Stories for April 11th 2011

Monday, April 11th 2011 - 06:29 UTC
South America military expenditure up 2010, but insignificant in global terms

The region with the largest increase in military expenditure in 2010 was South America, with a 5.8% increase in real terms, reaching a total of 63.3 billion US dollars according to the latest report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI.
Monday, April 11th 2011 - 06:22 UTC
Mercosur costs and growing domestic demand limit beef export volumes

With stronger local currencies Mercosur main beef exporters, Brazil and Uruguay are finding it more profitable to supply their domestic markets than exporting, in spite of growing international demand.
Monday, April 11th 2011 - 06:17 UTC
With Colombia support Venezuela gets temporary extension of Andean membership

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez agreed over the weekend to temporarily extend the bilateral trade pact within the framework of the Andean Community, or CAN, despite Venezuela’s pending withdrawal from that regional organization on April 21.
Monday, April 11th 2011 - 06:04 UTC
Unemployment in Latam to remain strong into 2012 because of ‘uncertainties’

An estimated 17 million people will suffer unemployment in Latin America well into 2012 according to latest estimates from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC.
Monday, April 11th 2011 - 05:58 UTC
Mujica strongly lobbies for Venezuela’s full incorporation to Mercosur

Uruguayan president Jose Mujica strongly supported the incorporation of Venezuela as full member of Mercosur from a Sunday column published in one of Brazil’s most influential newspapers, Folha de Sao Paulo.
Monday, April 11th 2011 - 05:54 UTC
Venezuela’s most populated areas suffer another major blackout

Blackouts blamed on forest fires left without power whole areas of north and central Venezuela, including Caracas, officials said. The power outages began last Thursday due to the collapse of electrical lines located 250 kilometres west of Caracas, Electricity Minister Ali Rodriguez said.
Monday, April 11th 2011 - 05:47 UTC
Controversy in Bolivia about the true volume of proven natural gas reserves

Bolivia has fallen from second to sixth place in the ranking of largest holder of proven natural gas reserves in South America, with Peru behind Venezuela as the two leading countries, admitted a Bolivian Hydrocarbons Association, or CBH, report.
Monday, April 11th 2011 - 05:40 UTC
Guatemala’s First Couple ‘team’ ready for September’s presidential election

A Guatemalan judge granted the country’s First Couple divorce petition thus opening the way for First Lady Sandra Torres to run in September’s presidential election for which her husband President Alvaro Colom is barred under constitutional rule.
Monday, April 11th 2011 - 05:24 UTC
Protestors force Petrobras to suspend off shore seismic surveying in New Zealand

Brazilian oil giant Petrobras suspended an offshore survey Sunday in New Zealand after several environmental activists jumped into the water to block the passage of the ship conducting the study, reports the NZ press.
Monday, April 11th 2011 - 05:18 UTC
Santos and Chavez meet Lobo and agree on helping Honduras return to the OAS

The presidents of Colombia, Venezuela Juan Manuel Santos and Hugo Chavez held a non announced meeting with their Honduran peer Pofirio Lobo and said they were committed to help the outcast country rejoin the Latin American family by returning to the Organization of American States, OAS.