Chilean president to miss OAS summit due to flood at home

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet will not be attending an upcoming hemispheric summit in Panama, due to major flooding disasters at home, according to daily La Tercera on Wednesday.

Bachelet "canceled trips to Ecuador and Panama due to the situation in the north of the country following the rains," the daily reported.

Bachelet was set to pay a visit to Ecuador on April 7 and 8 to meet with her Ecuadoran counterpart Rafael Correa, prior to attending the Organization of American States (OAS) gathering on April 10 and April 11.

"I have decided not to go on a couple of international trips, because we think we need to be here, working for the people," said Bachelet, whose popularity rating has taken a downturn recently, after her son, who held an official post, was accused of influence peddling and other forms of corruption.

Bachelet has been supervising relief efforts and touring flood-hit regions in northern Chile, where 23 people died, 57 remained missing and more than 22,000 were displaced, according to Wednesday figures from the national emergency office. Endi