 2008 but said the economy would return to growth as rate cuts and other emergency measures take effect later in the year.

April 3rd: Fed boss tells Congress US "recession is possible"

Other major developments

February 21st: Satellite shot down. The US Navy shot down a spy satellite which would have crashed to Earth. Russia expressed concerns the operation was a cover to test new space technology.
Click here for full story

February 28th: Bus crash deaths. An overcrowded bus plunged off a motorway in Guatemala, leaving up to 60 people dead.
Click here for full story

March 12th: Eliot Spitzer resigns. The governor of New York was forced to quit after being linked to a prostitution ring. He apologised for his "private failings".
Click here for full storyEnd of story


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