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| 1998, April 19 |
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| Leaders of the Western Hemisphere signed a joint declaration regarding the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), initiated in 1994. In addition to trade issues, the challenges of human rights, education, and drug trafficking were major concerns of Western Hemisphere nations. The talks led to the creation of a press advocate position in the Organization of American States (OAS), judicial education ideas for undertrained Latin American court systems, anti-drug monitoring powers in the OAS, and international loans to fight poverty. | 1 |
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| May 11, July 13 |
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| Observers from OAS approved allegedly fraudulent elections in Paraguay and Ecuador, internationally legitimizing these new governments. | 2 |
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| Oct. 26 |
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| The 50-year-old border dispute between Ecuador and Peru that sent the nations to war in 1995 was resolved. It was the last conflict of its kind in Latin America to date (See Oct. 26), (See Oct. 26). | 3 |
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| Nov. 2 |
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| In Buenos Aires, Argentina, 160 nations met at an environmental conference that lasted two weeks and was aimed at implementing the 1997 UN Kyoto Protocol, a program by which industrialized nations hope to reduce fossil fuel emissions and global warming (See Oct. 12). | 4 |
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| Dec. 9 |
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| Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia signed a joint declaration backing Chilean state sovereignty in arresting and prosecuting alleged war criminal and former military leader of Chile, Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. After his extradition from Europe (See 1998, Oct. 16–2000, March), Pinochet's prosecution was one of the most formidable legal movements against human rights violations in recent South American history. | 5 |
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