MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

South America News.

New Mayor for Punta Arenas.

Juan Morano from the Christian Democrat party, junior member of the Chilean ruling coalition Concertación , became Punta Arena's new Mayor after beating last Sunday's municipal elections, both the opposition and Socialist candidates. Mr. Morano's victory with almost 40% of votes cast, is particularly sweet since polls as well as political analysts favored the Concertación privileged candidate, Mr. Carlos González Jaksic from the Socialist party. Actually Mr. González Jaksic only managed 17% of the vote, behind runner up Mr. Oscar Bravo from the Conservative opposition with 22%. However this means that Punta Arenas Legislative City Council will be ruled by a clear majority from the national ruling coalition that includes Christian Democrats and Socialists. Socialists were quiet baffled by the results since Punta Arenas traditionally has been considered a Socialist stronghold. In the rest of Magallanes Region with the exception of Porvenir and Navarino, most other communities re-elected their mayors, Puerto Natales, Torres del Paine, Timaukel, Primavera, Rio Verde, San Gregorio and Laguna Blanca. This means an almost even split between the ruling coalition and the Conservative opposition. Mr. Morano will rule for the next four years.

Cruise season begins.

Next November 13th., with the arrival of "Switzerland" officially begins the cruise season in Montevideo, which this year includes 24 great ships, 66 schedules in Montevideo and Punta del Este and over 50.000 visitors. With this in mind local port and tourist officials together with the private organisation SurCruise Association are planning a celebration in the main square of the old City to welcome the first visitors of the coming season. This is expected to become an annual event. According to Uruguayan authorities the cruise industry, one of the fastest growing in the world (8% per annually), recorded eight million passengers last season of which "only 30.000 stopped in Montevideo", and "we're determined that number, and percentage keeps growing", said Emilio Cazalá an expert in maritime and tourism affairs. Among the vessels expected in the coming months are the 69.000 t