Latin America

• Sunday, April 29th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile Google Earth moves a village to Argentina

  

  The Chilean government wants Google to fix its Earth geographical search program that places a village named after Chilean independence hero Bernardo O'Higgins in Argentina.

• Saturday, April 28th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Ecuador leader sides with Indians against oil giant

  

  Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa went deep into the Amazon jungle to show his disdain for Chevron Corp., which is on trial in Ecuador for allegedly failing to clean up billions of gallons of toxic wastewater.

• Saturday, April 28th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF concerned with “social gaps” and “populist” governments

  Latin American governments should increase social spending while maintaining sound fiscal policies to reduce poverty and growing political dissatisfaction in the region, IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato said at a conference in Boston.

• Saturday, April 28th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Chavez and allies open alternative ALBA meeting

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is hosting this weekend in Barquisimeto his closest regional allies at the summit of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), an integration bloc he and Cuban ruler Fidel Castro founded in 2004 to counter the “Washington-based free trade model” better known as the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

• Friday, April 27th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Santiago Consensus calls for integration and education investment

  

  Chile's Michelle Bachelet and Brazil's Lula da Silva called for deeper regional integration and increased investment in education, two priorities that mirrored a consensus among the 400 business, government and civil society leaders from 28 countries participating in the World Economic Forum on Latin America in Santiago.

• Thursday, April 26th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Shannon: “Ecuador is looking for a way to perfect its democracy”

  

  United States Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas A. Shannon spoke on a wide range of Latin American issues Wednesday during a round-table discussion with journalists at the U.S. Embassy in Santiago.

• Thursday, April 26th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile: unemployment drops to 6.7%; Punta Arenas 2.7%

  Unemployment in Chile during the first quarter of 2007 was 6.7%, which is higher than the previous quarter, 6.4%, but considerably less than a year ago, 8.35%, according to the latest release from the Statistics Institute, INE. Punta Arenas in the extreme south of the country has one of the lowest rates with 2.7%.

• Wednesday, April 25th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile: Govt orders fish farms to evacuate quake region

  

  One way or another the salmon farms currently operating in the Aysén Fjord (Region XI) must be relocated, President Michelle Bachelet told reporters on Tuesday, three days after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck the area, killing at least 10 people — several of them salmon farm workers.

• Wednesday, April 25th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Lan cheaper rates increased 30% summer traffic to Punta Arenas

  

  Lan's new air rates policy has increased passenger traffic between Punta Arenas and Santiago in the last five months by 30.000, of which almost half had never boarded an airplane according to company officials.

• Wednesday, April 25th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile and Brazil, the most attractive for private investment

  

  Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Peru figure as the most attractive countries in Latinamerica for private investment in infrastructure according to a report from the World Economic Forum meeting this week in Santiago de Chile. At the other end Venezuela, Bolivia and the Dominican Republic figure as the less attractive.