Latin America

• Monday, May 14th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Yosemite and Torres del Paine twinning agreement

  

  California's Yosemite and Chile's Torres del Paine national parks administrators visited this week Punta Arenas and met with local authorities in the framework of the recently signed twinning agreement with the purpose of promoting sustainable tourism.

• Monday, May 14th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Cable or satellite option for censored Venezuelan TV station

  

  Venezuela's Minister of Communication and Information William Lara said private television station RCTV would be able to broadcast on cable or satellite following May 27, the date when its broadcast license to operate in open free radio frequency expires.

• Monday, May 14th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Ecuador's Correa, the continent's leader with most support

  

  Ecuador's president Rafael Correa is the Latinamerican leader with most support in the continent while his counterpart in Guatemala Oscar Berger ranks in the opposite end, according to a report published by the Mexican public opinion consultants Mitofsky.

• Sunday, May 13th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Happy Mother's Day!

  

  Today is Mother's Day in much of Latin America, and scattered families are displaying their devotion. Forget the potted geranium. They're sending their mothers appliances or cold cash with the flowers and greeting cards.

• Sunday, May 13th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile's tourism policy is not massive but environment friendly

  

  Growth of the tourism industry must be in parallel with a sustainable environment development which means Chile is not interested in massive tourism but rather in visitors who have a special interest in nature and wildlife, admitted the country's Director of the Tourism Office, Sernatur, Oscar Santelices.

• Friday, May 11th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile to become Microsoft regional centre

  

  Microsoft announced Wednesday that Santiago's Universidad Catolica de Chile (UC) will be the headquarters for the new Federation of Latin-American Universities for Innovation.

• Friday, May 11th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  DAP incorporates new helicopter for oil rig activities

  

  Punta Arenas Aerovias DAP incorporated a refurbished helicopter to its charter fleet of aircrafts and choppers which operate in the extreme south of Chile and once flew regularly to the Falkland Islands.

• Friday, May 11th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Peru optimistic about ratification of FTA with the US

  Peru's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism Mercedes Araoz announced that preliminary amendments to the United States-Peru Free Trade Agreement will be ready sometime next week enabling its ratification by the US Congress.

• Wednesday, May 9th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile: ASEXMA urges government to act on low dollar

  After the U.S. dollar hit a new low last Friday, Patricia Pérez, president of the Export Manufacturing Association (Asexma), warned of the serious threat posed to Chile's exporters and manufacturers.

• Wednesday, May 9th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Petrobras/Bolivia refineries dispute escalates

  

  President Evo Morales said Bolivia would respond in the coming hours to a proposal from Brazil's state-run oil company, Petrobras, regarding compensation for its two refineries in Bolivia recently nationalized.