Venezuela crisis, Colombia peace dominate Latin American summit - Reuters

Reuters

Venezuela's fast-escalating political crisis and Colombia's stuttering peace process dominated the Ibero-American Summit on Saturday, despite an official agenda about youth, entrepreneurship and education.

While leaders from around Latin America, as well as Portugal and Spain, approved a resolution calling for more support for youthful business owners and students, speeches also touched heavily on the two South American countries.

Venezuela's socialist government is facing an escalation of opposition protests after electoral authorities suspended a referendum on President Nicolas Maduro's rule that could have led to his departure from office.

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Peace, fiscal reform would help Colombia draw investors: U.S. official - Reuters

Reuters

Colombia would attract more investment from U.S. companies if it ends a five-decade war and solves fiscal challenges, U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said on Thursday, amid concern from investors about tax reform and a failed peace referendum.

The Andean country is already an attractive market for U.S. companies, Pritzker told Reuters during a visit to meet President Juan Manuel Santos and business leaders, but investment would be bolstered if fiscal changes are made, peace with Marxist rebels is reached and legal issues like pharmaceutical regulations are clarified.

"It's a market U.S. companies want to invest it, they like it, but they're very concerned right now with the uncertainty given these number of issues that we've raised," Pritzker said in an interview in Bogota.

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Legal threats, not war, top commodity producers' concerns in Colombia - Reuters

Gold mining companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars but not extracted a gram. Palm farmers are told their land belongs to someone else. Some communities are voting to ban mining in areas already awarded for exploration.

Whether or not President Juan Manuel Santos can salvage a peace deal with Marxist rebels that was rejected by voters on Oct. 2, legal roadblocks and high taxes are a major deterrent for companies looking to invest in Colombia.

Julia Symmes Cobb

Santos says ending Latin America's longest-running conflict would open up vast areas of land to development, reduce corporate security costs and bring additional growth of up to 1.5 percent a year.

Since voters narrowly rejected the deal, Santos has scrambled to extend a ceasefire with the rebels and meet with opposition figures in a bid to find common ground and resurrect hopes of a negotiated end to the 52-year war.

But even companies eager to explore former conflict zones say other worries are more pressing.

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Colombians abroad react to FARC peace deal defeat - KPCC

So what happens now, and how are Colombians and Colombian Americans in SoCal reacting? Larry Mantle speaks to Gimena Sanchez of the Washington Office on Latin America and Julia Symmes Cobb, a reporter in Bogotá, to get an inside perspective on the outcome of the vote. See more here.

Colombia Peace Deal Is Defeated, Leaving a Nation in Shock - New York Times

A Colombian peace deal that the president and the country’s largest rebel group had signed just days before was defeated in a referendum on Sunday, leaving the fate of a 52-year war suddenly uncertain.

A narrow margin divided the yes-or-no vote, with 50.2 percent of Colombians rejecting the peace deal and 49.8 percent voting in favor, the government said.

The result was a deep embarrassment for President Juan Manuel Santos. Just last week, Mr. Santos had joined arms with leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC, who apologized on national television during a signing ceremony.

AP

The surprise surge by the “no” vote — nearly all major polls had indicated resounding approval — left the country in a dazed uncertainty not seen since Britain voted in June to leave the European Union. And it left the future of rebels who had planned to rejoin Colombia as civilians — indeed, the future of the war itself, which both sides had declared over — unknown.

Both sides vowed they would not go back to fighting.

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