Business Colombia

CARACAS/ BOGOTA, Aug 18- Venezuela's new legislative superbody was criticized by South American governments and Washington on Friday after giving itself the power to pass laws, superseding the opposition-led congress while ex-top prosecutor Luisa Ortega fled the country. Ortega arrived in neighboring Colombia on Friday, migration authorities in Bogota...

PINAR DEL RIO, Cuba— Calle Marti is a modest half-mile boulevard split by a simple winding flagstone path that's bracketed by green grass, pine trees and curving blue cement benches. But the project is part of a fragile experiment whose success or failure might help determine if Cuba is able to pull itself out of years of economic stagnation and brain drain.

BOGOTA, Aug 15- Colombian airline Avianca Holdings expects to finalize a partnership with United Continental Holdings Inc in 2017, although board and regulatory approvals could delay finalization of the deal by up to a year, the airline's chief executive, Hernan Rincon, said on Tuesday. The strategic commercial partnership, about which the airlines have...

Vice President Mike Pence sought to calm concerns in the region about Trump's talk, promising a peaceful solution to Venezuela's "collapse into dictatorship." Thousands of government supporters rallied in Caracas where they dennounced Trump's suggestion of a "military option" to resolve Venezuela's crisis. Over 120 people have been killed since...

CUCUTA, Colombia— Under a scorching sun just a short walk from Colombia's border with Venezuela, hundreds of hungry men, women and children line up for bowls of chicken and rice— the first full meal some have eaten in days. "But I'm more grateful for what Colombia has offered me in this short time than what I ever received from Venezuela my entire life."

BOGOTA, Aug 14- Colombia's state oil company Ecopetrol SA will focus exploration efforts in the next few years on unconventional deposits in the center and north of the country in a bid to increase reserves, its chief executive said. Ecopetrol will also continue efforts to develop its mature fields to boost recovery, as well as explore offshore in the Caribbean,...

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15 SYDNEY- Reserve Bank of Australia to release the minutes of its August monetary policy meeting 0130 GMT. **BELGRADE- Serbia Central Bank presents inflation report for August- 0600 GMT. WINDHOEK, Namibia- Central Bank of Namibia monetary policy meeting.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 13 SYDNEY- Reserve Bank of Australia Assistant Governor Christopher Kent speaks at the Moody's Analytics Forum 2335 GMT. TUESDAY, AUGUST 15 SYDNEY- Reserve Bank of Australia to release the minutes of its August monetary policy meeting 0130 GMT. WINDHOEK, Namibia- Central Bank of Namibia monetary policy meeting.

**LIMA- Peru Central Bank President Julio Velarde is scheduled to be interviewed at the Reuters Latam Summit 2017 1600 GMT. SYDNEY- Reserve Bank of Australia Assistant Governor Christopher Kent speaks at The Bloomberg Address 2235 GMT. **BELGRADE- National Bank of Serbia interest rate decision- 1000 GMT.

BOGOTA, Aug 3- Colombia will see economic growth of 2.4 percent in the third quarter before accelerating to 2.8 percent in the fourth, Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas said on Thursday. The government of the Andean country, which is still grappling with the ripple effects of the global fall in crude prices and a sustained rise in inflation, had reduced its...

CARACAS, July 27- The U.S. government ordered family members of employees at its embassy in Venezuela to leave on Thursday as a political crisis deepened ahead of a controversial vote critics contend will end democracy in the oil-rich country. Maduro's critics were planning to pile more pressure on the unpopular leftist leader by holding roadblocks across...

CARACAS, July 27- The U.S. government ordered family members of employees at its embassy in Venezuela to leave on Thursday as a political crisis deepened ahead of a controversial vote critics contend will end democracy in the oil-rich country. Maduro's critics were planning to pile more pressure on the unpopular leftist leader by holding roadblocks across...

BOGOTA/ CARACAS, July 27- Colombian airline Avianca said on Thursday it would suspend flights to and from Venezuela immediately, instead of in mid-August, sparking questions about what caused its accelerated retreat from the crisis-hit socialist nation. The latest commercial carrier to pull out of Venezuela said in a statement it was obliged to cancel the...

MEXICO CITY, July 26- America Movil, the telecommunications company of Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, and Movistar, the Colombian unit of Spain's Telefonica SA, may not have to pay any compensation while legal action in Colombia is under review, a government minister said on Wednesday. Shares of America Movil closed down 0.32 percent and Telefonica shares closed up...

BOGOTA, July 26- Avianca said on Wednesday it will suspend flights to and from Venezuela beginning on Aug. 16, amid operational and security difficulties, the latest commercial carrier to pull out of the crisis-hit socialist country. The Colombian airline will cancel its Bogota- Caracas- Bogota and Lima- Caracas- Lima routes, a total of three daily flights,...

MENDOZA, Argentina, July 21- The members of South America's Mercosur trade bloc inked a trade deal with Colombia on Friday to allow limited quantities of tariff-free trade in products including automobiles, textiles and agrochemicals, Argentina's and Colombia's governments said. The deal, reached during a summit in Mendoza, Argentina between Mercosur...

BOGOTA, July 18- Colombia, which narrowly avoided getting its credit rating cut last year, is again at risk of a downgrade as it struggles to meet fiscal targets and investors tire of overly optimistic forecasts by the government of President Juan Manuel Santos. "We believe there is a clear disconnect between reality and the current debt path depicted by the...