Peru
Leader speaks up in D.C. visit
The first Latin American president to visit Donald Trump at the White House told the U.S. leader Friday he prefers “bridges to walls,” sending him a gentle rebuke of his controversial proposal to build a wall along the border with Mexico.
Peru’s Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a U.S.-educated former Wall Street banker has taken a strong stand against Trump’s “America First” agenda while many in the region remain silent.
Kuczynski, 78, called the meeting “cordial and constructive” and said he told Trump he was interested in the free movement of people — “legally” he emphasized — and also spoke about trade and economic development.
Puerto Rico
President, treasury chief talk
Puerto Rico’s governor met with the U.S. treasury and health secretaries to seek support in pulling the island out of a deep economic crisis.
Gov. Ricardo Rossello traveled Friday to Washington, D.C., to talk in part with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Mnuchin said he urged Rossello to work with a federal control board created by Congress last year to oversee Puerto Rico’s finances.
AUSTRIA
U.N.: Iran honoring nuke deal
The U.N. agency responsible for monitoring Iran’s nuclear deal with six world powers has issued a report that indicates Tehran is honoring its end of the deal.
The confidential International Atomic Energy Agency report, which was obtained by the Associated Press, said Friday that Iran is only at about half of its permitted limit of a form of low-enriched uranium and is not producing higher grades. Low-enriched uranium is used to power reactors and other peaceful uses.
GUATEMALA
U.S. seeks ex-VP’s extradition
The U.S. will try to extradite former Guatemalan Vice President Roxana Baldetti and ex-Interior Minister Hector Mauricio Lopez Bonilla on drug trafficking charges, the U.S. Embassy said Friday.
Baldetti and Lopez Bonilla were indicted in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday, according to the statement. Each faces a charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and knowing it would be sent to the U.S.
Compiled from wire reports.